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Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
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9:10 am - Running, Surgery
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Hi People,
It's been far too long since Dea or I posted here. In reality, you haven't missed much as it's been a fairly dull summer. Dea had her Massachusetts trip to meet with friends from her arthritis forum, and I'll let her post about that.
My summer has been one of healing from my back problem. I only ran 6 miles between May 20th and September 4th. In September I resumed regular training, starting out with one mile runs, then 2, then 2.5, etc. In the past 6 weeks, I'm up to an 8 mile long run and I have ran in 4 5k's. My times have been 23:42, 23:18, 23:02, and 22:16 (flat course). I feel great, the back is cooperating, and I'm looking forward to once again thinking about a sub 20 5k and running marathons.
This past Monday, I had some minor heart surgery done. Back in Nov of '04, the doctors discovered I had a patent foramen ovale (PFO) which simply put, is a hole between the upper right and left atriums of the heart. This allows blood to pass from the right to the left without being filtered through the lungs. It increased my chances of being a stroke victim. Read more about the PFO here: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3400/3454.asp?index=11626
The way they repaired this was through catheterization. They went in through the artery in my groin and placed a tiny double sided umbrella thing in the hole to seal it up. Read about the device here: http://www.amplatzer.com/us/products/pfo.html
So, today (Wed) I'm home loafing as I can't return to work until Thursday. I can resume running Sun or Mon and I'm anxious.
current mood:  anxious
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| Sunday, April 30th, 2006
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7:44 pm - Recent events .....
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Hi Gang,
My healing isn't going real well as I seemd to have moved from one problem (groin) to another. It seems that my patch of degenerative arthritis in my lower back has caused a problem with my sciatic nerve. My right leg is somewhat weak and my last 5k, on 04/15, was at a break-neck speed of 25:23. I could have done better with crutches and let my right leg drag.
I won't go too deep into details but I am getting medical attention. I've had x-rays, an MRI, and I visit the doctor again on 05/04. As of now, I'm about 98% pain-free but the right leg is still weak. I went out for a 3 mile run today after a 14 day lay-off, and although it felt good, I could tell the right leg isn't right.
I'll keep the journal updated a little better so please forgive me!!
current mood:  optimistic
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| Saturday, March 25th, 2006
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9:51 am - A rest from running. Healing time!
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Well, it looks like I'll take a short pause from running and racing. I've been having some pains in my extreme lower abdomen (groin area) since about last July or August. Generally it only hurt after a run when I coughed. The muscles are weak then. It's been getting gradually worse and at the end of December, I went to my family doctor. He checked me for a hernia and the usual stuff and found nothing. He prescribed some anit-inflammatory medicine and as long as I take it, I'm fine. I went off it after the Creeper marathon and within a week the pain returned stronger than ever.
So as per Doc's advice, I made an appointment with a doctor at the Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Kentucky. I visited the clinic on 03/24. I had a thorough exam by 2 different doctors as well as an x-ray of the pubic area and hips. They found no damage anywhere, no hernias, no arthritis in the hips, and no hip stress fracture. They poked, twisted my legs, made me apply pressure up, down, in, and out with both straight leg and knees bent. I feel like they did a complete assessment. Their only recommendation was some "core strengthening" and they gave me a prescription for physical therapy. They left it up to me whether to go or not. They advised me of exercise and stretching that should also help the healing.
Their determination was that rest & recovery is what I need to heal the damaged area. They left the decision up to me as to how to go about it as it will be a trial and error process. They suggested stopping completely for a period, then resuming with easy short runs to evaluate how I feel. They also said that if I wanted to "dope up" on anti-inflamatories and do the May marathon I'm registered for, I wouldn't make things any worse. I would simply be prolonging my healing. I'm going to pass up the marathon and start my recovery process. I have a follow-up visit scheduled for 04/21/06.
It's such a shame, someone like me, so young and energetic, but I can't go out and run & play with the other kids !!
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| Sunday, February 12th, 2006
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11:46 am - Check this out people.
