The Payneful Old Runner

When I was in my 30's I enjoyed running and competed in a number of 5K and 10K races in Louisiana.  I was on the AT&T Corporate Cup Team that ran in a 10K starting and ending at the Super Dome as well as running another 10K through the French Quarter.  It definitely kept the weight off and also added to my tee shirt collection.   Many of the small town food fests in southern Louisiana had a race associated with it so it was a fun thing to do on the weekends.  After moving to Memphis, life became more complicated and,  although I did some jogging to keep in shape, my racing career ended.   Even the jogging ended within a year after moving to Leiper's Fork near Franklin, TN.  My racing career was resurrected this past spring when I "accepted" an invitation by my daughter Rachel to run with her and several other family members in the St. Jude 1/2 Marathon in Memphis in December.   My training started slowly but once I retired in July, reality set in and I started to get serious about preparing for this race.  Since I do better with short term goals, I registered and ran in a local 10K race in September and then Rachel (yep, the daughter that talked me into all this), again talked me, as well as others in my family, to form a team and run in a turkey trot 5K race on Thanksgiving day.  She even made team tee shirts for our team ("No Payne, No Gain" was our slogan) and it was a lot of fun running with the family.    I actually completed the St. Jude 1/2 Marathon on December 1st placing 19/39 in my age group.  I will be the first to confess that I am much slower than when I ran 30 years ago (I wonder if the twenty extra pounds might also have something to do with it?) but I actually am starting to enjoy running again.  Rachel and I have registered for the Little Rock 1/2 Marathon in March and might even run in the St. Jude again next year.  Below are a few pictures of my resurrected running career.

 Team "No Payne - No Gain" just before the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day in Franklin, TN.  Included in the picture:  Me, Becky, Rachel, Eric (son-in-law), Tim (son-in-law), Cassie and her son, Caleb.

 Myself and my son, Justin, before the St. Jude 1/2 Marathon in Memphis

 My daughter, Rachel, and me after completing St. Jude.

 Rachel, me and Justin after completing St. Jude

 The entire extended family members who started and completed the 1/2 Marathon: Mandy (daughter-in- law), Bill Bellican (Mandy's dad), me, Justin, Rachel, Eric

I was hungry after the race and they kept on giving me free food.  What was I to do?

The family history of George our pet opossum

Since the Spring of 2011, my yard has been the play area of a family of opossum  that have created some fun but also some frustration.   One member of this little family was found in our outside trash can and almost ended up at the landfill.  Unfortunately, one began  digging up the yard so, it had to go.   Below is the brief family history of George, our family opossum.

I am not sure if this is George at conception but it was a strange sight to see early one morning

 I was at the landfill about ready to unload one of the trash cans, when I looked into the trash can and found our little George.  Why I brought George home to show Becky is a mystery.

A picture of George in his new temporary home after I trapped him for digging up my yard.

Our last picture of George before I drove him off to his new home about a mile from my yard.  George, I don't ever want to see your ugly face in my yard.  Now my next project is getting rid of my mole family.