Flashback

After watching the trees blowing around in the back yard I decided to ride indoors for 3 1/2 hours. Not something I like to do at all. Just as I had made that decision my husband text me about my ride. After going back and forth with him I decided to postpone my ride for tomorrow. He will be coming with me. Out to the country passing farm after farm. We will see cows, horses, cranes, ducks, geese and if we're lucky maybe a deer or scooter (aka ground hog). Question is will he be able to keep up with me? Can he hold a comfortable 17mph for an hour or two? I'll be dropping him off after the first loop while I tack on a second. I'll let you know how he does.

SO no riding for me today. Only thing left on the schedule for this week is a two hour run. So that was now my plan. I'm still running on the treadmill even when it's getting nicer outside because of my shin. It is slowly getting worse. It bothered me the entire run. I had so much tape on it pulling the muscles up and closer to the shin but even the slightest pull away with every step causes pain now. I wake up with it hurting and I walk with it hurting. Please oh please hang on shin. 5 more weeks to go. Been over a year with this injury. Rest doesn't work. New sneakers doesn't work, 3 months of no running doesn't work, PT doesn't work, ultrasound doesn't work. Nothing, I have chronic pain that will always be there, lucky me.

Well I kind of got off topic with what I wanted to talk about today..........let's get to it.

I was running on the treadmill thinking about my shin and a song came on. Cory Hart's I wear my sunglasses at night. We all know the song and probably can sing a good portion of it without the karaoke machine. Anyway that song always makes me think of a friend of mine in NY. I've known her since I was 15. I met her in middle school when once again I became the new kid. I was always the new kid. Just when I would feel like I wasn't it was time to move again. Hence my personality developed into a very quiet, shy loner type kid. Don't get me wrong, I had friends but I'm more the type to have a few very close friends and that's it. I'm still that way. But this friend is not. She is very social, very out going and very very dedicated. She took the chance to get to know the new kid and I so appreciate that about her. We were very close during those high school years. I would hound her every time I got in her parents car right after she got her license to play the Cory Hart song. I swear she must have been sick of that song. We played it all the time. I wonder if she remembers like I do?

So as the song played I thought about our relationship and my life growing up. I moved so much that I never really had friends that I kept in contact with. I was young and of course there was no such thing as cell phone, free long distance, computers and email. Snail mail really was the only option. By the time I met her though I knew we would always remain friends. She had a group of friends in HS that I really didn't hang with. And I had a few other friends that she didn't hang with. But it didn't seem to matter to her. Some of her friends thought I was odd, the new kid, too quiet, and looked weird. I did stand out. I came from a school in CT that was a year ahead in the learning process and fashion. That tail I had growing at the base of my hairline just wasn't impressing the NY gang. I was very tall and stood out like a sore thumb. But she didn't care.

That was almost 25 years ago. We graduated and went to college. I visited her, she visited me. We have been on vacations together.......cape cod.......Disney. She was in my wedding and I in hers. We don't really see each other much unless it's for a race. When I asked her to run the Chicago Marathon with me back in 2005 she thought I was kidding. Not because she couldn't do it but because she was shocked that I wanted too. Since that day she has ran 4 or 5 marathons now and I have done 4. We compare notes and applaud each other victories. I'm just waiting for her to finally convert over to triathlons. Swimming is not her thing. But I swear she would do great if she started training for it. She would be a great triathlete. She has the perfect mindset.

Thinking about old times put a smile on my face as I was running today. I have had a few very close friends in my lifetime. Some have come and gone. Some I moved from and lately it seems like they move away from me. But she's the one person that knows me when I was young. When I was the new kid. She's the one that made the effort to go the extra mile and not care what her friends thought. She is very important to me and I thank you, Marcie!