#I got inspired after I saw a video of a puppy dozing off waiting for its owner to play with them

[somewhereincairparavel]

Jason Grace is so the type of boyfriend to fall asleep waiting for you in your desk, if you are busy doing assignments. You'd warn him that it would take hours for you to finish your essays, and that it's best he didn't waste his time, but he would insist that he'd wait that long for you. You'd feel bad as you watched Jason settle on the chair beside you, watching you like a curious puppy. You began your essays, and hours later, after you stretched out your legs in relief. You spotted Jason snoozing comfortably. You smiled as you kissed his cheek and wrapped a fuzzy blanket around him. Swearing to yourself that you'd never make him wait like that again.

[asuitcaseofmemories]

Shopping is an Art, and I’m an Artist.

I was shaken awake at 8am and when I opened my drowsy eyes I saw my husband’s face staring back at me.

I knew I’d told him I’d get breakfast with him, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I apologized and asked him to go without me. In the same breath, I rolled over and dozed back off. When my alarm rang I felt it was a breath of fresh air. I told myself that today’s plans were just what I needed after two days of moping around my room in a depressive state, and taking six hour naps. 

I quickly got myself around, checking the weather app to see that it was a “chilly” 68 degrees. I regrettably threw on pants and a hoodie and decided that iced coffee would be my breakfast. I didn’t sleep at all last night hearing the constant dripping of the leak in our closest. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was enough to drive anyone insane. 

I ordered my coffee from the sweet barista and headed to the lobby. I wasn’t looking forward to attempting to discuss our leaking issue for a third time. I could tell from the look on the sorry look on the woman’s face that she was going to insist we move rooms. Indeed, I was correct. As annoying as it was that I’d have to pack up all our belongings again, and move rooms... I decided it wouldn’t ruin my day. 

Soon enough I saw a familiar black car roll up and received a text from Marlene that she’d arrived. I met Marlene a few weeks ago in a drunken Fire Ball induced stupor. After closing down the bar that night, we’ve been inseparable ever since. She’s one of those go with the flow, loves to have fun types of women. I see so much of me in her, and I think that’s why we click so well. 

We immediately started off with our morning girl talk, chatting and laughing like we’d known each other for ages. It seemed a moment later we’d arrived at the Antique Market. We were meeting up with 5 other women to explore the market. This was my first time and the were going to show me alllll I needed to know. 

This market was like many other Chinese markets. There was an upstairs and a downstairs, and it was a labyrinth of shops, each one much the same and yet completely different. I’m convinced the design is on purpose because if you’re lost long enough you’re bound to buy something just for the pure fun of it. 

I glanced to my right and saw ornate blue and white Chinese style vases towering taller than me. The sun peeking through the clouds illuminated their gorgeous designs. To my left I saw more of the same. Up ahead I saw some familiar faces smiling, waiting to greet us. We said our hellos and talked strategy. 

My friend’s loveee bargaining at markets. They knew which artists you could haggle with, and which ones kick you out before you can even try. For someone with a smart mouth like I have, you’d be surprised to know I would rather die than bargain. Shove me in a casket I’m done. 

A few of the girls needed to get some prints framed, so we headed upstairs to their frame girl. If you live in China long enough you’ll find you have a “girl for that” or a “guy for that” for just about every item you’d want to buy, fix, or make. Everyone seems to specialize in something. 

As we entered the second floor I was amazed at what I saw. There was a shop full of huge pieces of silk that were hand embroidered. The artist used vibrant colors to make koi fish, lotus, Buddha, monkeys, birds, pandas, you name it. I was in awe. The next 30 minutes were spent oohing and ahhing over every single piece. I must touch this, and touch this, and ooh this one too. 

The girls went to get their frames ordered and I went to get lost. I popped in and out of shops “talking” with the artists, aka a whole lot of charades. They were excited to see a foreigner, and their faces lit up with pride watching me admire their hard work. Many of them sat in front of their easels mixing their paint, performing stroke after stroke. Calligraphy artists dipped their long white bristles and meticulously dragged them against the paper. My American brain couldn’t comprehend the characters, but it was easy to tell each piece had great meaning. 

