Friday, July 3, 2009


Hello, web. I'm back. It's good to see you again!

Remember Amos, the fire escape artist? Good. Well, he's afraid/nervous/schizo about fireworks. That is to say, the past couple of days have been rough on him, and the next couple will likely be as well.

He nearly tore through the bedroom door yesterday when we weren't home, and pretty much slept on my head last night.

I hear you can give dogs benadryl... research starts now.




Tuesday, July 22, 2008

26.2:: seven miles at night


Tonight I did something new and exciting. And intimidating and terrifying.

I went on a seven mile run tonight with a runner. A wonderful, fantastic lady, but a real runner.

My co-worker, Mandy, and I were talking last week at work, and she found out that I've been training. Into our conversation, she found out that I haven't been 'a runner' for long, and we got into a really nice, authentic conversation about it. She gave me some advice, and shared experiences. I asked her advice on some trails in town, trying to find some new places to run. Then she said if I ever wanted to run together, she'd love to. I said sure. She said, "When."

So, tonight, after she got off work at 8, we met by OMSI. We kept a pretty steady 10 min/mi pace and ran along the river from OMSI to Oaks Park. We watched it get dark, watched transients settling in for the night, saw the Derby girls practicing...

And as we came back towards OMSI, the city was as beautiful as ever.


I never thought about where I carried tension when I ran. I knew occasionally my shoulders would clench and pinch a bit, but never thought about it beyond that. Mandy gave me some tips at the top of the run about keeping my back, neck, and arms relaxed. About doing this sort of giggly arm thing to remind yourself to relax. To relax your wrists. To relax your hands.
She also led me through the post run stretching routine she does, which was great, because I need that.

To go from an insane runners high into a pigeon pose on the grass by the river... might be one of the more enlightening experiences of the month.




I think I'll keep doing this running thing.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

26.2: two miles at a time

I am going to run a marathon.  I've been training for a few months, and am starting to become a runner.  I've never in my life considered myself a runner, but I'm getting there...

A few weeks ago I did a 13 mile run.  Granted, I allowed myself some walking, but I ran most of it, and that's a mile farther than the longest I'd ever been on foot before.  The last couple of weeks have not been so smooth.  I've gone out of town on two trips, started a new job, given up an old job, and had my dog (my most energetic running buddy) fall from the fire escape and sprain his wrist.  

I haven't completely fallen off the wagon, but I certainly haven't been on track either.  I made it on a few short runs last week (as well as to THREE yoga classes!!).  This week is crazy, and tonight I thought I'd let two days go by this week without hitting the pavement.  But when I got home from rehearsal and it was nearly dark out, I decided to grasp the moment, and, pardon, run with it.

It was just a couple of miles, staying within the neighborhood, staying where it was well-lit and where I felt safe, but it was something.  And I was EXCITED to get out and run.  I had fun. It was calming, and thrilling.  And I picked up at the end, and ran fast.  

I ran fast, and at the end, looked up and saw the beautiful Oregon sky, some stars, and an amazing moon.  I stretched in the courtyard, and took it all in.  I'm going to do this.  And it's going to feel good.



When I showered, I turned the water to a pretty cool temp.  I realized as the water ran from my head to my back and my back to my legs, that my body temperature was warming the water.  There was a heat coming off my body strong enough to raise the temp of the cool water.  There was heat in me.  There is heat, warmth, in me.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

my dog: the fire-escape artist

This is Amos (aka. Seamus Michael Patrick Gallagher O'Malley.) Amos is a golden-retriever/Irish setter mix just over a year and a half old. He's a pretty cute, clever dog with lots of energy and little sense of consequence.

Jeffrey and I had an almost painfully full weekend. At the end of the day Sunday, as we were wrapping up at the Curious Auditions, we saw that we both had missed calls from numbers we didn't recognize. I listened to one of the voicemails I had...
"Hi, my name is Clint, and I have your dog..." - my dog was in my 3rd story apartment when I left for auditions - "...he was crossing traffic and we're at 18th and Everett..." - that's right by my apartment, en route to the dog park - "He's limping a bit..."

What?

The next messages were similar, Clint telling me that a nice couple who lived nearby were taking Amos back to their apartment, and then we had a couple messages from Patrick, the man who took Amos with him.

We called Patrick and headed straight towards home. Patrick met us in front of The Civic (which is across the street from our apartment), where he lives, with Amos. Amos had a bit of a limp, but was happy to see us.

When we got home, we determined that the most likely scenario was that Amos pushed open the unlocked window onto the fire escape, climbed down to the 2nd story fire escape, and either fell or jumped from there. Then he was on his way to the dog park.

Monday morning we took him to the vet, they took x-rays and determined nothing was broken, but his swollen and tender wrist suggested a sprain or strain. The vet put a cast on his right front leg, and kept him overnight to make sure the cast was going to function properly and not impair him too badly. He's going to have the cast on for 1-2 weeks.

I'll post some pictures of our dopey dog in his cast soon.

I think from now on we'll stop leaving "Homeward Bound" movies playing for him when we leave the apartment.