1 Diet-Free Day, at the Bacon Festival of America

So yeah -- we've been walking and/or jogging, and biking, and dieting, and seeing a personal trainer, and getting into our apartment complex's Pool of Questionable Cleanliness for pool exercises, and doing yoga and kettle bell routines and chair exercises in our living room for a while now... but I remember hearing somewhere (probably on the Internet, maybe even in this very paragraph) that going off the regimen every once in a while is a good thing to do.

And as it so happens, the Saturday before Labor Day is International Bacon Day. And as it so happens, food truck organizer Moveable Feast is putting on the entertainingly over-the-top named "San Jose Bacon Festival of America" on that same day. And as it so happens, our planned anniversary dinner from the 26th needed to be postponed... and this sounds like a nice proxy for an anniversary night out. A fatty, salty proxy. Mmmm, proxy.

We had ordered tickets a while back, when the event was first announced, and got the tickets for half price (score!), so the parking fee at the flea market is offset by the savings and is essentially free. Free of cost, at least -- there's a highly vocal and self-righteous group of protestors clustered at the entrance of the parking lot, saying that we're all horrible people for encouraging the wholesale slaughter of domesticated swine for consumption purposes; so we do have to pay with our immortal souls, I guess... but hey, it's for bacon, so we're good.

We find a parking space surprisingly close to the entrance and make our way into the night market area of the flea market (passing a few other, closer empty parking spaces along the way, of course, but that's fine.) The Bacon Festival consists of 28 different food trucks, parked along the perimeter of the marketplace; with assorted craft vendors off to one side. We arrive shortly before noon (original plan was to arrive around 11:00 to 11:30, but we didn't account for the half hour it took us to get into the parking lot -- this place is BUSY) and start to look at the various trucks to check out our options.

(Okay, vertically aligned sidebar here -- if you've never done a food truck event, there are several things to keep in mind: line length, food delivery speed, truck popularity, and cost; you need to make judgment calls as to what food you want based on these attributes. If you're hungry, go for the short lines to get something in hand, and feel free to eat said food while you're in line for the truck you really want that has a long wait. If the food vendor takes forever to make their food, even a short line will take longer than a longer line at a fast-preparation truck. For the Bacon Festival, the cost isn't a huge deal -- the organizers have a rule that for this festival no dishes can cost more than $5, and there's a good deal of food that actually costs less than that. This is all fairly obvious strategy, of course, but you'd be surprised at how many people complain about picking the most popular truck with the longest line for their first dish, and then complain about the event afterward because they were there for three hours and were only able to visit three trucks, the last one of which is an overcrowded ice cream vendor on a hot day. Simple enough? Good -- back to the narrative.)

The first food truck at which we stop is Takoz Mod Mex a tacos truck that actually specializes in tacos; their standard beef, chicken, and al pastor tacos -- sorry, "TaKoz" -- just have bacon bits on top as their slight nod to the theme of the day, but their other two food options do sound porkier and we opt for their "Street Dog", a bacon wrapped hot dog nestled in a toasted telera roll, with an arugula greens mix on top, and drizzled with avocado sauce and chipotle sriracha aioli, then sprinkled with cilantro. The hot dog is cooked perfectly, and the slight bite of the sriracha aioli works very well with the avocado sauce as a flavor counterbalance. There's a little bit too much bread in the bun-to-dog ratio for me, but the telera roll is toasted just right so it's crispy and has a nice crunch without being dry. Lucie absolutely loves this dish, and at the end of the day still says this is her favorite.

Our next stop is a Korean food truck called Seoul Bitez (okay, what's with the names of some of these trucks? Was there a sale on truck paint jobs where you get discounts for the letters lower down on the letter frequency list? Should I expect a truck named Jaxkqy'zz to show up one of these days?) that has a few Mexican - Korean fusion dishes listed. We go with their variant on the traditional Korean spicy pork, which is a spicy pork belly taco. The thick cut slabs of pork belly are tender and a good ratio of meat to fat, smothered in a zesty bulgogi sauce. The corn tortillas are soft without falling apart, the roamine lettuce and onion are sliced small enough to accompany the protein well without being a distraction, and the spicy pork belly is superb. Lucie finishes her taco, and after about half of mine I just pull out the chunks of bacon and focus on those -- it's not that the taco is bad at all, but I feel the need to pace myself.

The next truck on our list is one we've eaten from before, the purveyor of Chinese soul food known as Soulnese. The line for Soulnese is pretty long -- it's one of the more popular trucks at every event -- so we divide our forces and Lucie stays in line while I find another vendor.

The line for Grilled Cheese Bandits is crazy long so I rule them out immediately, which is too bad; a grilled cheese with bacon is ALWAYS a good thing, and I've been wanting to try them out for a while now. I make do with Louisiana Territory, a Cajun themed truck, and get their garlic bacon fries for us to share while we're waiting in the Soulnese line. Unfortunately, they seem to have rushed their food to get it out, as the fries are undercooked, limp, and greasy. The bacon pieces are cooked well, but they're added more as an afterthought -- a scant pinch or two tossed on the fries before handing them out the truck window -- than given a starring role. I pick out the new french fries that are the least undercooked, we eat the bacon pieces (because, you know, bacon) and I discard the rest. It's a little wasteful, but we don't want to eat something disappointing just because we bought it.

Soon enough, we arrive at the ordering window for Soulnese, and place our order. They don't have their awesome Seoul Stix (skewers of shrimp wrapped around hot link slices) today, which is a shame; but it doesn't really work with the bacon theme so it's understandable. They do have a good selection otherwise, though, so we choose bacon mac'n rolls, bacon garlic noodles, and bacon wrapped corn dogs. The bacon mac'n rolls are their usual mac'n rolls (macaroni and cheese in a deep fried egg roll) with bacon added; however, unlike Takoz Mod Mex's seemingly afterthought action of "let's toss bacon bits on our usual fare", the bacon mac'n rolls have the bacon mixed in with the macaroni and cheese before being rolled up, and bacon and macaroni and cheese are ALWAYS a great combination; these are certainly no exception. Crispy wrapper, creamy and salty filling -- not too dry but not so moist that it leaks or drips when you eat it -- these are fantastic. I love their standard mac'n rolls, but I love these suckers to eleven. The bacon garlic noodles are slightly underwhelming -- the taste is okay but they're cold and a little dry -- and the bacon wrapped corn dogs make up for that. We love corn dogs, and we love bacon, and we really, really love the two together. It's the Reese's Peanut Butter cup of the savory deep fried food world.

