Friday 14 - The Seattle Travel Edition.

Dear Diary,

The Zensah Ankle sleeve.

14.  I am back home where, predictably, I was missed at work.  It's good to be missed.  The 20-something who lives 2 offices down, for instance, bounced by my office yesterday and said, Oh,Misty,I'mSoGladYou'reBack. ImissedYourEnergy!!!

13. This whole ankle thing has gotten old. It's on average about twice a year that I sprain my right anke. But there's nothing and buying eqUipment won't fix, right?



Stupid ankle.

Nemo?  Where are you nemo?

12. Meanwhile, the ankle is still swollen. Ooo, and ug-lay. Behold. This is day four, after wearing a sock all day. I spent most of the day sitting, too.

It's a Port, After all.

Himself.

11. But I can walk on it just fine. Up stairs, down stairs. I wore heels. No problem. But I can't touch it. Owie.  Stupid ankle.

10. Seattle was beautiful. Despite a forecast of rain for five days out of seven, it sprinled lightly early one morning and then never rained again.

On day one, we ate Indian buffet for lunch out with Baboo's Dad, who is also a psychologist and was in town for a DBT conference.

9. Day 2, we went to Pike Street Market, and had coffee at the original Starbucks. Then went to the REI flagship store. Then I had a stragith shot of espresso. Then we went running trails at Cougar Mountain. Then Had dinner with Dad Baboo at the cheesecake factory.

One of the many musicians along the waterfront.
We saw banjos, a capellasin ging, guitars,
and this guy, to name a few.

8. Day 3, we got up early and deove along the Olympic Peninsula. Baboo ran a 10k through the Hoh rain forest, and I hiked about four miles. It was so cool, mossy and dark. We drove back along the Pacific, stopping to look for shells. There weren't any. Mostly, there were rocks and driftwood,

7. Being fit is awesome. Loud tourists near you? No problem: run away.  Big-assed hills?  So what?  I was at sea level, practically swimming in oxygen.  Until day 4, I felt like I could run forever.

Best sandwich ever IN MY LIFE.  Shrimp and bacon club,
with sweet potatoe fries, at the Cheesecake Factory.
This was two meals for me.

6. Day 4 was the race. Stupid ankle. I would have been at least fourth, possibly third, in my division of my ankle hadn't given out.

Well. There is always next year.

Stupid ankle.

5. Day 5, drove to Vancouver, which is beautiful, expensive, and doesn't "do" iced tea. We went on a suspension bridge. We avoided buying gas there which was, apparenly, 140.8. I have to assume that is cents, per liter. On the way bome, we stopped in Bellingham, and ate at Anthony's on the waterfront. I had crab and a small steak.

I discovered that the persistant queasiness I'd had on and off was because of the outgassing from the leather seats in the rental car.

Peroshky, Peroshky!!
Mine was smoked salmon

Red velvet cheesecake, finished with white chocolate.
I finished this over 3 days.

It occurs to me that most of
my travel pictures are about food.
That seems wrong, somehow.
(Top Pot Donuts)

4. Day 6, we slept in, then drove into town and ate at Top Pot donuts, which had the best coffee on the trip. Oh, and donuts. We cruised through the market on Pike Street again, particularly an antique store and a place that sold old ads and magazines. We walked through Olympic Park. WHERE MY ANKLE WAS JUST FINE.

Stupid ankle.

We ate dinner at Paolo's in Kent.  It was great.  The food was wonderful.

Suspension bridge in Vancouver.
Can you find the Baboo?

"We don't do iced tea."

I can see Alaska from my porch.

Van Burien Press' fairly uninspiring menu board.

Olympic Park

3. Day 7, we slept in, and had coffee at the Van Burien Press, despite our Nuvi's attempts to keep us in Seattle.  Really, Nuvi had some kind of nervous breakdown in Seattle, where everything is a freeway.  Like, we would be sitting at a red light, not moving, not even in very heavy traffic, and suddenly out of the silence Nuvi would say, "RECALCULATING". uM, what?  recalculating what?  We're not even moving!

