North Carolina State Fair

George and I made it to the North Carolina State Fair last night and had a fun time. We almost didn't go, then the lines for tickets were so long, we almost turned back around. We found a shorter line to get in, and we were glad we did. It was a beautiful night to be out and about! It was really crowded inside, though--big surprise, with it being the last Saturday night of the fair. We enjoyed the crafts, bunnies, and various exhibits. Of course, we had some roasted corn (sans butter, of course), which was yummy. Later, George stopped for ice cream, and I was able to find a place nearby that served a decent garden salad for $5. (The rest of the fair food was tempting at times! George's ice cream looked really good, of course! And I must admit, I was both intrigued and repulsed by all the deep fried delicacies offered at the fair: cheesecake, candy bars, even deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Coca-Cola (how does THAT work??)!) At the end, we went to the Village of Yesteryear area and poked around while waiting for the fireworks to start. (The tobacco barn display was warm inside, which felt good at that point of the night!) The fireworks were surprisingly impressive, bright and loud, but parts were quite pretty!

I'm always impressed by the crafts with ribbons hanging from them, and wonder how people get to that level. Is it through a county fair? How does one enter? Of course, I'd love to get good enough at something to have the confidence to enter! ;-) I guess a big part of it is how I choose to spend my time!

We plan to go back next year, but plan a little better for the things we'd like to see and do.

I'm a Joiner

I decided to join a local running club called the Carolina Godiva Track Club, and see where it leads. At the least, the monthly newsletters will offer some more information than I already have, especially about running at the local level. The club sponsors several weekly group training runs in the area, but right now the distance and pace of all the runs are out of my league. That tells me how far I have to go before I'm where I want to be, fitness-wise, which is a little mind-boggling right now. Oh, I know I'm making progress, but the carrot is still dangling pretty far ahead of me.

I have decided to do another 5K road race this weekend, the Autism Ribbon Run in Raleigh. I think that running in more local races will help me get to know other local runners, in addition to the running club. I've eyed several November races, and think I might try to do a 5K every month or so. Perhaps that's ambitious...we'll see how Saturday's race goes! When I participated in the Cary Road Race last April, it took me the rest of the weekend to recover, and I was sore into the following week. This weekend, I've got too much to do! Saturday night, George and I are joining our ERUUF Covenant Group to make and serve dinner at the homeless shelter. Sunday afternoon, George and I are meeting friends at the North Carolina State Fair.