x: Celebrating Mom's 12 Mile Walk

It rained most of Friday as a cold front came into the area. Even the rain was welcome to cool down much of the high temperatures we've had over the past couple of weeks. And the "cold" front would be a welcome relief, just in time for the big 4 hour walk that was planned for Saturday.

Friday night, none of us got any sleep. There was always something... whether it was Fred meowing in the bathtub or some car honking alarm going off at 3am. 5:15am came way to early.

But Mom and I got up, had a little bite to eat, and headed over to North Shore Pool to meet the Tampa Bay Fit group to start our 4 hour walk. We pretty much stayed with the TBF group for the first four miles, then ventured out on our own.

4 miles into the walk, just as daylight breaks.

There was a lot going on in St. Pete this weekend and that helped to keep the walk pretty interesting. In addition to the TBF group, there were so many others out walking and running. We made it back to North Shore Pool just in time to see Tim before he headed out on the 7am bike ride. Then we made a stop at the car to grab some money so that we could walk through the Farmers Market during our walk.

During this little stop, we spied this squirrel with a piece a huge piece of bread.

We continued walking south through town down to Roser Park where we encountered our "little Diamond Head" - the one steep but short little hill that will had to climb. Just a reminder of what awaits us in Hawaii. Then we stopped in at Bayfront Medical Center, another of our water stops. After Bayfront, we walked back towards downtown and walked quickly up and down each row of the Farmers Market. We made two quick stops. One to take a picture of Mayor Rick Baker (on the left) strumming and singing Jimmy Buffet songs, and the other so that I could buy some homemade cat treats!

On the left is Mayor Rick Baker, providing

entertainment at the Farmers Market.

We cruised through downtown and peeked into the restaurant where Robert Irvine was supposed to have his new place "Ooze and Schmooze". But that fell through and they opened a Seafood and Tap House.

Then, we hooked up with a bunch of walkers out for a Breast Cancer 5k Walk. All of the activity around town made it so much easier to get through the 4 hour walk. But both of us were getting a little tired toward the end. The legs were aching at around 11 miles and we covered just over 12 miles in the four hours.

Mom did great!!! Today's walk should give her a lot of confidence that she'll be able to finish the Honolulu Marathon.

But after our walk, we were both very short on brain cells. We stopped at Publix to get some bagels for breakfast. Mom paid for the groceries, grabbed the receipt as it printed out (the cashier had just stepped away), and we headed out the door. Thats when I remembered that we forgot the bagels!! So we went back inside and as Mom paid for the bagels, she realized that she had forgotten to sign the receipt for the other groceries, so we almost stole our breakfast from Publix!

She signed the receipt and handed it to that first cashier - who had been wondering what was up - and then we decided to head straight home so we wouldn't get into any more trouble.

After breakfast, we all got a good rest and sat around watching some great (and some pitiful) college football.

Then, we all headed back over to Vinoy Park for the concert in the park by the Florida Orchestra. It was kind of refreshing sitting out under the stars with our jackets on, listening to the orchestra, with a handful of friends.