After Soulnese, we wander for a bit through the craft vendors and ooh and ah over the San Jose-centric designs on the shirts (I'm very entertained by the "Fin City" shirts in Sharks colors, but of course they don't come in my size) and pick up a pair of bright red knee socks emblazoned with "BACON" on the sides for Lucie. We also briefly look at the other trucks in the area, but the line for Grilled Cheese Bandits is even longer than before, and none of the other items at Louisiana Territory seem appetizing after their bacon garlic fries, so we head back toward the other side of the marketplace.

We stop along the way at Chutney Mary's, who offer a wide variety of dishes covering many different ethnicities and influences. Today, the truck is very definitely NOT doing their usual http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/08/08/chutney-marys-food-truck-serves-up-halal-dishes-in-the-south-bay/ shtick of serving halal food -- they're all about the bacon. We get a bowl of the bacon and beer gumbo with andouille sausage and chicken, which is a delicious concoction with densely savory flavors and large chunks of sausage and chicken, sweet onion, and of course bacon. We also buy one of their salted caramel apples covered with bacon and chocolate chips for eating when we get home; the combination proves to be surprisingly good... the sweetness of the chocolate and saltiness of the bacon, reinforced on both fronts by the salted caramel, added to the refrigerated crisp tartness of the apple -- it's a strange combination of flavors on the surface, but the result is much deeper than you'd think. In fact, this ends up being tied with the Soulnese bacon mac'n rolls for my favorite dish of the day.

We also buy a cup of the bacon lemonade, which is just what it sounds like -- lemonade with bacon pieces submerged in it like porky jetsam. The taste actually isn't bad, but the glossy, iridescent veneer of bacon fat on top is a little off-putting, and we discard the drink when we're about two thirds of the way through it so we avoid the top layer. If I'm going to drink bacon fat, it'll be fresh from the pan after frying the bacon (thought cooled down a bit), and it'll be in a shot glass. Actually, that doesn't sound half bad.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: No, it sounds *all* bad. Don't do it. Only a sadistic cardiologist looking to put kids through college would advocate this, and even then it'd be strictly off the records to avoid legal ramifications.)

Our next stop is at Taqueria Angelica's, where we get a churro (no bacon involved, but it's a taco truck and they have churros, and it's our moral obligation to provide positive reinforcement to churro distributors) and a bacon quesadilla. I have most of the quesadilla -- it's cheese, after all, so Lucie limits her lactose intake -- and it's a simple yet effective delivery system for the bacon, much like what I imagine Grilled Cheese Bandits is providing on the other side of the Bacon Festival, only in a flour tortilla and with a much smaller line. It's got monterey jack cheese and bacon, in a flour tortilla with a drizzle of crema decorating the top, and it comes topped with chopped lettuce and tomato that I ignore because I'm not here celebrating the Healthy Food Accompaniment Festival. We wash that down with a bottle of Coke (Mexican Coke, made with real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup) and decide it's about time for dessert.

There are a few different vendors providing dessert (other than Chutney Mary's caramel apples), but the lines at both Fairycakes and Treatbot are prohibitively long and the food options at Rocko's Chocolate Tacos sounds good so we decide to give them a go. This turns out to be both good and bad -- the bad part being that the line, although shorter, moves excruciatingly slowly due to the food preparation process: the customer orders a waffle cone or other frozen concoction which is then hand-dipped in one of the chocolate dipping sauces available, then dunked briefly into liquid nitrogen before delivery to the customer. This, plus the two facts that the customers are ordering multiple items and that there's only one person making them with one canister of liquid nitrogen, makes for very slow throughput. However, the good part of the equation is that the food is very good and worth the wait. Lucie has a frozen banana dipped in dark chocolate with a generous amount of bacon rolled into the chocolate; it's another one of those seemingly strange but very tasty flavor combinations which we've been experiencing today on this day of smoked cured meat goodness. This is her second favorite food item, just after the Street Dog from Takoz Mod Mex. My food choice is a salted caramel ice cream in a waffle cone, also dipped in dark chocolate, and also with bacon mixed in. Salted caramel is one of the biggest trends in the foodie scene right now, but it's a very delicious trend so I'm okay jumping on the bandwagon -- the caramel flavor in the ice cream is a little drowned out by the dark chocolate and bacon, but it's refreshingly cold on this hot day, and even without a strong salted caramel bass beat the lead guitar of bacon and rhythm guitar of dark chocolate crank out a great tune. I don't know what the drums would be, as I didn't think the metaphor fully through... let's say it's a jazz trio instead, and the upright bass and drums carry the tune even without the sax for a while. That actually works, too. Niiiice.

That having been our dessert, we decide to get one more bacon item for the road (to go along with the apple from Chutney Mary's), and Lucie's request is another Street Dog from Takoz Mod Mex. Unfortunately, I get my food trucks (did I mention just how many there are here? Most Moveable Feast events are six or seven trucks, so tripling the number is a little jarring) mixed up with my food names and we end up at the Road Dogs truck instead. In my defense -- Street Dog, Road Dogs... understandable, right? Right?

By the time I realize my mistake (read: check the notes app on my iPhone where I'm trying to keep track of everything we've been snarfing down) we're at the front of the line so we shrug and order from them anyway -- we stood in line already; might as well get something out of it. Ordering off the hot dog slider menu, Lucie goes for their Classic sliders and I go for the Cheesy Bacon sliders; I wait in line for them and get them packaged to eat at home while Lucie heads off to wait in line at Takoz Mod Mex for another Street Dog. The Classic is a cute set of beef dogs with bacon, homemade relish, brown mustard, and ketchup; and the Cheesy Bacon is a purist's idea of a bacon cheese dog -- two short beef dogs smothered in cheese sauce and a large mound of bacon pieces. These are sliders so it's technically a full size hot dog cut into two smaller pieces (or maybe a foot-long hot dog cut into three pieces for cost savings -- the pieces are cooked separately judging by the ends but they don't last long enough to take a really close look), but they're both very good and we end up eating what we ordered before belatedly realizing we could have split our choices and had some of each. That's actually okay, though, since Lucie says her Classic is very nicely made and is mighty tasty (just not at a Street Dog level), but I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much since I'm not much of a sweet relish person. Likewise, my Cheesy Bacon slider is pure gooey cheddary salty awesome in a soft sweet roll, but the cheese sauce wouldn't have been a big favorite with Lucie.

