It's blog time again!

It’s been so long since I last blogged…I think there’s too much to write about today, so I’ll keep it on the marathon. Today was the Twin Cities Marathon and it could not have been a more glorious morning for a 26.2 mile run! Seriously…sunshine, blue skies, barely a breeze, 40-50 degrees and it’s no joke! This truly is the “Most Beautiful Urban Marathon”! Not that I’ve done them all but WOW! There wasn’t a single part that was anything less than spectacularly gorgeous. The course ran through our beautiful downtown Minneapolis, around 3 lakes, along a gorgeous wooded parkway, another lake, followed the Mississippi River, past the governor’s mansion and several historic homes/other mansions past the Cathedral and finally ending at the state capitol in St Paul. The course was littered from beginning to end with (what was estimated to be 300,000) spectators and all of this was done with a backdrop of bright fall colors. WOW! Did I say that already?
Some of you might not know the story of why I wanted to do this particular marathon. Oh, you may know that I registered because I was afraid that I’d get depressed once I moved here and stop running, so I rationalized the decision something like this…I paid too much to quit (although I wanted to many, many times) and I pretty much gave a social life for the summer because I was training. And, yes, that made me depressed. So I had to be honest with myself as to the real reason that I was running this marathon...atonement.
Once upon my former life, in 1999, this marathon, the Twin Cities Marathon, ran by my house on Minnehaha Parkway. My new (and now one of my closest) friend Elizabeth and I stood on the sidelines to watch the runners and cheer them on. There were hundreds of people cheering, smiling and laughing and I thought “I never knew that running could be so much fun!” I mean it was a real honest to goodness social event, and we all know that I love me a good party. I saw shirts that said “first marathon” and I was astounded by the goal that these strangers were achieving. Then a man ran by with a shirt that said:
Front: This is John.
See John Run.
Back: John is stupid.
I laughed out loud and thought “I LOVE RUNNERS!” They are quirky and not afraid to laugh at themselves. Well, by the time I got home I was so excited! I told my (then) husband about it and said “I want to do that someday!” His response was “That’s stupid.” and (with an asshole look on his face) “You could never do that, Cindy. Do you know how hard that is?” I was crushed! I filed for divorce 3 months later, not because of his attitude, but perhaps that was the moment that my blinders (of love) fell off and I started to see him for the man he was. I took me 7 years to run my first marathon, and it was not just hard, but excruciating. My time was 5:24. I’ve been unhappy with that for 4 years. Today was a day of reckoning for me. It was the day that I saw my goal come through to fruition.
My time, while still waiting for the official one, was definitely a PR, shattering my previous one by 40 minutes (I think). It was definitely a big day for me, filled with many firsts. In addition to my PR (1) I ran the majority of this race with my friend Annie, it was her first and the first time I ran with someone (2). It was awesome! We were, in fact making such good time that I ignored my urge to stop to pee and instead ended up peeing myself (3). Oddly, it didn’t seem gross until I caught a whiff of myself. Disgusting! My friend Kristen S once told me that I wasn’t a real runner until could pee behind a bush along the race course (which I did that day at Sonoma Carneros) so I’m wondering what, exactly, this make me now. Anyone? It was also the first time I cried when I saw someone I wasn’t expecting and that I love out cheering me on. Thank you, Stacy. (4) I cried for a couple of reasons; one of which was that my legs were cramping SO bad that when I tried to kick it out my toes curled up inside my shoes to the point where I thought I might need to have them amputated (5) and was having serious doubts moments before I saw her about being able to finish. Nothing like rounding a corner and seeing your friend (and son) smiling and screaming at the top of their lungs…alas the tears, and truth be told they are streaming as I type this (6). The toe thing could have been, and I’m just throwing this out there, because I was wearing a brand spanking new pair of running shoes…it was their maiden voyage. (7) That could also be why I am going to be 10 minus 6 toenails after today. (8) Thank god the weather is getting cooler so no one has to see them. It’s really grody. Oh, and when I was feeling like I couldn’t go on at mile 23 a woman actually said to me “You can’t stop now! You’ve been my pacer for the whole race.” What? Me? (9) And finally…I couldn’t have done this without Nick. I never knew what it felt like to have someone standing at various spots to support me with his presence, snacks, hydration, smiles, encouraging words and even a kiss. :() (10)
Soooo, with all of that being said, my day of reckoning couldn’t have been better (or grosser). I loved it! Now, if you’ll excuse me…I have some really smelly clothes to throw in the wash and then I’m going to pass out!

