How Long am I Gonna Run for BOMF Team Somerville? FOREVER!

I have, hands down, the greatest running group of all time. Back on My Feet Boston's Team Somerville launched on March 14, 2011. That's right, Pi Day. So we were clearly destined for greatness. Now, add to that fact that we are incredible athletes, very friendly, and the most attractive group of runners you will see congregating in Somerville at 5:45am. Or anywhere at anytime for that matter.

Case in point

I already miss everyone terribly, and I've only missed 2 runs so far. (3 by the time anyone reads this probably.) When I tell people that I gladly wake up before the sun to go running 3 days a week, I typically receive quizzical looks. Being a full time student, I can pretty much go running whenever I want. Instead of sub-zero weather, I could theoretically wait until the temperature peaks to a whopping 15 degrees or so in the dead of winter. But then I wouldn't get to see these beautiful people!

Sometimes we wear hats

Also, I'd be running alone, and that is not nearly as much fun. With Team Somerville, I get great conversation, some fabulous puns, and the occasional song (often by Lady Gaga) while logging some serious miles. I've been lucky enough to get to know everyone pretty well, especially with our question of the day. For example, I know what super power most of these people would want, their favorite ice cream, and what their childhood nicknames were. But you also get to know each other really well - you're pretty much bound to open up to each other when you are out on a long run. 

So today, I ran 2 miles for Team Somerville. Okay, I ran something like 3.4 miles, because I did a weird loop. And anyone on my team can tell you this is a huge deal for me. A few weeks ago, our question of the day was "Do you have any weird superstitions or habits?" And mine is that I have to run race distances. I'll do 3.1 (5K), 5 miles, 6.2 (10K). I'll allow 8 miles (it's too big of a jump to 10). And then, obviously 10 miles. And on rare occasions 12, because you might as do 13.1 (a half-marathon) once you hit that point. My team understand my issue (or at least pretends to). Most people think I'm crazy. I chalk it up to: what do you get when you cross a runner with a math major?

Well I think I found my future husband...

Over the past year, and especially since my sleep cycle has been completely thrown off, the team as put up with a lot of odd behavior and statements from me. Lately, I have been showing up on minimal sleep, rambling semi-coherently, and laughing hysterically and things that are only remotely amusing. I was going to add in "leading them into on-coming traffic and getting them lost." But I do that regardless of my level of sleep. So far, we haven't lost a single member to a traffic accident or navigation issues on our runs. 

Look how attractive... maybe extra attractive because I'm absent...

So Team Somerville, I ran for you guys today, and I'll be running for you guys in Tanzania too. I miss all of you already and I can't wait to see your bright smiling faces at circle in August!

Who are we? Back on My Feet!

Who are we? Back on My Feet!

How long are we gonna run? 

FOREVER!

Love you guys!

Natalie

10 Miles for the O'Neils!

When I was younger, the O'Neils got a lot of facetime with me. I was best buds with their daughter, Shannon, so I was at their house a least a couple of times a week when we were about 5. At least that is how it seems in retrospect. Of course their tree house also seemed like it was larger than my actual house at the time. So my memory may be less than perfect regarding this.

I think this is accurate though

But I do remember tons of trips to the mini-mart with Susan and Shannon, and playing with their dog Rudy. It took me a very long time to realize that this dog was named after Rudy Ruettiger... and not Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Which is funny, considering I ended up at Notre Dame... geez, I'm brilliant. Also, the O'Neils hailed from a far-off land called Massachusetts, and really liked Boston sports teams, which made no sense to me. I guess I pulled a reverse-O'Neil move when I moved up there...

But... the Phillies...

I also spent a lot of time with most of the family during our participation with the Laymen Playmen. Yes, my friends, I was actively involved in musical theater in my pre-college years. The main difference between myself and the O'Neils was that they had pretty legit roles, and I was consistently placed away from microphones. All for the best I think. Patrick was a great Captain Von Trapp (although I think my favorite character for him was Abel Frake in State Fair... specifically in the scene when he celebrates his pig winning first prize... but I digress). Anyway, this family has some talent... And this is what happens when people hear me sing:

I do it anyway though

Now, similar to the Kratz family, the O'Neils have gotten into running, and do the same bootcamp as my parents. In fact, the last time I saw Patrick was running trails on Thanksgiving with the group! And, according to my mother, Patrick, Susan, and both their daughters did the Broad Street Run this year, which is awesome! Maybe someday we can arrange a Kratz-O'Neil race? Ragnar PA, anyone?

