catheroominations

But I didn’t.

I was up at 5:30 to eat my pre-run carbs, pack the 3 G’s (GU, Garmin, and Gatorade), and get dressed for the run. I met my carpool buddy with 5 minutes to spare, and we left on time for the 1-hour ride over the hill. My carpooler was planning a longer run than I was, and she needed to start her run at 8 am. Since I was only doing 8 miles, my run would start 30 minutes later. I checked in for 8 miles and lined up for my 8:30 start, looking for my usual running buddies in the crowd.

I didn’t find any of my similarly-paced-half-marathon-training buddies and feared I would have to run solo, unable to keep up with the faster-paced marathon-training runners. But I plodded along, at a 4:1 ratio (4 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking), trying to keep up with the gang. Eventually I dropped back and began to run at more comfortable pace. I wanted to take it easy, knowing that the last time I ran here sucked Armenian yak.

Recently, I haven’t logged many longish runs. In fact, the last time I ran more than 6 miles was back in June, so I knew 8 would be a chore. I kept my thoughts positive, convincing myself that even though my last run here was utterly craptastic, I’d erase those bad memories with good ones today. I ran down the dirt trail lined by redwood trees. The air was clean and my lungs were thankful to be out of the city.

I met someone from my pace group at the water stop, about 2 miles in. She had actually started her run with my carpooler’s group at 8, but accidentally took a detour, and wound up at the beloved water stop the same time as I did. We started chatting, and she asked if I would run with her because we go at about the same pace. She was planning on running 12 miles, but she said she’d stick with me until my 4-mile turnaround point and then she’d keep going ahead. I was happy to have a running companion even if it was for only a couple of miles because it is so much more enjoyable with someone to talk to. And it was. We run well together. She’s chatty and so am I so the time went by quickly. I was having an awesomely good run. It was, in fact, easy. I felt great, and because I was enjoying myself so much, I noticed this time that the scenery was gorgeous.

We reached the 4-mile mark in no time and it seemed effortless. This was my turnaround point for the 8-mile loop. But I told my running mate that I would go to the 5-mile turnaround and increase my run 10 miles. What the hell? Ten, schmen. That’s just 2 more than 8…I could do it.

As we approached the 5-mile turnaround, most runners flew past it to go all the way to the 6-mile turnaround that boasted a beautiful waterfall. I wondered if there really was a waterfall, or if it was all a ruse by the TNT coaches to get us to go an extra 2 miles. Even at the 5-mile mark, I still felt great. I thought about those people I am running for and thought about what they endure when going through treatments. They don’t have the luxury of getting up and going for a run while suffering from extreme fatigue, nausea, and pain. They fight and go through hell until they reach their goal – a cure. And if they’re to do 12 months of chemo, they don’t say, “Oh, I think I’ll just do 8 months and then stop.” They go all the way. I could not complain about having to run. I chose to do this running business. Cancer patients did not choose to get cancer. Cancer chose them. (And cancer is an asshole.) And knowing I’d be logging 10 anyway…well…what’s 2 more? “Sure, I’ll go 12 with you!” I told my running buddy. And so I went.

So, yeah. I did not run 8 miles yesterday. I ran 12. And this was the payoff, courtesy of Mother Nature:

keep reading I was supposed to run 8 miles yesterday.

I shoulda run more than 3 miles this morning, but my running buddies and I all had to be somewhere by 7.

I woulda gotten our locks rekeyed, but the Home Depot I went to isn’t allowed to do that, per city regulations or some such crap.

I coulda avoided that piece of cake during our all-day meeting, but I was starving and being held captive in a conference room. It wasn’t even good cake.

As you can see, I’m uninspired today, so I leave you with a photo of a hummer*, for your entertainment:

*What? My mom calls them hummers. Get your minds out of the gutter. Jeez.

The post below was written by an anonymous blogger participating in Blog Share 3.0.. I too have posted an anonymous post…somewhere out there. I enjoyed the opportunity to say whatever I wanted to and not be held accountable. During the last Blog Share, although I did not participate (procrastination gets me every time!) I found a lot of new feeds to add to my Google Reader…thus contributing further to my procrastination.

Here’s a topic that I LOVE, but never get to blog about (ok, not NEVER, but RARELY, and even then it’s not a good idea): Ex-boyfriends.

