about getting from point A to point B in the most interesting ways possible

If you're a large woman in America, your whole life is an opportunity to feel self-conscious, embarrassed, resentful and way too big. You can hide in the corner or on the couch, you can go to therapy, or you can put on your lycra bike shorts and get out there and move.
—Jayne Williams, Slow Fat Triathlete

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December 3, 2004

better yet! permalink

Today I left the house 10 minutes late. And yesterday, actually, it was 20 minutes late. But, I got 11 minutes of exercycle in. Was hoping for 40, but hey.

I had just the best walk in this morning. It felt so good that I let myself speed up a little, and I made it in in 45 minutes--5 minutes faster than usual. Along the way, I was a clutch of kittens that were playing in a driveway. They were at that most wonderful and obnoxious age, maybe 8 weeks, impossibly small, fuzzy, with tails like triangles rather than like cat tails. All but one ran under the car (off, in the driveway) when they saw/heard me, but one little black guy hid behind this scrappy shrub and checked me out. So damn cute.

I felt so euphoric that I decided to stop at the gym and shower in spite of the fact that I would be a smidge late. I chatted with the front desk guy, who moonlights at Niketown, if he had seen a lot of the USATF athletes. Nope, he had seen mostly coaches. So I dutifully told him about seeing Clausen and Dunn, and of course, he had no idea what I was talking about.

Oh! I didn't mention this! So yesterday noon, I went out with a friend to walk the waterfront loop. And who did I see out there also doing the loop but Curt Clausen (I think. I bet. Yeah, it had to be.). Or a Curt Clausen-look-alike who was tall, tanned, blond, and racewalking impossibly fast, as if he were the fastest racewalker in the United States, and had represented us this summer in Athens. I was caught so offguard that I wasn't able to even go into fan-girl mode.

Of course, in the afternoon it was all I could think about. My gosh, I met Philip Dunn! Philip Dunn told me I need to raise my toes more! And I saw Curt Clausen training!

My coworkers, I think, have always thought of me as an oddball—lefter than thou, insisting on having toys on my desk, being a foodie, kooky. Now that I've been walking, they must really think I'm looney. Hell, I travel so I can walk 13 miles.

So yesterday, I tried expressing my absolute wonder at my brushes with Olympians in some sort of controlled, calm way, and everyone looked at me like—who? what? Oh, Vicki's just going off again.

It just makes me think of that Kirsty MacColl song (made famous, sorta, by Tracey Ullman) "They Don't Know".

Have a great weekend!

Posted at December 3, 2004

Comments

You're getting some quality exercise time in there! Congratulations. As for meeting the RWs, well, just wait - you'll be keeping up with them soon enough, I'm sure.

Posted by: Richard at December 3, 2004 1:45 PM

Ah, Richard, thanks!

Posted by: vj at December 6, 2004 9:17 AM