6.2

I finished the 10k on Saturday. Finished, but I'm not going to even tell you what my time is, it was so bad. I finished about 2/3 of the way down the list of finishers, which I'm okay with.
Lessons learned:

1. Go to the bathroom before you run a race. I thought I could hold it. But no. I had to stop about halfway through and hit the porta-potties.

2. No one can run through mud when it gets to a certain level. I'm not kidding, there was about 6 inches of slippery, wet mud that was simply unavoidable for about 2 miles of the race. I literally did not see one person who was able to run through it. When I finished, Dan told me that the first and second-place finishers had mud up to their thighs, just covered. Everyone else was just filthy, like me. I would bet that fewer than 1% of the finishers ran the whole course. I finished, though, and I got my registration. $88 later, I'm now officially signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25.

Otherwise, we had a great time in DC. After the race, we took a long NAP, then got some brunch and went to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. I really liked it, and I'm surprised that I've never been before. We saw the official portraits from the U.S. Presidents, which I really enjoyed. I learned some interesting things, like that Eisenhower became a painter himself when he sat for his portrait, and that Lyndon Johnson was kind of even bigger of a jackass than I thought. When Peter Hurd presented the portrait to him, he said "that's the ugliest thing I ever saw, get it out of here" and Johnson was slightly famous for using his size to intimidate people and stand over them. Kind of funny.

We later went bowling with Dan's running friends, and I proved my ability...I bowled three games, and my combined score was about 140. Seriously, I'm a HORRIBLE bowler. Dan and I then went to visit a friend of his at the bar where he works, and I...well, lets just say I was hating life on Sunday. I broke every rule of drinking - I drank cheap tap beer at the bowling alley, then drank the fullest-body red wine I've ever had...all on an empty stomach. I nearly lost it at brunch on Sunday.

Obviously, I was exhausted, and despite a two-hour nap after lunch, I was super-tired driving home. I had to stop halfway and pick up Colonel Mustard at my mom's house, but I HAD to be at work on time today, so my stay in Lynchburg was only about half an hour. I finally got on the road to Charlotte at 9 pm and was so sleepy, I had to stop somewhere about 80 miles away from Charlotte and take a power nap. I've NEVER had to do that, but I would have wrecked the car had I kept going. Luckily, though, Dan talked to me the rest of the way home so I wouldn't fall asleep. Needless to say, my workday today was TOUGH.

And it's now 6:36 and I'm wondering when I can go to bed.

Bank of America, eff you.

This is why I hate banks right now. They're being bailed out and now they're all saying "we can help the little guy overcome this economy"...yeah, thanks to the hundreds of billions of dollars they were given to bail them out of the fact that they lent money to deadbeats. Case in point? Today's Gchat conversation between me and my boyfriend. Backstory: when I got my raise, my file was shifted from one temp agency to a sister temp-to-hire agency because the account had outgrown a temp status. Because the new one didn't recognize me, they kicked back my time sheet and sat on it for two days. As a result, I got paid today instead of Tuesday for my last paycheck. As a result of the fact that I had to pay bills the same week, I overdrafted my account EVER so slightly for less than 12 hours. Yes, I should have had the money, but seriously - money's tight. Especially when AirTran charges me more to fly my suitcase to Texas than they charged to fly ME to Texas. More on that one later, but here it is: what's wrong with consumer lending and banking, in a 2-page summary.

11:34 AM
me: I overdrafted by TEN DOLLARS TOTAL and BofA wants to charge me 3 fees of $35 each for it
Daniel: damn
me: for less than 24 hours

12:29 PM
me: ahhhh...I went to BofA in the rain and waited to talk to a "personal banker", whatever that means...they refunded part of it but I still have to pay $48 for overdrafting by $11 for less than 24 hours. I wanted to yell and grab all the lollipops on my way out.
me: if I borrowed $11 from you today, and when I took it back to you the next day I was told to pay $48 in interest charges, you'd be arrested for loan sharking. I fail to see how this is any different.
Sent at 12:49 PM on Friday
Daniel: hahhaha
i'm sorry pants
Sent at 12:51 PM on Friday
me: grrr
me: it's okay I'm just sick of chasing my tail if you know what I mean
me: the guy was like "well we can help you set up some savings so you don't get into this in the future" and I was like "well, since I don't have a JOB thanks to your lovely firm, after June, I will HAVE NO SAVINGS."
me: I love how when you go in with a very human and real concern, they a) say "I can only do what the computer lets me" and b) belittle you like you have no financial responsibility and then suggest a line of CREDIT.
Daniel: hahaha
Daniel: I called (edited: his credit union) when my car broke down yesterday to double check that I don't have towing coverage (I don't), and then she said, "would you like to add it in case of breakdowns in the future?" I said no, that I might just get rid of the car. Then she said I was preapproved for a car loan and would i like to..." and I basically said, "Hey lady, I'm on the side of f**king 95, why don't we discuss a whole range of products now. Can I refinance my f**king boat and get an adjustable rate jumbo loan right now as well?"
Sent at 12:59 PM on Friday

