Monthly Archive for July, 2008
So, as The Sally noted, we were just sitting here, trying to remember our anniversary date. We couldn’t exactly remember…was it the 2nd or 4th? I suggested we just call it the first Saturday in August–seems a lot more “official” that way.
So about 10 seconds after we concluded that discussion the phone rings. It is
Evidently, The Lumpy caused a tremor in The Force. So
No…THAT was is a disturbance in the Force.
Or would that be mole?. As in sauce. Yum.
I have a thousand different posts in my head right now. One of them involves the comedy at REI. Another is a thoughtful review of the whitewater training. Another is about Kathy Griffin and how we might have actually been separated at birth. Yet another that I think Lumpy will post about is remembering our anniversary date and Lumpy’s dad.
I just realized that if I plan on running the Big Woods 1/2 this year, I should probably start training soon. I am much heavier and I feel a lot older. How is it that I can live decades in the space of a few months? Is that normal? What the hell is going on?!?!? Toots, Banana, and Coworker #1, is this happening to you?
I’ve been feeling like I’m the luckiest gal on the planet and that my life rocks, but my supervisor at REI would have me believe otherwise. Holy crap, could we please not stress out about the tiniest crap? Pants are not the end of the world. This crud does not matter in the grand scheme of life. Maybe she does not travel enough…though she’s about to leave on break for a nice while…all I have to do is make it through the next two days of wigging out about clothing.
This weekend we will be dragon boat racing. I will let coworker #1 know that I expect a post about it, since it’s her boyfriend’s gig in the first place. I’m a little concerned, a little giddy, a little laughing already, and a little thinking that the laughs will never end. I can only imagine what it all entails. We have a PRACTICE on Saturday. Whuh?
‘Nuff said.
The last two days I have been in Wisconsin on the Wolf River training for my whitewater paddling trip that I’m doing next month. I’m going with 5 other women, 2 that I know, 2 I just met Sunday evening. I have yet to meet one. I feel like I’m going on a history-making journey. I don’t have any photos to post. Sorry, I was busy running the canoe into the rocks and learning how to do a z-drag.
More to say later, as well as Amurkin in Moscow posts to follow. I just have so many stories about the Russian shenanigans.
I had hoped Banana & I guess bibi would make it down to San Antonio on time for this race to keep with our 4 mile race tradition. Neither were able to make here until later that day (I think they purposely planned it that way). My boys were out of town and due to Pito’s condition, Pito & Pita were unable to make it out to the run. So it was just me, myself, and moi.
It was the morning of the 4th of July and the start of the race was conveniently just a 4 short blocks from my house. This is the first year that this race is held at this location. The day before, as in previous years, people had staked out prime picnic & BBQ areas throughout the park and camped overnight to claim and secure those coveted spots where they would be celebrating the 4th of July festivities and admiring the fireworks display that were to take place later that evening. Boy were they in for a rude awakening that morning! They got an early wake up call as over 500 runners ran past their “campgrounds”. We ended up with a nice little bunch of spectators…many sleepy-eyed campers came out of their tents to cheer us on. It was all good.
Oh, yes, I had another quasi Big Cat encounter…ok, so it was the mom of a Big Cat friend (my virtual running group). She’s training for RNR San Antonio with a training group and I also met a few of her training partners. Oh, and I had a brief encounter during the race with one of the teammates from the Carrabba’s Half that I ran a couple of weeks ago. He was doing much better since the Carrabba’s incident where (I later found out) he passed out immediately after crossing the finish line due to heat exhaustion. He was much better prepared this time around….
I finished in 39:44, 12th in my age division….I don’t know the total number of runners per category, so I’m not sure how I did overall, but I was quite pleased with my finishing time.
Here’s the link to the inspiration (I’m completely ripping off KD):
http://katherinedunn.blogspot.com/2008/07/pisgah-…-gods.html
Here are of few of my own choices.
