Mornin' everyone.

Twocat, I like the way you make mashed potatoes.

Have a great trip to Knoxville/Tallahassee, Dave.

Good luck to you and the racers, in VT, CNY. Funny; mittens...

I checked a few more things off my list: dinner with friend/traveling companion (his 4.5 hour trip took 7 hrs because of accidents & weekend traffic, so dinner was a little later than planned); and a workout this morning. I still have to finish packing, go to breakfast, pack the car, get out of town. It looks like the farmer's market may get taken off the list. It would be a shame, but we'll survive.

4.3 paper-bagged racewalking miles this morning. My legs were fatigued from yard and deck work yesterday, and at 79F with the dew point still in the upper 60s, there was no motivation to muscle up any speed. So I took it easy, worked on some technical issues, and enjoyed the scenery.

Have a greta Saturday!

Jay

It looks like the farmer's market may get taken off the list. It would be a shame, but we'll survive.

 

My to-do lists are always longer than I end up having time for.  Constant triage is the general state of my to-dos....

Off to the first of two of DD's softball games today.  The tournament is about 30 minutes away, so we should have time to come home for a meal and maybe even a short nap in between games. 

7.1 miles for me this morning in 78 H&H degrees.

Good morning!  I have a few minutes to sit down so I thought I'd stop by and see how you're all doing.

I've been reading Hansons Marathon Method.  I actually started reading it before I started my training for the Tunnel and considered using it, but decided to stick with my old ways...it's hard for me to change, sometimes...and I never got very far into the book.  But, since I had some time on my hands while flying back and forth from Washington, I decided to go ahead and read it all the way through.  And, since my old ways haven't been doing me much good lately, I've decided to scrap everything I thought I knew about running and follow the Hansons' plan to a tee. And it all starts with taking a couple weeks off from running.  They say to give yourself two weeks off after a marathon to recover so that's what I'm going to do...well...kind of...I had already run a couple times before I got to that part...but I'm not going to run again until the 29th.  So there. I said it.  Now, I'm going to do it.  Enough on that.

Okay--my trip home story.  Yeah, I was going to add it to my marathon report but I decided to throw it in here, instead.  Anyway...I get on the plane and make my way all the way to the back where I was assigned a seat...an isle seat.  When I get there, I find a very pretty young lady with her 4 month old baby all sprawled out on my seat...the baby, not the lady.  Next to her was this huge guy crammed into his seat against the window.  I'm thinking, "Oh, this poor girl..how did she get hooked up with a goon like that?"  He had a tattoo that covered every inch of his left arm and he was massive...not fat...just really big.  I had decided, in those first few seconds, that this bum got this pretty little girl pregnant and now she was stuck with him.  So, she picks up her baby and I take my seat.  She said she wanted to apologize right away for any crying her baby is probably going to do.  I assured her that she didn't have anything to worry about because I have 8 kids and 18 grandkids so I'm used to it.  They both gasped at that news and Goon Boy, said, "That's cool.  I like big families."  "Yeah, I bet you do..." I thought to myself.  So, we talk a little bit while we're waiting for the plane to take off and the conversation finally got to my marathon and 50 state goal.  Goon Boy got all excited, he said he'd love to do a marathon some day, and started asking me all kinds of questions.  I thought, "Hey, maybe this guy ain't so bad after all."  And really, after talking to them for awhile, I realized that they were about the nicest, most polite, young couple I had ever met.  They played with their baby and laughed and just enjoyed being together.  After some time, I decided it was time to talk about them for awhile...I had learned they had flown from Miam to Denver for her father's wedding...then they were heading to Minnesota to visit their families because that was where they are from.  So I asked them what they do in Miami...she looked at him and he said, "I was playing for the Miami Dolphins."  I wasn't sure to believe him or not.  He explained that he was injured, was facing back surgery, and wasn't quite sure what was going to happen next...but he had just been released from the Dolphins.  So, anyway...I guess that's my story...I thought it was kind of cool...and a little lesson to me about jumping to conclusions and judging people so quickly.  Oh--his name is Lydon Murtha--look him up--6'-7"--330 pounds...nicest Offensive Tackle I've ever met!

Okay--I'd better get going.  Oh...I have a Ryan story, too...I'll be back...

Nice story Mike. reminds me to engage people more when I am on a plane. You can make some interesting acquaintances that way. Also a reminder of how tough being a pro football player can be if you're not a superstar.

Well done Jay. You earned some rest.

Hope it didn't rain for softball Holly. We had some nice storms headed in your direction.

KY? Careful. I shall be driving through on the way to Atlanta tomorrow. I'll wave to ya.

Ran 4 recovery miles with DS1 this afternoon. He's really taking to the sport and I like that. Some range balls with all the kids in a bit and then I'm making Chinese stir fry tonight.

Cheers all.

 

Hope it didn't rain for softball Holly. We had some nice storms headed in your direction.

 

 

We got the first game in, but the 2nd game was rained out.  Bummer, because now we will likely play two games tomorrow, and won't get the times until the last minute. Another day where my plans have to wait on hold until we get news of our game times.  Seems to be par for the course for these tournaments, rain or no.  My four little nephews all have a birthday this month, and tomorrow is their party, so I'm waiting to see if we can go or not.

Mike - cool story!  Mariposai - another lovely place to run!

coastwalker and they taste pretty good too!

Mike E very neat story!  Football is tough.  Many players that actually make it to the pros are knocked out with injuries soon thereafter.  Back when I lived in NJ my neighbor's son graduated from Penn State.  Got a starting position with Green Bay.  Played one play.  Knee injury.  Out of the pros for life.

Mariposai I guess all of the pain from running uphill for five straight miles clouded my vision!  I have zero recollection of that pond.  It looks striking!  I must have quite admired it when I passed by.  As my DW says, if I ever come down with Alzheimer's nobody will ever know. 

There was a local race today, 4.04 miles or some other weird distance.  But I decided last night that if I got up early enough I would bail out so that I could get started cooking for the party early on.  Since I did manage to get up early I headed out for some intervals: 6x600m.  Then home.  Eat, showered and got started on my part of the menu.  To make a long (and I do meant long it is now 1am) story short the food was a huge hit.  We had enough for 10 times the number of guests we had, even with a few unexpected people showing up!  My contribution to the meat were my ribs so it seems Mariposai and I had at least one item in common for dinner tonight.  My friend smoked all manner of chicken and pork.  My friend is Chris of Chris' Chicken fame on my Allrecipes page.  Try it you will almost certainly love it!  But his brisket . . . a true work of art!  He smoked it for 11 hours total over two days!  Unbelievably good!  Another friend brought cupcakes that were spectacular.  Another flan that was gone before I could try it.  Another mac and cheese that I never got to because I was full sampling all manner of other items.  As I said a huge hit.  But I am also glad Chris and I are not planning to repeat this event for another year!  I need to recover.