Friday, November 16, 2012

Sippin' Life Slowly


On my run today, an old man hiked past me. He wore jeans and carried ski poles. Around his waist, he sported a harness attached to his dog. He jogged a bit after he passed me, perhaps to bridge a gap in case I wanted to race. He needn't have worried. I savor my trail runs. Racing them would be akin to guzzling an entire bottle of expensive scotch.

As I climbed the rest of the hill, I heard gunshots. Possibly a neighbor securing dinner for a lot of nights to come.... When I reached the top, I turned right and encountered two deer. The one closer to the trail stood frozen, one ear cocked. I moved closer, wondering if someone had placed a statue all the way out here. She refused to move. When I got close, I froze too. As we stared each other down, she twitched only once. After a minute or two I made the sound Big E taught me. Deer make this sound to warn each other, he'd said. I thought she would run, but she came closer. She seemed to sniff and then slowly pranced off with her friend.

I continued on, marveling at the amount of snow that's been made on the ski hill, scaring off some bunnies and listening to the evening sounds. The sun had nearly set, leaving the prairie with a slight glow. A crescent moon, the kind my sister and I always called a fingernail moon, was above my head. The last bit of sun and high moon gave me just enough light to finish the trail.

I turned on my headlamp for the last mile on the road, mostly so the few cars out could see me. There are no street lights out here. Porch lights are rare. As I made my way up and down the last few hills, I noticed the hot and cold pockets in the air. It was as if the warmth of the day and the chill of the night were having a little show down. By the time I ran up the driveway, the night had won.  I lingered a bit outside, taking one last little sip...

Friday, November 9, 2012

Thompson for Prez

I was driving through state number five of six on Monday and listening to the speeches on CNN radio when I came up with the brilliant idea that I should run for president. I heard the two candidates would visit eight states between them and figured if I can do six in one day without an airplane I've got one up on both of them. I mean, really, could either of them manage to drive through rural Michigan without hitting a deer, skirt Chicago at rush hour and avoid getting pulled over by one of the 1,000 cops lining the freeways in Madison (the prez was speaking) all in one day?

Of course, my presidential campaign would probably come to a roaring halt as soon as the public discovered my propensity for spontaneous nudity. Seriously, you know darn well this picture would end up on the front page of every newspaper in the country.
So I'll let that dream go for now.

Now on to the story of why, exactly, I was driving in six states in one day.

On Thursday I headed to Michigan for Iceman, a 30ish mile mountain bike race in Traverse City. After running in the rain and 40mph winds on Thursday night, riding in the sleet on Friday and racing in the snow/mud on Saturday, I figured I hadn't encountered any hail yet so I drove the four hours down south to find some. Why not make the trip complete, right?

Ok, fine, it wasn't really all about the hail.  I wanted to visit my grandma while I was close. I needed an ego boost. She's 94 and likes to tell me how cute I am. It was perfect.

So, after visiting with Grammy on Sunday, I woke up Monday morning in southern Michigan, drove south to Ohio, west to Indiana, north to Illinois and Wisconsin and finally west to Minnesota.

Maybe I should consider truck driving as an alternative to politics? My handle could be Girl Undressed....