So, for the last evening, the kids in Russia do a “show.” They all come up with stuff and perform, like they have been all through camp, but this is The Great Finale. Technically, Kevin and I were supposed to do something, but his suggestions were, and I AM NOT LYING, that we get up on stage and sing “God Bless America,” “I’m Proud to Be an American,” recite the pledge of allegiance, or some such bullshit. I had forgotten about this and was reminded of it at work when someone started talking about karaoke and a microphone. I cannot believe I forgot it. Once again…MORTIFIED. I am not not proud to be an American, but I would never in a thousand years go to another country, sing a patriotic song as a thank you for letting me teach, and expect you to applaud my performance. He had no idea about the inappropriateness of his suggestions. I wondered if he had read the news in the last, oh say, year, and knew anything about the relations between the US and Russia. I cannot imagine traveling in other countries, just expecting that people were happy to meet me and excited to see an American. At least, not in 2008. Maybe in 1946. I honestly think that he has no concept of foreign perception of who we are, nor does he understand world relations, in general. He probably voted for Bush (sorry if any of you did, I’m not trying to offend, I’m trying to make a point about how we perceive “others”). I basically told him that I would never in a thousand years get up on a stage in Russia and sing our anthem or anything else even remotely Americana-esque. A few days later he made the point to state that at least HE was up for anything and would do anything for the last performance.
Conclusion: we did not perform.
The Amurkin in Russia waited after people spoke to him in English, looking brightly at me all the while, expecting me to translate what they said. IN ENGLISH. This is for a coworker at REI…”awwwkkkwaaarrrdddd…”
Nope, I’ve never translated English to English before. Not even in Scotland. In Scotland I just didn’t f*@cking understand. Let’s just say this was embarrassing for me and for him in many different ways. Every time he did it I was mortified. MORTIFIED.
But wait, folks, there’s still so much more to come.
Lumpy had the extreme pleasure of listening to me bitch about my co-teacher in Russia. I have decided that the best format in which I can address the issues is to post about it here. In true TAS form. We can also call them Kevin-isms. We’ll not cover up his true identity.
Defining moment #1: “Man, everyone here wears FAGGOT SHOES.” (Emphasis mine.)
Sally’s reaction: “Gosh, Lumpy has 2-3 pairs of them at home. I really like them.”
Moments preceding Sally’s reaction…sensation of being kicked in the gut. A small sense of panic. A sense of “huh?” The inner statement, ” wow, he actually said that out loud!” A thousand other inner and outer sensations and thoughts that cannot be articulated.
This is after approximately 2-3 days of knowing each other and the 5,000 phone calls he made to my home prior to leaving for Russia. After I had told him just about everything I know about Russia. After I had realized that we really did not have anything in common.
More to follow. Much more. Much, much more. I have some issues with this trip that I need to work out. I appreciate any and all comments. PLEASE comment. PLEASE.
About a week ago I sort of decided to run a half marathon…I don’t know why…perhaps I was feeling a little adventurous??? I don’t know, Sally, I think it’s the tattoo. Actually a friend invited me to run with him and a couple of his co-workers as part of their corporate team. I agreed…mainly because well, it was FREE (his company paid our entry fees). I’ve never actually “raced” a half. Of course, I’ve run the distance before (and beyond) during marathon training runs, but for some reason I’ve never actually entered to run any half marathon races - ok, so there was that Nerstrand Big Woods ”incident”…but you know what I mean. Anyway, I got 2 free technical shirts out of it, one from the race itself & one from the team (you know, sometimes, it’s all about “the shirt” 
). Oh, yeah, the legs were also getting “antsy” since San Diego RNR & the recovery time thereafter.
So…to recap:
1. free registration
2. 4 person team
3. 2 technical shirts
4. the only “girl” on the team
5. 2 potty stops mid run - not sure why…have never done this in a marathon…over hydrated perhaps???
6. 1 WRONG TURN (AAARGH!) Boy was I peeved!
7. running an extra .4 miles because of the wrong turn…so technically I ran a 13.5 “half”?
8. 4 different loops around McAllister Park trails
9. being the 2nd to finish from our team
10. crossing the finish line TWICE! (1st time due to wrong turn - don’t worry, did not let them “scan” my number at the finish…let them know I still needed 1 more loop and they gladly sent me on my way with a “WE’VE GOT A LOST ONE!!! 
)
11. final finishing time of 2:36…not so bad afterall…I don’t think so anyway including “lost” time.
12. the best post race meal EVER!!! ~sponsored by Carrabba’s Italian Grill - of course! 
13. 1 additional black toe nail (to match the other from San Diego RNR) Heh!
