I’m up in Dallas teaching a Wilderness First Aid class at the Trinity River Audubon Center.

It’s a gorgeous building.

Here’s a shot from above.

Why yes, those are a bunch of trails that you can run on — and it does look like a bird from above.

I was not expecting to teach somewhere so nice this weekend. The drive from the interstate certainly didn’t fill me with hope either. And the bagels in the the La Quinta had been rock hard. The coffee was barely caffeinated. I was grumpy when we went through the entrance gate. But then there was this.

How great is that?!? And running trails and paths!

There was some bird rescue class going on next door to our classroom. People standing at desks with little bird washing tubs in front of them. No actual oiled-soaked birds as far as I can tell though. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much in the way of food in the gift shop. I had a tiny 25-cent package of M&Ms, a 75-cent package of mini-Ritz crackers, and a two-dollar soda for lunch. I wish I had my own car here, so I could get to the site earlier to run tomorrow — and to buy some lunch food.  I’ll be tooling around the hotel parking lot for two hours instead and eating hard bagels — knowing my training and nutrition is an inspiration to others. 😉

Running: 40 minutes moderate effort