the design conservative | tdc

tdc and governor sarah palin go running

Ok.  Not really.

BUT, as a bit of lighthearted fare in the midst of the health care hootenanny and the upcoming cap ‘n tax crap, I thought I would share some amusement from my morning jog.  And by “amusement” I mean “wow, it’s so sad how my life is totally wrapped up in politics that I should really keep this story to myself.”  Anyway…

This morning I did a short 30-minute jaunt through the sunny (blinding) warm (40s) streets of my neighborhood so that I could feel less like a sloth as I settled in work on the laptop all day.  I haven’t been running as much the last few weeks, so even on this short trip, I could feel my legs getting heavier as I made my way down the winding sidewalk back towards my house - about 200 yards away.  I started doing “that thing” where you mentally tell yourself that you’ll just run to that next crack in the sidewalk, or that tree, or that pile of dog poop that the owner really should have picked up... 

Apparently, though, I should have set my sights on something a bit closer.  Like, whatever was under my feet.  Unbeknownst to me, a renegade patch of dirt (filled with lovely foliage later in the season) was about to interrupt the concrete on which I traveled and, sure enough, as soon as the terrain changed…yep - I bit it! 

And, I even heard myself grunt…

Luckily, there were no dog-walkers on the path at that moment to point and laugh.  And luckily, it was still cool enough that I had on tights and light gloves so when I hit the dirt, there was no danger of permanent scarring.  Ego aside.

Anyway, the reason I am telling you this on my politics-related blog and not sharing it with my friends on my non-political Facebook wall is because as soon as I got up, I started laughing thinking about this quote from the good Governor:

…My favorite thing in the world is to run on hot, dusty roads. I don’t get enough of that in Alaska, so I was in heaven. And there were plenty of hills, so I knew my thighs were going to just throb and my lungs were going to burn, and that’s what I crave.

I like running alone, and having the Secret Service with me added a little bit of pressure. I’m thinking I gotta have good form and can’t be hyperventilating and can’t be showing too much pain, and that adds a little more pressure on you as you’re trying to be out there enjoying your run. Then I fell coming down a hill and was so stinkin’ embarrassed that a golf cart full of Secret Service guys had to pull up beside me. My hands just got torn up and I was dripping blood. In the debate you could see a big fat ugly Band-Aid on my right hand. I have a nice war wound now as a reminder of that fall in the palm of my right hand. For much of the campaign, shaking hands was a little bit painful…I made those guys swear to secrecy. And I probably should have gotten a couple stitches…

So, you see?  Cool people fall when they run.  And the REALLY cool people get up all bloody and then refuse medical attention! 

the design conservative has not yet reached such esteem, but sincerely hopes that today was the first step to achieving this lofty goal of “really cool-ness”.  In the meantime, I can only hope that the dog days of summer and the subsequent shedding of tights and gloves will lead to my own running wounds that, someday, will be compared to those of our first Madame President.

But until that day comes:  seriously, people - watch where you’re going…

- tdc

*Read Governor Palin’s Runner’s World interview - via Runnersworld.com