Sunday, April 25, 2010

Marathons: Just Another Morning Jog For Calvin

The Nashville Marathon was yesterday.  I think the real name is Music City Marathon, but I am not sure.  This was Josh and I's 3rd year experiencing it, and the best one.  The first year we didn't know it existed, until at 6:30am, after a long night of heavy drinking, we were awoken by cheers, clapping, noise makers, and a band playing outside of our window.  When we looked out there were hundreds of people everywhere.  That year was the worst because all we wanted to do was sleep in!

The next year we knew it was coming and we knew someone who was running in it, Calvin, my adviser.  So we tried, unsuccessfully, not to drink too much the night before..and were able to get up at 7 or 8...later than I had wanted.  We had also planned to sit outside and drink mimosas and have friends join us.  That didn't happen.  We did sit outside and we had bagels and coffee from Bongo Java, the coffee shop next door...but we lived in a big cheering spot and so we couldn't sit on our porch and watch, but had to stand up by the street if we wanted to see Calvin...which we didn't.  He's pretty sneaky.

The Marathon goes from about 6:30 to 11:00...so that's a long and early time to stand around and clap.

This year we woke up only 30 min. later than we wanted and made it to my friend Ayla's place just in time to see the front runners pass.  We sat on a bus stop bench and cheered everyone on.  The runners really like cheering..and we were in a pretty barren spot and were the only cheerers.  It was an important spot though because it was the 8th mile...which means you have come so far, but have soooo much farther to go.  Calvin ran this year too, but we didn't see him this time either.  Ayla saw some girls she knew and Josh saw someone he used to work with, and we saw Tamara and her uncle running it too!  That was pretty awesome.  Our hands went numb and swollen from clapping so much! Oh, we also saw our friend John volunteering and picking up the orange cones in the street after all the runners had past on one side (they run down one side and then eventually turn around and run back the other side of the road).  We cheered him on too.  It was a perfectly cool day, but then at 10am the storms rolled in and we rolled out.  We went to Bongo Java again for breakfast and coffee.  I petted a large dog there.

Back at home we took it easy and drank beer all day.  Slowly though and didn't get drunk....just full.  We watched Bones off the computer, read books, played WoW, played a card game, sat out on the porch and enjoyed the rain, and basically did everything we normally do, but in one day!

On the way home from the race we were listening to an NPR call-in trivia game...which you should listen too as well, they are quite hilarious.  The caller contestant said he was sitting home in the dark because the power went out from the storm.  I was like, Wow, it must be stormy all over the country because we are in a storm now too.  (it was...thunder, lighting, monsoons and all week the news has been talking about tornadoes).  Then the announcer guy asked the caller if the tea he was drinking was sweet tea, and the caller was all "Yeah! I am a Tennessean man." and Josh and I, were like...what if it's this storm he's in!?!?!  Then, later the announcer said that the guy was from Murfreesboro, which is where Josh is going go to school and so IT WAS the storm we were in that took out his power!  We still had power when we got home which was good.

I've noticed that when Ackbar coughs up a hairball, he will walk around meowing at me in a more insistent manner than normal and won't leave me alone.  Then, when I notice the hairball and clean it up, he stops.  I think he doesn't like his hairballs laying about as much as I don't like it.  Which I appreciate very much.  I never get mad at him for them because they are not his fault.

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