No kidding. We three drove to the Batten Disease 5k Run/Walk, to be held in Phalen Park. However, as we approached the park, we and other drivers were waved off by an officer with a rifle. He actually used the rifle to wave! We took another route into the park, and were then informed that the race had been cancelled and would be rescheduled. We didn't ask questions because we were in a line of cars, but we could see a LOT of police vehicles across Lake Phalen at the northeast corner, where we runners would have passed on our route around the lake.
Information on the rescheduling, and ways to contribute to combat Batten Disease, will be here. Click on 5k Run/Walk.
Back at home, we learned that a Maplewood police officer had been shot and killed attempting to apprehend a pair of carjackers in the early morning, and those two were still at large and presumed armed. At this writing it appears that one of the cop-killers has himself been killed, but the other is still loose and may have escaped the police perimeter. I don’t know more than that. It’s a big story and will be amply covered by the local media.
Before driving to Phalen, we three went to Stillwater to join the St Croix Valley Runners in their usual 5-mile run. Plenty of people showed up that I had not seen recently - we had a nice-sized group. I took it easy and finished with the last runners, thinking that I was going to run a 5k in a couple of hours, but was nevertheless back to the start in 45:30. That is a pace of 9:06, not so bad.
No pains, no strain. Time to ramp up the mileage a little perhaps.
I read about this race earlier on Steve Q's blog, and then I saw all of that transpiring on the news yesterday and was wondering about it. How senseless and tragic.
ReplyDeleteStrange that the Batten race is put on by a couple who work for the White Bear police and that the Joe Plant 5K the next day in the same place is in honor of a fallen officer. The runner who came to the assistance of the slain officer is a retired firefighter with EMT experience and had a brief stint with the police. The Maplewood chief of police who was interviewed used to be Sgt. Bergeron's partner. City councilman Bostrom, also interviewed, lives 1/4 mile from the scene on Lake Phalen and he also used to be a police officer!
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