Smoked Out in Pasadena

After several months of training and logging over 200 miles, I was ready to run the Pasadena half-marathon last Sunday. My husband Mike and I headed down to LA for a sunny, So Cal weekend getaway to visit some friends, walk along the beach and run 13.1 miles in the Pasadena half-marathon.

We checked in on Saturday, picked up our shirts, "goodie bags" and new, high tech timing chip for our shoes, which would track our results during the race. We rested on Friday and Saturday, paid attention to our diets and enjoyed a traditional pre-race pasta meal Saturday night. We were staying with my brother and sister-in-law, who carefully prepared a delicious pasta salad with chicken, feta cheese, olives, bell peppers, cucumbers and avocados, using produce from their garden and tailored to fuel our bodies for optimum race day performance.

With equal attention, we assembled our breakfast for Sunday's 4:30 AM wake-up call. Just the right amount of coffee, and easy to digest bananas and bars. We were feeling fit and fast as we drove to the starting line.

"PASADENA MARATHON CANCELLED - SEE WEB-SITE" We rubbed our bleary eyes and looked at the freeway signs again. Yep, sure enough, race cancelled. The combination of the poor air quality from the fires and predicted high temperatures had caused race officials to cancel the race. My body was so full of energy and raring to go, how disappointing. Think about a dog whose owner clips on the leash and then at the last minute says "sorry, no walk for you today Sparky."

Oh well, maybe next year.....

Good Fortune Awaits You........

I teach English at an adult ESL program and we are always looking for more volunteers. At a recent church mission fair, I wanted to have some take-home publicity items I could hand out to people who came to our booth. I ordered these fun custom fortune cookies on-line with messages to promote our school such as "Enjoy the benefits of world travel without leaving home. Volunteer at Barton School."

I ordered 100 fortune cookies with 3 different messages for about $34 from tankinz.com. They arrived early and in good condition. I would do it again for birthdays, Halloween or anytime you need a fun handout.