Door'd

I'm on a roll here, but this time, it's for all the wrong reasons. Had a nice little jog this morning in order to keep things loose for tomorrow's 5K that I've been looking forward to and it went well. Humid, but I got a good stretch in after I got back. Got my paycheck in the mail yesterday so I thought I'd swing by the bank on my way to work. Erica's car is in the shop getting a new ball bearing that I correctly diagnosed, so she had mine and I had the trusty Trek 4500. I get in and out of the bank without a hitch and I'm rolling down Grandview Avenue towards the Global Living Building, cars on my left, parked cars on my right... cars on my left slowing because of a parallel parker ahead, I slow as well and move to pass on the right and BAM... car door swings open and my bike and I lose that battle. I sat there for a second as my brain did a quick diagnostic check. Everything seemed ok, so I got up. Lower right leg took a pretty good beating but I was walking, so that's half the battle. It was a pretty busy section of Grandview and by this time, folks had rushed out to see if I needed help. Being the hard-headed individual I was raised to be, I decided that I'd chain my busted bike up somewhere close and walk it off. The guy who had opened the door was FREAKED. Shaking like crazy, offering to take me to the hostpital. I gave him my card, told him to email me thinking the best of him would prevail and waved him off. So I made it down the hill and to the bp station where I picked some ice and Advil. I can take care of this myself, thank you. It just sucks that I won't be able to break a world record in the 5ooo meters tomorrow morning.

The guy did email me back and is more than willing to pay for any damages, so I guess the point is moot, but at the end of the day, whose at fault? Cars don't get behind me in traffic, they pass me on the left... so when traffic slowed to allow for the parallel parker, and I have a lane to the right of those cars, why can't I continue on? It's not like I was being reckless. I slowed as well. It's a good thing, too. That little accident could've been a lot worse than what it was. If you ride a bike on the street, it's not a question of "if" you'll have an encounter with a car, but rather "when" you will have an encounter with a car. One thing's for sure, after 30 years, my nine lives are about up.

Scrabbbbbled

I got beat last night in Scrabble by the girl in the bottom right corner. All tiles were used and in the end, she got me by a point. I was leading most of the game, but she posted 50 points on me in the later stages to set herself up for the final lunge. What's worse is that this has happened before. The scores were higher as we were smarter then... and she beat me by three points, instead of just one. It's tough playing with her though. She never... EVER... gives up the Triple Word Score. There was nearly a border of unused spaces encircling our game last night because neither of us were willing to let the other one prosper. Cagey.

I was perusing my satchel yesterday looking for past training guides to help me piece together one for the Monumental and I came across a $10 gift card I got not too long ago from The Running Spot in Cincinnati. It was for finishing in the top 10 of the Mini Heart Marathon's Two-Beat Challenge (run the 5K and the 15K back-to-back). It's the first time I've ever gotten prize money... although I did get a plaque at the Lehman Alumni 5K. I'm unwilling to accept it though. I just don't think I'm ready to turn pro. And what if the NCAA finds out about this and yanks my eligibility for the 2009-10 OSU football season. I can't imagine Coach Tress being too happy about a $10 mishap.

We're heading home this weekend to run a local 5K and pick up some things for the wedding. This race will be what I base my decision on. Stay tuned.

Honey-Do

Bottom line... I came home for lunch. I had clothes in the dryer that needed to be fluffed and folded so the queen bee would have nothing to hinder her laundry night. Mission accomplished. Check that off the list. I also ate a fruit cup... or half of it. I left the honeydew for another day.

I hit a small milestone this morning on my run. It's the first year I've kept a detailed log of my running and right around mile seven, I cracked the 1000-mile mark for 2009. It's roughly 35mpw, which is nothing, but it's still cool to see the four digits up on the log.

Untitled

I can't really bitch and complain much more about the way weddings work these days. At some point, you're just beating a dead horse while less and less people care and actually hate you because some actually like the way weddings work these days. The hardest thing for me to swallow was the gift registry. Yes, yes... I get it. It makes the process easier. People are going to get you something regardless of whether you want them to or not, but I feel like "gift registry" is slightly misleading. I feel "Here, buy me this" is a little more true to the game.

Where's the fun in that? Isn't life about chance? Aren't we supposed to harness our talents and use them in extraordinary ways? Yes, I actually would like to see what Aunt Rita brings to the table. I've got creative friends. Why stifle that creativity on a centrifuge for lettuce? Admittedly, it was hard to justify gunning down those bar codes for half the stuff I put on the "buy me this" list.

And this is where it gets deep... uh oh. I feel like we used to ask ourselves "Do I need this?" and marketing has ever so subtly shifted that question to "Will I need this?". Big box stores thrive off this mentality. I was at home over the weekend and got to looking at my dad's mess of tools in the garage. Every single item up there was purchased for a precise use. He's built up quite an arsenal over time... but it was based on need. And I'd say there's a piece or two that was passed down. The wood planer had to come over on some boat.

I seriously put a couple of shovels on the list. I can't tell you the last time I used a shovel. Sure, I can see a use for that shovel down the road, but why am I strapping stuff to my back now that I don't need? It confuses me, but in the end, you just play the game. And honestly, we're pretty damned fortunate to be able to do any of this at all.

Kitteeee-KAT

Finished the invites Saturday morning after an all-nighter, so I headed home for a little R&R and to see my niece. Erica had a bridal shower in Cincinnati so she was there all weekend. I got some sleep and I got to run my favorite route... twice. Saturday night and Sunday morning. My brother and sister rode bikes alongside me Sunday morning which was a good time... or at least I got a kick out of it. Lauren seemed enthralled with the kitteee-KAT and the pupEEE. She would go into the cat's room several times throughout the day... always standing at a safe distance and just to look. The cat, of course, could care less.

Ready for a Break

These are the only photos I've taken in two weeks. Lame. And that really about sums it up. Three project completion dates zeroed in on me and culminated in the perfect storm of me not sleeping and being a pain in the ass to deal with. A couple of them are still floating and causing me grief, but those, too, shall pass. I wish I were an event planner, not a designer, so that my skill set would not have required me to do my wedding invites, but rather, get someone else to do them. So those should be going out tomorrow. The only hitch is that I ordered some labels from a place that has no "Rush" capabilities. They're in Indiana... go figure. So, I'll probably be going with some generic p.o.s. that I find at Michael's... assuming they have them.

What's next? A 5K on the 25th. Finally, another race, but I've got to get me left leg back into shape. It's pretty buggered up at this point and I think I'm only making it worse by trying to run six days a week. Fridays are usually my long runs and I took today off to see what would help and what won't. I'm thinking that it's got to do with a pulled muscle as I can still technically run on it and it only gets better over the course of the run... that is until I quit running and then it's a nice throbbing pain.

But I'd rather get to Indy injury-free than with a bum leg. I've decided to do the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 7th. Columbus is three weeks before so I might do that as my last long run and just take it easy and enjoy the race. I'm actually looking forward to it. Tough to pass up your hometown marathon, especially when there's potential for pancake fights.