Wonderocitinessfulism

Yesterday and today, I think.  I don't see much else happening here!

Yesterday was lovely.  Got up early (7-ish?) and drove Julia down to the SMFA before her gig at 9:00 AM, then returned, bummed around for a bit, took a shower, chatted with roommate Eric's brother, who is staying with us, and then around 11:15 AM or so, headed back out (via T this time) to the MFA.

I showed up on the Green Line at the Museum of Fine Arts stop precisely as Julia walked up to the stop at 12:15 or so.  I got off one car, saw her, and we got back on the second car.  We couldn't have timed it better if we'd tried. Like clockwork, I tell you.  We took the train out two stops to Brigham Circle, where we had a delightful little lunch at The Penguin.  I had a slice of Aegean pizza.  She had a slice of... something with sausage on it (I think). Their slices are ENORMOUS - like 1/4 a pizza.  There was diet coke, because, you know, yay caffeine.

After walking Jules back to the SMFA, I began to wander.  First I wandered to the back of the MFA, where there were children and yeuts doing sidewalk chalk drawings.  I sat there and read Bird By Bird for a little bit.  I was in the shade, which was kinda cold.

There was this couple there - I'm certain they must have just gotten engaged or something - with a photographer, taking all sorts of cute pictures against various backdrops.  The kind of sickeningly cute pictures which only the pair of them and their parents could enjoy.  But, well, cute none the less.  They seemed to be having fun.

After a bit of a read, I got up and walked along the fens for a bit and checked out the World War II memorial.  The couple was there - this time beneath a blooming tree, he carrying her in his arms, photographer snapping away.  See what I mean?

Post-memorial, I walked back along the side of the MFA, and there they were again.  This time just up against the side of the building.  I started to feel like they must think I was stalking them.  I hurried by, went around to the front of the building and sat in the sun for a little while, basking.  Very nice.

Eventually, after I'd had my fill of sunshine, I walked up Huntington to Symphony, and then up Mass Ave. to Daddy's Junky Music, where I proceeded to get an electric guitar case and strap.  It was time.  From there, I walked up to Hynes Convention Center T stop, thought about taking the #1 up to Cambridge, walked down Newbury a bit looking for a coffee shop I could chill in, didn't find one, walked back, thought about the bus again (it had come in the meantime), and just got on the train (Inbound) instead.  This was approximately 3:00 PM.

By 3:45 PM or so, I was walking home from Harvard Square - case in hand - chatting with my dad on the phone.  I had tried to sit down in Dado, but it was full up.

By 4:30 PM or so, I was passed out in bed.  I took a nap until 7:30 PM, when I woke up and subsequently got a call from The Julia right as I was trying to remember how to dial my phone to call her.

We ended up getting together with Paul and his girl at Wagner Manor for pizza (which he made, and which was awesome) and Blazing Saddles.  And salad.  And a bit of wine.  And, clearly, good company.

So, through all of this, I was quite conscious of the fact that we were all scheduled to run a 5k today, Sunday.

We all went to sleep at a reasonable hour (except Paul, apparently, who it seems stayed up.  More on the impact of this later), and got up around 7:00 AM to get ready.  After some milling about, we piled into Paul's car and drove down to BC for the race, which was starting in the middle of campus.  Pre-race, we got our gear together and Jules and I went for a 0.7 mile warm up, whilst Paul did his thing.  More on this later.

The race was, basically, great.

It started promptly at 9:00 AM.  The beginning third of the race is mostly downhill, which is a fun way to start.  Makes you feel fast.  I lost sight of Julia pretty quick; turns out she was just a smidge behind me the entire way, sending good vibes.

What one buys at the beginning, one has to pay back at the end.

The race went out of the campus, down Comm. Ave., around the reservoir, back up to campus, and finished where it started.  That long hill at the beginning was balanced out by a pretty short one right near the end.  Funnily (that's a word!?), I found the hill easier than the long, flat part in the middle.  So!  Right near the end, I hear Julia coming up behind me!  We have a little chat before she spies her target - a woman a bit ahead of us - and she takes off.  My thought process was something like, "Oh!  There she goes!  I'll keep up- wait, wait, oh, no, guess I won't.  Wow."  She passed the woman.  I finished about where I was, though I had a little bit of energy to kick it up a bit.

Final results: 48th out of 267.  40th out of the men (something like 128 of them).  22:46 total.  7:20 miles.

I'm basically thrilled, as this is about 30 seconds faster, per mile, than the last race I was in back around St. Patrick's.

After the race, we went for a 2 mile cool down run around campus and the reservoir.  Nice.  Paul disappeared.

Oh, so Julia was 45th overall, 7th for the women.  (Awesome!).  Paul, Mr. 4 hours of sleep, was 2nd.  Overall.  Complete, unassuming badass! 

So!  That was that.  After our various cooldownnesses, we went to City Sidebar & Grille for the results, free Harpoon, and apps.  Rockin'.  We were there for a bit, before returning to Che Wagner for some Paul Wagner pancakes.  I nearly fell over for lack of food prior to this (the apps were pretty much all meated).  I ate my vegetable curry from last Wednesday's jam session.  It was delightful.

After all this, we watched some Old School, and then took a multi-hour nap, from which I woke up an hour or two ago.  I called my parents when I got home, just to say "Hi!" and tell them how it went.  And now, here I am.

I'm going to try to get some stuff done tonight - mostly, so far I've just been able to catch up on life, rather than get ahead in it.  Working on that.  Time for some music, code, and productivity, I think.

This was a wonderful, great weekend.