St. Louis!

I started this morning with a nice 5 mile run around Fetus…I mean Festus, Missouri!  I took it to a small residential area just down the road from our hotel and DAMN – talk about rollers’!  I don't know whether it’s Festus or that neighborhood but I was NEVER not ascending or descending.  5 miles averaging just over a 7:00/pace.

Obligatory Missouri Selfie'.

After clean-up and check-out we all walked over to White Castle at my interest in trying the legendary landlocked food-chain.  Now on the West Coast we have In 'n' Out and we hear murmurs of White Castle, and in the Midwest they have White Castle and hear murmurs of In 'n' Out...

Final result?

White Castle Sliders', like 79c apiece. 

It's alright.  In 'n' Out still reigns supreme in my mind.  In all honesty the novelty of eating tiny food wouldn't be enough to lure me back....  Besides, in Missouri (and the Midwest in general) where recycling is basically nonexistent do all the tiny burgers really need individual little boxes?  That's my 2-cents :)

Later that day...

We've finally arrived!  After taking a short little detour to grab some supplies and wash the Dodge we arrived at our hotel in St. Louis!  There's a little lake right next to our hotel with a little path around it - SUPER EXCITED about that :) Also, tomorrow one of my good friends who works for New Balance is flying in and it'll be AWESOME to catch up with him!

On a somber note, I'd like to end this blog post in reverence to my good friend's sister who was killed in a car accident very recently.  She was an amazing person who radiated positivity and confidence on top of being a stellar cyclist.  At 16 she rode solo from San Francisco to San Diego - what were you doing at 16?  Having just signed onto a professional womens' cycling team her future looked very bright but was tragically cut short.

The energy she encompassed lives on through her brother and the lives she touched.  No one ever truly dies.  

RIP Erica Grief