I am weird.
I like things the way I like them is a nice way of putting it. The not-so-nice way of putting it is that I'm an inflexible control freak who wants everything the way I want it. Any other way of doing something is just not right.
I manage to function OK in normal society, though. Over the years, I've learned to let things go. Having kids helped a lot with that; I can control a lot but not everything when it comes to them. (And if they ever realize that together they could physically overwhelm me -- hell, one of them could probably take me at this point -- well, my life is over.)
Nowhere are my little quirks more evident than in my running, though. Because I run alone all the time, I don't realize how odd my requirements are until I'm with someone else who runs.
Enter this weekend.
My best friend Michele and I ran the Cowtown Half on Sunday. We didn't run together, but we finished within 15 minutes of each other. I felt like I spent all weekend leading up to the race explaining my weirdness and being amazed at her normalcy.
I wear as little clothing as possible when I run. I buy most of my running clothes a little big because I can't stand them to be even a little snug because then they ride up and I cannot abide that.
Michele wears layers. It was pretty damned cold Sunday morning, but I was not about to wear any more clothing than absolutely necessary -- I ended up wearing my favorite running skirt and a long-sleeved pink dri-wick shirt (size large when I probably could have worn a small). Michele wisely wore a tank, a long-sleeved shirt and a fleece (although she ditched the fleece at bag check). Her clothes fit her properly.
The only jewelry I wear while running is a necklace that I wear pretty much all the time -- it sits close to my neck and doesn't flop around -- and tiny earrings. Michele wears her wedding rings. I think that probably shocked me more than anything. My hands swell when I run long distances and I just could not handle the feeling of the ring being tight around my finger.
Michele has a small light that attaches to her clothing that she wears when she runs at night. I have one, but I hate it because the flopping around distracts me to no end. One of the many reasons I loved my Bluetooth headphones so much was because there was no cord to bother me. I have only managed to deal with my new non-Bluetooth headphones because there is a small clip on the cord that I can attach to my clothes to help with the cord flop.
Michele wears a hat when she runs. I wore a hat once during a half-marathon, and about halfway through, I took it off and attached it to the strap of my top I was wearing. The flapping bothered me so much that I tossed it to the side.
As it became more obvious to me that I am just an OCD freak -- seriously, maybe three steps away from being Sheldon Cooper only not that brilliant -- Michele turned to me and said, "You're tough."
She could have said, "You're a freak," or "You are the weirdest person on earth," but she used the best word, the most tactful word, to describe me: "Tough."
And that is why we're BFFs. :-)
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I did my figuring this morning and I fell short of my monthly goal by about 30 miles. I got in 132.71 miles in the month of February. I needed to get in 167. Even with my +20 miles from January, I 'm still behind. I'll have to make it up somewhere...
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