An old cowboy, ready to run a race, and a bit of a pickle.

The picture is from our trip to Texas, I had zero time to adjust the settings on my camera, but I liked the way it turned out anyway. Some old cowboy at the gas station in the middle of nowhere.

I'm running the 10k on Saturday in Quantico, and I'm driving up to Washington DC tomorrow. I ran my last 2 miles to train for it today, and if all goes according to my calculations, I'm going to run it in about 65 minutes. I ran 5.5 in Texas in scorching heat on Sunday, and I only slowed to a walk three times, twice to get water along the trail, once because I felt myself overheating.

Other than that, I've been getting back to work in the office. I worked about 30 hours the week I was gone, but the work still came piling in as it seemed to sense my absence. I am meeting with my boss to discuss this tomorrow, but I'm curious to hear what others outside my company would say. I'm basically one person that picks up projects ranging from filing and data entry all the way to writing legal contract language, albeit without a law degree. It's nice to have a variety of work, but I typically get projects from people when they realize that they can't get it done in time themselves. As a result, almost everything comes to me as near-urgent. I learned well in previous positions to ask people for timelines when I get assignments, so I ask 90% of the time, with the remaining 10% of the work being things that have a built-in understanding of a timeline. The problem is that I can't do everything all at once to get everything to everyone right away. In my previous experience, I was lucky enough to have secretaries or interns, but my company is structured so that each unit is small and I AM the bottom rung.

So, when push comes to shove, how do any of you react in this situation? When everything is urgent, nothing becomes urgent, correct?

Elvis Perkins in Dearland

More pictures later, but this is from one of the shows we went to on Thursday - Elvis Perkins in Dearland. I discovered him when I heard a song of his on NPR and almost wrecked my car trying to get the name of the artist. I haven't heard a bad song of his ever since, and was really excited to see him in the lineup. They played a free show at the North Shore Auditorium yesterday and we decided to catch it right before we went running in the same park. I'm sure we looked pretty silly in workout clothes at a rock concert, but I loved it nonetheless. We were able to get extremely close (a welcome change from the likes of the Music Midtown experiences I remember) and while most of the crowd was there for a band called Cold War Kids that was immediately following EPID, I really liked the show. They closed with this song, and I'm hoping to buy their new CD pretty soon.

South by Mollypants: Night one.

We went to the first night of the SXSW music festival last night. This really is an awesome place to go see a band live - we were in a bar smaller than the average Athens bar, but it was such an awesome place to watch music. Last night we saw the Lubbock, Texas showcase - four different bands, most with some sort of twang in their music. They must have a hard time classifying a lot of this music - I think this show was listed as a mix of "alt country", "americana" and just plain old "rock".

We saw the Thriftstore Cowboys first, which was one of my favorites.


Then the Texas Belairs, who kind of had more cajun in them...Dan liked them best:


We finished up the night seeing Colin Gilmore. He was kind of old-fashioned, for lack of a better word. Covered Buddy Holly better than I've ever seen before.



Highlights of the night:
1. Great Venue. Seriously, you could sit on the steps of the deck and watch the band from there under the stars. They allow DOGS in there, for crying out loud. I made good friends with the dog that belongs to the lead singer of the Texas Belairs.
2. Amanda Shires of the Thrift Store Cowboys complimented me on my dress in the bathroom.
3. $10 cover plus 3 beers apiece: $50 for the entire night. Couldn't beat that price in Lynchburg.
4. I wore boots and a dress - awful nice to have your feet not throb the next morning from high heels.
5. Late-night breakfast at Kerbey Lane...biscuits and gravy. YUM.
6. I threw my name on an email list for the last act (I was actually trying to buy a CD from the first, but they had packed up - I didn't want to look like a jerk, so I put my name/email on the list)...I told him I live in Charlotte and sure enough, I got an email from him within 24 hours thanking me for attending and noting that he'd let me know when they come to NC. In a business so full of people who are so high on themselves, it's really nice to see bands actually appreciate people coming to see them.

