I Now Remember Why I Retired Early!

I went back to work today. Yup, that's right-I'm a member of the working force again, a cubicle monkey, a nameless, faceless clerk, a very tiny cog in a huge machine-I don't know what part of my brain thought it was a good idea to say yes when my former boss called and asked me to come back, but that particular part of my brain needs to be punished severely. I had to get up at 4:00 am in order to get in a 6 mile run before work, and I was out the door and running in the pre-dawn chill, scared to death of cars or coyote or bears, oh my! I got home from the run with barely enough time to shower and dress and head out for work. I forgot about all that morning routine-stuff like makeup and actually doing something with my hair rather than just combing it flat and putting on clean clothes rather than the jeans and t-shirt I wore yesterday..

The good news is the work routine came back pretty quickly. When I finally started actually posting contracts and receipts and all the other flotsam and jetsam of my boring work day, things started to click and I actually started remembering account numbers and bits and pieces of information I will need to do my job.

The bad news is I have to wear nice shoes instead of comfy former running shoes that have lost their bounce for runs, but are fine for doing chores around the house and grocery shopping. But alas, dirty running shoes just don't work with nice button down shirts and skirts.

The question is-how long will it be before I start despising my co-workers, and I remember exactly why I needed to retire?

Why I Hate Main Stream Media

What is it lately with inflammatory, inaccurate articles lately about marathons? First it was the "Plodders don't belong in marathons" thing that I posted about yesterday; then it was the CNBC article regarding the winner of the New York Marathon in which the writer believes that Meb Keflezghi's win is hollow because Keflezghi is not a natural born citizen to the U.S. And on top of all that, last night's news on the telly went on and on about all the deaths lately in marathons and whether people should even be attempting to run 26.2 miles. The part that really got me angry was when the reporter interviewed the obligatory doctor, a cardiologist, who stated that "he recommended that his patients only need to walk 1/2 an hour every day for optimum health". Well, of course he recommends 1/2 hour of walking a day. He's a cardiologist; his patients consist of heart attack survivors, bypass surgery patients, and people with congenital heart problems. I wish I had been interviewing the good doctor- I would have asked him if he thought a healthy person with no heart problems who has been running regularly for a few years was capable of training for and running a marathon-never mind what he recommends for his ailing patients. I'm pretty sure he would have answered in the positive to that one, but of course then NBC wouldn't have a really scary story about how you're going to die if you run a marathon. Now I have to deal with my mother in law telling me how scared she is for me and all this running I'm doing...

I'm a plodder, and proud of it

I just can't let this go. I've been thinking about the New York Times article in which faster runners are complaining that those of us that are plodding away at the back of the pack are somehow ruining the mystique of the marathon.

If there is some sort of mystique about the marathon that is based on how fast you can run it, perhaps the distance should be reserved for the Olympics-that would really give the 4 hour marathoners a goal to shoot for. Or go one step further-as one commenter put it, if we want to preserve the "mystique" of the marathon, then everybody who runs it should be naked, and die of heat stroke.

I'm thinking that the runners who don't want your average Joe running a marathon want to keep the race for themselves because running is how they define who they are and running marathons makes them really special; thus, if the average person can complete a marathon then the faster runners aren't all that special, are they?

The interesting thing is, since the article came out, I've read comments from some truly elite runners-the people who can actually win a marathon. They all seem to share the view that a marathon is for anybody who wants to train for it and complete the distance-the more the merrier.

Don't get me wrong-I think the 26.2 miles should be respected and no one should attempt a marathon without a solid running base and months of training. I will be the first person in line to discourage an inexperienced newbie runner from signing up for a marathon. It takes months of hard work and discipline to prepare for a marathon. But if you've been running a few years, and have a decent running base, and you've trained for a couple of half marathons-I say go for it. And stopping on the marathon course to have lunch-not cool.

