The Rob Riggle story from Bloomington finally aired this week! The rally starts about 3:50 into the clip.
We are so excited because this weekend is the wedding of our friends Amanda and Aaron. Plenty of pictures to come!
Friday, May 30, 2008
This weekend
The Rob Riggle story from Bloomington finally aired this week! The rally starts about 3:50 into the clip.
We are so excited because this weekend is the wedding of our friends Amanda and Aaron. Plenty of pictures to come!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Bloomington Obama Rally
Last Wednesday, Barack Obama came back to Bloomington for a big rally in Assembly Hall (the same place where the Dave Matthews concert was and where we saw the Dalai Lama last year).
My friend Pam hooked us up with great seats, overlooking the stage. There were 13,000 people there, though some reporters said up to 17,000.
The rally was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot more than the town hall meeting in Columbus. Maybe it was because I was more relaxed because I knew I wasn't on TV!
Apparently, Rob Riggle from The Daily Show was there, but I haven't found any clips of him online.
So I am glad that everything is finally winding down, and still can't believe that Indiana matters so much. Unfortunately, I think Hillary is going to win by about 6 points here.
The good news: Bloomington will help Obama - a lot. The campaign has been doing a great job getting IU students to vote before they left after final exams. USA Today reported that "The heaviest absentee voting has come from the Bloomington area, where Indiana University is located, and where 12.5% of the county's 77,343 registered voters have already cast ballots."
I voted back in April, and Chuck voted yesterday. He had to wait an hour and a half in line.
Fired up and ready to go!
GO OBAMA!
My friend Pam hooked us up with great seats, overlooking the stage. There were 13,000 people there, though some reporters said up to 17,000.
The rally was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot more than the town hall meeting in Columbus. Maybe it was because I was more relaxed because I knew I wasn't on TV!
Apparently, Rob Riggle from The Daily Show was there, but I haven't found any clips of him online.
So I am glad that everything is finally winding down, and still can't believe that Indiana matters so much. Unfortunately, I think Hillary is going to win by about 6 points here.
The good news: Bloomington will help Obama - a lot. The campaign has been doing a great job getting IU students to vote before they left after final exams. USA Today reported that "The heaviest absentee voting has come from the Bloomington area, where Indiana University is located, and where 12.5% of the county's 77,343 registered voters have already cast ballots."
I voted back in April, and Chuck voted yesterday. He had to wait an hour and a half in line.
Fired up and ready to go!
GO OBAMA!
Monday, May 05, 2008
My Half-Marathon
I DID IT!!!
Saturday morning was the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, which I have been training for since January. I was one of 35,000 participants in this year's race, up in Indianapolis. It's the largest half-marathon in the country. The weather was gorgeous.
I was assigned to start in "corral" S (yes, we were herded kind of like cattle) and it actually took me a full 20 minutes to reach the starting line once the race began. But you have a chip tied to your shoe that counts your actual time once you cross the line.
Chuck was there to cheer me on (these are all his pictures). He caught this picture of me VERY close to the beginning - as you can see, I am still smiling and looking comfortable.
He was smart because he stood right next to a giant Obama sign, so it was easy to pick him out in the crowd on the sidelines. There were a lot of spectators.
I also wore an Obama bumper sticker on my back, but it fell off in the first mile. I didn't want to wear my Obama t-shirt and get it all sweaty and gross.
It was a bad sign when I started getting tired around mile 4. I was feeling how I expected to feel around mile 8 at that point. I was walking through the water stops (which were plentiful, thank goodness!) but my goal was to run the entire way other than that. So I kept on chugging along.
Around mile 6, the course enters the actual Indy 500 race track speedway. Or, as I now call it, the Never-Ending Asphalt Loop of Death. That was the most miserable 2 and a half miles I have ever run. The track is so big that you couldn't see how close you were to completing it. It just kept curving and never ending.
I really wanted to walk after that. But I knew I would be really mad at myself if I did. So I didn't.
