Doin' it for the beer

I thought about posting last night, but the couch was beckoning and basically I only moved from it yesterday to run up the street and attempt to get a pedicure so someone else would have to rub my stinky, aching feet. And of course, they were already closed.

First, the race. We rocked! I think there were about 10 of my friends doing the race - everyone finished, most of us did as well if not better than last year, and we were all happy at the end. I had teamed up with my friends Beth and Stacee so we set out early yesterday with our power bars and Propel water with the hopes that we would at least make it across the finish line. I knew I could - but Stacee and Beth each have their own issues to contend with. Beth has some kind of congenital hip deformity that makes her almost slightly pigeon-toed on one leg, so by Mile 4 she was pretty much cooked. She was a real trooper, though, and she stuck it out the best she could and then was very cool about me sprinting the last 1/2 mile to the finish. Stacee had a baby back in November and this was her first real exercise since probably the race last year - so she lagged back behind us while we powered on and tried to keep her boobs from exploding milk all over the other participants. Good times, people! She was upset at her time, but I think considering that she hadn't had much physical activity in a year she did really, really well. She finished about 25 minutes after I did. I was so proud of my peeps!

The other highlight was that Joey and Monkey Man were actually there this year, Monkey Man had a sign that said "Go Mommy Mom!" and they were cheering on the runners. They have never, ever come to see me in a race so I got really emotional to see my boys there to support me - especially knowing that Joey wasn't wild about trying to find parking, dragging Monkey Man through the crowds, and all that jazz. It was awesome.

Now for the nitty gritty. Beat last year's time by 15 minutes, and my "best" time in my last race last year by 2 minutes. I was hauling ass. Not to mention we had decided to go out for beer and this fabulous gourmet pizza afterwards so I was hungry and motivated. I think that next year we're going to get shirts that say "Doin' it for the beer".

We finagled our way down to the pizza place and sat outside on the deck. We ate nachos. We ate salads. We ate pizza with shrimp, feta cheese, and tomatoes with white sauce. And beer. It was gorgeous outside yesterday so it was a perfect, perfect day.

I crashed on the couch when I got home and slept for two hours. The boys had gone out of town in the afternoon to go to some motocross stunt show about 2 hours away with Flash and the kids, so I had the house all to myself. This can be good and bad, because sometimes when I get alone in the house for too long I start getting a little blue and lonely - especially when I'm overtired. So I started watching a Flip This House marathon on A&E and that pretty much cured that. Kind of silly, but I love seeing these people dealing with these shitty houses because I think they are brave, brave, brave.

The boys came in around midnight last night - I was comatose and drooling on the couch - and are still sleeping. And I am up. Of course.

And, I found out last night - no pictures. Joey forgot the camera, dammit. I am hoping to get some from the official photographers of the race, but we'll see. I guess considering he sat out there for an hour waiting on me, I can let this one slide. This time.

Off to take some sinus medication and maybe a little Motrin. Honestly, I'm not as stiff and sore as I thought I'd be. It's kind of strange.

*****

And just wanted to mention, because I'm a sucker for dogs, that Cat Door and Mrs. Cat Door had to put their 23-year-old dog Dune Bug to sleep on Friday. Dune had been in really bad shape for about a year, but the Mrs. refused to put him to sleep - hell, she had the dog longer than she's had Cat Door. Well, things kind of came to a head last week - Dune fell in the yard and then stopped eating, so Cat Door finally talked the Mrs. into putting Dune down. Dune was blind, had no teeth, could barely walk, and really should've been put down a long, long time ago. But I know how hard it is to let go. When my beloved Brutus died 10 years ago from heart failure, I cried for 3 days and I still get really emotional thinking about him. When you've had someone in your life for that long, it makes it so hard to do what should be the right thing but feels so damn wrong.

So, nighty night Dune. Have fun chasing squirrels in Heaven.