Today, I very gladly ran 10 miles for the O'Neils. I decided to do an out and back, and was disappointed at how small these towns are. I ran past my old house. I ran past my church (well I was still about a block away). I ran past the water ice place that my dad used to take my softball team to. And then I finally hit 5 miles and turned around. It was kind of hot, but it was nice to see some of my old stomping grounds, since this was for some old friends!

So thank you, Patrick and Susan, for the donation, all of the amazing times growing up! 

Hopefully I'll catch up with you guys when I'm back in August! If not... I think you'll have to make a trip to Boston...

-Nattles

5 Miles of Reasoning with the Hurricane Season for Derek!

Despite my parents' name for him, Derek is not evil. We just call him "Evil Derek" to distinguish him from "Fiance Derek"... who isn't even a fiance anymore, since he has married my sister. But that is neither here nor there. Derek is my ex-husband, at least on facebook. In college, it's all well and good to be "married" on facebook, but when you "grow up" people start thinking this means you might actually be married (weird), so we got facebook annulled. It was devastating, but we got through it somehow and have remained friends. Probably, because we share a love for the chillest man ever to grace God's green earth: Mr. Jimmy Buffett.

Seriously, God's gift to man

Together, we have been to 3 Buffett concerts, and his regular haunt of Key West, FL... where Derek witnessed me at one of my finest moments at Sloppy Joe's.

Doesn't look like much, but it's Buffett's recording studio!

I was thrilled by his request - wearing leis and listening to Buffett for 5 miles. I'm getting a bit pressed for time and mileage, so I decided this had to happen today. And when I woke up, it was raining quite a bit...

We also have strict no running rules on our back porch

After consulting weather.com. I determined that running in a downpour would be better than the anticipated thunderstorms this afternoon, and went for it. (Let's not talk about how it ended up being a beautiful afternoon and I had to go shopping for all of it.) First, I went to the Kratz family stash of Buffett paraphernalia.

What? You don't have an emergency Buffett stash?

I selected not one, but two leis. I'm so glad he didn't request a grass skirt, or coconut bra, or inflatable parrot. Luckily after, 2 miles, the rain let up. (Let's not talk about how it ended up being a beautiful afternoon and I spent it shopping.) Only a few drivers witnessed me, and most made at least some attempt at not spraying puddles all over me. I did see one other runner, coming around the bend, passing me, completely in the zone, as I was cruising along, listening to "The Weather Is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful," which I thought was pretty appropriate given the weather. I'm pretty sure he thought I was weird, but at least I wasn't making the weird intense runner face that he was. Due to the power of Buffett, the leis survived the monsoon, and came out pretty unscathed, and ready for many more concerts.

That's some high quality dollar store leis for ya

The best part of the day was yet to come! I just got back from getting a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" with Derek himself. Just replace "burger" with "steak" and "paradise" with "Greenhouse Tavern" (the latter are synonymous anyway, though).

Serious noms.

So thanks a million Derek, for the great run, and all of the great Buffett-related (and non) times together. Keep your calendar cleared for my return, and I'll tell you all of my "Coastal Confessions" from Africa in August!

Everyone else: keep an eye out for the Save the Date

-Natalie

10 Miles at Peace Valley Park for Tim

I know, I'm blowing up the newsfeed with all of these blogs - but I need to get these done before I head out on Friday! And, in the words of Weezer "If you don't like it, you can shove it. But you don't like it. You love it."

Today, I ran 10 miles for Tim, in exchange for borrowing his sweeeeeet backpack! Seriously, Tim you are a LIFESAVER. I'm flying into Dar es Salaam, but then have to take an 8 hour bus to Arusha, and then I guess we'll be taking a bus to the village we'll be living in from there. There will probably be quite a bit of walking involved too, so it was highly recommended that we use hiking backpacks. So this is awesome!

What a beauty!

