Go Cheryl!!!!!!!

Hi All,

Cheryl is almost in London. Okay, she will be here tomorrow. We actually have a lot planned while she is here, no need for details other than flying off to Rotterdam so she can run another marathon. Ok I did say marathon and am amazed she found time to train for this one. We were talking the other day and figured out this one was going to be really tough compared to the last one. Heck, she has already done two and one of those just last October, so we all know she can do it. So everything about this one is tougher, finding the motivation to train through the winter in DC just had to be really hard if not impossible, but she did it and is as ready as she can be to run 26.2 miles in the rain on Sunday.

So this is the post that will push her on to the finish line on Sunday. Either that or just a bunch of pictures I took over the weekend.

To start things off, London is being invaded yet again, this time by mysterious snow people. Make sure you click on the pictures to get the larger version. Notice the distinct lack of snow anywhere else in the picture. Makes you wonder how they got there. I think the one on the right saw me so I made a quick exit. The motivational theme behind this picture is: Run, Run away, Your being chased by snow people with......no legs. Ok you will probably be safe if you just walk away at a slow meandering pace, probably even stop for coffee.

As I was running away, I happened upon this lot. What could this guy have done to be forced to dress like that and run through central London on the coldest day in April. All he has to keep himself warm is that little torch thingy. Anyway, he certainly had quite the following, I decided not to join his little group as they didn't seem to care for others joining in.

There did seem to be large crowds of people all around, and a whole lot of yelling going on but I figured they were probably just excited about this guy and his torch and what it represented. Anyway, back to the motivational theme: Run and there will always be people to cheer you on, wow that one was kind of nice.

After the run is over you might as well just head for home. Some people have larger homes than others and they like to show them off...for a fee. One such home is Windsor Castle. This is where the current Queen resides. As far as castles go, this one is pretty nice. The flag on top lets you know if the queen is in residence or not.

For anyone interested here is just a small bit of History borrowed from this website.

Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. Visitors can walk around the State Apartments, extensive suites of rooms at the heart of the working palace. For part of the year visitors can also see the Semi State rooms, which are some of the most splendid interiors in the castle. They are furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection including paintings by Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck and Lawrence, fine tapestries and porcelain, sculpture and armour.
Within the Castle complex there are many additional attractions, including the Drawings Gallery, Queen Mary's dolls' house, and the fourteenth-century St. George's Chapel, the burial place of ten sovereigns and setting for many Royal weddings.

Below is St. George's Chapel where King Henry VIII is buried. He died in 1547 and is buried next to his 3rd wife Jane Seymour who died 10 years earlier. This was a trivia question on a quiz show I saw last night, I got one right.

All in all, it's a very cool castle, not quite as cool as this one that Cheryl and I saw while we were in Germany in November, but still very cool. More about the German castle in a later post as I try to catch you up on our European vacation.

Anyway back to the theme of this post. Cheryl, again I would like to let you know how amazed I am that you are attempting this, and how proud I am that you have found the will and desire to go through with all the training and hard work required to prepare for another marathon. We all wish you good luck on the run on Sunday. I can't wait to see you tomorrow.

I'll try to post pictures of Cheryl's visit sometime next week.