Kelly Rennt (well a little bit anyway)

I haven't been running as much recently. I have lots of excuses, but in the end I always just feel lazy. And as Chris can attest, my whining about feeling lazy is still on the top five list of things to complain about. This evening, though, I decided it was about time to head on out to the beautiful Stadtwald. Besides, I'm still enjoying relatively new pink running shoes and a bright pink ipod shuffle, (exclusively for running, as told by the inscription "Kelly Rennt") that I treated myself to a few months ago (and that were so nicely delivered by guests from the states). And I don't feel too sad about the fact that I purchased them with thoughts of training for a German marathon at the end of the summer, something that now is not going to happen. I was also sporting a new tank-top that I picked up this weekend. This is a new thing for me, but my usual summer running attire involves a bare tummy and I'm just starting to get a little self-conscious about the bulge that is forming. About 10 minutes into the run, the humidity starts to take it's toll, and the tank-top is sticking to my back. I start wondering how this top deserved the label "Sport," and the best I can come up with was that it has a razor-back cut. Then I remember that the German idea of "Sport" is sometimes a little different than mine. Take for example page 36 of the February 2008 issue of (german) "In Touch" where they show a photo of Gwenyth Paltrow in jeans and Converse All-Stars, holding a cigarette, and give it the label "Sportlich." I guess if that is sporty, then sure, my not coolmax tank-top is sporty.

About the time I'm done pondering German sporty-ness, two wonderful things simultaneously occur. The first is that Ace of Base's I Saw the Sign starts playing on my ipod. (By the way, Lisa, I'm truly sorry I made fun of you for liking Ace of Base in 1993.) The second is that it starts raining. Nothing too drastic, but certainly pleasant, and with it the humidity seems to drop a little. Now, even though all the songs in my running mix are hand picked and wonderful, there are times when I really can hit a groove with the music. Ace of Base is followed by Ghostface's Be Easy, and as the rain picks up, I pick up the pace a little too. Then I start passing other (male) runners, and d0 my little "You got passed by a girl" dance in my head (which, by the way, is now more dramatic and should be called "You got passed by two girls!!").

As I'm enjoying the rain, I remember a great tv commercial for Seven Up in the late 80s. After a warm sunny day of playing tennis, a guy cracks open a Seven Up and it starts raining. This ad is truly etched into my memory (probably due to the fact that it aired with something we had taped off of tv), though a youtube search yielded no proof that the ad actually did exist. As I round the lake, the rain stops, and a beautiful rainbow appears.... ahh. I get a burst of energy at the end, and manage to sprint the last few blocks home. As usual, at the end of a run, I can't remember why I had been putting this off for so long.