Since we're flying back from Austin and I can't sleep on the plane (probably has something to do with the double shot of espresso I had at the airport), I thought I'd share some of our experiences from the last few days.
Since we got in so late on Wednesday night we had to come back on Thursday to pick up or rental car from the airport. Kurt gave us a ride on Wednesday night but I took a cab back to the airport on Thursday morning. It would have been cheaper to take the SuperShuttle based on the recommendation of the front desk person at the hotel. The cab arrived within a few minutes of calling it. But just after my cab arrived, another cab pulled up who turned out to be picking up someone else. This occurrence led my cabbie to tell me about a real problem in Austin. Nigerian cabbies scanning the radios and stealing clients from the cabbies that are assigned to the clients by the cab company. So I got to hear about one particular situation where my cabbie was wronged by another cabbie who he filed a complaint against.
Kurt took us sightseeing on Thursday after Megan and I had lunch at the nu age cafe, a vegetarian restaurant that had great veggie and tofu dishes and a tasty lime tea elixir. nobody was swimming at Barton Springs when we visited there but it looks like a great place to train for triathlon swimming since it is 200 meters long. It seemed like we had to stop for coffee for Kurt between each sight. I rarely drink caffeine let alone coffee but I found myself ordering double soy machiattos left and right. It just seemed like the right thing to do at these cool little coffee shops we went to (Jo's, Austin java, Flipnotics). the weather was cold enough to be wearing two jackets and still be cold so it was hard to convince us that this was a town with a large community into outdoor activities but all the huge bike, running, and triathlon stores were pretty convincing. And by Saturday it had warmed up enough for everyone and there dog to come hang out at the dog park.
We hung out downtown on Thursday night and visited our share of bars after stuffing ourselves at the Veggie Heaven. The best way I can describe the vegetarian diner is that it is like a vegetarian version of China diner in downtown Reno. The food was really good and really greasy. The protein 2000 consisted of broccoli and a fried meat like substance that was delicious. I had a mango bubble shake that had little brown tapioca balls in it. They were about 1/3 inch in diameter, just small enough to fit through the over sized straw. The outside had a consistency similar to a peeled grape. The inside was chewy. It was a little surprising to be drinking a tasty shake and have a "bubble" shot up the straw and into your mouth when you weren't expecting it.
Megan and I pride ourselves in being able to sleep in late on vacation and this trip was no exception. We got up around noon on Friday and met Graham and Stephanie for lunch at Mother's cafe. We ate in the garden of this vegetarian Tex/Mex restaurant. It was cool to finally meet Stephanie since we've heard a little about her from Graham. We also got to meet her cat, her chocolate lab puppy, Buddy, and see her very cool house.
By going to the expo early Friday afternoon Megan and I were able to score some cool swag. I got a livestrong jersey and Megan got a Livestrong backpack. I've been to my share of race expos so its funny to find myself always looking for something to give me an edge in the race that is only a day or two away. In Hawaii, it was the spray on potion that made your legs cold or hot or both, I forget. This time I bought some disposable gloves, which definitely helped keep my hands warm (a big deal for me in case you didn't know). However they probably weren't much better than the ones that came in our packets for free :). The other thing that I thought would make a big difference was Jeff Galloway's advice to take walk breaks. It's possible that it made a difference in the amount of damage I did too my legs but it sure didn't help me run faster, at least after mile 10. I was motivated and excited to listen to him talk and even more excited that Megan got to talk to him about her injury problems with her running.
I'm sure most people have stopped reading by now so this should be a good place to talk about the deal I made with Megan. We saw a really cute goldendoodle on saturday at the dog park. She started asking about getting a dog again and said she would do anything for one. So being in Austin for a marathon, the first thing that popped on my head was if she runs a marathon she can get one. I thought she would complain and ask for something else, but to my surprise, she was excited. She called several people to tell them the "good news". So we might have another dog sooner than I was expecting.
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