jillian's back

Today was the Firecracker 4 mile. It was Bonnie's (aka Jillian) first race since surgery. She kicked my butt. Again. Lydia sat out the race with a migrane.

Bonnie picked me up and we headed for the race. Then she says "My goal is to do this in an hour". Say what? That's 4 miles and hour!

Boy is she competitive. I was ahead for a whole 3 or 4 seconds. She gets in the zone and goes.

I do better if I have someone to walk with, and talk to occasionally.  It really helps me keep the pace. Walking alone, my mind wanders, I daydream, and slow down.

Today we met the mom from h-e-double toothpick in the race. I was leapfrogging with her. She had a 6, maybe 7-year-old with her. Mom is powering thru and the little girl needs to run to keep up. At one point Bonnie was a good block ahead, and mean mom right in front of me. The little girl said mommy I can't go anymore. We have to slow down. Instead mom speeds up and leaves the little girl alone to walk. Say what?

Mom's powering thru and you hear this voice calling "mommy" numerous times. She finally stops, disgusted and turns around. "WHAT!" The little girl says she "needs help". Mom says she "can't stop". Little girl begs her to come back to her. Finally she does.  We didn't see them again. They finished last.

All this women did was succeed in turning her kid off to exercise. Mom, if you wanted to win, you should have left the kid with someone. Or let her do the kid race. I wanted to *itch-slap Mom.

Mom also almost ran me over when I was taking the pix of the Obama volunteer. She did the whole race with her sign, clipboard, forms and pen. What democracy needs is more people like dedicated. Go Obama girl.