Birthday, birthday, birthday

Birthdays have historically been a way for me to, shamelessly, well celebrate me. As far back as I can remember I basked in the glow of attention and everything that accompanied it. In fact as an elementary schooler I was always irritated that I was never recognized with a birthday cupcake from the Linda the lunchroom lady. Seriously I’ve carried this around for A LOT of years. Maybe this is why I look to go to the nth degree to bring my birthday to forefront. As many of you know I neither shied from the spotlight nor failed to find opportunities to move that light right onto myself. In recent years August 11 brought The Vodka Party (only those with bottles of vodka could enter), the Trifecta where the roof almost caved in, and last year The 40 Days to 40 Countdown with the Birthday Breakfast Surprise. This year, on the 41st anniversary of my birth, I would be happy to report that it was all joyful and mayhem. Notsomuch. I suddenly found myself in the fetal position sobbing! What the heck? I was suddenly overwhelmed with the loss of family and my incredible network of friends. I couldn’t stop crying thinking of the life that I left to start this new one and wondered in frustration how many more times I would be debilitated by the loss and hoping, each time, it will be the last. Let’s hope this time it was.

What's new?

Well can you believe it? It's August and I have nothing to report. Nothing friggin' new to report! Not a darn thing! No job. Still in Eden Prairie. Still training for the Twin Cities Marathon. Still going through my savings hoping that I will have at least $1.00 left in my account before I have a direct deposit from a new employer. And still hoping that my friends will get on a plane to visit me before the snow starts falling in September. Okay, not really, October. Except Lilly, because she thinks it will be "fun" to visit in the winter,so maybe I can convince her to come out for The 124th Winter Carnival at the end of January where I have secretly always wanted to win the beauty contest and be named "Ice Queen". Okay, again, NOT the "Ice Queen", it's actually the "Queen of Snows" but that's way less funny. So, as I was saying...Nothing is new.

Home alone

So here I am, home alone. It's quite possibly the strangest transition that I have had to make since moving to Minnesota. Moving in with someone, even as a temporary thing, meant giving up all of that alone time I had really grown to love over the years. I understand that my "mom" friends might be a little miffed at that last statement, since alone time is perhaps the rarest of luxuries for you and I also understand that I am so completely fortunate to be with my boyfriend, especially because I couldn't do that for so, so long, but it really is difficult and a little bit draining. Don't misunderstand me, though, I love Nick and I love being here with him, but sometimes I just want to sit around in solitude doing, quite frankly, anything I want to. Today I am doing some much needed laundry, cleaning, reading and finishing up a long overdue project I started before I left Sacramento (sorry Kellie). I know I can do each of these things while Nick is here, but it just seems to be moving along more efficiently today while I am alone. It's probably in my head, but I am loving today! Is that weird? I mean, seriously...no one looking over my shoulder while I attack the bathroom armed with a toothbrush. Not having to worry about the Chinese Laundry(ish) with my clothes hanging all over the house as I let everything air dry. No raised eyebrow and vampire comments while I continue reading the Twilight books (I'm in Eclipse) and I can have anything on in the background while I tackle Kellie's closet. Is it odd that I have the British Open on? Oh well, it reminds me of Nick and makes me feel close to him while he's away. Wait a minute!!!! Well, maybe the best part of being alone is looking forward to having my boyfriend back home again.

Reunion "copy and paste" post

Nick and I were in his hometown of Spencer, Iowa (June 26). His mom had hip surgery and it was his 20 year HS reunion. The reunion was at the county fairgrounds, at the 4H barn and the attaching deck (I'm not kidding). It was also BYOB, which his friends all pitched in $10 for a keg (also not kidding). This is important to know because when the tornado siren went off (again not kidding) and Nick suggested we (he and I) go to his mom's basement to wait out the storm I said "Grab the keg! We're going to Vesta's!" So...keg, food (pulled pork sandwiches, slaw, etc.), and 1/2 of the people at the reunion (about 40) all headed the 6 blocks to Nick's mom's to wait out the storm. It was a great party and when the last 8 people finally left, at 4am, we were exhausted! Nick looked at me with eyebrows raised and said "You throw a great party." It was the first time it occurred to me that he didn't really mean for everyone to go to his mom's and she might not be pleased with the whole thing (she was still in the hospital) but he was right...it was a great party!

