Thanks to the pandemic, there are no marathons or other running races happening. Then Dear Husband stumbled across the Great American Relay. It is a partnership between the Boston Running Club and the American Association for Cancer Research with 379 stages between Boston and Los Angeles over 36 consecutive days. Because this is a topic that affects DH personally, and because he has missed the chance to do any competitive running this year, he invited our church's new pastor to join him. The legs close to Pittsburgh were already subscribed, so he signed them up for an 8-mile stretch an hour east of here in the Laurel Highlands.
Luckily, I did not have clinical responsibilities on that day, so I drove the two of us out there. It was a beautiful day for a drive sunny. I just wish there had not been a pandemic, so we could have explored the cute little towns of or Ebensburg. As it was, I dropped DH off at the Sheetz, where he met up with the race organizer, Vince, and his running partner. This is the starting line. They set off along the county route, and I drove to the local public library, where I had quiet and free internet to chart review on my patients for the week. I wished I could have visited the local historical society.
On my way to the exchange point, I drove past Ebensburg's war memorial, the namesake of the park in which he would be handing the baton off to the next runner. It was originally planned in 1912, then dedicated in 1915. There are 5,500 names of wartime veterans from Cambria County. A time capsule was buried in 1975, and the park was rededicated in 2011 to veterans in peacetime, too. You can see some pictures here.
Unfortunately, they made excellent time AND I took a wrong turn getting back, missing the triumphal arrival and baton exchange. Luckily Vince and the guys got some photos; here is a backlit one of them at the parks sign. Unfortunately, DH had wrenched his ankle after stepping into a hole while running on the berm. This made the run less satisfying for him then it might have been, because it kept him off his feet for several weeks afterward. However, he was able to follow the progress of the other relay runners on Facebook.
The last leg ended yesterday with a dip in the Pacific Ocean. We feel sympatico with the final runners, as we visited the Santa Monica Pier in the last week or so before everything shut down for COVID-19. Here are some photos from our spring break trip.
Kudos
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