The Continuing Adventures of Toots and Sally: Two Women. One Marathon. A Dream.
The urge for a new tattoo is strong. I’m not sure when it’ll happen, but definitely by the end of the summer.
Are you still interested in doing a trail race with us? If so, how about shooting for the Big Woods 1/2. It’s in October, so you’d have plenty of time to train, and attempt to find some comparable terrain…
Ran with punsk8erdude on Thursday. Soccer practice got cancelled due to rain, he’s got a tournament and tryouts coming up so we thought we’d do some sort of physical activity anyway. Well, it wasn’t raining in my hood so we went to the park for a little run…a short one, just twice around the park path which is just a little over 2.5 miles. I enjoy running with punks8erdude. I think he likes it more than he’s willing to admit right now. He’s very conscious of his form and his breathing…I think it’s cute.
This cat was sooooo friendly. Even to Americans.
It looks like I will be teaching English in Russia (near Moscow) for two weeks in June. I hadn’t completed the application, so it was not really on my radar, but there was a cancellation and one of my friends and classmates called me to see if I’d go. Hell, yeah, I’ll go. Bring on the furry wabbit hats and the vodka. Okay, okay, enough of the stereotyping. We are still planning on running the Afton 25k trail run in July, so I’m wondering how the two weeks of trying to run there will turn out. The great beauty of trail races is that there is a lot less pressure to do well. Everyone knows it’s hard as hell, so you just tear it up and have fun. I’m currently out of commission due to my calf/leg pain kind of crippled me. I’m going to start over (again) on Tuesday or Wednesday. Today I missed my boy, so G and I got Tucker and walked. It almost killed him that the running lady was the walking lady today.
This is hilarious and a very close depiction of us as we maneuvered our way around Paris. Enjoy! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch…the morning after video
(I edited the above to make it cleaner…it still works if you click on it.-Lumpy)
Completed a short run today…only about 2 miles. Felt good but I didn’t have time for much else.It’s time to step it up a notch (or 2)…got my relay coming up.
This happens to me every time I go overseas…I return to the states and don’t want to do much but hang around the house. I haven’t run at all except for last Saturday when punxsk8erdude and I (along with a few of his soccer buddies) signed up to run the Fiesta Fandango Fun Run which precedes the Fiesta Flambeau Parade during Fiesta Week …do you see a Fiesta trend here? It was a good short run, only 2.6 miles…and the only run that I know of in San Antonio where there is a cheering crowd (thanks to the thousands sitting around, waiting for the parade to begin).  It’s a fun run where the best costumes, not best times (except for 1st overall male & female), are recognized. As usual, punxsk8erdude beat me to the finish line. It’s just for fun and good times…and I’m glad punxsk8erdude enjoys it. 
So after I returned from Paris, I made a mad dash to homework-ville, which is why I have been MIA for a while. Now I have a little time to reflect on our trip.
First off, a round of applause to our runners! Despite some inappropriate grabs and lack of H2O, they made it out alive and EVEN managed to put on some smiles before dinner that evening.
Second, who knew you could get sore muscles from chasing marathoners! My legs were hurting!-although my pain was not nearly as abad as Toots, Sally and Lumpy’s! After Old Uncle Brad and I heard Lumpy’s plea for water, we ran to the apartment, then to the metro stop, then through several blocks (uphill) and finally made it to a spot to pass out water. Fortunately, they had been able to get some before they saw us. In any case, cheering is hard work! Well worth the time though!
Anyway, morale was a little low after the marathon and hopefully spirits were lifted (I don’t mean the beverage kind, although I’m sure those were lifted too) on the second leg of the trip sans Banana. 
The important thing is that everyone finished and grew from the experience. So here are a few words of reflection:
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters to what lies within us. –Oliver Wendell Holmes
The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. –Moliere
A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it; bearing with him the image of a cathedral. –Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts. –Winston Churchill
Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. –Robert H. Schuller
There is more to life than increasing its speed. –Ghandi
Our real blessings ofen appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience, and we soon shall see them in their proper figures. –Joseph Addison
The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them. –Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Keep on running!!!
Yes, I’m still processing this experience. But here’s my recap. You’ll have to click below to read it, as I’m expecting it to be a touch lengthy. Oh yes, click. You know you want to…
I did my first post-marathon run yesterday. 2-3 miles of trail running with my borrowed boy, my own four-legger, and some rolling terrain. I have managed to pull, strain, hurt, maim my right calf. It’s actually sore to the touch. Golden Touch Massage will be hearing from me shortly. The run was the typical craziness for the first mile or so, which is greatly enhanced when on trail. This particular trail is “rooted” (shout out, Lumpy!), and while not very technical, it behooves one to pay a fair amount of attention to detail whilst running upon it. Tucker still wants me dead. I think he chuckled on a steep descent. If he could rub his paws together and twirl a mustache, I’m sure he would.
Lumpy and I will be doing a 4-6 hour adventure race in June with some other folks we know and that I work with, and we are doing the Afton 25k trail run in July. I am so bummed that I am already hurt! The weather has been gorgeous and I long to be outside and on trail.
She Runs is my other major project right now. Since we will not be able to get Girls on the Run up and running any time soon, we (the other founders and I) are starting a non-profit called She Runs. Eventually, Girls on the Run will be one of the programs that we offer. It’s very exciting!!!!!! I still have a grant to write and have asked for an extension in my Feminist Theories class, but things are looking up for me. I do not feel quite as overwhelmed.
