Archives for October 2009
18 miles = A LOT of lonely
This morning’s run was not one of my better runs. Nonetheless, I got it done.
18 miles baby!
I had an bad feeling this morning, when I couldn’t seem to stomach my oatmeal or coffee. I NEVER have an issue with my coffee. Oatmeal is another story. I guess I’d better work on finding a breakfast of champions for long run and race day morning. I’ve eaten Matisse & Jacks while training for other marathons. I think it’s time order some.
I hit the road and headed toward that wonderful trail I’d discovered last month. I wondered if I’d see MBM again and, if so, would he have another flower to hand out. Music played as I went but I wasn’t inspired by it. I plodded along, glad that I had opted to pour the glass of cabernet down the drain (instead of my throat) last night.
When I hit the 1st park, I began looking around for Wendy. She wasn’t sure if she’d make it out of bed to join me but she knew the approximate time I’d roll through her neck of the woods. I was a little bit sad not to see her — a lot of lonely can be fit into 18 miles.
Besides lonely, a lot of thoughts can be entertained as well. My mind went wild thinking about all sorts of stuff. Mostly, I thought about L. I also thought about what I want in general in a relationship (which is a whole other post in and of itself).
I’d done a lot of thinking, and covered a lot of miles, by the time I reached the entry into the trail of choice. I’d only get to enjoy 1.5 miles of its beauty before having to turn around, which seemed like such a shame.
I even considered extending my run…until I encountered the result of horse hooves on muddy trail. It was endless and difficult to run on. I was more than ready to turn back 1.5 miles out.
On the return, I did run into MBM. He didn’t have a rose today but he was full of conversation. He asked if I would send him one of the photos from the last encounter — meaning I have an email address. He also asked what I was doing tomorrow because he wanted to invite me to a shooting competition. GUNS! Now, who is the “interesting” one?
Fortunately, I had plans already. I’ll be checking out the firemen, I mean cheering for Big Sis and Lil Sis, at the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. Look for me at around mile 10 and then at the finish.
Protected: chase this
mismatched misfit
There’s a lingering ouch in my left foot reminding me of today’s run. Don’t ask me. I have not a clue why. The wet hair is another story.
Faced with working through another lunch or heading out into VERY wet and blustery weather, I chose the latter. Really — it was a no brainer. If there was any hesitation it would be due to the fact that my scheduled run was for 8 miles (with 6 miles at tempo pace) and the afternoon 1-to-1 session with my boss. Not only did I want to go, I needed a hard run to work off the building stress. And so…
When my workout bag proved that I had failed to do a thorough inventory of my gear, I didn’t falter from my goal.
It didn’t matter that I was missing:
- two matching socks
- an extra pair of undies
- a jacket
- a hat
- gloves that didn’t have holes (compliments of Ronin)
With mismatched socks, two shirts, and my holy gloves I ventured out.
Got gum wrappers?
My papa loved watching MacGyver on TV. He seemed able to take on MacGyver’s ability to fix things even with the fewest of resources. It was almost as if he was modeling himself after him — to a certain extent. And what’s not to admire? After all MacGyver is “Part boy-scout. Part genius. All hero.” Papa was definitely my hero.
Well, I now have a new hero.
My favorite brother (my only brother) drove down from Sacto and came to my rescue this weekend. It was a win-win situation: I trust him, he can do the job, he needs money, and it is always nice to have him visit.
He surveyed the various issues around my house:
- the dishwasher
- the puddle under my sink (despite my not running the dishwasher)
- my broken glass in my oven door
- the leaky sprinkler valve
- the many two-pronged outlets in need of a third prong hole
- my holy (not in the reverent way) doors
- I threw the need to drap plastic sheeting the contents in my garage (pre-roofing) in for good measure.
He got to work right away. Assessing, testing, and identifying issues such as my in-sink-erator, which was the reason for the puddle under my sink. It was dripping directly onto the outlet. Nice, eh? Note: My model was not included in this recall however I did file a report.
My bro MacGvyer’d the broken glass in my oven door with, not the typical MacGvyer gum wrapper, but some foil tape. We tested the oven out on some of my homemade lasagna. Delish! He worked for most of Saturday and into Sunday on this and that. With the exception of my holy doors, all of the items on my list were addressed.
When Bro wasn’t in need of my decision making, I kept busy clearing out space in the garage so that all the remaining items could be covered in plastic sheeting. I found a large box of camping supplies (the ones I discovered missing on the trip to Big Trees), my mother-in-law’s well-loved Bible, a few other treasures, and a whole lot of junk. As a result, my garbage can is overflowing, my trunk is filled with items to donate to Goodwill, and I have a large collection of hazardous waste (old cans of paint, empty propane canisters, etc.) Also, I’m tired — OH SO TIRED.
In fact, after a trip to the downtown library to get YaYa a book on the Blackfoot Indians (which was not at our local library), I returned home feeling chilled and uninspired. Reluctantly, I went upstairs to dress for my scheduled long run. One glance at my unmade bed and I was quickly under the covers for a few minutes of warming up…
…and then, hours later, I woke up. Call me lazy, but that run isn’t going to happen. I just don’t have what it takes to get it done today. On the other hand, my garage is ready for the roofers, we have clean clothes for the week, there is food in the refrigerator once again, and we can cook food and eat on clean plates again.