My "marathon"

I ran the BolderBoulder 10K race on Monday and look! Here I am in the stands! Still alive afterwards! I won't even tell you my time, because it is embarassing. The guy next to me? He ran it in under an hour, returned to the beginning and ran it again with me.

I wasn't quite right afterwards, but here are the funny things I remember:

Elvis, belly dancers, people running in tutus, a man who cartwheeled the whole thing, a woman who hulahooped while running, and a guy handing out bacon.

The most pitiful little patient

Cali had surgery today to remove an infected plate from another surgery she had in January. I swear she is thinking "you did this to me again?" She has taken over the couch.

I took her to our vet, Dr. Please be my BFF, on Wednesday to see if I was crazy to be worrying about her never-healing incision or not. I love her for telling me that I paid too much for the original surgery for her to be having this much trouble and that we needed to go back and see the surgeon (also no charge for our visit to her). She even offered to call if they wouldn't get us in quickly. Thursday we saw the surgeon. He said that she needed to have surgery ASAP and scheduled her for the next day. I hate having a sick dog, but I hope that she will have an uneventful recovery this time.

Wednesday morning she was running around in the park playing ball and putting full weight on her bad leg. Tonight when Dr. BFF called to see how surgery went, she said it's amazing that she didn't show more signs of the huge infection going on in her leg. No temperature, no reduced activity, nothing.

Dogs...

Just one of the guys

Friday night I was invited to climb with a group of people to the top of Horsetooth mountain to watch the sun set and the full moon rise. I have been close to the top of Horsetooth in the past, but have never made it all of the way up. I was worried that I would be too slow or wouldn't be able to make it.

The other people were late, so my friend and I started before they arrived. We got to walk all of the way to the top on our own. My friend was polite enough to act like it was killing him too, although he is in much better shape than I am. Shortly after we arrived on the top, nine other guys showed up, i.e., it was me and ten men on the top of a mountain. Everyone drank wine and some of them smoked cigars. Since they treated me like I was one of the guys, I felt like a fly on the wall at a bachelor party. Maybe they played it up because they had an audience. I learned that of these ten, most prefer large breasts and Brazilian waxes. I think my friend was more embarrassed than I was.

We sat on the top for hours, then climbed down in the full moon and a little drunk. Even though when I got home I was too tired to brush my teeth or put on my nightgown (I slept in my clothes), I can't wait to do it again!

Marathon

Here are a couple of marathon photos. First Ann near the beginning of "my" mile and my other friend near the finish line. They both finished, an amazing feat if you ask me.

Waking our happiness drowning in light

A friend of mine left this letter in my work mailbox today:

"Dear Leslie,

Hi, as you may know, I plan to run my first ever marathon on May 7th. I have been training for this race since early January and I think I am ready. My goal time is quite slow by many standards but my bigger goal is to finish before all the race officials have gone home and the timing equipment is cleaned up. My running magazine has an article every month by a man who calls himself 'The Penguin', his motto is to finish what you start, have fun, and 'waddle on'.

Moved by an article in the same running magazine, I have decided to add a prayerful theme to this event. I have selected a list of 26 people to pray for during the run. Why did I select you for this list? You are one of the many people who have inspired me to push harder and set higher goals, to never settle for less from myself.

Leslie, I will be praying for you during the seventeenth mile of the race. The race will begin at 6:15 a.m., your mile will begin at 9:19 a.m. Please feel free to pray for me at that time (or any other time) as well. If I make my goal time, I will finish around 11:00 a.m.

Love,

Ann"

I am not a very religious gal. Most of my other friends would say "I'll be thinking of you" or "I'll picture you in white light". But despite that, I am so touched by this that I'm surprised I am not weeping. I suspect that the reason she will be praying for me is more that I am pretty fucked up right now than that I've been so inspiring to her, but I'll take it any way I can get it.

I thought I'd be out at that race enjoying clanking my cow bell to support her and my other friend who is also running, but now I guess I'll be bathed in white light.

Pretty cool.