Friday, April 17, 2009

One Month and Counting

M-Day approacheth: one more month until the Cleveland Marathon!

I feel good. This was a fantastic week of running, probably my best ever. I had three quality runs, fast runs, and I can't wait to get out for my 6- and 12-mile runs this weekend. The sudden improvement in the weather is undoubtedly helping, and I was able to wear both shorts and a tank top for the first time since last October. Divesting myself of irritating full-coverage winter gear has dramatically improved my mood.

I was tagged by Emma with an "Honest Scrap"award which goes something like this:

The Award and Rules:

This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.

The rules are as follows:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.

2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

In the immortal words of Sally Field, "You like me! You really, really like me!" *blushes* I'm flattered that you think my content is brilliant, all of my posts about pooping in the woods notwithstanding.

I don't like tagging other people, but I like self-absorption (I have a blog, for cryin' out loud) so I'll list ten things about myself and anyone who reads this can choose for themselves whether or not they wish to participate.

1. For a very long time I believed that rivers could only flow south because they had to follow the curve of the earth. I will not say for how long I believed this. Suffice to say it's extremely ironic that I became a geologist1.

2. I have received nine speeding tickets. I never cried or whined or protested (or flashed any cleavage) when I got pulled over. I had no excuses. I always knew exactly how fast I was going. I like driving fast. To my credit, my last ticket was over three years ago. Once I got my Jetta I started driving like a granny.

3. I once worked at Victoria's Secret. It was the most mind-numbing, tedious job I've ever had. I lasted three weeks before I bolted for an office job.

4. I used to set ants on fire with an enormous magnifying glass2. My brother and I would put slugs and snails on top of the gas grill when it was on and watch them die shriveled, horrible deaths. It's a wonder I'm not a serial killer.

5. I almost quit cross-country my freshman year of high school because my legs were so sore after the first week of practice I could barely walk. I didn't; I stuck it out. And good thing, too, or I probably wouldn't be the runner I am today.

6. I thought when the Ramones sang "I wanna be sedated," they were really saying "I wanna piece of this."

7. My two least favorite songs in the entire pantheon of songs are "Brown-Eyed Girl" and "American Pie." I will break the fucking radio trying to change the station if I hear even one nanosecond of either of those. Luckily I have both SiriusXM and an iPod adapter in my car so my chances of inadvertent exposure are greatly diminished. I also cannot abide the entire AC/DC catalog. Hearing what's-his-name's earsplitting screechy voice makes me want to slam some Renée Fleming into the CD player and rock out with a Mozart aria or two.

8. Riffing off one of Emma's items, when I was very little, like 4 or 5 years old, I apparently saved my younger brother from drowning in a swimming pool. I have no memory of doing this. As far as I'm concerned, my brother owes me.

9. I collect antique geologic maps.

10. I am terrified of raccoons. I have dubbed this procyonophobia, from the Latin name for the common American raccoon, Procyon lotor.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

1: OK, fine, I was a freshman in college and this notion was only disabused during my introductory geology class.

2: One can achieve similar effects with a geologist's hand lens.

6 comments:

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

I used to set ants on fire .... And ... I would put slugs and snails on top of the gas grill when it was on and watch them die .... It's a wonder I'm not a serial killer.You're young, sister. There's still time.

Re: #7's "Hearing what's-his-name's earsplitting screechy voice" ... there were actually TWO what's-his-names: Bon Scot drank himself to death in 1980!

Since then, it's been Brian Johnson's uncannily similar screech on AC/DC songs.

I like AC/DC, but I am far from fanatical about them. Angus Young has a very distinctive guitar style, though. A style I like.

Spike said...

raccoons can be tricky, I saw a home video once where they stole a car and drive to Wendy's. Although, I wonder how they paid for the food, the video never showed that part.

jen said...

Awww i love those two songs! haha. Fun post. I can totally see thinking that about rivers, and I am a geographer.

Enjoy your last couple weeks of training and then tapering!

raulgonemobile said...

Love the tidbits!

I often wonder where I'd be if I had stuck it out on cross country and track. Oh well.. throw that in the "couldawouldashoulda" bucket

monicac2 said...

Delurking to comment on #7. I have my 20 year college reunion coming up in May and the other day I was thinking that those 2 songs will be the ones *definitely* inlcuded on any party playlist. I only thought of 2 songs, and those were the 2. Good thing you're not Georgetown Class of '89!! :)

Nitmos said...

You are getting fast! Going for that BQ in Cleveland?!