haulin' aspen, eucalyptus and oak

Trail Running is a messy business.

Yesterday I ran with a seventy-one year-old Norwegian man named Allert. He runs with the Racy Ladies. Allert broads over the women runners like a kindly old grandpa. He makes sure we are hydrated and educated on routes. He makes sure we stretch after every run. We ran a dirt trail in the variegated shade of the tall eucalyptus trees and I listened to him talk of his emigration from Norway and his travels around America. Allert is slight man, lean and sinewy. He told me he used to be two inches taller. Last weekend, he placed second in his age category at the San Francisco Half Marathon. He has no intentions in slowing down or taking it easy in his old age. I wanted to hug this man who I had just met.

I am really enjoying trail running. Don't get me wrong- it is totally kicking my butt- and my shoes are a filthy mess, but I am having fun. I am, however, spending a senseless amount of time cleaning the dirt from under my toenails.

Now to a small bone I have to pick with my readers. The response I have gotten to the Top Rockstar contest has been- well, underwhelming. Come on people! If you don't have a blog, put it on your my space page. If you don't have a my space page, blog or web page, you are probably over the age of thirty, not super web savvy, may or may not wear Dockers and not really into hip new music sites anyway, so you are excused.

design sunday

Mama Merit Badges

Okay, I need to order me up some of these little badges. I think I will sew them onto my bathrobe, next to the grape jelly stain. I thought about getting a canvas tote to sew them onto, but then I would be walking around in public with a breast on my bag. And besides, the breast badge is the one that I think needs a little tweaking ( not that way! get your mind out of the gutter!). What I mean is, here you have a badge for breast feeding and the breast they chose to represent this is still full and pointing up. Some thing's wrong with that.

Motherhood is a thankless pursuit. Reward yourself.

Also, I have decided to extend the Top Rockstar contest (see previous post) until the launch date of September 1st. Below you will find a graphic for you to use as a link in your side bar or main text, so come on people, get blogging!