11 miles and golf too, what country am i in really?

got out early enough to try to beat the heat and humidity some. must say that the river trail here is really nice to run on and there are opportunities to see various wildlife and water scenes and meet people, but it still doesn't have the sense of adventure that a run in oxford seems to have. must be i miss the cows and sheep and horses and pheasants.

but north i went and around the new detour by the bridge they are replacing towards the east blvd loop i wanted to run. up to the water fountain bridge and then crossed over the parkway and turned south and ran down east blvd past the arboretum and south back towards the trail. warm and humid but not too bad this early.

at the trail i turned back south and headed towards the 1 mile marker. none of the usual suspects were out yet this morning. i was running pretty steady, though not fast by any means. still, i felt pretty strong and that was a surprise in itself. this morning my heart rate was high enough that i gave up taking it, though it was around 52 i am sure. heat rate has been weird and i hope it is just the hard work and jet lag i am still not quite beyond. can you hear meatloaf singing in the background?

somewhere just past the harry anderson(bridge number 9) bridge i caught up to carol, my fellow cancer survivor, and we caught up a bit while i jogged along side her. carol likes to walk for a couple of hours on the trail. she has had a very hard last few years and i am sure the beauty and quiet of the river is cathartic for her. we get along fine as long as we stay away from politics, but i know her heart is in the right place, even if her thinking has been swayed by fools.

and on i went down to the mile marker and then back north. didn't want to run the big hill today. was good enough just tom keep running. was warming up quickly now and i stopped t the ft hunt water stop or a drink and met lisa there. we ran north together and then cut over to west blvd towards her house. a funny - as we ran north on west i mentioned that my favorite house in the neighborhood was on this street and when we came to it i pointed it out. and ... of course, that was her house. what are the odds? gail likes that house too. anyway- said it was built by a man from michigan who wanted it to look like a tree house over looking the river. it was certainly different than those around it. dropped her there to deal with the verizon guy as her phone has been out two weeks since the really heavy rainstorm flooded her basement and she has no phones working-jack got wet the verizon guy said. he also mentioned that this was an old neighborhood and the phone systems were old and we should all switched to verizon fios. these days with email accounts and passwords, etc i would have to change 100 things if i switched email addresses.

turned around at the house and ran up neal st. for a bit and did a loop back to the trail. went down to the water fountain again and then home. about 11 miles and enough for today. lots of errands to run after i watered the new stuff in the garden. then hit the many sores i needed to go to. good to get all of that done and not wear myself out in the garden again today. did work on the flooded basement but that is going to need more help than just me.

early in the afternoon i went over to the driving range and hooked with Art, a guy from james madison university and we played 9 holes at hilltop together. i was not good at all, but got around in 39 with one birdie on a 30 foot putt. was pretty if i say so myself and i did. but i was rusty as all get out and hit three really poor shots that caught me by surprise bu at least went straight. and i did get hit out of two bunkers and did get out and on the green. so all in all we had a nice time and i got to lose some of the rust and get over playing with strangers.

as we came back into the clubhouse the storm started, really heavy rain and lightening. any small thought we had about going back out for 9 more holes vanished as the course emptied quickly. it was really, really coming down and the drive home was fun watching the puddles come over the hood. good to get home as they announced a tornado watch for fairfax county and told people to get out of their cars. two hours ago and nothing yet and no more floods downstairs. just needed to have someone here to clean out the leaves from the drian and i was in oxford instead.

and that's about the day. usual stuff at home and some sleep would be nice tonight. tomorrow is a track day and alex for breakfast. then more house stuff to do as i try to get us ready to comeback home.

obama should be the guy after tonight and my long ago post of Hillary being toast has come. shame for her, but a flawed beginning strategy was the downfall for her and she ran a harsh campaign. i will be utterly surprised if he picks her as his vp. utterly.

on the other hand, this is the perfect election battle for me. two people who could not be more different and who are far apart on almost every issue and it will be a great test of where our country stands and who we are as a nation. are we still red and blue? are we still racist- somewhat sure-but how much? do we want war? etc, etc--choices couldn't be more clear cut- and i want to see the answer. but one thing i think is amazingly stupid-- if either of Hilary's or barack's backers could ever vote for mc cain than they truly don 't under stand the difference in the two parties and what they stand for. do you want to stay at war and give up almost every right of free people to say you are mad at who didn't get nominated? Que?