Days 350-353: May 16-19, 2013

I have not had a Slurpee in forever, but I went out to finally get another one. Slurpees used to be commonplace in my high school days—I even wrote my persuasive essay for English class arguing that Slurpee machines should be in public schools, and our amazing Scavenger Hunt team was known as "Team Slurpee." We also had a secret super Team Slurpee formed, "The Black Slurpees," which was to be announced at a secret event for an upcoming scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, when I broke my leg playing football, our scavenger hunt had to be delayed, and this delay led to our plans falling through once the spring season arrived. Anyway, back to the present, this 7-11 pictured had a fantastic selection, but I actually moved on to another, which had the perfect draw: Banana, Pina Colada, Blue Raspberry, and Wild Cherry. Wild Cherry really ends up being irrelevant, because although it is the fourth best flavor of Slurpee, there is no point ever touching it when you have the trifecta of perfection available. I ended up creating one of my favorite blends, the Blue Banana Colada mix. (No relation to Bloomington's BBC.) The one important Slurpee rule to remember is to always select a straw color that matches your shirt color: a traditional Team Slurpee staple.

It was a nice Friday evening in Stafford, and here is a shot of a traditional Virginia country road. (The fact that I can even say "country" and not get odd looks is further evidence that regardless of what you are told, Stafford County is not Northern Virginia.) It was a nice day to go for a drive around some of the old roads of Stafford, and to follow up that drive with a good evening run.

Saturday was my first time going to Bonefish, and I definitely enjoyed my grilled Atlantic Salmon with a side of quinoa, edamame, and zucchini. Afterwards, we saw Great Gatsby, which was a great movie with some awesome cinematography. We made the rest of the evening a continuing cinematic event as we viewed Zero Dark Thirty at home. Also a solid movie, but a little bit long-running. The end was great, although somewhat predictable. For obvious reasons.

After the rain and clouds receded, I found some time to go for another run on Sunday. Here is a shot from part of my new Virginia route. As you can see, the terrain is a bit more long, hilly, curved, and varied than my traditional running environment in Bloomington. It is a bit more challenging on my legs that have not been trained for hilly running in a little more than two years. The good news about moving up to D.C. soon is I believe the terrain there is a slight bit flatter than here in Virginia. Unfortunately, however, I believe the basic routes I have preconceived may be a bit too flat, even more so than Bloomington. Hopefully I don't get too bored out there on the path.