7 weird things about myself.
Joe Positive tagged me and for the life of me I can't think of a single odd or extraordinary thing about myself. I've actually always wanted to have some secret talent that people would be shocked about if they were to find out, but for the moment, I haven't got any.
There was a girl in college who worked in the library and was sort of mousy and proper and I thought it was the coolest thing when I found out that she was a nationally ranked target pistol shooter. And the woman who used to be the unit manager when I worked at evening news was in an all-female accordion band...that was a fun little secret life to find out about too.
For a while, I thought the running could be like that for me. I don't think I necessarily come across as being particularly sporty in normal life so I thought people could be shocked and surprised to find out that my alter-ego was a sub-3 marathoner. Unfortunately, the running takes over my life so much that I'm either begging out of social events because of a race or training run or I can't help but mention the running without being prompted.
- I'm quite pigeon-toed, if that counts as odd. I think that's pretty common among female runners though. And one leg is longer than the other, though I never remember which one. Does that count as two things?
- I've traveled to 22 foreign countries, if you count Aruba, which some people say you can't if you've already been to the Netherlands which I have. I've gone running in eight of them.
- I can tie a cherry stem into a knot in my mouth.
- I won a wet t-shirt contest in Key West when I was 29. The prize money paid for my vacation and cured a host of lingering adolescent self-esteem issues.
- My oven hasn't worked since I bought my apartment five and a half years ago and I've never bothered to get it fixed.
- I've been slightly obsessed with the number 53 since childhood. I used to think that was the age I was going to die at, but since then I've rethought that premonition and prefer to call it my "lucky" number. It shows up in my life at disturbingly frequent intervals. My brother says that he has the same experience with the number 57.
Oh, and to answer your question Adeel, yeah it has been all in singles with one exception two weeks ago. By necessity really more than choice, but we'll see if it works out to be a better strategy than last time around when I was doing a couple doubles a week. And now that I've got a good, solid cardio base going, I really do need to start getting in some faster miles sooner rather than later. There's some famous distance coach that has a quote about how you can't train slow to run fast.
Comments (8)
OK, #5 is seriously cool, and unexpected! And because I'm obsessed about such things, I had to figure out that I beat you on 'countries-visited', but only if I count Scotland, Wales, England and N.Ireland as seperate entities ;)
Posted by Yvonne | March 5, 2008 5:38 PM
Posted on March 5, 2008 17:38
If you can count the UK countries, I can add Scotland to my tally. And that would mean that I can definitley count Aruba then.
Posted by chelle | March 5, 2008 7:28 PM
Posted on March 5, 2008 19:28
I think that was Peter Coe, or maybe Seb. I agree. I think you'd be better off running a little less (say 60-70 miles) and doing a second workout on top of your weekly race or "race".
Being pigeon-toed and winning a wet t-shirt contest aren't really in the same categories.
I used to have a thing like that with the number 23. When I was 3-4, I used to think you couldn't live past 23. I don't know why, I was aware that my parents were older than that.
Posted by Adeel | March 5, 2008 9:46 PM
Posted on March 5, 2008 21:46
I find the post about your oven exponentially upsetting: how can a person live with no oven? That's not life, that's, that's, that's, what about homemade pies and turkeys...
Posted by joseph wood | March 6, 2008 5:42 PM
Posted on March 6, 2008 17:42
Whoa, winning a wet t-shirt contest? And it paid for your trip? Holy cow, there is apparently much more we don't know about you, yes? That's a pretty sweet secret if you ask me!
Meghan
PS. Not to be all personal and all, but don't runners typically have, you know, runner's racks? All small and proportioned to our small bodies?
Posted by Meghan | March 7, 2008 2:12 AM
Posted on March 7, 2008 02:12
I had to go back and look at my race history, but the spring of the Key West trip I hadn't run a marathon in nearly a year and I didn't start training for another one until that fall, so I was probably barely running at all at that point. And when I gain any weight, I'm lucky enough that that's where I gain it.
Plus there's a little bit of a back story (isn't there always?) that the other young women apparently had a little cottage industry going, showing up at the places that had these contests and cleaning up, so they were all bleach blond, scary tan, presumably supplemented....and here comes little dorky me, probably half a foot shorter, doing this on such a whim that I had to roll the bodice of my dress around my waist to even put the t-shirt on. So I had the cute little girl-next-door thing going.
And finally, I was living in Brooklyn at the time and said so when they asked and Brooklyn College just happened to be "in the house" that night.
One of the other girls was SO mad that I won. She nearly spat at me afterwards, "I NEEDED that cash", so then I felt sort of bad. But not that bad.
And Joseph, good baked goods are so easy to come by in the city, it's barely worth the time to make anything unless you just enjoy the process, and with such tiny kitchens, it's tough anyway...there's not room to spread out a baking sheet and use a rolling pin, I'd have to do that on the coffee table in the living room!
Invariably when someone who IS a really good cook and baker throws a dinner party and then at the last minute decides to run out and supplement dessert with a pie from the corner bakery, despite all their hard work, you know it's going to be the store bought item that people carelessly bestow all their praise upon.
And how old are you now Adeel? I hope it doesn't freak you out too much when you turn 23. I'm not looking forward to my year of paranoia in 2024-5.
Posted by chelle | March 7, 2008 11:03 AM
Posted on March 7, 2008 11:03
That's quite the story.
I'll experience my year of paranoia starting next May. I'll let you know how it goes.
Posted by Adeel | March 7, 2008 1:02 PM
Posted on March 7, 2008 13:02
Chelle, i'll go along with Meghan on the Whoa..and to be fair i'll share a secret also:
One of your Cuba photos has been my desktop ever since you posted it. I wonder if you can guess which one. I've been meaning to ask you permission to use it for a long time, but you disappeared at some point and i didn't know how to get in touch.
Great running. Especially the sub 1hr 15K.
Posted by corrado giambalvo | March 9, 2008 5:49 PM
Posted on March 9, 2008 17:49