By the time the Road Dogs order is ready and packaged and I get over to Lucie, she's almost at the front of the line at Takoz Mod Mex, so the timing for waiting in line is almost perfect. Unfortunately, the timing for ordering food is not perfect, because they're out of the bacon wrapped hot dogs and have stopped selling Street Dogs for the day. Curses! We make do with a BLT Torta (Sorry, "TorTa", because in addition to an infrequent-letter discount I believe they also had some sort of deal on capital letterz), and also bring that home to enjoy once we're on a couch and not standing in direct sunlight. The TorTa is a BLT on a toasted telera roll, with the same avocado sauce and chipotle sriracha aioli that came on the Street Dog. The roll is still very nicely toasted, and the sauces are still a nice kick in the taste buds, but the bacon to bread ratio is way off due to the telera roll's thickness. It's still a decent sandwich, but the bacon is almost lost, which is a shame. Maybe it's just not enough protein because it's early afternoon and some trucks are already running out of bacon (the event organizer says that there are 5,000 more attendees than expected) so they feel the need to ration; maybe they just didn't think about the bread's size and figured that what would be a small-but-acceptable amount of bacon for two slices of sourdough bread would also be acceptable for a telera roll; maybe the guys at Takoz Mod Mex originally had tons of bacon in the sandwich originally but their cost would have been over the $5 maximum allowed price, so Takoz Mod Mex had to KompRomyZz; maybe their Street Dog was so darn delicious that anything else naturally pales in comparison... who knows? At least their Street Dog was freakin' awesome.

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So maybe it wasn't exactly dinner at a four-star restaurant, or a private dinner at an oceanside gazebo with a personal musician and private waiter and hostess, but it was -- in my humble opinion, at any rate -- a very nice anniversary meal, on a beautiful day, with the woman I love, fairly close to the 12th anniversary of the day she said "I do."

And that makes it wonderful.

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25K (plus 13 Miles) So Far In Summer

So since my last blog entry (which was admittedly quite a while ago), Lucie and I have been taking part in several activities that, if you had suggested to us we'd be doing a couple of years ago, we'd have laughed at you for even suggesting; some of which were done with my sister joining us (or rather, joining me; since this allows Lucie to jog instead of feeling like she has to limit herself by walking with her slow and gimpy husband.)

I *think* that sentence makes sense; lots of different tenses, though, so grammar might very well be way off.  Then again, this is a blog, so grammar don't matter none (or speling neither.)

Anyway, since our first foray into doing 5Ks, we've taken part in quite a few events; let's relive them in order:

5/18: The Color Run, benefitting the American Diabetes Association

Like a few other races, this one started at the soon-to-be-renamed HP Pavilion in downtown San Jose.  The Color Run is actually a for-profit business, although they do make charitable donations to local organizations; in the San Jose event, they donated to the American Diabetes Organization.  In the Color Run, participants start off wearing white or light colored clothing; at each kilometer marker is a "color station", where race volunteers fling brightly colored powders at the runners as they pass.  In the pictures I took, our clothing eventually goes from white, to white and pink, to white and pink and yellow, then adding orange, then blue, then purple.  At the end of the race is essentially a big rave, with loud dance music and hundreds if not thousands of dyed people jumping and dancing and -- in ten-minute intervals -- throwing clouds of bright powders into the air to color the crowd around them.  It's fun, but Lucie and I both feel WAY too old (and antisocial) to rave along with the young kids, so we throw our included-with-the-race-packet bags of colored powder at each other and some people nearby, then head back home.

The Color Run was fun but felt a little too "young" for us; we're glad we did it and would recommend it to other people wanting to have a fun time, but will probably pass next year and leave it to younger and more festive participants.  I did enjoy getting a custom dye job on my clothes, though.

6/2: The Race for Literacy on behalf of the San Jose Public Library, benefitting the India Literacy Project

A race suggested by and done with my sister, the Race for Literacy took place at Vasona Park.  We join the SJPL race team, and get spiffy race shirts customized with the team name.  For this race, the three of us walk together for the first five minutes as Lucie warms up, then she jogs ahead while my sister and I walk and keep each other company.  Laura and I chat as we walk the crowded path along the lake, pause for a bit as my bad knee gets aggravated when I walk uphill without being careful enough, and meet up with Lucie at the finish line, where she completed the race about 10-15 minutes before we do.

The paths at Vasona Park are a little narrow for a big crowded event like this, and the volunteers seem a little subdued rather than supportive; but it's for a good cause, it's a nice day, and the three of us enjoy a nice breakfast at The Breakfast Place afterward... all in all, this makes for a very enjoyable day.

6/29: USO Salutes Our Heroes, benefitting the USO

Another race starting at the still-named-this-but-soon-to-be-renamed,-honest HP Pavilion, this is the first in a hopefully long run of annual events to support the USO.  Laura joins us for this event as well. Other than the three of us, the turnout for this event is unfortunately pretty small -- a combination, we suspect, of this being an inaugural event and inadequate word-of-mouth and marketing -- but the support staff (as should be expected of the USO) is outstanding; numerous, and very well organized, and vocally supportive of both the event and the participants. Plus, S. J. Sharkie shows up, as well as Darth Vader, an Imperial Stormtrooper, an Imperial Scout Trooper (and yes, I recognized the difference between the two) and a generic Imperial commander; so total geek bonus points.

The timing on the event is a little unfortunate, as San Jose is going through its annual mini heat wave (as hot as the Bay Area gets, at any rate), so Laura and I sweat profusely as we walk the route along the Guadalupe Creek Trail (and Lucie sweats more as she does her walk/jog combination ["wogging", she calls it]) but we manage to survive the ordeal.  Despite the heat, though, we consider this a great event -- thanks in no small part to the USO volunteers and staff -- and we really hope they continue this event as an annual thing.

7/13: Rotary Run at the Fig, benefitting the Rotary Club of Fresno

Laura decides to be selfish and stay in San Jose with our mom who's visiting from New Mexico instead of driving the four hours down to Fresno just for this event, but whatever.    Instead, Lucie and I head down to Fresno to take part in a race on her birthday; Lucie takes part in the 5K and I do the 2-mile walk (as my bad knee is currently dictating my exercise regimen.)  Because this is in Fresno, during the summer, the race begins at 6:30 in the morning... so we do show up at the Fig Garden in Fresno a few seconds late (as in literally, Lucie starts the 5K about 10 seconds after the rest of the crowd.)  