Running at home can be pretty frustrating, because everything I thought was really far away when I was younger is apparently quite close. Also, shoulders are small and people don't look for runners and there are few streetlights, so I have to choose routes carefully. Instead of zig-zagging my way through Telford and Souderton again, I took my dad's suggestion and went to Peace Valley Park. I still had to do two loops to hit at least 10 miles, since it's about a 6 mile loop. So Tim got an extra 3.1 miles. It was kind of rainy off and on, but it was still a beautiful course.

Such an upgrade from the Minute Man path!

Knowing that Tim is a big fan of the Beatles, I listened to "All Together Now" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da." This was all the Beatles that I had on my iPhone, so I also listened to "Be My Yoko Ono" by Barenaked Ladies... I figured that counts for something. And Tim would probably hate this song, because he's not a tween in adult's clothing (let's be serious I wear tween clothing...), but I also listened to "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen 3 times. I'm not even ashamed. Instead of linking to the real video... here's a nice video of the Harvard baseball team dancing to it.

So thank you thank you Tim, for a great run and for lending me your backpack! I'll be sure not to bring back any weird bugs in it or anything. And hopefully I can return it to you in person if we both end up in Vermont on the same weekend this fall again!

Natalie

P.S. I'll run another 10 if someone wants to pack that bad boy for me...

2 Miles for Katie - Wearing the Latest in Running Fashion

Ah, so nice to be back in PA for a couple of days. In my typical fashion, I came home and within a day coaxed my parents into going for a 2 mile run with me. Usually I do this strictly for the company, but I had a bit of an ulterior motive yesterday. Doing incredibly embarrassing things are a lot less traumatizing when you have company...

Katie and I had the best luck ever at the ripe age of 18, when Notre Dame decided we would be roommates. We didn't hit it off right away... I was in a bit of a mood on move in day, and have been told I was a little "intimidating." But very quickly, I proved myself to actually be a reasonable human being, and even friendly at times. So within about a month, we were bonding as we, along with our third roommate, hosted Friday afternoon dance parties. Unfortunately, I have lost the playlist, but I can tell you that "Summer Girls" by LFO was always played, in conjunction with a well-choreographed dance. We also had a few specific duets we would sing to each other... and I'm still a little bitter that she always made me be Kiki Dee in "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart." But whatever. 

We spent quite a bit of time together over the four years, with our regular routines of dance parties, Waffle Saturdays, and ANTM marathons. We also managed a few great trips, like when we visited each other in Dublin and London while studying abroad, the MSU away game (with the party bus), and the time we went to Madison and saw a dog poop on the marble floor in the state capitol building (and then saw some senators laughing uncontrollably about it outside). And since graduation, we've managed to see each other a bunch of times at ND/in Memphis/in Boston. Someday, I will make it out to Colorado to see her. 

And this is how we greet each other

I simply cannot say no to this girl. She is, after all, the Dwight to my Michael Scott.

This is also her middle name.

She requested that I wear the "Irish hat" for my run. At first I thought that she meant one that I used to have that looked kind of like this:

Except it said "Kiss me I'm Irish"

Unfortunately, that was lost on St. Patrick's Day :( So then I thought maybe she meant my ND hat. But then when I asked her she said "I meant the Guinness hat." So for Katie, I talked my parents into joining me for a 2 mile run around our neighborhood dressed like this.

I think I inspired my parents to run, because chasing a beer is like dangling a carrot

First of all, that thing does NOT breathe. So after about a mile it was getting pretty gross under the hat. Also it is way too big, so I was constantly in danger of it blinding me. This was a risk I was willing to take though. It wasn't as aerodynamic as my other running hats, so it slowed me down a little bit. The best part was our neighbors' reactions... or the lack thereof. They would look at me, and then quickly avert their eyes as if I were invisible. Two tween boys simply continued their conversation, even though they had to move to the side when my mom and I went down the sidewalk. The same thing happened when we ran by two other girls out running. I assume that they just didn't want to make it awkward by staring, but it might have not been so weird that I was dressed like that. Many of the locals are still sporting jorts and mullets... I may have been one of the better-dressed people out there.

Local establishments have stepped up to deal with the problem.

Once again, my parents came to my rescue, and this time saved me from a little bit of embarrassment. At one point, I asked them if they were embarrassed to be seen with me, and my dad responded with "No, I'm pretty proud."

