Patience; the new endurance sport.

Totally un-inspired treadmill running.  It feels great however that it leaves my legs and lower back feeling fresh after the run.  I also biked half hour.  So it was all indoor sweaty machine exercising.  Someone shoot me.  However, I did watch half an hour of The Proposal, did I already say "please shoot me?"  I think I'm getting too old for Romantic Comedies.  Have I really become so jaded? So un-romantic?  I'm not sure, but that movie is actually so boring and contrived I don't think I can finish it.  On the bright side, my daughter got the part she wanted in the school play -- "Annie".  Which is so weird, they are doing Annie when I was in the 8th grade.  I played the lead (my one moment of musical glory). Anyway, she tried out for the part of Pepper.  When I asked her why she wanted to play Pepper she said it was because the first line was "Hey pal, you're lookin' to get a black eye".  Moments like this make my heart swell with pride.  Break a leg sweetie pie.

So last night Marsha texts me "how cold is too cold to run?".  Oh Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!  Still such a light weight.  But that's ok, she will learn the ways of the winter running.  She can hack it.  So I texted back "Why U skerd?"  So she goes "Oh a challenge huh?  OK bring it".  That-a-girl!  It's hardly even below freezing yet and we have miles to go before we sleep. It was so worth it this morning.  The night sky was filled with meteors.  It was really something to run through the dark fields surrounded by shooting stars.  Nature feels like a secret that early in the morning.  After we were done Marsha said "Aren't you glad I made you come?"  I'm so glad she's game for all this pre-dawn, below freezing nonsense.  Because I 'm going to do it with or without her.  It's just nice to have company. 

Oh the exhilaration of running in the actual daylight.  I have really missed being able to see the river, trail, leaves, fields, etc.  It was utter desolation today.  That's the way I prefer the trail; just me and the occasional crack dealer or vagrant.   Truly, I prefer them to cranky, entitled, retirees.  It was a bleak, beautiful November day.  When I got back I got an email showing the finished production for this commercial I shot with my son a while ago (I sometimes get voice over and corny tv/internet gigs--Don't laugh, it pays for lego sets and trips to Austin).  Anyway, my son has been taunting me ever since with a line from the filiming (it shows kids jumping on a trampoline in back while I say "I'm a Mom who wants everything for my kids....blah, blah, blah").  So on certain ocassions, he'll say "So, are you a Mom who wants everything for her kids or not?".  It's become a private joke.  Here's the great news.  Now I have a copy of the produced spot-- so next time he pulls that line on me or threatens to write a "Mommy Dearest Memoir" I can offer to show the commercial to all his girlfriends for the next 20 years. I'll point out he's the one in the background with floppy surfer hair doing a flip on the trampoline. 

Saw another falling star in the sky this morning.  I know of the yearly meteor shower the second week of August, but I didn't know about this one we're having.  I didn't see the meteor on Tuesday at midnight that lit up the sky and was on the news, but I did see a few on Wednesday morning, and one more today.  I absolutely hate running in the dark.  I know I like running outside and I thought just being outside was enough. It is not, I want to SEE things.  Yesterday's run in the early morning sun felt decadent.  I can't wait for tomorrow.  I'm going to take a leisurely jaunt down the jetty and take as long as I want.  I have been staving off the onset of between marathon boredom/depression however.  We had a great birthday party, my sister came, I went to Austin, I'm hosting another friend's birthday tonight, then Thanksgiving-- my favorite holiday ever, then Christmas.  I can't start getting all funky until at least Jan. 2.  I have to hold it off until then.  Then, I will start training in earnest for Boston.  I can make it....I can do it.  It's not even the end of November.

Spent 2 hours at choir practice.  I have missed a lot of practices this year so I was glad it was extra long this session. The director is so engaged in the music and it's perfection that it completely focuses my energy. I've been a scattered recently and have missed that certain kind of nourishment that can only come being fully engaged in art or music.   I love to sing, even though I feel like I'm screetching and warbeling my way up to some of those high F's & G's.  When I was done, I sleepily laid down in front of the fireplace with my kids and drank hot milk. This made going outside into the bleak November cold less attractive.  Nonetheless by 10:00 I took the dogs out, who were so overjoyed they wouldn't stop barking and running ahead for about 1/4 mile.  Down the trail I bumped into Mike Strauss, smiling and running with the perpetual spring in his step. He always makes running look like the funnest, easiest thing to do in the world. He'd cut his hair since the last time I saw him.  Catherine will be very interested in this new development -- as will be all the women within a 10 mile radius.  (We all call him  Zeus and/or Sampson behind his back).  His hair has been long for the 7-8 years I've known him.  It must be exciting to make that kind of dramatic change.  I guess I did the same thing when I went from blond to brunette recently.  What's it with the middle aged hair crises? Our personal relationship to hair (how it looks, how long it is, what color it is) is kind of weird when you think about it.  It's always a declaration of some sort when we change it.  I guess once you get to the middle of your life, it's one of the few things you can actually change (new perspective and a fresh start) without major reprecussions or consequences.