Here's the car, parked at the end of Cavalry Road where I left it when I headed out for four easy miles on BLM land.

                                                   

Last Friday morning, while driving in to the office, all of my speakers blew at the same time. I didn't know what was wrong - I just knew that the pretty music stopped.

Saturday I took the car to Best Buy to get it fixed - and the guy fixed the subwoofer, but not the cabin speakers. So yesterday I took it to a different Best Buy, and they finished up the job. Now I'm broke, but I have pretty music again.

However, I'm going to be broker still. After seven years of knowing better, I've got a bet with Ian Hersey for a half-marathon. This time he's giving me 1.5 minutes/mile - that's 19:39 over the course of the race. That's not nearly enough - while I've been getting old, fat and bald, and walking over mountains, Ian's been doing intercontinental Ironmans (or is it "Ironmen"?)

He made the offer the other day, and I had simply ignored it. But while I was out for this run this morning,  I felt terrible; when I started thinking about actually racing Ian again, I was able to speed up to almost a full "jog", so I decided that the added motivation was worth the lost money, and took the bet.

Now I've got four weeks to train for - and taper for - a half marathon. That is, of course, impossible, but it is always impossible to win a bet with Ian - and, since the outcome is the same no matter what I do, I'm free! No reason to worry about it.