So thanks Katie, for a terrific run, the donation, and for helping me instill some sense of pride in my parents. I'll have to bring that hat out to Colorado, so you can try running in it. Or we can use it as a candy dish like we did for most of the Spring of 2008.

-Nat

1.2 for Jamie, pt. 1

Jamie had a very specific request for her 1.2 miles - the last 1.2 miles of a Marathon in Nairobi. This, or potentially the half marathon, may or may not be feasible while I'm there, but fingers crossed!

They've been telling me that I can run while I'm there, so worst case, Jamie will be getting her miles while I'm in Africa, even if it is just around the village. I've also been told that kids will follow me, which I really hope happens. I'd much prefer turning around to see this:

YAY KIDS!

And not so much to see this:

Oh no charging rhino!

As a fellow runner, I think Jamie can agree that would agree. I'd probably run faster from a rhino, but the kids would be more enjoyable...

So just in case the worst possible thing happens in the history of the world and I have to go for 10 weeks without logging so much as 1.2 miles, I ran them for her yesterday. It was also my last day with Back on My Feet. So it was a great run, but a little sad. After that, I loaded up the car, and met up with Jamie and 2 other girls from the MPH program for a brunch, which was lovely! But again, a little sad, because I won't be seeing them until August or September.

So I'm leaving this post short because 1. I have to head out, and 2. part 2 is going to be SO MUCH BETTER because I'll get to write about running in Africa :)

-Natalie

Trogdor Runs in the NIIIGGGHHHTTTT!

I didn't run 10 miles for Bill and Phyllis yesterday... Trogdor did.

Of course, Bill and Phyllis had an absurd request for my run. I wouldn't expect anything less from them. They have certainly seen me at my finest in the past few years. For example, I gargolyed the keg at Phyllis's birthday party, which they photographed, blew up, and gave to me as a gift at my college graduation party a few weeks later. I think this sealed the deal that I am their favorite Kratz kid. Sorry, sibs. You'll just have to throw your shame out the window if you want to compete.

On another occasion when I was in town for a weekend, Bill came out with my dad, sister, and me. We bonded over great things like Francois and Trogdor the Burninator. A few weeks later, he bought both me and my sister the t-shirt. So this brings me to the run. First, on the fundraising site, I was told to do 10 miles in the Trogdor shirt. Kind of embarrassing, but doable. But then, I received the following post on my facebook wall:

OK so for my 10 miles...
1. Wear your TROGDOR shirt!
2. At the end of each and every mile yell one of the following:
a. TROGDOR the BURNINATOR!!!!
b. BURNINATING the countryside!!!
c. BURNINATING the PEASANTS
d. BURNINATING the thatched roof COTTAGES!!!
repeat a - d
then for miles 9 & 10:
TROGDOR comes in the NIGHT!!!
Make sure there are people around. ;)))

Yup. That happened. So first, the outfit itself was absurd, because the shirt is HUGE on me.

My socks didn't even match...

 So I got a few weird looks while I was running. One girl was hard-core judging.

Seriously, I got this look.

But one guy loved it, and gave me a thumbs up!

It wasn't this creepy though.

As for the yelling... Well, I took a route that wasn't very crowded, but I did make sure at least one person was within hearing distance. And it's not my fault they were old and had hearing loss or maybe they were wearing an iPod or maybe mowing the lawn... There were even two instances when I yelled it twice, because the first time there were only people driving by and I figured that didn't count. It also isn't my fault that I couldn't yell very loud, because I was running, and that simply is not possible.

The highlight, however, was my excellent timing. I ran right by Medford High School... as the kids were getting out. I think I taught them the value of higher education. That's right kiddos. Go to grad school and you too can resort to public humiliation to fund your trip to Africa. Bill and Phyllis, I hope you are happy. Now all of these kids will probably drop out of high school to avoid following in my footsteps.

At least I didn't have to wear this - DO NOT GET ANY IDEAS PEOPLE!

But seriously, thank you Bill and Phyllis for the donation, and one of my most interesting runs yet. It actually was pretty fun! Hopefully everyone who saw me will forget about it by the time I go back to Boston in August...

AND TROGDOR COMES IN THE NIIIIIIGHT!!!

