All You Need Is Love

This was the craziest month of my life. Seriously, I've given this some thought and came to the conclusion that this month kept me crazy busy, more than any other month in my life. With all the wackiness, I had to shuffle the schedule around a lot and I also missed an ARD. No worries. Here's the nutshell:

1. Second sock from the Lorna's Laces Vera colorway. This deserves its own post, so I'll try to post it with a picture tomorrow.

2. My step-daughter came out for one of her visits. She lives in the sticks of California and we only see her every few months. Therefore, we tend to live a little like rock stars when she's here. This includes late-night movie marathons (or in this case, back-to-back "Gilmore Girls"), midnight runs to Wal-Mart (when Senor is home), and trips to who-knows where. This brings me to...

3. We took a quick trip to Houston to see these guys (photo courtesy of www.foofighters.com):

In case you didn't know, Foo Fighters is my favorite band. We had remarkable seats. I'm one of those fans who likes to jump around and scream the lyrics (assuming no one else can hear this) and shout the occasional "Woooooo!" My voice was shot after this show. Shot. But what the heck, it was my early birthday present to myself. Oh, speaking of which...

4. I turned 36. It was nice and quiet, just the way I like it, and much, much easier than turning 30 was. I didn't take 30 well at all.

5. Senor and I headed up to Austin last night to run the 3M Half Marathon today. I didn't get any sleep at all because my brain decided to jump on its little treadmill and run 1600's all night, but the run went well regardless. We ran it as a relay, so I took the first 6.4 mile leg and he ran the last 6.7 miles. I've been a slacker for the last (few) month(s), so I was a little paniced about finishing this run. To make it easier, I ran each mile for a different person and imagined that person running that mile with me. Here's a quick rundown:

Mile 1-2: Mijo. I meant to run only the first mile with him, but races don't post markers for the end of that mile, so he ended up sticking with me for the first 2. I could here him laughing as he recited lines from "The Simpsons."

Mile 3: Mija. She actually did a couple of laps with me around the local track a couple of weeks ago and I have to say she's fast for a 3 1/2 year old. Anyway, she made the mile fly by with a barrage of knock-knock jokes with a few "Good job, Mom" bits thrown in.

Mile 4: Step-daughter. She likes to run, but doesn't really do it anymore for whatever reason. We exchanged Gilmore banter and she told me to keep going because I'm not as old as I think I am. During this mile, my shoes pooped out and left my dogs a-barkin'. Good excuse to buy shoes. Too bad I'd rather buy drums. But I digress.

Mile 5: Susan and Enid. Enid and I made small talk and we took turns choosing landmarks to sprint to. Susan actually stayed with me through the sixth mile. She was the hardass who kept telling me to keep trying, especially when I saw that Mile 6 marker and didn't know if it marked the end of the mile or the beginning of it. She told me to dig, but not kill myself, and on the uphills, she only let me walk until I caught my breath. Then it was back to race pace.

.4: Senor. He got me through the hardest part of the entire run. He had nothing but encouraging words and a longer stride, so I had to keep up. Never mind the fact that I couldn't find him when I reached the exchange point (he was in line for the bathroom, thanks to his morning coffee).

There was Mary at the end of my half, arms in the air, shouting, "Coffee and biscotti! Woo hoo!"

So here is what I've learned from this run. Fatass or not, I can run/walk 6.4 miles at the drop of a hat. All I need are my family and friends and a good imagination.