eat the cookie, don't eat the cookie

Gilbert Tuhabonye came to our offices last week and went through some running drills. The one that brought the biggest smile to his face and therefore mine was eat the cookie, don't eat the cookie. "Those girls love their cookies" he said. "So I tell them bring your hand up to your mouth and say ' eat the cookie' and then take that cookie and throw it to the ground and say 'don't eat the cookie.' Then when you are done running you can eat the cookie. He also said you can pump your arms like you are chopping at your thighs "chop, chop, chop." Gilbert's enthusiasm was fabulous. He emphasized the importance of running for fun plain and simple. I've thought about it a lot. I haven't always been so gunghoo to go running and looking back, I am absolutely better for nurturing my love of running and letting it blossom.
Running is fun plain and simple and on some of my gloomiest days has brought the sunshine back into my mood. I look forward to my runs although sometimes I still get anxious before the long runs, I am still excited for the challenge and the sense of accomplishment afterward. Every run is fun, but some are extra special and leave my heart singing louder than normal. This is the type of feeling I love. Tuesday's run was full of fun run surprises. I had fun running by the soccer players and imagining I was swiping the ball and shooting a goal. I had fun watching the frisbee golfers playing and making and missing shots. I had fun running along the trail and then coming across an oriental rug laid out right in the middle of it and then using my imagination to come up with how it got there. I had fun rhyming with words that end in "one" with my friend Robby as we ran. I had fun hopping on a swing in a neighborhood triangle and then hopping back off and running again. I had fun sprinting hard (same feeling as biking hard down Great Northern, whee!) down a street with large oak trees reaching across to each other like two people playing London bridge. All this fun in one run, one day after work. Boy am I one lucky girl to have this in my life.

Warning!

Running may result in additional house projects. I really love to run through the neighborhoods and look at other houses for ideas. Especially on weekends I feel like I'm always running by great garage sales with no money and no car. Yesterday - I took to my old college hobby of dumpster-diving or recycling as I like to call it. I've gotten many a good find this way especially in NYC, but here there can be good loot, I've even gotten a Christmas tree a good two weeks before Christmas from outside a frat house. Yesterday, it was a desk that was calling me. I ran past it on my way out from my house starting out on my run. "That was a really good looking desk" I thought as I went by it. "There must be something wrong with it, wobbly legs, stains, ghosts. Well," I figured. "I'll just see if it is there on the way back and check it out a little closer then." I can't say I didn't pick up the pace on my way back to up the odds of it still being there and it was. I moved it around, no wobbles, I opened the drawers, no severed fingers inside, hmmm. It did look a bit short, but I'll run home and have my roommate come check it out and if it is still here... I started running home even faster now. I saw Jen working in her front yard waved a hello, but didn't even break stride as I was on a mission. I burst through the front door, "You have to go check out this desk I saw." The more I described it, the more I realized that it was a actually a project desk. "There is a loose handle, but just one, and yes water stains on top, but maybe we can paint it ." Fifteen minutes later and I now have an old wooden desk in the garage waiting for some TLC. Anyone good with a paint brush?!

howlin' wolf

As I ran up scenic drive we came to a part that had a footbridge going over us and on the bridge were two dogs peering down at us. I started howlin' as a high five up to them for cheering us on. The oso-faced dog tilted his head at me quizzically like the RCA dog. I looked back over at the view of the lake and the overcast weather and was loving the run. This is what it is about I told Gretch, this is what motivates me to run. The run on Saturday was ideal, but not what I would have thought when I heard what the route was going to be. We ran Stratford to Scenic, back down Exposition then up to Congress and back to the zero mile marker for a 12.5 mile run. I held it steady through the hills and then when Gretch kicked it in running down Exposition hung onto her coattails for dear life and I felt good and fun. Just what it is all about.

Yesterday I went to hear some music and everyone started howlin' instead of clapping. It must be something in the air.

Twenty-One

The number of miles I ran on Sunday. It wouldn't have been possible without Matt running along with me. We had a 6:30 start time on Sunday and I knew it was go then or not at all. I chose to go. We start out slow or at least Matt kept reigning me back in to make sure I went slow and had enough juice for the end of the run. It sounds silly, but it is not always the easiest thing to do. I really enjoy early morning runs on the weekend once I'm over the "what am I doing waking up early on the weekend factor." It is fun to run the quiet streets while the majority of people are asleep. We saw the cleaning crew picking up trash from the previous nights football game, and experienced the sunrise. We meandered our way over to town lake at mopac Matt making sure I was drinking every 15 minutes which on a long run you sometimes have to remind yourself to do. We ran the 4.5 mile loop and then made our way home backtracking where we came from previously. It was a hilly route and I could start to feel the length of it toward the end. I think part of what was getting to me was I only had one gel the whole morning and I was starting to get grouchy. I slogged my way to the end of the run and believe me was ready to stop on this one. Was I glad I did it? absolutely I learned a lot of valuable things on this run: fuel, water and start off slow.