Laissez un bon temps rouler

Hopped on my magic invisible jet (yes, in imagination vacations you can have an invisible jet!) and headed to NOLA last night. Sadly, despite the amazing invisible jet, it was very hard to keep duping myself into believing I was actually in New Orleans because Lubbock is so dreadfully LAME! I went to the cajun restaurant, ordered a hurricane (they were out) and boudin (they were out). Decided on gumbo and new potatoes. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I am picky about my gumbo, so the roux was a little too thick for my taste. Plus, the shrimp was canned, and the roux had tilapia in it, which was a mite disturbing. The new potatoes were actually a new potato served whole on a plate with no seasoning. What made the place worse was the obnoxious college kids who were pissed off that they were working there instead of going to Florida. Oh and that the place, like everything else in Lbb, closes at 6 on Sundays. Side story--when I asked for the boudin, the waiter actually looked at me with this obnoxious look of disdain and disgust and said, "Um, this is totally not boudin season. It's like oysters, you know? We don't have oysters either because it is not the season. Gah." He really said Gah. How in the hell does boudin have its own season? It's pig! Do pigs have a season? Figures. I've been going mostly vegetarian lately, so maybe this was my hint to stay that way. Damnit, though, because I loves me some boudin.

So I leave and hit the only place open on Sunday, a shady little place called The Lone Star Oyster Bar or O-Bar to the locals. I figure oysters are NOLAish, so I stop there. And it was providence! Ended up talking to a guy for 6 hours, debating nature vs nurture, quantum mechanics and alternate universes, Shakespeare vs Marlowe, the evolution of the theatre, intubation techniques, hockey... Wow, a wonderful evening with a new well-read friend in the medical profession. We have plans to see a play sometime this week.

And that, my friends, was NOLA. I'm thinking of China tonight. Keep you posted.

Spring has sprung,

the grass is riz, robins are twittering, and love is in the air. I just took a long walk in the neighborhood park since the sun is finally out and we're at about 50. Actually, there are two parks. One is more family oriented, and the other one has a 3 mile jogging track and just miles of open grass for frisbee, soccer, etc. I decided to walk today. Walking tends to clear my head more than running, usually because I'm too focused on breathing properly (exercise induced asthma) when running. So I enjoyed my little walk, and it reminded me of why I spend the extra money to live in the only liberal part of town.

Love was everywhere--couples on picnics, pigeons twitterpating, a college couple making out in a tree, a college couple giving each other head on a park bench while an older man wearing nothing but a speedo and jogging shoes says to me, "Um, are they doing what I think they are doing?" Another older couple walking their dogs in the park. Ah, love everywhere!

And so I decided that my imagination vacation should take me to NOLA tonight. Off I go to Jazz Kitchen. It's not indigenous, but it'll have to do.

A post from Monday

My keyboard/computer/monitor/everything technological is all fubared, so I couldn't post this on Monday, so just pretend it's Memorial Day, ok? Oh, and ignore the random caps and/or no caps bc my computer decides where to put them in regardless of what I type.

So today's training let me know how far I've come. I truly am getting better at this running thing, endurancewise anyway [i still look like a fool, i'm sure]. on my practice run today, i was able to run for longer than i ever have without stopping. my breathing was regular, and i didn't feel winded at all until about 1 1/2 miles. at that point, i got that stupid wind cramp, but i walked for about 2 minutes and then hit it again--this time without feeling winded or stopping until the run was over. i didn't feel sick at my stomach at the end, either. i'm really pumped because i didn't think i was getting any better. of course, this was the first evening run, and i am soooo much better at doing everything in the evening. i just can't do this morning crap. first of all, i hate breakfast and i hate getting up early, so getting up early to eat breakfast is not likely to happen. the problem is that i can't run on an empty stomach, but i can't run until i've digested for at least an hour, and i haven't figured out exactly what to eat for breakfast yet, either. everything kind of makes me sick, but running empty makes me sicker. tonight was great bc there was a 5 hour gap between eating and running. on top of that, did i mention that running at 6am just bites the big one?

and these people, these freaky running enthusiast people, are so damned perky. how in the hell can one be so perky at 6am? no one is meant to be perky at 6am. the other hard part of this early run thing is that i can't make myself go to sleep before midnight. if i try, i will be awake all night, so i usually end up running the long runs on 1-4 hours of sleep. that might get easier, though, because for the past 3 days, i've awakened at 650 spot on, and that just shouldn't happen. it does, though, and i can't go back to sleep. still, here it is at 10pm, and i feel like i could stay up til 2. ah well. tomorrow is speed and hill training, so i'll enjoy the triumphant feeling while it lasts. after sprinting and crawling up parking garage ramps, i am sure that i will feel like a failure tomorrow.
in other news, i finally scheduled a vacation, so i am headed to the Big Easy in 2 weeks. i still want to make a trip up to chitown and one somewhere else [dc, abq, co, or maybe san fran] before the summer ends. just buying the plane tickets for nola helped me overcome the burnout hump. for awhile there, i thought i wasn't going to make it. now when i feel the burnout pains coming on, i just think of the beignets, chicory coffee, and hurricanes i'm going to have in a few weeks. gets me through. hmmm, cranky running around the streets of nola by herself for the most part [gordie's going, but she'll be in a conference most of the time]--that's scary, but great fuel for blogging. finally, i might have something interesting to write about again.