17 miles

Ran 17(.41) miles this morning. Went from the house to Cary Parkway. Took Cary Pkwy to the end at Harrison, and meandered back home via Reedy Creek, Maynard, Chatham. Essentially a big loop about halfway around Cary and cutting across through downtown.

Nothing too eventful. I'm a little frustrated with my hydration belt (Nathan Sports Trail[something]). Bottles aren't really staying in place; they've been falling out, noticeable on down hills, usually at the beginning of the run when they're full, it's a bouncing issue. Just annoying to be running along and have to do some sidestepping to turn around and pick up the bottle. Once happened while crossing an intersection! (Luckily at 6:00am on Saturday there isn't any traffic). Right now I've just been taking water, but with 20 miles next week, I need to start thinking about fuel rather than just hydration.

Hills are different here than in Baltimore. I wouldn't say they're any harder or easier. However, it seemed like in Baltimore I'd get them either at the beginning or at the end of the run. Here they're pretty distributed along my routes.

Wednesday I rode-along as an observer with the Cary Area EMS. I've begun looking into health service professions, and EMT being one of them. It was an enlightening experience. I'm pretty sure I don't want to do it as a career, but perhaps some short-term work for the experience (life experience as well as professional). During the shift our truck only had two calls, both at nursing centers and ended up in transport to EMS for not-really-critical patients. The most interesting thing was discovering Gatorade in a can. I'd like to go again.

I love going to the farmers market; it always fascinates me. I love knowing something is in season when you see TONS of it EVERYWHERE. And then I love seeing a pretty common/standard produce and then a plethora of varieties. Case in point for this week: tomatoes, summer squash, and peaches are all in season and are all over the place. There are of course other produce, but those are probably my favorites because I'm familiar with them. Still seeing blueberries, but not as much as tomatoes and peaches. I'd always shy away okra when I was younger and more picky, any suggestions? Eggplants are what I've seen such a variety of. Not sure what the mainstream variety is called. However, I've seen ones that look like brussel sprouts (in color and shape); smaller, white ones, and smaller, elongated varieties.