Anyway.  The Coffee at Van Burien press was so so. The barista seemed somewhat uninspired.  We were subjected to a very, very loud conversation between three high caffeinated new-agers that were going on, ad nausea, and youknowthere'saforceintheuniversethatformsbetweenusandthemoonandthesunreallyscientistshaveactuallymeasureditandicanFEELit.Ican.Imantrathatshit,youknow.

Aussie!  Aussie!  Aussie!  I had a chicken and asparagus
pie.

We sat around for a few hours, and then had lunch at Aussie Pies. Then, we flew home.

2. Now, somehow out of all of this, I gained 10 lbs.  Not sure how that's possible, that would involve something like an extra 25000 calories eaten, added to the face that we were up on our feet moving around most of the time, when usually we are each of us sitting in an office chair.  I mean, I enjoyed myself, but not 25000 calories worth.

I'm assuming that because we ate out so much, I took in lots of sodium.  My clothes aren't tighter, by the way, so I don't know where it all is.  If it isn't gone by this weekend, well, I'll have to revise my ticker up at the top of the page and do the special K challenge, I guess.  Meanwhile, I'm taking in lots of green tea and water.

1. So, back in Albuquerque, where we only have two freeways.  I loved Seattle, and will probably go back, really, since I still don't have a Washington marathon.
I was scheduled to do the Duke City in about 2 days, but, um, probably not.  Tomorrow morning I"m hoping to go out and see how the ankle holds up to walking around the block.  I'll work my way up from there.

Next up: THe Rock and Roll San Antonio marathon, November 12th.

...

It's all in the wrist.

Dear Diary,

16. After months of dragging my ass around the hills at negative miles per hour, I finally feel like I'm coming back. I had a great run this week, running up most of the hills. I did it without feeling like I was gonna hurl, and felt great at the end. Stinky, but great . I'm pretty stoked. Between this and my PR at the 50K a few weeks ago, Point Defiance 50K (in less than 2 weeks!) is looking pretty good.

15. However, I'm completely out of vacation days. In order to take the vacation time in Seattle next week, (YES! I'll be posting my blog from SEATTLE!) I will be working two saturdays this month. I'm really fortunate to have a job where they let me do that.  But that six-day week, well, maybe I'm just older than I used to be.  By the time Sunday (today) rolled around, I was all, nope, don't feel like running.  I feel like sleeping in (7 am, to those just tuning in) and relaxing.

14. I can't remember the last time Baboo and I had to vacation and mosy. I'm totally stoked. Me and my boots and hat will be on a plane Wednesday morning, with a layover in Love Field.

Me and a fellow therapist
who was working just as
hard as I was that day.
(Photobooth app)

13. My oldest kiddo, aka "Sweetface", turned 27 this week. (Holy shit, I am OLD.)

12. Hey, what the hell is up with Lean Cuisine. Why aren't there any vegetables in their lunches? It's not like they're incredibly expensive. I'm sticking with Healthy Choice, I think. More fiber, fewer refined carbs.

11. Weight, by the way, is holding steady at 152. Ish.  It was starting to creep up, but then it came back down when I started running. 

10.  After some experimenting, I am using the WatchR app. It's free, and although it doesn't have a food base, it automatically deducts activity points and weekly points. Cool.  I also use the GoMealsHD, which uses the Calorie King database.  And, I still use AllRecipes pro, which I <3.

9. Thursday, Sweet Baboo wrote me an email me, telling me that they are having some budget cutbacks at the VA, and so they are taking the Blackberries from some of the program heads.  Sweet Baboo is, unfortunately, one of them, and so we need to go get him a phone.
So we went to the Verizon store, where we found out that all this time (like, 5 years) if we had put it in his name, we'd have been getting a 15% discount, because he's a federal employee.  So that's what we did.

I took this picture Saturday morning, when I realized there
was snow on the mountain.

