Nerves And Noshing In San Jose

Ok - my countdown widget says 1 day and 16 hours. I'm beginning NOT to like that widget. It's been thus far motivational to see it there, but now it's just freaking me out.

The trip thus far -
The bad news: the Navy reunion is pretty much of a bust. For a while we had a big group coming out and then they started dropping like flies. Everyone except Lizichka has flaked, had family/job issues, been deployed to Japan, or shredded their knees. (Send some good mojo to my pal Jenn of the torn ligaments because her mishap has not only knocked her out of coming to Monterey for the reunion but also out of the 3-day Breast Cancer walk that was so important to her!) We'll miss the chance to see everyone else, but Donna and Lizichka and I are going to enjoy the heck out of our race.

The good news: met a great guy on the plane trip out (if you're reading, hi Andy!) We were partners in low blood sugar together. The first leg of our trip was 4 hours - 10:30 a.m. to 2:30p.m. I knew that Southwest didn't serve "meals" but I hadn't quite factored that into my morning plans. Most of my morning brain power had been taken up with the logistics of making sure the kids were all arranged for, trying to get both bike cases safely on the plane, obsessively going over my packing list wondering if I'd left something vital (like running kicks), etc. I'm lucky I remembered to have a protein smoothie for breakfast or I'd have been in a world of hurt. On that four hour flight, we didn't even get peanuts! We were offered our choice between 100 calorie packs of wheat thins or oreo crisps. Not enough! We were "through" passengers on the flight but got permission to jump off the plane in Denver and high tail it to the airport bakery/sandwich shop. Overpriced, stale sandwiches would have been FINE with me at that point. I was literally shaking. Instead I paid $8 for a generous roast beef/havarti sandwich on lovely sourdough bread with a giant, fresh, heavenly snickerdoodle cookie thrown in. Somebody in the universe loves me!!

More good news: the weather here has been gorgeous; I've had a great time hanging out with my college buddy Ray and his family; and I had a terrific (if short) run last night - just under 2 miles total but I did a third of a mile sprint (for me) at an 8:30 pace. Legs are the exact right amount of sore this morning and stretching feels wonderful. I'm off to try to find some sushi* and then to meet Donna and John who are flying in today. (Trying not to think about them flying on Sept 11th. Instead, am sending birthday greetings to Southbay Girl and belated happy returns of the day to Erin Leigh!)

*Final bit: what is up with my craving sushi? I've never been a big sushi fan. I mean, it's always been ok if that's what everyone else was up for but it's never been anywhere near the top of my list. Until about 10 days ago. When I suddenly started craving it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every day. Sushi and green tea. That is ALL I've wanted to eat. (The sole exception being in the Denver airport when sushi craving or no, what I wanted to eat was anything I could get a hold of. My paperback book was seriously starting to tempt me.) Ray and I went out for breakfast to a place called Hobee's and I could not make myself eat anything there. (NOTHING against the place! It was all good, healthy California food with turkey bacon or tofu options with the avocado omelettes etc. I just couldn't make myself order any of it. Not even the hash browns!) Forgiving me for food contrariness of diva proportions, Ray suggested we skip out on the pancakes and go find sushi. (Easier said than done at 10:30 a.m. but oh, so so so appreciated! He's a fantastic and incredibly understanding pal.) We managed to wait for a sushi place to open for lunch. It was a lacquered, relatively upscale restaurant. Dimly lit and darkly furnished but clean for all that. Inexplicably there was a big screen TV playing (wait for it).... Finding Nemo. That weirdness aside, I nom, nom, nommed my way through a California roll nicely and brought home a crunchy shrimp (ebi) roll for later noshing. You would THINK that that would be enough sushi for a while, but then you would not be acquainted with my metabolism. So, I'm off (on my own this time as Ray has class and his wife, work) to find sushi within walking distance. There are worse things to crave, right?