Ohio: Old Friends, Goat Cheese and Cherries, and Magnolias

After a harrowing drive down I-25 to DIA yesterday morning, my flight to Columbus left almost on time, just a little de-icing necessary.

On the flight I met a woman from Columbus who now lives in Colorado Springs, I got plenty of tips on The Columbus area, plus her husband is involved in the running business, so I passed some Pearl Izumi contact information to her about the products.

Columbus is a tiny airport and the first thing I saw was green grass and flowering trees, everywhere! Total contrast from the blizzard I left 3 hours earlier.

I got my rental car, Toyota Corolla, at least this time I'm familiar with Toyotas and could figure out how to unlock and start it.

It was an easy drive to Lynn and Suzy's, he gave me directions and it only took a few minutes and I was there. On the way I drove through some streets where there were old houses with more beautiful grass and trees but along the roadside there were ugly horrible powerlines running through all the yards parallel to the street! Who did that???

Lynn and Suzy's neighborhood is beautiful. The streets are wide and lined with homes that remind me of my childhood in Pennsylvania. It has an east coast feel, not sure why. Big trees, ivy crawling up the trunks and over the brick. Neighborhood schools, colonial and Tudor- style mansions. Neat landscaping, groomed hedges, flowers everywhere: azaleas, honeysuckles, magnolias , tulips, pear trees. Everything is in bloom now.

We spent several hours talking and catching up, Suzy cooked a delicious dinner and afterwards they took me for a tour of the neighborhood adjacent to theirs, called Bexley. More huge and beautiful homes and landscaping, private schools, and narrow streets. Even more reminiscent of my childhood.

We stopped for ice cream at Jeni's. I've had this before, one of my dad and stepmom's friends shipped some of this amazing stuff to them. I tried flavors like cayenne, goat cheese and red cherries, Ugandan vanilla, salty caramel. These were only a few. You could spend all day sampling ice cream there.

I settled on goat cheese and red cherries, it tastes like cheesecake. I might have to go back there AFTER my race.

We talked for a short time after arriving back at the house and I suddenly felt the long day catching up to me. I showered and went to bed. After a while, i crashed and slept a solid 10 + hours, I didn't even get out of bed until 10 am Eastern time!

This morning I talked with Lynn, he gave me pointers on navigating Cleveland, and places to run in his neighborhood. I just got back from a 3 mile run around here. It is 70 degrees and humid, the air smells like wet grass and it's as spring-like as you can get. It was 18 degrees in Fort Collins last time I checked.

Tonight we are going out to an Italian restaurant, and tomorrow I will leave for Cleveland. Race day is Saturday. More later...