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The State of Mississippi was so happy with my marathon finish that they named a town in my honor!!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/63951458@N00/89876490/
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| Saturday, February 11th, 2006
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4:35 pm - Training Update
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Hi Friends & Family,
I know it's bee a while between posts but there's been nothing major to report. I'm currently training to pace a good friend in the Virginia Creeper Marathon on March 12th. His goal time is 3:39 so I need to run just about what I did in Mississippi. The race is a small, local affair ran on the Virginia Creeper Trail. It's a converted former railway just outside of Abingdon, Va. Here's a link to the race if you want to learn more. It's interesting reading.
http://www.runtricities.org/creepermarathon/
My weekly distances have been between 36 and 48 miles. Counting marathon weekend, my last 5 long runs have been 26.2, 19, 20, 22, and a 16 miler today. This was somewhat of a recovery week as I shortened 2 of my daily 6 mile runs to 4 miles and only did 16 today. I had 36 miles this past week and finished the month of January with 165.
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| Saturday, January 21st, 2006
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6:55 pm - Mississippi Marathon for 2006
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Hi Friends & Family,
As you may remember, I ran the Mississippi Marathon last year when we visited our daughter Heather, and we (Sugar and I) liked it so much we told Heather to plan on making it an annual event. We went there again on the weekend of 01/14/2006 for our visit and the race. I have another marathon planned for March so I entered this one with a well planned training pace in mind. My goal was to run the first 22 miles at an 8:25 pace, then relax to the finish.
The weather was perfect on race morning and the horn went off just after 8:00. I started off well, hitting my 8:20's pace easily for the first 2-3 miles. Once I got warmed up, the miles started coming in the 8:10's, then the 8:00's and between miles 10-15, I put some in the 7:50's. I was cruising and feeling great. Seeing my wife every 2 miles is a blessing and adds so much to the event.
After the turn at 13.1, we faced a headwind in open areas of the Natchez Trace. The return trip is a bit harder than going out. The members of the Mississippi Track Club refer to the course as "sneaky hard". You almost always have a headwind on the return and there's more uphill than downhill. At mile 19, I was averaging 8:11 per mile and I thought about trying to hold it for the remainder of the course but my good sense prevailed and I eased off slightly. At mile 22, my average pace was 8:13 and I considered the race a success at that point.
From there, I walked for one minute at the beginning of miles 23-26 and those miles were in the 8:50-9:00 range. I finished in 3:38:36 which was 6 minutes faster than 2005 and good enough to win 3rd place in my age division. All in all, it was a great day at the races.
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| Saturday, December 31st, 2005
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5:07 pm - Year End Training Wrap-up 2005
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Well, I finished the year with a fantastic 21 mile long run and a grand total of 1842 miles for the year. This is my second highest year ever, only exceeded by the 2000 miles I logged in '96. In summary of the year's activity, I'm pleased with it even though I didn't break any of my existing records. The Detroit Marathon with my brother Robert sidetracked me from my own goals but that experience was worth a lifetime of PR's. I'm still healthy and driven so there's always next year to break the records.
As for the future, my next serious race was going to be a 10k PR attempt in Mississippi on 01/14, when we go to visit my daughter. I know I'm not in PR shape however, so I've entered the marathon instead. I ran it last year and it's a great event. Sugar loves it because it's very spectator-friendly. I plan to run this at a training pace of 8:30-9:00 per mile, and enjoy the scenery and comraderie of the event. I have another marathon coming up on 03/12 in Abingdon, Va. My purpose for this race is to pace my good friend John Fenton to a personal record. His target is an 8:23-8:30 per mile pace. Then comes the biggie, a marathon in Cleveland, OH, on 05/21. If all goes well, I plan on taking a PR shot at this one. That will require a 7:40 pace. If I even get close, I should then be able to break both my 10k and 5k records during the summer. Naturally, the Bluegrass 10,000 would be the shot for the 10k record and there are many 5k's that would come into play. It would be nice however, to do it at the Midsummer Night's Run in August. Both of these races have 3500-4000 participants whereas most other races around here have maybe 50-200.
Below is a list of all races in 2005 and the results. We sure raced a lot!!
Here's hoping all of you have a happy and prosperous 2006.
1/1/2005 – Hangover Classic 10 miler – 1:28:00 – Paced a friend.
