Smug Marrieds: Careful, Lest We Summon It

Updated on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 9:15 PM by Dena Harris

Blair came downstairs a few minutes ago after having been up in his office talking to my mom on the phone about an issue with her furnace. (The issue being that it's decided to stop working.)

"Your mom's going to come by tomorrow," he said. 

"Okay," I answered, then asked jokingly, "So, were you guys talking about me?"

"No." 

"Well, why not?"

"You're like Voldemort," said Blair. "We try not to say your name aloud, lest we summon it." 

Anyone else deal with this sort of thing in their marriages? Anyone...?? 

Cheers,

Dena

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Valentine's Day Massacre Marathon & Relay

After completing a brutal yet satisfying 14-mile run at a 7:40 pace yesterday with Sole Sister Cindy Barbour, I was on such a high (or so mentally and physically broken) that when she suggested we partner together to run the Valentine's Day Massacre Marathon & Relay this coming Sunday, it never occurred to me to say no. 

Never occurred to me even though: 

• Cindy is a MUCH faster runner than me
• I have the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon the following Saturday, allowing only 5 days of recovery time
• I wrote a blog post describing my utter exhaustion the last time I ran the Massacre on a FOUR-person team
• The course is in Country Park which means hills and all my training as of late has been on flat roads

The course through Country ParkI think it comes down to the hoodie. The Massacre has the best hooded sweatshirts for participants of any race I've ever been in, hands down. I'm willing to put myself in pain for one of those. 

The race is held over a 1.6 mile loop. Runners alternate running loops, 8 apiece. I think I remember that 2-person teams were permitted to run two loops at a time before switching out. I hope so. The hardest part of this race isn't the distance. It's cooling off after each of your laps then having to go back out on the course with tight muscles. 

The best part of this race though is the down times. It's a great chance to talk and catch up with fellow runners who are between laps and people treat the event like one big tailgating party. There'll be tents and lawn chairs and plenty of food and drink.

The key word for this week is easy. Go easy on the legs. Easy on the workouts. Eat well. Drink lots and lots of lots of water. A little bit of prayer probably wouldn't hurt--especially given the team name we picked.

On Sunday, be sure to root for TEAM SOLE SISTERS: HOT FAST WOMEN.

Cheers,

Dena

Vitamin D Deficiency

I'm terrible about going to the doctor. I'm much more of a wait-it-out-and-maybe-it-will-go-away-on-its-own type girl, especially when it comes to colds, flu's, or injuries. It's even harder to drag me to the doctor for a "yearly" physical, especially when I'm feeling healthy. 

However, as it's been almost 5 years since my last general physical, I decided it couldn't hurt to be checked out. Turns out an annual physical these days pretty much involves going to the doctor's office, sitting around for 25 minutes, filling out a form, confirming your answers on the form verbally with a nurse practitioner, having your weight, height and blood pressure (90/55 - yo, yo, yo, wass 'up runners?) taken, and having blood drawn. All for a total of about 15 minutes in the doctor's office. Then they shoo you away and say they'll call you when the blood work comes in. 

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Forgotten BarkWorld Expo Interview

Googled my name this morning (Oh hush, you do it too) and found this video recorded during the BarkWorld Expo I attended last year as a speaker. I'd completely forgotten I'd done this brief interview. 

What's funny is that if you click on the link above, it takes you to the Barkworld home page which happens to be a big picture of me being interviewed for this very video. Who knew? (Click through the images if mine doesn't pop up right away.)

Note to self: Wear more makeup on camera and quit starting your sentences with "Um." You sound like a moron. 

Cheers,

Dena

Smug Marrieds: Walk The Line

Blair and I walked to the library on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 50's. Blair found a book of short stories and I always stockpile 3-4 books so I have something to chose from, depending on my mood.

As we leave the library, Blair is carrying the books but at some point he needed to find something in his wallet so he handed them to me to carry and I just never gave them back. After a few minutes, he looked over at me, frowning.

"What?" I asked. 

"Something doesn't seem right. Hang on." He took several quick strides so he was walking about three paces ahead of me. Or rather, I was walking three steps behind him. 

"There. That's more like it," he said over his shoulder. "And I'll expect you to get my dinner started when we get home, woman."

I'll say it again. I married a funny, funny guy. 

Cheers,

Dena