I can’t believe two years have gone by since my friends from Kentucky visited and hung out by the pool.  It was a fantastic day and a wonderful relief not to think about gas drilling for a few hours! I miss them.

The boys are as cute as ever – and it’s good to know that Rachel and I are still cute too! I’m already waiting for the next visit.

Internet people, protesting is some mighty hard work. My toe is jammed or sprained or something and I’m covered with chigger bites, from the waste down and in places where naughty chiggers should never be allowed to bite. (I’m sure Williams Gas is going to get a good laugh out that one.)

But, I’ve found a good remedy. White wine. Who knew? I thought red wine was the cure all. I’m throwing this in for all of you readers who don’t live in my small town – don’t think I’ve forgotten you, I still love you guys.

I also swam today, 1600 yards – nothing record breaking, but it was good. I looked like a chigger-bitten-polka-dotted-blubbery-whale, but hey – it was calorie burning. A step in the right direction. You know what he best thing about swimming is?  I’m so focused on not drowning that I’m not thinking about the damn gas companies polluting the hell out of us. Who knew swimming had such perks? Although, in case you were wondering, chlorine does nothing for chigger itch.

In other news, I’ve decided that I will not allow the gas companies to take away my need to purchase fine footwear! Take that Williams and take a look at these babies.

Hey, purple toes, new shoes, wine . . . I guess I’m starting to feel a little more like Runner Susan again. I’m so glad, because I like me and I’ve missed me. Go me!

Now, if Runner Susan can just figure out how to fit in running with her activism . . . because I miss my runner friends.

Folks we can use you now, not sure we will be here after 5!

And now the trees are coming down!

I’m going to ramble. I feel it only fair to give you Internet People a heads up because it’s 2 a.m. and it’s quite possible sleep deprivation has made me slightly delusional. Because I want nothing more than to go back to sleep and totally forget about what’s going on in my yard and my community. But when I do go back to sleep I dream that I’m backed into a corner and I am being held hostage by the never-ending circus of circumstance. When I wake, it’s also my reality. Or living nightmare. You choose.

What is not chosen is the reality of emotions that revolve from anger, frustration, hysteria, fear, worry and anxiety. These emotions make it hard to balance a life or a family. I personally feel the balance of life in our entire community has been shattered by gas drilling. And there is no balance to greed.

Greed closes it’s eyes to basic human needs in it’s excessive lust to possess wealth. Wealth, at any and all costs. Drilling does not belong in a residential community or by schools or churches. It just doesn’t, plain and simple. Drilling is a dirty and dangerous business and the money made from drilling in a residential area is just as dirty and dangerous. In my very small community, I’ve personally witnessed the ugly entrails of greed in the forms of betrayal, manipulation, intimidation, regret, bribery, status and power.

I wish we had known more about gas drilling before we bought our property in the country. And I wish we had known more about the seedy politics, health and environmental risks and overall corruption that drilling brings with it.

I’m very lucky, the Chef and I are strong in this fight together and if there is one emotion we will share until the very end, its empowerment. We refuse to believe it’s too late for Argyle and Bartonville and the Chef and I will fight for the right until the very end – if Flower Mound can do it, we can too.

Calvin Tillman, Mayor of DISH, TX, said it best: “We are united as a community and are making the most of a bad situation. In the end, I may be forced to move my family out of this area, but I am making every decision as though we will live here forever.”

Okay now. I’m done rambling. I’m going to head out for a midnight run so I can regain a bit of balance back in my life so I can fight the greedy bastards. Or outrun them. (I’ve seen some of these bastards, and I’m so way faster than they are.)

My brother-in-law just sent me an email that said:

I just noticed your life time total running is 3,352.64. As it turns out, that’s roughly equivalent to the distance from Miami, Florida to Seattle Washington: 3,343. Just thought you’d want to know.

That’s pretty cool. You know what is not cool? That I’ve let this gas stuff has taken over my life and I haven’t been training properly.  I have a feeling the distance it’s going to take to make an environmental difference is a lot longer than 3,343 miles – but I reckon I’ve got the stamina to hang in there and take care of business.

