All Sorts of Things to Cover

Today was another fantastic Saturday! I started off by running another 5k race. This one was in Bloomington and it started at Highland Park Elementary School, where I'd never even been before. It was a fundraiser for the Bloomington High School North cross country team, so every high school and middle school cross country team in the area was there! It was a LOT of teenagers!! I don't remember any team ever hosting a race like that when I was in high school, so it was kind of cool for all of the teams to get a little sneak peek at each other before their seasons start.

Anyways, I ended up running about 3 seconds faster than last week, which I was disappointed in because this course was much flatter, and therefore should have been much faster! I ran it in 23:01, which equals about a 7:24 per mile pace. I wanted to break 23 minutes soooo badly but just didn't quite have it in me during the last mile. It will definitely give me something to aim for in the next race, though (which is in about a month).

I ended up getting second place in my age group and won a really cool retro trophy. They cleaned out the trophy cases at Bloomington North and used all of those for the race winners, so there were a lot of different trophy styles. Mine seems to be the psychadelic metallic 90s type. I did a little research on the girl who won my age group (she was FAST) and found out that she was a very good college runner at DePauw, so I don't feel bad at all about getting 2nd. There is no way I could ever beat this girl in my life.

Here are a few pictures that Karl took this morning:

Getting ready to use my inhaler and saying, "Don't take a picture of me!"

Everyone lined up at the start.

"And...they're off!"

Me in the red shorts...about a half mile from the finish line.

Woo hoo! Displaying the hardware.

After the race we got a bite to eat at the Bloomington Bagel Company, headed on over to the Farmers Market and picked up some sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, and Asian pears, then took a three hour nap since we had to get up at 6 a.m.

A beautiful day at the Bloomington Farmers Market.

Finally, we decided to try out a new restaurant for dinner. It's a place called Sweet Grass in Bloomington, and it's not far at all from our house. I was pretty curious about it since its website claims that it is cuisine of the Carolinas. I didn't realize North and South Carolina actually had their own cuisine (or, more accurately, I just never gave it any thought). The food was, simply put, WONDERFUL. Karl and I both got specials that they had today - I had the mediterranean chicken pasta, which had ziti noodles, capers, grilled chicken, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, and arugula tossed in olive oil. I am posting a picture below. Karl had grilled salmon with a blackberry glaze, asparagus, and Carolina cole slaw. His was amazing as well. We both left there with happy tummies! If you live in Bloomington, I highly recommend checking it out. It is on the south side of town at 405 West Patterson. The ambiance is inviting, serving staff is friendly, and food is delicious. Best of all, the prices are pretty reasonable (especially considering what a place like that could charge in California!) I really hope this restaurant sticks around.

My feast.

Karl's food.

Homemade Mudslide ice cream from the BluBoy Cafe for dessert. :)

NOW, on to one last subject before I post this. Today was a GREAT day in sports for Indiana athletes. First, former Indiana high school standout runner and 2008 Olympian Amy Yoder Begley was the #1 U.S. female finisher in the 10,000 meter race at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin. She placed 6th in the event and ran a personal best career time of 31 minutes, 13 seconds. I remember her from the cross country camp I attended as a high schooler...she was by far the best female runner there and she always ran with the guys because there weren't any girls as fast as her. Congrats to Amy!

The SECOND great thing that happened for Indiana athletes today was that 2008 Olympic gymnast Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, IN became the first-ever gymnastics All-Around National Champion that the state of Indiana has ever produced! I was extremely excited about this. She narrowly beat Ivana Hong from powerhouse WOGA Gymnastics in Texas, and looks poised to compete for the U.S. in the upcoming World Championships in London this October. Congratulations to Bridget!!! She trains at Sharp's Gymnastics in the Indianapolis area.

That's all for now!