~8.8 miles @ ~13.8 min/mi

"What's that sound?" Caren Jew asks as we approach the high trestle over Rock Creek. We hear something that resembles chirping. "Birds? Crickets? People?" Her last guess hits the target: there's an Avon Walk for Breast Cancer going through the neighborhood this Sunday morning, and from the Capital Crescent Trail we hear the cocktail-party-like chatter of hundreds of hikers streaming along Rock Creek Trail below. The noise reminds Caren of a scene in the film Sneakers — which leads Chatterbox Mark into disquisitions on the theme of impossible plot devices in movies including magic computer chips, time travel, the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics in Source Code, etc., etc. Caren is amused. She's coming back after a bout of bronchitis so we go slowly and, when the walkers join the CCT on the other side of Connecticut Av, engage some of them in conversation.

In downtown Bethesda the river of anti-breast-cancer walkers leaves the CCT to flow toward DC. Caren and I turn back at the sign marking mile 4.5 and on a whim I try to show her the starting point of the Bethesda Trolley Trail, which I visited a month ago (cf. 2012-04-01 - Bethesda Trolley Trail Loop). But after going a few blocks north along Woodmont Av in search of Norfolk Av, I lose confidence in my memory and we turn back, leaving a silly stub on the GPS trackfile. Our conversation continues diverse, fun, and edgy-uninhibited, as I work on being less dainty in my vocabulary among friends. We talk about family, work, career, life-goals, etc. During the homeward trek Caren is startled when a couple of Avon walkers greet her by name. It turns out to be a cluster of old friends. After sweaty hugs we're back on track. We pass the spot at the golf course where we both got stung a couple of years ago (cf. 2009-08-22 - Two Bees, or Not Two Bees) and muse about beekeeping as a possible next-career pursuit.

^z - 2012-05-17