I wanted to do some shopping for fruits and olives today so I walked to the farmers market that is held every Tuesday. It is about a 1.25 mile walk to the market from the apartment I am staying in. While I was walking there and knew I had to walk back, I thought about would I ever walk that far to get fruits and vegetables in Alexandria. I do walk the 4.5 blocks to the Safeway near my house but that is about as far as I walk for groceries. Other times, I would drive to the groceries stores that are larger and have more variety in them.

Also, I like the idea of almost daily shopping where you buy things in small quantities and every thing is fresh. We do not have that many daily farmers markets or covered markets in DC so it is harder to live this lifestyle. Also, there are not that many butchers where you can buy fresh meat and poultry or seafood markets so it is not as easy to do the lifestyle. I was thinking I could shop at Eastern Market more but that would take more time. I was thinking that since I am retired, I have the time so probably should try it for a while.

I went back to Restaurant Gascon for lunch. It is a nice, basic (good food), and comfortable lunch place. It is inexpensive and provides reasonable serving sizes. It is a good place for my larger meal when I run in the evenings.

In the evening, I ran with the group. It is nice because more people are recognizing me and having interactions with me. One of the leaders, who does not really speak English, always welcomes me now. I think he is surprised to see me every week. We did another hill workout which is good for my fitness level but does make for a tougher work out. The group leader for the run today, is the one who likes to go faster and do the hills. I gather from Elliott that the other leaders were harassing him as he was going too fast on the run. It definitely was a faster speed than our normal runs.

As I was running home, Neom ran past me and said hello. I decided to run with him as we were running the say way. It was nice to chat when we are not in a big group. He has final exams for his college courses next week. I think from what he said this is his final semester for his bachelors degree. He was funny as he said he wanted to be done and wanted to work so he had money. I was slightly confused and I think he might be doing a masters next but I go the impression that he just wanted to be done.

I am off on a field trip to Montpellier for a night so might be late posting tomorrow.