1/15/2005 – Mississippi Marathon – 3:44
2/12/2005 – 5k in Lexinbton, Ky – 21:27
3/5/2005 – 5k in Georgetown, Ky. – 21:18
5/12/2005 – 10k in Newport, Ky. – 51:28 – Very bad day.
3/20/2005 – Knoxville Marathon – 4:23 – An even worse bad day.
3/26/2005 – 5k in Lexington, Ky. – 21:43 – O.K. for first race after a bad marathon.
4/9/2005 – 5k in Cincinnati, Oh. – 21:13 – 1st in A.D.
4/23/2005 – 5k in Irvine, Ky. – 20:24 – 2nd in A.D.
5/28/2005 – 5k in my home town of Winchester, Ky. – 20:18 – 2nd in A.D.
6/4/2005 – 5k on long course in Lancaster, Ky . 21:37 – 1st in A.D.
6/11/2005 – hot & hilly half-marathon in Falmouth, Ky. – 1:47 – 1st in A.D.
6/25/2005 – 5k in Covington, Ky. – 21:00
7/2/2005 – 5k in Wilmore, Ky. – 20:44 – 2nd in A.D.
7/4/2005 – Bluegrass 10,000 in Lexington, Ky. – 44:11
7/31/2005 – 5k in Rudyard, Mi. – 20:36 – 2nd in A.D.
8/13/2005 – 5k in Lexington, Ky. – 21:14 – 2nd in A.D.
9/25/2005 – Half-Marathon in Dayton, Oh. – 2:05 – Another bad day.
10/1/2005 – 5k in Georgetown, Ky. – 21:51 – 1st in A.D.
10/23/2005 – Detroit Marathon – 5:07 – Ran with my brother. A great day.
10/29/2005 – 5k in Paris, Ky. – 19:42 – Obviously a short course.
11/5/2005 – 5k in Lexington, Ky. – 21:17 – 3rd in A.D.
11/19/2005 – 5k in Nicholasville, Ky. – 21:39 – 2nd in A.D.
11/24/2005 – Thoroughbred Classic 5k in Lexington, Ky. – 22:00
12/10/2005 – 6k in Mt. Vernon, Ky. – 26:26 – 1st in A.D.
12/17/2005 – 5k in Cincinnati, Oh. – 22:00
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| Sunday, December 25th, 2005
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12:51 am - Merry Christmas
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Maerry Christmas to all...May God Guide, Guard and Keep you
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| Sunday, December 18th, 2005
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9:01 am - Training Report 12/18/2005
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Hello Again ....
I had a pretty light week due to racing yesterday (12/17). My weekly total was 33 miles and it played out like this.
Sun - 9 miles easy
Mon - 6 miles easy
Tue - 6 miles at tempo
Wed - 6 miles easy
Thu - rest
Fri - rest
Sat - 5k race with WU/CD - 6 miles total for the day
My 5k left a lot to be desired. I ran a 22:00 and finished 6/11 in my age division. The best part of the day was watching my good friend John Fenton set a new personal record at 21:37. John and I ran the Knoxville Marathon together and have raced locally on a few occasions. Our next scheduled meeting will be at the Virginia Creeper Marathon on 03/12/2006. We may hook up before that should we find a race we both want to run.
I started my week out with a 13 mile long run. A satellite photo of it is below. I have a couple 6 mile loops I run regularly and I added a bit to them and ran both loops giving me a relaxing 13 miles.
<a
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| Saturday, December 10th, 2005
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3:58 pm - Training for W/E 12/10/2005
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I finished my week with 35 miles. The lack of a long run cut it back some but it did me good. My week stacked up like this:
Sun - 6 miles at 8:38 average pace.
Mon - 6 miles @ 8:40
Tue - 6 miles @ 8:50
Wed - 6 miles @ 8:27
Thu - 4 miles @ 8:23
Fri - Rest
Sat - 7 miles total at 7:47. This included a 6k race detailed next.
The race was in Mt. Vernon, Ky. I ran 26:26 (7:05 pace) and won my age division. The first mile was 6:50 and I hoped to hold that pace but it didn't happen. Mile 2 was 7:03, and mile 3 was 7:19. That means 5:13 for whatever was left to make up 6 kilometers. I think about .72 mile so that would be a 7:15 pace which is a slight improvement over the 3rd mile.