It was nice because all along the course (except on the speedway track) there were live bands playing, and people cheering and ringing cowbells and holding signs. People would even say your name because it was listed below your number on your bib. It was really fun. (Except for the whole pain/exhaustion part.)
Chuck was about a third of a mile from the end to take my triumphant picture. He was waving to me, and the lady in the pink shirt to the left thought he was waving at her. I am just to the left of the guy in the red shirt.
You'll notice that everyone around me is walking. But I am not. I am running in my little shuffling baby steps to the finish. (I was okay when the speed-walkers passed me, but a little demoralized when the regular walkers started passing me!)
It felt so good to finish. I can't even describe it. First of all, because I had been running for over three hours and I was sick of it, but most of all, because I actually accomplished it. I never thought I could have done that. It took me 3:11:48, about half an hour longer than I expected!
There were lots of goodies at the end, of course. Have you ever seen 35,000 bananas in one place?
You can see pictures from the local TV coverage HERE. (Including shots of the Never-Ending Asphalt Loop of Death.)
Thank you to everyone for your support as I made my "improbable journey" (as Barack says) to the finish line!
Saturday morning was the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, which I have been training for since January. I was one of 35,000 participants in this year's race, up in Indianapolis. It's the largest half-marathon in the country. The weather was gorgeous.
I was assigned to start in "corral" S (yes, we were herded kind of like cattle) and it actually took me a full 20 minutes to reach the starting line once the race began. But you have a chip tied to your shoe that counts your actual time once you cross the line.
Chuck was there to cheer me on (these are all his pictures). He caught this picture of me VERY close to the beginning - as you can see, I am still smiling and looking comfortable.He was smart because he stood right next to a giant Obama sign, so it was easy to pick him out in the crowd on the sidelines. There were a lot of spectators.
I also wore an Obama bumper sticker on my back, but it fell off in the first mile. I didn't want to wear my Obama t-shirt and get it all sweaty and gross.
It was a bad sign when I started getting tired around mile 4. I was feeling how I expected to feel around mile 8 at that point. I was walking through the water stops (which were plentiful, thank goodness!) but my goal was to run the entire way other than that. So I kept on chugging along.Around mile 6, the course enters the actual Indy 500 race track speedway. Or, as I now call it, the Never-Ending Asphalt Loop of Death. That was the most miserable 2 and a half miles I have ever run. The track is so big that you couldn't see how close you were to completing it. It just kept curving and never ending.
I really wanted to walk after that. But I knew I would be really mad at myself if I did. So I didn't.
It was nice because all along the course (except on the speedway track) there were live bands playing, and people cheering and ringing cowbells and holding signs. People would even say your name because it was listed below your number on your bib. It was really fun. (Except for the whole pain/exhaustion part.)
Chuck was about a third of a mile from the end to take my triumphant picture. He was waving to me, and the lady in the pink shirt to the left thought he was waving at her. I am just to the left of the guy in the red shirt.
You'll notice that everyone around me is walking. But I am not. I am running in my little shuffling baby steps to the finish. (I was okay when the speed-walkers passed me, but a little demoralized when the regular walkers started passing me!)
It felt so good to finish. I can't even describe it. First of all, because I had been running for over three hours and I was sick of it, but most of all, because I actually accomplished it. I never thought I could have done that. It took me 3:11:48, about half an hour longer than I expected!
There were lots of goodies at the end, of course. Have you ever seen 35,000 bananas in one place?You can see pictures from the local TV coverage HERE. (Including shots of the Never-Ending Asphalt Loop of Death.)
Thank you to everyone for your support as I made my "improbable journey" (as Barack says) to the finish line!
Friday, May 02, 2008
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Big events
Obama pictures coming soon!
This will be me on Saturday, crossing the finish line of the half-marathon up in Indy. I have started hydrating and carbo-loading...and getting nervous!
This will be me on Saturday, crossing the finish line of the half-marathon up in Indy. I have started hydrating and carbo-loading...and getting nervous!
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