Hello my lovely Internet People, I’ve missed you and do I have a story to tell you. It’s a long one but if you hang with me, I’ll make it worth your while.

These photos were taken in my yard. Lovely, are they not?

Did you know I live downhill of several gas wells? Probably not, although if you live in Texas on the Barnett Shale you did, because you do too. There’s just no escaping it. Recently I had some unexplained flooding on my property, an odd flooding with black sludgy stuff and weird, aggressive-looking algae, and there’s an oily sheen on the water and strangely, the water is coming up from deep within the ground. As seen in this video:

Hole filling with oily sheen from Runner Susan on Vimeo.

And since I live by several gas wells, I honestly believed a gas well or the drilling or fracking somewhere, somehow was causing my property to flood. Come on now, Internet People, I mean if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, and you can see the duck from your backyard, it’s got to be a duck. Right?

The problem was I just didn’t know where or from which of the many, many, many, many, many, many ducks gas wells in my community the flooding was coming from. So I called the Texas Railroad Commission for help, because among their official duties (THEY HAVEN’T DONE RAILROAD REGS IN DECADES), they are also responsible for inspecting all gas and oil wells. I mean if a good portion of the Railroad Officials’ campaign money comes from gas companies, then they must be the right guys for the job! Right? Right!

So, I put in my call to the Texas Railroad Commission and I was transferred to a manager who doubted my story. Not only did he doubt my story, I was also given a lecture on the “laws of the universe and the paths of least resistance.” Uhhh, okay. I told him about bubbling holes and the oily sheen. The commission manager then asked me about my pool. Yes, the universe and my pool. My pool was leaking uphill and flooding my property with an oily fluid? Okay, maybe that happens in the Railroad Commission’s universe, but not mine.

LAME.

I mean, seriously! My vagina could give a better phone assessment.

No.

I’m only kidding.

His vagina can do better, of course.

(Raise your hand if you think this manager’s life would be greatly enhanced with the purchase of an iBod.)

I called the Texas Railroad Commission with my complaint on Friday, and by Monday three commission geologists were at my house to inspect. My yard was still flooded and was still covered with an oily sheen, the geologist looked, they watched as we dug holes, the geologists took soil and water samples, they extensively examined my neighbors irrigation system, and they hopped the fence to take water from a small stock pond before leaving.

Later that day, Runner Susan was entertaining her friends, who happen to be brilliant environmentalists, and they smelled something that was similar to a gassy smell. Runner Susan and friends followed their noses and found what Runner Susan’s eyes consider to be every mother’s worst nightmare. Rusty, crusty, leaky pipes, and electrical wires laying in mystery liquids, two giant tanks that looked like a strong wind could blow them over, and a giant pipe outlet, that I assume hooks up to a truck, was dripping mystery liquid. Outside. The. Metal. Containment. Fence. Seriously, this well site looked a million years old, who knows how many years it had been dripping mystery liquid? It’s a gas well site, so I’m assuming mystery liquid is gas-related, but hey, if my pool can leak uphill, why at this point why would anything be logical?

I was so desperate to figure out what was going on I even looked inside one of the tanks to see if I could figure out what was in them. From what I could see what I saw inside the container looked just like what was in my yard and (as you can see in the video below) smelled like that gassy stuff we were smelling.

(I admit, this was not Runner Susan’s brightest moment)

Green Well from Runner Susan on Vimeo.

I panicked. My brain started churning and putting 2 and 2 together. If whatever liquid that was could rust through pipes and corrode tanks then it sure as hell could do some damage to electrical wires. Last time I checked it was not a good idea to throw the radio into the bathtub. And guess what Internet People? It gets better! Between my house and the poorly operated Shanty Town* is a gas pipeline.

That gas pipeline runs throughout a thriving community.

Do the math, Internet People: mystery liquid + electricity + flammable gas in a nearby pipeline = kaboom! Bye, bye family and beautiful countryside community!

The world needed to know about this. This nightmare was endangering my family and community. Runner Susan knew this must be reported to the upstanding citizens of the Texas Railroad Commission, as they would want to remedy this situation and protect the community from potential explosions. She included photos and videos with her report. The commission manager was grateful for the knowledge and thanked Runner Susan.

