Belle Isle Run

Often I am awake before the alarm on Saturday mornings. But not today. When the alarm sounded at 5:30 I was dead to the world. I struggled to wake up as I shaved. Fortunately, I was able to shake the cobwebs out of my brain and get ready for training.

It was about 45 degrees warmer for our team training today than it was a week ago, even though temperatures slowly dropped as we trained. No frozen Gator Aid this week! Our route was one of my favorites because it went out to Belle Island in the James River, on a footpath by the Hollywood Rapids. That part is almost like doing a little hike. My training was about 11 miles, according to my pedometer – not counting our warm-up lap around the lake. I ran about 20% of the first half and about 50% of the second part of training.

Our teammate Eric gave the mission moment today, talking about his brother Mark who perished from Leukemia as a young man. He talked about his (Eric's) son joining him for the last 10K of his first marathon in honor of his Uncle Mark, who he had never met. He also talked about a spectator in that marathon stepping in front of him on the race course with a big sign that said "thanks to you, I am alive!" It was very moving to us all.

I took lots of photos, so you will get good views of much of the route.

Amber prepares one of many chalk messages for the new Monument Avenue 10K Team, which started training today. You have to get up pretty early on a Saturday to be ahead of us!

Another one of Amber's messages to our teams.

We put our hearts, our souls, and our feet into doing Team in Training with the hope of curing cancer in our lifetimes!

Yours Truly with "Coach Henry", Coach Getchen's dog. His coaching advice to me was "go home, chew on a rawhide toy for a while, and take a nap!"

The team starts out on our training with a jog around the lake as it starts to get lighter.

A couple of miles in, we came to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, a beautiful church outside and especially inside.

Paul returns across the Belle Isle foot bridge, about a mile ahead of Theresa and I, who are heading towards the island.

The view upriver from the footbridge suspended under the Robert E. Lee Bridge.

Looking downriver towards downtown Richmond. The tall building in the center is the Federal Reserve, designed by the same architect who designed the World Trade Center.

Hollywood Rapids from the path on Belle Isle.

Hollywood Cemetery across the James River.

The one mile footpath that circles Belle Isle is the nicest part of this training route and is my favorite spot in downtown. You have no idea you are in a major city. Belle Isle was a horrific prisoner of war camp for Union soldiers during the Civil War. It is now a peaceful and serene place.

The Hollywood Rapids are class 3 and 4, and often attract canoeists and kayakers. They would be far above my abilities, but it always looks like they are having a lot of fun. No one was using the river today. People drown on occasion here, so caution and life jackets are necessary.

Here, Theresa and I meet Kristi, Nancy, and Cathy coming towards the island as we leave it.

The route from Belle Isle headed east for a while, then north, and finally to the west, passing the State Capital.

The historic Bell Tower on the capital grounds. From here, I headed down Franklin Street through the downtown, past Virginia Commonwealth University, and down beautiful Monument Avenue.

Monument to Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart, mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern about 10 miles north of Richmond, May, 1864.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee sits astride Traveler.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis is giving a speech, I guess. I think he is saying "Boy, I never thought I'd see a monument to civil rights and racial equality in this town!" But we do indeed have a beautiful memorial to this cause, as of 2008, right on our capital grounds!

At the Virginia Historical Society is one of the saddest monuments I've ever seen, dedicated to the 1,500,000 horses and mules that perished during the American Civil War from battle, starvation, disease, and exhaustion. You cannot look at this statue of a starving, exhausted horse without feeling sad.

Back at the park, another one of Amber's chalk messages. Team in Training is indeed dynamite!!!

Jen, Amber, and Nicki return from the training run.

For some reason, I felt so hungry the last couple of miles, with my energy flagging. So to find out that Paul had made corn muffins for the team AND brought a jar of honey to go with them was like striking gold! Oh but they were good!