Andy Smallman

Here’s one more from my trip down memory lane to Renton a week and a half ago.

Back in 1988 when I first moved to Renton, I discovered Minkler’s Green Earth Nutrition, the local health food store. I went there regularly to get vitamins, healthy cookies, and an assortment of other things. One of the many things that sticks out in my mind about Minkler’s is the distinctive smell from inside the store. I always liked it.

So I dropped by while on memory lane, first to see if it was still there. It was so, of course, I went in. The smell? The same. In fact, it was so familiar that I felt a wave of nostalgia that mirrored feeling sad. Nutty.

Inside the store, a clerk was putting price tag stickers on new merchandise. That’s right, they don’t use barcodes and scanners.

Maybe I was back in 1988?

Part of the Seattle Marathon race series took place today at Gas Works Park, a popular park just north of downtown Seattle. A couple of weeks ago I signed up to run it, having just before that signed up to run the half marathon of the Seattle Marathon on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Two years ago I ran the half for the first time, and last year I ran the full. About a month and half after that, I got hurt. The diagnosis was achilles tendonitis and the prescription was months of rest.

Blah.

Late in April I started running short distances again, with only mild discomfort. It’s continued to get better since then, and I’ve managed to stretch out the distances of my training runs, usually stopping after 30 minutes or so to stretch.

Today I ran the 10K in just over 50 minutes, which came out to 8:05 minute miles. That’s fast for me (I had it in mind to average 9 minute miles, but the competition of running with others gets the best of me). More importantly, I didn’t feel the need to stop to stretch.