To tide Steph over

Too tired to do any more tonight.

Rueing the day

Last week I checked a book out of the library called “Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb.” It’s a very Dr. Seuss-esque book full of rhyming language: “Hand, hand, fingers, thumb, one thumb one thumb drumming on a drum, monkeys drum and monkeys hum…” Just a bunch of nonsense about monkeys and words that rhyme with ‘thumb’.

Except that here is how it goes when I read it to Liam:

(Me) “Hand picks an apple – “
(Liam, pointing at the apple) – “Ball!”
(Me) “No, sweetie, that’s an apple. Hand picks a plum – “
(Liam, pointing at the plum) – “Ball!”
(Me) “Plum!”
(Liam) “Ball!”
(Me) “Plum!”
(Liam) “Ball!”

And on and on it goes. You can’t win the argument with him.

Then we turn the page, and the monkeys with the drums show up, and of course the drums look like balls, too. So does the moon in “Goodnight, Moon”. So does every circle everywhere in the world. Period. Try taking this kid through the produce department of the grocery store, as I did yesterday – the peaches, the tomatoes, the lights on the ceiling – they are all balls to him. I suppose we should have taught him the word circle before the word ball. Live and learn.

On a brighter note, he is now saying book and Bobo (after his monkey hero in the book Hug). I think that brings it up to close to a dozen words. Even if he does choose to use ball about 98% of the time.

Will try to post some vacation photos from home tonight.

Vacation highs and lows

Subtitle: Why is the damn photo feature down each time I want to use it??

Highs:

• We really did turn onto the 400 at 9:51 a.m., exactly as Chad predicted. I'm not kidding.
• We timed both the drive up and the drive down perfectly so that Weber's made a completely logical lunch stop. Best burgers and fries ever. The Key Man was even working a shift on our drive up.
• Liam loved camping. Loved it. Loved sleeping in a tent, loved splashing in every lake and stream he encountered, loved every last stick on the forest floor, loved the wild blueberries and neverending supply of juice boxes he was offered (which he doesn't get at home). Loved it all.
• He picked up three new words last week: duck, bubbles, and hello - said not in conversation, but with my eyeglasses case pressed to his ear as a pretend phone: A-wo? I find it hilarious that he started doing this when we were miles from civilization and phones of any kind.
• We saw moose. We saw beavers. Quintessential Canada. Check.
• We had a great spot on Kearney Lake. You could see the view from our site, with a cool island within swimming distance, if the photo feature were working here. I have an intense dislike of swimming in natural bodies of water (I always think I'm going to be leeched or have fish nibbling on my toes), but once I tried it this was actually a pretty cool place to swim.
• Gramma and Grampa Cook were totally willing to take Liam on for several hours each day so Chad and I could go hiking or swimming. It was wonderful.
• Gramma Cook remembered her peanuts and already had a chipmunk trained to eat out of our hands by the time we got up there.
• My first time trying a pie iron - man, were they good.

Lows:

• On our first night, there were signs posted warning of severe weather. It didn't look bad when we went to bed, but we woke up at midnight as five or six successive thunderstorms rolled through - the kind with pouring, pouring rain and more lightning than I've ever seen. I spent three hours cowering in my sleeping bag, unable to sleep and cursing the lack of Weather Channel (how do you know if a tornado is headed straight for you if you don't have cable TV)? The silver lining: in a miraculous turn of events that I will never understand, Liam slept through the whole thing.
• Liam didn't like the s'mores! Well, I think he enjoyed the taste... he just couldn't stand to get marshmallows all over his fingers. I guess I didn't do a good job of exposing him to enough sensory activities as a young 'un.
• Chad dragged me on these Blair Witch-y twilight hikes through the forest each night, which weren't too bad on their own (spook factor aside), but one night we encountered a fox on the trail, and he stalked us the whole rest of the trail. It was pretty freaky.
• I have more bug bites than I can possibly count.
• On the way home, we passed an upturned tractor trailer, which took a good hour to get around. Arrrgh. Back to reality.
• More laundry than you can shake a stick at, empty cupboards, and back to work tomorrow.

We're back.

We're alive. We're exhausted. Liam seems to have inherited camping genes. More to come.

Summer Night

On Friday we headed up to London right after work for the annual Summer Night showdown. I think this is the fourth year that the men have gone head to head in an all-out grudge match. For weeks beforehand there is more trash talk than you can imagine, but the finishing order does not change much from year to year.

