mamma said there'll be days like this

i didn't go to work today. my reason to go left two weeks ago, and since then it's really just been the paycheck i look forward to. i'm already selling out. great.

i wish my room were bigger and had less stuff in it. it is much harder to keep small spaces tidy. especially when there is no system to begin with.

i am running a real, honest-to-god half marathon on monday. i'm pretty excited about it because it will give me a much better idea about my pace and also will remind me what races are actually like. my first race ever was a half marathon. i remember standing at the start line and being gawked at by a handful of older women who thought i was nuts when they found out i'd never run any shorter races before and that i trained by myself. and i don't mean in an impressed sort of way.
this time i'll be more prepared. so watch out...

one day is not enough time to get it all done. i am happy to have crossed off many items on my list, but the list is still long folks, and next week i head back to work. but it's my last week for the summer. after that i visit iris and then have tea with matty and then start back to school. i can't help but fast forward through the whole year and suddenly i'm done and on to the next thing. whatever that is...

today i feel overwhelmed and tired.
remembering about the increase in tuition and the decrease in loans didn't help with that.
okay bye.

m.i.a.

no, i am not dead. we didn't have the internets for a while. and i do not mean just at our house, but in the entire neighborhood. our house has had some technical glitches over the past few months, but this time it was not just us. i went to several of the local cafes to try and get online, but was informed that their wireless was also out. we sure do rely on technology for a lot in our society. i felt sort of lost without it, or at least very disconnected from all of you.

i ran farther yesterday than i ever have before in my life. before then the farthest i have ever gone was the half marathon i ran in 2001. last week i equaled that; yesterday i beat it by two miles. baby steps, folks. baby steps.

i am going to meet ellen now so we can have some more nice times. just so you know, i like it when people come to visit. (hint, hint...)

transitions

it will soon be fall in seattle. the days are becoming noticeably shorter and the temperatures are cooling. today is the first chilly and drizzly day we've really had all summer, and it is reminding me of what will come in only a few short weeks. it is also reminding me that school will be starting up again soon, a thought that makes me both excited and depressed at the same time, and also makes me want to go out and buy school supplies and a new outfit.

yesterday was elaine and ryan's wedding. i was amazed by how perfectly it fit their personalities. elaine arrived at the aisle on the back of a scooter and friends performed the entire ceremony. the reception was basically a big dance party in their backyard and everybody--i mean EVERYBODY--danced for hours. there was a little bit of everything, and even when the rain started people kept dancing. we got wet and muddy, makeup ran, hairstyles drooped, and still people danced. people danced long after the bride and groom had left, which was exactly what they would have wanted. nice work you two.

i have so many letters to write that i should get started. maybe you'll hear from me soon.

truth

i know it's totally disgusting, but i'm going to bed after having run without bathing. i'll do that when i wake up in the morning, for several reasons, including but not limited to exhaustion, laziness, and the fact that sleeping with wet hair is both very annoying to me and causes some serious styling issues in the morning.

my dad laughed (kind of uncomfortably) when i told him that sometimes i shower wearing the clothes i have just run in. honestly, i think it's kind of brilliant. i mean, i'm dirty, the clothes are dirty... i don't do laundry anywhere near enough to always have clean running clothes. so this kills two birds with one stone, as the proverb says. i like to think that this is a prime example of me learning to better multi-task. as is brushing my teeth and writing a blog entry.

it is a semi-reasonable hour and i have the chance to go to bed now, so i'm going to take it. more soon. no really, more soon.

riddle

if two black cats cross your path in opposite directions, is the bad luck negated?

last night was my fundraising party for the marathon i'm running in october. initially i had high hopes of raising all kinds of money through this event, and i think it had real potential to do so. and although it was not the financial success of my dreams, it was still great fun. the theme was "flashback to elementary school field day and kegger." all of you probably got the e-vite... i think the highlight for me was the homemade corndogs prepared by charles. although the karaoke at the end of the evening was also quite amazing. who knew bob could sing like that?

every time i have ever raised money for anything, i find myself delighted and surprised by where it comes from. people you never expect to give in the first place wind up being the most generous, and people who have nothing still give what they can, or put in hours of labor in place of cash, or both. it is hard for me to ask people for things and hard for me to accept things that people give. so when i go to my fundraising page or look at the checks people have sent and see who has given what, i am humbled and thankful. what a strange and excellent side effect of this whole process.

my dad has generously offered to donate several batches of homebrew to my fundraising. we're selling six-packs for $15, so if you're in the area and want some delicious beer, our first batch will be ready next week. which will be perfect because i have the keg for the rest of the week...

epidemic

P.A.S.
it is everywhere.
jenny, you are wise beyond your years. i'm just sad this affliction exists at all.

a few words on running

i have run just about every day for the past year now--a fact that i do not even slightly take for granted. i love running. i would say that it is a kind of worship for me; it is a time when i am able to recognize and enjoy the complexity and intricacy of my body, to be amazed by and enjoy what the human body can do, and to be outside in whatever elements happen to be present. i feel connected to something bigger when i run. i feel healthy and alive. i feel like a commercial right now...

honestly, i don't know what i'd do if i couldn't run. remember that time when the doctor in athens told me i had the knees of a 70 year-old woman and i should never run again? thank you Jesus that he was wrong.

i know that to many of you this doesn't make any sense at all. sometimes it doesn't to me either. it's not that i'm any good at running, or that it doesn't sometimes hurt, or that every run is some amazing out of body experience or something. but i still really like it.

perhaps it is because you don't.

anyway, i'm getting close to the halfway point in my marathon training. that is hard for me to believe yet i know i'll be at the start line before i know it. theoretically i'm supposed to have a huge chunk of money by next week, but i don't. i guess i'm getting closer, as donations from people i really never would have expected to support me are trickling in. that's the funny thing about support: you really never know where it will come from.

i think perhaps i will create a post called "liz's running story of the week." here's my first one:

does anyone remember the time that jenny ran over a squirrel on her bike? well, last week while i was heading out past the red cross, i heard a faint chirping sound coming from beneath the steps. i was heading directly towards the building across a gravel parking lot, and once i reached the driveway of the red cross i would turn left towards the park and my long run for the week. it was insanely early and i was exhausted from the festivities of the preceding days, and so i wasn't what i would call "fully conscious" at the time. as i hit the driveway, the chirping quickened and a small black speck came dashing across the parking lot right at my feet. it all happened so fast i wasn't even alarmed until my foot was coming down directly onto the tiny critter scurrying at me and i realized it was a mole and i was about to crush it. now, i know i'm really big compared to a tiny mole. and also, they're blind. but i confess that i was scared at this moment. it seemed very notable and bizarre that a tiny blind creature in such expansive surroundings would just happen to wind up beneath my quickly moving sauconys. was this some sort of mole suicide? a cry for help? was it a kamikaze mission, or a dare inspired by the rest of the mole community? (there was definitely a lot more chirping going on under those steps...)
regardless (and thankfully), i was able to somehow perform a kind of pirouetting grand leap at the last second that kept the death blow from taking that little life that day.
very graceful.
who knew running could be so perilous to wildlife?
i hope that little guy finally got the help he needed after our encounter.