MacGyver in Dallas

I got on the plane to London via Dallas yesterday. It was running a bit late so I was worried about making my connection. It turns out, there was absolutely nothing to worry about. My London flight got canceled. No rush.

They put me up in the DFW Grand Hyatt. Nice place for being stuck in the middle of nowhere. (Sorry TX, but it's true.) I really only had one problem left to solve. Who would rub lotion on my new back tattoo?

Everything you need is always around you... (if you are willing to be a dork. :)

I put some lotion on a towel, but that ended rubbing it off as quick as it got on. So I used a smaller cloth but had no way to reach the middle of my back. You can guess the rest, right?

Half Scenic

I was playing around with Google Maps this afternoon, looking for a run just over 10 miles. I found this beautiful half marathon distance route. I decided to run it right away, since it was such a beautiful day. It ended up being a perfect tour of scenic Seattle.

It starts and ends at Volunteer Park and goes around all of downtown and Lake Union. It goes through the Central District, the International District, all along the downtown waterfront, up to the Space Needle, over the Fremont Bridge, through Wallingford along the ship canal, and finally back over the Montlake bridge and up to Capitol Hill. Lovely!

Fresh Ink Delivery

This one has been in the works for a long time now. Round one came together yesterday. Just need to get some shading/color next month.

FrontRunners Seven

Last summer I started running with the Seattle FrontRunners. They run every Wednesday at 6:30pm, rain or shine, starting (and finishing) at Volunteer Park, on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Conveniently, this park is just a couple blocks from my home.

Every week, anywhere from 15 to 75 lads (and a few lasses) run about 4 miles. They have seven preplanned courses that they alternate betwixt.

This week I decided to run all seven! (I also decided to map them using Google maps.) On Sunday I ran four in a row: Riley's Revenge, Interlaken, 16 Going on 17, and Flat Four. Wednesday night I joined the FrontRunners in doing 22nd Avenue. Tonight (Thursday) I finished off the set with Lakeview followed by Box in a Box.

I've done all these courses with the group over the last year, but it's nice to run them by yourself too so you can take the time to really know them.

I enjoyed the discipline of Google mapping them too, although the mapping software had issues with 16 Going on 17. (It doesn't let you walk through the corners of 16th and Prospect or 17th and Republican.) The nice thing about the maps is you can modify them yourself. Give it a try.