catheroominations

On most weekends, I like to have at least one down day. My idea of a down day includes a leisurely wake-up, some tea and cereal and then spend the day doing a whole lotta nuthin’. At the least, I like to be home early on Sundays to just chill before getting ready for the work week. I used to have down days a lot (when I was single I often had too much of the down days), but ever since we bought this house, there is always something to do. Back in the days of renting someone else’s space, sometimes both Saturday and Sunday had the possibility of being down days. Oh, to be a sloth again! But ever since I started training with Team In Training this season, at least one day of my weekend involves running, and that running usually happens at the wee hours of the morning. That leaves one day open for nothingness. But Sundays have become catch-up day since on Saturdays I’m milking the fact that “I just ran 12 miles, so please wait on me. I’m going to sit here on my butt all day now.”

This weekend, there will be no down day. There will likely be no down hour even. Not that I am complaining. I’m fortunate to have friends to hang out with and keep me busy. Even still, it’s going to be a busy two days. Check out my weekend schedule:

Saturday

5:00 am Wake up, eat breakfast and get dressed for my run
6:00 am Leave the house
7:00 am Run double-digit miles
10:30 am Ice bath at home
11:00 am Shower and get back in the car for a 45-minute drive
12:30 pm My good friend Jason’s 40th birthday BBQ
2 pm Drive home from BBQ
3 pm Bow chicka bow wow. Or something.
6 pm Get ready for TNT fundraising party
6:30 pm Leave for TNT fundraising party
10:00 pm TNT fundraising party ends
10:30 pm Home and asleep early on a Saturday night

The next day is a bit more manageable. But still, not a down day.

Sunday

Sleep as late as possible before getting ready to meet Matte’s cousin for breakfast/brunch.
After brunch, my friend from North Carolina is coming to see our new house.
3 pm BBQ at a friend’s house in honor of NC friend’s visit (which was originally planned for my house, but my friend graciously offered her house instead. Thank God.)
7 pm Home to do laundry for the coming week, and wonder where my weekend went

Could someone find me a holiday to celebrate on Monday so I can add a down day to my weekend? I’m part Lithuanian, so if you could find a national holiday in Lithuania, I might be able to get away with that. Actually. Wait. Monday, August 11 marks the 3rd anniversary of my first date with Matte. So that should entitle me to a day off. In fact, production at work should just shut down in observation of that momentous occasion. I think I’ll look into that.

What about you? Are you the type who likes to go-go-go? Burn the candle at both ends, like my mom likes to say? Or do you need some lazytime on your weekend?

I forgot to write a post yesterday for NaBloPoMo. And after I told y’all that this month would be eventful. Well, yesterday wasn’t, so I was not inspired. Not inspired at all. Instead, I went grocery shopping. Because I live on the edge.

Oh, and this grocery store was a big, newly upgraded supermarket. I went there rather than Trader Joe’s because I needed some things that TJ’s does not carry (tampons, Country Crock, rotisserie chickens). But said grocery store was out of things. Normal things that every grocery store has. For example, romaine lettuce. ROMAINE LETTUCE? Come ON! Also, they did not have any cilantro (the horror) or Coca Cola products in 2-liter bottles. Fine, I’ll give them the last one because there was a deep discount on the 2-liter bottles so they merely sold out. But to not have ANY romaine lettuce or cilantro? Joe, my favorite Trader, always has cilantro and romaine lettuce.

Wow. Even I am bored with this post. Shall I tell you about the load of laundry I am doing right now? I’m washing darks. Jeans, black clothes, Matte’s underwear.

I lead a fascinating life, I tell you. So fascinating it cannot be put into words, as is apparent from this post.

Inevitably in a class or seminar there is always one annoying person who asks the most questions, makes the most comments and generally slows down the pace of the class or seminar. Always there is this person. Why is that? Is there a club of these people and they sign up to sit in each of these classes or seminars? Every single day? Seriously. There is always just one. So they all must call each other to make sure that specific course is covered.

