Sitting in the airport in Milwaukee, drinking a cup of Starbucks coffee and eating a blueberry muffin, enjoying the pink/orange sunrise over the runways. Nice way to start a Saturday, with another small adventure underway en route to the BIG adventure I've got planned in a couple of weeks.

This week's marathon is the Callaway Gardens Marathon in the small town of Pine Mountain, Georgia. The first order of business, of course, is to get a decent pint of microbrew somewhere, which was accomplished at The Mellow Mushroom Pizza in Peachtree City. Sweet Georgia Brown Ale, from the Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta was on the menu, and along with a Hawaiian pizza, I was satisfied and ready to go. Bonus--I've been looking for some books to take along on my trip in a couple weeks, and they were selling used books there. The cause was the Mushroom's American Cancer Relay for Life team. So I picked up three used books for only a couple bucks each. Gave Karlee, my server, a $10 contribution for their team as well.

On to Pine Mountain. I stopped at the race HQ at Callaway Gardens and met Dave, the race director, picked up my packet, then went to town to shop a little bit.

The pasta buffet at the hotel was $20. Since I ate a late lunch and the pizza was sticking with me pretty well, I decided to save the cash and hang out in my room. It was a welcome relief from my "burning-the-candle-at-both-ends mode" I've been in for way too long now. I slept LOTS of hours, and was pretty fresh for the marathon the next morning.

About 100 people did the full marathon (300-400 in the half), which was two loops around the resort on a BEAUTIFUL course. Very little traffic, aid stations about every 2-3 miles, no congestion. We ran in a slight mist the first few miles, but as the day went on the sun poked out and gave us a little warmth. On the second time around, the 400 or so half-marathoners went to finish, so there weren't many of us left on the course. Still, there were people out there for company once in a while, and with a nice out-and-back from 19 - 23 miles, there were smiling faces and encouragement. I stayed strong all day, spotting someone ahead of me and catching them one after another all the way to the end. Finish time was 4:28:40. Celebrated a first marathon finish with a 16-year-old kid named Freddie. Saw a couple folks from the 50 States Club. It was a good day. Marathon #133. 47 consecutive months now. Two weeks until the BIG adventure begins.