Wisdom From Stephen King

"At the time we're stuck in it, like hostages locked in a Turkish bath, high school seems the most serious business in the world to just about all of us. Its not until the second or third class reunion that we start realizing how absurd the whole thing was." - Stephen King, On Writing

The high school absurdity I most poignantly remember is my fear of walking through Senior Hall. Even though I had to pass that way every morning of my freshman year on my way to band class, I most days walked clear around the outside of the school to avoid said hall. On the days when I was too late for the detour, I rushed through the hall as quickly as possible.

Senior Hall was lined with, as you might imagine, senior boys. They sat shoulder to shoulder, legs out in front of them, creating a menacing gauntlet through which we all passed. And my fear - no, what I knew to be true - was that they were checking out my ass. My friends laughed at this assertion, but I knew the dark truth. I had seen them with their mocking eyes, cupping their hands to whisper to one another their assessment as each female form navigated the gauntlet.

Now, 25 years later, I am still confident in that truth. Growing older has simply given me the confidence not to care what others think of how I look.  And, its given me enough security to understand that NOT everyone is staring at my ass!  What age has given me is the wisdom and confidence not to give a shit.

Against the odds, a good one

Today, I really didn't want to go. I had a somewhat grumpy day at work, as most of them are these days. I stopped at McDonalds to get dinner, which I am loathe to do but I gave in and got myself a cheeseburger and a McFlurry and decided I just won't go tonight. Its a helluva lot easier to give in to this demand for fast food than go home and cook a meal and convince people to eat it.

I got home and was immediately accosted by a starving orange cat, an overly excited dog, and even a bunny who put his little paws up begging for my immediate attention. The girl immediately griped that the house stinks and demanded to be taken to the gym. The boy demanded his McDonalds and disappeared into his room.

I searched for my divorce decree, as I need the original in order to change my name back, and was frustrated to find that I don't think I have an original, or if I do I can't tell it apart from any of the copies I have. Goddammit.

I finally changed my clothes and ate my cold cheeseburger. But, I changed into running clothes, which is always key, because that way I have the INTENT if not at least the OPTION of running. Changing into the flojo is outright admitting I'm not going.

I took the girl to the gym and decided to just run from there, that way I don't have to go home, go
run, then drive back and pick her up. All that time is wasted anyway. So, I took off, no phone, no watch, just my ipod. I did glance at the clock and knew I left at about 7:40 (yes thats PM folks, its not only dark but cold, so I'm facing two primary obstacles head on here). I decided to run up this hill that is normally the end part of my 6 mile route. I was still good and grumpy and
just figured I'm going to effing walk if I want to. I grumpily started jogging up that damn hill, the one I always swear I'd never be able to run up when I'm on my way down. But I jogged up it, all 1.5 miles of it, and I felt ok. I decided I'd keep going, and I went to where I figured was 2.5 or 3 miles, then turned around, still feeling pretty decent. Remember, its dark AND cold, two variables that work to my advantage in long runs (stay with me here). I got back down and looked at my watch and it was 8:41. Because I don't have my sister's fancy technology to be slave to, I then drove my route and found it was 5 miles round trip, so that's darn good given the hills.

Both K and I commented that having run in the Denver altitude over Thanksgiving was incredibly beneficial for running back home. If I keep that pace in Vegas, I will finish in 2:36ish, which would be great.

I have still not found satisfactory cool matching hats for us all to wear, so that's a quandry that needs to be solved this week. Sunday is race day!!