The route is questionable, as it winds its way through the nearby neighborhoods; and the end point of the race is not as racer-friendly as we'd like (I get a nice picture of the delivery truck after it tries to go under the balloon arch shortly after the 2-mile walk is over and gets stuck); and even though we start way freaking early it's still scorchingly hot by the time we finish... It's not our shiniest race day moment, but Lucie gets an Achievement Unlocked! for her goal of running a 5K on her birthday.  Plus, I get a cool shot of me, my awesome Fresno-based nephew (also wearing some tie dye), and the mascot of frozen yogurt joint Yodigity in all of our bright and festive colors.  So, that's pretty sweet.

7/21: West Valley Dash of Hope, benefitting West Valley Community Services

Another 5K at Vasona Park, and another event with my sister.  Although this takes place in the same park, the route itself is different, with more changes in elevation and -- for at least part of the race -- wider paths, so it definitely comes across as less crowded, which is nice.  It's also a lot more competitive in feel, which isn't as nice because Laura and I lag well behind almost everyone and come in very close to last since we're probably the only ones walking the course instead of running (or wogging.)  We do get a nice photo of us jogging the last couple hundred feet or so toward the finish line as the crowd of runners who finished ahead of us cheer us on, which is nice; and Lucie gets a personal best time for wogging the route.  It's still a warm day, but Vasona has much better shade than the Guadalupe Creek Trail or suburban Fresno, so we're not as affected.  There's an uphill stretch near the end that goes over some rocky dirt, though, and my knee doesn't take it very well -- it's throbbing a bit as we finish the race (and jogging on it for that last section probably didn't help too much either, to be sure) but it's still a nice race and a good time.

Also some good support at this event, with volunteers handing out bagels, bananas, and drinks; and a Jamba Juice tent selling their tasty fruit smoothies (with proceeds going toward West Valley Community Services, the charity of the day.)  If my knee gets better (or replaced), we're going to do this one again next year.  Good race, good cause, and good location.

7/27: Wipeout Cancer Sports Day for Charity

This is another first-year event, started by a woman who was diagnosed with colon cancer after having won on the TV show Wipeout and taken part in American Ninja Warrior on two different seasons; the charity she created for cancer research is named for her experience on the show.  Taking place at the Campbell Community Center, the day consists of a children's obstacle course, adult volleyball tournament, and bicycle rides; all of which are her favorite sports pastimes.  Lucie and I opt for the 13-mile family fun ride rather than the 30-mile or 60-mile competitive rides because we're sane people.

From the Campbell Community Center, we ride through downtown Campbell to the Los Gatos Creek trail, then head south; following the trail through Los Gatos Creek Park (where Lucie and I had participated in Kaiser's "Personal Best" fitness program earlier in the year), then further south through Vasona Park (following, in part, the same trails we'd taken in both of our 5K events [we seem to be doing an awful lot more physical activities than we have ever done, we reflect as we ride]) and all the way into Los Gatos, where we rest for a few minutes before heading back along the same path.

This ends up being about a 13.5 mile round trip bike ride... or at least, it would have been if I didn't get a flat tire and walk my bike for about half a mile before someone  else in our group stops and helps me with some emergency roadside assistance.  I never did get the guy's name, but probably made him a little uncomfortable with how profusely I was thanking him as he popped off my rear wheel, found the root cause which had been giving me issues for the last couple of weeks (the bike shop in Fresno had apparently damaged my rim when they put in heavy-duty tubes, creating a sharp chunk of aluminum right next to the valve stem, which chewed its way through three different inner tubes before it was discovered -- gonna have to give them a negative review on Yelp about that, methinks), replaced the bad tube (which was actually missing the valve stem, as it had blown completely off [lost a brand-spankin'-new pink ribbon stem cap along with it, too]), used my emergency CO2 inflator, and had me back up and running (technically pedaling, I suppose) in just a couple of minutes.  Whoever you are, thanks again.

Anyway, we get back to the Campbell Community Center, partake briefly of the lunch offered (High Tech Burrito, out of Los Gatos), and get my bike fixed at Mike's Bikes before heading home.  Other than the frustrating flat tire incident -- this being the third flat tire in as many rides, I was incredibly tempted to throw my bike into the creek in a fit of impulsive rage -- this was a good day.  Our first biking event, my newish bike being fixed (haven't had a flat tire since, despite over 50 miles ridden, which is a good sign), and some more exercise in the sun.  And a tasty burrito, too.

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So there you have it -- including the first 5K at Great America, we've taken part in six different 5K events, one bike ride, and a kayak ride (more on that one another time) in just the last few months.  If you had suggested even a year and a half ago that we'd be doing this, even the thought of that being a possibility would have had us laughing our butts off... now, we're walking / wogging / biking them off instead.

Hey -- whatever works.

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11.3 Miles to Alviso and Back

Back when I was first starting on my weight loss regimen, Lucie and I bought bicycles with our tax return, so I could get some low-impact exercise.  This was back when I was having trouble walking for any long amount of time, so going to the Campbell Community Center track was (back then, at least) out of the question, so we figured getting out and riding bikes would be a good start.

As it turns out, the only bike that would take my weight was a cruiser-style bike, with the old-style coaster (I.e., back-pedal activated) brakes.  I hadn't used that style of bicycle brakes since I was in grade school, and while the saying that you can't forget how to ride a bike might be true, the same doesn't go for stopping e bike once you're moving.  After a couple of embarrassing events where I cruised well past my intended stopping point -- including at Vasona Park where I tried to prop myself on a concrete curb, and ended up missing the curb, falling over, and spraining my wrist trying to break my fall -- I sort of put the bike away on our balcony and concentrated on walking.

Since the completion of the Guadalupe River Trail through downtown San Jose, winding along the Guadalupe River all the way up into Alviso, earlier this year -- the trail itself has been around for a long time, but was just recently paved its entire length -- we've been thinking about riding it.  But, not on that bike; because it doesn't like me.  Much like Hawai'i, I believe the bike kind of wants to kill me.

We end up using the last of our tax return money to buy a replacement bike, a 21-speed hybrid bike with a more upright sitting position so it's easier on my back.  It's more comfortable, faster, and a LOT lighter than my cruiser, though it doesn't have the spiffy flame paint job.  Ah well; can't have everything.  It has the hand brakes I'm used to, so I'm able to stop where I want to, which is probably better than aesthetics anyway.

We put the bikes on the back of Meg and drive up to my work.  It's located right next to an entrance onto the Guadalupe Trail, it has secure parking, and we can take city streets there, so no worries about bikes flying off the back of our car at freeway speeds.

