Mini-Marathon weekend

2009-05-03

Apologies for the lack of restraint in picking pictures this weekend, but there was a lot of fun to be had this week. Despite Emily being in Philadelphia for a conference, David and I had a nice weekend together centered around the 34th running of the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, kicking off a month of fun events in Indianapolis. 
Gus, our fire dog
Our rain barrel is in, and within 12 hours, it was already full. Now if it would ever stop raining, we could put it to use!
Our garden has such an atrocious fence around it that I can hardly stand it. Maybe I should call the neighborhood association every spring and lodge multiple complaints!
Herbs! We can't wait to use them.
Two out of three peony rhizomes survived, and it looks like our back yard will display some samples of the Indiana state flower this year.
The hosta survived as well, and the rabbits only nibbled a couple of the shoots in the center. This in spite of the atrocious gren fence that surrounds them.
April showers brought April flowers.
Grillin' in the rain, I'm grillin' in the rain!
The Town of Fishers Signage Typography has been working overtime using their font selector and spare curly open quotes
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I like the way the moisture settles out of the cinder block from the top down. Cool.
Preemie baby greens.
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Chives
David joined me at the Mini-Marathon expo. Since it's May in Indianapolis, you can expect to see Indy cars on display.
David suggests I try some different shoes. He did a lot of flirting at the expo
No, you may NOT climb up onto the rear wing!
Mini morning! The rain cleared out and we had a beautiful sunrise.
This installation on the grounds of White River State Park is courtesy of the 500 Festival
Gratuitous scissor lift photo for David's benefit. David says we should get a scissor lift and park it in our dining room. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't.
The line-up of 35,000 runners and walkers stretches well over a third of a mile (probably closer to a half-mile) down Washington Street.
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The view of the starting line, before the big squeeze where everyone rushes forward. The starting line was narrowed by construction this year, which almost certainly caused even more of a delay than normal in trying to get everyone on their way.
One of my favorite parts of this race: running underneath an enormous flag suspended from two ladder trucks. David's head would explode from the awesomeness. Sorry for the bluriness, but hey, I was running, and this is a cell phone camera. At least I wasn't Twittering during the race. I guarantee you that some participants were.
This blurry, shaky picture of a bagpiper (in the middle of the median, between the cones) is for Emily
Turning east onto 16th Street, getting ready to enter the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
On the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, more awesomeness for David: an ambulance and a Corvette pace car
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Coming out of Turn 4, approaching the Pagoda and the Yard of Bricks
After the finish line, an army of smiling volunteers hands out medals, potato chips, water, Gatorade, cookies, bananas, and apples. Oh, and a camouflage-painted water trailer, construction barricade with a flashing light next to tables of water cups stacked five high for David.
The day kept getting more beautiful
Summer is here! Our first lightning bug (please let it be a lightning bug so Emily doesn't insult my lack of insect identification skills)
On your mark, get set, go! His shirt says, "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!"
David spent at least an hour at the playground on two consecutive mornings this weekend. He did not seem to enjoy it very much.
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Jail time
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David found a tired old basketball lying around the playground and then proceeded to kick the ever loving daylights out of it
He then found the swing set and proceeded to swing the ever loving daylights out of himself
He does not seem to enjoy swinging, either.
Remember the tired old basketball that he treated like a soccer ball? Well, now it's more of a floppy rubber blob.
Oh dear, his shadow somehow became detached! He put some WWF smackdown on the basketball.
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Do you like my hat? No, I do not. Good-bye! Good-bye.
Poor geese.
I am glad that I do not know how much the neighborhood association has spent on this fountain, but it certainly has been the topic of conversation for the last two springs. I see that is doing a marvelous job keeping the pond scum at bay. It only has a little bit of Chem-Lawn runoff to contend with. Good grief, people. They're just dandelions. If you buy them at the store to put in salad, they cost extra!