And at concerts there is always at least one person in the general vicinity who stands out. Whether they’re flailing about in an attempt to dance, or whistling loudly, or singing off-key, they’re there. And last night they were right there. Sitting next to me.

Oh, she was excited to see Lyle Lovett. It must be noted that the venue where Lyle plays is quite…sedate. Well, not sedate, but it’s not the type of place that lends itself to crowd surfing or even standing up until encore time when the place gets jumping. The Mountain Winery in Saratoga is a lovely, intimate place to see a concert, and most people are polite and mellow don’t cause a ruckus. But this woman in the seat next to mine was quite annoying as hell the character. She was dressed in all denim. Denim capris, denim (chambray really) short sleeved shirt with buttons down the front and some applique of some sort, and a denim baseball cap. Oh, and on her feet? Cowboy boots of course, because, duh. Lyle Lovett! But cowboy boots? With capris? Really?

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I took my seat. In a sea of concert goers, she was the only one with her arms up. I think her eyes were closed as she tipped her head back and swayed, as if in a religious trance of some sort. Fine, Lyle had a gospel choir backing him up, but this was Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, not the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. She was so into her swaying, that a couple of times her arms smacked my head. So Matte gently tapped her arm so she’d sway back to the right, away from my skull. There was a lapse of time, and she said (finally), “Oh, sorry…next time I do that, just elbow me in the ribs.” Uhm, yeah. I wouldn’t be doing that, but thanks for snapping out of your hypnosis to realize there are people next to you whose personal space you are invading.

I can appreciate someone being into the music, but her reaction was just so odd for the tunes Lyle plays. The swaying stopped soon afterwards, but it was replaced by laughter. She laughed loudly at every lyric, even those that were not funny. And she’d laugh loudly, and look at me to see if I thought it was funny too. Usually it was not, but she looked for my approval at each guffaw, coming up empty every time.

After every song, she yelled “YAAAAAAAY!” and clapped and “YAAAAAAAY!” and said “Mighty fine. Mighty fine.” Adding, “that’s what we say in the Bluegrass country. Mighty fine.” Great. Thanks for that.

Oh, and the singing. She didn’t sing well. I preferred the laughter to the singing actually. But at least it kept her from talking to Lyle. We were not sitting close to the stage at all, but when Lyle spoke of performing since the 70’s and how a lot has happened since then, my seat neighbor reminded him, “Yeah, you’ve been married and divorced since then!” referring to Julia Roberts, of course.

My seat neighbor seemed drunk and smelled of Lancers and stale Pall Malls.

It wasn’t just me, either. She was quite noticeable to the rest of the crowd. People in front of us kept turning around to see who was being so loud. She didn’t seem to notice or care. She just kept up her conversations with herself (and Lyle although she could not hear). Her reactions were always delayed and awkward and she was driving me nuts. Lyle started one of his more famous hits, one that every Lyle fan recognizes at the first 2 notes or so. She didn’t react until he began to sing, when she again said, “Yaaaay!” and “That tickles my fancy!”

Her husband was sitting next to her the entire time, and not once did he say, “Calm down maude.* You’re making a scene.” I would hope, that if I were being that annoying, someone would tell me.

*That may or may not have been her name. But it probably was.

There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.

Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, “How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?”

Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, “There is plenty of time to relax.”

Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare.

Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line.

After that, Hare always reminded himself, “Don’t brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!”

The word slow is not in the Team In Training vocabulary. No one is a slow runner, they are strong and steady. And let me tell you, I am just about the strongest and steadiest runner on the team of 200. And today, I was a bit discouraged by that. I met some of my teammates for an On Your Own run (OYO), which just means it is not a coach-led run, like last week’s 12-miler. OYO runs are training runs, but are much shorter distances than those led by the coaches. Today it was my turn to “lead” an OYO run, but I did all but that. Seven of us (6 gals and 1 guy) set off together to do 6 to 8 miles today. I had my Garmin set for my new run/walk ratio of 3:2 so I could see if it would help speed me up a bit. Before I could even find out if there was a time benefit to my new ratio, the five other gals sped off. SO FAST. Basically, I was left in their 8-minute mile dust, and was truly doing an On Your Own run, all On My Own. I worried at first, because without someone to keep me company, I tend to take longer walk breaks, slow down, and get bored. But this time I remained loyal to what the Garmin told me to do, and consistently ran for 3 minutes at a time, with 2-minute walk breaks in between.