No joke

Sooo....I was at the airport yesterday, waiting for my flight to Sacramento, and got to chatting with a gal that was on my first flight. She was in Minneapolis for business and is there quite often. She really hates it! As the words were coming out of my mouth I amazed myself. I was not only defending the city I've been complaining about for a month, I was telling her what a great city it is and even gave her my number to call me the next time she's in town. I am going to take her out and about to show her how fabulous it is! WTF???? I guess I can liken Minneapolis to a younger sibling...I can beat it up all I want, but if someone else tries to...watch out! I will duel to to the death. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but still. I suppose I am happier than I thought. That's good news. :)

Run, Run, Run!

Well it's been so incredibly hot, but the training must continue. We, the running group and I, went out for our Tuesday night run. Some may not realize that the temperature doesn't exactly vary from morning to night (and all the points in between) so my plan to get up early on days such as this to run while it's cool, I've learned, doesn't really make a tremendous impact on my overall body temperature, so the evening running with the group, while unbelievably hot, beats running alone on am almost equally hot morning. (Hidden message...I miss the Phat Girls) Anyway, we took an alternate route on Tuesday, to try and shelter ourselves from the heat and sun. We ran off the usual lakeside paths and on some trails that wound through the wooded areas around the city. It was quite beautiful and I can't tell you how relieved I was that the majority of these trails were completely shaded, regardless of how many trees and bushes that skimmed my body, head to toe. I stupidly decided against running with my new bff, my water bottle, because, well, I really hate carrying it while I run. (Baby!) Wouldn't you know that the first water fountain was broken? Just my luck. By the time we made it to the next one I was feeling a little light headed, my muscles were cramping up and what appeared to be a bit of a rash was starting around my ankles. Fortunately this was the turn around point. I was glad to be turning around and heading back. It was then that I noticed the mosquitoes that had decided to come along with me for this journey. Three of them on my legs. Gross! When I got home Nick, as he usually does whenever I leave the house, hoping that I had the greatest time ever so I won't entertain thoughts of moving back home, said "Did you have fun?" To which I replied. "It was awesome! I got dehydrated, some heat cramps touch of heat exhaustion and the run through the woods produced multiple mosquito bites that I am hoping don't turn into West Nile (do people get that here or are they immune because of the vast amounts of mosquito activity present), possible poison oak or ivy (I'm not sure which resides here) and maybe some lyme disease. Again, awesome!" Fortunately, all that has lingered are the 13 mosquito bites and the realization that I should NEVER register for anything that requires intense training during the summer.

The Sloth

So after a weekend of running 11 miles, swimming 1.25 miles and walking for about 2 1/2 hours I was a completely lazy bum today. Why do I feel so guilty? I feel like I should have been out running, biking, walking, exploring, etc. Why, oh why, did I lay aroung watching "Divine Design" all day? Oooohhhh...that's right...it was raining, no POURING most of the day, with several funnel clouds spotted. Oh my gosh! I'm going to have to learn to treadmill again. Maybe I should just scrap the whole exercise thing and consume more and more of my favorite crop, grapes (for wine to be exact), and stay drunk until I get a job. Sigh.

Interviewish tomorrow. Wish me luck!!!!

Day Off

In keeping with my "no more complaining" theme I took yesterday off from the blog. Why you ask? Well, I decided it was time to finally go into the MN Board of Cosmetologists to transfer my Estheticians License from California. It turns out that I have to have some information transferred and it's going to take about 5 months!!!! Soooo, then I checked on the massage therapy certification and guueesss whaaat? There are no requirements to go into business as an MT, but you can't get hired unless you are National Certified, which is 400 more class hours! That's about 9-10 more months. So much for my "I'll always have my trade to fall back on." WTF??? Can I catch a break for crying out loud!! Then, today I went on my 15th interview. I went on my 15th interview today! That's an average of 5 a week, btw. They liked me, but as usual nothing for me at this time. Seriously! This is getting ridiculous. I know that eventually something will happen. I mean it has to, right. Just by the law of averages (I think that's the law) the more I interview that more likely I will be offered a job. I suppose that on the bright side I haven't been offered a crappy job that I would really, really hate but feel like I had to accept it simply so I could be employed. Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day and it happens to be a holiday weekend so now one will be looking for employees which lets me off the hook for being rejected. Another day off. Sigh.

