All I can say is thank you, Smithsonian. They are finally taking steps to spruce up the Saturn V rocket lying on JSC’s front lawn. Every morning I drive through the gate and see the Saturn V, which is so impressive and yet so decrepit after years of lying under the Houston sun. There are animals living in it, the metal is rusting, the paint is flaking off in huge pieces. It’s a shame to let it decay out there, and I’ve talked about it more than once, even throwing out the offer of volunteering my own time to give the poor thing a fresh coat of paint. In the past couple weeks, I’ve seen people out inspecting it, but I didn’t get my hopes up that they might actually be preparing to make major improvements. But they are! Hooray!
It is such a cool and impressive piece of hardware, and it’d be a damn shame to let it waste away. I’m really, really glad they’re finally going to do something about it. I want to find out how to donate to the Save America’s Treasures fund the article talks about, as long as I can donate directly to refurbishing the Saturn V.
I don’t know why this news makes me so happy, but it really does.
Last night I finally went running for the first time in a couple weeks. I managed a 5K at just under 10 minute pace, but it was a struggle. Two weeks I think is right on the edge of starting to really lose my running fitness, so I needed to go. Since we’re not going camping this weekend (instead, maybe to Huntsville State Park for the day on Sunday), I’m going to run in the Resurrection Run on Saturday, which I just realized will be my first 5K since December, believe it or not. I’ve run four other races this year, but two were half marathons and two were 10Ks. So my athletic calendar now looks like this (italics aren’t definite, but knowing me…):
– Resurrection Run 5K this Saturday
– MS150 next weekend
– Bayou Bash relay, 2.81 miles each on April 24
– Speedo Women’s Triathlon (300 m swim, 10 mi bike, 5k run) in Sugarland on May 2
– On The Run 5K on May 8
– Beach to Bay relay in Corpus Christi, ~4.5 miles for each of 6 people for a total of 26.2, on May 15
– Summer Kick-off 5K on June 5
– Danskin Women’s Triathlon (1/2 mi swim, 12 mi bike, 5k run) on June 13
– Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4
– Lunar Rendezvous Run 5K on July 17
Whew. Three years ago I’d never run a race in my life, and now look what I’ve turned into. Sort of scary.
Last night after my run, I relaxed. The guy who bought my monitor off Ebay lives in Clear Lake also, so he came by to pick it up instead of paying for me to ship it all of two miles, but after that, I just watched TV. John Stevens is just not good enough to win American Idol, despite the public being idiots. Ugh. After that it was a brand new One Tree Hill, where they’ve entered some sort of reverse world where all the characters have adopted the opposite behavior of what they used to have. Lucas is the jerk now; Nathan is the nice guy. Peyton is the bitch now; Brooke has turned into the sympathetic character. It’s bizarre.
Oh well. Tonight I learn roadside maintenance for my bike and celebrate Stephanie’s birthday. Whee!
