On the outside, I try to project an image of having it all together. But underneath that, I'm kind of a disaster. Hence... the name of the site: GlossyVeneer. I’m in a mood today, and it’s not a particularly cheerful one.
For weeks I’d been anticipating seeing The Nutcracker on December 22. I knew I had my biggest marathon training day falling then, so I’d kind of built up the idea that I could do my biggest distance before the marathon, then we could go out for a nice dinner at a new restaurant and then go to the ballet. A whole date night, something we haven’t really had in a long long time.
But then a couple weeks ago I came to the realization that the Las Vegas Bowl fell on the 22nd. The significance of that was my husband would be glued to the game since his team was playing. No dinner or ballet for me.
Then my sister-in-law contacted us and said they were coming to town for the game and that we should all get together for a late lunch. I figured that at least maybe I could get some kind of decent meal out then. But they never got in touch with us again to schedule anything, so I was kind of assuming that they were blowing us off and lunch was a no go.
This morning I headed out to do my longest endurance session before the marathon – 20 miles. I had a whole route planned out where I would be near a bathroom at 5 mile intervals, just in case. I “treated” myself to a brand new pair of socks, since I’ve started wearing out all of the other pairs. (Same brand, same kind I’ve been using, just a fresh pair.) I was all set, psyched and raring to go.
I stepped out the door and was immediately slapped in the face by the wind and the cold. The beating didn’t stop the whole time.
The first 10 miles were excruciating because of the temperature. My hands were solid blocks of ice even though I was wearing gloves. The wind was blowing against me, causing my lips and nose to feel all chapped. I had a tube of Burt’s Bees hooked to me, but my hands were too frozen to manipulate the damn tube.
The second 10 miles were excruciating because of the pain. I pulled a muscle in my left glute during an hour of vinyasa yoga yesterday. I figure I was kind of compensating for that injury; meaning a pain started to develop in my hip, then my knee, then my shin.
Then we factor in that I had forgotten to do the laundry the day before, so I only had one sports bra left in my drawer. A sports bra that is too big. Thus the bra rubbed and slid around and my armpits are now rubbed raw and burn.
So I was achy, stiff, broken and angry when I finished when I should have been riding a high and thinking, “I’m pretty awesome. I just finished 20 F#@%IN’ miles!”
That’s when I found out my sister-in-law called and they were ready to get together for lunch. I was pissed, like I’m supposed to just sit by the phone and wait in hopes that they get in touch with us? We were supposed to meet them in 40 minutes, at a place that is about 35 miles across town and I still needed to shower. So I didn’t have time to rub arnica into my achy joints, or style my hair as carefully as I would have liked (I’m still like a kid with training wheels when it comes to doing my new hair) and I put makeup on in the car. And it was all to get BBQ, which isn’t the pinnacle of my culinary choices.
And then I was in too much pain to do anything else. I need to do grocery shopping. I should put some stuff in the washing machine. But instead I am sitting on the couch with a bag of frozen peas on my knee, wiping tears away every time I move and trying to ignore the loathsome football game on the TV.
But my husband has retrieved pain pills for me and he has ordered a pepperoni pizza that should be delivered soon. I haven’t had pepperoni in a couple years and figure that I’ve earned that indulgence today.
I feel grumpy when there is too much going on in my life, and I can’t see straight.
