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.
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:
[miniflickr user=”19202613@N00″ tags=”Jeanne”]
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.
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:
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:
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.