This year I think I have finally learned my lesson: toting both a toddler and a camera along to these sorts of things is just a bad idea. I don't get enough time with the camera to take decent photos, and I don't get enough time with Liam to keep him out of trouble, which means that Aunty Jenn spends half her night chasing after him for me which is not all that much fun for her either (she protests when I say that but I know it's at least partially true. :) ) There's also the fact that this race starts after 7 p.m. and let's face it, by then Liam is normally almost in bed. The after party is at the Barking Frog and trying to manoeuvre a cranky toddler and stroller through the very crowded patio of a bar on a Friday night - well, let's just reiterate that I have learned my lesson.

Going back to the bit about not devoting enough time to the camera - this is pretty much the best shot I got. I had no idea where our group was starting so as the crowd surged past me, I fired off ten shots to try to get as many of them in it as possible. That's Chad in the red shirt and Cory in the blue. All my finishing photos are dark and blurry. Next time I will remember to check my ISO.
Liam was still too young for the kiddy trot this year, but give him something to drink with a straw, and he is generally pretty happy.

We're getting packed up today, and heading out in the morning. This is a hydro-free vacation, so don't expect any updates while we are on the road!!

Night terror

We made it through the shots yesterday – Liam cried, but not as much as last time – and all seemed well as he went to bed. Then around 11 p.m. he woke up screaming. Realizing it was not the kind of cry that sounded like he could roll over and go back to sleep, I went and picked him up and sat in the rocker with him. Normally when I do this he nuzzles right in and is snoozing on my shoulder in no time. Last night, he continued screaming, even louder than before. After some time of this, I realized something must be wrong, and turned on the lights to get a better look at him. By this point I was scared to death, thinking maybe his arms (where he got the shots) were starting to liquefy from the inside out. The lights came up, and I realized he wasn’t even truly awake; he was screaming with his eyes closed. I believe we’ve had our first night terror experience. It took some work to finally wake him up; I took him downstairs and got him a glass of milk, and he slowly calmed down. He was quite happy to go back to bed once the tears stopped. Our episode ended peacefully, but I was still relieved to hear him start singing in his crib at the crack of dawn this morning. Because for a long time last night, the thought that the nurse had accidentally injected him with some sort of poison absolutely did cross my mind.

Dread

There’s one last hurdle to pass prior to vacation. Tonight after work, I am going to pick Liam up from Cindy’s early… because he’s due at the doctor’s office for his 15-month shots. I am totally dreading it. Originally this appointment was scheduled for Tuesday, and I had to switch it because my presentation was at that time and I dared not change it (trying to schedule 8 employees for a meeting during the summer when everyone is on vacation is ridiculous). Too bad - I almost had Chad taking Liam to the doctor’s instead, and then decided at the last minute to reschedule and do it myself. What was I thinking? Something about how I enjoy the part of the visit when we have him weighed and measured, and I get to answer all the developmental questions. Now, faced with two pokes in a few short hours, I’m thinking that the tradeoff really isn’t worth it. Oh well… too late now. Poor little guy – I won’t even be able to look him in the eye when I pick him up.

R & R

Yesterday at work, I gave a major presentation that I’ve been working towards for several months. That done and off my plate, it is now supposed to be wind-down time, because next week we are on vacation. However, going on vacation is not turning out to be as relaxing as I’d thought. For the past several days I have been making daily trips across town to stock up on diapers and cat food and bug spray (except that kids under 2 aren’t supposed to wear bug spray, so that’s turned into a hunt for some Avon Skin-So-Soft instead). It’s been a matter of stocking up on some treats and then trying to keep various members of the house (myself included) from dipping into them before we are even officially on vacation. It’s about making lists and checking them twice, and a family room that is currently overflowing with coolers and life jackets and blow-up mattresses. Ah yes, the Great Canadian Summer Vacation.

