13.1

Sometime late on Friday, I realized that I had signed up to run a half-marathon on Sunday. I put that thought away, to be dealt with later. I'd signed up before the whole 11 day single parenting stint. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Then, on Saturday, I realized that yes, I was going to run it and I'd better go find out when it started and where I needed to be. I picked up my race packet at the last possible minute and even bought a new pair of shorts at the race expo.

Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed at the last possible minute, threw on my new shorts, drove to the race parking, got on the shuttle bus at the last possible minute, and arrived at the race start minutes before they said, "GO!" Luckily, with these chips it doesn't matter if you start late. I didn't have my number pinned on yet, I did that as I shuffled along. I had attached my chip to my shoe on the bus ride over.

I ran into a good friend at mile 2 and we proceeded to chat the rest of the way. Between mile 7 and 8, we dissected the Republican presidential nominees. Between 9 and 10, we did the same for the Democrats. By mile 11, we had come up with a comprehensive solution to get the US out of Iraq.

It was a beautiful day and a delightful run and completely uncharacteristic of me. Normally, I plan everything out in advance and leave nothing to chance. Yesterday - yesterday was all chance. I planned nothing. I wore shorts I'd never worn before to do a race. I brought a new sports "food" I'd never tried before to eat during the race. Unbelievable. Very out of character. But it was all good and fun.

Chance is good, sometimes.

But waking up with pink eye this morning? Not so good. I didn't plan that, either.