Will there be a contest?

Last night after work I ran with Olivia. I know! Neither of us called and canceled, we both showed up, and we both ran. What a concept! This will be our last regularly scheduled pre-New York Wednesday night run; I can't run next Wednesday because I'm sure the little goblins and ghosties would tar and feather (or at least egg and TP) my house if I wasn't handing out candy. We -- ok, I -- decided to take it easy, both because the I forgot my inhaler and because the air wasn't as clear as it's been. Easy my foot!

We hadn't chatted in a while so we wanted to stay together, even though Olivia is a faster runner than I am. So she slowed down for me, I sped up for her. Then she'd speed up, I'd speed up, I'd start huffing and puffing and telling her to go ahead, she'd slow down, I'd slow down, she'd speed up, rinse and repeat. I totally blamed my lagging on forgetting the inhaler. I didn't realize until we'd finished that we had averaged 12:10-ish. Yep, way too fast for me to converse and run comfortably. Despite that we had a great run and a good talk. We're going to try to continue running after NY but I think we're bad influences on each other.

I mentioned that the air was bad. I thought it was because of our very own Diablo winds blowing schmootz from the Valley but on the news last night they said it's smoke from the fires in the south. Apparently their Santa Anas blew the smoke about 100 miles out to sea where the prevailing winds swept them up north, to us. Thank you very much SoCal - take our water and give us smoke!

The air in San Diego is so bad my mom is coming up early for her weekend visit. She has COPD and is having a terrible time breathing. Mostly she's been shut up in her house but she's not supposed to use the air conditioner since that'll bring in outside air. And it's been hot down there. I'm glad she's got the option of getting away.

Oh. I BOUGHT MY BEAR! Yes, yes I did. The pretty little bear is coming home to me. In the words of Vermont Teddy Bear Company: "Sugar and Spice and everything nice - Teddy Bears don't get much sweeter than this. She's dressed in a red velveteen and satin dress with applique heart and heart lace trim, and her matching head bow makes her even sweeter." Now I have to think up a name for her. Should I have a contest? Would anybody enter? Would the results be good? Would the prize be worthwhile? Helloooo - is anyone out there??