The trail itself is beautiful... Raised above the Guadalupe River, fully paved and 6 feet wide, underpasses at all of the major streets; it really is a joy to ride.  The pollen can get a little brutal since you're out in the middle of nature, and if its a windy day you can struggle to move more than a few feet per minute; but you can see ducks and Canada geese in the river, and lush foliage, and the new Niners stadium being built near the Great America theme park... and if you follow the trail all the way up into Alviso, you end up not two blocks away from Maria Elena's Restaurant, home of some of the tastiest guacamole we've had in a long time.  Stopping there and enjoying a light lunch on the patio (where you can keep an eye on your bicycles) is a very pleasant way to rest up before the ride back.

We had ridden this trail a few times before, but had never gotten all the way to the end -- we were just starting out and hadnt built up the stamina yet; this was the first time we'd managed to make it all the way, and so we treated ourselves to a light lunch (plus the guacamole) before heading back home.  All in all, the round trip was a little over 11 and a quarter miles, which surprised us a bit... it didn't seem like that far, but just a nice leisurely ride alongside a calm riverbed where geese were swimming, trees (and clouds of pollen) swayed in the breeze, birds flew overhead and squirrels scampered below, and we had a nice big trophy waiting for us halfway through, in the form of some tasty, tasty guacamole.

Mmmm, guacamole.

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3.2 Miles on a Sunday in Santa Clara

So 2 years ago, I couldn't walk around the block without having to stop at least 3 or 4 times to rest because of back and knee pain, and because I was so incredibly out of shape. ITBS on my left leg, plantar fasciitis in my right foot, bone-on-bone arthritis in both knees, transitional joint at my L5 vertebra, and of course morbid obesity. Increasing pain caused me to exercise less, which increased my weight gain, which in turn added to my pain. Pretty bad cycle, that.

I've been working on it for a while now, and have made some good progress. My back and knees are giving me a lot fewer problems lately, so much that I was able to stop taking one of my pain meds; I've been working with our personal trainer (along with Lucie) and have greatly increased my stamina; I've dropped a lot of weight and am walking much faster than I used to... I've still got a ways to go, to be sure, but I've made some good progress.

Last year, I not only managed to walk 2 miles at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure walk in Fresno, but the following weekend Lucie and I walked the 5K walk at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in San Jose. It was done at a very easy pace, from the Shark Tank to San Jose State University and back, with many stops along the way for traffic lights; it took almost three hours to complete, and by the end of the walk I was limping because I'd cracked one of my toenails... but I was able to complete it. It was kind of a little thing, but it made me happy.

Since then, Lucie has really been working on her walking / jogging (she calls it "wogging") duration. She completed a Couch to 5K training app on her iPhone, and is currently working on a 5K to 10K variant. I'm very proud of her.

My knees, however, won't allow me to jog, so when we go to the Campbell Community Center I have to walk while Lucie gets her wog on. I do have fun walking while listening to my "Zombies, Run!" app, but I need to have the zombie chase option disabled because I can't run for any extended amount of time. In a real zombie apocalypse, I'd be undead chow in no time.

And I *can* walk for long distances, but just not very quickly. Or I can walk relatively quickly, but not for long distances -- I've gotten blisters on the bottoms of my feet on more than one occasion trying to do so.

But I'm working on it.

I made a personal promise after the Boston Marathon bombing attack that I would start participating in as many 5K events as I could. We signed up for the Guadalupe River Run last month, but were unable to participate (though I did get my racing bib.)

And this past weekend, Lucie and I took part in the Mission City 5K, at the California's Great America theme park. It started in the park itself, meandered through the various sections of the park, then outside the park and around the perimeter of the parking lot, then back inside the park to the finish line. Lucie could have wogged it and finished the route much more quickly than she did, but she slowed her pace greatly and walked it with me, and we finished the 3.2-mile course in just under an hour. My right foot is hurting a little bit today, but no blisters to speak of and my knee seemed to handle it okay.

Because it was presented as a "family fun run", all participants in the race received completion medals for either the 1-mile distance or the full 5K. Lucie and I received the medals as well.

And it's kind of funny... these are the same sort of things that 6-year old children get when they play in soccer tournaments, where everyone gets "Participant" trophies. From a competitive point of view, these things are pretty much meaningless, and I can see that.

But speaking as someone who in 24 months has gone from practically couchridden to being able to walk at a brisk pace for over three miles; who still has a cane behind the driver's seat of his car because he's scared that his left knee or his right foot or his back or any number of other physical deficiencies might crop up again; who has lost 100 pounds and three shirt sizes and who is still trying desperately to lose more; who has just completed his first 5K since Boston and who is trying to do his very small, insignificant-to-practically-everyone-but-himself part to show solidarity with the runners and residents of Boston and that they have the support and admiration of the common man; and who is trying like hell to live a longer and healthier life with his wife and family whom he loves... this medal means a whole hell of a lot.

And I'm pretty damn proud of it.

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42 Years Ago, In a City Not Far Away...

Dang, I'm old.

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28 Pounds at a 27-Inch Draw

So up until a month or so ago, I hadn't been out practicing archery in probably about ten years. I used to go out to the range fairly often, with either my longbow or with my compound bow; but as I got busier with work, and fatter and less able to walk any real distances -- much less while carrying a heavy bow case -- I had put aside my archery equipment and kind of forgotten about it. In fact, I had lost track of where my compound bow was after I had brought it in to show during one of my speech classes, and had thought it gone for good. About a month ago, however, I ran across it as we were cleaning up our place, and the urge hit me once again.

This brings us to now. Because I haven't shot my compound bow in so long, I'm a bit concerned about its safety and reliability; the string is incredibly waxed and seems to be in surprisingly good condition, but I'm not so sure about everything else. So, I have my Pearson Flame compound bow -- made around 1993, last shot around 2003 -- professionally tuned up at a "nearby" archery place (I use quotation marks because while there used to be 4 different archery places in San Jose, they've all since closed up shop and the closest two options are in Gilroy or in Newark; and I actually end up using a place in Clovis that I went to the last time we went to Fresno) so it's reset back to the factory specs with regards to draw weight, and adjusted so the arrows fly straight, and the cables and wheels verified to be all in good condition. I also have the arrow rest replaced with a more current model, which provides a more secure and safe resting place for the arrows so they're less likely to slip. Plus, the new arrow rest is called a "whisker biscuit", which is a funny name, so that's definitely a plus.

Excitedly, I get my refreshed bow back and take it out to an indoor range in Palo Alto (not an archery shop, but an indoor range, and the closest one to us) to get the sights dialed in to the new arrow rest. I take a few shots, adjust the sight a little bit, and take another few shots.

