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Is it a bad sign to see vultures circling on your run?

Turkey Vulture
Image by TexasEagle via Flickr

I saw 5-6 turkey vultures today on my run at mile 5 1/2 [on Broad Run Road]. Before I realized that were swooping down on your garden variety roadkill, the sight of them evoked some disturbing [in a funny way] thoughts.

Of course, then, I started thinking that squirrels on Seatonville Road and Broad Run Road must not be as good at dodging cars as on the other roads on my route.  Then, I started wondering what I'm doing running on roads that so many squirrels have recently met their demise on.

Maybe I should go back to running with music on roads and sidewalks that are "safe".  I clearly have too much time to think on my long runs.

This was my longest continuous run in about 2 months.  Every single run since [including my Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon DNF] has had more than one long pitstop or a prolonged walk break.  And so, a 15 mile non-stop long run is my longest run in at least two months.  I can't completely confirm that my 20-mile long run through Iroquois Park and UofL were continuous runs either, but I know that there weren't many places that I could have stopped.

The pace for today's run was a 9'31"/mile average pace, which is about 50 seconds slower than I would have liked, but I'd rather be in one piece for my next long run than hit some time goal on a training run 5 months from my goal marathon.

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My experience with the Starbucks Mobile Card

When I initially heard about the Starbucks mobile card test only being expanded to Target stores, I wondered if the reason was because of infrastructure. After all, there are west coast tests of the mobile card in full scale stores.

After trying to use it, I now believe that the choice of Target Starbucks as test locations was due to their lower volume.

I presented my iPhone app mobile card for payment. It took a minute for the cashier to realize what I was doing (how long into the test?)

She was unable to scan the mobile card after a couple of attempts, and then had to make a couple of attempts at manually entering the card before the system would accept it as payment.

Another cashier was confused with what was even going on with my iPhone and the order. At some point, I can imagine that I would have been public enemy #1 if this were a standalone Starbucks at rush hour.

I successfully paid for my drink with the mobile card, but I don't think I ever will do that again, at least not until I see others in line successfully paying in this way.