6:41:49.68

Well, we did it. Hannah and I completed the Portland Marathon on Sunday. Our time of 6:41:49.68 was 20 minutes faster than my finish time last year. WOO HOO!!! I am so proud of Hannah. And so thankful for her. She hung in there with me, and was such an encouragement and inspiration to me. Once along the route, at around mile 18 or 19, both of my calves suddenly and simultaneously seized up with cramps, and I had to immediately lower myself to the street. Hannah quickly started massaging one calf while I rubbed the other, and she was soon pulling me to my feet to resume walking. At times when I felt like giving up, she prodded me along, "We can do this, Mom," and we stepped on the finish line together at the end of the course. Thanks, Han. I love you!!!
Here we are in the parking garage in downtown Portland at around 6:00 a.m. It was still dark, but we had our game faces on. Dear daughter Sarah had made these bright, colorful posters to hold up along the course to give us extra support and encouragement. And they worked. Mark, Sarah, and Chris were able to connect with us at six or seven points along the 26.2-mile route, and it seemed like those three made their appearances just when we needed them most. We would come around a corner, and there they were, cheering and waving these posters.
Our cheer squad.
Thanks, Sarah, Chris, and Mark, for your love and support. It meant the world to us.
Here we are at one point in the race - early on, I think.
And here we are, below, almost at the finish line. I am all hunched over, trying to avoid the pain in my heels, which were multi-blistered; my toes, which were also full of blisters; and my right calf, which has a pulled something-or-other on the back side.
Posing with our foil blankets, our roses, and our medals.
CONGRATULATIONS, HANNAH, ON COMPLETING YOUR FIRST MARATHON.
YOU ROCK, GIRL!!!
Back home, wearing my finisher shirt and medal.
Last night we had our friends Bill, Denise, and Renee for dinner (well, we didn't literally HAVE them for dinner), and Denise brought me this lovely bouquet of flowers from her garden to congratulate me on my marathon finish. Look closely at the arrangement - there are Band-Aids poking through among the pretty blooms! Thanks, Denise. They are lovely - and so are you.
Will I ever do another marathon? At the end of the day on Sunday, lying in my bed with all my "owies," I definitely would have said
"NO, NO, NO - a thousand times NO."
Today, however, three days later, I'm thinking, "Hmmm - just maybe I could do it again."

More summer fun, Part 5

OK, I promise, this is the last installment in the summer vacation series. After our adventures in Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and Utah, we headed to Southern California for a few days. First we stopped in Santa Barbara for two nights to spend some time with my mom. One of the many things we did together was go to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. We had been there before, years ago, and since that time the library has added Air Force One to its collection. They built a special room to house this huge airplane, which served seven presidents, including Reagan, until a new Air Force One was built. It was so impressive to walk into this room and see this massive plane. We were able to go inside of it, too, and look all around, although pictures were prohibited in the interior of the plane.
This is the car President Reagan used when traveling from place to place during his term in office. Note the license plate!
Also on display was his presidential helicopter.
And here is his final resting place. He had not yet died the last time we were there, so this part was new to us.
Upon seeing this sign in the garden, Mark was inspired to show off his hat with the genuine rattle snake head band.
We had a great visit with Mom. At 80 years old, she is in the midst of building a brand new house, and we were able to go to the site and check out the site prep work that was going on. You go, Mom!
Next on our agenda was to stay two nights in San Francisco, the city of my birth. On the one full day we had to tour around, we went to several places that were important in my early life. The gray building below is where my parents lived when they were newly married. It was a series of rooms that were rented by various people, with a shared bathroom. I don't know what it is used for today, but we had to take the picture as we were driving down the road, as there was nowhere to stop and park, and it didn't look very safe to do so anyway.
Next is the house where I lived when I was born. Located at #3 Prospect Street, it hasn't changed much at all over the years. Take a good look at this house, and then at the next picture.
The picture below was taken when I lived in the house 57 years ago. Doesn't it just look almost exactly the same?
You will notice in the black and white picture above that there is a mail slot in the lower right-hand corner of the building. Yep, it's still that way today!
A close-up of the mail slot.

