have you seen my legs?

i am not sure what has gotten into me (well, there was that slight funk again last week), but i have been a bit of a running machine lately.

i accidentally ran 16.7km on saturday afternoon this past weekend. it was an accident because i only intended on running 14km, but took a wrong turn and wasn't exactly going to turn around after running 8km, so just kept going. it was awesome. the best part of it was that it was my muscles that were screaming and not my lungs during the tough bits of the run, meaning that my lungs are well accustomed to the altitude, dryness, and aerobic activity.

what makes me so impressed with myself is that i ran alone and didn't plan on it, just sort of did it. i have never been a very self-motivated runner, no matter what and how i have tried, so this was quite a feat.

and last night i ran 8km, a nice, easy 8km at that.

i am on a running roll. let's hope the running continues, but the funks stop.

and does anyone know any treatments for bruised toes? is this an indicator that i need new shoes? or a new pair of feet? ouch.

clearing the funk

i ran 10km today. which is one of the longest runs i have had in a year. it was pretty wicked. and the thing that kept me going was my awesome new playlist entitled eight for twenty eight. the songs below all make an appearance.

when you are the bottom of a hill nearly 1km long and you hear the first notes of ladysmith black mombazo, somehow you know you can do it.

Take This Waltz - Adam Cohen
The River - Anathallo
Smiling Underneath - Ani DiFranco
Deadlines - Arkells
Sometimes - Ayo
Leopard-Skin-Pill-Box Hat - Beck
Float On - Ben Lee
Sex Without Love - Ben Lee
Hiding My Heart - Brandi Carlile
If I Fall Behind - Bruce Springsteen
MGM Grand - Caroline Herring
The Expert - The Champion and His Burning Flame
To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra
Home In The Woods - Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons
World We Know - Crash Parallel
Stole - Dashboard Confessional
Willis Avenue Bridge - David Berkeley
Quiet Times - Dido
Running to Stand Still - Elbow
That Sinking Feeling - Emma-Lee
Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley
Gotta Figure This Out - Erin McCarley
Sunlight - Esperanza Spalding
Falling or Flying - Grace Potter and the Nocturals
How the Day Sounds - Greg Laswell
Fee Da Da Dee - The Guggenheim Grotto
Can't Help Falling in Love - Ingrid Michaelson
The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson
Parachutes - Jenn Grant
Cathedrals - Joan Osborne
Through & Through & Through - Joel Plaskett
Sun Comes Up - John Legend
Wildfires - Josh Ritter
One of Those Days - Joshua Radin
Asking for Flowers - Kathleen Edwards
Buffalo - Kathleen Edwards
Victoria - The Kooks
Straight to Hell - Lily Allen
Never Said - Liz Phair
Charlie Darwin - The Low Anthem
Daylight - Matt & Kim
Never Again - The Midway State
Where I Stood - Missy Higgins
Here it Goes Again (UK Surf) - Ok Go
The Great Escape - Patrick Watson
All the Things You Never Wanted - Peirson Ross
Never Bloom Again - The Perishers
With the Notes in My Ears - Peter Broderick
Bye Bye Bye - Plants and Animals
Drifting Further Away - Powderfinger
Duet - Rachael Yamagata
Winter Birds - Ray LaMontagne
Why Can't it be Christmas All Year - Rosie Thomas
Gravity - Sara Bareilles
Homeless - Sarah McLachlan & Ladysmith Black Mombazo
Before the Worst - The Script
These Quiet Times - Shady Bard
Treeology - Shady Bard
Mistaken Identity - Steve Reynolds
Being Here - The Stills
No Time To Sleep - Tina Dico
Imparable - Tommy Torres
Heroes - TV On the Radio
Heroes of the Sidewalk - Two Hours Traffic
Letting Go - Waiting for Iris
Room With The Sir John A. View - Weeping Tile

Brett Dennen's entire cd Hope for the Hopeless

i am always on the lookout for new music, so i hope this list inspires you. many of the songs will make you feel as though you want to slit your wrists, which is just how i like my music - sad, sad, sad.

better blog management

hello internet! i have some exciting news for you. i have gone through all my posts (ever!) and tagged them appropriately (because i was not kidding when i said i love organisational tools and was dumbfounded when i realised i had not used the tagging feature of blogger to its full potential). this is perhaps less exciting for you as i am sure you had no intention of searching through my ALL posts for the ones labelled sven or egyptology or kahawa, but it makes me feel better knowing that it can be done.

i've also added a new link to my dear friend's website. she is a children's author who will soon be published and i cannot wait to read her next story - the tale of noah and his ark from the perspective of a caterpillar. i wonder what eric carle would think of that?!

a saucy tune

my feet hit the ground at the very same time as the beat of Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. the song has a beat of 6.3 minutes per kilometre and it felt great to listen to it around the 6th kilometre today.