626.55 miles of sucking wind.

Six hundred twenty six miles, nine hundred sixty eight yards.

Between February 23, 2009 and October 25, 2009, I will run exactly that distance.

Holy Crap.

I bought Hal Higdon's book Marathon this past week and was laughing at the chapters on why people decide to take the challenge on. People ask questions like "so how long is the marathon you're running?" (answer: 26.2 miles, same as every other marathon in modern times) and "you think you might win?" (answer: no, I will consider it "won" when I cross a bridge at mile 19, which means that they won't be able to tell me I'm not allowed to finish, and I don't care if I finish right after some 90-year-old snail, as long as I finish and get the damn t-shirt) and "is it hard?" (answer: go run right now and tell me it was easy after 26.2 miles) and Mr. Higdon, quite possibly one of the most insane members of our society ever to strap on a pair of sneakers, always has a funny response and way to motivate the other people who train with him. I'm not drinking the proverbial kool-aid, but I have gotten a few odd responses. Most have said it's a cool thing to shoot for, and most are sort of supposing that I'm doing it for Dan, seeing as it's the Marine Corps Marathon and all. Truthfully, while I'm extremely proud of him and would love to say that's what it's for, I don't think anyone runs 620-some-odd miles for anyone other than themselves. I wanted to do it because I enjoy a challenge - even though I enjoy bitching along the way - and because I'm sick of sitting around being the skinny-fat kid who weighs 100 lbs but hasn't ever been able to do a chin-up in her life. I don't think it's impossible - my mom ran marathons, triathlons, and ultramarathons when I was little, and I thought everyone's mom was a runner back then and that's what I would do when I grew up. Seriously, the woman ran a 50-mile race in the MOTHER-EFFING MOUNTAINS. AFTER THREE KIDS. I'm not getting to that level - EVER - but I do think she got a lot out of it when she did it. She seemed to really enjoy doing it, and she really seemed to like herself a lot because of it, even if she did pull in last - but finish - on that 50-mile race. So I grew up knowing that I COULD do it, and when I got older I figured out that it's just HARD. Now that I'm pushing the big three-oh, I figure I'd rather usher out my 20's in a much healthier fashion than the manner in which I entered. I don't remember the specifics, but I'm sure that my 20's were entered in via Sky's Place or a keg party at some fraternity house.

So anyway, that's why I'm doing it. You can follow my other blog with training info and watch my progress. If you'd like, feel free to come watch me and cheer me on in Washington DC on October 25, I will be the blonde with a 26.2-mile long cranky look on her face who needs a beer at the finish line. I don't think anyone I really know will be able to make it, but I don't really care, to be honest.

Mr Higdon, I have a new comment for your list of comments you get when you say you're going to do a marathon for the next edition of your book, courtesy of my friend Cara...
Cara: "So, running the marathon? Hmm. What made you decide to do it?"
Molly: "Just seemed like it was a good idea this year."
Cara: "When I hear things like 'I think I'll go run 26.2 miles', I am reminded of when JFK said 'looks like a pretty day for a drive' or when General Custer said 'there can't be that many Indians, right?' "

She was just kidding, but yeah, sometimes it feels like it.

Some days, you're the statue.

I sat down in my office's courtyard yesterday and looked around at the people who were also eating lunch outside. Hoping for a familiar face, I quickly realized that I was out of luck and only saw some random people I see in the elevator or similar situations. I looked down to my purse to grab my book to read instead, and then I heard it...

Woman: "you always look so pretty." I turn around and the woman is looking directly in my direction. I don't recognize her, but I quickly assume that I've met her on my first day when I met 10,000 other people.

Me: "oh, thank you!" Vain Molly has just turned this into a red-letter day.

Woman: "oh no, not you."

Woman points to her bluetooth underneath her massive football helmet hair.

Sometimes you're the bird, sometimes you're the statue.

My kids will hate me because I've now decided to never give them video games.

