Yesterday's new thing was participating in the Meet Me Downtown 5k night run and walk. I've never had a lick of athletic ability so the run part was not going to happen, but I did take a crack at the walking part.
Heather, one of the hosts of the TV show, put together a little team of people from the show and TV station as well as a co-worker of her's from the Gaslight Theatre -- along with a few significant others. Heather arranged to get matching shirts made for all of us and we looked like a real team.
I've walked that far a few times in my life but it's been years. I'm not that far from 50 years old and figured there were a number of possibilities that would be the outcome of participating: I'd have a heart attack and die, I'd be so awesome that out of our group I'd be the only one that finished, a giant meteor would strike the event route and I'd be the only one there with a camera and get photos that I could sell for millions, or the most likely outcome would be that I would finish it pretty effortlessly (along with my teammates) and be able to say I did it. That's exactly what happened.
The side note for this -- is that yesterday was the first 100 degree day we've had in Tucson this year. It increased the difficulty level slightly but other than my legs being a little stiff in the last mile I did just fine and had no problems. It would have been more fun if a meteor had landed so I would have an epic story to tell, but it wasn't meant to be.
The complete set of photos that I shot can be seen by clicking this link. Here are a few highlights:
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| Start / finish line in front of the Children's Museum Tucson about an hour before the Meet Me Downtown 5k was scheduled to start |
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| People getting massages. Woman on the table on the left looks like she was waiting to be mounted. |
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| Tucson's finest providing security for the event across from the San Carlos Apartments |
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| Calm before the storm... looking north on 6th Avenue |
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| Lawn in front of the Children's Museum Tucson |
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| Cool sign on a 6th Avenue building near Armory Park |
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| Food trucks |
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| My teammates begin to arrive. Tina, Brin, Alex, and Jacinda |
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| Of course there's a beer garden at a fitness related event. |
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| The Morning Blend team assembles: Brin, Alex, Tina, Jacinda, Heather, Aaron, Summer |
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| Alex chats with Daniela of the Children's Museum Tucson |
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| Participants of the kid's run line up at the starting line |
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| Children's Museum Tucson was one of the beneficiaries of the funds raised from the Meet Me Downtown 5k |
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| The Educational Enrichment Foundation was another beneficiary. That's Randy Accetta of the Southern Arizona Roadrunners in the yellow hat. |
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| The kid's run gets underway. It was a one mile course and if I could have gotten away with it I would have participated in that instead. |
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| About 3000 runners and walkers participated in this event. Photo of the crowd as the sun sets on a hot day. |
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| Heather winks, everyone else waits to get started |
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| We get in position |
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| I brought up the rear of our team so I could get a photo of their rears. |
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| Behind Greg, Heather, Summer and Aaron one block into the course |
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| Action photo of the participants behind me. In case you're wondering, they all passed me shortly after this photo was taken. I'm slow. |
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| A few folks in the downtown neighborhoods sprayed people to keep them cool as they went by. |
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| Tucson Firefighters going by. Yes, they also passed me. I'm slow. |
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| Another squirter |
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| A squirter behind a fence |
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| Heather dances in the water |
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| I finally know where KY is made. |
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| "Ugly But Honest" That should be my slogan. |
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| We made it one mile! Woooooooooo! |
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| Live music performed at various locations throughout the course. |
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| I tried one of these cups of water. Best described as "warm" |
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| Ken Carr Photo Art: I call this "Four guys on a roof" |
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| Tucson has drive thru liquor stores. Here's one of them. |
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| One block from finishing the 5k. Wooooooooooooooooo! |
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| Summer and Aaron lead the charge to the finish line |
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| If you pretend you're running at the end of a 5k, will anyone believe it? |
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| Waiting for noodles at a food truck |
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| This food truck had a flat screen TV showing sports. In unrelated news, this guy is missing a shirt and I was worried he'd catch a cold in the chilly 95 degree night air. I asked him, he said he was ok. I tried to be helpful. |
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| Table in the beer garden. Runners / walkers are apparently a thirsty group of people. |
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| Tina, Alex, Greg sitting on a chair, and Heather pose for a photo |
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| Team Morning Blend at the Meet Me Downtown 5k Night Run and Walk We did it! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! |