Finally-one last comment about the runner in the article who will accost people in marathon shirts, ask them what their time was, and then make a nasty comment if she deems their time too slow-the fact that she is capable of doing something so mean and small speaks volumes about her character. I guess every sport has its bullies..

Volunteerism

I worked as a volunteer all weekend for a car show; it supports a good cause (our local hospice) and all my friends were there, either as volunteers or exhibiting a car. After we spent an exhausting afternoon marking the golf course for the cars on Saturday, I was up and at my post Sunday morning, checking in the cars and handing our exhibitors packets. Every driver, WITH ONE EXCEPTION, was friendly and helpful with information about their cars. So.....this is an open letter to the ONE UNFRIENDLY TOOL gentleman I encountered:

Dear Sir:

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with me as I tried to check in your car for the show. I failed to recognize your car as a BMW and I called it an Audi and you got very angry. You made a nasty and insulting comment about hiring the handicapped. I would just like to clarify a few points with you:

1. I was not hired for this car show. I volunteered. Not only did I volunteer, but I volunteered to help line up cars on the golf course, not check them in. I got recruited to check in cars when that volunteer did not show up; that is why I could not answer any of your stupid assed, lame pertinant questions.

2. I apologize for not recognizing that your car was a BMW. I guess that after spending all morning checking in really interesting cars like Duesenbergs, a beautiful coffin nosed Cord, and a veritible herd of vintage Ferraris, your boring, off the street, nuthin special except the grotesque pricetag BMW just didn't register on my Special Car Radar.

3. I also apologize for not having a packet ready for you with a pre-printed dash card. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you REGISTER LATE for an event. I did not have a nice felt tipped pen to fill out the blank dash card because the organizers did not provide one for me and I did not know I might need one; otherwise I would have brought my own from home. I hope you didn't mind that I listed the make and model of your car as a 1966 Dodge Dart.

4. Yes, I do know how to spell BMW. I spell it J-E-R-K.

I Love It When You Say That...

If you were a fan of The Addams Family as I was, then perhaps you remember how occasionally Gomez would speak to Morticia in French. I never knew what he said to her, but she obviously loved it. My hubby does not speak French; but being a wife of many years, there are certain things he can say to me that, like Morticia, give me goose bumps of ecstacy, such as:

Have you lost weight? Because those jeans make you look really skinny.

These chocolate chip cookies are better than the ones my Mom makes.

Put the hamburger back in the fridge-let's go out to dinner tonight.

Since I'm now one of those runnerly types, I have some new additions to the list of things I love to here the Hubster say:

You're back already? That was one of your faster runs.

Ya know, since they're doing a marathon in Santa Barbara now, you could do a marathon every year.

You seem tense-why don't you go for a run?

I'm going to the Big City after work today; do you want me to pick you up, and we can stop by your FNRS?

Your legs look fantastic..

I Love My FNRS*

Another reason to shop at your FNRS-free shoes! I went in to purchase GU Chomps, and discovered that with my last shoe purchase, I qualified for a free pair. Hubby suggested that I buy a pair as well; with these 2 new pairs of shoes, I should be all set in the shoe department for the marathon. I think it will be cool to run the race in free shoes!




*FNRS-Friendly Neighborhood Running Store

200th Blogiversary

My last post was my 200th post. I had this whole thing planned in celebration-my favorite posts, some great comments from famous people, cake and ice cream; honestly, it was going to be really, really great. We were all going to have so much fun! But somehow, I missed the magic 200th post and I wasted it on a silly post about Biggest Loser. Now, you'll all have to wait for my 300th Blogiversary, and I'm not sure I can pull the party together like I had planned for the 200th Blogiversary. I'm so sorry, faithful readers-I know how dissapointed you all are. And I was even going to bake the best chocolate chip cookies you have ever eaten-seriously, if you were a condemned person and you were requesting your last meal, you would ask for only one thing-my chocolate chip cookies. Now you'll just have to use your imagination to realize how much fun we would have had. I was even going to have pony rides..