So I ran alone, with just my thoughts. And I found I am pretty good company. I could focus on my form, breathing, and the scenery with no distractions. Eventually I stopped feeling like a slowpoke and just ran, saying “Good Morning” to people passing from the other direction, walking their dogs, pushing babies in strollers, running, walking with Starbucks cups, or riding their bikes. People you see on trails are so friendly. It’s kind of like a cult or something. They’re out getting some exercise. You’re out getting some exercise. When I greet them, I don’t just mean “Good Morning.” Sometimes I mean “You are as insane as I am for being out here at the crack of dawn, so Hello There, Insane Person!” Sometimes I mean, “Oh my god, you old couple. You are too cute for words, shuffling along and holding hands on your walk. I want to be like you in 40 years.” Other times, “Good Morning” means “Damn, woman. Did running get you that body, because holy hell, I would kill for it.” Or “Hey! Cute boy! Are you single, because my friend Liza is really cute and single!” Today it meant “Look at me, running alone for the first time ever! But I’m doing it! I’m not cheating! I’m not quitting, or turning around after just a mile. I might be slow strong and steady, but I’m DOING IT!”

The speed racers were going 8 miles today, but I knew if I went all 8, they’d have to wait a long time for me to return to the start, so I made my turnaround at 3.5 miles. Eventually I heard them come up behind me, and as TNTers are wont to do, they clapped for me, and one said I was looking “very strong and steady.” And the pessimist in me thought “that means slow. But yeah, I am.” But I turned it around in my head and started feeling strong. And steady. And I continued on. I’ll never win a race, but I get out there, damnit, and I am a runner.

Much to my surprise, while running solo, with this new ratio, I improved my 5K race time from earlier this season, and had my fastest overall pace since the season started in early June. 8-minute mile will never be in my running vocabulary. Fortunately, neither will slow.

I received my timing chip for the Disneyland Half Marathon recently and I’m really getting excited to run 13.1 miles through the Happiest Place on Earth, and down the streets of Anaheim. Also, Disney just released the waivers all runners need to sign and bring with them to the Health Expo of Half Marathon Weekend in order to pick up their goodie bags and race bibs. I cannot wait for this race! Mostly because, hello! Disneyland! But also, because it will be my second half marathon, and will offer plenty of scenery and fun stuff to look at to keep me distracted from the fact that I am running my second half marathon. Hopefully there will not be rain, or wind, and I know we won’t be running down Highway 101 in San Francisco for this one, like we did on my last attempt at a half marathon. One thing I am slightly concerned about is the heat. Last year’s Disneyland Half Marathon was torture because of an extreme heatwave in Southern California. And by extreme I mean it reached 108 degrees in the afternoon, and got up to 90 degrees at the time most people finished the run at 9 am.

This race starts at 6 AM. Yes, SIX O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. Hotel shuttles to the start begin at 3 am. That’s NIGHT, not morning! I don’t even care that I have to get up in the middle of the night, because I am so looking forward to this race. I hear it starts with fireworks before we head off towards California Adventure, and on to Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland (and through Cinderella’s castle!), and throughout this, characters will appear in their running attire for photo ops. Once we’re out of the park we’ll head over to the Honda Center (home of the Anaheim Ducks), and then through Angels Stadium where I get to run across home plate, then run back through California Adventure and Downtown Disney, ending at the ESPN Zone where I will receive my medal. (And you all know how I feel about medals!)

So, if you find yourself at Disneyland during Labor Day weekend, look for me!

By the way, I’m attempting NaBloPoMo this month. It’s going to be an eventful one, so I should have plenty of blog fodder. The theme this month is HOT, hence my reference to the hellacious (hellatious?) weather at last year’s Disneyland Half Marathon. Subtle, no?