Ponderings on a mystery of life

In a completely ironic twist, my post Thursday about how I am always unprepared and behind the times was pre-written on Wednesday. I almost never pre-write posts, and of course it turned around and bit me in the ass. I published the post Thursday morning, and as soon as I was on my merry way to work, the radio DJ told me the replacement ref thing was over, making me a liar in my post. On the bright side, that meant Eric enjoyed his birthday gift of football tickets infinity times more. He was even finally able to explain "replacement refs" in a meaningful way to me. "It's like if they made you a ref". Considering I spent most of the game looking around and just clapping when other people clap, that put it in perspective. 

Last year I ran the Baltimore Marathon with Kara and we both got a PR of 3:54. The race ends right in front of Ravens Stadium, so I crossed over my PR finish line last night. That has got to be major good luck points with the racing gods, right? Last year, the city actually painted it permanently on the ground, like Boston, and I really wanted a picture, but the 70,000 other Ravens fans were totally in my way.

The closest I could get

As you can see, it was a late game, beginning at 8:20 pm, a time I'm normally yawning in the couch on my pjs. I took a terrible picture of the stadium, but in my defense it took us like half an hour to find our seats. I think we sat down at 8:19, so stopping to take a better one would have meant missing the beginning of the game, which was my favorite part.

I didn't think we looked this creepy, but pictures don't lie

This is where I started pondering one of the great mysteries of life. At home, watching football is the most boring activity I can imagine. I'd rather gouge my eyes out than watch. That's a pretty trite analogy, so I'll personalize it and say I'd rather clean, or even participate in the most boring activity imaginable, grad work. Even that one time I went to an action movie marathon was better. Male readers: read that last sentence as "even that one time I went to The Notebook marathon was better" so you can stay with me here. 

Last night, I was going out of my mind with excitement to be in the stadium, and spent the entire game cheering and having fun like an actual fan.

To make things even more surprising, we sat in pouring rain from the second quarter on. Again, I was mystified. I would have laughed at the idea of watching this game on the couch, warm and dry in my leopard print snuggie, but here I was, soaking wet, surrounded by drunk people, on a hard plastic seat actually having fun and, perhaps more shocking, paying attention!

We stayed until the bitter end, a Ravens victory. Eric wasn't surprised, just disappointed. 

When we finally made it out of the packed stadium, we had a mile walk back to the car in our soaking wet clothes. I was exhausted, but still in good spirits. There's that saying about how there are no "stupid questions", but Eric totally proved that wrong last night. Seriously, I don't believe in calling your spouse out on the internet, but he actually asked me "Do you want ice cream?" when we passed an ice cream truck. Has the man learned nothing in four years of marriage? I told him as much, and he said something about how I'd been complaining about being "cold" and "wet" and "tired" and thought maybe I just wanted to get to the car. Well, I certainly was dealing with all those problems, but I am always willing to overcome any adversity that threatens to come between me and sweet treats. 

A cookiewich made the rest of the walk back significantly better. We got home after 1am, and the game was totally worth the lack of sleep. 

Which begs the question: Am I going to watch football now?

Hell no! It's still horrible on TV. Unless we win the lottery and can afford season tickets, I'm no more of a fan than before.

In running news, yesterday before the game I did a four miler. I didn't wear a watch, but I did have a cop standing at the top of a huge hill with a radar gun clock my speed at 6mph. I'm doing my last run, tomorrow morning, the day before the race. I've never done that, but my legs tend to get extremely tight after flying, so I'm hoping to loosen them up this way. Fingers crossed it doesn't backfire on me.

Today, I'm flying to Rochester after school, for my freaking epic weekend of family, Kari, delicious food, and of course the Wineglass Marathon. To say I can't wait is a huge understatement, but I'm really tired and only on my second cup of coffee, so that's all I got. 

What mysteries of life are you pondering?