8.  We also got Android X2 phones.  These are like the coolest thing ever.  Sweet Baboo picked them out because Consumer Reports like them best, and, well, they are pretty damned awesome.  I have been playing with mine and it does a lot of things better than my iPad, like uploading pictures.  The camera is great. I suck, suck, suck at taking pictures but this makes it so much easier.  I can time/place stamp a picture I've just taken and then share it using a built-in facebook app OR THE BLOGGER APP!  WOOT!.


7. Best of all, there is a built-in navigator and when I have music playing through my car stereo (through the phone) it fades the music to give me another direction, then brings the music back up.  So, right in the middle of Lady Gaga, it's all ...'CAUSE I WAS BORN THIS...TURN LEFT AT MONTGOMERY BOULEVARD...
It's a deaf agorophobic's dream toy, I tell you.

I did not take this picture. Wish I had.  It was taken Saturday morning
of the Balloon Fiesta (yesterday)

6.  Unfortunately, since Sweet Baboo doesn't enjoy playing with things to see how they work, and I am the family nerd. So when I worked Saturday, since three of my appointments never showed up, I spent the time playing with and learning how to use my phone.  Then, teaching Sweet Baboo how to use it.

5.  It also pulled in and integrated all my contacts through facebook, LinkedIn, and Google contacts. And allowed me to combine them.  COOOL.

4.  Sweet Baboo just took off for his run. I did not.  I will make him a fried-egg sandwich.Meanwhile, there is new technology to play with.  It is windy, cold, and damp out.  Noooo thank you. Not quite ready for that yet.

3.  SO of course, I've been changing my Ringtones every other hour.  For instance, yesterday, my ring tone was "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.  But, I underestimated how much Sweet Baboo hates that song.  Not just hates it, HHAAATTTTEEEEESSSSSSS it.  So I'll be changing it.  I am not a sadist.  I won't force him to listen to a song he hates.  Not when there are so many other annoying songs to choose from.

2. Now, with respect to #16, I also have had these days where I just don't want to do anything.  I've been running at least every other day, so that's good, but I really need to get my shit together, and start running 5 days a week.

2.  I volunteered to pace the 5:30 group at the Duke City Marathon in two weeks.  I think the idea of pace groups is that they are usually groups for the Boston qualifying times, but what if you just want your own personal best?  It suddenly occurs to me, oh, my, God. I am going to be possibly leading people to make a certain time.  That's like, responsibility and shit.  Am I ready for this?

1.   THREE DAYS TO SEATTLE!!!  
That is all. 


...

Sorry I'm late - Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13.  One of the benefits of working with kids is picking up all the clever vernacular.  This week I learned:

maddogging (v).  The act of posturing another individual, or staring at them in a threatening manner, thereby provoking a fight. 

12.  Wednesday morning I was awakened by coyotes doing what many locals euphemistically refer to as "singing".  I call it "a crap-load of a huge racket".  It's pretty distinctive. Sadie put out a couple of feeble "woofs" and then shut up.  I've noticed that is the norm around here.  When coyotes sound off, all the neighborhood dogs suddenly get a big case of STFU.  It's like their parents said when they were pups, don't you be maddogging those coyotes.  They may be small but they'll kick your ass.  So be quiet. 

In any case, I'm pretty sure this is when Sadie quietly snuck into the back of the house out of nervousness. 

11.  So, Wednesday morning after my run I sat down and took Sadie's furry face in my hands.

Sadie, look at me.  No, at me.  Loo-LOOK AT ME.  There.  Now, you need to know there is a clear division of labor in this house.  The cats live in the back; you live in the front.  The cats are responsible for making warm lumps on the bed at night that we have to bend our legs around to sleep, and eating cat food.  You are responsible for acting insanely happy when we show up and giving us soulful looks. 


Do you understand what I am saying?  You are not to eat the cat food or sneak into the back of the house at night.  


Are we clear on this?

*wag* *wag*

Good.

10.  I was so stressed out and angry at my university that I taught them a lesson: I got my hair done.  That'll show them.

