Pictures.... Finally!

Without any further ado, here are some pictures from last week's TNT practice at Valley Green! Over the past few months, we've become kind of attached to our team. I suspect that, on the second weekend in June, we will sort of still want to go to practice-- if only just to see all our friends!

6:45am: Dan stops to admire some of the scenery at Valley Green in Chestnut Hill. We were SURE it was going to rain, but the sun came out and it was a beautiful morning! Good thing we started so early... as we were leaving, the entire street was packed with cars and people that wanted to enjoy the park!

Teammate Lucretia & Survivor Randee arrive for practice. Lucretia will be walking the full marathon in Anchorage, Alaska on June 23rd! Randee is a cancer survivor, and is at every practice to walk with us and encourage us!

7:00am: Assistant Coach Linda gives us a pre-practice pep talk! This week's topic? "Mental preparation for Race Day". We'll picture ourselves crossing the finish line! While Linda is talking, Teammate Lori, Mentor Cheryl, and Teammate Kathy do some stretching. Looks like Lori will be FLYING to San Diego. "I just flew in from Philadelphia, and BOY are my arms tired!"

7:20am: Before we start walking, Head Coach Jerry reviews our mileage for this practice: 20 miles for the Full Marathoners, 13 for the Half. Jerry likes to make sure we all know where we are going:

"Don't worry, it's pretty much impossible to get lost around here. If you end up on Lincoln Drive, you've gone too far!" Thanks, Jer! He's like a little Papa-Duck looking after us little ducklings...

7:31am: A tortoise eye's view of practice! We all set off on our walk on a lovely morning. The course is five miles up and five miles back.

8:30am: Look! It's Papa Duck Jerry watching over all of us cute and fuzzy ducklings!

Mile 4.5: I get lapped by Dan and Assistant Coach Ben. Ben's a legend: at the Walt Disney World Marathon, Ben did "The Goofy"-- the Half Marathon (13.1 miles) one day, and the Full Marathon (26.2 miles) the next! All I can say is WOW!!

11am (only 10 miles done because of my stupid foot): We are always happy to see our wonderful Summer Team Coordinator, Robyn, at the "finish line". She's also Head Coach Jerry's wife- guess that makes her our Mama-Duck! Robyn's always waiting for us with a smile, some encouraging words, and a big bucket of Gatorade! Thanks for everything that you do, Robyn!