Thanks for your concern

Today, the following email went out:

From: Boycott City of Trees - boicot***@***.com

It is just more than 2 weeks until your Boise COT race and I wanted to be sure you are fully prepared for what you may encounter while here in Boise....The Boise Police requires that the race provide more than 350 people to direct traffic and be sure that racers are safe.

The race however has been allowed up til now to not have the required amount of people to put on the race. In fact, they on average have only half the required amount!

to date at least 3 past participants have been hit by vehicles in the race. I personally came very close to the front end of a Ford truck last year!

I'm not sure who you are, Mr. Boicot, but I'm annoyed with you on a number of levels. Allow me to list them.

1. How exactly did you get email addresses of the runners? Right there, you're suspect.
2. That lowercase "to". It's really driving me nuts. I bet Ama feels the same.
3. Are you unfamiliar with the concept of bcc? You must be, because everybody's email address is just hanging out there. Thank goodness as I'm sure everybody is as thrilled as I am at the prospect of more random nutters like you sending emails to them.
4. It was pointed out to me that Boicot is like boi (as in boise) and cot (as in City of Trees), but not before I already complained about you and your ridiculous "Avril spelling". Thanks for making me look stupid, fella.
5. As my brilliant friend who got the whole 'boicot' thing and therefore was able to focus on actual issues pointed out, why don't you send a mass email out asking for race volunteers if you're so concerned about safety?
6. Do you really believe I'm going to cancel my race plans and forget about all the hard work I've put in to preparing for this just because you almost got hit by a car? Subquestion: Aren't most runners pretty used to maneuvering around automobiles?

That's all I have for now, but I reserve the right to add to this list later.

Sadly, carrot cake is like the heaviest of all cakes

After having no desire to run at all yesterday and yet still pulling out 8 miles, I instructed myself to really enjoy having today off. Well, nothing says "you've done good kid" like buying cake by the pound, right? Cause that's what I did.

It was good while it lasted

I'm back on the soda, my friends. How did this happen? Well, first I gave myself an Eating Out clause enabling me to have a soda when at restaurants (which really, isn't very often anyway). Then, I gave myself a Travel clause enabling me to have soda while I traveled (normally not very often at all, but I had a few trips right in a row this summer). Then, I gave myself a Soda Weekend clause enabling me to drink all the soda I wanted that weekend. Then, I gave myself a Finish Off All The Soda I Bought But Didn't Drink During Soda Weekend clause enabling me to finish off the soda left over (we wouldn't want to be wasteful, right?). All together this resulted in a return to my soda-loving lifestyle. I realized it was perhaps a problem when last week it took me half a soda to realize I wasn't even drinking a root beer like I thought I had been. It was cream soda! And I only realized because I took a closer look at the can. That's the definition of mindless consumption, isn't it?

Excuse me while I go study a map now

Congratulations to the country of Mauritius, which I guess was the fastest country in the Nike Human Race. Is it horribly ignorant of me to admit that I've never heard of Mauritius?

Bless you, Luna

Here's me about ready to enjoy my new favorite snack:

They call it a nutrition bar. I call it a giant Thin Mint. Holy delicious, Batman!

Just a few ramblings...

I ran the Nike+ Human Race. Finished with an ok time of 1 hour 24 minutes…just over 13 min/mile, which is pretty fast for me considering I walked a good portion of the course (a big rectangle around two country blocks near my great aunt and uncle’s house in S. Idaho). My cousin was kind enough to bring her bike and ride along with me so I didn’t have to run in the middle of nowhere all alone. I cannot express how happy I am that she joined me, for two reasons: she carried my water and she distracted the farm dogs who chased us after we passed every freaking driveway. One dog followed us for half a mile, bumping my legs with his nose which we took to mean ‘get the hell away from my house!’ I also got bit by one, a little puppy who forced us to stop the clock and walk him home because we didn’t want him to be lost or get hit by a car. At the halfway point a few thunderclouds started swirling overhead which were a welcome relief to the afternoon heat (we planned on going around 8am to get it out of the way while the weather was cool but allergies were acting up and I succumbed to a Benadryl nap shortly after breakfast) but soon became a nuisance. Running/biking into 20 mile/hour winds is no treat, especially with so much dirt flying around. We arrived at my family’s house just as they were jumping in their van to come find us. How cute is that? We visited for awhile and had a good laugh on the way home as we realized we could literally peel the dirt from our faces. I can honestly say that a shower has never felt so good; I was on more of a high after the shower than I was after the run! I celebrated the end of the race by attending the Eastern Idaho State Fair and eating my weight in fried foods. Sounds like a bad plan, but I had to make up for riding too many twisty rides the day before and losing my lunch in front of a bunch of kids.

I’m also currently shopping for a treadmill. I’ve found a few deals on Craigslist, but they never last long enough for me to make an offer and the rest are, well, crap. It is pretty funny to see the same treadmills over and over again. I can’t count how many Weslo Cadence and ProForm ‘piece o’’ models are being advertised and sorry, listers, your 1980’s treadmill is NOT worth $300 even if you only used it twice.

What else…oh, Jlou and I have the half marathon coming up in a few weeks and I’m a little scared that I won’t be ready for it…I’m going to do it, don’t get me wrong, I’m just convinced that I’ll be the last to finish. It seems that everyone feels that way before races, but I think it really is going to be true of me! I did a 12K last May, though, and remember the adrenaline and crazy energy that I had with all of the bands and crowds so I know I’ll be fine. Maybe I’m just freaking out since I haven’t run since Sunday (fever and tension headache that I can’t shake) or maybe I’m just trying to prepare myself for when Jlou leaves me in her dust. Watch for me in the back, J, I’ll be with the baby strollers...