Posted by Mark on August 25, 2008, 16:13:03
71.214.254.206
I had been worried about my feet several hours earlier as cramping started to set in by late afternoon, but I could barely even notice they were sore as I hastily looped to the grandstand area one final time before having to meet my parents in less than fifteen minutes. I knew 200 sightings was likely out of the question at this point but I had already broken my 2007 record and I was still racking up a few more decent ones, and none more impressive than Sighting #188. A few of the concertgoers were exiting the Backstreet Boys (!!!) show at the grandstand a little early. An 18-ish brunette cutie in an orange top and khaki shorts with a nonsmoking friend emerged, smoldering cigarette in hand and quickly met up with the two guys I assumed were boyfriends. She was the only smoker of the four which always strikes me as incredibly hot. She galloped like a pony across the mostly empty fairgrounds and seemed bubbly in comparison to the somewhat annoyed friends. I had just a few minutes left and spent most of them following her before she glibly flicked her cigarette butt to the curb. I watched that glowing cherry on the pavement and could tell in passing that it was a Marlboro red.
I would score four more minor sightings on my way out the door and met my parents a couple minutes late after the 10 p.m. hour. I had been walking for almost 13 hours but could have easily gone another hour, presumably on pure adrenaline from such a great evening. Beyond that, the Iowa State Fairgrounds are much more unforgiving than Minnesota's, so having endured 13 hours of those fairgrounds two weeks earlier almost certainly prepared me for 13 hours in Minnesota. For the first time, I clocked my walking distance with a pedometer. I remember estimating the distance at 25 miles in the past....but I lowballed it. 33 1/2 miles of walking time over the course of the day. I just turned 31 today...and wonder how many more years I'll be able to do this before my body can't handle it.
On the long walk out of the fairgrounds to the car, I can usually count on scoring at least a couple additional sightings, but have come up empty in the last couple of years. The same dearth of last-minute sightings held my total number down to 192 this year, but how could I possibly complain? That's three years in a row of truly inspired visits to the Minnesota State Fair, and I don't know which of the three I could identify as the best. If we're truly on the cusp of a society where public smoking no longer occurs, any given day at the Minnesota State Fair would certainly challenge the effectiveness of that premise. It was another of those increasingly rare days that give me hope for the future.
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