Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Back in Indy and ready to paaaaarrrrty

(Will here)

Well, it had been a whole two weeks since my last business trip (Yes, going to Cabo was a business trip), so it was time for me to get up and go last weekend. I had a quick little trip to Texas. Into Houston on Friday afternoon, up to Dallas on Saturday and back home on Sunday. It was a blur of highways, cattle farms, fruit and cheese plates and somewhat inebriated men reliving their fraternity experiences through casual conversation.

I will say this for Texas, however. That whole "it's big" thing is certainly true. Lots of land and lots of people. Houston was one of those cities where you can be stuck in traffic on a 10-lane highway for an hour and never see evidence of the city. No high rises, skyline, nothing. It was amazing. Who knew that many people lived down there.

And then there is the space of the state. At 80 mph, it took 4+ hours to get from Houston to Dallas. That's like driving from Indy to Milwaukee and stopping at the oasis just north of Chicago for 30 minutes. Geesh. The state is so big, even the statues are large. Check out this monster of Sam Houston. Look at the size of those trees in the background. You could see this guy from a mile away on the highway. It looked like a giant rolling pin stuck in the ground until you got close to it.
But, I am back and don't hit the road for another 5 weeks for work, which means it's time to hang out. Can't wait for Timbo to visit and then I'll return the favor next week. Mandy and I have the half marathon in Nashville coming up in two weeks! I think we're ready for it, but Grace is certainly not a 13.1 mile type of dog. She came on our 8-mile run on Sunday and almost didn't make it. I can still hear her panting right now.
By the way, for those of you who run, or bike, or do anything outside and you need to check the distance, this is the coolest site. Awesome Map Path. It's like Google maps, only you can click to start and stop a route and see how far you go, and it includes little markers to show the 1-mile intervals. So, if you have a little route you normally run (or bike) around your neighborhood, you can track it on the map and see the exact distance. This has been very useful for Mandy and I because we can time our miles perfectly on long runs.

Okay, that's it for today. Go work on your free throws, Memphis.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love that website...now I can track the distance I'm not running/walking every day. Looking forward to Michigan next week!

B