2001-10-12
Twisted my ankle! Ouch!, posted at 7:57 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I've been taking nightly runs with my new dog Holden; I have every night since I've had him, and I've had him for ten days now. Sometimes they're pretty short, like about a mile, and sometimes I get up the three or so. That might come to an end after last night, though. At least temporarily.When I left my classroom and headed out to the parking lot last night at around 4:30, I noticed that my back passenger side tire was flat. Because my mood was fairly unflappable yesterday - except for the late pining for more friends that occurred towards the end of the day - I didn't get upset about it, despite the fact that all of my tires were new this summer. I flagged down another teacher and got a ride home, where I was going to get the air pump and have Jason drive me back. Instead, Jason convinced me that we had to go out to eat because it was "Dine for America" night, and we headed off to the Olive Garden (Jason and I have wildly disparate food tastes, him being a meat-and-potatoes guy and me being an ethnic food-loving vegetarian, so we haven't been able to agree on much else to sample here besides chain restaurants).
The wait was unbelievable, so we went over to my new favorite place, Ikea. I thought it was just a furniture store but, oh, it's so much more. Furniture, pictures, housewares, a restaurant... this place was awesome. Thank goodness I had no money - the place could be dangerous.
After dinner (Olive Garden is a pretty mediocre restaurant IMO, I got a "make your own pizza" that was only slightly good), we headed back home, but by this time is was after 7:30. Not wanting to risk missing one minute of Survivor and not knowing the President was going to come on and screw up the nightly TV schedule, I decided to just get a ride from Jason tomorrow morning to school.
But an hour-and-a-half later, I got the idea that I should just run to school. My school is probably three miles from me, if that, and I figured I needed to run anyway and I'd be able to drive back so I'd be fine. Right after Survivor, I got Holden and the air pump and headed out. The run was wonderful, even though I probably looked pretty funny with a dog leash in one hand and an air pump in the other. Even though it was 10pm at night, I felt fairly safe even running through parts of the city that some would classify as "bad." (After all, I could use that big clunky airpump as a weapon if I needed to.) Things were going great for almost the whole run. I was concentrating on my breathing, and thinking about how Tiffany and I went running a few time that summer we lived together, and how she used to make fun of me for not breathing when we ran. Of course, it was that I didn't want to breathe, I just didn't have the lung capacity. Now, I could freaking hold a conversation when I run. And I do, albeit with my dog, and mostly in utterances of "No!" or "No bathroom now" or "Come on!" or "Good Boy." Jason has been telling me that I need to convince him to start running with me at night because he really needs to get in shape so he can coach wrestling in the spring, and I told him that, "well, I don't know if running with me will get you back in fighting shape. I don't exactly go fast" and his reply made me feel good: He put one hand over his head, and said, "Mark, in terms of fitness, you're up here." Then, he put his hand at the level of his waist, and said, "And I'm down here. Don't you realize that?". It made me feel good to hear this college wrestling star tell me this, even if I'm not sure if I believe him. I probably put too much emphasis on weight and how someone looks in gauging their fitness. Jason has got incredibly high metabolism, and I certainly do not, so he still weighs probably a buck fifty. I'm still struggling to get below 200 (although I'm getting closer and closer, which is a lot of fun to watch). Anyhow, my point is that I feel great and my self-confidence is increasing along with my general health and fitness.
Anyhow, back to the run... everything was going swimmingly until about two blocks before the school. Then, I stepped on in a big hole in the sidewalk. My ankle twisted, and I grimaced. I limped for a block or so, my angle throbbing with pain, but started running again to finish up the journey. I made it to my car, filled up my tire, and headed home to ice up the ankle. It swelled up pretty bad, and was sore as hell this morning when I woke up. I didn't go in to the gym for that very reason. I don't have any wrap or anything, so I'm gingerly limping on it today. It hurts. I have a feeling I won't be running for a few days, which pisses me off.
Back to Survivor... I'm hooked. I had a feeling that Clarence would not be voted off, because the producers have a habit of planting red herrings to make you think someone is going to be voted off when they're really not. That big old guy is really annoying. I've already got characters to love (that Latina police officer, the curley-haired soccer player, the retired teacher, the almost-comically effeminate bartender who reminds me of my old RA friend Ryan) and hate (the aforementioned goat farmer racist guy, the older Army guy, the guy with all the earrings). And while the first episode was perhaps a bit anticlimactic, I still think this Africa edition is going to be a blast. I also have decided that I will apply for the next Survivor, because I'm now fit enough to, and since women are always voted off first, I should at least survive for a few weeks.
Yup, I need to get a life.
Today will be a great day. I can feel it. The sun is shining and I got a good evaluation in my mailbox today. It's payday and Friday. I feel like talking to as many fellow teachers as I can today and trying to invite myself into doing something tonight. Maybe I'll go down and see Neal and see what he's doing. We'll see if I'm successful.