I was away all day on Saturday but I figure standing in line for 2 hours, and standing during an audition process for another 3 hours was worth something in the training log.

Yesterday, I went out while the boys were napping and Monstro was prepping for our new D&D campaign (whoo!). There's this stretch of trail that runs about 40 feet beneath a bridge on my street and I'd always wondered how one got there. Well, as it happens, yesterday I ran to it and back again. I walked some, but not much. It felt amazing. A truly wonderful run. And, I think I've figured out how to stop shin pain: when my legs were still hot after my run, I gently pressed down the front of my leg with the ball of my hand. Then I did it a little harder. In the shower, I used a downward motion with my thumbs, pressing down the front and side of my shin. This morning it's like I never ran at all. Great to have a new trick in my arsenal. And boy, it felt great to be running on the first sunny day of the summer. I figure the whole trip was around two miles. I sprinted across a wooden bridge, so fast that a bicyclist looked back to watch me.

On Saturday morning I drove to a mall 90 minutes away to attempt to qualify for the upcoming Boston "Wheel of Fortune" episode tapings. I was there all day but wasn't randomly called to go on stage. It strikes me now that when they had the "Event" puzzle on the board and I knew the answer *before they turned ANY letters* that I should have just called out "I'd like to solve the puzzle, please", but this didn't strike me until I was up with Babykins at 3:00 the next morning. Oh well. There is still a chance that my application will be chosen for the final audition, which will be held in Boston sometime in August -- with my luck, probably while I'm in California. Nevertheless, I solved a puzzle in line and won a TV-38 t-shirt, and signed myself and Monstro up for Spin I.D.s so I could get the talking Pat and Vanna minifigs, so I got some good swag. Also, I learned that WoF receives 1,000,000 applications from wannabe contestants every year!

Now I just need to figure out how to get the pictures off my phone.

Oh, and if you want to look skinny in a picture? Pose with a Winnebago. Works every time.