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shameless self-promotion, part 443 in a series

Sometimes, you have to yell PLOT TWIST! and move on. From this week's Dry Martini column over at Another Mother Runner.

 

Related: 

Because I am not getting any younger, I decided now was the best time to run the only marathon I've ever wanted to run. In order to make that happen (apart from all of the running, training, and ice baths, naturally), I'm running under the umbrella of Every Mother Counts, a charity that is dear to me. Did you know that every single day, globally, 800 women die in childbirth. Did you also know that 98 percent of these deaths could have been prevented pretty easily with decent care? Yeah. Me, either. Prompt medical care certainly saved me with baby #1. I can only imagine what would have happened had I not been privileged to live in a developed country. 

    Please help me help all of those women who are becoming mothers under different circumstances by donating here


 


qotd, why run marathons?

"I think there’s something to be said for doing really hard, epic shit. I personally feel like I spend a large portion of my life swaddled in a cocoon of electronic glow and fluorescent lights and maximum convenience, and so making the deliberate choice to step away from all that comfort and inertia into a realm of visceral physical experience – it’s a sharp poke in the ribs that reminds me that I AM ALIVE AND EVEN WHEN IT HURTS IT IS STILL AWESOME TO BE ALIVE."

-- Fit and Feminist Caitlin on her first Boston Marathon


qotd, shawls

"Behind the shops at the western edge of the marketplace is a wooded bluff called Rayburn Shawl, which runs for nearly two miles above Wensleydale and provides the most magnificent views. According to legend, it got its name when Mary, Queen of Scots, dropped her shawl there while trying to escape from nearby Bolton Castle, where she was held prisoner for six months in 1658. The problem with this story is that shawl isn't recorded in England until 1662, long after Mary had a neck to wrap anything around. The Oxford English Dictionary doesn't have an entry for shawl as a landscape feature, which is a curious oversight, but there you are. Life sometimes bitterly disappoints."

-- Bill Bryson, The Road to Little Dribbling


many things make a post

 Corgi update: She's still not willing to put much weight on her back stump but also seems pretty chill about the whole thing. More later.

The links:

And a personal link, one that you'll likely see until my goal is met, because I'm like an NPR fund-drive that way --

      Because I am not getting any younger, I decided now was the best time to run the only marathon I've ever wanted to run. In order to make that happen (apart from all of the running, training, and ice baths, naturally), I'm running under the umbrella of Every Mother Counts, a charity that is dear to me. Did you know that every single day, globally, 800 women die in childbirth. Did you also know that 98 percent of these deaths could have been prevented pretty easily with decent care? Yeah. Me, either. Prompt medical care certainly saved me with baby #1. I can only imagine what would have happened had I not been privileged to live in a developed country. 

    Please help me help all of those women who are becoming mothers under different circumstances by donating here


the cat, however, is fine

My birthday was lovely and on Thursday night I put my head on my pillow full of happy thoughts about the year to come. On Friday morning, I woke up full of phlegm and with a super sore throat. Rather than go out among productive adults doing adult things, I took to my bed to read the book* my beloved husband gave me as a present. In between naps, of course. 

During one of those naps, our cat McGregor snuggled up on the bed with me. The corgi, who had wandered off in search of snacks, came back into the room, discovered the snuggly cat situation, and decided that was a Thing That Must End. Cats are really good at cornering when running at full speed; corgis are not. HRH Lucy did something painful to her back left stump, so much so that she wouldn't put any weight on it. 

IMG_3680

She spent the rest of the evening like a giant, smelly lap blanket. She didn't seem to be in extreme pain and would let us poke and prod at the stump in question -- but it was pretty clear something didn't feel right. 

She still refused to walk on all four legs the next morning so off to the vet, who doped her up, took an x-ray, and shrugged. Nothing looked obviously broken or ruptured. His advice was to manage the pain and keep her as still as possible, which was a piece of cake while she slept off the sedation.

IMG_3685

Saturday corgi was a groggy corgi, one who just kept staring off into the middle distance, like she could see sounds.

It's been harder to keep her relatively chill now that the heavy drugs are out of her system. Yesterday, she spent a good deal of time hanging out in the divot under the pine trees in our backyard.

IMG_3691

Today, we've kept her crated while we're at work, which she didn't resist in the least. She's still not putting weight on her foot, though, which is troubling. And simultaneously hysterically funny because corgis look even sillier when they are doing a three-legged hop around the dining room. 

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* It's great fun and a quick read, which was perfect for a sick day. 


qotd, subtext

"Under Schumacher’s direction, both films out-and-proudly featured a sugar-daddy Bruce and a surly, tank-topped, rough-trade Dick, complete with earring.  And motorcycle. And Lysistrata-like rubber codpiece. And, of course—say it soft and it’s almost like praying—Bat-nipples."

-- Glen Weldon on the gay subtext in Batman. Read the whole thing and know why Weldon is my spirit animal, even though I couldn't care less about Batman or any other caped crusader.


many things make a post