Once again, Culllen raises the athletic bar. The duathalon (run-bike-run, rather than swim-bike-run, as in a triathalon) in Cambridge MD this morning was a real test of endurance. The first run was 12 k (7.5 miles), the bike race was 70 k (43 miles), and the last run was 8 k (5 miles).

The number of participants was small in the sense of numbers, but the field was made up of elite runners from all over the US. His wave went out at around 7:10 this morning, and, in 95 degree heat and high humidity, he finished— still able to run and speak coherently—in just under 3.5 hours. (I'll let him handle all the really technical details.)

For Tom and I, the weekend was just a nice little vacation. We went to Cambridge yesterday afternoon, found the race start and picked up maps, ate out at a great new restaurant in Easton, and had only a 20 minute ride to the start this morning.

Our job was to monitor the racers in his age group. Once we figured out the system—if we couldn't see the bib number, then we could check the number written on each runner's upper arm, and his age written on his leg—I think we could have done a sportscast. We knew Cullen was in 6th place in his age group at the end of the first run, where he stood after the first bike loop, and who the hotshots were who were ahead at the end.

Always good to watch a race where the ambulance isn't needed for the racer you are tracking!

On the home front, here's the garden at one of those times that are few and far between when almost everything is doing what it should, and whatever isn't flourishing is overshadowed by what is.