Let it be known throughout the land that I am now and will forever be a trail runner. My eyes were opened today to the joy that is trail running at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlife Park. Not a bit of cement, or even asphalt, to be seen; fabulous for those of us trying to convince our knees that 15 years of gymnastics has not made running an impossible dream. I admit that I was a bit concerned that they felt the need to post what to do in case of encountering a bear or cougar, but I remain uneaten. The land was pure northwest greenery and gorgeous. The variety of the trail was excellent. There were a few hills, and the trail could even be considered a bit trecherous to be barrelling along at times, but it was still the easiest run I've had since I started really training a few weeks ago. When you're focusing on what you're doing so as not to trip and break an ankle, you think a whole lot less about how you wish you weren't doing it. I ducked under low branches, darted around trees, raced a bunny, and had a wonderful run. I will never go back to running to work, the Burke-Gilman or (heaven forbid) a treadmill. If only this park weren't all the way in Bellevue.

After my run of ecstasy, I met some of the Eastside Stitchers at the lovely, if outrageously inaccurately named, Sassy Teahouse. I got there a little late and so was a bit flustered trying to figure out how to order; thereby missing out on trying any of the dainty crustless sandwiches or quiches or other fancy tea delights. I did, however have my first decent cup of coffee since moving to Seattle. I will spare you all the Starbucks et al rant, but let's just say that the city know primarily for coffee has made me switch almost exclusively to tea. At any rate, I highly recommend Sassy's mocha. Not bitter in the slightest, and a very standard price. And yes, I do see the irony in ordering coffee from a teahouse when I have been ordering tea from coffeehouses for a year.

I restarted the front-back of Tricot and managed to make it to the beginning of the decreases before I had to head back into the city. We were having such a good time knitting and talking that it was a bit of a shock to realize that it had been almost three hours. I do have to say that some of our conversation made me once again very grateful to actually live in the city with all of our wonderful yarn stores and easy public transportation and such. I know many people can't stand the though of living in a major metropolitan area, but I was born in a city and I hope to die in a city (in like 90 years). Of course the Airforce may have other plans for my husband...

Today was one of those rare days where I don't feel guilty at the end of it for what I didn't get to. Not only did I have a chance to relax and knit, I actually worked out and studied for the qual (aka: the bane of my existance). With the help of some knitting breaks between the last few sections, I actually made it through two chapters of copious note taking tonight! Just four more to go... before I start studying the notes I have taken. Yipee. It really is a dirty trick that the chapters get longer the later they are (ie the more fervently you want to kill yourself rather than read anymore). But at least the nights I study I can ward off the sense of impending doom temporarily and fool myself into thinking I might actually pass this test.

posted by Anonymous @ 11:02 PM