9.  This is my new blog tool.
In case you're wondering, yes, you have probably gotten Mary Kay holiday makeup collections that were bigger.  But it's purple, and that's all that matters.

I took this picture in Oklahoma, where everything is Sienna.

8. This fall Mom in law is coming in November.
Dad in law is coming in December.  You know what that means, don't you?

It means...


wait for it....


wait for it...


I have to clean house. 


Crap.


7.  Next week I start tapering.  40 miles.  The following week, 30 miles.  Then 20 miles.  And so on.  The hardest part, I think, will be adjusting my eating so that I don't gain a million pounds during this time. 

6.  I'm blonde again.  Not blond.  Blonde.  With an e.  It's classier.

5.  I started taking my clothes to a local tailor to have them taken in.  The lady was pinning me, and didn't speak very good English, but she said, "How you get so small?"

I run, I said.  And I was eating less.

"how many runs you do?"

She might be asking, literally, how many, but I bet it's how much.

So I told her.

"I run. 80 to 100 kilometers in a week," I said.

blink.  Blink.

Then she patted her stomach.  "Maybe I just hang onto this."

It's all about choices.  You go, girl.

4.  Next week the Bitches of Fashion are taking me shopping.  In case you don't know who that is, their blog is here.  I saved up my coffee money, and they are taking me out and picking things out for me.

I'm a bit nervous.  I'm not really a fashionista.  I trend more towards classic stuff that doesn't really stand out much. I work with people who are mentally ill, after all.  They don't need too many distractions.  It's easier to get dressed in the morning when your stuff is not at all trendy, because it never looks out of date.

3. On our trip to Oklahoma I was privileged to be able to see the Leaning tower of Brittany, Texas

and the largest cross in the united states.  Maybe the world.  

I wanted to get a picture of myself standing in front of it, looking pious, but 

that involved getting out of the car, and we were pretty desperate to get

back to Albuquerque and 18% humidity.

For scale, that is a warehouse to the right, and it's several hundred yards in front of the cross.  

2. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I was supposed to put in 22 miles.  By Wednesday night, I'd gotten in 11.  Then I got my hair done.  That left another 11 to get in today.  Not sure how I'm going to pull that off, but I'll try.

1. Last night, the wind howled all night, and kept me up.  I slept in.  Graduate school is so stressful that when I got home from work tonight I wanted to curl up in a ball under the blankets.  But I can't do that.  I'm going to at least get dressed to go out to run, and take a headlamp with me.  I'm crossing my fingers for a nice, long, worry run.
I terminated with my therapist last week.  Maybe I should have waited.

...

Life, A.L. Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13.  Signs, part 1.  While in Leadville, Baboo and I noticed this sign:. 

So, I'm not sure why "Asian" was in quotation marks.  

Is it just pretend Asian food?

Is it figuratively, but not literally, Asian?

Is it, *wink wink* "Asian"?

and what's with the dot, dot, dot?

12.  Signs, part 2: Then there's this one: 

Um, can I have a side order of BITTER with that?  A second sign in this restaurant lists rules for mountain bikers and racers on what can and cannot be worn and how to behave.  Yet a third sign in this establishment informs you: "We are one of the few restaurants left in town, so be patient waiting for your order."

So, let's break this down:
We like your dollars, but we hate you, and we feel utterly self-entitled as "locals," to turn our noses up at the people who provide our tax base. We're also blaming our business problems on a president who has been in office for less than 2 years, rather than our uninspiring menu and our hostile, crappy attitude.   
 
Um, PASS.  I do not want my food prepared by bitter, angry people, regardless of their politics.  I was told by friends that even the hostess was rude.  There are actually several very good places in town to eat other than this one, which apparently is for sale.


11.  Annoying, part 1.   No matter how awesome you think your ringback tone is, I promise you somebody, somewhere, is grinding their teeth while waiting for you to answer your phone.  Ones I've heard lately: "Nasty Girl," and, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."
Seriously?
Are you really expecting someone to hire you after hearing that?  