I'll race again on Saturday, 12/17 in Cincinnati Ohio with my good friend John Fenton. It's the Noel 5k held at a small local airport on the east side of town. It's a fantastic place for a race. I ran it last year and ran 21:16. John ran a 24:02. This year he feels he is trained to run a 21:30 so I hope to stay slightly ahead of him.
My next scheduled race after 12/17 will be the 10k in Mississippi on 01/14/2006. I don't know if I'll run the Hangover Classic in Louisville on New Year's Day or not. I've ran it the last 2 years and it's a great event. It's still a "maybe" at this point.
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| Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
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6:35 pm - Training Report 12/03/2006
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I had a very good week gang. I didn't race but I have races coming up on 12/10 and 12/17. My week stacked up like this:
Sun - 12 miles easy
Mon - 5 miles easy
Tue - A great hill work session. 6 miles total.
Wed - 6 miles easy
Thu - 6 miles total with 4 @ 7:22.
Fri - Rest
Sat - 14 miles easy
my hill session was fun. There's a hill on the road out of town that's about 1.5 miles up. The base of it starts 1.75 miles from the house so that was my warm-up. Then I ran a half-mile up the hill and jogged a quarter mile back down. Then up a half, down a quarter, then once more. I had 1.5 miles of hard work and then a 2.25 mile jog home. It was a workout.
I ended up with 2 long runs in my 7 day cycle since I went 12 miles last Sunday and 14 today. I'll be racing in Renfro Valley Ky. on 12/10 and in Cincinnati Oh. on 12/17. Stay tuned for results.
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| Sunday, November 27th, 2005
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10:24 pm - wedding and Thanksgiving
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We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day with a MAJOR surprise...my nephew came in for his mom's wedding...the funny thing is Wed. Kenda was over helping me get ready for Thanksgiving and she was telling me how they would have to eat and run...I told her I needed about 15 mins of her time. I had planned a small wedding shower for them a few games that kind of thing but when I told her I needed a few mins that I had a surprise for her she said " Oh Dea is my son coming in?"....I sais no honey I wish that was it but it's not....WELLLLL the next day he showed up I was surprised...I cried and cried..then when my sister came in she walked up to me and he was standing right next to me and she didn't even notice it was him...she asked me for a brush...it was so funny then she looked at him and screamed and there wasn't a dry eye in the room....
The wedding went great we all looked good...the picture is of ..David- the best man and John's son...Kenda- the bride and my sister...John the groom and me on the end...
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7:02 am - The training continues .....
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I finished Thanksgiving week with 29 miles of training. I reviewed my training for the two weeks prior to Thanksgiving Day last year and I did more and harder work and still ran a faster race. It's over now however, and time to move on.
I need to do more long interval type work at near lactate threshold pace of around 7:20. With the 10k goal only 7 weeks away, I need to be able to run at 90% HR or more for the 6.2 miles. Yesterday I did a 6 mile workout with 4 miles at a 7:30 pace. It's a start. Keep in mind, I need around 7:38 to hit my marathon goal in May so it's very important that I do these LT runs.
Racing in the near future will include a 6k in Renfro Valley, Ky. on 12/10, the Noel 5k at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati on 12/17, and maybe the Hangover Classic 10 miler in Louisville on New Year's Day. I also registered for a marathon in Virginia in March. My running pal from Norwood Oh. is running it and I decided to tag along and pace him. I may drop out after 20-22 miles since I'll consider it a training run.
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| Thursday, November 24th, 2005
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8:36 pm - Thoroughbred Classic 5k
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As usual, this annual 5k race in Lexington, Ky. drew a large crowd. I saw a race number of 1225. It's quite different from the usual 50-200 people who enter local races. There is a 10k in july and a 5k in August, both in Lexington, that draw 3500-4000 and this event is the 3rd most popular.
The weather was a cool 36° with winds upwards of 25 mph. On top of that I have had a stuffy nose and sneezing for 3 days and it all effected my performance. I ran an even 22:00 compared to last year's 21:29. Last year I was 5/62 in my A.D. and I'll post later how my time stacked up this year.