Then there is the matter of Chad. For 50 weeks of the year, Chad is just about the most laid back person you’ll ever meet. Normally when we are planning a road trip, I’m the one trying to nail down the time we’ll be out the door, and he’s the one saying he doesn’t want to commit to anything and why can’t we just get there when we get there. When vacations are involved it’s a different story. Chad is the one who was already awake and buzzed up on Cherry Coke at 6 a.m. each day we were at Disney to make sure we were at the parks before they opened; Chad is the one who insisted we take the extra half hour hike around the crater rim of Kilimanjaro despite the fact that he was puking and delirious at the time; and it seems that this vacation will be no different, because last night I found an Excel spreadsheet on the kitchen counter that gives a complete and total breakdown of our first day of vacation. According to it, we are to be out the door at 7:15 a.m., turning onto the 400 at 10:32 a.m., and stopping for lunch at Weber’s between 11:57 a.m. and 12:58 p.m. I am only surprised that he did not write out what our order will be to hasten the process.

(Liam seemed pretty taken with the Drumstick sign at Storybook Gardens. If he turns out anything like Chad, I'm sure it will be a lifelong love affair. (With the drumsticks. Not just the sign.))

Surviving Sextuplets and Twins

Did anyone else see this show on TLC last night? A couple had twins, decided they wanted just one more baby (and the wife had to talk the husband into it at that), and conceived sextuplets. Talk about a cruel twist of cosmic fate.

When we first found out we were expecting Liam, we both had it in our heads that it might be fun to find out it was twins. We had waited a long time to have kids (partly by choice and partly because we were then held hostage by my reproductive system) and it seemed like a great way to play catch-up (or, as Chad put it, ‘a great way to get it all over with at once’). I was on Clomid at the time, and while there was no increased risk of the high-order multiples that you get with injectibles and more serious fertility drugs, there was definitely an increased risk of twins or (to a lesser extent) triplets.

Well, Liam came along and my tune changed immediately. Thank God we didn’t have twins. The workload with one has been manageable, but two would probably have put us over the edge. The amount of stuff that has infiltrated our house has been slightly unbearable; I cringe to think what it would have been like with two of everything. And, getting to know Liam over this past year and a bit has been a true joy; it would not have been the same had I had to split my time with and attention to him in half.

You get what you get, and I will have to eat crow if we do have another baby someday and that hypothetical baby turns out to be babies; but this show basically reaffirmed my whole what was I thinking? mentality. I watched this family drop more than $1000 on each trip to Costco, and refer to their children as either ‘the babies’ or ‘the twins’, but hardly ever by name; don’t even get me started on what I saw when this woman lifted her shirt to show America what 8 kids does to your abdomen. I see major plastic surgery in her future and I am feeling pretty svelte by comparison. Yes, today I am thanking my lucky stars for my one and only.

We've created a monster

We thought we were so clever, putting Liam at the table to eat instead of in the highchair. Look how cute! It's like he's a real person! Etc. etc. Put him in the high chair now, and he kicks and howls until he's set free. We thought it was adorable to feed him a piece of chocolate chip cookie and watch the look of amazement cross his face. Now, he hears the package open, and comes running from across the house, demanding to get his fair share. We thought it was fun to help him feed Captain treats; now he dangles everything he can get his hands on in front of Captain's nose... animal, vegetable or mineral. We thought it was funny the first time he figured out how to turn off the TV. Now he does it during match point, and suddenly it's the most annoying thing ever. I am done with teaching this kid new things. It just comes back to bite us.

15 months

More fun than you can shake a stick at

Sorry for splitting the infinitive. :)

We spent yesterday at Storybook Gardens, and it was definitely the highlight of the summer thus far. We spent the morning biking around Springbank Park, then went to the Gardens for lunch, where Liam had a cheese pizza and Chad and I had fabulous pannini sandwiches that were neither overpriced nor your typical gross amusement park-type food. After some time on the pirate ship and checking out the frog pond, maze and petting farm, we spent the majority of the afternoon at the splash pad. It was a terribly hot day, so this was awesome. Liam had a blast and next time we go (yes, there will be a next time) I am going to wear my swimsuit and leave the camera in the bag - there is just way too much fun to be had. Even for a big kid like me. We buzzed up on lemonades and slushies, crashed back at Aunty Jenn and Uncle Darin's for a nap, and then went out to dinner. Admission to Storybook Gardens is super cheap ($16.50 for our little family) and you can spend the entire day there and then some. We didn't even get a chance to ride the carousel or train; like I said... next time.

(Poor little dude - is it wrong of me to get so much enjoyment out of this kind of stuff?)

