Trinity Six

This book had a lot going for it, but I was disappointed with the ending.  But I'll get to that.

The book starts off in London, 1992 with the death of Edward Crane.  He was 76 years old and died in a hospital. His obituary described him as a career diplomat.  On the surface nothing would seem strange abut a 76 year old man dying, but in time we learn that his death was not what it seemed.

Sam Gaddis is a professor at University College London in Russian History who gets involved in researching a ring of Soviet and British spies - the Trinity Six. He is tipped off by a journalist friend of his who dies after telling him about the story she is working on.  Sam is convinced she was killed to silence the story but has no proof.  He continues investigating on his own, drawing both the attention of MI6 and the FSB.  He wants to stop but is compelled by the story and hopes to score a big book deal with the completed story as he is heavily in debt.  

At times Sam's not sure who if anyone he can trust, although he continues to get information from multiple sources.  I enjoyed it until the very end.  While some reviewers were frustrated by Gaddis' mistakes I thought they made him more believable.  He is not a spy, he is an academic, of course he's going to make some mistakes and take some risks.  I feel like the ending wasn't very realistic, as all the loose ends are too neatly tied up in the end.  Not sure if Cumming is planning a sequel (this was published in 2011), which could make the ending make sense.  

Still I've missed the Cold War spy novels and this definitely is reminiscent of those. I also appreciated the similarities between the fictional President of Russia - Sergei Platov - and Vladimir Putin.  I would be willing to try another by this author, but first I think it's time I read one of John le Carre's since I never have.  

Arlington Park Family Days

This past weekend we joined my women's group at Arlington Park for Family Days.  Most Sundays through the summer, they have a section of the picnic area set up with stuff for kids.  Pony rides (REALLY long line), petting zoo, bounce house, jugglers, face painting, etc.  There's a little under 30 minutes between each post time, so enough time to wander around in between.  The kids liked feeding the animals at the petting zoo (sheep, goats, llama, donkey) but skipped most of the other attractions.

We got there a bit before the first post time, so took some time to study the day's races while we ate the lunch we had brought with us.  We placed  few bets on each race.  The lowest is a $2 bet, and we each picked a horse for each race, then my husband added a couple of daily doubles and trifectas to make it more interesting.  All in all he and I each picked one winning horse (I picked Sancerre in the first - yes, because it's a kind of wine), he picked Guava Girl in the second cause he liked the sound of the name.  None of the combo bets worked out for us.  Little Hugger wanted 3 Cat Rules and Cat Bells in the 3rd and 4th races (because she loves cats).  The both came in second so no luck on those.  Still the kids had fun.  We watched the horses get saddled up and warmed up in the paddock.

We cheered for our horses as they made it towards the finish line 

And we got to see one of the starts up close when they moved the starting gates

We had to leave before the really big races because Little Reader had a birthday party to go to.  We had fun despite ending the day down (no big surprise given that we picked our horses based on names and not much else).  If we go again, I would probably arrive later in time for the bigger races, but the kids didn't know the difference.

Fort 2 Base

I signed up for this race for two reasons 1) it was the perfect distance in my training for my half and 2) I would finally earn a medal.  So far none of the races I've run have handed out finishers medals.  Tshirts are great and all but I wanted some bling.  It's a really nice medal too with a decent weight.

I'm glad I did it.  It was a great race.  There are two distances 3.5 miles or 11.5 miles.  The 3.5 is around the Great Lakes Naval Station.  The 11.5 is the true Fort to Base.  It starts at Fort Sheridan and finishes at Great Lakes Naval Station.  I did the 11.5 and got up before dawn to drive the (according to my GPS) 26.2 miles ;) to the parking area.  There were shuttle buses from there to take the runners to the start.  I got to the parking a little before 6am (last shuttle was to leave at 615).  There was only one portapotty at the lot, (which caused a few complaints) but I figured there would be more at the start so got on the bus.  There were about 15 portapottys and just under 1000 runners.  There were lines but nothing crazy.  

The starting line was a banner between two army trucks.  There were pacers for this race so I lined up near the one running my pace, but didn't end up running with them.  Overall, it was a nice but tight course.  The first two miles wind through the residential areas of Fort Sheridan so the usual two lane road.  Miles 3-8.5 are on mostly on the bike path which makes it a little tight but is actual great if you're in a group with your same pace.  People were good about staying to the right and passing on the left.  Also most of the bike path was shaded which was nice. There are a few parts where you come off the bike path to run through train station parking lots.

Water stations were run by servicemen and women as well as volunteers.  I think having the service members there was a nice touch.  

Just before mile marker 9 you run through the gates to the base - which for me meant trying to summon the strength for Heroes Hill.  There's a downhill section and then a road that runs along the water on the backside of the base.  At the end of the back side is the Hill.  It's not long, but it is steep.  I made it up 75% before I had to walk.  I think if I hadn't had a cold I would have made it.  I walked a bit but when I saw the banner and the photographer at the top of the hill, I started running again, and did my best to smile. There was a Navy guy at the bottom of the hill spraying people with water if they wanted and a few others cheering us on and giving high-fives.  After leveling off I did need to walk a bit more but managed to run the final straightaway where my husband and kids were cheering me on.  

My goal was to finish under two hours - official time 1:56:32.  Next year I will run the whole thing, and I will conquer Heroes Hill.

I saw some online complaints that there weren't enough servicepeople cheering us on, I disagree.  Water stations were manned by Army, Navy and Marines as well as other volunteers.  Once we got on base Navy people were everywhere, giving high-fives, misting us with water, and cheering us on on Heroes Hill.  

I also thought it was cool that they announced everyone's name as they cross the finish line.  Not sure how they managed that but another nice touch.  

After collecting my medal and other goodies we walked around the main area of the base a bit.  The kids had fun climbing on the deck guns and seeing the one of the old fighter jets.





If you look closely at the jet you'll see that the pilot was LCDR John McCain.  The plaque doesn't mention that but when we looked up the USS Oriskany that is the aircraft carrier he served on.

It was a fun day and I look forward to running this race again next year.