Wednesday, May 21

Yesterday was a busy day. I participated in a research study at UPMC. Then I went to the food coop for my tofu supply. I decided to get some quinoa-corn pasta to go with things like plantains, pinto beans, red beans, gallo pinto (a Nicaraguan dish composed of small red beans and rice), and the like. I also went to the Redd-Up campaign to dump off my recycling. Then I went down to CCAC to get my psychology book and visit my buddies down there, including my ex-boss, Ms. Pettway. Later I trained for the marathon by jogging three miles on the very last leg of the Montour Trail. It was just gorgeous! The parking lot at Clairton, PA, at the very end of the trail (which starts in Coraopolis), both on the Monongahela River, is better than the parking lot at Large. The Large parking lot is nice for commuters and is a nice fancy paved one, but it is not as trail-friendly as the gravel parking lot at Clairton. At Clairton they have a little landscaped area with three picnic tables and some benches to sit on. They have a little garden and then they have a very fancy porta-potty which flushes. It's nice and clean. It's very safe because a lot of people show up to use that portion of the trail. The trail is very well maintained. It is just a wonderful place to jog to train for races. I think I will train for a half-marathon in September which is on another portion of the Montour Trail. If that goes okay, I'll know I can probably do the Pittsburgh Marathon next May.

The corn-quinoa pasta turned out great. I came home and tried it out. It tastes tortillaish, and will be better to eat with Mexican and Central American food. I've noticed since I've started training for the marathon that I really crave carbs. I crave Gatorade and I find myself hovering around things like frozen waffles and pancakes at the grocery store. Of course, I will not neglect my weight training and my Spring Creek Tofu which fuels my muscle hypertrophy! There are 16 grams of protein a serving!

On the news, they were suggesting that any Penguin fans who are thinking of personally attending the Stanley Cup finals (who aren't among the 14,000 season ticket holders, that is), go to Detroit instead of the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh! They showed what it would cost for a non-season-ticket-holder to obtain tickets and go to a game at the Mellon Arena. Then, after talking to AAA about gas prices and hotel prices in Detroit, and finding out the price of tickets to go to the game in Detroit, they proved it is cheaper for a Pittsburgh fan to take either a sedan or SUV to Detroit and back, stay overnight in a hotel either close to or farther away from the arena, and obtain tickets in Detroit than to stay at home in Pittsburgh and get tickets for the game here!