Day 70

I woke up refreshed and went for another epic run - this time about 55 minutes. I managed to run the whole way around Lake Union and felt really strong. After 2 1/2 months, the form is coming around and I am finally starting to see some results from all of my training.

We packed up and went to do some laundry. There was a place just across from Louisa's called Washing Town. We put the clothes on and walked over to Louisa's for a bite and a coffee.

When the laundry was finished, we drove north a couple of miles to Ballard and had a sniff around. We ate lunch in a place called Palermos and then we went across the street to a cafe called Verite to meet a friend of mine who is currently staying in Seattle. We chilled, had loads of chats and I downed my 5th shot of espresso for the day.

The afternoon was great but we had to pay the price when we left - rush hour traffic in Seattle. We crawled down 5S only covering about 12 or 15 miles in the first hour. The plan was to go to Portland but we decided to find somewhere before then to rest for the night.

We found an Econo Lodge in a place called Kelso, which is, well, it's a dump. It was founded in 1884 by some Scottish dude and named after Kelso, Scotland. It used to be called Little Chicago because of an unusually large amount of taverns and whorehouses. But over the years all the excitement seems to have diluted. In 1980, when Mount St Helen's erupted, Kelso had a perfect view. It seems that some of the local shops have been built on volcanic ash. Now the only thing I think it really has going for it is that it known as the smelt capital of the world. That's a pretty far cry from taverns and whorehouses.

We dropped the things off and then went to Applebees for a bite. It was in a shopping center that also had a bowling alley, so we went for a game just for the craic. The place (called Triangle Bowl) was everything you would expect from a bowling alley in the middle of nowhere in Washington - cheap games (only $3.40 each), lots of high school kids along with a few hardcore nerds (playing alone) and cheesy, hair-metal music playing from the stereo.

In a hard fought three game battle for a dollar, Paulo took the first game with ease. I was terrible and after only a few frames thought that I wouldn't be able to move my arm for a week. I also couldn't find a ball that I was happy with. But I came back in the second game and won it, bowling a strike and two spares on the way. The third game was really close until about the 6th frame when Paulo pulled away, sealed the victory and won the all coveted dollar.

During the showdown, we learned that Barry Bonds had hit his 756th home run and set the all time home run record. I think most of you know how I feel about this. I have already said that Hank Aaron is the one and only, true home run king. I won't accept that Bonds has surpassed him in a totally honest fashion and I won't ever refer to him as the 'home run king'. Unfortunately, I think the record will stand and Bonds will probably not be found guilty of any wrong doing or punished. I guess the conciliation is that Gay-Rod (the player that I want to hate but can't help respecting) should pass Bonds in a few more years.

We headed back to the room and eased in to some tele - our favourites: Seinfeld and Family Guy.