Thanksgiving 2014

Sorry this a delayed post but we hosted Thanksgiving at our house once again last year.
Our families live in separate cities (in the same state) and it just makes sense for us to host most of the time to bring the two families together.

Turkey is getting ready

Chestnuts

Mixed Green Salad

Shrimp and berries to hold us over until food is ready

Yams with marshmallows

Stuffing

Roasted butternut squash

Turnip Fries

Mashed Potatoes

Green bean casserole

Turkey

It was a nice and carbohydrate filled meal. I need a nap just from looking at the pictures. zzzzz…..

UK : Bath

As part of one of our day trips from London we stopped in the town of Bath. It was my second trip to bath, my first being during a coach tour in 1995. It is a lovely city that can be visited in a day but probably worth an overnight stay.

The main attraction for Bath is the Roman Baths.

Our tour guide gives us a coin that is our admission ticket to the baths.

The baths were created by the Romans and the town later enjoyed by Britons. The ancient baths are pretty well preserved.

Geothermal energy makes the water temperature warm where it would normally be cold.

They had a nice little light show with this set of artifacts.

Little notes were passed back and forth in the baths.

Underground

Outside the baths the Bath Abbey isn’t bad to look at.

We stopped at little tourist cafe for lunch and were pleasantly surprised by the food.

Almond tart.

Loaded bake potato

Nice big Mediterranean style salad.

Finally we had some nice views of the famous Pulteney Bridge. This bridge always makes me think of Jane Austen.

I love all the house boats in English waterways!

I really wanted to try these but I resisted.

Fatehpur Sikri

After 25 miles from Agra lies some very interesting sandstone buildings in the city of Fatehpur Sikri. It was capital of the Mughal empire for a time during the 1500’s. The ruler Akbar had multiple wives of different religions because of that you can see a mix of faiths in the design and architecture.
I love the integration of all the different symbols on the walls.

The central pillar of Diwan-i-khas

Panch Mahal

Diwan-i-Khas – Hall of Private Audience

“Life” designs not seen in too much Mughal architecture.

This is a bed. So high!!!

Queen’s Palace

A squirrel buddy at a nearby tree.

Jama Masjid (mosque)

Tomb of Salim Chishti

Another PR!!

I finally had another PR (personal record). This time it was for my 5K time. I have been so fixated on my half-marathon time that I have dismissed any improvements for 5Ks. This distance that should be the easiest for me to conquer but I still only make slow improvements.
The speed work I did to prepare for the Ragnar Relay in combination with the cold temperatures for the Running in the Pines race was a perfect formula for a PR.

My fastest 5k on record was the Valencia 5K in 2006 and that was a race that was in the pouring down rain. Many runners refused to show up. I ran fast to get out of the storm.
This time around it was legit. It was cold but it was a busy race. I ran my first mile at a pretty swift pace while passing many runners. Usually I run my first mile too fast. It always back fires on my later and I lose my steam.
Mile 2 I kept pushing on. I was maintaining my fast pace. In fact I was going faster. Should I slow down? My thoughts began to do the math “If I am this close to a PR I think to finish it”. I pushed through to the end. I found a bit of extra reserve energy to pass some runners in the last .25 mile. I sprinted across the finish.
It was hard to tell from the clock what my actual time was and my mapping tool is always incorrect. I confirmed with the race result printout that I did indeed do my personal best on this 5k.
So exciting.

I have one more race left in the series. The final race is a 10k plus 2 mile distance dare. I did the combo last year. I don’t remember my time but I do remember my focus was on finishing the 2 miler as quickly as possible to make it in time for the 10k start.
Perhaps a PR is in this works for this race too? We will see…..

St. Pete Art

I visited downtown St. Petersburg, Florida last fall with a group a friends as part of a two day brewery vacation. While there I took note at the interesting art and architecture that the city has to offer.
It was a great way to display street art on underutilized walls.