5/23/09, Sunday

"It's the Anchorage"


One day to go.

Slept VERY well, always do. Nice not to have slamming doors, bitching, accusations.......miss Keith but...such is life.

Woke up @ 8:30, went for a hot tub/swim, then off to The expo (again) to ask unasked questions, see what's doin', hang, go to the pasta dinner. No pressure, no agenda.

Attended a talk by a triathlete re: prepping-mentally-for a marathon. Then, a talk by organizers re: the course. So far so good. Took a ride to get new shoelaces-the thingy I have a million of-but not here-the nyrr give you to affix the chip-the opne they give you here is weak. Actually hadda buy new laces to thread the chip in, as the laces I have won't make it through the eyelets. OK, got 'em, now back to the hotel to chill.

Took a nap then back to the expo (it's a block away) for the 3:30 showing of Run for Your Life-the Fred Lebow story. Is this cool or what? Doing a marathon manana, in the theater here (within the expo), they showed both Spirit of the Marathon AND Run for Your Life. Could you plan this any better? GREAT inspiration to prime the pumps. AND, guess who was @ the expo? BILL RODGERS!!! Cool!!! @ Marine Corps I met John Bingham, here Bill Rodgers. Tom took a pic of Bill and I-with me wearing The AP Colors. A VERY nice guy-painfully thin, and WOULDN'T shut up!!! Loves to talk. A really nice guy.

We went to the pasta dinner-BIG plate of salad, BIG plate of lasagna (deeelish-lots of sausage), carrots (baby, NOT cross cut a la Pret), lemon tart, cheesecake, brownie, choc chip black n' white brownie, coffee. And here we are!!! 6:57 pm. Did I buy anything? A singlet, some tschotcshkes, 2 mugs-nice mugs. Nothing really. Not here to shop.

REALLY nice job @ the expo. They really did things well. The prob is: you could never do this in NY. The Big One is too big.

Miss my peeps. They really do follow on your shoulders @ times like these. You know you're smitten when you imagine how they'd respond looking through your eyes looking @ what you're seeing. Wow. This is good.

Having LOTS of Quebec flashbacks. As if the hotel being literally on the next block after Eastern Mountain Sports wasn't enough. THAT trip was really special. Though they didn't know it, I was @ a very low point, they came through merely by being there. Revisiting the places we visited, I'm filled with warm memories. And being here with Tom makes it that much cooler-he missed the trip. We're a good team.

Wish Pret was here. Wish Keith was here. Wish Shebitch was dead. Can't have everything. I don't feel like the wrong people are in the wrong places, but I DO wish my peeps were here with me.

Life is good.

***Re: "It's the Anchorage," a nice hotel, clean etc...but short on amenities. The breakfast buffet is donuts and cold cereal, not even pens in the rooms-don't underestimate the importance when you need one. No business center (I'm handwriting this to transpose when I get back to Toxichouse,) no gym. For what we're paying ($90 a night for 2), it's a steal. Big room, clean, cable, pool/hot tub.