Guest blogger slot #1: Darin

The comment section of blogger isn't large enough for all I have to say about of me having an unexpected twin, so Carrie agreed to give me some space on her blog to share my thoughts. I promise not to take the limelight away from my nephew, since this is predominantly his blog, and people come here to see pictures of him, not his 35-year-old uncle or the various other people in the world that appear to be his clones. But the title of the blog is "Too Many Cooks." I am a Cook. And there appears to be too many of me. This Keith MacPherson incident is not the first time I have been blatantly mistaken for someone else. Oddly enough, every case of mistaken identity has been a musician or rock star. I must be the prototype for dozens of human beings with musical talents.

Incident #1: A drummer named Dave from a band in Windsor is apparently the spitting image of me. Hanging out at the Loop every weekend, I was approached often by strangers mistaking me for this guy. I don't have pictorial evidence and I never met Dave, but one incident at the Loop topped it off and convinced me that I was his twin. A girl started talking to me, asking how I was and commenting on my long hair. The rest of the conversation went like this:

Girl: When was the last time you got your hair cut?
Me: At least a year.
Girl: Wow. You always wanted longer hair.

(This is true, but I was beginning to wonder how this girl knew that.)

Me: Do I know you?
Girl: What? (very annoyed)
Me: I'm not sure we ever me.
Girl: We went out for a long enough time.
Me: What? No, we didn't.
Girl: Stop joking around.
Me: Are you joking around?
Girl: Stop it!!
Me: I'm sorry, I don't know you.

(She was beginning to thoroughly confuse me and I was uncertain if I was even right.)

Me: My name's Darin.
Girl: Oh. You really look like my ex-boyfriend, Dave.

This girl talked to me face-to-face for five minutes absolutley positive that she was talking to her ex-boyfriend, this Dave guy from the band, someone she has gone out with, been intimate with, and obviously shouldn't mistake for someone else. But she did.

Incident #2: Jenn and I follow around the Peacemakers whenever we can get to concerts close by. Here's a bit of Peacemakers history - Roger Clyne used to sing in a band called The Refreshments with the guitar player Brian Blush. That band is no longer. Roger now plays with Steve Larson in the Peacemakers. I met Brian Blush in Detroit at one of his solo concerts and he said to me, "I can't get over how much you look like this guitar player from Arizona."
"You don't mean Steve?" I said.
"Yah, you look exactly like him." Of course, I had seen Steve a couple times on stage at this point, but I didn't see the resemblance.

Incident #3: Over the next few years, Jenn and I saw the Peacemakers several times and I have been approached by fans at these concerts, talking to me as if I was Steve Larson. They want to buy me a beer and shake my hand. I've always had to turn them away, even though looking back I should have milked it and got a bunch of free drinks. Steve himself even agrees that we look alike. I asked to borrow his signature hat once to see if the resemblance would be stronger, but I still don't see it.

Incident #4: And now the icing-on-the-cake incident. After one concert, Jenn and I were standing almost directly beside Roger, waiting to talk to him. A female fan came right up to me, handed me an American $20 bill and the convesation went like this.

Girl: Can you sign this?
Me: What name would you like me to sign?
Girl: Your own name.
Me: Are you sure?
Girl: Are you going to be difficult?
Me: Why do you want my signature?
Girl: I really respect your guitar playing.
Me: But I'm not who you think I am.
Girl: You are being difficult. Is it because you don't have a pen?

She went to Roger and asked to borrow his Sharpie. I looked at the money. Roger's name was already scrawled across it. She wanted me to sign Steve Larson's name next to Roger's. I wanted to put my own name but I couldn't disrespect Roger's signature already on the bill. I could have forged Steve's name, but I couldn't bring myself to do that either. Since I wasn't doing a good job convincing this girl I wasn't who she thought I was, Jenn stepped in to persuade the girl she was wrong.

These aren't just short talks where the person is embarassed once they realize their mistake. These people have to be forced to realize their mistake. It was my long hair that caused the above incidents, but I sense that my short hair will now cause the same predicament with Keith. I'll have my pen ready this time.

(ETA: Darin, the pictures still don't work!!)

My brother-in-law is on Canadian Idol

Edited to add: Thanks to Andy for the photo. Pretty strong resemblance, eh? I still think if I catch him with the camera at exactly the right moment when we see Darin and Jenn this weekend... maybe even making the scrunched up face?... I bet you won't even be able to tell who is who!

Well, people who know Darin... am I wrong???