To my knowledge, before the Texas Railroad Commission could inspect Shanty Town*, a pipe burst. Re: RS thinks white foamy stuff is supposed to be on the inside of pipes and not the outside.

Within a few days, the site was being repaired and as far as I am aware, Shanty Town* now meets the Texas Railroad Commission standards for safe operation. I am particularly fond of how the electrical wires are zip-tied to the new and improved almost-not-rusted pipes. Although, I slept better that night knowing repairs were done and relieved the mystery flooding was going away. I have yet to receive an official report, but I have been told there is no connection between the mystery liquid leak of Shanty Town* and the mystery flooding on my property.

Runner Susan’s brain hurts. Just wake me up from this nightmare so I can get my life back already. I needed out of the house and I needed a glass of wine. Or five. So I called my new best friends to meet for dinner. I told them everything was finally coming to an end, and things were drying up (much thanks to the new french drain we put in to run the potentially toxic waste off our property) but there was this weird white soapy/powdery looking residue drying exactly where the mystery flooding was.

Really, my new friend says, because we have NORM on our property and our NORM is located in a white powdery looking scale, it matches our bubbling methane pit.

BLINK. BLINK.

What the heck is NORM? Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material, she says. They bring it up from deep within the Earth while drilling and then they are supposed to inject it back into the Earth.

NO. NO. NO. This is not happening! Runner Susan goes home and googles everything she can about NORM. According to Wikipedia, NORM scales may be white or a brown solid, or thick sludge to solid, dry flaky substances.

Wait just one minute! The day after I tracked down the gas smell at Shanty Town*, I tracked down another gassy smell at a well across the field. And this well site was covered with a mystery liquid AND a white powdery scale-like residue which looks just like the white powdery residue on my property. How very odd? Or very coincidental? You choose.

Once again, Runner Susan emails the Railroad Commission with a concern about NORM attaching photos of white scaly powder, that is exactly where the mystery flooding on my property was. I suggest he send a geologist out to check for NORM as soon as possible. The commission manager kindly obliges and sends out a geologist, who does a thorough examination of our property and informs me that our NORM is within normal range. As much as I would love to have superhero powers and use them to stop greedy bastards from turning our planet into Swiss cheese, I was very relieved that I was not radioactive.

Still I was curious as to what this white powdery stuff was and asked the geologist’s opinion. He told me it could be anything and was probably fertilizer from my neighbors yard. Then he dropped some acid (no, he didn’t) and said possibly last year’s fertilizer even. Fertilizer? Because I’m pretty sure my neighbor is not nice enough to fertilize the well site behind our property.

Hey, Runner Susan has an idea, why not take test samples of white powdery residue form my property AND the well property and compare the results? I guess RS is just a crazy whack-job to think something like that is a good idea?

Moving on before my brain exploded, the geologist asked if I had any additional questions. I asked if he felt Shanty Town* was now safe and if it was okay to zip-tie electrical wires to pipes? The geologist said the Railroad Commission didn’t monitor electricity and he didn’t know who did. He said yes, the site was safe and gave me a lecture about how everyone makes mistakes. He makes mistakes, I make mistakes and we all make mistakes.

He did not just say that!

Because I firmly believe that when you are dealing with gas, chemicals and possible deadly explosions, YOU DON’T GET TO MAKE MISTAKES!

(Runner Susan is starting to think that everyone who works at the Railroad Commission must need an iBod.)

I can image what you’re thinking, “Who owns these well sites and why aren’t they better maintained?”

Good question, because this fact is boggling to many people and I’m still uncertain as to who owns and operates which well. I can tell you this, the man who says he doesn’t own one but does the other, but used to own them both, but sold Shanty Town*, he likes to call himself one of the “good guys.” (Funny, all the well supervisors call themselves the good guys, it must be in their operations manual.) If Mr. Good Guy were really one of the good guys, would he sell his gas well to a company who appears reckless and irresponsible? If Mr. Good Guy really is a good guy, then the bad guys must be pretty darn awful.