The sight falls off the bow.

I work on it some more, a little embarrassed because this is happening in front of a bunch of other folks, and try again. I tighten the hex bolts as tight as I can, and take a few shots.

The sight falls off the bow again, and gets damaged when it hits the floor. Apparently, the metal fatigued or something during its hibernation period, because it's not securing like it should -- and now some of the pins are bent so they can't be adjusted at all. Frustrated, I stop for the night and cheer on my wife as she shoots a recurve bow for the first time. She's very, very impressive for a newb. Better than I was, in fact; but hopefully I'll give a better showing once I replace my sight.

So we head back down to Gilroy and I buy a replacement bow sight -- very nice one, not too expensive, but with enclosed pins so they're better protected than the one I had before, with a level so I can make sure the bow is being held straight, and with fiber optic lighting for better viewing (I love technology.) At the same time, we buy Lucie her first bow, an Olympic style take-down recurve, very attractive style and setup, and something which we feel is worthy of being her tax return splurge purchase.

A few days later we go back to the Palo Alto range after work, Lucie shoots her new bow, and I work on dialing in my new bow sights. Lucie shoots even better than she did before, which is both extremely impressive and possibly just a little tiny bit demoralizing to a guy who used to shoot a lot and who didn't pick it up nearly as quickly as she is.

I take a few shots, and suddenly the mechanical release I'm using practically explodes; the body of the release can't handle that much stress after ten years to slumber, and pieces of plastic -- or resin, or polycarbonate, or whatever kind of nonorganic shrapnel it is -- go flying everywhere. I feel a chunk mash into my face, and I'm positive it's cut me open and I'm now bleeding. Once again, I have to cut my shooting short and once again cheer on my wife as she impresses everyone but herself ("I'm only shooting at a target five yards away" she says, and "You're hitting bulls-eyes consistently, and it's only your third time shooting a recurve ever!" I reply.) Good news: my cheek is only mildly scratched; bad news: I've now had bad experiences with this bow twice in a row, and I can see that the string needs replacing or it might snap where the serving is becoming weak, and I'm actually more than a little intimidated about shooting the Flame again until I take a break from it and calm the heck down.

So we go down to Gilroy, again, and I use my tax return splurge purchase to get a recurve of my own. I figure, after ten years of not shooting, I need to work on my fundamentals first to get my form back to where it needs to be; and with a more simple bow I can focus on my stance, draw point, foot positioning, and everything else that Lucie has come close to mastering in such a short time.

I end up getting a similar bow to Lucie's only with a slightly stronger draw weight, right handed body, stiffer arrows, and silver limbs instead of her white ones. At my full draw length of 27 inches, it's pulling 28 pounds; a good weight, not so much that I can't hold the draw long enough to aim properly, but enough that I can come somewhat close to the feel I had with the Flame.

I've only gone shooting with it twice so far, but it feels good. My grouping isn't as good as Lucie's, but I'm realizing that I had developed some really bad shooting habits with the Flame and I'm having some trouble reprogramming myself. It'll come, in time. In the meantime, we have something new to do together that's at least a little more active than sitting on the couch, which takes us outside on weekends, and which once again lets me live my childhood fantasies of being the Marvel Comics superhero Hawkeye... or maybe Wolverine with a bow. He went to Japan, right? They like archery there....

Anyway, until such time as I feel brave enough (not "Merida" brave, because I think she rocked a longbow) enough to pick up the Flame again, I have a newer, safer, and simpler setup. Because the riser is a nice glossy black, and the limbs are silver, I have named my bow Jackson.

Go Raiders!

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1 Customer for Life, in San Jose

So we're feeling particularly lazy and grumpy after a long and irritating day at work, so we decide to stop by Tandoori Cafe, corner of Stevens Creek and Lawrence Expressway. This isn't the most authentic Indian food joint we've been to, but it is very convenient, and tasty, and their chapli kebabs are nicely spicy; we come here every couple of months or so. Not every week by any means, but often enough to where Yelp calls me a regular, and to where we recognize the guys working the register.

And the guy behind the register recognizes us as well.

After we place our order (a lamb boti wrap for my wife, lamb saag for me, and chapli kebabs, naan, and dal for us to share), he says, "and this is for... Lucie, right?" Lucie and I glance at each other briefly. He remembers her name, without any prompts.

Maybe we come here a little too often.

And then the guys looks at me and says, "Hey, you've been working out or something, haven't you; because you've lost a bunch of weight. You look good."

Maybe we don't come here enough. Buddy, you've made a loyal customer for life.

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2 Dishes, 1 Result, in Sunnyvale

Just because my wife and I are working on losing weight doesn't mean we don't have adventures in dining any more. On the recommendation of some co-workers, we've gone out to try new and exotic food from exotic cultures in less-than-exotic (and downright dirty and borderline unsavory) locations.

We've had Korean tofu stew in an Asian food court in a strip mall. We've had awesome teppanyaki and bacon fried rice at a Japanese steakhouse in Fresno. We've had Korean barbecue buffet at a shiny but crowded joint along El Camino Real (which has no shortage of Korean restaurants, all of them begging to be tried.) And we've had Thai food at a small hole in the wall in Sunnyvale, which led to one of my more memorable spicy food experiences. That last meal is the one I'm here to talk about.

Pad Thai Cuisine is a tiny little place on Lawrence Expressway in Sunnyvale, located in the same area as St. John's Bar & Grill (some of the better burgers in the area, but we're not here to talk about burgers. Forget the burgers. Put those juicy, grilled-to-perfection, smoky patties of beefy goodness out of your mind, even if you're thinking of the bleu bacon burgers, with the tangy thick flavor of the bleu cheese combined perfectly with the fatty salty accompaniment of their thick-cut bacon; or their mushroom Swiss burger with the almost-too-greasy-but-really-just-greasy-enough sautéed mushrooms smothered in the almost acidic tartness of a melted layer of nice Swiss cheese; and also don't think about their baskets of fries, all crunchy and perfectly salted, with curry ketchup or ranch dressing for dipping; or the calamari, or nicely spicy chili, or... crap. Now I want burgers.)

Where was I? Oh yeah, Thai food.

The exterior of Pad Thai Cuisine is less than impressive; a generic storefront identical to the Subway sandwich shop a few doors down, or the falafel place or yoga studio, all of which can only be differentiated by the signage in front. It's when you go inside that you start to become impressed... wooden facades cover the walls, giving the place almost a farmhouse feel; a myriad (well, not actually ten thousand, but a boatload [well, not actually a literal boat-full, but a large number]) of hand-carved wooden sculptures and privacy screens definitely give it an exotic Thailand vibe; and the occasional out of place item like the fancy golden pendulum clock on the wall liven the place up a bit and give it a little bit of quirky appeal.

