Life filled with Sports

So last weekend (as in the 14th and 15th) you may have heard there was a little marathon here in Pittsburgh. You all know how big of a runner I am... so you all should not be surprised that I did not run.

As the race route is a block away from the Church, and the roads are closed from 7:30 in the morning to 11, there was no 11 service. Instead various members of the church set up cheering sections all over the race course. The main and central station was at the intersection of Amberson and 5th Ave (for those of you keeping score at home, this would be a block away from the church, and a block away from where I am going to be living next semester). There was another cheering squad at Jackie's house in Highland park (apparently that is where all of the cool kids were...) and there was other groups downtown and in the south side. The race course really is a nice tour of Pittsburgh, it starts downtown, goes over the river towards the incline, down Carson street (Common Wealth Press, the Primanti's dad and I first went to), takes a left on to the Birmingham Bridge (near Haufbrau Haus, Cheesecake Factory, $5 Movie Night Theater), up a huge hill in to Oakland, past the Cathedral of Learning, up 5th past the church (this would be the half way point) through Shadyside, up to Braddock (near D's Six pac and Dog) back to East Liberty (Brgr and Mad Mex) on to Highland Park (Tazza Dora Coffee, The Zoo) then back to Bloomfield (Tassaro's) past ChurchBrew Works, then through the strip and back in to down town, then across the bridges to North Shore (PNC Park, Heinz Field, The Warhol) ending near Stage AE. Wow... I was not planning on mapping out the whole race... it just started flowing.

Anyway, at the church, we set up a tent the housed a large sound system (Mike and I were in charge, and needed for this), and we had lots and lots of orange slices.

Yes, imagine that... it was raining a little in PGH

I saw a lot of this...

Orange Passerouters and Mike on the left.

The Carnage.

It was a great time. My hands were certianly tender and pink from clapping so much, and my voice was shot from all of the yelling. I got to run with Caitlin and Sam for a little bit as they ran. Sam said that she felt rather acomplished, but that she was glad that it was over. Other runners included the two relay teams for the church, The Shady Pastors (the 4 pastors of the church and Will the intern) and the Pres 'B' Terians (Yeah Jeff!! and some other Church Staff).

Later that evening, there was a late service, accompanied with a church pot luck to commemorate the day. Jeff enlisted my help to pass out the awards that we created (I think I mentioned this before... Gwyn and Bart also helped). I was a lot of fun. With great food. Below is one of the example certificates that Gwyn and I made:

Marathon Jesus is my favorite. I am thinking he would look awesome as a tattoo...

Then, in proper health spirit, Jeff had a birthday party right after the pot luck. This party was, surprise, at the Leaf and Bean (where he works) a Tobacco and Coffee shop. So there was lots of Cigar smoking and beer drinking (neither of which by me). It was a great day, certainly a memorable Sunday.

Then fast forward to Saturday (the 21st). Jackie's brother and sister in law were in town, and they were going to a Pirates game. Jackie had a left over ticket that she offered to a number of people, a sub set of that number were Sam, Gwyn and I. We all wanted to go, but there was only one ticket. Then we found out that someone else had already claimed the ticket. Well we all still wanted to go, so we did anyway. Sam, Gwyn, Tracey, Andrew, Christina and myself enjoyed a great evening and a great game. The weather was perfect, the seats, while cheap ($9) were still great. We were in the upper most right field section about ten rows from the last, and about 5 seats from the fence the marked the end of the stadium.

I apparently did not yell loud enough for Andrew and Christina.

At the moment I am in the process of stitching together a panorama of the baseball field.... it is taking a bit to dust the cobwebs off of the old computational photo tool set.... when I get that done I will finish this post!