At this point in the game I feel like I’m living in a science fiction novel, and it’s beyond me how I’ll ever, ever, ever be able to stop the living madness.

You know what else is also beyond me? Why the town I live in would send a wastewater services company to our home to inspect for a possible septic leak? It seems odd since I did not report any problems to the town. It is especially puzzling since the day before the same wastewater services company was at our home, doing their own standard maintenance per our contact agreement with them. It is my understanding that our wastewater system tested perfectly fine on both back-to-back inspections. I do have to admit, I like meeting new friends, and the waste inspector the town sent to our house was a very nice man. My new friend, he lives in DISH. Nice place that DISH, TX . I wonder if I’ll ever be lucky enough to retire in a place as nice as DISH?

However, I am very curious if the town takes this much concern with every resident’s wastewater system?

And the girly drama continues. We had a man from a state environmental agency and a man from the town stop by to look at our water problem. The water problem that is no longer a problem, because we had to install $1500 worth of french drains to move potentially toxic waste from our house. The water that started mysteriously drying up AFTER I made a formal complaint. I wasn’t home at the time of the visit but I asked the Chef if he showed them the white residue. I’m not totally positive on this, but I think the Chef they said they see the white residue was all over the town, something about salt and ph-y stuff in the soil? I had no clue our entire town was so white and salty? You learn something new everyday. I wonder if our town monitors for acid rain? I haven’t thought about acid rain in years, can anyone inform me how we get acid rain?

Oh, and local residents, if you have this white stuff in your yard would you do me a favor and take a picture and email it to me? I’d love to see it. Oh, and if you would happen to grab a sample, I will personally come by your home to collect it. Just leave me a comment and I’ll be in touch.

This is just a small, small portion of my story and, you know, we can tell stories all day long, but the fact is WE, as a community, have a very serious situation on our hands. It is my understanding that these gas companies are putting a Central Collection Facility/Tank Farm and a huge compressor station and maybe an injection well right smack in the middle of us. I was told these tanks are not able to withstand natural disasters such as tornadoes or earthquakes. Are they really putting 20 wells right next to the Intermediate School? Where the train is frequently stopped? With no evacuation plan? How long will it be before they flip those wells and turn them into a Shanty Town?* Who is responsible for creating the mass evacuation plan for the kids at the Intermediate School? Is our fire and police department big enough to handle a disaster of that monstrosity? What is OUR emergency plan as a community in case of a natural disaster?

Or a mistake. Because everyone makes mistakes.

Citizens, it is not IF something bad will happen, but WHEN! Plain and simple. Listen, I’m not Erin Brochovich, I’m not a scientist or a geologist, I’m just a mother, a wife, a runner and a concerned citizen who spends a lot of time running around our community. And now that I’m running with my eyes wide open, I can’t close them.

This is something no one wants to think about. But something so very real. It’s easy to assume someone else will handle it until it is in your back yard. Guess what? It IS in your backyard. And it’s not going away. Have our communities been sold to the Good Guys? And when these good guys are done raping and pillaging our backyard, what will it look like?

People are already starting to refer to us as DISH 2. I don’t want that. I don’t want to move, I don’t want my property value to decrease, and I certainly don’t want it to take a couple of kids with leukemia before anyone will start paying attention. Is greed blind even to this?

Fact: Runner Susan is pulling her alter ego out of the closet.

Fact: She’s not afraid to wear it.

Runner Susan would like nothing more than to go back to gardening, shoe shopping and running, but Runner Susan has a lot to learn, and she needs an army.

A big army.

(free shirt to anyone willing to fight in my army) – ***EDIT: better? I’m trying to be nice, people, I’m trying.

This sign appeared in my backyard the other day. I’m assuming it’s a gift from Mr. Good Guy.

Fact: If Runner Susan ends up in jail she wants the headlines to read:

“Mother jailed for desperately trying to save neighborhood from potentially toxic explosion”

(please send iBod)

*Shanty Town is not an actual town but a fully functioning gas well operation.

And they sent me a discount code, so why not support the racing?!?

