Happy Trails from Sequin, TX & July Charity Reveal!

Run Stats:
Day: 218
Miles Completed: 799.8
Miles to San Diego: 1300.2
Avg Miles/Day: 3.7
Marathons Completed: 30.5
Longest Run Streak: 9 days
Shoes: Skora Fit/Skora Tempo
Playlist Favs: Little River Band

Bible Verse of the Day: Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength! Love your neighbor as yourself. (Deut 6:4-5 & Lev 19:18)

Run Reflections: This week has been a quieter running week, no falls and a couple of days off. Yesterday's run was the first one in a while where my legs felt like they had some energy in them. During my run this afternoon I will cross the 800 mile mark and virtually pass through the town of Sequin, TX. The info about this town came from wikipedia. I'm also going to share some info on the July charity so will keep this part short.

Seguin, TX: Seguin, is located on the northern edge of the South Texas Plains and is the county seat of Guadalupe County. Seguin is one of the oldest towns in Texas, founded just sixteen months after the Texas Revolution. The frontier settlement was a cradle of the Texas Rangers, the law enforcement agency not the baseball team, and home to the celebrated Captain Jack Hays, perhaps the most famous Ranger of all (before Chuck Norris that is). The Texas Rangers were unofficially created by Stephen F. Austin in 1823. Since 1935, the organization fulfills the role of Texas' state bureau of investigation.

Jack Hays was appointed to the Texas Rangers by Sam Houston in 1836 at the age of 19 upon the recommendation of his great uncle and current (then) president Andrew Jackson. Hays led the Rangers on a campaign against the Comanche Indians and commanded the force against the invasion from Mexico in 1842, a campaign in which the Rangers gained nationwide fame. He had a key role in the design of the legendary Colt Walker six shot revolver used in the old west.

Seguin was the home of Dr. John E. Park, who experimented in construction using concrete made from local materials. The nearly 100 structures—the courthouse, schools, churches, homes, cisterns, walls, etc.—made up the largest concentration of early 19th-Century concrete buildings in the U.S. About 20 of them remain standing.

The use of concrete largely ended when the railroad arrived in 1876, bringing cheap lumber and the equipment needed for brick-making. The town had five brickworks, and the wooden buildings of downtown were completely replaced with brick by the beginning of World War I.

To preserve some of the historic character of the town, Sequin became one of the state's first "main street" cities and the downtown was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Thanks to photographer Billy Hathorn, I have included some pictures of downtown Sequin - a picture of the 1916 Aumont Hotel and the Texas Theatre, originally designed and opened in 1931 and then restored and reopened in 2011. It was fun to imagine running down the main street of this town and seeing all this history.

Speaking of fun, here's a couple of other cool things I learned about things to do and see in Sequin:

• Pape's Pecan House and Nutcracker Museum features an awesome display of the world's largest collection of nutcrackers, from Germany, India and around the world.

• Speaking of pecans, Sequin is the home of the "World's Largest Pecan", a five foot long, two-and-a-half feet long concrete nut erected in 1962 in front of the county courthouse. Additional info including pictures can be found at the roadsideamerica web site.

• Sequin is one of the settings of the 1994 Janice Woods Windle historical novel True Women. The author grew up in Sequin and a self drive tour of sites in the book is available through the Chamber of Commerce. This best-selling nobel was the basis for the 1997 CBS miniseries adaptation starring Dana Delaney, Annabeth Gish and Angelina Jolie.

• ZDT's Amusement Park, a family owned, family oriented amusement park located in a re-purposed century-old agribusiness structure. It is Texas' highest indoor playground with tunnels and slides; wall climbing up former silos; a go-kart ride through, and on the roof of, an old warehouse; a modern parachute drop; a water ride and a wooden roller coaster.

July Charity: The charity we've selected to support with a donation for miles run in July is Amy May. Amy is the wife of Blake May who is the son of our good friends David and Tracy May. Blake and Amy have been out of school and married for a couple of years and live up in Atlanta, GA. Amy is a part of the Navigators ministry on the campus of Georgia Tech. According to the Navigators web site, "The Navigators is an international, interdenominational Christian ministry that helps people grow in Jesus Christ as they navigate through life. They do this by establishing life-on-life mentoring - or discipling - relationships with people, equipping them to make an impact on those around them for God's glory."

There are Navigators programs on a lot of college campuses and both Blake and Amy were involved with the program while they were in school. Theres a lot of different things that a young couple who are just starting out in the work world and in life could spend there time with and it is awesome to see that Amy is choosing to spend her time investing back into the lives of the next set of Ga Tech kids. All of her income as a part of this program comes from financial investments of friends, family and churches.

I was able to run 120.95 miles in July and it's a great pleasure for us to make a donation of $121.00 to Amy to provide a little assistance for the work that she is doing. I'd encourage you to check out the Navigators web site to look at all the different things they are doing around the world and see if anything resonates with you.

Alright gang, that's a wrap for this week. Thanks for the continued support and encouragement.

Go Team USA!!

God Bless,

Pat