Ramblings of A Caffeinated Mind 9.3

Overheard

"I like Hillary but you know what they say, 'Once you've had Barack you never go bawk!'"

Maybe if I type this I'll get it off of my mind

Last night, right before the movie started (see below), I check email from my phone. There was a reply to an inquiry that I had made about something. I need to remember that "No" is also an answer. However, it's not the answer that I was hoping for.

Running Rant

Two things happened this week while I was running. One day, a group of four people were running at Memorial Park and they were running four abreast. The running trail is just barely wide enough in most spots for that many people. So I'm running counter-clockwise and they're coming at me clockwise. I'm running right.

Just as we're approaching each other, the path gets more narrow because of a light pole. These are my options:

1.) Stop and curse at them

2.) Jump on to Memorial Drive into the traffic and get hit

3.) Take out one the girls' left breast with my elbow

4.) Take out my right testicle, right arm and right leg by running into the pole

5.) Keep running and see what happens

See below for what happened.

In another incident, I started my run and about 1/10 of a mile into it I pass a guy who is standing there and stretching. About 1/2 mile into the run, he passes me. No big deal. He gets a good lead on me.

Around 2 miles, he stops running and starts to walk. When I reach 2 miles, I stop and get some water; he is still ahead of me walking. However, he keeps looking back at me.

I start my run again and when he sees me running he starts running. OK. That may have been a coincidence but I don't think so. So...I start running hard. Around 2 1/2 miles I'm shoulder to shoulder with him and he starts running faster so I start running faster and he has to eat my dust. He wasn't able to keep up with me. For some reason that made me feel good.

Spirit of the Marathon

Last night I took myself out on a movie date. Dinner consisted of the Combo #1 at Chik-fil-a. I went to see an encore showing of Spirit of the Marathon. The movie follows 6 people as they prepare for the Chicago Marathon 2005.

There was one runner that I could relate to even though there were aspects of the other runners (with the exception of the elites) that were very familiar. Lori is the runner that I am referring to. She is the one who trained by herself and raised money.

I think I laughed the loudest when Rona told her dad that he is a professional talker who runs marathons (instead of a professional marathoner who talks while he runs). Some of you know that I hate to talk when I run.

Deena Kastor is amazing. She suffered an injury and doesn't run for 6 weeks and then wins Chicago 2005.
Then there is Ryan who is bound and determined to qualify for Boston and ends up being injured.
And Daniel runs with the grace of gazelle. He is bound and determined to be the bride and not the bridesmaid as he makes another attempt to win Chicago.


The one that touched me the most was Leah. You can tell that she wanted to quit during the run but she didn't. Her tears at the end of the run were based on many emotions. I can relate to that except I waited until the day after my first marathon to burst into tears...and I was in line at Burger King; not one of my finest moments. (I have metioned this before but still haven't given the details about what triggered the tears...and yes, they let me have it my way.)
The movie was more than just covering the 6 runners. It gave some history about the marathon. The director also interviewed some of running's greatest athletes. I was very intrigued with Katherine Switzer's story about almost being pulled off the course of the Boston Marathon because she is a woman.

photo credit: AP/Worldwide Photo

Here are some additional comments about the movie:

• Based upon the Italian guy who almost died after running a marathon in London(?), people started to take notice of the event more out of morbid curiousity rather than to support the athletes.
• It was long believed that women were not built to be long distance runners because their uterus might fall out.
• I'm not so sure about Deena Kastor's avocado enchiladas.
• I thought the footage of Chicago was awesome. I love that city.
• There were a few chuckles in the crowd everytime they showed Carey Pinkowski who is the race director. If you don't know, Chicago 2007 was a disaster.
• John "The Penguin" Bingham makes a good point. Every marathon participant pays the same entry fee. So if you follow his line of thinking and if you finish the course in 2 1/2 hours and the course is open for 6 hours you're not getting your money's worth. The longer you're on the course the more value you're getting for your dollar.
• The footage of Daniel saying that it was dangerous waiting for the hippopotamus was funny. He kept saying it was dangerous but yet he wouldn't leave!

The movie reminded me that the human spirit is amazing. And its the reminder that I needed after reading that email. (see above)

Answer
I decided that I wasn't going to change my stride just to make room for the four of them. So as we squeezed through that narrow part of the path she realized she was about to get body slammed. None of the other three made any effort to downsize so she had to run sideways for 5 of us to make it through that part of the path.

Have a good weekend everyone! See you latte!

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