The 99-year old ING Bay to Breakers 12K is one of the world’s largest and oldest footraces, held annually in San Francisco, California. The name reflects the the traditional course which takes tens of thousands of participants from the northeast end of the downtown area near The Embarcadero (the “bay” side of the city) to the west end of the city and the “breakers” of Ocean Beach. The 7.46 mile (12 kilometer) race features world-class athletes in addition to costumed runners and ‘fun-loving’ folks out for a great day of running and walking through San Francisco.

The Bay to Breakers Folks would like to offer a 5% discount code for viewers off early registration. Enter code: 5RUNSUSB2B10 when registering for this fun-filled and historic race!

Didn’t I just redo my blog? Sadly, it isn’t doing much for me anymore . . . needing inspiration . . . maybe some cute puppies or kitties. Here we go again.

I may have gone a little crazy with the hooks, but something had to be done with the handbags. So hooks all over the world was the solution. If you have a better solution for the March 2010 Closet Reorg, I’ll be happy take suggestions. I’ve even made room for new spring shoes & bags, because I’m nice like that. I’ve also decided that I’m WAY under fashionable and I need to step it up a bit – but in a reasonable I’m not going to break the bank so the Chef won’t yell at me too much sort of way  . . .

Now, I have some packing to do 10 miles to run in my spanky new shoes. Official shoe of the NTRT! Don’t they look super-fast?!?

Coming up soon is the Runner Susan official Should I Stay or Should I Go Shoe, Bag and Clothing Fest!

The long runs training for the Oklahoma City Marathon have been getting loooongerer, 19 miles this week, 21 miles next week, then 23, etc . . . you guys have been there, you know the drill.  So, last Saturday the Martini Twins© had 19-miles to run. And what a better way to run 19-miles than sandwich a half-marathon between two 3-mile runs. Saying it that way sounds like three much shorter runs – and anytime you sandwich something it just makes it funny, I’m a 13-year-old boy like that.

Months ago Michelle and I registered for the Fort Worth Cowtown Half Marathon and we worked it into our training schedule. Since we’ve started this marathon training we’ve ate, hydrated and rested like we are training for a marathon. With special emphasis on hydrated – my pee has been a lovely shade of clear for weeks.  We have been the picture perfect epitome of training.

Friday night we were in bed by 9 PM. We woke at 4:45 AM, drank some coffee, ate some our chia infested oatmeal, dressed and were on the road. We arrived at the interstate off ramp in downtown Fort Worth at 6:25 AM – over an hour early for the half. We stayed on that off ramp not moving for nearly three hours. And I have no clue why – we were so early. Runners were abandoning their cars on the off-ramp bridge and running to the start line. Really. My Candy Car was not getting left on a ramp, so we entertained ourselves the best we could; face-booked our ridiculous status, we car danced, took pictures and made videos for as long as two girls trapped in a car for 3 hours and hydrated to run 19-miles could. For your car-dancing pleasure:

Cowtown Traffic from Runner Susan on Vimeo.

By the time we actually parked the car and got to the start line, the half course was being taken down. Bye, bye sandwiched half marathon.

Car-fatigued, frustrated and hungry, since it was almost lunch time at this point, we decided to make the best of the situation – we needed to run, it was a gorgeous day and we were right next to the Trinity Trail – a beautiful place to run along the river. We knew we couldn’t do the distance with the water or fuel we had on hand, so our plan was to run as far as we could and enjoy the beautiful day. See, here we are enjoying the beautiful day in our hot pink and hot peach matchy, matchy outfits:

For about 4 miles there wasn’t a soul in sight and then our trail merged into another trail and we saw runners. Lots of runners. So many runners we thought we might be dreaming. Runners with bibs and chips. We got closer and noticed ULTRA on the bib. ULTRA? I didn’t know they were running an Ultra-marathon as an event for Cowtown. Oh well, we decided to follow the Ultra course for a bit and head back to the car, and at this point if we could get ten miles run, we’d be good.

