Hot Dash 2022 Complete!

The Hot Dash Finishers!

Yesterday was travel day and it was a killer!   Cheryl and I fell asleep as soon as we got home and really had no energy to do much of anything except feed the cats and unpack.   So.... This blog post is a little late.   But who cares?   My blog, My rules!

And besides,  I wanted to write when I'm fresh rather than when I'm exhausted.  I tend to forget things or miss important details when I just want things to get over with.   And since this is a "Blog of Record"( Doesn't that sound important?)  I would not want to miss anything of historic importance. So let us begin...

It was a cold morning with actual snow flakes in the air!  That freaked everyone out, but thankfully, the snow AND the cold did not last very long.  That being said,  the cold was a factor in the beginning of the race.  It is very easy to forget that the race is 10 miles and you WILL get hot as you run it.   And once the sun comes out, the cold that was unbearable in the morning becomes far more tolerable.   In fact, it almost becomes nice outside in the sunshine.  

For this reason, many of the runners downdressed at the start.   One lady was wearing shorts and tank top!   ( She was not even shivering!   Talk about Minnesota Cold Acclimation....) 

But our "heroes from Iowa" were not as acclimated, having just run a marathon in the warm weather of Arkansas.  They shivered uncontrollably while waiting at the start line.   In Alaska, we called them "Yuke Babies"  Because they would hover around the Yukon Stove in the warm up tent.   In all honesty, I would probably qualify as one myself now;  Having fallen out of shape from my  Hardened Days of Arctic Infantry.   But I digress....

Pam was the first one off with the 5K race.   It started about a half an hour earlier than the 10 milers.  For this reason,  I figured I would miss her finish, since the 5K-ers were finishing right at the Ten Milers were taking off.   If Pam had only run slower.... ( She ran a new PR!)   I might have been there in time. 

Paul from Minnesota.

Oh!   Mental note.   We linked up with Paul from Arkansas.   You might remember him from the 14 mile point during the Little Rock Marathon.  He was not only running the 10 miler with the Cheryl and Mike,  but he was also the Color Bearer for the opening ceremony.

Paul from Little Rock Marathon.

The running community  is certainly a  small world  once you have been in it for a few years.  Lots of Familiar Faces... Friends  AND Rivals!

As Pam and I waited for Cheryl and Mike to finish, we walked around offering to take pictures for finishers.  We found out that the finishing times were posted on line, so we waited by the finish line and cheered on the runners for both races. 

Eventually, Cheryl and Mike finished.  Mike finished first with a time of 1:07:34.  and Cheryl finished in 1:13:06. Both times are Personal Records for the Distance.   And both of them won age group awards.  That is saying a lot, since the competition for this race was fierce!

Warm up after race.

Time to warm up and eat some Hot Dish.    I discovered that Hot Dish is really a form of Shepard Pie.   But to liven things up,  they made a Mexican version, Italian Version and Asian version.   I will let you use your imagination as to the ingredients that set them ethnically apart from one another. You would probably be right.  ( By the way, the Asian Version was pretty good, but I still prefer the traditional Tatter Tot version.)

Looking up times.

All in all it was a good time.   And all runners involved set new PRs but none of us won the Meat Raffle.  Bummer. We celebrated later with Dinner and  some Disco Dancing.   There was lots of Popcorn....

And since this blog post is a day late, I may as well throw in some unrelated stuff before it becomes too outdated.  FIrst!  We saw the first Turkey Vulture in Iowa today.   That means the Bald Eagles will be heading north soon so I wanted to post this GIF of the one I captured last week.   I was sneaking up on him when he spotted me and flew off.   And since there may not be many more eagle pics this year, I wanted to squeeze this one in here. 

Rough draft

Softened.

And finally,   Some Chalk in the Park!   It is supposed to rain  tomorrow but the weather was so nice today I simply had to be outside.  And with a Treasure Trove of chalk colors and Pastels, why not take a risk on something I'm not very proficient at.  Namely:  Portrait paintings.... Or Drawings.... Or "chalkings".  Whatever that are called.....

Final...Before the Rain.

I'll spare the humiliation by leaving the original off the blog.   I'm just impressed it mostly looks good.   Not too Creepy,   or Modern....  I know the one eye is bigger than the other.  ( which is a serious challenge getting both eyes to be the same proportions.)   If it survived the rain tomorrow, I may add more faces to the side of the Rec Center.    ( The lady said I could doodle on the concrete part, so... Yeah! No hands and knees!)   If it doesn't, then I may just stick to the sidewalk.  The rain is supposed to continue for the next three days.  Good for the Farmers, but bad for Sidewalk Chalk Artists.

Random Dog.... So cute!

Random Runner... So cute!

Whew!  That was a Long post, but we are all caught up now.  Hurray.   Another chapter in the never ending, exciting Adventures of the Great Cheryl and Ethan Allen.  Thanks for stopping in.