Welcome to the asylum

One of the emerging facets of Liam's personality, now that he is a little less shy, is that when he gets overtired, he turns into a crazy man, though in a fun way. We first noticed this several months ago when he was up late after his birthday party, and since then he has put on several shows, knowing that he is the centre of attention and hamming it up when his tiredness makes him lose all inhibitions. It is funny because it is so unexpected; most of the world knows him as being painfully shy.

This happened again yesterday at the annual Roberts family reunion. When we first arrived in the early afternoon, Liam was a little unsure of his extended family. By the end of the day (a swim, several juice boxes and much overstimulation later) he was throwing himself into Aunty Jenn's arms for hugs and kisses (which was so cute I could hardly stand it) and treating poor little Shane, curled up in a ball on the floor after a long hot day out in the sun, like his own personal sumo wrestling partner. Thank goodness the dinky cars were enough to distract him away before he did Shane some damage. By the way, I should mention here that before buying Liam the shirt he wore to the reunion, I saw this skirt in the window at American Eagle: I instantly fell in love with it, but I have been making a concerted effort to dress more my age lately. American Eagle is not the place for me anymore - everyone else in there is half my age, and also half my size. I was temporarily able to resist, but when I stumbled across the very similar shirt at Children's Place ten minutes later, I had to get my patchwork fix. Funny how life works out like that.

Breakfast at Wimbledon

Look at the expression on his face. Some things never change.

July 2005
July 2006

Learning

The other day at the store, I ventured into the baby section for the first time in a long time. I was in need of new baby nail clippers (is it normal for them to only last a year before they're totally dull?) It wouldn't really have occurred to me to get this except that I walked right past it - a little toddler plate, spoon and fork set (and yes, the tines on the fork curl back so he can't poke his eye out). Up til now we have been putting chunks of food directly on his high chair tray. Seeing the plate set made me think it's high time we treated Liam like a civilized human being and serve him a normal plate of food. Well, almost normal; this plate comes with a suction cup to keep it from being flung off the high chair, and also a removeable high rim to make scooping up the food a little easier. Although Liam has taken an interest in holding the spoon when we have fed him lately, he normally just lets the yogurt or whatever drip off of it, so my expectations were low. I was thrilled then to see that he took to the new gear right away, scooping up spoonfuls of peas'n'carrots and getting them into his mouth no problem. Of course, tonight he was back to holding the spoon in one hand while shovelling food into his mouth with the other. We still have a long road ahead of us. (Doesn't he look like he is posing for me in that first photo? Imagine that! Liam, cooperating for a photo!!)PS - for anyone who is so inclined - Shabby Princess is having a fabulous sale, this weekend only. I currently have 8 kits in my cart (pretty much everything she has without pink in it) and am trying to weed that down. Thought some of you new junkies might also want to stock up. :)

Playdate

Tonight after dinner, we met Jeannine and Autum and went to the park. It takes some work to make our schedules jive, but it is so worth it to be able to catch up. I miss these people I used to see every week at our mommy group. Autum was happy to whiz down the slide; Liam liked the slide too, but preferred to pick up sticks and throw handfuls of gravel around. After the long weekend, Liam got to celebrate Canada Day all over again at Cindy's on Tuesday, complete with more facial tattoos and a souvenir flag. It was only when we resorted to dressing him in his swim trunks that I realized he doesn't have any other red clothes. Cindy also took her charges to the Jaycee wading pool; she said Liam was in heaven there (note to self: take him myself later this summer). This weekend, Aunty Katrina is coming to visit, there's a Roberts family reunion, and I think Chad is going to worm his way into the MacBarrs' pool one way or another. There's also the Wimbledon finals. You know what that means: waffles with strawberries for everyone!...

Catfight - rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreer!

Like I said, last week Liam and I met up with Deanna and Ryan at the Wild Zone. It's been a while since the boys have seen each other for any length of time, and high time for a playdate. We knew there wouldn't be a lot they could do there, still being too small, but the one thing that Liam fell in love with last time we were there was the ball room. So we bought tickets for the ball room and went down.

Upon reaching the ball room we were informed that you're not allowed in without socks on. It was a hot day in late June - do you think we had socks? Noooo. Liam was wearing his Robeez which apparently were good enough, but Deanna had to schlep Ryan back to the desk to buy him a pair of socks.