We chug along, and then before we knew it these hippy-looking, water-vested and often barefooted ultra distance runners were giving our cute, neon-dressed selves a “great job, girls” and thumbs up all over the place. I look down and we still have our timing chips on. These insanely happy ultra runners think we are a part of the ultra-marathon. I turn to Michelle and say “let’s just finish the Ultra”. We had a brief discussion about whether these runners are insanely happy or just insane. We had no clue at that point how long it would be to the finish, but decided we didn’t care, we liked the happy runners and we kept going.

So it wasn’t really “our” mile 29, but we were having 29 miles of fun.

We weren’t expecting to get coronated with medals and t-shirts as we crossed the finish line, but then again, we never received our half shirts or medals. By the time we finished the entire day was just comical. We ended up running at least 14 miles and Gallowaying another 4-5 miles. A perfectly unexpected day of training.

We topped off our weekend by doing out best to dehydrate ourselves with good wine and stuff ourselves silly with shopping and good food. One of the best girl weekends I’ve ever had. Who other than the Martini Twins could miss a half-marathon, crash an ultra-marathon and finish with a marathon medal?

I love it when I look forward to running ten miles because it’s my short run. My run on Sunday was the strangest run I’ve ever had, it was stupid windy, pouring down rain or sunny. The temperature also dropped from 65 degrees to 40 degrees – by the time I finished my hands were as red as my nail polish:

In other TERRIBLY exciting new, I can’t decide if I should keep the zebra shoes or not – one minute I love them like I birthed them, the next I want to return them. It’s not like me to be so indecisive about shoes. I’m keeping them on my sink and I stare at them while I brush my teeth in hopes of some miraculous decision. Whatcha think?

And so there in now peace in RS World – the salad making dress. When I lose ten pounds I’ll try it on for you:

That’s about it. Tomorrow I have to run 4 miles at an 8:45 pace. I’m not sure I can do it, but we shall sure try.

But doing it anyway. What can I say? Jeanne and Nod are awesome! So awesome, in fact, I want to adopt them and force them to live with me forever and ever.

It would have been nice if we had a little bit of sunshine and the weather was warmer, but it didn’t interfere too much with our weekend plans: shop, shop, shop, eat, drink, shop, hot tub, eat, drink, drink, drink, sleep, shop. Repeat x 3.

Throw in an icy half-marathon, a makeover, teaching Ms. Not Born to Run how to wear a bra Texan Style, an obligatory Starbucks rescue or ten, and you’ll have our weekend. Full and Fun!

We totally look like twins:

Are we not in Texas anymore? They said the windchill around White Rock Lake was -2 degrees. Wind blowing sideways. Really. Sideways. The bridges were covered with ice. Ice, in Texas. Ice. Real, live icy stuff. Where is global warming when you need it? I don’t know if that is accurate or not, but it seriously felt like we were in Antarctica. I have never, ever, ever, ever been so cold. The last four miles of the race absolutely brutal – there wasn’t a place on my body that wasn’t numb. I’m still cold. Really. And I’m chaffed so bad I’m still oozing puss. Gross, I know.

My time: 2:14:05 – which, considering the wind was blowing sideways and it was either move or die of frostbite, I’m okay with. If it wasn’t for Jeanne and Nod I would have bailed. I’m so glad they are here!! And I can’t wait to share our shopping extravaganza reports with you.

Are we the cutest Popsicles on the planet or what? Jeanne did great, Nod did great, Donkey did great, I did great. When in Antarctica, survival is the only thing that matters.

More photos here. And funny thing is, this was the smallest part of our vacation. I almost forgot we ran a half marathon. Silly  me. More on that later. Fun. Fun. Fun. I love them both – I want to adopt them and force them to live with me.

In preparations for the upcoming visit of the infamous Ms. Not Born to Run and Nod, I decided I better actually run and have some fun. And who else better to practice those skills with than my funner, runner and wine sipper friend/Martini Twin, Michelle! Saturday, we ran 13 miles in the rain – and in the rain, I created my new # 2 motto: If you gonna run, run fun!*  It’s hard to argue with that kind of brilliance. (Well, unless you’re at mile 17 of a marathon and your quads are on fire, but I totally plan to change that this year.)

