sunrise on the beach; roly-polies

My original plan was to run yesterday evening, but I didn't arrive in Wilmington, NC until late. So I set my alarm for 6 a.m. I got up, swallowed a Clif shot, got dressed and headed out the door of the hotel. I decided to jog from the hotel to the beach and then return... however far that would be. I started walking while waiting for my Garmin 405 to catch the satellite signal. As soon as it caught, I started jogging towards the ocean. I saw the drawbridge opening as I was awaiting satellite reception. Thankfully, by the time I had a signal and began jogging, the drawbridge began to close. I arrived at the bridge just as the crossing gate was lifted. When I arrived at the beach, I stopped my watch timer and just took a few minutes to enjoy the sunrise over the ocean and look for interesting sea shells. I selected this one shell because it looked like a foot to me, which represents running to the beach.


After a few minutes on the beach, I jogged back to the hotel for a total distance of 3.80 miles in 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Wow, it was a great run! I showered quickly and then left for work.


This week at my HoltraChem Site, the contractor is collecting samples for the ecological risk assessment. Earlier this week they set small mammal and insect traps in the wooded areas and wetlands. Today they collected soil samples as well as emptied the insect traps. No small mammals had entered the traps overnight so it was a sad "christmas morning". The biologists called the majority of insects "isopods". I thought they were roly-polies. They used a sieve to attemp to separate the soil from the insects. However the sieve was too fine and wasn't very useful. We decided that they should attempt to purchase a pasta strainer this evening for tomorrow's use. They needed 15 grams of insects per sample. I was surprised at how many roly-polies it takes to equal 15 grams... I remember sitting on the sidewalk at my grandmother's house playing with roly-polies... Fond memories...