I Don't Want To Bite It Like Goose

Morning Workout
RUN (on the treadmill)
45 minutes
Heart Rate Zone: Aerobic Conditioning (Zone 3)

Random Comments: The Figure Skating National Championships are being held in St. Louis this week and apparently my hotel is the epicenter of activity. There are 10 year old girls running around with their families in tow as if this is the most important week of their lives. As it turns out, it might very well be. None of the figure skaters made it to the fitness room this morning. Their pudgy mothers were there in full force though.
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Ummmm…. does anybody see the plane out there? Isn’t it a bit too close?! Helloooo?!?! I look around. Nobody has noticed. In fact, most people are asleep, which is odd for an afternoon flight.

The meetings in St. Louis ended much earlier than expected. In fact, they started much earlier than expected. I originally booked my return travel on the 7:45pm flight back to LA. When I found out my meeting was moved from the afternoon to the morning, I looked at the flight schedule and realized that there is a 12:00 direct from St. Louis to LAX. In fact, that’s the only other flight direct to LA. If I don’t get on the stand-by list for that one, it’ll be a loooong stay in the airport.

The presentation went very well. We’ll need to go through a few more rounds but it looks like we have a great chance of getting the business. I worked on the presentation yesterday for the better part of seven hours. Of course, when the clients showed up to my hotel room at 9pm, halfway to sloshed, I’d say my productivity took a fairly rapid downturn. We sat around talking – or, rather, I was talking they were slurring - while I half-heartedly tried to finalize the changes to the presentation. Once the clock passed 11pm, I escorted their drunken asses out of my room. An hour later I was asleep… and five and a half hours after that I was up again. I didn’t get a chance to workout at all yesterday and there was no way I was going to miss it today. So with 5 ½ hours under my belt, I dragged myself out of bed and went down to the fitness room for an exhilarating 45 minute run on the treadmill.

My 8am meeting this morning started promptly at 8:40. When it finally ended, I looked at my watch and realized it was 10:45. Damn the two hours went by quickly. Not wanting to miss the noon flight, I hightailed it outta there and got to the airport lickety-split.

So here I am now, about one hour into the flight back to LA when I see the plane out there. Not but a few minutes ago I was calmly sitting here in my exit row window seat, happily playing Solitaire on my computer when I glanced out the window. In the distance I saw a plane heading towards us at an extremely rapid speed – as planes tend to go. My heart began to speed up a bit. I remember hearing something somewhere at some time that planes are supposed to stay two miles apart from each other. I don’t remember if I read it in a newspaper or heard it in that movie with Jon Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton, the one where they play air traffic controllers. Or maybe I’m just assuming it’s true after that whole Top Gun drama where Maverick and Goose get caught in the tailwind of another plane and spin out of control. Goose died; he broke his neck when he ejected from the plane. It was sad. I don’t want to go out like Goose did. Either way, I know for a fact that planes aren’t supposed to be flying close to each other. Regardless, there’s a plane heading towards us at an extremely rapid speed. I watch from right outside my window as it comes zooming in parallel to us. My head turns a full 180 as I watch it zip out of site behind us. This plane looks like it’s only, say, a quarter mile away from us. At the very most, a half of a mile. I can see the people through their windows. It sure ain’t no two miles apart. Was that a close call or is that normal? These are the types of questions I really don’t want the answers to.