Four Miles and a Prayer for Pastor Hopkins

I am very excited to announce that finals are over! My last one was yesterday afternoon, and I think they all went pretty well (fingers crossed).

This is how I walked to the T after my finals

I've known Pastor Hopkins my entire life. He was the pastor at my dad's old church, and they have stayed close. I hadn't seen him in years until last November. My friend was in the Philadelphia area, and my parents and I went out with her in Glenside. We were having a great time, when my dad got a phone call from Pastor Hopkins. And then it got better! He came out and joined us!

This was right around the time that I was making my final decisions about where to go to school. Pastor Hopkins actually knew someone who was working at the CDC! He gave me her contact information, and we got in touch, and she has been a great resource. This man has connections all over the place - probably because he's such a great guy that everyone wants to stay in contact with him :)

So in my infinite wisdom, I started studying for my epi final at about 9pm on Tuesday. And the test was at 2:30 on Wednesday. I don't recommend this. I was up until about 1:30am and then my brain no longer wanted to take in information.

It got to the point where I wasn't actually reading. I was just staring at words.

Now for your average student, that isn't too late.  But I still had to get up at 5:30am to run. So needless to say, I was VERY tired when I ran Pastor Hopkins's 4 miles. On the way to meet my team, I listened to his song request "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," by Martin Luther. Not my typical running music, but a good way to start what I knew would be a long day!

The rest of my miles were with my team. As I was running, I told one of the girls about my running/blogging/fundraising project. She asked who I was running for, and I told her about Pastor Hopkins! So despite being tired and the gross muggy weather, I had a great time running and talking about him.

In addition to his song request, he asked that I stop in a Lutheran church while I'm in Tanzania. There is a huge Lutheran presence in Tanzania, so this shouldn't be hard. I even found one in Arusha already!

I don't think it still looks like this though...

So thank you Pastor Hopkins, for the donation, the connections, and for always being there for my family! I'll be sure to say an extra prayer for you in the church in Tanzania!

Natalie

2 Miles for Andre's Cafe, and Some Fro-Yo for Recovery!

Ah, finals week. I forgot how terrible you are. I've been going pretty much non-stop since Sunday between studying, test taking, and running. The weather has been somewhat cooperating this week though. It's been pretty warm but kind of rainy. Not the best for running, but not the worst. And the lack of sun has reduced the temptation to play outside instead of do work. Side note: grad school needs recess. Or we should have a mandatory gym class at the School of Public Health. We can't expect to be able to convince people to exercise if we don't do it too.

This is how I envision it

So yesterday, I did my two miles for Andre's Cafe through Cambridge. I decided to listen to a "This American Life" podcast, because I need to get in as much American culture as possible, since I leave for Tanzania in less that two weeks! I can't believe it! Despite how tired I am, and how cloudy it was, it was a great run, and a very welcome break from studying.

Andre's Cafe gets a special award for being my only business sponsor! When we first found out we could do fundraising for the trip, we toyed with the idea of approaching restaurants for an event. After doing some research, we determined that given our short time frame and the logistics needed to actually make a substantial amount, this wasn't going to be our best bet. Hence, the launching of my "Running to Tanzania" project - which has been great - thanks everyone!

Despite the decision to do this rather than a restaurant event, the owner of Andre's, Karim, told me he was still happy to donate to my cause, which is awesome, and just reflects how great he and all of the people there are. I went there yesterday to thank them (and pick up some delicious frozen yogurt!) and got to meet Karim and tell him about my upcoming trip. He was very genuine, happy to meet me, and asked me more about my upcoming trip. There were also a ton of fliers around for groups doing fundraising through Andre's, as well as pictures and comments from customers hanging up. Both Karim and the woman who took my order were incredibly nice. You can tell care a lot about the community and their customers.

Here's an example - I saw this on a review on foursquare:

The man who took my order was so nice and game me a free yogurt b/c I'm visiting my Dad in the hospital. The vanilla yogurt with oreo is amazing btw. Such nice service and great food. Will come back.

For the record, chocolate yogurt with reese's is also amazing. They have catered events at the School of Public Health, and their wraps are so good, I'll go to meetings just to get them.

Somehow, their fro-yo is low-cal and still awesome! 

