springtime for hitler*

as my eyes struggled to open, i heard olie softly whimpering from his cage. he usually sleeps in bed with us, but after cleaning the apartment last night he was curled up in his cage like a little meatball and was too cute to wake up. now, at 5 am, he realized he had slept through the night in his cage instead of the comfort of our bed and was not very happy. i got up, blindly fumbled to open his cage, then placed him in bed with us. he quickly ran up to the top of the bed to curl up next to aj's head with just enough room for me. the perfect leslie/olie/aj sandwich in his dog eyes. getting situated, he began licking himself (which is always the sound i want to fall back asleep to), then, with all the excitement of getting in bed with us he realized he needed to go outside. he got up and climbed over me as clumsily as possible, then back again, and then on to the foot of the bed. yes folks, we had a sleep walker on on hands. so i got up.

olie and i stood outside as the 55˚ breeze swirled around me, lifting my crazy black bedhair to the sky. it was unseasonably warm and olie thought it would be a good time to run around like a rabid dog. i tried to calm him as we went back into the apartment but he wasn't having it. i looked at the clock and it was already 5:24 am. only six minutes until the alarm was going to go off and alert me that it was time for my morning run. i laid back down in an attempt to enjoy the few minutes i had left on the clock. olie soon realized running around like a chicken with it's head cut off at 5 in the morning was not so fun alone. he joined aj and i in bed and we all fit back together like perfect puzzle pieces. that is until the alarm went off only moments later.

just a few months ago i would have hit snooze and gone back to sleep.. but now, having finally learned to get up like a big girl at the age of 24, i put my alarm clock on the floor far away from the bed. i have to get up. i cannot stand the sound of an alarm clock that does not have a radio option. the beeping makes my ears bleed. seriously. i popped out of the bed, turned the damn thing off, flipped on the lights and sat on the edge of the bed to pet olie and started to wake aj up. after convincing me that olie was in fact the queen of france, i got aj out of bed. mission accomplished.

as i got dressed i was excited to get back outside. i generally just get mad at pseudo-springtime, but this time i was happy and very interested to see what running in warmer weather would feel like. so, i left the apartment a few minutes before aj because of the excitement but mostly because the man in my ipod was telling me i needed to begin my workout. i don't want to disappoint the man in the ipod. i stepped outside to see a number of people leaving for work, hit the center button of my ipod to begin my run and i was off.

rounding a curve in the first stretch of my run i thought i felt a raindrop hit my hand. between my running pants, hoodie, bandana and hat, my hands are pretty much the only part of my body that are exposed. i started to look up and around to see if it had actually started raining or if i had made it all up. after a few more drops hit my hands i realized it was sprinkling. the air was fresh and the small amount of moisture was rather refreshing. i reached my five minute mark, and remembering my blog from yesterday, i decided to keep running instead of walking yet. i looked up to the clouds and at that very moment and a large streak of lightening fell from the sky right over my head. the sudden flash blinded me and it took a moment for my eyes to readjust back to the black of the early morning. i waited to hear the thunder that followed but couldn't hear much over isaac brock singing in my ears, "early, early in the morning; it pulls all on down my sore feet; i wanna go back to sleep." not today isaac, not today. i was running past my five minutes and kept going. i knew i was going to have an amazing run.

i entered a small cal de sac with about five houses on it and very wooded. the rain was starting to pick up and running under the pines had a unique and comforting feel to it. very east coast feeling. i realized i was still running as i passed small landmarks that i generally began to walk at. the cool rain helped keep me going, and besides, i just couldn't justify walking in the rain. getting back out on to the main road the storm overhead got vicious and i felt like i was standing under niagara falls. i couldn't believe it. my feet were completely soaked and i started to worry that the nike+ sensor  in the bottom of my left shoe might drown. with a few more bashes of lightening and a flash flood that was rising to my ankles, i unfortunately decided to run back to the apartment.

once the entrance of my building was insight, i could see aj standing outside scanning the streets and parking lots looking for me. we made eye contact and i motioned for him to meet me in the sauna. at that same moment the man in my ipod told me i had completed ten minutes.

ten minutes!

i have not run for ten consecutive minutes ever. well, ok, there was this small moment in time.. many, many years after the time i tried skipping instead of running in gym class. i was throwing around the idea of joining the air force and a friend told me that in basic training you needed to be able to run two miles in 18 minutes. 18 minutes? i did the math and realized that was two back-to-back nine minute miles. i decided i needed to condition myself and started running on the treadmills at the gym i had just joined. i was doing 12-something miles. i quickly realized the air force was not for me.

in the dryness of the sauna, aj and i talked about our brief jog in the rain. since i had left before him he had only gone a few minutes before noah came cruising by on his arch. i, on the other hand, had gone for 10:36 without walking a single step of it! i was so mad that that bitch mother nature decided her stupid plants and trees needed a drink.. i mean i was having an amazing run! defeated, i decided it wasn't the end of the world and if i had done it once that i could do it again. after trying to dry ourselves aj and i returned home and decided if it wasn't too wet out when we got off work that we would start our run over in the evening. the overly enthusiastic weather gal promised the rain would let up, so i was going to believe her.

even though this run was small, i am still posting it in here proudly. and if molly mcweather was telling the truth this morning i will post the results of my real 35 minute run later on tonight.

*attention: the title "springtime for hitler" is by no means an anti-semitic statement. whenever the weather reaches spring-like temperatures i always refer to it in this manner, referencing the fictional play from the producers. so, if you didn't get it or were offended by it, please, go obtain a sense of humor or go see the play and/or movie. it's really very good. even in the nosebleeds.