Next stop Washington, DC

The next stop on our college tour was Washington,DC. We visited Catholic University, American University, George Washington University and Georgetown University. We stayed at the Hyatt by the Capitol allowing a great run to the Capital Building and Washington Monument. All of the schools offered great opportunities. Of the DC schools Addie's favorites were American and George Washington.
We also had a great visit with our friend Sally making the trip complete.
The scary part of the trip was the redline train crash north of Catholic University. Friends and family out of town called to check on us before we new the accident had occurred. Luckily we were not involved but our sympathies go out to the families who lost loved ones in the event.

Vacation to Nashville

Our summer vacation to Nashville, Tennessee was to visit Vanderbilt University for a college tour for Addie. People in Nashville are extremely friendly. I must say as a whole one of the friendliest places I have visited. Vanderbilt is beautiful and has offers great opportunities for it's students.
We toured the Country music hall of fame and stumbled on tickets to the CMA festival concert. Again the environment was extremely friendly. The music was fantastic and a great treat for Addie. Some of her favorite stars were there. We ran in the local park with our dog, Lexi. She loved sharing a Starbucks with us after the run.
Pictured is a replica of the Parthenon.

Denise Amber Lee 5k

The Denise Amber Lee 5K was held at Englewood Beach on the same route as the county line run. The proceeds of this run went to the DeniseAmberLee foundation to raise awareness and support education of the 911 system. Denise was a young mother of two boys who was abducted from her home in North Port in broad daylight who was assaulted and killed. The tragedy was that there were several 911 calls made by her and others who witness what they correctly identified a women in distress and the dispatch system failed. Her husband and family have formed the foundation in her honor to try to educate and prevent further tragedies.
There was a fair turnout for the race despite a brewing thunderstorm all morning. The race went off under good conditions except for a little welcomed wind. The rains, thunder and lightning came quickly as the last finishers were crossing. The Joules were missing one today. Addie had SATs so we had to excuse her. Carol has been battling sinusitis and bronchitis but was there for a strong race to the finish placing second in her age. Tom(rom) finished first in his age group beating his latest pr by 30sec. and I finished first in my age group despite a little slower time.
The Port Charlotte Zoomers running club managed the event and did a stellar job despite the weather and last minute need to assume greater responsibility for the event than just race day organization. Hats off to Bob Geyer and his team for another event well done. The Zoomers is a small running club but organizes and helps run many local 5ks.

http://www.zoomersrun.com/

Bad Guys

Well I was running before daylight the last couple of weeks to avoid the heat. Same loop I do in the light just 30 min or so before daylight. I have to admit I was a little squeamish in the dark. I carry a light and added pepper spray to my gear this week. The last couple of days running slightly later because my daughter is now out of school. This am while running a truck waited for me and a man opened his door and offer me to get in. I took off and when safely out of range called 911. Gave the police a description and made my way home as fast as I could. Unfortunately, he was between me and the way home so I had to take the long way. The officer later told me the street I had deemed safe in fact was not. A search of sexual predators in the near region yielded 85.
Needless to say I am very disturbed. I will now need to change my route and time. No longer going to run in the dark. A self defense course is in my near future at least. It is a shame that law abiding citizens have to hide behind there gates and alarms while the bad guys roam freely. I am quite thankful for the quick response of the local police but realize their task is daunting. I love the sense of freedom running outside and hate the fact that that is being taken away to a significant extent. We do not have a trail in my town that is safe to run on and many of the roads are either unsafe or have no sidewalks. I wish there was something that could be done to improve the safety of our streets.