Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Pullman Trip (AKA the Bathroom Saga)

My wife and I 'celebrated' our 5th wedding anniversary last Friday.  I say 'celebrated' in the sense that I went out and bought a super mushy card (I never do this) and she bought me compression socks. We decided to take a trip to Pullman, WA this weekend to celebrate, you know, where we met. This was the first time we took the 1 month old (sorry no pics of him from the trip) on a car trip longer than 20 minutes.  A test drive, if you will, as we are planning on taking an 8 hour trip later this month (he was a trooper by the way, slept a lot). 
Friday morning I ran a 7 mile tempo run.  It was a great run; I ran each mile between 8:30 and 8:45, which is probably my goal marathon pace.  It wasn't a true tempo, I feel like I should run those in 8:15 or so, but it was faster than any other distance I did throughout July. 
Saturday morning, I am the 'first' person up (I assume others have been awake and since fallen back asleep this morning), so I put on my shoes head out for a short run.  I manage 3.5 miles in 30 minutes, a great little run before we head out on the trip.  I weigh in after my run, just for fun, I have lost 4.5 pounds in the last month dropping below 200 for the first time , which deserves a dancing banana.  .

For those readers who have  gone through the joys of potty training, I am sure you are familiar with the fear associated with ‘using’ the potty out in public for the first time. For those that are soon to tackle this joyous adventure, let this be a lesson. 

8:30 AM: Oldest kid dressed, youngest one fed, let's get in the car.

9:30 AM: We are finally in the car, Starbuck's coffee in hand, gas tank full, off we go.

10:30 AM: "Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom", so begins the saga. Eastern Washington a brief description:  There is nothing out here.  Once we have turned off the main highway, there are three little hole in the wall towns between the highway and Colfax, WA.  We are about 5 miles from the first little town.  I didn't know that the first town had a rest stop until we pulled up to it.  Bad news, the toilet is clogged, needless to say no bathroom use here.

11:00 AM: At the second hole in the wall town I promise candy if he manages to get over the hump. We spend 10 minutes 'trying'.  Nope, no bathroom use.  I feel bad that we were just going to use the bathroom and buy the candy anyway.

11:30 AM:  At the third hole in the wall town.  We repeat this sequence again, with the same result, but now the youngest child needs to be fed again. We spend 30 minutes in Dusty, WA, google it for fun.

12:30 AM: We finally arrive in Pullman home of Washington State University.  We grab lunch at Cougar Country, then wander up to the WSU campus to walk around, and do some shopping.  Then decide to head over to Moscow, ID, home of the University of Idaho, 8 miles away.

3:00 PM: We get to Moscow, the oldest one has fallen asleep in the 15 minute drive, and the little one wants to eat again.  So we stop at one of the shops there and take care of all our business.  

4:00 PM: We head to my wife's favorite store in Moscow - Tri-State.  Really it is a clothing, shoe, hardware store, and knick knack store.  But it has a lot of cool stuff.  We wander around looking at stuff for a while, then we see the running shoes.  And just as I am about to try on the Kinvara 2s, I hear "Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom."  So I take him. We spend forever in the bathroom, I eventually promise a new movie, if he can eclipse this milestone.  No luck. 

I did finally try on those shoes, AMAZING! I want to go and buy a pair of the Kinvaras right now! They were so light and felt great on my feet.  I am hoping to go this Friday, and get a pair for me and my wife.

Around 6:00 PM:  I took this picture of my kiddo on the WSU football field, he was sad that he didn't get to see the players practice, but this made up for it I think.

T on the WSU logo at mid-field.

We stopped to get snacks at the local grocery store around 7, where... I became the proud owner of the Blue Bird movie, Rio.  Honestly, I think he waited until he got the most he could out of me before deciding to use the bathroom.  It was quite the trip, and I now know where all the bathrooms on the eastern side of the state are. 

Lessons learned: 1) bring the toilet insert, or go before you leave. 2) Drink less liquids.

I was tired Sunday morning, and wanted to hang out with my family, so I skipped my 10 mile run.  I normally would be upset about it, but, eh.  I suppose this has rambled on a bit, and might be a bit more TMI than I should have shared with the community, but I know that a few of you out there can relate to this.

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