Imelda, Green Lake's Queen of Shoes

Believe it or not, I actually got off my lazy ass and ran Green Lake both Saturday and Sunday. Admittedly, it was a difficult task to start both days but the bottom line is that I actually did it. There was one snag though, but it didn’t rear its ugly head until Sunday.

Saturday went quite well actually. It was sunny and warm enough to run just with shorts and a T-shirt (No, I’m in no shape to be running with my shirt off; too much Jell-O underneath still. Women would be screaming, children would be crying, and the guys would just plain laugh). Anyway, like I said, the sun was out so I got to wear my cool prescription sun glasses… and yes, I’m blind as a bat without my glasses.

The run went well and I finished it with a sprint to the end. Lukily, I got there just in time to go past a guy on a road bike. Nice looking chap with red and white biking shorts on; yum. Of course I didn’t turn and look [cruise] as I went by since I’m still somewhat of a closet case when it comes to public places other than Capitol Hill.

So, Sunday comes along without the sun. “Fine,” I say, “but you’re still doing the run!” Since the sun was not out, I didn’t wear the sun glasses and I hate exercising with my regular glasses on so I figured that I’d just do the run without eyewear at all. I looked rather funny trying to get my voice high enough for use in echolocation. Only an eighth of the way into the run was when I noticed that the Extensor Digitorum Longus Tendons* (shown here circled in blue) in my left foot were hurting. I managed to finish the run but still, the foot hurt. On top of that, I couldn’t see if there was any nice eye candy to view either.

Today I was doing some cardio at the gym and once again, my foot was killing me. I figure that my shoes are probably not the best for running so I think I need to buy yet another pair. I’m beginning to feel like Imelda Marcos.

*No, I'm not that smart. I looked up the tendons online.

The End… Again

All right, this is actually getting a little scary. Once again, I had a dream last night (yeah, I know, we all do… every night…). However, this was another end-of-days type dream.

This time, I was on a bus. Suddenly, there was a shared knowledge that the second coming was going to happen in 45 minutes. The bus finally reached its destination at about 10 minutes ‘till the end. Everyone got up to get off the bus but I stayed in my seat (similar to when an aircraft gets to the gate, everyone stands in the aisle waiting to get off but I stay in my seat until the line starts to move). Anyway, I let everyone get off before I stood up (there was one other guy who did the same).

Outside, we all stood looking at the point in the sky where the second coming was going to “happen” as if the sky was going to open up and allow what ever to come through. Part of me was wondering about what alien was manipulating us into thinking this was divine but the other part of me was actually considering the possibility that indeed, this was the second coming as spoken of in religious text; it still seemed fishy though. Either way, it was scary.

Anyway, the minutes ticked off all the while anticipation and dread of what was to come filled the crowd. One minute ‘til,… 30 seconds,… 10, 9,… "Here it comes" 6, 5,… and then I woke up.

I’m starting to wonder why this poor excuse for a brain is choosing to dream about the end. This is the second dream of similar topic in a month. Logically, the Christian god I was brainwashed into believing in as a kid does not (and cannot) exist; too many contradictions. Illogically, I still wonder sometimes.

There should be a law against fucking up kids at such a young age like that.

Competitive Success: VR

Saturday morning I found myself in a competition. This was a race to the finish line with some twists.

The race started in the mountainous terrain of the Himalayas from the low elevations up to the higher ones. I did rather well considering my past record of ability (or lack thereof) to run any distance without feeling it even at sea level. Anyway, by the time I got to the next portion of the race, I was third overall.

At this point, the race continued into a tower where we had to climb a ladder. I was unsure if I was to bring the tools I had with me or not so I asked. Luckily, I didn't have to take the pickaxe and shovel with me (they were heavy steel and that would have slowed me down). The race officials told me that I could put them in my car... yeah right, my car was at the bottom of the mountain so I just set them against the outside wall of the tower and ran back in to the ladder. While I was doing all this, I lost my position to another guy with black curly hair.

So I get back inside the tower and crawl into the compartment where the ladder was. This turned out to be some sort of piping/wiring trunk that went up to the next level some 100 feet up. I was fortunate that I still had enough energy so I climbed the entire distance just with my arms allowing my legs to rest limply underneath me. I think I did a personal best time on that climb as well.