Ex-boyfriend observation #1-I think about my exes sometimes, as I think most people do, but I rarely, if ever, picture them thinking about ME. If they do, I wonder what they remember, and what they picture me up to these days.

Ex-boyfriend observation #2-Lately, I have noticed that several of my exes have married girls who are, well, they are the ANTI-ME. Like, they are teachers and church ladies and high maintenance sorority girls and such. What does this MEAN? What I’m AFRAID it means, is that I am not what many guys consider “the kind of girl you marry”. And, okay, fine, that may have been true at certain points in my life, but I’m normal now! Pinky swear! Anyway. It makes me wonder. TELL ME WHAT IT MEANS I’M SORT OF OBSESSING OVER THIS!

Ahem. So, I thought it might be fun to talk about the Key Players, as long as we’re being all anonymous:

Relationship Failure #1: My high school sweetheart. We started dating after he took my BEST FRIEND to prom, while I went with another guy, and we ended up making out on the dance floor. Um. Oops. I was a freshman, and he was a junior. He was my first love, my first sexual experience, my first everything. I loved him like crazy, and our relationship was sweet and wonderful and everything you would hope for in a first love. When he graduated, he joined the Air Force, and I was CRUSHED. We dated long-distance for two more years, until I went off to college, where I broke up with him OVER EMAIL. I feel like shit about that to this day. Years later, when I found out he was getting married, I called him crying, and told him how sorry I was. He said, “Oh, sweetie. I couldn’t wait for you forever!”. Knife. To. Heart. I still have all the cards and letters he gave me in my hope chest at my mother’s house. I haven’t gotten up the nerve to throw them away.

Relationship Failure #2: My long-term college boyfriend. We dated about a year and a half. I was never in love with him, looking back, but he was exactly what I needed at the time. When we met, I was, uh, kind of wild. I was “sowing my oats” OR WHATEVER after dating my high school sweetheart for so long. Anyway, I was going a little off the rails. We met at a bar, and when he asked me out, I thought he was just another guy in line for a hookup or meaningless whatever. But, during our date, we drank and talked for hours and he revealed that he was deeply religious and also was a VIRGIN. Whoa. But, I liked to think that my Type was that I Had No Type, so we continued to date. What I loved about him was that he was a genuine Good Guy and a true gentleman. He adored me, and treated me like a queen, and valued and respected me, and taught me to do the same at a time in my life when I was most definitely not headed down that path. Unfortunately, we had a lot of differences in upbringing and politics and general philosophy, and so we fought a lot. We finally had an amicable break-up, after both of us realized we were never really meant to be together, but I will never forget how he taught me that you can care deeply about someone who is dramatically different from you. The last time I saw him, I was with my new boyfriend, and when they ran into each other at the bar, he said to New BF, “She’s a great girl”. He didn’t have to do that, but that was totally Him.

Relationship Failure #3: My first serious boyfriend after college. I consider him my first Adult Love. I fell hard and fast for him when we met during a week of national training for the company we both worked for (he worked in an office across the country). Three weeks later, he came to visit me, and we spent a whirlwind, this-is-out-of-the-movies week together, from which we emerged officially “dating”. Our relationship is the closest I have ever come to a love-at-first-sight situation, and our chemistry was unbelievable. I adored him and worshipped the ground he walked on, and I had done the long-distance thing before, so I wasn’t worried, in the short-term. We saw each other about every other weekend for nearly a year, taking turns flying back and forth and using up all of our money and vacation time on seeing each other. Our relationship was full of huge ups and downs, since I was miserable when we were apart, and practically high on life when we were together. Also, he was from the NYC area, and when I would visit we would see plays and visit restaurants and hang out in all of the greatest cities along the east coast. It was amazing to a small-town girl like me. Predictably, I was so into him that eventually I started talking about moving to be with him. He was into it, at first, and I went to several job interviews that didn’t pan out, but eventually I noticed he was sort of…NOT into it anymore. Still, when he broke up with me one night over the phone, I was shocked and devastated. And heartbroken. He contacted me recently, after several years had gone by, and apologized for what happened. And admitted that although he is now married, he has never felt about anyone the way he felt about me. Sigh. Thanks? I guess? It’s hard to hear from him, but overall I do appreciate his words, and the validation that I didn’t HALLUCINATE what happened between us.

