Spendy morning

Here in our town, there are two regularly-held Farmer’s Markets. One is downtown, and although I’ve heard that it’s pretty good, I’ve never been to it. The other one, on our side of town, has been held in the parking lot of the mall for a long time, twice a week through the summer and early fall. I went once or twice, and I was completely underwhelmed; it was mostly potted flowers and things I didn’t need.

Recently, though, they moved the market to the corner of the little “main street” (not technically called that, but it’s a well-foot-trafficked few blocks with shops and nice things) near us, about a mile away and along sidewalks. For the second week, then, I took the boys and walked there, coming away with a lovely little selection of vegetables. Hopefully, the increased traffic to the market (really, you had to intend to go there when it was at the mall; you couldn’t just stumble onto it) will mean an increasing amount of booths and greater variety as the summer moves along!

I had to bribe the boys for their cooperation by promising them muffins and juice at the coffee shop down the block afterwards.

Then home again to hop in the car and make a quick trip to the running store the next town over; about 360 miles of running, and my poor little trainers are giving up the ghost, making my ankles and shins a bit sore at the end of my runs. Luckily, they haven’t changed the shoe I had by much, so I was able to get the same model (in gray-green! Pretty!) and won’t have a lot of adjusting to do. While I was there, I also picked up a Crush Fuel Belt. Extending my long runs makes me nervous about going without water available to me; through Eric, I know a woman who has major neurological issues due to a stroke she suffered on a long bicycle ride, and I don’t want to ever find myself in a position of “Find a gas station now or risk collapse in a remote location.” So, yeah, Fuel Belt. I went with the one that will accommodate my Sigg bottle instead of the plastic bottles that come with the belt, and it feels pretty comfortable. Don’t know that I’d wear it in a race, but that’s what drink stations are for (if I can ever convince myself to make use of them!). Nice zippered pouch for keys, phone, and gels, too!

Tomorrow will be busy: it’s long run day, but I’ll have to do it really early, since it’s also Sam’s birthday party day. Only two kids have RSVP’ed to say that they’re coming, which makes me growl, but at least they’re kids that Sam really loves. He’ll have a good time with them. Just wish I’d ordered a smaller cake!

A moment ago:
SAM: “Mom, how do you draw an army tank?”
ME: “Well, you draw…like a rectangle, only make the sides angle out, like a ‘V.’ Give it a little bottom, a long top, and two sides that go out.”
SAM: “Oh. You mean a trapezoid.”
ME: “…yes. Yes, that’s what I mean.”