My Week that Was - September 14

Ironman athletes. 9/8/24 dwm

The week started with a beautiful weekend. Sunny skies and mild temperatures, highs in the 60s on Saturday and 70s on Sunday.

I took advantage of Saturday with a long ride on the Military Ridge State Trail. It's named for the path used by Native Americans to travel across the Oak Savanna landscape. You can read about it in last Tuesday's blog.

Sunday was a big day around Madison as the are hosts a large number of Ironman athletes. This race has won popularity contests with the athletes themselves, which creates strong numbers of participants and spectators.

The 112-bike portion of the race circles through Verona twice, literally steps from our front door. It begins with a 2.4 mile swim in Lake Mendota and finishes with a marathon, 26.2 mile run that finishes on Capitol Square.

The logistics of hosting a race can make it more difficult to move around with some streets and intersections closed or tightly controlled during the event. We are able to get in and out, but once we get home from church we stay off the roads.

Turning onto Main. 8/8/24 dwm

 I ventured farther down the route to get different shots as the men and women go east on Cross Country road then make a 90-degree turn right on to Main Street.

 This year local officials closed Main Street from Cross Country all the way to Verona Avenue to keep riders from harm and create a space for a number of events aimed at spectators.

 It's a busy day on city streets as a large soccer tournament is held at a city park that attracts 1,000 or more people between the kids and their families who descend on the Redden Soccer complex.

Tuesday afternoon on the drive home from a meeting downtown, the Beltline was backed up for a stretch because of an accident. I was fortunate to come along an hour later as things were getting cleared. I wasn't moving fast, but we were moving.

Wednesday, between other things I was working on I started organizing the fourth quarter birthday cards. The envelopes are printed three months at a time. Once the cards are placed in order, I take the cards home to sign them. It's a perfect task while watching a ballgame. 

Thursday afternoon was the ninth of ten planned rickshaw rides for residents since May. It was a busy afternoon as another volunteer joined me in giving trips around the campus.

Friday was the second cookout for members of the Oak Tree Circle, our society for donors who give automatically. 30 people came for lunch this week, add last week's attendance of 25 and more donors took part this year than the previous years combined!

It was a full week. I'm ready for the weekend, aren't you?