Have a heart

The Lowcountry Heartwalk was yesterday, and we were all there with bells on. Make that athletic gear on. Even J was decked out in his velour Radio Flyer tracksuit, which I thought might be overkill and too warm but which turned out to be perfect, given the vaguely nasty turn the weather took. Very cool temperatures with spitting rain, great for us walkers but bad for babies in strollers.

We left the house at 7:30 am and went downtown for the opening ceremonies. There were lots of health-related booths giving out the usual trinkets, including the survivors' tent where this year they were giving out specific white stroke survivor hats for the first time. So I got one of those and some blueberry scones and some cinnamon rolls and shared with the husband, who could only get a banana or an apple, not having had a stroke, you see. The bandstand microphones were unnecessarily loud, and I was worried J wouldn't even get a hint of his morning nap, but we bundled him up under a blanket, and, by race start time, he had fallen asleep, loud noises notwithstanding. He stayed that way for a while, but even his exhaustion wasn't enough to overcome Charleston's ancient and therefore awful sidewalks. Thank goodness for safety straps or he would have been ejected from his seat several times!

The race route took us through downtown, around the Battery, and back again. It was a grey day, bad for tourists, perfect for a health walk. We finished in record time (for us), got out the parking garage almost as quickly, and went out for brunch (because there's nothing better to do after a walk for heart health than have an island potato casserole at the Charleston Cafe, now is there? (Umm, yes, that would be scrambled eggs, tomato cream sauce, turkey, and bacon on a bed of grilled peppers, mushrooms, and onions over "chippers," thinly sliced fried potatoes. Ahem.)

Then, later that afternoon, we bought a new stroller, because the husband got a blister using the one we have, which is just a TAD too short for him and, apparently, causes him bodily harm. And the new stroller just happens to be GREEN! Huzzah!