So between the excellent food and great people there, I foresee myself frequenting Andre's during the rest of my time at BU. I may even have to try one of the challenges! Who's with me?

So thank you Karim, and the staff at Andre's, for the donation, the great run, the delicious food, and great service.

-Natalie

10 More for The Ledge!

The Ledge was so impressed with my running and blogging, he pulled the most Ledge-endary maneuver yet. He donated more miles!! So yesterday I went out and did ten more for him. It took me quite a while to get my act together and go out there. First of all, let's all take note that yesterday was Seis de Mayo. I had an excellent Cinco de Mayo, so I woke up thinking maybe Sunday should be a rest day from running. But then I started working on a paper, and decided to hit the streets for some productive procrastination.

Ah yes, I have written a sentence.

It was about 6ish when I went out, and really nice out, so there were tons of people out. And by people I mostly mean hipsters. Oh man, Brian, you shoulda been there. I saw some ca-razy leggings, like better than jeggings. They looked kind of like this:

WHY DO PEOPLE WEAR THESE?

But my favorite spotting was a little boy wearing this hat/mask.

HEROES IN A HALF SHELL!

He even had it pulled over his eyes. I immediately decided that we need to get these for out next Day of Fun, which will also have to involve a caper of sorts. Or crime-fighting. Or just pizza.

Through some miracle, I was actually feeling really good during the run yesterday. I actually ended up doing half a marathon, so The Ledge, you got 3.1 fo' free. It may have been the awesome playlist I threw together before heading out. I'm pretty sure I was run/dancing to "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon, and "Motown Philly" by Boyz II Men. the latter was selected specifically to celebrate our love of Philadelphia.

Brian also runs like this. It's true.

In Brian's honor, I made sure to follow his cardinal rule of city running. It doesn't matter how far you have to go, how tired you are, or how fast you are running. If you see that blinky hand, you are sprinting. And I'm pretty sure I sprinted across at least half a dozen streets yesterday. And I got hit by 0 cars! Human frogger up in here.

Challenge accepted

The Ledge pulled another sweet move last week, and decided to go to a comedy night this Thursday, even though there might be a Flyers playoff game... and rumor has it that part of this decision was based on it being my final night in Boston. If you know Brian, you know this is the ultimate sacrifice. And I appreciate it!! Unfortunately school keeps me quite busy... especially lately with these finals they are making me do... and this preparation for Africa and such. Apparently, you can't just go all willy-nilly into this kind of thing. Who knew? So we haven't gotten to hang out much at all lately, which makes me sad.

But, when I am back in August, and putzing around like a kid on summer break (because I will be a kid on summer break...) we can have our second Day of Fun. And we will dress like turtles and eat pizza. Also we can go down to Berklee and play Hipster Bingo. And I'll be sure to bring back some Tastykakes and Yuengling from PA, and we can have those too. AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.

Diet of champions 

Thanks again the Ledge!! It's gonna be a loooonnngggg summer without my BFF, but we'll make up for it!

-Kakes

1 Mile and 4 High-Fives for Rick

There are few things in life more satisfying than a good high five. People should be high-fiving instead of shaking hands, hugging, kissing or greeting people any other way. They are versatile. You can go high or low, go into a clasp, bring it in for the real deal, or even go for ten. They are the ultimate display of friendship, celebration, camaraderie, congratulation, and solidarity. If everyone high-fived more often, the world would be a happier, sunshiny-er place. Crime would stop, and world peace would follow.

The power of the high-five

Rick clearly understand the greatness of high-fives, so as part of my mile for him, he offered to give me more money for high-fiving people. There was a list of people who were "bonuses," and this included runners, people walking dogs, and the dogs themselves. So when I went out today, I was pumped. I decided that my "mile" would be around part of Fresh Pond, because there is usually a plethora of dog walkers and runners. A gold mine, if you will.

I high-fived the first woman I saw when I set out, just as practice. It was glorious. She chuckled, we both got a nice boost, like getting a mushroom in Mario Kart.

