Today started out as a comedy of errors. Well, maybe more of a farce. No, really not all that funny, just a generally messed up, bad day. I had planned to run my scheduled 15 miles in the morning, but I couldn't sleep the night before (thanks, full moon), so I overslept and didn't get up until quarter to 7. I had several pet sitting jobs in the morning, so I didn't think I had time for a 3.5 hour run. But Jacob told me to go ahead and plan to go, so I got my stuff together and headed out the door. To find that maybe I should have stayed up a tiny bit later last night, then I could have heard what must've been an enormously loud bang, and possibly gotten the license plate of the person who sideswiped and smashed up my car. THE car, at the moment, since our van is dead, and #1 Son is home from college and using the other Volvo station wagon. I was somewhere out beyond furious. I said some things, loudly, that would make a sailor blush. Then I called the police. They came promptly, I guess there's no serious crime occurring at 7:30 am on a Saturday, all the people who were drunk and perpetrating acts of violence on innocent, old, Volvo's the night before are home and in bed. With a hangover. And no wheel cover or sideview mirror. Then again, I don't have a sideview mirror either...
Anyway. The police officer arrived, was very courteous, took the report, and wrote one up for my neighbor, too, since whomever hit my car, also hit their new Kia Sedona van. It was nigh on to 8:45 by now, and I told Jacob I had to go, to let the one dog without a dog door outside to potty. I took the car we have borrowed from my dear friend Kama's father, which is a rickety 1999 Mercury Sable, with mediocre brakes and a bad shimmy in the front end if you top 30 miles per hour. But it's a car. A functional car.
When I got to the house, I was greeted by a dog in a rush to get outside, but not to potty, only to pee a little, so she could run back in and stand at the biscuit cabinet. When I went upstairs to clean the cat's box, I understood why. She had pooped in pretty much every carpeted area of the house. I don't know if she is just stressed from her people being gone, or if the neighbor kid who takes her out in the evening, didn't show up last night, or what, but she hasn't ever done anything like that, and I've been sitting for her for 3 years, maybe 4. So we cleaned that up, fed her and the cat, and I went to do my other several jobs and go to the bank. By the time I finished at bank and everything else, it was after noon. Sigh...
Of course, we couldn't go run then, because everyone needed to have lunch. So we had lunch, then we went upstairs to get everyone ready to go run. I thought. Then Jacob sat down and started watching "Weeds", which he's been doing obsessively for a few days now. I figured he needed a minute to decompress, so I did some work on the computer. He kept watching. I kept telling the kids to get ready to go, and they finally did. They came into our room, where I was killing time on the computer, waiting for Jacob to change clothes. I was getting a little peeved that it was taking him so long, and the kids were very impatient and annoying. Finally he said, "Are you ready to go yet?" I said, "I'm waiting for YOU!" He said, "Well, I'M waiting for YOU!" I said, "You said you were gonna change you clothes, so I've been waiting for you to change", He said, "I said I decided to run in this, and that I was ready to go, like an hour ago!" Classic misunderstanding in our house. We all try to do something to keep us occupied and productive while we wait for someone else, and then that person thinks they're waiting for us to finish doing something important, and we never get out the door. Argh.
We finally got to Grant's Trail about 5:30, and started running, which was about the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. We ran the first half really slowly, and it was mildly miserable, sort of death-march-ish. With the added issue of a giant storm cloud immediately over our heads, which occasionally taunted us with a few drops of rain. The weather was really quite perfect for running, overcast, cool, breezy. I was just in a bit of a foul mood, and not appreciating it adequately. After the sun went down, the gigantic, full, bright moon rose. We ran much more quickly, and I'm sure we ran negative splits, but I forgot to hit my split button at the halfway point, probably because Selena was texting me about how she had caught the oven on fire while making muffins.
The run back was gorgeous, quicker, and I pushed the stroller for some of the time, as Jacob was having some tummy trouble and not feeling great. All in all, it was a very nice run. We covered 15.6 miles in 3:34.
Next run, Tuesday. I need to think of some strategies to get people to give me money for this!
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