Pro-Active Packing and Airline Roulette

Maybe it's the fact that I can't stand to leave the office without my to-do list made out for the next day. Maybe it's the fact that every time I go to visit my boyfriend for a weekend, I bring tons of clothes and still forget something really important, like a coat in December. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm very excited for my first week-long vacation since 2005.

But regardless, I've started packing FIVE FULL DAYS ahead of time for my trip to Texas. What? You pack two weeks ahead of time and every top goes with every bottom and you fit 70 gabillion outfits in one carry-on bag? Shut up, I don't care. This is a big step for me. I did laundry yesterday, I got my luggage together today ($50 for a huge spinner suitcase - thank you, Marshall's!) and I just started packing about an hour ago.

Have no fear, however. The same Molly you know, love and/or would love not to know is still here. I have already overpacked. At last count, I am bringing 12 dresses, 10 tops, 3 pairs of jeans, 2 skirts, and 3 bathing suits. Haven't even begun to think about shoes, basic t-shirts & tank tops, underwear, workout clothes (that darn marathon doesn't give me a vacation) or pj's/sweats. I'm already going to be bringing more than I would on a normal vacation - I am bringing 3 lenses for my new camera (my mom gave me her old ones), my computer, work stuff (I'm still going to be working from home for most of the trip - as much as I'd like to walk away and leave the blackberry off, I can't afford to take the whole 8 days off), running clothes and random art stuff. So the packing is probably going to start worrying me around, oh, Thursday.

But for now, I've got a more pressing issue. Actually GETTING to Texas. The short of it: When my boyfriend booked his ticket, he booked with a free voucher he had. He was routed through Atlanta, and since I wanted to be on his flights, we booked me on the same Atlanta-Houston and Houston-Atlanta flights. I was stupid and thought "hey, maybe I should just drive down to Atlanta and back from Charlotte. Might be cool to see the old town." Mmm-hmm. I failed to consider a) how much I hate driving, b) how many times I've driven that same rotten stretch of I-85, and c) how EARLY my flight was - it's at 8-something a.m. I looked into flights from Charlotte last week to Atlanta, and the sale was awesome - $49 each way. Unfortunately, the rent check would have bounced, so I waited. Idiot. I checked today when I got paid, and the sale was gone for the Charlotte to Atlanta flight. The ATL-CLT is still $39, but the CLT-ATL is now like $250. I gambled with the airlines, and I lost. Now I'm basically stuck with driving to Atlanta. Not horrible, but none of my options are at ALL ideal:
Option 1: Leave Charlotte at 2 am Sunday morning to get to the Atlanta airport by 6. Park the car in long-term/cheap-as-hell parking and get my flight at 8. Be cranky when I see my boyfriend because I haven't slept in 24 hours or so.
Option 2: Leave Charlotte earlier, drive to Atlanta and stay with friends. Make them get up hella early to get me to the airport by 6:30 or so on Sunday. Really, I can't do that. It's the weekend, I'm pretty sure that getting friends up that early on a Sunday is outlawed in the Geneva Convention somewhere.
Option 3: Take option 2 and pay for a hotel room at the Atlanta airport. I'd probably get paranoid that I would oversleep and miss my flight. Pay around $150 for a hotel room, which basically negates the purpose of driving to save the money on the plane fare, even if it does include a few days of free parking.

Ugh. I'm pretty much going to have to take option 1, which means that I'm going to be getting up at 2 IN THE FREAKING MORNING. On a day where I HAVE TO RUN 5 MILES IN THE AFTERNOON. Before you say it - no, I can't sleep on the plane. I haven't been able to sleep in the upright position since somewhere around the mid-80's.

Moral of the story? Don't gamble on the airlines. It NEVER works.

Gosh it's been a while...

Since I posted. Sorry. Here's a few random goings-on...

1. I'm still keeping up with working out. I can't believe I've gone at least 6 days a week for a month now. I think this is the closest to a "routine" I've ever gotten in with working out. I think the trick was to keep my expectations low. I'm not demanding instant results, and I'm not pissed off at myself if I can't finish a certain amount of time on a machine or whatever. I also bypass the trip home after work and go STRAIGHT to the gym, which seems to help on time. I can blow off work steam doing whatever class I want, or I can do any one of the workouts I've collected from a few sources. It's going to get harder, though, because...