10.  Annoying, part 2.  I have a daughter who refuses to email me, insists that I call her and is now attempting to emotionally blackmail me into calling her NOW.  No, NOW.  I want to talk NOW, because everyone knows that moms have no life. Ahem.  Well. Many, many others (students, for instance) have tried emotional blackmail, and they wore it out. I was a bit BUSY, this past weekend, m'kay?? Read and  write, chicka, if you want to be in touch.   

9.  Altitude.  Once I'd gotten past my 30 hours of headaches, nausea, and fatigue, I went for a nice, 6 mile run that was mostly on an old railroad bed. Some paved, some not.  Here's a picture. Very cool.  Since I was at 10,000 feet, it felt like fall. It's already fall in Leadville.  Beautiful.  I can't wait for fall!


8.  Attitude.  Lest you be put off by my comment on the local restaurant in #12, I loved just about all of Leadville. The country is beautiful, and 99% of the people there, like anywhere, were perfectly lovely.  The blonde-streaked-hair lady at the Proving Grounds Coffee shop was a bit bitchy, but maybe she was just having a bad day.  Or three bad days.  In a row.  

7. Brush with greatness, part 1: I was told Deseree Flicker was at the Leadville 100 race.
I told DreadPirate she should trip her "by accident" and then help her up, so that she should tell everyone that she got to touch and talk to Deseree Flicker (She ignored me). I confess, I had to search my brain for who she was.  I'm not one for remembering sports icons.  I'd barely remember Lance, if it weren't for his name being constantly repeated by my friends who are all involved in a cycling cult.

6. Brush with greatness, part 2: My friend Courtney is in the next (September) issue of Fitness magazine.  Pick up a copy.  She's on her bike, and it's a feature on how fitness has improved the lives of women.  She's wearing her New Mexico Outlaws uniform.  KEWL. 

5. Life, A.L.  (After Leadville).  I had this brilliant idea that I would look up people who finished close to me at various events.  I would find out what their times were at other events that I'd also done, as well.  Then see if they had done Javalena, to get an idea of what time I should be counting on.
But. So.  It turns out that,  Most people?  Who are as slow as I am?  And live out here?  Usually they've done 1-2 ultras, total.  Unless they are in their 70s.

4. Insulation.  I'm not sure what to expect from this winter, given that I've lost most of mine.  

3. Training.  I've put in 175 miles for August so far. My knees and ankles, quads and hamstrings have all stopped aching. It is much longer into the run that I feel tired and ready to quit.  Saturdays, I have a long, long run, but Sundays, my medium-long runs are being changed to long power walks.  Power walking is very useful in ultras, but it uses a completely different set of muscles.  It's one of my strengths, and I frequently pass people at the end of these things, walking, because even people that run faster than I can often can't walk faster than I can. 

2.  Insulation, Part 2.  I walked into the first day of fall classes on Tuesday, and people who hadn't seen me since April did a double take (OMG I LOVE THAT!!!!!) and asked me how much weight I had lost over the summer.  Um, over the summer?  I guess about 10 pounds.  

• How did you do it?
  
  
• WeightWatchers.
  
  
• Wow, WeightWatchers did that?
  
  
• Oh, and also I run about 50 miles a week now. 
  
  >cricket<  >cricket<  
  
  
• So, do you think WeightWatchers will work for me? 

Well, Virginia, probably.  But the truth is, I cheat.  I lot.  I always track it, mind you, but I get to store up a lot of those running points for my more-than-occasional fried food binges.  If running does nothing else, it does that: Allows me to indulge in my crappy eating habits a bit more than I should.


1.  Insulation, part 3.   My weight, as charted from February 1:

...

All towns should be named after toxic metals. Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

13.  Today I am in Leadville, the highest city in the US.  Baboo is doing the "Race Across the Sky" Leadville Trail 100, which has about a 50% dropout rate.  It's just crazy hard, even as 100-milers go.  It's going to be a busy 24-30 hours.  This ia a 50-mile out and then 50 mile back course.  This is the profile:

 The top of the batman ears is called "Hope Pass" which I wrote about when I was in Leadville last month.  It's a long, grinding hike, done very slowly by people such as myself.  Baboo bounds up it like a mountain goat.  Not a real mountain goat.  The kind in cartoons. 