Lay where you're laying

Don't make a sound

I know they're watching

They're watching

All the commotion

The killing of pain

Has people talking

Talking

You

Your sex is on fire

The dark of the alley

The break of the day

Head while I'm driving

I'm driving

Soft lips are open

Them knuckles are pale

Feels like you're dying

You're dying

You

Your sex is on fire

Consumed

With what's just transpired

Hot as a fever

Rattling bones

I could just taste it

Taste it

But it's not forever

But it's just tonight

Oh we're still the greatest

The greatest

The greatest

You

Your sex is on fire

You

Your sex is on fire

Consumed

With what's just transpired

And you

Your sex is on fire

Consumed

With what's just transpired

the importance of goals

it is the early hours of the morning (well, for me at 9:00am – who needs to adjust to jetlag?) and i was just woken up by a car accident outside my flat. it is not a very busy road, but from my calculations, the black car clipped the yellow car as they were headed in the same direction. and that is just too much excitement for me not to get up and charge up the old ipod so i can go for my first run in the new town.

along with going for a run, my goals today are to fill my fridge with groceries (or as much as i can carry with 2 trips to the supermarket), watch a few more episodes of lost (which is sort of like a glorified survivor episode, but my options are limited so i will take it), and sort out our coffee maker so i can get back on the caffeine train.

and that, ladies and gentlemen, is what my life consists of these days. it would involve a lot more trip planning and communicating if i had the old www in flat. or could find out whose wireless network is called fritz! and see if they would be so kind as to give me their password...

weather karma

i was having a thought on my run today. i was running on the road because i get these shin splint-type pains if i run on hard surfaces like sidewalks and i was noticing how wide the roads are here, but how drivers are still noticeably nervous when i am running on their turf.

this brought me around to some other thoughts i have been having lately - that our culture is so afraid of so many things happening. or, possibly, that companies, corporations, or any type of authority does not want to be held responsible for anything and then push safety and security down our throats. thank you, litigation.

so we wear helmets, reflective running jackets, and now we can't eat tomatoes. it just seems a bit obsessive. perhaps i feel this way because i have been living in a place where the options are a) go for a run on the road and risk getting hit by one of the cars that regularly speed by you on narrow roads, potentially rabid dog bites, or twisting an ankle on uneven surfaces or b) stay at home. staying at home gets old after a few weeks.

not that i do not think that any of these precautions are bad ideas. bike helmets keep your skull intact, reflective jackets allow you to have a less worrisome run, and salmonella is no fun (although the chances of dying from salmonella are low and it seems a bit alarmist to pull my favourite vegetable off the shelves after a sort of warning that they might be responsible for a salmonella 'outbreak').

in a way, this is linked to the craze about 'going green' and again, i believe some of the principles behind it, but i struggle with the idea that eating organic is 'going green.' actually, i downright disagree. growing things organically is not better for our environment, but i will save that for another post.

during these running thoughts when i was thinking, 'calgary, what a city of wimps!' it began to pour rain and i was thinking, 'i love running in the rain.' and then it hailed on me. and hail hurts! like lots of tiny bee stings all over your exposed skin, including the sensitive skin of the neck, ouch! i think that is what you call weather karma.

and i hope that weather karma does not rear its ugly head on me next time i try to be healthy, active, and non-wimpy.

homebody

i spent last night at home, watching pirated tv shows on my laptop, roasting vegetables, and hanging out by myself even though i had just got a new haircut and would usually want to take it out. i was content then and am content now. i am feeling that it is such an effort to get together with people, to get dressed nicely enough, and make conversation lately. i have done my part and made appearances when i felt up for it, but i have been happier just staying in and being at home. my nest is coming along (with the new Piece of Art) and i am still convinced that it will be complete with the addition of a kitten...

i am afraid, however, that my homebody style will instil feelings of loneliness if it continues. but nairobi is already wearing on me even though i have been happy since i returned in early january. its lustre is fading and if i could have thrown my iced coffee at the woman who erroneously told me today that the wireless internet would work at another location, i would have.

i have spent at least a few hours at my office every day this week. i have fielded 2 phone calls today asking me to do things for people that are so far outside of my job description (or terms of reference, as they are called in the biz) that i was so frustrated and annoyed that i had to take a nap to cope with the stress of a sunday afternoon that was meant to be my break. calling me to ask me to ask me to follow up with somaliland, the dutch, and cida? on a sunday afternoon? after i was in the office because the lady that told me that i could use the internet at their restaurant over the phone was wrong? are you freaking kidding me?

maybe i am just not cut out for this. but the only problem with that is that i don’t know what else to do. i am good at my work, but not at this life. at least not today. i need a holiday.

i did manage a short run this morning. and my lungs did not come out of my chest and my legs are not throbbing with the pain that comes when you sorta kinda forget to run for a few months. let’s hope this bright, sunny weather and good health sticks so i don’t have any precipitation or sinus infection excuses to not continue.

ain't nothing like a thursday

as i felt that my last post was so successful in list-form and because some friends have been engaging in a blog-conversation (blogversation??) about what makes good days good, here is a list of why today was good:

• my pen finally started gushing ink and now i can smell it when i write
• i went for an ass kicking run this morning and i think it was so great because i brought sven, my ipod, along and his tunes really motivated me to keep on running forrest gump style
• i made lunch and had 2 lunch guests and our salads and tuna melts were colourful and delicious
• a friend called to see if i got an essay back and said he got a good mark and told me that i probably did that well if not better on mine
• another friend came over and made me dinner tonight and it was so simple, but delicious
• i had a great political conversation today about quebec separatism and the future of the liberal and conservative parties, and the legacy of trudeau
• i have embraced my political geekiness!
• i wore a skirt, bare legs, and flip flops (but i didn't leave the house in that, i was just pretending it was summer outside)
• i shaved my legs
• i wrote a letter to a friend, and not the email kind of letter either
• i had one of those conversations where when you have to pee you don't want to get up to leave it so you sit there and fidget and fidget until you have no other option but to excuse yourself, only to return to the same great conversation