when best friends go away...

tonite has been a tough night for me. ian and i just got home from a going-away party. a party for friends - for a family - who have meant so much to me over the last 9 years...

i first met kathy in october of 1998. i was in grad school and had just landed a great internship. she and her husband greg had just moved to colorado fresh off a year in australia working on the venues for the summer olympics. kathy and i got along, but we weren't close at first - although i respected her from the moment i met her.

fast-forward a couple years. when my boss left our former place of employment and started his own firm, kathy and i were the first to join him, and did on the same day. she and i lived through a lot of work before she left the office a couple years ago...

but my friendship with kathy and greg so far surpasses that. they were two of the few that i still keep in touch with who were at my wedding. kathy is (literally) responsible for my addiction to gardening. kathy and greg were always an integral part of the supper club that we had going for a while. kathy was my lunch companion for years. they were the ultimate dog-sitters, and picked up our pup the night that ian was born (and, hence, were the first to know that ian was on his way into this world). they were there when we buried blu. and they were the first (and only) i called when i discovered k's cheating. for nine years, kathy and greg have been by my side through good and bad...

and now they leave. they're going home - within spitting distance of both families, and armed with some adorable twins. i'd be the biggest, most inconsiderate jerk if i didn't support them. of course i do. they need this. and i've been bracing for this for a while, but still...

for me, this sucks. two people who have been by my side through all the good and the pain of the last 9 years - they're leaving. i've gotten used to people close to me going away, but this is different. because kathy and greg - they are part of me. they are part of that community that i wrote about in my last post. that community that is small and shrinking...

as i wept tonite as we drove away from the party, ian asked me if i was sad. yes, sweetie, i am sad. i'm not, daddy - he said. because he knows only happy times spent with them. and through my child's eyes i realized what we need to hold on to. the happiness of times spent with good friends. because we're not given an infinite amount of time, we have to cherish the times that we have...

when a house is not a home...

since i moved into my new place several weeks ago, i've been struggling to make it feel like mine. this is a great house with lots of little quirks that also needs plenty of work - except the work that i'd really like to do is more than cosmetic. and since i made the unexpected decision to rent again (after a painful house-selling and aborted-house-buying experience), i'm not exactly at liberty to make more-than-cosmetic changes...

i did get the landlord's okay to do some minor work to the garden and paint the interior of the house. and given my spring-induced need to garden, well - that's been completed. a couple new shrubs, a bunch of new perennials, and the house has a new street presence. unfortuntaley, this is colorado and i'll be long gone before anything has grown to any reasonable maturity. but at least i got to get my hands in the soil...

as for the painting... i'm having a bit more difficult timing motivating myself for that task. yet this house really needs some attention. ian's partially-orange, partially primer-white bedroom is screaming for some attention. the crap-brown living room needs some love. the neon-yellow dining room isn't exactly matching my decor. and the stark off-white kitchen leaves my appetite longing for something more, well, appetizing.

the thing is, i already have the paint. a nice golden rod color (light on the golden, heavy on the rod) has been chosen for the living room. a nice slate blue for the dining room, and a very-boy sky blue for ian's room. and a sage-green for the kitchen. all mixed, purchased, and sitting in the basement.

meanwhile, i just can't bring myself to tape off the trim, move the furniture, and paint. all my framed photos and artwork sit on the floor, waiting for a home on freshly-painted walls. i cringe every time i enter poor ian's room and see the patchwork paint job. and i stay away from cooking in the kitchen because it begs not to be cooked in...

one of these weekends - maybe even weeknights - i'm going to get my butt in gear and start taping. because i know that once i start i'll finish quickly and feel much more at home in this temporary house.

an entourage of one...

the thing about living in colorado, we've got some tri-blogger celebrities 'round here. and because i happen to be related to one of them, i occassionally have the pleasure of mingling with some of those celebrities. like say, for instance, bolder. it's almost enough to make one part of the entourage...

carrie and bolder came to town and decided to meet at my house, since i conveniently live a couple doors from city park and a nice, shady, 5k+ loop. we managed two loops, with was huge for me. still recovering from the onset of allergy season, i'd been mostly unsuccessful on my solitary runs this week - barely able to make it through 3 miles on friday. but tonite, with the company and conversation and pace of our favorite bloggers, i felt strong throughout the 10k. and that bodes well, considering we've all got this little race next weekend. i think i'm learning that running is much more enjoyable when i've got someone to run with. just need to get out and recruit...

early 30s? funny, you don't look a day older than 26...

today is the birthday of one of my favorite people in the whole entire world. please, go leave her some comment love and encourage her to get back on the blog train. happy birthday greenfish!

back on the streets...

feeling a little better today, and beginning to panic because the bolder boulder 10k is just two weeks away and i've got all of three outdoor miles under my belt this year at altitude - i decided to test a new run in the new neighborhood tonite. i'm rarely one to challenge a cold with intensive exercise, but i thought it made more sense today to get out and run rather than rest my lungs for some indeterminant amount of time. plus, we had a nice cloud cover - and that's been rare around here lately...

last year when i ran outside (and trust me, there was nothing before last year), i'd run from work on one of the bike/rec trails denver is known for. this usually worked best for me, since i'd get on the trail right after work, run for 4 or 6 or 8 miles, and head home to relax. now, though, i live two doors from city park (a 3.25 mile loop) and the 17th avenue parkway. i'd tested (badly) the park loop the night before leaving for wildflower, so decided to do the parkway this time...

perhaps because i have the mind of an engineer, i like runs where i can count off the distance using my surroundings - and this out-and-back route was perfect for me. short blocks, moving in alphabetical pairs, a through q. i like to know where i am and exactly how far i have to go when i'm running (i'm still trying to get to the point where running is actually enjoyable - not sure i'll ever manage that!), so this was like a dream...

i should say, that part of the run was like a dream. the rest - not so much. almost immediately, i felt the burning pain of my lungs letting me know that they were not - in no uncertain terms - happy with this heavy breathing thing. my legs felt heavy, and i plodded along at a pace that was well below what i expect of myself. of course, i have those expectations based on a healthy body and the real training of last season. there were a couple good parts, too - i had negative splits and convinced myself to tack on an extra half-mile on the out (also known as "the next stoplight") - and i'm certainly happy i got out and didn't let this cold deny me yet another opportunity to run on a beautiful colorado day.

the coming week is my opportunity to get some miles done in preparation for the bolder boulder, and i'm convicing myself here - in front of this incredibly vast and wise readership (hello carrie - sorry it's so lonely in the foolish epidemic fan club) - that i need to take advantage. if i don't have three good runs minimum in my legs by this time next week, i should be strung up and forced to listen to wayne newton on repeat...