12.We've had a couple unpleasant surprises since buying The Dream House, but this was a pleasant one.

When Baboo was mowing this week, he found grapes, and most of them are ripe.
I shall eat them, I shall.


11. Monday I wore my belt buckle to work on its new belt.

yes, some people noticed.  

yes, it was fun.

Except for the person who asked me if I was into wrestling.  >:-(

10. I have a complicated running week planned. It is a cycle-down week, which occurs every 4th week of training:
M&F: off
T: 4 miles
W: 10 miles
T: 6 miles
St: 10 miles
Su: 10 miles

However, I'll be traveling to Leadville on Wednesday, and once I'm there, have to rest a couple days before I can exert myself.  So, my training will actually look like this:
T: 6 miles
W: 19 miles (early, before leaving)
Th: 5 mile hike and jog. 
F: 5 mile jog

Su: 5 miles (while pacing Baboo)

9. The best greatest sources of protein that I have found so far are salmon, crab, and shrimp.  Love those.  Worried about toxins.  I'm wondering if anyone knows how to get those foods without a build-up of toxic metals?

8.  I've gotten frustrated and tired of Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, and the like.  The ones that are truly healthy are too expensive to eat every day, and the rest, well, at best we can say that they won't actively reach up and try to kill me.  There's never enough protein or vegetables, and most of the time they don't use whole grains.

So, I decided to make my own. I bought a pesto sauce packet, some whole wheat penne, and a pound of small shrimp, and a large bag of "Normandy" style mixed frozen vegetables.
The result: four meals, each with a cup and a half of whole veggies, a cup of whole wheat pasta, about 3/4 cup of small shrimp, and some pesto seasoning.

Mix it up in a bowl, portion it out into food containers, freeze, and voila.

The next batch will have low-fat Alfredo whole-wheat noodles, salmon, and mixed veggies.

7. So of course, on Monday, I walked off and left my brand new lunch sitting on the counter.  But I had it for dinner.  It was good.

6.  More on the grapes.  I went out to pick them this week, and although I didn't get all of them, this is what I wound up with:

What the heck  do I do with all this?  I know, jam, wine, etc.  But that's so much work. *Whine*

Isn't there something easy and freezable I could do?  There's still some out there ripening. Freezer jam?  Seems like I've heard of that. 

 5.  Saturday, as well as Wednesday, I did a run that went from where I live all the way across town.  It's 19 miles.  I tested this item:

and, I liked it quite a bit . It's designed to keep the sun off your neck and face while you run, and it's super lightweight.

4.  Today's "hike" is planned to be at 12,000 feet.  Yeah. Ulp.  Only a couple miles, though. 

3.  I've decided since last week that I can do without being blond, so long as my hair is longer.  I liked the short hair, it was sporty, but I feel more like me with long hair.
However, I've noticed two things: a) I sweat way more than I used to.  This is apparently my body becoming more "efficient" at cooling itself.
and,
b) My longer hair wicks the sweat away from my head.  My entire head and all my hair get sopping wet.  Pretty disgusting.

2. This morning, we did a very short quick jog up at Independence Pass, which is why I delayed writing this.  I started getting a headache, coughing, and feeling dizzy.  Then we returned back down to 10,000 feet.

In case you didn't notice, the clouds are behind and below me.  

1.  There are, apparently, a stunning number of "bogies" here in town.  This is what ultrarunners call Newbies.  They is their first 100-miler, and in some cases, their first distance over a marathon EVER.  Some of them don't even have crews.
In case you didn't already pick up on it, these are not smart ideas.

...

Greeting from Hot Springs, South Dakota

There are some activities Sweet Baboo engages in ONLY in hotels.