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| Sunday, November 20th, 2005
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5:16 pm - The Green Boys
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Here's a great shot of the "Green Boys" taken during the Detroit Marathon. My brother Robert is sporting a green bib number because it's his first marathon. Detroit uses this to recognize all the "greenies" and they get extra cheers from the crowds along the streets.
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3:54 pm - Photo of the happy couple!
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Here's a portrait taken of Mrs. Green and I on our night out. You can see the happiness in those faces!
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| Saturday, November 19th, 2005
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7:09 pm - 5k on 11/19
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I ran a 5k today on a fairly hilly course. Naturally, I like the hills but they do slow you down somewhat. I clocked a 6:08 first mile but that's where the good stuff ended. The second mile was 7:11 and the third, a 7:20. I did place second in my age division, once again getting beat by the guy who's been beating me all year. Someday I'll pass him. My best 5k so far has been within 20 seconds of him and in the Bluegrass 10,000 10k, my chip time was faster than his so I guess I won that race. He crossed the line first but I started farther back in the pack and I took longer to get to the start.
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| Wednesday, November 16th, 2005
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8:38 am - Non-scheduled rest day.
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I opted to take a non-scheduled rest day today. I've been working fairly hard and I want to be well rested for the upcoming 5k's. I want a true picture of where I am in the training picture. In reviewing April - June when I did my best 5k's, 22-28 mpw was the norm with usually Thu & Fri as rest. I'm at 20 miles now and I'll do probably 4 tomorrow with some strides. Another 5 miles on raceday will put me at 29. This is my 3rd week of serious training since Detroit and things are going well. With next week light due to the Thursday race, I'll have 7 weeks of good training time left before a light taper into the 10k on 01/14. I think I can do this.
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| Sunday, November 13th, 2005
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12:52 pm - My wonderful evening with the man of my dreams
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What can I say no words can't do justice to how magical and wonderful our date was for me. Being seen with Raymond is always a thrill for me but put him in a suit and man do the ladies turn to look at him....and the best part is..he is MY man. He looked so great I fell in love all over again. We had a wonderful evening from taking the pictures to the play everything was perfect.
He said he wanted to reward me because of all the races and marathoon he "drags" me off to. But what he doesn't realize is I'm rewarded everyday by his love and the warm loving person he is. I feel so blessed to be by his side and standing in all kinds of weather cheering for him as he comes acrossed that finish line.
Our life to together is like a marathoon, we both had to go through some training, wasn't always pleasant but the end result is we WILL finish the race of life TOGETHER and we are both the winners. This is the only marathoon I will ever be in and for me it is the best one.
I hope everyone will take time out of their busy life and "go on a date" with the person they are married to, believe me it will be worth it.
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10:30 am - A Night Out!!
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The time came to reward Mrs. Green for all those mornings I drag her off to 5k races and for those lonely marathon weekends. We have an old movie theater in town that hasn't shown movies in years but it's been remodeled and the local Art Guild has various live entertainment events there as well as local play productions. I saw on the marquee that they were having a "Tribute to Patsy Cline" show which is a lady who performs Ms. Cline's songs and performs just as if she were the late, great, Patsy Cline. I knew that with Sugar being an entertainer of the "country" persuasion, she'd love this show. I clipped an ad out of the paper and made up an invitation on the computer. I told her we'd dress our best and "do the town" complete with dinner.
Then I got thinking that we'd never had a photo taked of just the two of us since we'd been together. I secured an appointment with a portrait studio and told Sugar that as long as we were dressed up, we were going to the photographer. Naturally, I got no objection from her.
The evening was a complete success. We had the photos made and then went to dinner at Banana's. It's across the river from the Lodge at Boonesboro State Park where we were married. How sweet. Then it was off to the show. We arrived to a packed house, even though that's probably only 300 people. The show was fantastic and during the intermission, Dea saw a Lady she knows who judges the talent show at the Pioneer Festival each year. She told Dea she needed to do a Patsy Cline number at the show next fall. She thinks Dea is tops, as we all do!! Take a celebrity out in public and you have to expect things like this.
All in all, it was a storybook evening. Who'd expect anything else from us, right!!
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