Thanksgiving, Mail-order Brides, and Someone Else's Giveaway

Christ, this blogging thing is harder than I thought. Or maybe it's just that it's been a few days since my last post and I don't feel like recounting my entire awesome Thanksgiving weekend. So what's a wannabe lazy blogger to do? Photos!

It all started with Mt. Rushmore. I mean, a Rushmore float. I kid you not, our bus driver very narrowly missed crashing into one of the floats heading for the Macy's Parade. We were held up for, no joke, 20 minutes while these guys went by. How very responsible of the billions of cops driving by to not warn people WITH A GREEN LIGHT it would be a good idea to stop. But I guess it was cool, in an "I've never watched the parade and don't understand its appeal at all" kind of way. At least my mom was excited about it.

After that, bus, bus, bus, bus. Our bus driver couldn't find South Station in Boston, which was actually pretty amusing. The guy drove around downtown for ages, and I was just about to ask him if he wanted directions when he managed to find it. He really chose the perfect career.

I should clearly be a professional photographer. I was so happy to see snow again! Snow's the sh-t. New York needs to up its snow game, that's for sure. I took this after a long night of bus riding.

Then, the Lewiston bus station and finally, the thriving metropolis of Leeds! Population M's family. We went to her grandparents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.

What an amazing view. Lucky assholes. And no, I didn't use a special hipster filter or anything, I took this through a screen because they have a screen porch. One of the most ingenious things East Coasters have come up with.

I took this and then realized it looked like an American flag. I'm so deep.

Yes, there was running! M and I managed to get a li'l jog in before we headed down to Boston.

This has nothing to do with me not knowing how to take a picture while running and everything to do with me being artistic.

GEESE. Apparently they're really territorial.

M running by my future home. At least, I wish. I don't think M thought it was quite as awesome as I did. Although I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up living in a yurt. This one, to be exact. An old, bitter but content harpy.

After that, we've pretty much got Boston fun times, boozing, eating, walking, boozing, and fun times followed by a hellish return trip back to New York on Sunday night. I was planning to run along the Charles while in Boston but was way too hung over to even consider that. I did have a chance to notice, though, that Bostonians are very active people. There seemed to be way more runners outside than in New York, although it may just be that Bostonites have more places they can run.

Today marked the beginning of my modified "spring training", which will take me through to January when I start my official marathon training. I was supposed to do 3 miles on hills. I accidentally did more like 4 1/2 because my phone was being a b-tch and I ran too far before heading towards work. I hit up Central Park, which rarely happens since I like to wake up as late as possible, but I figured I'd be able to find some hills there. The section I was running on didn't feel very hilly, though. I guess I'm just stronger than I was the last time I ran there. Although after running in Middlebury (aka "what's this flat ground you speak of?" Middlebury) during college it's hard to qualify any part of New York as hilly. I actually really liked being in the park, though. I think I'll head back tomorrow for another three miles.

In blog news, I seem to be a hit in Russia. And by hit, I mean I've had 10 page views from there. All from the website domar.ru? I hope I haven't been put up as a mail-order bride. I also hope I didn't just insult my entire Russian constituency. Whatever the case, спаси́бо прия́тель! I bet that was totally accurate.

I'm a sucker for free things, so I'm also mentioning a giveaway Skinny Runner is doing for Bic Bands. I've wanted some for ages and she said I get two entries if I mention it on my blog. Hopefully it doesn't matter whether you have any readers or not. All you Russians, go enter!

Finally, because I always like seeing pictures of people whose blogs I read, here's my mug:

M just put this up on fb so I thought I'd post it. This is a legally-acquired photo taken after the Annapolis half marathon (AK pride!). I would have kept the other dudettes in the photo but don't think they'd appreciate the possibility of being put up for sale on domar.ru.

Happy trails! Or pavement, or whatever.