Don't you get bored?

Saturday's Qualifying Run:
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Official Time: 29:55
Pace: 9:38 per mile
Place: 374 out of 601

Billy: "I tasted that thing you ate before I threw the wrapper away. It was disgusting."
Liz: "The Clif Shot? It was raspberry flavored."
Billy: "It tasted like a raspberry that a bird pooped out."

Sunday's Run:
Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:44:32
Pace: 11:36 per mile

When you tell people that you ran 9 miles today, they usually have the same reaction. "That is insane." Once in a while, you will come across someone who says, "Wow, that's awesome!" But usually, it's "That is insane." I'd like to believe this statement is comprised of a person feeling 90% sure I'm crazy, and 10% wishful that they could do it. (Incidentally, I got very similar reactions every time I told someone I was giving up my salary to go back to grad school full time.)

The second thing they ask is, "How long does that take?" Between an hour and a half and two hours. "Don't you get bored? What do you think about all that time?"

No, I do not get bored. And my mind never stops running. There are exactly 3 times per day that my mind stops going a million miles a minute: when I listen to morning radio on my commute in to work, when I check perezhilton.com after work, and when I sit down to watch TV with Billy before bed.

The rest of the time, my brain is in hyperdrive. Running is no different. So, in the interest of answering the question, "What do you think about all that time?" I will record here some of the thoughts I can remember thinking during my 9 mile run.

-I hope my Nike+ sensor is working correctly today.
-My legs hurt. Why do my legs hurt? I only ran 3 miles yesterday.
-I wonder if I could argue that Frodo and Nick Adams, in their elusive searches for place, are experiencing melancholia or cruel optimism. Which one would it be? Wouldn't Frodo be more of cruel optimism, while Nick's case is more melancholia? I guess I'll have to read more about it to figure it out.
-Do other people think about literary theory when they're running?
-Thank you for standing on this trail with your cigarette. Clearly no one is trying to exercise here.
-I bet this song has been taken off Rihanna's set list. (Lyric: "I aint gonna stop until I see police lights (uh-huh) I'ma fight a man tonight, I'ma fight a man tonight.")
-How is it possible that Mary Antin could be such a champion for immigrant rights, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman could be so vocal about women's rights, while both of them were prejudiced against black people? What accounts for this blind spot? Is it human nature to only champion your own cause? Isn't this the same thing that's happening with gay people right now?
-That dog weighs more than I do. I would not want to pick up that dog's poop. Why would you want that horse in your house?
-PICK. UP. YOUR. FEET.
-How is it possible in the several times I've run this trail that I have failed to notice its steady incline? Is it going to be uphill all the way to Annapolis?
-Why don't we already regard the slave petitions as the original examples of African American literature? The petitions have the same theme as all the later stuff? Couldn't that be its own genre that pre-dates the slave narrative? We teach the declaration in literature classes, which is a legal document.
-Does my ass jiggle like that when I run?
-I remember when Oscar was that small. If I got another dachshund, I would want a dapple one like that. I wonder if I'd be able to run with the Weimaraner we want next. Maybe a Vizsla would be easier for me to control.
-Same guy. Different cigarette. Why is he still standing on this bridge? Maybe he lives under the bridge, like a troll, and at night he doesn't let anyone pass. Maybe he hasn't moved off this bridge because he has been turned to stone in the sunlight. Then how would he get a new cigarette? Have I been reading too much Tolkien?
-How old are you supposed to be when you learn to ride a bike? He looks old to be learning. This is a good place to learn. No cars. No trees to run into like I did in front of my grandparent's house. Didn't they get that tree removed?
-How many people know all four of their grandparents well? How many people graduate from college with two great grandparents still living?
-How is it possible that Paula Radcliffe continued training for marathons until the day before her baby was born? Was she one of those people like Nicole Kidman who didn't gain any weight?
-No, Lance, that was not my longest workout yet. You only think that because I had to re-set my iPod.

Donations Update:
Thanks Mom! My mom broke the ice with a generous donation. Also, she told me that she is getting a colonoscopy.

If you aren't able to donate financially, but you tell your parents to get a colonoscopy, all this running and blogging will be worth it.