Training Walk

Only 3 miles tonight, but I had company in the form of a couple of my fellow Bouncing Betties, two of their children, and a dog. Exactly where do kids get all that energy from, and can I have a transfusion?

My feet hurt a bit more than I'd hoped, but about as much as I expect. Tomorrow is a crosstraining day, then Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be back-to-back walks. I hope I can handle them. My walking partners set a higher pace than I've been using, which is probably good for me. I need to work on pacing along with distance, or I'll be left in the dust in July.

I didn't take any pictures along the walk as it was dark by the time we started, but I did get a couple of dusky shots of Bothell Landing Park before it got too dark to see.

This is the bell "tower" of Bothell. The bell is historical, and rarely rung. The last time I remember hearing it rung personally was during the memorial service for 9/11 in September 2001. I believe it's also rung every fourth of July. The last time I was at the park was in 2001 during the aforementioned memorial service.

This is the Beckstrom Cabin. This is the actual cabin that one of the original families of Bothell lived in. During the memorial service, which was, incidently the last time I'd actually visited the park, I met a woman who was related to the Beckstroms and seemed to consider the cabin practically personal property.

As you can see, it's a historic landmark.

I think I may have to go back in the daylight sometime and get a better picture of these for you.

As I waited for my walking partners, I sat in the parking lot at Bothell Landing and watched people. There was a group of teens made up of five girls and two boys who played on the playground and made rude comments at one another. When they left, the girls told the boys to wait up as they needed "big strong men to protect us!" I also saw a woman pull up next to the dumpster and sit for a minute looking around. Apparently she either didn't see me or didn't consider me a threat, for after checking she got out of her car, pulled out two bags of garbage and put them in the dumpster, then glared around the lot as she hurried back into her car and drove away. I briefly considered taking a picture of her in the act, but decided that I don't care quite that much about that minor crime to risk whatever reaction I would have gotten out of her.

When I got out of the car to stretch, there were still a couple of small children with parents on the playground, even though it was almost too dark to see. The frogs were particularly loud tonight, especially near Bothell Landing. When we walked further down the trail we didn't hear them as well. It was a decent walk, even if it was in the dark. In a couple of weeks it won't be nearly as dark and the evening walks will be more comfortable.