“Here, take a wipey”

So…I fell during my run today.  Yes, it’s becoming a habit lately that I’m not happy about.  I seem to do just fine when I’m running around my familiar sidewalk-less area – no curbs and little traffic.  When I run in a more unfamiliar, city-like area, I’ve narrowed my “fall behavior” to the following criteria:

• Includes busy sidewalk
• Includes lots of people
• Includes lots of baby carriages
• Includes lots of darting puppies and children

With lots of walking/running company at lunchtime, I ran the sidewalk as it was available, but sometimes ended up having to yield to others and switch to the informal pathway next to the sidewalk.  You know, where there are rocks and other evil things waiting to jump up at a runner.  Not as roughed up as before, I still landed pretty hard.  Two moms with their carriages and darting children (who I was yielding to in the first place) dashed over to me, “Are you OK?”  The young boys (maybe 4 years old) stood there with their mouths open.  I’m thinking they thought my fall and subsequent scrapes were pretty cool.  Wouldn’t you think so if you were a 4 year old boy?

I was frustrated with my newfound klutziness as I gathered myself together, inspected my new wounds, and answered, “Yes, I’m fine, thank you” to the moms.  To that, one of the moms dove into her bag and offered, “Here, take a wipey”.  That changed my mood completely.

How could I not smile?    Don’t wipey’s fix everything?  So I did what anyone would do....I wiped.  And then I finished my run.

Worth the week

It was a tough week.  I spent most of it at a conference in Vermont.  I missed my Scott and Bella.  But I was given the opportunity to present to my entire department (50+ people) for close to 40 minutes.  This was the largest audience I would ever speak to, so I had a healthy level of nervousness and wanted to do well (duh).  Stir in a dash of work drama as an appetizer, and voila, it was an exhausting week.

Running was non-existent, eating was sporadic and not great, and “hotel” sleep was hard to come by.  Despite all of the drama, nervousness, and normal travel effects, it ended on a beautiful note.

There’s no place like home, but man, this is a close second…..

(oh, and I ROCKED my presentation!!!!)

Overdue

I am craving this –

And this –

And of course, this –

We’re way overdue.

Clerk of the Works

Several years ago, we performed some major renovations on our home.  We added on a new living room and drastically changed the configuration of our existing kitchen/living area.  We are very lucky to have a good friend, Martyn, who is a carpenter.  For several months, our home was filled with noise, dust, footprints, and contractors.  Were we worried about having contractors roaming around our house?  Nope.  That’s because we had the Clerk of the Works on duty! 

Scott’s dad loved any activity around the house.  Whether it was his other son or daughter coming by for a visit, or Scott and I doing some kind of yard or house work where he could “supervise” and tell us we “missed a spot”, he loved having a front row seat to it all.  But best of all was when we had Martyn working at our house.  Those months he and his crew were here were some of the most fun months my father-in-law had!  This is where he earned the title “Clerk of the Works”.

Sometimes, he would sit out on the deck and watch quietly.  Sometimes, he’d pull a chair up really close so he could hear what was going on, ask questions and crack jokes.  Always, he would be armed and ready with cold Budweisers for Martyn and his crew.  Martyn might have preferred a Bass Ale, but he always happily accepted the Budweiser, knowing he was making my father-in-law’s day. 

Only a couple of months before he passed, Scott’s dad announced he wanted to build us a new deck.  The old one was really showing its age and was in need of replacing.  He poured over a deck book we bought him and together we designed our new deck.  Of course, he wanted it bigger than the house itself, but we talked him down to a more appropriate size.  Even though his health was already declining, he perked up as Martyn and his crew arrived to disassemble and then rebuild our new deck.  Out came the chair and out came the Budweisers.  Most people are happy when the work is complete; he was happiest when the work was ongoing.

Over the last two weeks of Project Septic, we’ve reminisced quite a bit about those times with Scott’s dad.  Our septic peeps have been working their butts off in very hot and humid conditions, so we’ve filled a cooler each day with water and sodas.  And beer.  The beer comes out at the end of the day of course, but it’s become a tradition around here whenever there’s major work to be done.  And with the beer come the stories.  The stories of our favorite Clerk of the Works.  It’s not the same without him, but we’re keeping the tradition alive.

Cheers to the original Clerk of the Works!

Trails in the Twilight Zone

I get why people run trails instead of roads or in addition to roads.  It’s a different world in the woods; it’s pretty, it’s darker, it never feels the same (even on repeating loops); it’s a different pace.  Time passes by….differently.  It feels like the Twilight Zone.

 For those who are not familiar with The Twilight Zone, Wikipedia describes it best as “a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist".  Yep, that about sums up an 18 mile trail run:

Drama – isn’t any scheduled 18 mile run that happens to fall during a typical hot/humid August day considered drama?

Psychological Thriller – describes the moment deep in the woods when Scott yelled, “OMG!  Bear!  Run!”.  And he was kidding.  Brat.

Fantasy – after 3 hours or so in the heat and humidity maintaining a decent pace, I swear I truly saw a bear (OK, it turned out to be a tree with shadows that growled and showed its teeth).  Hello soaring heart rate.

Science Fiction – describes the hallucinations I would have experienced had I run one more mile today

Suspense – felt this twice after each of Scott’s falls today

Horror – when I thought Scott might be hurt;  not just because I care but also because….how the hell would I find my way out of the woods?!?!?!

Unexpected Twist – is the fact that I LOVED today’s run! 

Despite the humidity, the horseflies, the normal tired legs, and the challenge of the experimental eating-on-the-run, I’m really digging this training.  Having Scott with me is the icing on the cake, the magic in the cap, the twilight in the zone….

Now off to prepare for tomorrow’s long run #2.  Yes folks, the fun never ends when you’re getting it done on the run!