Long Beach Half Marathon

Z ran the Long Beach Half Marathon

on October 7.

We had to get up super early to leave our

friends' house in LA & make the trek

down to Long Beach to find some parking...

in addition to the half, there was also the full marathon, 

a bike "tour", a 5K, a handcycle race, and a walk, 

so there were over 25,000 people participating, 

plus the spectators.

Here's Z before the sun even came up.

This guy did the bike tour on a unicycle!

Around mile 2

Mile 6

My view at the finish.

Unfortunately they kept all spectators

well away from the finish gate,

so I had a hard time capturing the end

of Z's race.

It's ok, though, because he took 9th place.

Not too bad in a race of over 11,000 people!

California Getaway

Last weekend Z & I took off

to LA & Long Beach.

Z ran a race on Sunday, 

but we got to spend a few days

with good friends 

Matt & Chris, 

rolling through the streets of LA, 

eating delicious food

and hitting the beach.

A few days in Long Beach

The day after the Chile vs. USA match

we headed down to Long Beach for a few days.

The official reason for the trip

was to attend the annual

Bishop's Colloquy

for our church's synod, 

but I have to admit that the warm weather, 

sunshine, visiting with friends,

and staying at a nice hotel were definite

highlights of our LB experience.

The colloquy was great, too, though.

The keynote speaker was 

Mark Hanson, 

the presiding bishop of the ELCA, 

and it was great to hear him speak

in such a small setting.

I enjoyed meeting Bishop Hanson, 

but I just adored his wife, 

& ended up talking to her for a couple of hours.

What an amazing lady.

Then, while Z was in some

(less-than-interesting) sessions, I took a stroll

over to the harbor for some photos.

Beautiful! It was difficult to return to 

the dense, winter fog in the valley

after all that sunshine.

A day in LA/LB

After dropping off
Mama & Daddy
at the airport in the morning,
we had the day to kill
before our red eye flight
back to NC.

We started at a cute diner for breakfast.

Then I wanted to check out
the La Brea Tar Pits
to reenact the scene from
My Girl 2.

Anyway, they were doing some excavations
at some of the pits.

A sign said they had found some
bones from various animals,
including mastadons, saber-toothed kittens,
and giant ground sloths
the day we were there!

Then we went next door
to the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art
to see some outdoor exhibits.

We drove around to see other sights,
but of course we ended up at
Dodger Stadium.

After cruising around LA
we made our way down
to Long Beach where we mostly
hung out by the water
until it was back to the airport!