Next we set out to find the hospital where I was born on July 13, 1952. I was born at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Hospital, which of course still exists, but I was interested in finding the exact place. The "building of my birth" is below. Mark hailed down a maintenance guy (Mark said that those guys always know everything!), and sure enough, the guy was able to tell us which part of the hospital was there in the 1950s, and which portion was added later. We went up to the 15th floor, and lo and behold, it's still the maternity portion of the hospital.
The sign welcoming people to the labor and delivery area of the hospital:

Then we went to the gift shop, where I bought a teeny tiny t-shirt celebrating my birth:

My dear sister-in-law Laura was able to be with us on this journey of discovery.
Finally we went on a double-decker bus tour of the city, just to get a tour guide's perspective of the culture and architecture of the city of my birth. This guy was our tour guide, and he did a great job.





The clouds gave way for a brief time so we could see the Golden Gate Bridge in all its glory.
My brother Chuck and me.
Chuck and Laura. Love you guys!
This is Cookie, Chuck and Laura's dog. Many, many years ago, when their family was visiting us in Philomath, Chuck and Laura got Cookie as a tiny puppy from a family that lived near our home. She is getting very old and frail now, but is still such a sweet dog. Love you, Cookie - our Oregon cousin!
After our days in the Bay Area, we headed back home. All in all, it was for Mark and me a wonderful two weeks of beautiful scenery, special people, and time together with each other.

More summer fun, Part 4

Several years ago, Mark and I toured Zion National Park. At that time, we went to the places where all the usual hoards of tourists go - the south and the east areas of the park. Little did we know that there is a much smaller portion of the park, inaccessible by car from the more heavily-visited portion, that is tucked into the far northwest corner where few venture: the Kolob Canyons. And since our route to California last month led us right by the entrance to Kolob, we decided to explore. First stop - the Visitor's Center.
Everyone who knows me knows that I love cactus plants - and they were everywhere!
The scenery was breathtaking - but wait - I already said that about the Colorado National Monument a few posts ago. What a beautiful world God created - there are breathtaking sights all over the place!
To explore the Kolob Canyon, you just take a five-mile drive into the heart of the canyon, where the road dead-ends, and from there you can take a short hike to a wonderful viewpoint. You can also hike clear across the national park to the south east (most visited) portion. We later found out that David had hiked that very trail when on a backpacking trip years ago while he was a student at Corban. We were quite content, however, to just hike the shorter trail this day.
We were awestruck by the beauty and drama of the area. It was well worth the detour off the main highway.
Everywhere you look, there are massive red cliffs and narrow canyons.


At the end of the five-mile road, we parked and hiked a half mile to the lookout. It was well worth the time.
This beast of a rock was right in my way. Too tough to shove aside, however!
Some previous visitor(s) had made many rock formations by stacking lots of little rocks on top of one another. They almost looked like a group of curious rock-snowmen enjoying the view!
The sign said that in the view below, the furthest point on the horizon is the Grand Canyon. Cool!


Below is a short video clip of a panorama of the scenery. As we gazed around us, the only appropriate response was worship.

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being." Rev. 4:11

Don't bother to turn up your sound - there is none. For beauty such as this, there are simply no words.

This brings back memories...

Mark was sorting through some papers the other day, and ran across this picture that Ben drew for him long ago - click on it to see the details. I wish it was dated, but my best guess is that Ben made it when he was in fourth or fifth grade (early 90s). I have no idea what the numbers at the bottom represent. Seeing this drawing brought back many memories of our Ben. Always interested in sports, both as a participant and a spectator, Ben's idea of his future, when he was a little guy, included being a professional athlete. He often told us that that when he grew up, he would play football in the fall for the Seattle Seahawks (or maybe the the 49ers, with Joe Montana). Then in the winter he would play basketball with the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. And of course each spring and summer would find him in Los Angeles playing baseball with Orel Hershiser and the Dodgers. It would all be accomplished (apparently quite easily) just by showing up in the appropriate city at the appropriate time! Such a sweet memory. Love you, Ben! May you continue to dream big!