I found a shop where I watched an artist paint for awhile. She didn’t seem nervous having me watch her every move. My eyes scanned the walls. There had to be hundreds of paintings, and 1000s more hours hanging on them. I flipped through some hand painted items and decided one would make a perfect gift to bring back home.

I asked her “Duo shao chen” (how much)? She delicately pressed the buttons 200 on a calculator ($30USD). I knew she was high-balling me since I was a laowei (foreigner). She could probably sense my fear and anxiety as I more ballsy than usual typed back 150 ($24) on my phone’s calculator. She stared at me silently for a moment, pressed her lips together, and said “okay.” Which is good because one more second and I would’ve bitched out and paid 200. 

I felt we both got a decent deal and she wrapped up my gift. We thanked each other and I went on my way in search of more treasure. Just then I smelled the scent of what I can only assume all food in heaven smells like. A guy squeezed by passing me to go into his shop. He was carrying a giant bowl of noodles that smelled sweet yet spicy. I was determined to find where he got those suckers. 

I continued walking around with my giant eyes wide open, like I’d never seen anyone use a paint brush before. The girls were in a shop putting all their treasures together while Brenda drove a hell of a bargain for them. Brenda is our designated bargainer because she is just the sweetest thing, and no one can say no to the sweetest thing. 

I happened across the restroom because, iced coffee for breakfast, and it was... interesting. And when I say “happened upon” I mean I smelled it a hallway away. I entered and to no surprise, it was a squatty potty (if you’re confused please use Google). I closed the door and began giggling like a child. I also wished I was a child because maybe then that door would have been tall enough. The height of the stall didn’t even cover my boobs. Well ya know what they say, when in China. 

Next we went downstairs which is basically where I lost all my “I’m not buying anything else” senses. I’m extremely frugal, to the point where Corey picks on me... but if there’s anything you can talk me into... it’s jewelry. First I ran around like you’d just lit my ass on fire, looking left, right, up, and down. My first pass through I made it without a purchase. The girls were in a shop haggling so... I had to make another pass through, ya know just to be safe.

A silver and turquoise ring caught my eye and the shop owner knew it. I tried it on and pretended like I wasn’t going to just buy it no matter what price she gave me. At first she said 500 ($78) which admittedly caught me off guard and I unintentionally screamed AHHH ABSOLUTELY NOT! She was clearly testing my foreigner stupidity, then said 50 ($8). I was like, um yes this is my girl. She wanted me to purchase 3 more rings of hers to which I was telling myself “please step awayyyy from the rings.”

Well, negotiations were still happening in the other shop, so it was by pure fate that I found myself shopping again and I found an identical matching beaded necklace. The shop owner convinced me by telling me she’d sell it to me for “cheap.” I got it for next to nothing, but by her enthusiastic hug and complimenting me on being a “nice girl,” I knew she gypped me. This is of no surprise to me. 

Someone else walked by with noodles. Where are these noodles from? I walked around some more, and took about 500 pictures of an orange bird, because I’m crazy and because BIRDS ARE COOL. I also found myself staring at statues that probably were worth double my first car. 

I then accidentally bought two bracelets because they were boho style and I am really an irresponsible person okay? I’d tell you the negotiation story but truthfully I think my eyes glazed over, money was exchanged, and I have new bracelets. See pic below of the good good. 

The girls had come full circle and were back in the vase store where we began. The were negotiating with the no-negotiating, “I’ll kick you out of my store” woman. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle for them so I decided to go get lost again. I twisted and turned through the labyrinth of stalls. I was lead to a dead end where I was about to call it a day, when a sweet old lady came yelling “pretty girllll” after me. 

Sweet woman took me by my hand and lead me to her table of treasures. She was insisting I purchase a Chinese history book written in Chinese with English translation. Then she tried to sell me a comb and some beads. I was completely uninterested and finally about to escape her grasp. But as I said bye and turned my back I heard the most magnificent sound. 

If you’ve never heard a Tibetan Singing Bowl, watch the video because NEED. I have priced some of these at other markets and they were in the hundreds of dollars. I talked her down to $20 and almost peed my pants with excitement.The universe must’ve been paying attention last night when I was cruising Pinterest looking for inspiration for a “meditation spot” in our new apartment. Thanks Universe for being the ultimate spy. 