After high-fives, you run super fast for about 20 seconds

In all of my excitement, I forgot about the disappointments and embarrassment associated with the dreaded "awkward high-five." So when I got to Fresh Pond, I saw a woman walking her dog. Perfect, I'll ask to pet the dog, high-five it, and high-five the woman too. And that when everything went wrong. First, I scared the bejeezus out of this woman when I practically sprinted into to her yelling "CAN I PET YOUR DOG!?" Seriously, she gasped and jumped and luckily did not experience any sort of cardiac arrest. Despite this she let me pet her dog, which high-fived me. At least, there was hand-paw contact, so I'm counting it. Then the woman apologized to me for being so scared... even though I was the creep and I stood there with my hand out for about 10 seconds, essentially forcing a high-five out of her.

"Yup, I'll just be here. Whenever you feel like slapping my hand is cool with me."

So after that I took off, a little flustered, but no worse for wear. A runner was coming my way. Remembering my success in my practice high-five, I was hopefully. We made eye contact. There was a smile. There was a head nod. I put out my hand and successfully slapped his bicep, since he has no clue I wanted a high-five. He apologized too. Apparently a poorly executed high-five is embarrassing for both parties. The next high-five went pretty much the same way, only I smacked the girl on the hand. At this point, I realized the first good high-five was a fluke, and now I was just harassing people. 

I felt like I had failed for a while. But then I realized there was only so much I could do in this situation. People don't anticipate a high-five from a runner while they are in the zone or walking their dogs. But given the majesty, and likely healing powers, of a well-executed high-five, I think I will be starting a crusade to increase their usage. Rick, I hope you will join in my efforts. 

 

Together, we can turn this:

Into this:

Official count: 4 high fives, 1 bruised ego. 

High fives for all,

Natalie

Two and a Half for Doug and Some Dinos

I was running for three great individuals this morning. One was a human named Doug. The other two were dinosaurs, Francois and Pierre. I met Doug right when I moved to Boston and he came to my housewarming party in Brighton. He really liked my Guinness hat, and I really liked that he liked my Guinness hat. 

It's a great hat.

Although Doug lived in the far-off land of Somerville, he had a weekend job right up the road from me, so sometimes I would visit him there. Once I brought him Thai food. I also put a Smirnoff Ice in the bag, thus icing him. It was awesome. He got me back about a year later on Easter. 

Mostly due to Doug's efforts, I now live in Somerville too. One magical evening, he took me around to some of his favorite haunts. He had me at Sligo. (That was supposed to be like "You had me at hello," but it's hard to do that impression without actually saying it out loud.) Doug and I both have a special place in our hearts for dive bars. Also for bacon. 

Yup.

We also have matching turtle shirts from woot.com. That wasn't planned, I got a mystery shirt and this is what I got.

FYI: it looks equally good on both of us, and when we both wear it, all of Somerville goes into esctasy 

So that's Doug and me in a nutshell. And now the dino-donors.

Many of you have met Francois. I found him in the Longfellow House when my family and I stayed there in the Summer of 2010. It was raining, I was bored, so I started taking pictures of him doing everyday things, such as:

Nomming on funny cake and ice cream

Playing cards

Brushing his teeth

He even made it into our family Christmas card. Naturally, I adopted him, and he frequently goes to family gatherings, bar crawls, marathons, and cultural events like the Somerville Fluff Festival:

Here he is with the Pharaoh of Fluff and Hi-Jinx Mistress

And yes, he will be coming to Africa. He's a bit nervous because he hasn't had his shots. But I think he'll be ok.

And finally, Pierre. Pierre was discovered on my kitchen table one morning with a note saying he was seeking refuge and believed my abode to be a safe haven. This is true. He had come all the way from Doug's homeland of Maine. And he and Francois hit it off immediately. 

Instant BFFs

It does make Pierre a little uncomfortable when Francois eats other dinos though. 

So this morning I ran a lovely 2.5 for Doug and the dinos with Back on My Feet. It's still hovering around the 50s and cloudy up in Boston right now, but I'm hoping to get some sunny days in before I go. For part of it, we did a relay race, so for a half mile (split into two quarter miles) I ran as fast as I could run. I think I could outrun a T-Rex (they actually were probably quite slow), but probably not Doug. He's kinda speedy.

So thanks Doug and the dinos for the donation and for the great run! Francois and I will be missing our buds big time this summer, but hopefully we'll return with some great pics of Francois on safari! Or perhaps the beaches of Zanzibar!

ROAR!

Natalie