2. I'm going to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC in late October. I've always wanted to do it, it's a fast, fairly flat course, and the weather's usually nice. I have to run a 10K on the 28th of March to get early registration (the MCM fills up FAST), but I think I can at least tolerate that. I found a few programs online to help you get in shape, and I have to kick it up until the 10k, then I have about 30 weeks to train for the marathon, adding no more than 10% a week. It's not impossible, it's just work. I'm just trying to keep an 11 minute pace in training with the hopes that I'll be able to stick somewhere around it during the actual marathon. While there's no time limit, you have to maintain a 14 minute pace in order to get to a certain point before they make you hop a shuttle bus at mile 19. I will DIE if I have to do that. I'm not aiming for a time, though - I ONLY want to FINISH.

3. I got a RAISE at work! I waited until I SAW last week's paycheck, but it's awesome. My boss was really good about it and fought a lot for it with many different people, and actually got me MORE than I even asked for. I was really surprised, and it's nice to feel like you're actually rewarded for working your butt off.

4. Dan comes to Charlotte tomorrow! I'm excited. We've got a nice weekend planned - cleaning out my storage unit (yuck, but it has to be done. Luckily it's only a few things, 2 trips, tops.), going out to dinner with Meghan and Matt (yay!), taking a day trip to Lynchburg on Sunday to drop off the Colonel at my mom's, who will be watching him while we're in Texas, and trying to keep up with him when we have to go running. He's running the 10k with me (he IS a Marine, after all...it's held at the Marine headquarters in Quantico and he ran the Marine Corps Marathon last year), but he's faster than me by FAR and has legs literally like twice the length of mine. I'll probably put him in serious pain simply because he can't possibly run that slow. If you're wondering, no, he will not be running the marathon with me, and I'm 99% sure he won't even be able to come watch me...it's right when he'll be getting deployed, dammit. It's part of the reason I decided to do it - I needed something to look FORWARD to around that time instead of dreading his departure.

5. I'm VERY excited about going to TEXAS in two weeks. I need a vacation, and I've been stockpiling work that can be done from home while I'm there. I've been checking out the SXSW website and am completely lost as to which shows to go see. Check out the website and let me know if you have any recommendations. I like all kinds of music but am probably not going to a ton of mosh-pit style shows. Not that I don't enjoy some good old Dropkick Murphys every now and then (I did live in Boston, after all), but a 100-lb girl does not do well at those sorts of things...and I don't want my boyfriend to have to play bodyguard the whole time. Also getting to see a friend of mine who I haven't seen since MIDDLE SCHOOL. She moved to Texas right at the end of 8th grade and we found each other last year on myspace, of all places. We were good friends back then, and she seems to be happy as a clam down there, she's a makeup artist and seems to have all these cool eclectic experiences.

6. I feel like I need a #6. Hmm, let's see. I went to Target tonight. I bought an alarm clock, a magazine, running socks, two folders (they were 30 cents a piece, and they had beagle puppies on them, I had to) and random odds and ends at the dollar spot section. Man, how I love the dollar spot. A few years ago when they started it, they sold all this St Paddy's Day stuff, and since my sister's birthday is that day, I bought like everything in it and sent it to her where she was teaching English to children on a French Caribbean island. She brought it all in to show her kids what holiday is on her birthday (despite a heavy Catholic majority, most Europeans and European colonies don't really celebrate it, except the Irish) and I think they thought she made it up or something.

That's about it, but the picture is one taken of me and Dan at the wedding he was in back in December. I may have posted it before, but I was reminded of it because his mom printed some pictures for me and mailed them to me this week and this was one of them. The story behind this? Well, a few years ago, I developed this alter ego...Tawny Kitaen. Yes, from the Whitesnake video. I was at a Delaware bar, and we were watching a band play...in the rain. They played the Whitesnake song, and of course, if you tell me after a few beers to give my best Tawny Kitaen impression, well, I ain't getting in some crazy unladylike pose, but I've got some long thick hair to toss around. Dan heard about Tawny and loves to try to get Tawny to come out on the dance floor from time to time. I was well-behaved (I was, after all, at the freaking National Shriner's ballroom), but I did throw a little bit of hair around later in the evening. Nothing out of control, but hey, when a 6'5" man wearing all them medals tells you to do something, you listen.