The Curious Incident of the Window Fan in the Nighttime

The human body is equipped with a wondrous network of neurons. Working in synchronicity, these neurons send messages all throughout the body, allowing us to perceive and respond to the surrounding environment. My sensory neurons were firing on all cylinders last night, when at 3 a.m., the fan in the window above our bed abruptly fell right on top of us. Both of us, awakened out of a dead sleep, sat up yelling, frightened, clutching each other, wondering out loud what the @#$% is going on. To top it off, Sargent had his room darkening eye patch on (like the one in this picture with Emily), so he couldn't see what just hit him in the head, which only intensified the fear. Finally I took off his eye patch so he could open his eyes. At the time, I don't think he realized that he had it on. Perhaps he thought that whatever hit him in the head made him blind? However, once he was able to see it was just the fan, he casually put the fan back in the window and went right back to sleep. Sleep! Are you crazy! I was so freaked out there was no way I could sleep. Every neuron in my body was firing at full throttle. I was seeing and perceiving things that weren't there, shaking so much the whole bed was shaking. I was certain that there was someone in the room that pulled that window fan down on top of us. Little did I know it was actually Sargent who, while sleeping, somehow got his long arm wrapped around the cord and pulled it down. So, there was no more sleeping for me. Just lying there, awake, rigid with fear...until my alarm went off at 4 a.m.

You see, today was my long run. Scheduled to do 18-22 miles, I knew that I needed a very early start in order to avoid running the last miles in the heat. Denver has set a new record for the longest number of consecutive days above 90, and today was to be no exception. I had planned to be up at 4:00 and running by 4:30. However, the fan incident had scared me so much, I had absolutely no desire to go running around outside alone and in the dark. Sargent knew this when I turned off my alarm instead of hitting snooze and did not get up. So, the gentleman he is, he got out of bed at 4 a.m., went through the house and turned on all of the lights so I would feel comfortable enough to come out of the bedroom. Then, get this...he got on his bike and rode with me in the dark while I ran. This made me a very happy girl.

So with Sargent by my side, I ran 21 miles. My goal was to keep it slow, like Scott and my online coach dude said to do. My average pace for the distance was 9:38 min/mile, which ends up being about a minute to a minute and a half slower than race pace. I felt good throughout most of the run, up until mile 18 that is, when Sargent tried to kill me with moldy water. Sargent had carried an extra water bottle on his bike so I could refill my handheld without having to stop at a gas station or water fountain. It seems that the bottle he chose to carry already had some water in it...from "two days ago", he says. More like two weeks in 90+ degree temps I say. So at 4 in the morning, he did the easy thing and just added a few ice cubes. At mile 18, I proceeded to refill my water bottle from his, and took a nice big drink. Yuck! I spit it out and almost puked in the process. In my 'I've already run 18 miles' brain, this was too much. I was convinced he was trying to kill me. Then I got all pissy and started running much faster than I was supposed to. I overreacted and thought I was going to die because now where was I supposed to get water? Of course there was a perfectly good water fountain just a mile down the trail, and I knew this, but no, I needed to have my little temper tantrum. This doesn't sound like me, does it? Anyone? Once Sargent admitted that yes, in fact he was trying to kill me (I'm sure he wanted to at that point), I was just fine, and finished out my run without further incident. By 8:00 a.m., I had completed my long run, and Sargent got in a 3 hour bike ride (with a grand total of 300 pedal strokes, mind you).

After a big breakfast of waffles, eggs, and sausage, followed by a long nap, we took the dogs to a nearby pond to swim. I say "dogs" plural because we are watching my cousin Anne's dog, Lady, for the next week. They had a blast and were thoroughly worn out by the time we got home. Lady is the dog on the left. Tomorrow I am looking forward to an hour and a half massage, and then finding somewhere cool to hang out for the rest of the day. Hmmm, the mall?