First, as Baboo is descended from the wooly mammoth people, he first marches over to the AC and cranks it, full blast, so that I spend the rest of my time in the hotel shivering under blankets or taking hot baths. Doesn't matter where we are or the actual ambient temperature.

The other thing he does is get up early, and quietly get mostly ready (fine). He does this without waking me, and then as I begin to wake up he starts saying, over and over again, patiently and evenly, "so, are you ready yet?" He then commences to all sorts of gestures and sighs to indicate that he is being extremely patient: He lays on the bed, stares at the ceiling, walks around flapping his arms, and continues to ask, very nicely I might add: "are you ready yet?"
This is exclusively hotel behavior; it does not appear at home. Ever.

But if that's the worst that there is then I'll take it, so just put your paper and pencil away because he's still "taken".

Anyway.

I like to think that I 'grew up' in South Dakota because it was here that my frontal lobes finally reached that crucial stage of development such that I one day sat up, looked around the small rent house from which I was about to be evicted, and thought: I have to change my life. And I did.

Only in the tiny town of Volin, SD, population 200, could I have done it the way that I did it: buying a $2,500 house, and $60 car, and going to a small midwestern university while supporting three kids.

It was a peaceful life, where I was able to learn to become self-sufficient in the absence of a convenient urban center. It had all the important things you need in life: available food, safety, and shelter, with none of the things I didn't need at the time: crime, complications, shady people. My kids went to school in an old sandstone schoolhouse where they actually rang a big old bell to signal school starting. In the 90s, when they were installing metal detectors in schools in the US, my kids had to show their trays to the principal, who knew every single child by name, only to be told, You can eat a few more of those peas, Derek...Jon, you're finished. Go ahead and scrape your tray. After eating their bread, freshly made that morning, and the rest of their meal, they then had to put their silverware, (not plasticware) in a tub of soapy water, and scrape off their plates.

But, I left Sound Dakota in 1999 because there were no jobs for me. That's actually the only reason I left. There were, and still are, a lot of things to like about SD; here's a short list:

1) Pink Roads. They use a chip-seal method of maintaining roads here, and the "chips" that they use are made from ground-up red quartzite. The result: pink roads. Not road-bike-friendly, but cute.

2) People are hard-working, but laid-back about it. This is hard to explain, but mostly, it's a mind-my-own-business and do my work sort of thing.

3) Lack of pretentiousness. Nobody cares what kind of car you drive, what kind of jeans you wear, or how edumacated you are. Of course, in some venues, the right tractor says a lot.

4) Safety. You can, literally in almost the entire state, leave your car running while you go into the store, gas station, coffee shop, whatever, and your children can wonder free.

5) Stuff grows like crazy here. Especially large, colorful flowering things, and things that smell crazy good, and stuff to eat.

6) Large critters. It's kind of cool to be doing an early morning run through just a regular neighborhood and come upon deer, hanging out in someone's front yard. They didn't even seem upset or concerned, though they kept their eyes on me.

I like the town we're in right now, Hot Springs. I have noted the presense of not one single teenager here, which might explain the lack of vandalism and litter. Refreshing. There is also a small VA here. Interesting. The people, of course, are super nice.

We ate this morning at the Flat Iron Grill, and I had mixed feelings about it: I loved the atmosphere, and the food, what there was of it, was good. However, my feeling is that if you want to serve small, expensive portions of food in a semi-formal garden in a historic inn, along with an expensive latte, then you should put it on a real plate, not a not a throw-away plate, and the same with my coffee. Second, you can be generous with cheapter ingredients. Baboo, for instance, ordered oatmeal as part of his breakfast, and got about 3/4 cup of it in a large soup bowl. I mean, c'mon, oats are not expensive; fill the darn bowl. Other than that, it was pretty good, just kind of expensive for the amount you got.

Tomorrow I won't be posting much, because I'll be crewing for Baboo. His 100 mile run starts at 6 am, and I'll be meeting him about every 4-6 miles at aid stations through the day and night.

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