My wife is a big time walker.
She was registered to to walk in the 'Jump Right in and Run' half marathon and 5k walk here in beautiful Storm Lake, Iowa, so we had to hurry home from the big Tea Party of America rally that Governor Palin spoke at held in Indianola Iowa on Saturday.
I was still in bed at a little after 7am this morning when my wife called me in near hysterics that she had just met Todd and Sarah Palin as she was getting ready to start the event! Unbelievably... they were here in town!
What a treat after witnessing her amazing speech the day before; here she was in my hometown for a run.
Needless to say I jumped out of bed and got down by the lake in time to wait along with Todd for Sarah to finish the half marathon (she had a very good time) ...Todd said, 'yeah, she's fast."
Her reported time: 1:45...that's for 13.1 miles.
I am blown away! No one even knew who they were. Wearing visors and sunglasses, with no entourage or people around them, they just kind of blended right in.
They said they got in to town the night before and were flying out for New Hampshire today for her big speech Monday at another Tea Party event..
After speaking with them for a while I let them go sort of mingle with others, I didn't want be a pest after all, but before they left they came back over to me and my wife, thanked us again and said they were so happy to
meet us, then stood for a quick picture.
Only as they were leaving did a few people start to notice who they were. Most had no clue.
This was not a campaign event, this was some personal time for Governor Palin to get in a good run in a beautiful setting and they didn't want anyone to even know they had slipped in. Very low profile. Amazing they can pull this off.
But to the people who did recognize her, she was as gracious and friendly as one could be. You can just tell she loves people, is very sincerely interested in learning about you and what's going on in the area.
The perfect way to top off an amazing weekend.
Thanks to Joni Wulfekuhler for taking our picture!
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