We petted zebras and kissed horses and finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes (we won’t mention anything about the auto pause feature on our Gamins during our petting zoo break) and beat our virtual partner by 2 minutes!

We finished soaking wet and with smiles on our faces.

I’m ready for you now, Jeanne! And so is Rowdy.

*# 1 motto: Fun lasts longer than fast.

Since I was a wimp in 09 I’m gonna make up for it in 2010. Here’s what I got so far and if you’ve done any of these races and want to chime in anything about the course, I’m all ears:

• 1.30.10: The Texas Half Marathon
• 2.27.10: Cowtown Half Marathon
• 3.14.10: RNR Half Marathon Dallas
• 3.28.10: A2A Full Marathon
• 4.25.10: OKC Memorial Full Marathon
• 5.23.10: Texas Man Olympic Tri
• 5.2.10: Cross Timbers 100k Bike
• 6.5.10: Tulsa Tough 50k Bike
• 6.6.10: Tulsa Tough 50k Bike
• 7.18.10: Vineman Half Ironman
• 8.15.10: The Hottest Half
• 9.25.10: Redman Half Ironman
• 10.24.10: Lafayette Inaugural Half
• 10.25.10: Muddy Buddy
• 11.7.10: Fort Worth Half Marathon

None of these are set is stone yet (Re: Jiggle Butt DNS due to 12 degree temperature). I think I need to sprinkle in a 5k or two and I might need something for August and December. And to appease the Sister Runner Amy Gods, I also need to schedule in an Indiana Race or two somewhere along the lines. Look at me go, I am a racing fool.

Hello Internet People, I promised more blog and so I must provide; even if it is boring, I am a woman of my word. (How’s that for fancy? Two commas and a semicolon. Although I have no clue if they are correct.)

This past weekend my friends Marta and Milka came to town for a visit, which is always fun – but it’s especially fun when Marta inspires you to get off your ass and run – and so we ran a whole 7 miles – in the really, really, really cold weather. But not as really, really cold as it has been. I have a half marathon in less than two weeks and I’m only up to seven miles. (Don’t tell Jeanne!)

On that first 7 mile run in I count how many days, I was also able to try out my new kicks, a pair of Nike Free’s I ordered off eBay. They felt very strange on the first run – but I bet I need more than one run to get a final verdict – so, I guess I should get to it and start moving.  But so far, way better than the Newtons.

Onto swimming. It is improving – with emphasis on the ING. I’m still the slowest in the C (read: last and slowest) group, but my form is getting better – or so the instructor says. I can now successfully swim 10 lengths of the pool without stopping or drowning. It’s the small miracles we are thankful for, IPs. The small ones.

Today, I must get a run in. I must. I missed swim yesterday because of my sinus infection, but I’m feeling a little better today and the temperature is in the 50s, so I need to get out before the rain sets in for a steady 3-day downpour.

Not much else going on, but this is more than 140 characters, so I think I’m meeting the quota.

2009: I refer to it as the year micro-blogging took over the world. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook and Twitter, I love the instant gratification and yet it’s the fast food of blogging. And in 2009, I ate the fast food and didn’t give very good blog. I also had a love-hate and an I’m-sick-of-being-injured affair with running – I only ran 297.77 miles for the entire year. I can’t remember a year when I ran so few – I only raced one half-marathon and only a handful of 5ks.

2009 wasn’t totally bad, let’s recap the Runner Susany goodness:

