My Twenty Minute Run

The other day, the lady who lives inside my phone told me to run for twenty solid minutes. I am not sure whether she and I are still friends.  The longest I had done before that was a nine minute run. Nine to twenty is a big jump.

This is how it is supposed to go:  She says, "warm up" and I walk for 5 minutes. Then she says "run" and I obey. Twenty minutes later she says, "cool down" and I walk for five more minutes.

After a nice "warm up" walk from my office to the track, this is how it went:

Minutes 1 - 8:  I can totally do this!  If I can do 9 minutes I can do 20!

Minutes 8 - 10:  What the f$&k am I doing?  Is it over yet?

Minutes 11-12:  I simply cannot do this.  Maybe I should walk a few minutes and then start back up.

Minutes 13-15: Second Wind!  I can do this! I am a running Machine!

Minutes 16-17: Nope. I am dying.  Will I get in trouble if I vomit on the track?

Minute 18: Mentally compose this blog entry.

Minutes 19-20: Third Wind! Big push!  Go faster!  (You know, so this blog entry will have an inspirational ending.)

So yeah, I did it.  Actually, I unknowingly ran 25 minutes by mistake because I didn't hear the lady say "cool down" and I just kept running like an idiot and then when I realized what I had done I had to run back to my office because we were going to be late for daycare pickup.  I am both proud of and embarrassed by this.

Election Day Quotes

Tai and Quynh were both very interested in Election Day and were excited to come to the polls with us, even though they themselves could not vote.  Their questions gave me insight into how little background information they have on the topic, and how their minds work.  Some examples:

"But HOW do you vote -- do you just raise your hand?" -- Tai

On our way out the door to go vote:
"Will Obama and Romney be there?" -- Tai

Upon our arrival at the polls (a fire station):
"Are you a firefighter?"  -- Quynh, to the first adult male she spotted.

"Is Elizabeth Warren my P.E. teacher?" -- Tai
(Followed by a brief discussion of how there are lots of Elizabeths in the world.)

Later that day, after hearing something on NPR about Romney casting his vote:
"Wait, do Obama and Romney get to vote too?"

The next morning, I delivered the news.
Me: (smiling) "Tai, Obama won."
Tai: (yawning) "oh. hooray."
(It's hard to be enthusiastic at 7am.)

Tai is Hermione

We had our first kindergarten parent-teacher conference the other day and, not surprisingly, heard lots of good things about Tai.

Apparently, public school teachers do not spend 30 minutes gushing over how exceptional your child is and then show you a slide show of 75 photos.  (Damn, that private preschool spoiled us!)  But, we did hear that Tai is smart and has lots of friends and is doing very well.  No surprises there.

My favorite comment from the teacher was that Tai is always the first one to raise his hand when she asks a question and she feels bad that she can't call on him every time.  She has to give the other kids a chance.

Tai is Hermione Granger and I couldn't be more proud.

Singing Baked Goods

Tai and Quynh has never seen The Wizard of Oz, but we have listened to the soundtrack a few times.  This results in lots of questions from both kids:

"Who's singing now?"
"What's happening at this part?"
"Is that the witch?"
"Is she a good witch or a bad witch?"

We answer the questions as best we can remember, but the children still have nothing visual to associate with our answers.  They have no idea what any of the characters look like.

The other day I was driving somewhere with Quynh and we were listening to that.  When we got to the part where Dorothy emerges from her house in The Land of Oz and the munchkins come out to welcome her, Quynh heard those unmistakable high-pitched voices and asked, "Are those the donuts singing?"

Apparently I Run Now

Minh and I are following one of those "Get Your Ass off the Couch, Anyone Can Run a 5k" programs.

How it all started is a long and not-that-interesting story.  But here I am.  Even though mere weeks ago I said, "I don't run unless something is chasing me," I now run.  Voluntarily.  Nothing nipping at my heels.  No zombies in sight.

I am not "training for a race," nor do I have aspirations of running in actual, organized, 5k events.  That may happen someday but it's not really the primary goal.  Instead, I am "training" to not die of heart disease.  Oh, and to be able to zip myself into my Skinny Pants.  Lofty goals, I know.

The other day I had a particularly interesting run for the following reasons:

• I had to gracefully leap over some bales of straw.  Actually, I awkwardly stepped over them.  And almost fell in a mud puddle as a result.  The straw bales were intended to keep Hurricane Sandy off the athletic fields where I run, but they didn't hold me back.  More forceful than a Hurricane!  Not really.

• Half-way through the run I had to get off the track I was using because it was taken over by freakishly fast members of a high school track team.  I wasn't embarrassed to be seen by them, lumbering along at my old lady pace.  I was scared the taller ones might start using me as a hurdle.

• Two-thirds of the way through the run, a dryer sheet worked its way down and out of my shirt.

• Three-quarters of the way though I accidentally hit something on my phone that changed the music to School House Rock.  My phone music is about 80% kids stuff and this was one of those rare times I get to listen to grown-up music.  With swears in it and everything.  I don't know what button I hit and I was afraid to leave the "running program" app to go change the music back because one time I left the app and when I came back it started my run all over again.  Grrrr.  So I finished my run listening to "My hero, Zero."