Basically after this I had to go find my friends before the Universe told me I had to adopt a puppy or something. Shortly after finding them we separated into groups to head home happy with our purchases. I NEVER DID FIND THOSE NOODLES. The end.

[mubal4]

Wrapping It Up – The 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge        

 We are living in unique times.  Interesting way to describe this I guess, but it is unique.  Globally, we have pivoted, adapted, and by this time, created some new normals or at least different ways of doing things.  Likely, some good habits have been formed and some may have gone back to some old tricks 😊!!  I know I have consumed more beer and types of foods over the last two months than “normal.” 😊  It is all good though; based on what I’ve been fortunate enough to see, via social media, Facetiming/Video conferencing with family/friends, or just talking with folks, we’ve been overcoming these “unique” times well.  Although changes have been made, one thing that has remained consistent for me is running.  Overall, in the last 2+ months I don’t believe I am running farther or more. Like most of our lives, I’ve just changed some things up a bit.  Part of that has been due to timing and circumstances with the quarantine and social distancing; some because the type of race I have coming up in July; and part because some shit has just gotten boring to be honest.  So, when I saw this David Goggins Challenge video come across my Twitter feed, it grabbed my attention.

 You can watch the 1-minute video, but it is basically running 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 miles.  It was pretty cool how he positioned it too; “if you can’t run, walk; if you can walk; do pushups…….”  It seemed like his intent was to just to get people moving, out of their comfort zone, and adapting to the nonsense.  Since I am training for a 100-miler I thought this would be a great training exercise for a number of reasons.  Obviously, the mile over two days, sleep deprivation, nutrition planning, and one big differentiator, life commitments!!!  In the race, I won’t be thinking about family responsibilities, work, or puppy stuff 😊; it is just left foot, right foot. Since I started this on Thursday afternoon, I still had some conference calls to attend, work commitments, and family stuff so it added a layer.  That said, as it relates to the family commits, Robin, as per usual, and the girls, sacrificed a ton, not only with dinners and puppy stuff, but, at least for Robin, sleep too.  Thursday and Friday nights, I headed out at 1030pm and 230am.  The first session each night, Robin was just about headed to bed but at 230am she was sleeping, and I tried to be as quiet as possible, for her, as well as for the puppy too 😊.  It was nice to hear on Saturday morning once she woke up that that nights 230am session, she didn’t even hear me leave or come back.  Guess all these years doing these crazy things it is good her mind is at ease while I run around Phoenix at 230 in the morning 😊😊😊!! That all said, none of this really came to mind when Robin and I discussed doing it.  All I thought was 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 miles? I can do that!!  So, at 230pm on Thursday, we got things started, easy peasy and session 2 at 630pm was awesome with a sunset, late afternoon run; I was in my happy place.  All good.  Got back and had a quick dinner (I will get into the nutrition in a moment) and we all were just chilling on the couch.  Now, typically, Robin and I are toes up in bed by 10pm so, as my body clock was telling me, right around 945pm I started dozing a bit on the couch; fortunately, I had an alarm set just in case.  But the thing was, I was setting an alarm for 1010pm to go out and run 4 miles at 1030pm. Needless to say, as I was tying my shoes, my comment to Robin, “why the hell did I commit to this; this is f#$%ing stupid.”  She wished me a “have a good run, I will be sleeping when you get back.” 😊  The thoughts of feeling sorry for myself were quickly gone as soon as I started session number 3 and the night air, cooler temps, and darkness provided a different perspective to my run.  I wanted to run around our area of town just to see what was happening, if there was anything happening.  Out here in AZ, the stay at home orders are being lifted and there are a couple of restaurants/bars I would be running by so I was intrigued to say the least.  There were still a few folks out walking at that time and traffic was light; however, this one bar, about 1 mile from our house, was packed.  I guess the regulars were just waiting for things to be lifted.  I went by again on Friday nights 1030pm run too and same deal. I giggled a bit but it also gave me a sense of relief that maybe things are working toward “normal.” Also, won’t lie, a beer sounded good at that time.

