Running
To borrow a term from the knitting world… SQUEEE!! On my 3 miler this morning with Leonardo, we had a bit of our run with flip flop man. We lost him for a bit when we stopped for water, but when we started back up, he had turned around & was coming back towards us. He paused long enough to explain that he was moving slow because he was at the end of his run, having gone 22 miles already this morning (which is one of his SHORT runs, for those of you new to my blog). He looked at me and then he asked me… “You look really strong – do you do Ironman competitions?” *blink* My perfect squeee moment. I floated the rest of my run (when I wasn’t walking & cursing the fact that I wore shorts instead of pants).
* Flip flop man – for those of you new to my blog – is a gentleman well known in the Tampa Bay area. He runs just about every day – and as I mentioned, his short runs are 20 miles. He runs between 20 & 50 miles every single day. In flip flops & shorts. Occasionally with a hat. No matter the weather. I have had the wonderful fortune of running alongside him several times now and he is truly inspirational to talk to! I have come to totally LOVE my flip flop man moments, but today was totally the best one evah!
Knitting
I decided last night to go ahead & clear out a bit more stash instead of working on the cursed lace scarf. What a shocker. he he he So, I actually pulled out one skein & began a crochet scarf. I absolutely LOVE this pattern and I love the colorway. The yarn has absolutely awful reviews of it on Ravelry, but so far, I’ve really not had an issue with it all. I mainly bought it because the colors are simply out of this world! This scarf will be another gift for the holidays, I expect. Aren’t the colors just gorgeous?!
My first broomstick lace type of project, actually!
Today’s Ravelry Search
So naturally, I was sorely tempted to do my search today for flip flop, in honor of the flip flop man… but really, most of the results were dishcloths with flip flops on them or they were socks to wear with flip flops. Living in Florida, you see just way too many people doing exactly that, so I really have no intention of voluntarily posting pictures of it. LOL So, instead, I give you this today!
* Alien Facehugger Bag Charm... intriguing! LOL
* Holy cow, this one has TONS of charts, all Star Wars themed! You MUST check it out!!
Interesting... knit with bulky yarn, looks to be a very fast knit!
Look - slightly slutty movie star clothes for Barbie! :D
* I would be horribly amiss as a die hard HP fan to not include Ginny Weasley's GoF hat! :D
Oh c'mon now people, seriously!? They are LIGHT SABERS! (yeah, I'm giggling 'cuz I'm apparently 12)
Zombies Ahead... Run! Run for your lives!
* Pippin's scarf, for any of you LotR fans out there! ;)
* Mary Jane's hat for any Spiderman fans out there!
* Free Pattern
Happy Saturday, all!
Me, I’m heading for the shower, then off to see “He’s Just Not That Into You” with the IRL BFF. Will let you all know what I think of it, I’m sure. Read the book, while I have a bit of twinginess over a bit of it, I have to admit – there is some seriously painful truth in much of it. Seriously. :)
Oh – and I totally LOVED Bundle of Joy, for any other HP fan fiction readers out there. As are all my fave fan fics, it is an SS/HG read. So go read it if you can! It’s only 11 chapters – I was so hoping it would be longer! :)
Knit Run, Purl Run 
I wonder if flipflop man blogged about you?
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I get the impression that flip flop man doesn’t spend much time online. He’s actually an older gentleman, in his mid 60’s, I believe. But if he blogs, I would be even more honored if he did blog about me! :D
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What a great story!!! Flip flop man…LOL.
Oh and that yarn is just GORGEOUS!!! Where did you got it??? I ………. umm, my stash wants it!!! (I just made my friend J. listen to that essay…we were laughing so hard!)
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:D If J posts a comment, I have no doubt that he will back me up on my statement that flip flop man is well known here. As a matter of fact, it was flip flop man that actually led me to HIS blog a year or two ago! :D
I actually got the yarn at Jo-Ann fabrics. I have several other colorways in it, too… all equally beautiful in color! I have your care package STILL – the box I had for it is too small… must remember to send you a skein or two of this, too – you will LOVE it! It’s a wool/acrylic blend, but the colors are so wonderful. :)
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Since I don’t run in that part of town, I’ve only see flip-flop man twice while I was running two races. The first time that I noticed him was in December of 2006:
“There was an older man holding an extremely good pace. His clothing included shorts, a safari hat, a cane, and flip-flops. Yes, I said it correctly, flip-flops. It has to be the shoes. I don’t know if he was actually a participant.”
I labeled him as a beach bum for some reason when I first wrote that race report. He stands out because how many people do I know run with flip-flops? Zero. I did another race in the Clearwater beach area in January 2007 and noticed the same guy running near the finish line:
“Then, I saw him. An older man, wearing red shorts, flip-flops, hat, and carrying a cane that I described as the beach bum in a previous race, ran past me in the opposite direction. Did he just? No, he couldn’t have. In flip-flops? No way.”
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*Nodding* Yep, it was your first post about him that had me keeping your blog in my then very short list of blogs to read. :D Didn’t one of the race directors comment back about him to you? I seem to recall reading something along those lines.
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Yeah, Chris, one race directors, provided a bit more information about him. Let’s see…
“‘Flip-flop man’ is kinda the real-life Forrest Gump, logging 30 – 50 miles of walking or running on a daily basis, always in the same flops. Real nice fellow, I’ve invited him several times to run with us, to no avail . . . he typically just jumps in and out of the races, encouraging whoever he can.”
I didn’t realize the search for flip-flop man led you to a dead-end, my blog. I always thought it was because of the Disney marathon stuff.
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Hmm – you know, it must have been Disney?! It was flip flop man that stood out in my mind all this time, though. LOL!
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I would love to see that. In college there was a guy that wore running shorts, a tank top and flip flops to class everyday, including the winter.
I would look for him every morning. I attended college in the great lakes snow belt. It was odd but comforting.
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I have to say, it is almost always the highlight of my day when I see him on my morning run, so I know just what you mean!
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