The Big 2-0

My marathon training hit a milestone today--my first 20-miler. I was glad to have Beth with me for the first half to help break it up a little. It went something like this: 4+ miles out and back on our trail, then we did a little less than a mile out and back to check out how the finish of the half marathon goes that we're going to do in October.

Then, Beth took the car back home while I went on my way armed with my Ipod and one final Powerbar Gel. It went pretty well. There's a big uphill right out of the trail for about a mile or so. Then, I went into a county park and did about 5 miles in there (including running the XC course loop for the local HS). Then, a trip down the road through the cemetery and, before you know it, I was at 20 miles. It sure was getting hot for the last hour or so and I was glad I was among the trees and trails for a good bit of it.This brings up a good question though. Which was the tougher of the two: Trying to hang on to Beth's back wheel for 25 miles Saturday or the 20-miler today? I'm going to call it a push because both were REALLY hard and I was beat after both.

In other news, Penn State looked great against Akron for the first half. The O-line gave Clark all day to throw and, in fact, he set career highs in yards and TD's in the process of getting to know his new, tall (and still fast) receivers. Derek Moye from Rochester, PA (same as sprinter Lauryn Williams) is a quick dude for being 6'5". His senior year, he was the AA state champ in the 200 and 400. The secondary is still a question because they didn't really get tested since the D-line (espcially Odrick and Latimore) were in the backfield every play. Heck, Akron didn't even have a first down until the 3rd quarter. Dominating. The second half was a snoozer, but being up 31-0 at halftime works for me.

Last night, we went out to the Pirate game and were not disappointed. Beth's mom gave me a gift card for my birthday and I set it up for tickets and 'loaded' the tickets with $25 for concessions. I'll tell you, $25 at a baseball game sure doesn't go as far as it used to. An order cheesy fries, two large diet cokes, an order of 'Extreme Nachos' and we only had a $1.25 left. That didn't stop us from getting ice cream cones in the 7th inning.

Speaking of the 7th inning, we (while waiting in line for the ice cream) witnessed something that has only happened 43 times before in major league baseball. I was keeping an eye on the TV monitors while in line just to follow the action. If the game had any meaning you better believe I would have been glue to my seat the entire game. But, with it being a September game for the Buccos, I wasn't tuned in to every pitch. I noticed that pitcher Ross Ohlendorf (from the Nady/Marte trade last year) struck out the first player. Then I hear the crowd cheer as he strikes out guy number two. Finally the crowd cheers even louder as Ohlendorf finishes off striking out the side.

What's so impressive about striking out the side? Nothing. It happens all the time. What made this one special is that he did it on ONLY 9 PITCHES. Batter 1: Strike 1, Strike 2, Strike 3. Batter 2: Strike 1, Strike 2, Strike 3. Batter 3: Strike 1, Strike 2, Strike 3. That's pretty cool and something you usually only see in little league when there's this really big kid on the mound or in a fastpitch softball tournament when the hitters are just completely over matched. Pretty cool.

Other highlights include Oliver Onion winning the Pierogie Race (N'at), Ohlendorf only giving up one (unearned) run over 8 innings, and (unfortunately for the Pirates but still cool to see) Albert Pujols coming in and sending a Matt Capps fastball over the centerfield fence for an extra-inning pinch-hit game-winning home-run. The Buccos put guys on base in the 9th and 10th, but couldn't get a run across, losing 2-1.

The night was capped off with a Zambelli Fireworks show. All in all a good night to hang out with my sweetie.

Labor Day picnic tomorrow after morning XC practice then back to the grind on Tuesday.