Trails, Toenails, Ales and Smails (smells)

Boy, it's Hump Day already here for Coot-a Kinte. No, I'm not a former slave or even a current slave, just a white collar white dude (a slave in another sense, I guess). Currently, my collar is blue but that's just how the wardrobe worked out. Anyway, I am sore in places that I didn't even know had muscles and I'm not exactly sure why. What I do know is that your lungs can't supply your muscles with enough oxygen when you just gave blood.

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Stupid Ribs

Take for example the spot beneath, but superficial to my bottommost left rib. I'll give you a second to figure that out...

The spot that hurts when you're out of shape and try to run too fast. Well I don't consider myself to be out of shape, but that spot is killing me today. It feels like a cramp even as I sit here typing. There's even a knot there like you get in your shoulder or thigh. All I know is that I have the Live on the Lake race tonight, so I guess I'll be running injured. Suh-weet. Plus my right index toenail is blackening nicely. It's my first black toenail so I was sure to brag about it during my first run last night. Everyone "awwww"ed like I was cutting my first tooth. Like throwing up at the end of a race I guess it's a rite of running passage. Check and check.

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Teetotaling Total

In other news, yesterday marked the 18 month anniversary of me getting on the proverbial wagon. I was planning on giving everyone the full story, but then I thought it might sound too much like I was looking for pity, which I'm not. Plus I know that some of you don't like to hear about how great everything is, so I'll tuck the story away for my grandkids.

I planned on doing something nice for myself but like every other event in life I forgot. Like your mother's birthday, you remember every single day until the last week when you should be buying/sending a gift/card. Then when you remember again it's too late. It wasn't until after my "easy 5-miler" in Pittsfield State Forest with the Crazy Running Group that I remembered. Lacking pie, cake, noise-makers, other people, balloons and clowns I decided to take myself for a celebratory run. I peeled off my muddy clothes (that's a whole nother story) and changed into fresh running gear, plugged into my iPod, pounded some water and a ClifBar and hit the streets. I had told CPG that I might stop by and check her out at volleyball, so that's where I headed. Apparently she didn't get the message, so I was met with a less-than-enthusiastic "Oh, what are you doing here?" greeting. AWKWARD! (sung by Georgia Mass Choir). I hung for a few minutes, just long enough to get the hint and headed for home.

It turns out that the volleyball courts at the Softball Complex are further from my house than I thought. After the "5" miles on trails - which had to be much more because it took an hour and a half - I wasn't prepared for another 5.5 - 6 miles on the roads. Oh well, it's a celebration bitches.

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Dinner and Binners

When I got home, I hooked up a strawberry/peach/orange smoothie for dinner. While cleaning up the dishes I found out that I had melted the lid of a Nalgene bottle to the heating element in bottom of the dishwasher. Sweet, I think the only way to get it off is to heat it back up and pull it off. That should smell delicious! I took pictures but failed to upload them to the PC, you'll have to wait for those.

I was so irked about that, I just gave up and drowned my sorrows into a bowl of peanut butter cup ice cream. No, first was the nachos then the ice cream. I was low on calories and salt, so I felt justified. A little TV with my lap cat (Binners) and I was off to bed.

That's all I have to say about that.

Over and Out,
Old Coot