November

It turns out, November is over.    Freaking showoff month all speeding by...  Just like those little kids did during the Turkey Trot.  I had to keep myself from shouting discouraging words.  Run Forrest!  And that one old lady, but she was like, super fit looking and stuff, so she totally shouldn't count.

That's right, kids, once again, I ran when no one was chasing me.  For over THREE MILES.

And I paid for the privilege of getting tagged and monitored like a harp seal.  I paid money.  Happily.

No, really, I'm not crazy. It was kinda fun.

I could even breath (mostly)!  And I didn't fall down!

 No, really.

So, there are a few things I would like to point out on my little "results" picture here.  First, my chip time and my clock time are thirty seven seconds off.  We arrived early so we could have started off in the front, but Boyfriend pointed out that fewer people would pass us if we started in the back.  He's so smart.  So it took us thirty-seven seconds to cross the start line after the gun went off. 

I was in 719th place, and it turns out you do NOT get to stand on the podium for that.  Those jerks are so elitist.

I was one place off from being exactly in the middle as far as placing compared to all the girls in this race, and slightly better than half of the people in my age and gender group.  Win?

BUT.  The important thing here:  I was 719th place overall, and 323rd place among women... that makes me faster than like, 203 men.  Those guys totally got "chicked".  And no, I don't care if they were over 85 and under 10.  I BEAT YOU, SUCKERS!

So, that is an improvement of over six minutes compared to last year.  See?  I am not completely lazy.

And screw that photographer!  I showed up in ONE picture, and I was in the background of some other lady so I'm all blurry and cut in half.  Boyfriend wasn't even in ANY pictures.  Really?  Seriously?  No one standing at the finish to take pictures?  Nothing?  Just one lady sitting on the ground at about the halfway point so that she can be SURE to get the most awkward and unflattering picture possible? 

Great.  Thanks.  I'll spend my $4 elsewhere.  (PS I actually stole the picture from their site and cut out the little bit of me that's in the photo.  Well, I also cropped out my huge ass, but you get the idea.  Please don't turn me in to the copyright police.  I would have paid for it if they had a picture of my victorious finish.  Or a picture of me in focus.  Jerks).

This years race was a actually a pretty pleasant experience.  No.  Really, it was.  I'm serious.  Other than the lack of pictures, it was fun.  Will you stop trying to get me into that straight jacket?  I am not crazy.

There were a few things that contributed to the overall awesome:

1. The weather was pretty nice:  Mid 30's and windless.  For 8:30AM in November, that's pretty spectacular.  Warm enough to not die of hypothermia and have your nose hairs stab you when you breathe, but cold enough that you don't really sweat the whole time.
2. My knees no longer hurt.  I can jog pain free, even if I am jogging very, very slowly.
3. I achieved (barely) my personal goal of jogging faster than eleven minute miles.  So basically, I won.

Some other things happened in November, too. 

1. I finally got around to getting the tires on my car rotated after noticing that one of the tires was mostly flat when Boyfriend and Mom and I got back to the car after hiking.  You know, miles from anywhere (we didn't die, the car didn't explode, and the tire was not damaged badly, so it wasn't too bad).
2. I rewatched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time in a really long time.  For some reason it didn't have the same emotional impact, and I kept saying things like "I wish I could quit you!" when Frodo and Sam were staring lovingly into one another's eyes.  I'm such a jerk.
3. I got new running shoes.  They were discount bargain shoes and they are my favorite shoes EVAR.
4. I wrote a novel.

 So yeah, overall, a pretty boring month.  Not much to report...

What?

Oh, that?

Yeah.  Ahem.  (Buffs nails on jacket lapel).  Why yes.  I am a novelist now. It's no big thing...

OMGWTF SO FUCKING AWESOME!

Final word count:  54,569 words written and a novel in the month of November.  Now I just have to mold it into something worth reading...