It was almost a "snow-go"

When I woke up last Sunday morning on the day of my race, I expected it to be pouring down rain-- what I did not expect was for it to be snowing. Yes, that's right: big, white flakes falling from the sky. As soon as the race began, the snow changed to rain, but it was FREEZING. Once I started running it wasn't so bad, but right before and after the race was pure torture-- I actually almost started crying afterwards when I was dripping wet and realized that my fingers felt like they had frostbite. Apparently it was the worst weather in the 25-year history of the St. Patrick's Day Dash, but what do you expect from a bizarre winter where Seattle has recorded record inches of snow? In many ways, though, the weather was the least of my troubles. This race happens to be the largest St. Patrick's Day race in the nation (apparently Seattle is really into its Irish heritage-- go figure), and there were 15,100 people running it. It was by far the most congested race I've ever run, and I spent most of my time trying to weave in and out of people. Needless to say I didn't break any records or set any PR's (not that I expected to, anyway, given my dearth of running in the past nine months or so), since the ridiculousness of how over-crowded the roads were made this race nearly impossible to run.

But it was still fun, as all races are, and now I'm excited for what I hope is actual spring weather during the next race that I run (maybe the end of April and/or mid-May).

Countdown to St. Patrick's Day Dash

Well, tomorrow is race day, and I have to wake up bright and early at 7am to head downtown to run the St. Patrick's Day Dash. My "cramming" for this race has gone better than expected: I ran the exact race distance (3.75 miles) twice this week, and was able to do it in a (what I thought was) respectable time. So I'm happy about that. Here's what I'm not happy about: tomorrow it's supposed to be windy and rainy with a high of 44 and an 80% chance of rain. In other words, a pretty unideal running environment: cold, wet, and early in the morning-- not my favorite, I must admit. And despite the fact that people might assume that I should be used to racing in the rain, given that I am in Seattle, after all, I have yet to actually run an official race in crappy weather. Believe it or not, of the 12 races I have run over the past nearly four years, not one of them has been rainy. So there, all you Seattle weather pessimists. It isn't always rainy here. But today it has been, and tomorrow it probably will be, too. Maybe I will run faster to get it over with sooner!

Who laid a big one?

I either have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, or I am legitimately unlucky when it comes to foul odors. Here's my latest incident: the other day I stepped into the elevator of my apartment building and was immediately accosted with an overwhelming smell of farts. Had I known beforehand that someone had dropped a bomb in the elevator (or maybe a few, judging by the intensity of the odor), I would have taken the stairs. But no. I was trapped as I descended three floors to the parking garage, locked in a flatulent chamber of toxic gas. Farting in a confined space is just plain cruel.

Am I supposed to know?

Am I supposed to know exactly what I want to do with my life right now? I feel like everyone I know is so self-assured and on a "path," and I feel like I have eight different paths going eight different directions, possibly with eight different dead-ends. Does anyone else feel like this? Sometimes I think I am the only one who feels like this, but I know (at least, I hope) that that's not true. All I know is that I'm 25 years old, and while that sounds like it means "adult" when I say it out loud and looks like the word "adult" when I write it down on paper, it's really just two numbers, joined together out of necessity of the passage of time, that have no connection to the word "adult."

Life was so much easier when I was (technically) a kid.

Bleh

The thought of life right now and everything about it at this very moment makes me want to puke.

WALL-E watches

Yesterday, I was reaching behind the passenger seat of my car to get something, when I stumbled across not one, but two, plastic blue WALL-E watches in their original cellophane packaging.

I have absolutely no idea where they came from, who they belong to, or why they were under the seat in my car. They look like Happy Meal toys or prizes from a cereal box...

If you or anyone you know has any information about the WALL-E watches, please contact me. In the meantime, I am the proud new owner of WALL-E watches, featuring blue plastic wristbands and a digital time display.