Kelly thinks running is STUPID!

Though I have not planned for my classes tomorrow, I have decided to blog instead because I have some things to say. The first and most important one being that RUNNING IS STUPID!! I had the best of intentions today. I did some research during the week and found Greenfield Lake Park with a lake that looked nice and scenic for a long run. The trail around the lake is 4 miles so two laps would be lovely. The kids could go ride bikes while I ran. It was a beautiful day. Then real life kicked in. First my electonics curse continued. I can't find my iPod. So I thought I could put my running tunes on my phone, but alas I can't figure out how to make my laptop recognize that my phone exists. Which is how I lost my contacts off my phone - another story. So I had to steal my child's iPod. Not the same. Then my children had no interest in spending time at the park with me so I went by myself, which turned out to be a good thing. I'd had a rather emotional afternoon for various reasons and need to run some of it off. So I drove to the park, sat in my car and tried to find some motivation. I did this thing I saw on Oprah one day that I do when I need some extra support. Birdwalk....There was a psychic on Oprah that said you can communicate with people through music, that when you need a message you should ask for it through the next song on the radio. The day after I saw that show, my mom passed away. I came home from the hospital, flopped on my bed, and knocked the clock radio over. Freebird started to play..."I'm as a free as a bird now..." It became a thing for me then. end of birdwalk...... So anyway, I said give me a song and Keith Urban came on. Now I love Keith Urban, but this particular song had a direct connection to my bumpy afternoon. (There is at least one person on a ship 7 time zones away who gets the reference.) So I sat in my car and cried for a few minutes and then made myself run.

The first two miles, my mind was definitely winning over body. I just kept thinking running is stupid and it was stupid for me to think that I'd get my body ready for this half marathon in time. As I explained to Raf on the phone later, running is complete disrespect to those who invented the wheel you know. I wanted to go back to the couch. The next two miles were better. My body was tired enough that I was starting to lose focus on the things in my mind. At mile 4, I had a run in with a stupid little chihuahua. He ran up to me all happy and nice. Then when I went to pet him, he growled at me like a doberman. Stupid dog. On mile 5 I passed some nice looking guys, and thought about turning around to run the other way and follow them, but that would be a bit obvious so I decided not to. Then my stupid knee decided that it didn't want to be a joint anymore, it wanted to be more like a rock. Then many things became stupid. I'll run to that stupid tree, walk to the stupid fence, run to the stupid armory with the stupid camo trucks,..... You get the point. I stopped to take this picture at the Fragrance Garden because I wondered if sweaty runner is what they had in mind. Yeah, I'm not looking very happy there. The guys that passed me on mile whatever became stupid too because they were moving much faster than me and didn't look sweaty. The stupid people on the bikes were smiling which annoyed me. My knee worked off and on so I ran when it would move and walked when it wouldn't. Guess that's what happens when you don't take your glucosamine!!! Stupid too. At mile 6, I stuck the stupid iPod in the waistband of my pants and it soon fell out through the leg of my shorts which led to a graceful attempt to remove it while running. Yeah, stupid. At mile 7, Journey started on the iPod which was NOT stupid and I could run again. That's when it was proven that your body can do more when the music is right. So 8 miles finally happened and I was done. Good thing because the sun was setting and I wasn't sure I knew where my car was.

Now for the less bitter segment. :) While I failed to appreciate the humor when Raf texted me at mile 7.5 to see if he should call 911, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he had also been texting my kids to make sure they had icepacks ready for me. Kyle had even made his lunch already! Since my stupid icemaker is broken, sorry, I am sitting with a bag of frozen peas on my knee. Guess what's for dinner tomorrow???? thanks raf

I promise to have a better attitude and better music for the next run. Promise. I'm also signing up for a local 5K - Chase the Ta-Tas. Kinda funny. All the women start first and then the men start a few minutes later, hence the chase part. Might be the one time running slow pays off!! I will run to support breast cancer and to honor the strength of those who have beat it with much more character than I had running today. This one is for Deidre's mom, who has been wonderful to me for years and deserves a break already!!!!

Until next time.....