Boston 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

Dear Jason,

Jan 23rd, 2011 - My flight from Boston to San Antonio, which included two stop-overs in St. Louis and Dallas, landed in a relatively warm Texas (55 degrees) at 1PM. It was about 10 degrees (and dropping) when I left Boston at 7AM.

Interesting observation, the people boarding the plane got bigger and bigger at each stop-over as we headed further south. On the last leg of my flight I sat next to a body builder, and she/he was basically sitting in my seat and its neighbor's seat. This is when the saying that they raise 'em real big in Texas really hit home for me and my left arm.



After landing in San Antonio we (Bill, Richie, and I) got over to the Omni Hotel on the Riverwalk by 2PM where we met up with Dave.

I was dying to go for a run after sitting on the same plane for over six hours, and I wanted to check out the much touted Riverwalk area. I've always felt that there's no better way to check out a never before visited destination than to go for a long run.

Instead, we all went to an early dinner, since all we had on the entire flight were about six bags of peanuts courtesy of Southwest. It was 5:30PM by the time I finished my shepard's pie and two Stellas, so my original plan of finishing off the week with an 18 miler was already in bed and under the sheets back in the room. Sound asleep.

It doesn't get completely dark in the heart of Texas until about 6:30PM, so that (and the weather) was enough motivation for me to get in some mileage before turning in. The Riverwalk was also enticing to run on too, but it was too jam packed with tourists to put in a meaningful run.

I'd also like to add that there's no safety railing for the entire stretch of the narrow walkway. To think that there are over 50+ bars along this route and there's not a single railing separating you and one drunken step from falling into this man-made (think Disney's lazy river) stretch of the San Antonio River. Gotta love the Historical Society of San Antonio!

So I ended up running "above ground" on the wide avenues of Spursville. I kept it simple and just went out three miles, along Broadway, and back the same way. Of course I wouldn't post an entry tonight if something crazy didn't happen.

Around the three mile mark, shortly after I turned around, I ran past a Valero gas station, when a lady in a car comes barreling out-of-nowhere off of Broadway, honking her horn to get me out of the way. Plus, she gave me a dirty look and the finger too! Holy shit, lady. Relax!

Not more than five seconds after I run past the gas station do I hear a loud CRASH! I turn back to find her car reeling from a head on collision with a parked car in the gas station. For no apparent reason other than utter stupidity, she nailed this other car (a Porsche too I might add)! Yikes, that could have been me!

Not only do they raise 'em real big in Texas, but they also raise 'em real stupid too.

Thank You,

Karma

2 comments:

Scotty "PHAT" Graham said...

Bill's out there too. To funny about the driver.

Frank Georges said...

Running in strange cities is always an adventure. I remember doing a run in Las Vegas and basically running down an entire avenue of hookers.

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