What a weekend!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. It was jam packed with all kinds of activities and great sporting events. For us, the 4th means running the Peachtree Road Race and then going over to the in-laws for their annual 4th of July pool party and fireworks. There was a great turnout for the party and at dusk we moved the party to the Cherokee Country Club golf course for prime viewing of their fireworks display. This was no wimpy local display, this was a strong display probably their best in years. The kids loved running around on the perfectly manicured fairways with their flashlights and glow sticks while the grown ups sipped some wine and relished in the fact that all of the kids were going to sleep well that night!

Earlier in the day we participated in the 40th Peachtree Road Race. In my dreams I am a Kenyan, but in real life I am a middle aged, out of shape, white guy. So my time wasn’t record setting but I will say I did better than I expected. I ran the 6.2 miles in 48 minutes and 46 seconds. I did beat my goal by a few minutes but it is not my best time ever. I am pretty happy with that time and I never felt like I was hurting at any point of the race. Maybe next year I will train more seriously and take a shot at beating the family record. But knowing me, I would say the family record is pretty safe!

Here are some of the 55,000 runners!

Also, this weekend was a great weekend for sports! There was a lot of action in the NHL and NBA for free agents and both the Hawks and Thrashers have made some big signings that should significantly help the team. I will probably write more on some of the signings later in the week.
On Saturday, the first stage of the Tour de France took place and it was a good one. The time trial in Monaco was great. In a city known for the Grand Prix cars, the cyclist held up their end of the speed expectations with some blistering times. I am a tour fanatic and those guys amaze me. Now that Lance is back on the bike, it makes it all even more exciting. I am sure I will also be writing a lot more about the Tour in the weeks to come.

Here is a shot of the peleton crusing through the vines of Provance.


There was also some great baseball and golf played this weekend. Tiger Woods won his own tournament at Colonial but it wasn’t a cakewalk for him. He had to birdie the 16th to break his tie with Hunter Mayhan to win it. I was really hoping Anthony Kim was going to give Tiger a run, but his putter let him down. Speaking of being let down, the Braves pitching really let us down in Washington over the weekend while dropping two out of three games. But on a high note, Brain McCann was named to the All-Star team this weekend.
But the most intriguing sporting event of the weekend was the Men’s Final at Wimbledon. What an incredible match! Talk about holding serve! There have been longer matches in Wimbledon history, but maybe none as stressful to the players and the viewers. It was the longest match and longest fifth set in Grand Slam history in terms of games, 77 total! Federer had 50 aces in the match, that is mind boggling! I was completely torn while watching this match. I am a big fan of Federer and I am happy to see him get his 15th major title, but I really wanted to see Andy Roddick win a Wimbledon title. I feel that Roger Federer will definitely play for another Wimbledon title, but I am not so sure about Roddick. He seems to have a hard time on the grass and usually falters to lesser talent in the early rounds aslo, he is American! But he did play an amazing match, not losing his serve for the entire match until the 30th game in the 5th set. That is just incredible! I really feel that he won over a lot of fans yesterday and even though he didn’t win, he probably played the best match of his life. Maybe this will be a turning point for him and now he will consistently be in the top 5 in the world for a while.
Here is Roger and Andy after the epic match!

You have to give it to Federer, he outlasted Roddick and he did it in front of not only Royalty but in front of tennis Royalty. Pete Sampras, Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg were in the Royal box and other great players like John McEnroe and Boris Becker were commentating the match for TV. Federer now holds the most major titles with 15, breaking the tie he was in with Sampras at 14. Keep in mind, Federer is only 27 and I am sure there will be more major titles to come for the number ranked player in the world.

Again, what a great weekend for seeing family and friends and for watching some great sports action. Too bad they all can’t be like that!