Whiny Friday

Whiny point 1: I went for an eight-mile run on Wednesday night, through the nature preserves in my hometown. It was lovely except for some, ahem DIGESTIVE issues that started to plague me about halfway through. I figured it was no big deal; I finished my run, found a bathroom and went home thinking I would be fine. Two hours later I was balled up in bed with horrible chills and ongoing painful issues. They continued into Thursday; I took a sick day to deal and to also not disgust everyone I work with. I feel fine today and am planning to run tonight, though I'm a little terrified, considering my last two runs resulted in illness, dehydration and a general sense of wanting to die.



Whiny point 2: I lost my first toenail to running a few weeks ago (yay! I'm totally official and hardcore!). The part that's growing back in is now apparently ingrown and I think it might be infected (sadface). It hurts. I have had ingrown toenails before, on the same toe in fact, and I have always fixed them at home with a lovely cocktail of epsom salt soaking, hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin. I hope to fix this one too. But it hurts. And I am sure running on it isn't helping. And I can't stop running, obviously, so, sadface.

Whiny point 3: My watch is still broken (sadface). I took it to the watch repair place in town and it turns out it is a super-easy repair, they just have to order a new part (yay!). The part will take 2.5 weeks to get here (sadface). So in the meantime I'm just rocking my busted watch. I found out on Wednesday that I can still wrap it around my wrist, it's just crooked and ridiculous and hard to start and stop. I just hope they get the part in before the half marathon (sadface).

Whiny point 4: I have been meaning to write about this for awhile. You need to brace yourself because you may not want to be my blog friend after you read this, but:

I cannot. Even deal. With running skirts.

Okay look. I know that there are people out there who are faster and better than me who run around in running skirts. I saw some of them on my run Wednesday; those girls would have left my shorts-wearing booty in the dust at the starting line of any race. But it doesn't matter how good you are, if I see you running in a skirt, I cannot take you seriously. I just can't. There is NO REASON to be wearing a skirt when you're running. THERE IS JUST NO REASON. I am all for looking cute, I love clothes (particularly skirts and dresses), but just NO. Running is hard and it's fierce and it's awesome and if you do it regularly, you're automatically hardcore. There's just no reason to throw a little skirt into that mix. I assume those skirts have shorts under them, so really, what are you getting out of wearing one except looking like you are a tennis player who got lost on the way to a doubles match? I JUST CAN'T. I AM SORRY. And I need you to know that this is coming from a girl who used to try on her mother's tennis skirts in high school and wish I had a reason to wear one. STILL NO.

I am happy to have gotten that off my chest. These are the things that keep me up at night, you know?

SO. In less whiny-pants news, my blogging bff Melissa gave me a blogging award! I don't really know what this means, but I like her, so I am happy!



So, 10 things about me:

1.I'm a vegetarian. I stopped eating meat when I was 13 and went to see the movie Babe with my grandma. We walked out of the theater and I said, dramatically, "I am never eating meat again." My grandma apparently didn't take me seriously because she ordered a sausage pizza for dinner, then got very angry when I wouldn't eat it. "It's COW, NOT PIG!" was her argument. I haven't eaten meat since then, though it took me some time to completely phase out seafood. Obviously the reason I don't eat meat now has little to do with Babe and more to do with animal welfare, but that is, in fact, why I stopped initially.

2. I can't dive. I am a pretty good swimmer, but I never advanced beyond the "intermediate" level of swimming lessons because I just can't dive. I can't do it. I don't know how you contort your body in that way, I don't know how you do it without getting water up your nose and I don't know how you don't freak out and belly-flop at the last second. I would like to learn how to do this at some point, though frankly holding my nose and jumping in works just as well.

3. I'm an only child. I'm always sort of shocked when people in my real life are surprised by this fact because I think I'm a pretty textbook only child. I don't think I'm particularly spoiled, though my parents are amazing and are very, very, very good to me, but I was mature from a young age because I hung out with a lot of adults; I am extremely comfortable meeting new people, I'm extroverted and I still, at 29, have to frequently remind myself that I won't always get things my way.

4. I don't really have any body hang-ups. This is a fairly recent development, I had a really unhealthy relationship with my body for a long time. I don't know if this comes from getting older or if it comes from realizing that nobody's perfect, but these days I'm happy with and thankful for my body. Of course there are parts of my body I would change (for me, it's pretty much just my stomach), but I don't care or stress about them like I used to. It is what it is. My body lets me do what I do, and for that reason alone, it's perfect.

5. I kind of miss my tongue ring. (SADFACE) I had my tongue pierced from the time I was 22 until last October. I took it out right after my trainwreck break-up because I decided, in one instant, that it was time to be a grownup. I loved my tongue ring, for no reason really other than that it was fun to play with, but I think that at a certain age you start to look a little ridiculous running around with piercings like that. I decided awhile ago that 28 was that age for me, but I never felt compelled to remove it until my world kind of fell apart. That sounds dramatical. But it's true!

6. I can't keep a plant alive to save my life. I thought I would have good luck with a cactus. But then my cat ate it.



7. I would like to own a house solely so that I can rescue more animals. Not a TON more, I'm not a crazy hoarder. But I would like to get my rabbit a companion, and I would like to have a dog. I will not do any of this in the near future. Apartment people already think I'm insane with my three pets, and that's before they meet said pets and realize how ridiculous all of them are. I just can't help it, I'm so passionate about animal rescue. I don't understand how people dump their pets at shelters and I also don't understand why anyone ever goes to a breeder when there are so many homeless pets out there.

8. Possibly I have a little bit of a bleeding heart.

9. Peonies are my favorite flower. I think because I feel like they are the flower embodiment of my life: big, messy, ridiculous, clumsy, falling all over themselves and above all, beautiful.

10.I have double-jointed arms. Here is a photo I just took that will hopefully illustrate this:



This usually grosses people out. My grandmother and my mom both have arms like this, and I never really understood why people think it's gross. Maybe YOUR arms are the gross ones! (Also, I realize that photo is going to make you super-jealous of the hot wood paneling in my office. I know. It's okay.)

The end. If you are:
Stopping For Daisies
Tami Taylor or
Words To Run By, you should participate. :) *

*there are other people I want to tag but then I would have to out myself as a blog stalker of people who don't read my blog so I am not going to. STEALTH.