Replaced

I had to perform a full length examination of both shoes before concluding, yes, these are the same model.

The new shoes I foolishly ordered as an experiment a few weeks before the marathon aggravated my legs. Unfortunately, once I realized my mistake, it was too late. For the remaining two weeks of training, I continued to run in the browning shoe above instead of the unfamiliar one which I promptly returned. To the screams of my knees and various muscles, these tired shoes lead me to finish 26.2 mile race, also terminating their employment. Several days later, the same model but a brand new shoe finally arrived at my door. Too late to run but too excited to wait, I woke up unusually early the next morning for an initiation run before work.
Paul asked me, was it like running on clouds?

Fair?

On Friday after work, Aunt Lyn took Ruth and I to the Alaska State Fair. There was one barn. It housed the cattle, the poultry, the plants, the arena, and the world record holding vegetables. There was also a stable for horses and a building for arts and crafts.
We saw crazy flowers, enormous vegetables, beautiful quilts, hilarious racing pigs, renown lumberjacks, a BMX stunt show, and Celtic tap-dancing fiddlers.
Normally, when I go to the fair, I go for the Fletcher's corn dog. I didn't see that here but I found a vegetarian one at a hippie stand. Surprisingly, it was perfect.

Before going back into Anchorage, Lyn and Ruth dropped me at the Peony farm for the night to help finish their fall planting the next morning.
Rachel, Tracy and I planted the remaining 200 Peony roots in the soft mud and rain until early afternoon. After lunch, I spent the rest of the rainy day reading with hot chocolate and a blanket.

There was something so suddenly satisfying about this day; working in the ground, fellowship with loving women, challenges of a thoughtful book, comfort of a soft blanket, time for meditation.