it's march, and it's madness

so, north carolina won today. it was a good game. and as ACC tourney champs, the team was bestowed with hats and T-shirts at the end of the game - a victory celebration per say.

as i watched them rejoice on camera, the fact that i am a slighted mizzou fan may not have helped matters. i also may not have been in a conducive viewing environment, as i was watching from the comfort of my new, sexy gym.

you see, my Ipod was my soundtrack to the shots on screen - the crowd going wild, the emotions of the team and the coaches and the cheerleaders. hero shots and shots full of action coupled with lots of jumping, tears and fist pumps - all took place as jose gonzalez played in my ear. i couldn't hear the announcer or the on-court reporting. but that didn't mean i missed a vision that blew me away. minutes after the game ended, an ecstatic north carolina basketball team was almost all clad in tourney T-shirts and winner's hats. the hats still had price tags on them. i imagine the shirts may have, too.

and, even though i wanted to get emotional with them, cry a tear of joy, think about how Roy is great and deserved to win and, perhaps even muster a little yelp, all i could do was bitterly whisper to myself about how putting the winning T-shirt and hat on AT the game, on the court, is much like wearing a concert tour shirt AT the concert it's advertising.

in my head, my rant may have read like the following:

yes, you won. congratulations. yes, you now have a really cool shirt and a hat, which you will probably parade around in later. it will grace the scene at bars and nightclubs and on your college campus, no doubt. but, please, wait to put that oversized shirt and that new, stiff hat on until you've left the arena. because, we know you won. it's obvious. and, we know you look ridiculous in those starched, new, bright white, beacons of winning. they were clean until now. now, they likely suffer the stench of a sweaty gamed out gamer. so, at the very least, now that you've soiled them, wash them before you make a second appearance in the presence of their glory.

i may be wrong. but, i couldn't get past it.

indulging

i'm ashamed to admit that i continued cheating with the sexy gym. and, i couldn't stop. there was just something about it that drew me in - the same way a chocolate bar sitting open on a counter draws me.

i think the most appealing quality was that its hours didn't control me. i could choose. and treadmill lines didn't determine the length of my workout or the miles i would pound out on sore, battered feet. no, it had more options and anyway, i signed up.

on the dotted line.

and now, i have two gym memberships.
i can't get out of my uglier gym until december.
i am totally over indulgent in this, and this alone. but it kind of feels good.

notes to myself.

1. when you're flipping through runner's world and swear you see an old friend in one of the photos, go ahead and freak out. because it's probably really him. and that's really cool.

2. find out how you, too, could appear in an issue of runner's world.

3. perhaps it would be cooler and less egocentric to appear via byline rather than via hero shot.

4. look into this byline bit.

5. do stick with the style of jeans that works best with your body. if that means having the same pair in a few different shades of blue, so be it.

6. instead of running a 7-mile long run through blowing snow and a 10 degree windchill, opt for the treadmill at the gym you're cheating with. it has fans, no time limit, and no mirror in which to watch your every early morning move.

7. turning the mostly unused breezeway into an office was a good idea. buying an area rug for the cold tile floor was a better idea. a wireless router was a brilliant idea. now, all you need is a mac.

danger lurks everywhere.

have you ever sneezed while driving?

i mean, isn't it impossible to sneeze with your eyes open? so, sneezing while driving means driving with one's eyes closed. while this is never a good idea, it's probably an even worse idea when coupled with snot flying and nose covering, which also means hands leave the steering wheel.

this could be even more dangerous than driving while on the cell phone.
it's probably not more dangerous than the woman in front of me today on the way to work, though. i thought she was 4 feet tall the whole time because she was literally bent over looking for stuff on the floor of her car - while on the highway ....during RUSH HOUR.

anyway. i think she should be banned from driving. and also, maybe people with colds or allergies shouldn't drive either.

....i haven't even begun to comprehend the danger that comes with a sneezing attack.