miscellaneous ramblings

wednesday nite is traditionally the nite that i go play indoor soccer with a bunch of guys i know. we play for fun and have a good time. as soccer was the one (and only?) thing i was actually good at, i really look forward to playing. last nite, however, my wife decided that she was going to play bingo at a friend's house. bingo?? she's 35, and her friends are about the same age. bingo?? none of them wear a blue wig or have walkers. bingo?? on my soccer nite?? grrr.. oh how i love being married sometimes...
so anyway, she got home around 10:00 and i wasn't in the most cheeriest of moods. the phone rang about 10:30. here's the conversation:

darrin: hey, dude i need to get 5 miles in tonite. you up for it?
(i'm in a pretty pissy mood, so i'm certainly not up for it...)
me: man, it's really cold outside.
darrin: it's warmer than it has been recently.
me: yeah, but i'm just not in the mood to run.
darrin: you're a big pussy. i'll see you in 10 minutes. we'll only do 4.
'click!'

so, about 10 minutes later, i knocked on darrin's door and we went running. after all, he was right. i was being a big pussy. we did a 2-mile out and back. here's the rundown;

mile 1: felt like crap as usual. working hard to stay with darrin.
mile 2: still feel like crap. barely staying with darrin.
mile 3. screw darrin. he can go on ahead. i'm doing my own pace.
mile 4: actually feeling very good now that i slowed a bit. i can't see darrin anymore.
mile 5: after completing the 4 miles i arrived back at darrin's house shortly after he did. he was standing in his driveway. i figured since we were already out in the cold and i was now feeling better than i had all nite, we might as well do the full 5. i yelled to darrin:

"c'mon you big pussy, we've got one more mile."

in retrospect, i felt really good when i went from darrin's 8:15 pace to my 8:45 pace, and i'm glad we did that last mile.

maybe now i need to focus my newfound anti-pussiness on my marriage. next week, when kim says she's got plans on my soccer night, i'll get right up in her face, and... tell her to have a good time... after all, i know my limitations.