And the FOOD. Yeah, I know -- talking about a restaurant's food is so cliché, but bear with... can't fill an entire blog post describing the intricacies of the many-layered elephant herd that was artfully and beautifully hand-carved into the piece of driftwood they have hanging on the wall. We had been here once before with some co-workers of Lucie's, so we knew a little bit about the food offerings, but this time we went by ourselves so we were able to be a little more liberal with the choices.

We started with the appetizers of chicken satay skewers and the Thai spicy wings. The chicken skewers are good -- they almost look as though they're formed from ground chicken, but there's also the grain of actual chicken meat, so not entirely sure how they're made. The result, however they're made, is juicy but with a peppery, almost dry taste to the outside layer, and with the peanut satay sauce bringing an almost creamy counter to create a nice balance of flavors and textures, all on a stick (which makes eating anything more enjoyable.) When I order the spicy wings and they ask me how spicy I want them, I flippantly reply, "how spicy can you make 'em?"

Apparently, these guys take this as a challenge. They bring the heat, in a big way. The wings themselves are deep fried to lava-hot perfection (anybody who tried to claim that baked chicken wings are just as good are lying. Baked chicken wings may be healthier, but never as good as deep fried. Ever.) These suckers come to the table still too hot to hold with your fingers, as I find out when I pick one up to sample; doing what nobody in their right mind would do, I immediately jam the wing -- probably still bubbling on the inside it's so hot -- into my mouth so I can let go and protect my fingers. This proves to not be the smartest thing I have done this decade, but the pain of the temperature-based heat still isn't enough to distract me even the slightest from the spice-based heat. These wings are SPICY. It's a Thai sauce, so there's a sweet aspect to it -- most likely a honey based glaze -- but the heat from the chilies is truly immense. My lips turn numb, my nose immediately starts running, and my eyes water as I take bite after searing bite of the wings, needing to let go of the wings between bites because it still hurts to hold them they're so hot. But the flavor is seriously fantastic. Juicy chicken wings with a crust that is superbly crispy but not so crunchy it's distracting; and a thick and gooey glaze that is deeply spicy with a sweet finish. I love my hot wings, and in all honesty these are the best hot wings I've ever had. No acidic vinegar blast like you get with run-of-the-mill buffalo wings; no chewy skin from baked wings; no healthy or convenient alternatives like skinless or boneless; just pure hot wing bliss.

Lucie can only eat two of the wings because they're a bit too intense for her, which hurts me a little. Not because her not eating them hurts me emotionally; but because I eat more of the wings myself, which hurts me and my mouth in ways that shouldn't be described too vividly lest they give James Wan or Eli Roth ideas and Thai spicy wings end up as one of the torture devices in Saw the 13th: Freddy vs. Leatherface.

Our entrees are preceded by the restaurant's free offer of their version of agadashi tofu, small cubes of tempura tofu on a bed of pickled carrots. I have grown to love just about all versions of agadashi tofu, and this is no exception. Soft tofu provides an almost melted consistency when compared to the slight crunch of the crips breading; and the very mild flavor gives my taste buds a brief respite from the spicy wings, nearly fooling them into thinking the pain of uber-hot Thai food is over. Then, of course, the main course arrives and my taste buds get jumped from behind and kicked senseless by a street gang of spicy thugs in the form of chili peppers.

Lucie goes for the pad thai (I mean, if the place is called "Pad Thai Cuisine" you kind of ought to, right?) with a mild heat level, and I have the beef pad see ew, also ordered with the "how spicy can you make it?" challenge. It's essentially pad thai, except pad thai's thin rice noodles cooked in tamarind are replaced with thick, almost meaty slabs of rice noodle cooked in soy sauce with broccoli and egg. Think of it as the Thai version of chow fun, except with a spicy heat that rivals the gentle warm glow of nuclear fuel rods.

It's delicious. And painful. But delicious. I wolf down (an appropriate metaphor, since my taste buds are howling) most of my food, saving some space for dessert. The few bites I have of Lucie's pad thai are slightly sweet and tart from the tamarind, and the few bites she has of mine are "something that would hurt Corporal Hicks more than a face full of alien blood" (I might be paraphrasing her words, since I'm the geek in the marriage) but also well received. We combine our leftovers into one container for the next day so she can increase her heat levels a lot and I can dilute mine slightly, and we order dessert -- fried bananas with ice cream.

The fried bananas are golf ball sized chunks of banana, battered and fried, the crispy tempura shell being a nice contrast to the warm and mushy fruit, almost pungent with the caramelized sugars that result from the cooking process. The ice cream (served on the side by request, out of consideration for the lactose intolerant) is a tiger stripe of strawberry jam in vanilla ice cream, very good but almost cloyingly sweet when paired with the bananas. They also offer the fried bananas with a honey sauce instead of ice cream -- something we'll have to have next time we come here.

The sweet cream from the ice cream, and the sugars from the banana, are still not enough to stop the effects of my dishes, and I resolve that the next time we come here -- and we will be coming back, make no mistake -- I'll still order the Thai spicy wings and the pad see ew, but maybe I'll just stick with "spicy, please" when they ask, instead of "how spicy can you make it?"

Or maybe not -- as painful as it gets eating supremely spicy Thai food, the flavors are outstanding, and once the endorphins kick in, I almost get a little heady eating the stuff. It's not so hot that I don't enjoy the flavors, but also spicy enough where I wouldn't want to eat it every day.

Once in a while, though, it totally and completely hits the spot.

(Not THAT "spot"; that happens the next day, and it does indeed get hit. But let's not talk about that bit.)

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4.5 Hours of Supposed Willpower in Silicon Valley

So it's iPhone 5 Day, and Apple's latest shiny toy has been on sale for almost four and a half hours.

I don't have one yet.

And I don't have any plans to run out and get one today, either.

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This isn't willpower, though.  I just had to go in to work, so I couldn't stand in line.  And I don't qualify for a fully subsidized price point, either, and I'm too cheap to spring for the ridiculously high full price.

But it sounds so much more impressive if I say it's willpower, doesn't it?

