Renewed On a Friday

What a fabulous word this is: FRIDAY!!!!!

Is it just me, or have these past couple of weeks felt twice as long as normal week? Yow.Za. It turns out that what I've heard for so long, and what I've come to actually believe in my own life, is so true: My day goes better having started it with exercise! (Who am I?)

I hoped that would be the case for today as my Rest-Run days were switched here at the end of the week, and I took off this morning with that hopeful sentiment in mind! I also took off with a song in my head. Of course, you can guess without my telling you, that song was one I didn't want in my head. (Is it ever?) Right before heading out the door, I read an email from Aaron that ended with telling me I "Rock the Casbah." The thought could not have been sweeter, it just had an unfortunate after effect that I couldn't trump until I was at least half-way through my run. Eh, whadda you do.

You keep on going! Elly and I had a grand time out today (minus passing that dead opossum from the other day ... just when I thought we were in the clear on odor BAM! 'nuff said.). The weather was perfect (like, universally perfect running weather, not Nancy-perfect-everyone-else-freezes perfect), the route's trash cans were well placed for my utilization, I didn't have to wait long, if at all, for traffic to cross streets ... You just can't complain about an outing like that. Oh, and Elly is handling these 5 milers without throwing up later. That's just good for everybody.

So, there were three notables today. First, I'm only ONE CENT away from the $7 finding-money mark!! WooHoo!!

Yup, that's a penny and a rock. Yes, I'm only counting the penny.

Before you judge, there's the rock posing as a penny.
It totally looks like a penny with the sun in your sweaty eyes.

Second, we just finished running and had had our we-did-it hugs when I stopped to look at something on my camera. When I stopped, I randomly told Elly to "sit." I have no idea why I told her to do so because just standing there wasn't hurting anything. She doesn't receive the "sit" command very often, either, so she's not always that compliant when we say it. In fact, we say "sit," and she tends to look confused. Anyway, I blew off the fact that I had said the command, but I looked to see Elly had another idea:

The girl sat down. NEVER happens. She
looked at me like, "Um, alright ... not sure
why we are sitting here, but I'm not one to
argue. Much. Besides, I'm tired."

Even distracted, she sat. Runner's delirium must have come
over her.

That deserved a hug ...

Says Elly: "It's unbelievable how awesome I am."

... and, a smooch!

And, finally, the third notable: I SAW MY "GOOD FOR YOU" LADY!! I haven't seen her since May, and I've been considering mapping out a route that crosses her path, but I've yet to do it. This morning after the run, though, Elly and I ran an errand (in the car) on that same path, and there she was turning the corner in the same place I've seen her for these past three years!! I waved pretty frantically to get her attention, and she did one of those happens-in-a-split-second looks of, "I know I know you but don't know from where, wait, it's coming to me, oh, and I am sure I've seen that dog, putting two-and-two-together waitItotallyknowyou!!!" Given we were both driving and going opposite directions, that was the duration of the reconnection. It was fun to see her and nice that she was as happy to see me as I was her! I miss our morning greetings! Stay tuned because I know I can make that happen again. On foot. Whee!

By the way, totally random, but do you want to see Elly's nose really, really close up?

Ready or not, there it is! (Whoop! There
it is! ... better than the Casbah? I think so.)

Okay, I don't know if tomorrow is supposed to be a running day or not, but I've decided it is. So, enjoy the rest of your Friday, and I'll see you after the morning shuffle!