Run, Frogg, Run

So let's see, kind of a lot has happened since my last post. Let me explain... no, there is too much! Let me sum up:

Arrived on Saturday, October 20, in Oakland, and got picked up by M for lunch. After that, we went to SF MOMA with S, ostensibly to act cultured and high-brow, but really to give S a chance to make fun of modern art and amuse himself (and me) with frequent expressions of amazement that certain pieces of art could, in fact, be called art. (His favorite: a purely blank white canvas. That was definitely the winner of the "why is this in a museum" award, though a close runner-up would be the series of black squares in frames.)

While we were still meandering through the museum, the cowgirl arrived in the city, but she refused to join us at the price of $12.50 for a ticket that she would only benefit from for about an hour, since we had to get to Union Square to pick up our race packets. Instead she fell asleep on the lawn of Yerba Buena park/gardens, across the street from the MOMA. When we finally went out to meet her, I made the grave mistake of thinking that a homeless man (!) was her. Thankfully I saw the real her before I plopped down jovially on the grass and threw my arms around the man. Whew!

The rest of the day was all about picking up our packets, finding the friend's place where we were crashing for the night, carving pumpkins, and going to bed early so that we could be up before sunrise the next day, which was...

RACE DAY!

I slept in my race clothes because I didn't want to waste valuable sleeping time by having to get up to dress in the morning. This turned out to be not that good an idea, because my spandex capris got all stretched out. But at least I had those few precious extra minutes of sleep!

It was pretty cold waiting at the start line in Union Square, seeing as how the sun wasn't up and all. But once we got going, I could tell it would be a rare day in San Francisco; i.e., NOT FOGGY! Instead it was a truly gorgeous, clear day, not too hot but (eventually) not cold) — perfect for running. The race route wound along the Embarcadero, out to Chrissy Field, where we had excellent view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Then inland a bit, before heading down toward Baker Beach and into Golden Gate Park and back out again to finish.

I really enjoyed the run, and came across the finish line with a time of just under 2.5 hours. Woo-hoo! And I beat the cowgirl, but I think only because she got a blister early on and slowed to a walk after the first four miles (even so, she was only 40 minutes behind me).

So that was that. The next day, the cowgirl dropped me off at the BART station, where I caught the train to the airport and my plane... just in time to head back to a southern California that seemed to be going up in flames.

Craziness.

The next few days I spent staring out my window at work at a sky that was covered in smoke. My uncle and his family nearly had to evacuate; meanwhile my brother in San Diego was fine, except for the fact that he spent his day off trying to get CLOSER to the fires, which would indicate some possible mental-health issues... or else just the fact that he is a boy, I guess.

But anyway, thank God the fires are mostly contained now, and now here I am in the midst of packing for my next trip out to Louisville, where I will embark on my third semester in my creative writing program. I leave on Thursday, and if you don't know by now that I am waiting til the last minute to get everything done that I need to, you are clearly new to this blog.

(Of course, I suppose I could have spent the past hour catching up on all the reading I am behind on, etc., instead of blogging. Too bad I didn't think of that about an hour ago, huh. Oh well.)