Promises, promises.

Remember when I said I wasn't going to complain. Well....I have just spent the past hour calling phone numbers to get information on transferring my esthetician and massage therapy background to Minnesota. I had written emails months ago and left messages, but no replies. I thought I should maybe wait until I got here to make it easier. HA!!! Here's what happened today (in a nut shell)...First I was told to go to the Department of Commerce website, but there wasn't any info to be found. Next I googled Dept of Cosmetology. Aha! Found it. I went to that website. At first it claimed that there was information on obtaining reciprocity for esthi licenses but there was only information on cosmetology. So I called the number. Disconnected. Tried another number. Fax machine. Tried a third number and it sounded like I woke someone up then he hung up on me. What? I tried it again, thinking I must have done something wrong Same voice, bu this time it was a voice mail for Dr SoandSo. Decided to write down the address and walk into the building. Let's hope it's still there. Okay, so maybe I'll have better luck with massage therapy. Googled it. Nothing. Googled massage schools and went onto a couple of sights hoping to see, at the very least, information on graduation hour requirements. Nothing. I then tried the State Attorney Generals office, hoping to at the very very least be pointed in the right direction. Disconnected. Hennepin County office. Disconnected. Then finally someone answered at the Minneapolis City Hall. Just as I thought I heard the angels sing HALLELUJAH! Stopped cold when the man I was speaking with had NO FRIGGIN CLUE what I was talking about. He told me to try the Attorney General. I told him the number is disconnected. Then he told me Maybe the Department of Commerce. Tried that also (see beginning of post). Then "Sorry. I don't know how to help you." Great! Next adventure...So I googled schools again and called one of them who told me that they only teach Reiki (which is a type of massage) so she didn't know the answer. WTF? Then, upon asking her for the name of a massage school in the area that might be able to help me she said "I'm sorry. I don't know any. Your best bet is to google massage therapy schools in the area and call one of those." To which I replied "That's what I did and it gave me you. Thanks anyway." WTF? Finally...one last chance with google. I called a school called "Center Point" and spoke with Jeannine who told me that there is no state licensing or requirements. It used to be run out of the Office of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, but they lost their funding, so it is not staffed. My best bet is to become nationally certified, through the NCBMT (which I already knew) and continue to take classes, but I NEED zero hours. Great. WTF??????

How do I adjust?

How long will it take for me to adjust to this new schedule? This afternoon running thing? Oye! I have had MAJOR abdomen pain both afternoons that I've run with the group. Am I running too fast? Too slow? Is it the water that I keep drinking because it's SO DAMN WARM in the afternoons? I will tough it out the 3 days a week that I join them, but I can tell you right now I am looking forward to Wednesday mornings with Amy and the Saturday long runs...7am!!! WooHoo!!!!
Today it took me about an hour and a half to cool off. I'm not sure how I am going to make it through to the marathon. Perhaps it will make me a better, stronger, faster runner. I hope so.

Begin Week 3

So after 2 weeks of crying (well, not entirely...I didn't cry last Tuesday) I have made up my mind that I chose this path and I am going to make the most of it. I'm a girl that loves a good party, but the 2 week long pity party had to end. As the saying goes, "put on your big girl panties...". So I did. After a 14 day stand off with myself, and really anyone and everyone that represented this so called new life, I decided to stop with the tears and shut the hell up! I have already made new friends, reconnected with old ones, made some good business contacts, joined a gym and, for the first time ever, joined an "official" running group. Oh, and I happen to be in love with a really great guy that simply wants to make me happy. All in all, not so bad. Sure, I miss my friends and my family. Absolutely I will miss 300 days of sunshine and geographically located within driving distance of everything I love to do...okay so I'm really just referring to the wine country...but still...I vow right here, right now, that from now on "feeling Minnesota" will be honest to goodness joy.