So! There you have it! I feel much better now! Also, all three of these guys are now married to perfectly wonderful women who are most emphatically Not Me. In fact, I daresay their wives ALL fall into the Anti-Me category. It makes me wonder. It really, really does.

Below is a list of blogs participating in Blog Share tomorrow. Happy reading!

Vent Vox
Turn On The Stars
Trudie – Life After AC
Swimming With Sharks
Stefanie Says
Shhh! Librarian-In-Training
Sauntering Soul
Sass Attack
Reflections in the Snow Covered Hills
Red Red Whine
Our Simplicity
One New Duck
Oh My Seven
The Occasional Truth
No Lady
Nancy Pearl Wannabe
Muse On Vacation
Messing With Texas
Melliferous Pants
Lizland
Live Work Dream
Just Below 63
Jonniker
Java Literally
Heidikins
Full of Snark
Face Down
Ex Everything
Everything I Like Causes Cancer
Did I Say That Outloud?
The Daily Tannenbaum
The Coconut Diaries
Citystreams
Catheroominations
Bright Yellow World
Breath Smiles Tears
And You Know What Else
Alyndabear
3 Carnations

On Wednesday I will not be me.

Well, I will be me, but I won’t be here. On this blog. I will be posting anonymously somewhere else, and someone who shall remain nameless will post anonymously here, as part of Blog Share. Please come back then and see what my guest poster has to say. Also, please note that the words and views expressed on Catheroominations on Wednesday July 16 will not be mine. Unless my anonymous poster says something exactly like what I would say, and feels just what I would feel. In that case, well, you’ll just be a bit confused, won’t you?

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming on Thursday the 17th, where I will regale you with more tales of Cletus and his never ending quest for some hot chick to come along and kiss him and transform him into the prince that he is.

This is Cletus:

Cletus lives in our backyard. Every night the cats assume the meatloaf position and wait for him to appear. When he does, they stare as he entertains them by sitting still for long periods of time. Desmond and Daphne reward this trick with noises like “gah” “murrl,” and “errddgh”. Sometimes he moves and it’s very exciting for them when he does.

Cletus used to have a girlfriend, Blanche. But we only saw her once. I think she dumped him because he is lazy and not much of a provider. The junebugs plop onto the concrete and he just sits there. He makes no effort to catch the little bits of crunchy grossness unless they are within his immediate reach. Maybe he’s depressed, being single and all, and has lost his appetite. He does look a bit sad since the first time we saw him, with Blanche on a night out. Now that I think about it, she seemed rather distant that night. Maybe that was the beginning of the end.

I feel bad for lonely Cletus, so some nights, I’ll turn the patio light on and look for him with the cats. When he makes his appearance, I talk to him. He’s not much of a talker though. And like many men, he doesn’t seem to hear me. Maybe that’s what ultimately made Blanche leap ship.

He is sort of cute though, in an amphibious way, isn’t he?

Jeez. I buy a house and then travel for work and forget all about my little blog over here. Please do not report this neglect to the authorities. I promise to be more attentive from now on.

Because you’ve been so patiently waiting for me to post something, I’ll be sure to wow you to insane proportions. Or not.

Five Things…

I love

1. Matte. Matte. Matte. Not the foundation. Not the paint. Not the photo paper. The husband. He is the cat’s pajamas.
2. Running with Team In Training. I ran tonight for 3 miles, in over 90-degree weather. Because I love running. I hate running in sweltering heat, but not as much as I love running.
3. 3-day weekends
4. Blue skies free of smoke. They were here for a couple of days, but then they left and so did the foothills.
5. Our house. It’s not completely unpacked yet, but it’s ours, and I love it.

I hate

1. Excel spreadsheets emailed to me without being formatted for printing.
2. People who flake, especially contractors.
3. Ants. In my house. Covering the food in the cats’ bowls. Disgusting.
4. Dolly Parton singing on the Target ads while toilet paper flashes on the screen.
5. The large callus on my big toe. From running.

I should be better about

1. Taking and processing photos
2. Remembering to do things
3. Keeping in touch with people
4. Getting to work earlier
5. Adopting and keeping healthy eating habits
6. BONUS: blogging