I promised a report on the 5k...well, I won a medal for my age-group! But I'm not sure how since truly, I didn't do that well. Well enough, I suppose, for a runner who's had a hard time keeping up with it lately. The course was a very tough one for even a seasoned runner. I found a high-school girl who was having a rough time and I stuck with her for the last 1/3 of the race or so - she said I encouraged her but in fact, she encouraged me. Part of "runner's culture" is helping each other and so we made friends and ran together. Near the end, she urged me to go ahead and I promised I would come back for her, and I was able to sprint to the end - when I turned around to go back and run with her, she was almost on my heels! I was proud of her to say the least - it's odd but very nice how runners develop relationships like that without knowing each other at all. To my young friend: good luck with track and hope to see you in more races in our area!
After the race, ran home for a shower and weighed in a 166.5 - my lowest weight to date since at least age 16! Of course, I'd had nothing at all to eat as of that point, about 11:00 a.m., and I'd run 3.1 miles. Still, it was quite surprising to see the scales that low. Later last evening, I was back up to 171 - amazing fluctuation. I'd put away some food by that time...
Went to a ramp dinner at the 4-H Center yesterday afternoon. It was to last from noon to 4 and I arrived about 12:30 and by 2:00 it seemed pretty much to be over. Most of the candidates who were there had left by that time. Oh, I did manage to squeeze in a haircut between the race and the ramp dinner - much, much needed. My longtime barber, Mario, is a great guy and gives great advice not only about haircuts but also elections!
Speaking of squeeze-ins, I also had time for a nap later in the afternoon, which was helpful for recovery after the race. Then about 4:00 we left for a baked steak dinner at a church near the edge of the county which was out of this world. I love baked steak and not only was that entree featured, there were delicious homemade pies. I had lemon meringue and my wife had coconut cream - I had a hard time passing up the graham cracker but I had to pick! From there, I went to an elimination dinner in Clarksburg which was well attended and enjoyable. Met a lot of nice people, including a couple I'd been hoping to meet for some time.
It started raining about the time I went into that dinner and by the time I left around 8:00 it was raining in earnest. I had to run a quick errand on the way home and the rain started coming down in buckets, the type of rain that causes drivers to pull off the road. I plodded ahead slowly and made it safely home at a decent hour, considering how late some of my Saturday evenings have been lately. My secretary covered a pancake breakfast for me and my case coordinator did some work for me during the day and during the evening, she attended another dinner for me. They have been a great, great support during this campaign.
Today, after church, I spoke to a group at a local restaurant. One of my fine neighbors is in this group and asked me a couple months ago and I was very glad to say yes. They were very nice and very interested in the Family Court. My wife, son and a friend covered a dinner for me right after church and then we met up together to travel to one of our communities in Harrison County for a reception a good friend arranged for me. We had a nice group there - it was actually very relaxing, just visiting, like campaigning should be. Folks talking, trying to work things out, not necessarily always agreeing but always enjoying one another's company.
There is a lot this week. Tomorrow morning, my opponent and I will be together on talk radio for 30 minutes, and people will be able to call in or e-mail questions to the host. In a strange way, I'm looking forward to it. Actually, she and I are very friendly as I've mentioned before and I don't anticipate any change in the next 3 weeks and 2 days. I also have at least three appearances scheduled this week and there are sure to be more - they tend to come up!
A friend who hasn't campaigned with me yet but who's given good advice will be working with me on a project tomorrow night which should be interesting. A bit hard to explain here but I'll try to remember to let you know how it pans out -
Early voting starts Wednesday! And I know at least two votes which have been cast for me already, by absentee ballot. (OK, my daughter is one of them! :)
For me right now, the most important part of the week is a prayer meeting at a friend's house on Tues. night. I'm very much looking forward to it. We've had a couple since this process started but not for a while and I need it.
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