Guns, Bikinis and Posh Pasta

I had a relaxing and interesting drive to Dallas this afternoon.  Amongst the highlights was an advertisement for "holiday deals on AK-47 assault rifles", and another for a "bikini stop" which appeared to point to some dilapidated old farmhouse straight out of Texas Chainsaw massacre.

And they say Austin is weird!!!

As I drove I sang along to Christmas music for the first hour or so, and then chanced upon a station that was playing a string of Vivaldi, which is my favorite classical music.

It put me in a mellow mood and helped me keep my head once I hit the zoo that was packet pickup.  It also made me realize that I really miss Gavin.  We've spent a lot of fun time together recently, and he was upset that daddy was going to be away today.  I talked to him on the phone tonight and I'm looking forward to getting back home and seeing him again tomorrow.

I'll add that to my growing stockpile of motivation to go run a fast race.

I'm now sitting in my hotel room in Mesquite barely able to move.  I've just gotten back from Spaghetti Warehouse where I demolished a huge platter of spaghetti, meatballs, stuffed mushrooms, a bowl of soup and some cheesecake.  A large portion of the spaghetti (and a slice of cheesecake) is now sitting in an equally large doggy bag taunting me.

It does not yet realize I intend to eat it before bed.

Dallas is truly a strange place.  You would expect the Spaghetti Warehouse to be a pretty casual eatery, but it was filled with a plethora of dapper dandies - all plucked, pruned, painted and pimped up.

And that was just the blokes!!!

There was a couple that sat behind me having a heated discussion about whether or not she should order the cheesecake, because "you know it goes straight to your thighs" (I tried not to listen - I really did).

And then there was me - haven't shaved for a few days, wearing an old shirt from some long forgotten race, retired running shoes with holes in them and a pair of cargo pants that I've used for climbing in the woods with Gavin (one of my superstitious quirks - it's the same outfit I wore to packet pickup at Little Rock.  I ran really well the next day).

Yeah, I enjoyed that.