Against All Odds: Mixed Up Weekend

Have you ever noticed that Jude Law looks remarkably like Phil Collins? I know, the world is not fair. But, it's a true story.

Jude is on the left. For reals.

 

Ok, so now you want to know why or how we stumbled on pictures of said aging, hair-receding hunk? Well...

It started innocently enough. It always does, doesn't it? It snowballs into surfing the web for aging actors so easily. We were listening to “Riptide” by Vance Joy. The lyrics say: "I swear she's destined for the screen, closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen."

That led to Scott to say, “Michelle Pfeiffer.? Was she in Batman? Or wait, was that Kim Basinger?”

To which I replied, “Michelle Pfeiffer was Catwoman. There's no way Kim Basinger was Catwoman. She was...um.,Vicky Vail.” Not sure how he mixed those two up? Hello.

This lead Scott into looking up various 80s stars. At one point, Scott said, “Well, Catherine Zeta-Jones, no one else could come close to her.” I said, “Yep, she has a flawless face.” Then, I remarked, “You know who is truly flawless? Jude Law.”  Nowadays, I guess that makes Phil Collins flawless, too.  "...It's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all."

They ARE like crazy flawless, no?

 Earlier today, we ran 16 miles for our long run. We usually run long on Saturdays, but I felt weary, tired, and worthless, so I talked myself and Scott into saving it for Sunday. When I whispered to Scott at 5:30 am on Saturday morning, “let's run long tomorrow and do a short run later this morning.” Scott said, “Can't. It's against your religion.”

"You're the only one who really knew me at all." Damn, Phil Collins, you got us.

It's true I never like to run long on Sundays. I channel Larry the Cable guy and say let's “Git-R-Done.” On Friday, I had admitted to Scott that I didn't think it was wise to try to run the Hagg Lake 50K. We just didn't have time to train properly for it. We were slated to run 26 miles on Saturday. My plan was to run on Wildwood Trail for 17 miles, then run home from there for the final 9 miles. Thinking about that run was making me feel sick---I knew my body wasn't ready. Sometimes, you have to listen to your body. I could see the relief on Scott's face.

Today, we ran the road section out and back toward the Wildwood Trail. It got colder as we cruised up, up, up Cornell Road. At one point, there was a sign that said, “500 Feet.” Geez, that's nearly the Alps for us Valley Dwellers. Brr. For once, gloves were a good idea.

As we were floating down the hill on Cornell we stopped at a traffic light. I glanced at the car coming to the light to make sure it was going to stop, then proceeded. That's when I felt Scott's arm across my chest, and heard him yell, “DON'T GO!!” Tires were squealing to a stop. I looked up to see a young woman with her hands over her mouth, then my eyes darted to the traffic light to confirm that it was indeed still RED. We were almost run over by an idiot running a red light.

I am usually SO vigilant; I never trust drivers. She came out of nowhere, and I think that's just how it happens. That is how my children would have become orphans. I know, I know...let's not get all crazy with the “what ifs”



The waterfall from the Larry Vincent Bridge.

While running through the rather quaint part of Cedar Hills, we ran by a beautiful waterfall, with a sign telling us it was the “Larry Vincent Bridge.”  Scott commented that Larry Vincent was only 15 years old when he died. Larry died. We nearly died. I was struck by the parallel if only for an instant. We later learned that Larry was an avid runner and loved running in that beautiful area of Cedar Hills. I bet back in 1977 there weren't as many cars and Larry didn't worry about young women running red lights.

 

We mixed it up this weekend...against my religion and against all odds, and stuff. Yesterday, I noticed that my new socks were labeled for RIGHT and LEFT. Nice. Of course, I had them on backwards.

Mixed up my apparently labelled socks.

We ran before lunch on our favie stretch of Fanno Creek Trail with the kids on their bikes. It was so much fun, I suggested we do it for all of our short weekend runs. It's nice cause the kids can carry our HUGE new phones. Less weight=faster, right?

After lunch, we registered for most of the races we will be running for the next 6 months. In 2015 we're mixing it up and running longer races. We AREN'T doing the 10K Series. 2015 will bring a big ole half-marathon at Y2K in January, a trail 25K at Hagg Lake in February (just not ready to run the 50K this year), 30K at Champoeg in March (Scott is running the 10K). Then, we reserved our hotel room for May 30th for the Newport Marathon. Scott hasn't decided if he's running the marathon. I think he will. :) I will probably run around Hagg Lake on the roads, too, on May 2nd for 10.5 miles.

Finally, I'm vying for Scott to run this cool looking 50K up at Point Defiance in Washington in October. What better way to celebrate 15 years of marriage? Have to find some nice family member to watch the kids though because filling up water bottles and leaving out bowls of cereal is looked down upon unless you are leaving a cat for 3 days.  It will work out because I know when I hear Scott singing "Riptide" he's thinking about running 31 miles with me near Puget Sound.

"Lady, running down to the riptide
Taken away to the dark side
I want to be your left hand man."