The second level of the tower turned into a big warehouse space with boxes and stuff forming a sort of maze. By this time, I could see (but not see) two guys in front of me so I followed their trail making up time at a full run dodging through the course.

I finally come to a room that was at one side of the warehouse and could hear the scramble of the guys on the metal roof overhead. The trail, a white extension cord, led to a window so I jumped out and scrambled up to the roof with ease. The metal was pretty slippery and one misstep would have seen me slide off and fall the long distance to the ground. I navigated it superbly and made it to the top of the curved roof in no time flat.

The two guys were nowhere to be seen but I notice that there was an open skylight a ways off so I ran over and jumped through it. This put me back near the ladder that I had climbed up earlier. Great, I lost the trail. I start to look around for a direction to run and come to a room with monitors, computers, and people in it.

I walk up to Pamela Landy but before I can speak, she hands me a PLR-16 Pistol. Don’t ask me how I knew what it was since I’ve never seen that in real life; kinda scary actually that my subconscious knew though, and yes, it looked just like that in the dream (if you hadn't figured it out by now, this is a recount of a dream I had Saturday morning). Anyway, she hands the pistol to me and tells me that I am number two behind Mr. Architecture guy. It turns out that the room I happened upon was the start of the next stage of the competition and only the first two competitors to find it would move on to the final phase.

On the monitors were live and recorded camera feeds of some members of the mob. I was to locate Mr. Architecture guy and team up with him. The two of us would then hunt down and take out those members. How this was to result in one winner I don’t know because it’s at this point that I woke up (3:38 AM PST).

Now that was one exciting dream where I actually had an abundance of energy. Usually, I can barely run and stay ahead of danger but this time, I actively sought it out.

Fucked Up!

Here we are again! Frankly I’m starting to get a little pissed off about the whole thing. The weather is starting to turn around; hey, they are even predicting 71° tomorrow (that’s Fahrenheit not Celsius), I’m getting damn close to five days at the gym again, I even have a cool new Fossil watch to wear out and about, but what does this cheep knock off of a brain that rents out the space between my ears do? get down and depressed. BASTARD! KNOCK IT OFF!

It seems that the cycles are getting shorter and shorter where not a week goes by without feeling melancholy now. Summer is just around the corner and I cannot afford to get sick (depressed) again.

I was thinking of a way I could use this to my advantage. Normally, when I get down, I just sit at home and turn inwards… maybe I should “punish” myself with a long run every time I get down. At that rate, I’d be running almost everyday.

Unfortunately, the fitness issues are not the root cause and taking care of them is just treating the symptoms and not the disease. I still have not figured out what the disease is though.

Signs and Portents

This morning I experienced an unusual set of dreams; something I really don't recall having before. They started out as your run-of-the-mill dream but then moved into more of an Armageddon style. I'll pick it up there.

The setting was a city or town laid out similar to some European towns with steep narrow streets... we were at a gas station in some sort of SUV/mini van type car. My sister pointed out an interesting cloud formation so we all looked up. It was in the shape of a skeletal hand. Soon, more shapes appeared in the form of skulls. At first, we thought it was just a coincidental act of nature but then noticed that new puffs of cloud were being created as we watched (similar to when someone takes a drag on a cigarette and then blows out the smoke).

Anxiety starts to take hold of everyone just as a new form appears. This time, it was streams of smoke that divided into multiple branches, each one ending in a blue spark similar to a small firework. This started repeating itself all over the sky with the skulls continuing to appear in the background. Pretty weird eh?

Anyway, being the realist that I am, I get on my cell phone and start chatting with a friend analyzing what we were seeing and how it was really being done; in other words scientific, not spiritual. The only solution I can remember that we talked about was that it was holographic. All the while, I'm walking down one of the steep streets in the town with lots of other people in market booths, in doorways, or just milling about talking about the sky.

I finally come to a square that seemed to be at the edge of town with a view of Mt St Helens. It's then that I notice the volcano was about to erupt since its crater was entirely filled in as if a bubble of magma had pushed up the crater floor to its original, pre-1980 eruption height. Soon the bubble burst and flung rocks, lava, and ash into the sky.

I knew I was dead since we were too close and rocks were falling all around us so I just stood and watched debating on whether I should film it with my cell phone camera. It's then that I noticed some of the rocks were alive and had loosely formed monstrous humanoid shapes, all walking around...

...beep, beep, beep went my alarm clock.