Finally, we're in the ball room. It's chaos. Kids are running everywhere. There's a little section called the Toddler Room, where the action isn't quite as frenetic and the balls aren't so deep. Deanna and I have to crawl in through a tunnel to get in with Liam and Ryan, but we really have no choice, because they are too little to get in themselves (though they love it once they get in there).

So we've been in the ball room for a while when one of the high school kids running the joint comes and tells us that the other parents have been complaining that we are in the Toddler Room with our kids. We ask what the problem is and he really doesn't know, just says the other parents aren't happy. We sort of laugh it off because really, what are we hurting?

Then this hugely obnoxious woman comes over and starts yelling at us to get out of the ball room. Her big gripe is that when Deanna and I are in the ball room, her kids don't have enough room to be in there too. We suggest that because our children need us in there with them, and we got there first, and perhaps her kids ought to wait their turn and they can go in when we leave. She starts calling us names and demands to know what gives our kids the right to be in there instead of hers. We point out that her kids can be in there in addition to ours, and if not then perhaps they can wait and go in after. She says Liam and Ryan shouldn't be allowed in in the first place. We point out that they are indeed toddlers and it's a toddler's room, so where's the issue? Anyway, it went back and forth and around in circles for a while. I think the word she kept lobbing at us was inconsiderate, though I'm not sure what gave her kids the right to be there any more than ours.

When we decided to leave, we went down the manager's office to complain. The manager was apologetic but not overly helpful - she bought us off with some free coupon books and asked us to come back on another day and give it another try. Incidentally, as we were walking around afterwards, Ms. Obnoxious passed us by with her kids; the two very same kids who had been playing in the ball room with us all along, and seemed very friendly towards Liam and Ryan. So, what was the problem again??

We took the kids on the ferris wheel and airplanes, and Ryan (being more of a daredevil than Liam) also tried out the magic bus. Liam was having a bad teething day and was a little crabby. OK, a lot crabby. But hey, we have coupon books, we can go back and give it another try. Though, to be honest, maybe next time we'll go when they're closed and just sneak in. It's a lot easier that way.

Something happy

Last week we got Liam and Ryan together for a playdate at the Wild Zone. Remind me to tell you the story of how Mommy Friend Deanna and I almost got into a fist fight (and not with each other!) Here's a photo she was kind enough to email me. More later.

Home for a rest

I have to preface this by saying that last week we heard that friends of ours are dealing with a devastatingly ill child, news that makes it feel somewhat awkward to be expounding on the minutiae of daily life. And yet, what else does one do when faced with something that absolutely clarifies not only how helpless you are, but also how much there is to be grateful for? Hearing this news made me that much more thankful to be able to eat ice cream bars on the sofa and putter in the garden and go for long walks with Liam on the weekend. At bedtime I read him an extra story or two, and hugged him that much tighter before putting him in his crib. Priorities clarified. It was also that much easier to turn a blind eye to the mounting piles of dishes on the counter and shoes by the door, the chaos that ensues when we are home for any length of time (in this case, six days straight). It wasn’t until last night that I finally loaded the dishwasher and ran the vacuum through while Chad tackled the mountain of laundry, and we restored the house (at least somewhat) to working order. And this morning, as I left the house for work, I think I heard it give an audible sigh of relief.

Celebrating Canada D'Eh

No kidding - that's what our local Canada Day festivities were called this year. Corny, right?I shouldn't complain though, because they did a good job with them overall; our little municipality even had a fireworks show (booming in the background, all the way from downtown, even as I type) for the first time in about ten years.Why we have had no fireworks, when hick towns a quarter of our size in the surrounding countryside have had them all along, is beyond me...I only wish we could have gone to support the cause, and make sure they happen again in the future.Alas, Liam is asleep. Maybe next year??

Where's the loyalty?

I just saw Kathy's comment about linking to the Running Room rather than Runner's Choice. And, she's right; we owe much more to Runner's Choice - and think them to be the superior store. Running Room sponsored the Trot to the Beach we did a couple of weeks ago and I think also the half marathon I did last year, but nearly all the other races we do are part of the Runner's Choice series which you can read about here. (And once you've run a couple of races sponsored by each store, I think it's hard to disagree that Runner's Choice does a much better job!) In my defense, I do have to say that I have pimped Runner's Choice quite happily (and unprovoked) before, for example here and here. My apologies Paul and Kathy!