• I meet my friend, Michelle, and we’ve been inseparable ever since – and so was born the Martini Twins. She came into my life at the perfect time, and I’m grateful for her friendship and the fun she brings into my life.
• I learned how to ride my bike. I learned how to ride my bike on the ROLLERS. I learned how to ride my bike on the rollers and in the closet. I still impress myself with this feat. Who doesn’t miss the roller videos or the paper plates?
• I participated in my first bike rally and triathlon and I discovered the transition to the dark side isn’t as dark as I thought it would be – well, except for the swimming part – it still continues to be a dark abyss.
• The Chef and I had the most fabulous and romantic vacation in Napa where the Chef and I also got to meet and ride with two of my favorite people, Pamela and Juls. I look forward to seeing them again this year.
• I was also fortunate enough to have my SECOND meet up with the Toasts. How many of you can say that? Just consider me special.
• Sister Runner Amy, my brother and I surprised my mother with the Birthday party of the year. It’s not easy to surprise her, she’s wise to all we do. Mothers are like that.
• I got to dress up as a German Beer Girl for a day.
• Somewhere in 2009 my baby turned into a gorgeous teenager. She continually amazes me, I’m so proud to be her mother – and yet, terrified to have a gorgeous teenage daughter. Where’s my big stick?
• I had a last minute meet up with my high school friend, Rachel, and her family before Christmas, it was a wonderful surprise to see them.
• Celebrated the new year a little early with my Chef in New Orleans! Anything goes there, Internet People. Anything.
• I was still in my 30s. I turn 40 in 2010 and if I recall, when I was Kenza’s age I thought turning forty meant that dropping dead at any moment was an appropriate thing to do. Is it too late for me to change my mind? But wow, 40.

So far, 2010 is predicting to be my best year for running yet. Next weekend my friend, Marta, and I are going to run the Jiggle Butt 5k with my friends Cindy and Deana and at the end of this month my blog buddy, Jeanne of Not Born To Run fame, is coming to Dallas and we’ll run our first half-marathon of the year together. I’m so excited to meet her!  So January 2010 already beats 2009. Go me!

And since we are speaking of Ms. Not Born to Run (who really can and does run), you’ll never believe this – guess who called me a few weeks ago? Called me on the phone – the. real. live. phone.

Play with me for a moment.

“Ring, ring – hello.”

“Hi Susan, my name is cchrzzz mczzzdozzzl from buzzzss to runz” (Static)

“Huh, I’m sorry did you say not born to run, is this Jeanne? are you calling about your trip? I think our connection is bad” (Jeanne sounds awfully manly?)

“Let me call yozzzzz baczzz from my offfizzz.”

“Ring, ring – hello.”

“Hi Susan, This is Chris McDougall, You might have heard of my book Born to Run. I’m looking for someone to design a web site for me.”

“Uhhhh, holy crap, YES I KNOW YOUR BOOK. You are the most famous runner dude in the entire world and I’m talking to you on my cell phone!!!!! I will make you the best web site EVER!”

Okay, so maybe that last part didn’t really happen like that, but you get the idea: Mr. Born to Run, Christopher McDougall, called me on the phone and SRA and I are making him a web site. The world’s greatest web site, too.

I know what you’re thinking “Wow, Runner Susan, you’re famous if Chris McDougall is reading your blog!” I wish, but sadly no, he was a referral from another really cool site we did, and if I were Fisher Susan, I’d be all excited too. But we can all pretend I’m famous by association – because I’m making Christopher McDougall a spanktacular new web site. Did I mention that already? ChrisMcDougall.com – it’s still a work in progress, but what do you think? Now go and buy his book.

His book is changing the way I think about running, and working with him on his site is a huge inspiration.  And don’t for a second think RS hasn’t taken full advantage of the situation by probing Mr. Born to Run with every question possible about running – and he’s been super nice to answer them all. I have every intention to make 2010 my best year for running yet! And you know what? I’m born to run. How about that? Living proof:

Running more isn’t my only goal in 2010:

• I’d like to complete a 1/2 Ironman
• PR in a marathon or two
• PR in a half marathon
• Run 1000 miles over the year
• Swim like I am not going to die the moment I touch water
• Be happy with my body weight
• Have more fun
• Be a more forgiving person
• Meet new friends
• Be the best wife I can be
• Be the best friend I can be
• Be the best mother I can be
• Cook food that tastes like food
• Blog like I mean it,
• and if I could own a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes, my life would be complete (just don’t tell Christopher).

There you have it, Internet People – it’s been one crazy year and I look forward to another with you in 2010. Here are a few pictures from 2009, which you’ve probably already seen, but here for your viewing entertainment in case you have 3 minutes and 46 seconds to waste.

2009 from Runner Susan on Vimeo.