Well, it has been a hell of a week. Sharon's death, and 2 other life events, and we were ready to drink our sorrows away Friday night. I was off most of Friday and made a Guinness Cake and some pupcakes. The Guinness Cake was left on the counter against the wall to cool.
Doug and I went to Manuel's and broke our rule of no drinks before a 5K. We had 2 each. So we left, and got some beer for Porter's Party.
Got home and went into the kitchen and 1/8 of the cake was gone...Guinness was licking her chops. We really didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and just started shaking. It turned into laughter. So I cut off the cake, and frosted it abd Doug put it away so we could have it for Porter's Party.
We tried to watch TV, but both of us were going through the motions, and we went to bed. Last words before sleeping...Why are we running?
So at 6:30 AM, Doug woke me up. He had already started the grill for the brisket. I brushed my hair, got dressed and put on my shoes. Then he got dressed. We watched the news and there was a shutdown on the Interstate, so we decided to leave to be in Kennesaw (30 miles away) to avoid any major traffic. We got within 1 exit and traffic came to a halt. We looked at each other and said it figures. We went the wrong way down the Barret Pkwy exit (got off on the on ramp) and continued. Parked. We went to the desk, and the people asked us if we were here to volunteer. They said the registration desk was somewhere else. Doug thought it would be nice if they had signs, but they were under the desks doing nothing. We went to the registration desk and signed in, and got our t-shirt tickets. We went and got the t-shirt, and decided to put them in the car. We got to the car, and looked at each other. We got in the car and drove home...no we didn't run. So then having so many people who supported us (we raised over $800) we felt bad and selfish, so we decided we would run at the track.
Went to the track and the parking lot was closed, so we would have to drive to the other side of the track. Instead we just went to the gym.
Warmed up, and hit 5K on the dreadmill.
I was watching the news, and started get dizzy so I stared at my feet. Ran. Thought about Nana. How I didn't have many memories of her, but she was the one who got me over my fear of Swiss Cheese. For some reason I was afraid of the holes, so she would stick her tongue through the holes, and taught me to do the same. Because she looked so silly I could eat the cheese. She also taught me how songs with no words (classical) needed them and just make them up.
Mile 2: I thought of Grandma and how she used to joke she had Oldtimer's Disease, and it used to make me so mad that she was so indifferent to my Nana. Now it is different. If you know me, I try to joke about things that are serious to deal. I think that's what Grandma was doing. OK, so now I was tearing up.
The hill setting set in on the dreadmill. I always turn them off. I decided I didn't deserve to turn them off, and kept going. I tried not to think about Sharon, because I was pissed off. Not at her, but the circumstances that prevented her to get checked. I thought of the first time meeting her and how I thought she was so nice. And how she thought it was so funny that the "girls" had to pass daycare tests to get into doggie daycare, and how she always sent us cards for our anniversary, how she helped us get Doug's mom's Christmas present. Overall, I didn't know her well, but she was one of those people that was just a really good person to know.
Amazingly, I didn't tear up thinking all this, like I am writing it. At .25 miles left I looked and saw that my time was going to be pretty good.
I turned up the speed, and looked up. They were talking about the 3rd place finisher at Chicago Half-Marathon. I don't kow what they were saying because I was listening to Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. But I ended the race at 43:10.
After walking and drinking Gatorade, we went and got ice and flowers for Porter's Party. Then like every other Saturday...I took a nap.
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