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8-10 Minutes of Pure and Complete Terror

(Note -- humor is my coping mechanism.  I may sound flippant about the following, but in all honesty I am still very completely freaked out... it's just that I've always been determined to keep my blog whimsical and fun, since I don't like to do the whole drama thing in public.  That's why I've only been posting entries when we've done something exciting or entertaining, and will continue to do so.  I hope that this entry will be the sole exception.  Also, there might be some swear words in this entry -- not completely sure just yet, but giving this warning just in case anyone might object to panic-induced profanity.)

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So Lucie and I have been hitting the track down at the Campbell Community Center a few times a week, where I walk laps and Lucie does a walk-jog combination that my knees can't handle (at least not yet.)  And that's pretty groovy -- we get some exercise, and we sweat, but again it's not so strenuous that it knocks us out or anything.

And we've both been working out with our personal trainer since the beginning of this year (I've been doing it since July of last year; Lucie started this January), and while she's been working us pretty hard every time it's never been so hard we can't handle it.

And we've both been dieting as well for about the same amount of time, and we've both lost a pretty decent amount of weight.  So that's pretty awesome, and we do make sure we get a sufficient amount of energy and liquids so we don't feel any ill effects.

Except for this last time.

We just finished up a week-long staycation, where we did a few day trips but mostly stayed at home and rested -- at least one blog entry to follow regarding one of the day trip; I haven't gotten to it yet because I'm a slacker who's still mostly on vacation time.  And, you know, this whole episode sort of got me sidetracked a bit.

Anyway, I went back to work the day after Labor Day, while Lucie took one more day off.  That evening, we had our Tuesday session with our personal trainer as usual... except it wasn't really all that normal.

At the very last part of our session, Lucie was a little winded, so she was sitting down for a quick rest talking to our trainer about jogging (our trainer -- who I shall henceforth call J -- runs, jogs, sprints, and generally does lots of cockroach-fast movement type stuff on weekends, and has been giving Lucie helpful tips since Lucie's been working up to doing the 5K run at the next Komen for the Cure event in Fresno.)  As the conversation went on, Lucie started to feel more exhausted, and her vision started to tunnel a little.  This turned into her having a little trouble breathing, which turned into her tilting to one side without realizing it, which turned into both J and me on either side of my wife, trying to help her sit back up, which turned into her being helped onto the floor, which turned into her turning a horrifying gray color and lapsing into unconsciousness while J tried to wake her up and I was running around in circles in a sheer panic, gibbering like an idiot only much less coherent or effective.

J -- who already was pretty nifty a person but who shall from now on be top-shelf awesome as far as I'm concerned -- kept her cool and had me call 911 while she kept trying to get Lucie to wake up.  Now, when it comes to my own health and safety, I am apathetic at best, and downright masochistic when I'm feeling particularly hard on myself; but it's a slightly different story when it's my wife under duress.  After this episode I will never again scoff at all of those cliché scenes in books or movies where the husband goes all goofy when his wife is in duress.  Because THAT shit got REAL, and fast.  My iPhone says that the call only lasted ten minutes, but that is so obviously a floating digit error or something because I know for a fact that what followed lasted no less than thirteen full years -- or maybe that's just how much my life was shortened.

During this time, under the seemingly calm and polite but insistent "recommendations" of both J and the nice lady on the other end of my 911 call, I gently and carefully moved out of the weight room where we were situated, so as to get better cell phone reception (possibly breaking a Raymond-shaped hole in the wall like a hapless animated coyote -- my memory is a bit hazy); proceeded in a docile manner into the reception area of the building (possibly hurling the children playing basketball out of my way like they were cabers and I was a caffeine-fueled berseker Scotsman at the highland games -- can't quite recall the specifics) where I politely requested the presence of the gentleman there to assist with J's efforts (I seem to remember grabbing some sensitive body parts to drag him, and there may have been some kicking and screaming and threats -- but that might just be vague remnants of a non-related fever dream); coolly related the verbal instructions from the 911 operator to J and the reception guy in a levelheaded manner (possibly shrieking the instructions over and over in the voice of a preteen girl, like a stuttering castrato auctioneer on crystal meth -- really, who's to say?), and kept everyone nearby calm and quiet until the paramedics arrived.

I mean, seriously... I was a freakin' rock.

Lucie had regained consciousness by the time the EMTs arrived, and I had handed my phone over to J so I could be with my wife in the cellular dead zone while J could wait for the EMTs by the front door and direct them to where we were.  Pretty sure J was panicking like a girl or something, but hey -- what can you do?  The four firemen who arrived first, and the three paramedics who showed up shortly afterwards, were to my recollection all huge manly men, at least seven feet tall and muscled like superheroes, glowing softly with a beautiful golden aura like Zeus surely must have when he came down from Olympus to hook up mere mortals with EKG pads, and with chins that thrust out proudly and in a masculine manner which would put Bruce Campbell's to shame.  They lifted her onto a gurney (I swear that I remember seeing one of the guys lifting her up with just a single finger, and spinning her like a basketball held aloft by a Harlem Globetrotter as he moonwalked over to the gurney because they were ALL SO HUGELY INCREDIBLE PEOPLE) and wheeled her out to the ambulance to drive her to Kaiser Permanente hospital.

J kept asking me if I was okay to drive over there by myself -- really, it was sort of quaint how nervous some people get in this situation -- but eventually relented and let me go, with the promise that I keep her informed.

I got into Meg, beat the ambulance to Kaiser, and eventually met back up with Lucie in the ER where she was relaxing in bed like nothing had happened.  At first the doctors were sure it was just dehydration, but due to the duration of her syncope they had some concerns about it being heart arrhythmia or something worse so they kept her overnight for observation.  My vision of the "something worse" being Mola Ram sneaking into Lucie's room all ninja-like and pulling the beating heart out of her chest did not come to pass, which was unexpected but in a good way.

Slightly dramatized...

At this point they've pretty much decided it was dehydration due to the minimal amount of food and drink Lucie had eaten that day, but they're doing a treadmill stress test and echocardiogram in a few days to completely rule out any potential cardiac issues. Until then, she's released from the hospital and back to normal, and it's just maybe potentially possibly theoretically the case that any time Lucie coughs, or changes position when she's sitting on the couch, or makes any sort of movement or noise WHATSOEVER I freak out and ask her if she's okay.  Hopefully I'm subtle about it, though, so she doesn't notice.

Lucie's biggest regret about the ordeal?  She left the black bandana she was wearing as a sweatband in the weight room when she collapsed and had to be wheeled out on the stretcher, and she thinks she might have lost it.  She *liked* that bandana.

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I'm hoping I don't wet myself when I have that heart attack.

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