 This is where adapting needed to happen because my body and internal clock was not going to be used to these next 30 or so hours.  Running the initial 12 miles from 230pm through 1030pm wasn’t much out of the realm of my comfort zone.  Now, I was getting home at 11pm, trying not to wake up Robin and the dog (the girls were still up doing what teenage girls do at that time 😊), getting fluids in, getting cleaned up, and getting things ready for 230am…….& hopefully trying to get sleep.  Well, I was a bit amped up from the run so I thought that sleep was going to be tough.  I got cleaned up, got plenty of water in me, and then figured I would watch some TV to put me to bed.  Well, that worked, and I fell right asleep and woke up about 90 minutes later.  Interestingly getting up at this moment and getting out was much easier than at 1030pm. Not sure why but it was.  The run, however, was a bit weird and at both 230am sessions.  I kept these 2 runs close to the house around this 1.35-mile loop.  I didn’t want to stray to for, well, since it is 230am. On the first loop, Thursday, I guess this would be Friday morning, I first heard a rooster crowing!!  Yep, a rooster – we don’t live near any farmland.  On the second loop, I heard what I thought was a leaf blower…..@ 230am?  What the hell?  Then, the most interesting thing happened on the last loop.  I was on this one road, drive it daily, and I white SUV pulls out of a side street.  Okay, at that time of night, could be going to work, coming back, whatever.  They pull out but just turnaround and head back where they came.  My first thought was that maybe they were scouting out homes/cars to break into or something or, maybe they were just drunk.  No big deal. I finished up the run and went home; didn’t think about it.  However, 24 hours later, on that same loop at that same time, same car, same spot, pulls out, now we are going towards one another, it stops…………I kept running, faster now and find a dark spot on the road, click off my headlamp and stop. The car was already moving but then did the same thing, u-turn in the middle of the road.  This was a bit freeky man and it was on my first loop too. I was running by there two more times. Holy shit right!!  Well, nothing happened but it was just some weird stuff. I told Robin yesterday afternoon that I was going to go up there all next week at 230am, dressed in all black and see what happens 😊.  

 That was pretty much the only excitement of the event.  Back to Friday morning, since the nature of this event, getting time on the trails was difficult but did go out at 630am Friday.  Got on the trail, got some climbing in and it was a beautiful day. Stopped to take a shot of the trails from the top that I shared above.  Also was able to get out on the trails Friday night and Saturday morning.  Friday night I was able to meet a nice rattlesnake too!!! By “meet” I mean he was on the side of the trail and scared the poop out of me.  I never did see him, just heard him.  Not sure if I would rather face the white SUV or the rattler?  The remaining sessions were all, pretty much, uneventful; just getting them done and keep moving forward.  Overall, it was a great challenge and believe awesome training on many fronts. Although there wasn’t much climbing, it did offer a number of different layers that will definitely help come July. Want to again thank Robin and the girls for all the support, sacrifice, and help they provide me during these nutty things I do.  All the folks that reached out via text, calls, or the FB live sessions, thank you very much.  Very inspirational and you guys helped keep me going.  

 Haven’t been much into statistics and stuff when it comes to these kinds of things.  Hell, up until January I was still using my 20+ year old Ironman stopwatch but Robin got me this Garmin one for Christmas and it has been fun to sort of geek out with it.  So, for those that may be interested, I am providing some “noticings” from the 4x4x48 event.  Thanks again for keeping me going and following along 😊!!

 ·         Started at 230pm 5/14 and ended at 1059am 5/16 – total hours = 44.5-ish!  

·         Total miles = 48.7

·         Total running time = 433 minutes (7 hrs 13 mins) – thought this was interesting that it was an exact number.  Zero seconds after added up 😊

·         Average pace = 8:53 (36:05 average for each 4ish mile session

·         Total Vert = 1186

·         Sleep = approximately 5 hours total

·         9 shirts & 7 pairs of shorts (yep – reused shorts – easy to do when you jump in the pool after a run), 12 pairs of socks, 3 different pairs of running shoes

·         Food intake – 2 strawberry/banana milkshakes, 2 peanut butter/banana Clif bars, 2 apples, 1 grilled cheese, 2 hummus tortilla wraps, approximately a half a box of regular Cheeze-itz (original flavor), couple handfuls of peanut butter pretzels, 1 double expresso Clif bar gel