the incredible hulk emerges

Today's entry is a whinefest of randomness. Feel free to join the whinefest....bring some cheese please. Here's how the day went:

1. Woke up and went for a 3 mile run in the neighborhood. It was quite warm out, so I put on some running shorts for the second time this spring. I feel like the Incredible Hulk, only I'm white, not green. My legs are now exposed after a long winter of running with cozy running pants. I almost blinded myself with my whiteness and ran in front of a passing car. Luckily my Boston cross trainer had prepared me for the moment and I was able to duck and dodge. Back to my hulkiness....I have HUGE legs. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, I'm just making an observation about my very masculine calf muscles. I know everything seems magnified on our own bodies, and at least I'm healthy and fit...yadayadayada. Sometimes I long for that typical "runner's body," but I may have resign myself to donning some shredded purple shorts and spray painting my body green.

2. Shower and get ready for work. Drop my face powder brush in the toilet (If you are reading this Marcy, I thought of you!).....juuuust perfect.

3. Pack up all my stuff. Make breakfast and bring in the dogs. Now I'm running late. Pour coffee. Realize that I forgot to pour out the coffee from last night, and brewed new coffee into the pot....yuck. I'm desperate for caffeine...drink the sludge anyway.

4. Get to work. One of our old students came in for a visit. She has moved back to town and wants to come back to our school. She tells me that she almost got shot over the weekend....and proceeds to tell me the details.....grrreat.

5. Students come back from P.E. One of them has jammed his finger playing basketball and it's swelling up like a balloon.....and yup, you guessed it....it's his middle finger. He is now cradling said finger and showing others his "wound."

6. Lunchtime....chat with co-worker about who is "with child" and who is "without child" since the break......ugh.

7. Switch classes.....get called an "angel" and then get sexually harassed for about an hour.

8. Work day ends....drive home in a raging thunderstorm. Can't get garage door opener to work. Get out of car in the rain. Bring in garbage cans and mail in the rain. Let the dogs out in the rain.

Waaaa...okay now I'm done. I feel better now. Now I have a hankering for some cheese.

tether dog and cross training...boston style

My Wednesday run this week was by far one of the strangest. It makes the top 5 list for sure. Like many of my running stories, this one involves dogs.

One of the dogs, who I call Tether Dog, lives on one of my regular routes. I will often see Tether Dog and his elderly owner chillin' on their front porch. Usually, Tether Dog is peacefully perched on his owner's lap, just watching me run by. Tether Dog's dad is friendly...he waves every time he sees me. On this particular day, Tether dog was out on his own, chained up to a metal stake in his front yard. Tether Dog was NOT peaceful...he was out for a midmornin' rumble. Tether Dog is a little rat terrier thing...with a very yippy bark. He saw me coming and started running in very fast, wide, arcing, yippy circles. The chain system wasn't really working for him because it made him yank around violently juuuust out of reach of my path...giving him the very effect of being a canine tether ball...hence the name. Ahhh....good times, good times....

Now, if Tether Dog wasn't enough, I had another doggie run in when I looped around my neighborhood around mile 7. I see this Boston Terrier running across the street towards me...and it's apparent owner running about a half a block behind. Not wanting the dog to become road kill, I joined in the chase. Now, I am not one for cross-training (even though every doctor I've ever had look at my leg, foot, and ankle injuries has advised it), but this little guy gave me a workout. I was jumping over hedges, dodging cars, spinning around trees, side stepping mud puddles, and squatting under bushes, trying to rescue the little bugger. When I finally cornered him in a yard on my block, the lady caught up with us. I yelled to her that we were in a back yard. She breathlessly approached us, calling the dog's name. She stopped abruptly and said, "Well, that's not my dog!" Oh' for Pete's sake....the dog wouldn't come to her either, and ran off down the street. I told her that it didn't have tags. We both agreed that he would likely find his way back home somewhere in the neighborhood. I told her I had one more mile to go, so if I saw him again, I would try to catch him and see if I could find his owner.

I never saw my cross trainer again. Maybe he can meet me for my Saturday run...say around 9:00?!

bernie from the block celebrity mug shot

I had an encounter with Bernie from the Block yesterday on my run....here's his celebrity mug shot. Be gentle...he's a little embarrassed about his sissy new hairdo.