Marathon Weekly Update

A full week

Last Friday I took my car to the mechanic to find out why it felt "wobbly" when I drove it. That is when I found out that I needed to buy a new car; it wasn't worth sinking any more money into my 10 year old one. I didn't have time to take care of anything during the week because I headed off to Atlanta. On Sunday night, after dropping Alexis off with her friend, I did get to spend some time with Joel. We hung out at his place for 5 hours laughing, telling stories, and even making out a little. I came home in a glow and didn't mind staying up late to pack.

I arrived in Atlanta on the heels of the storms that flooded the east coast so it was nice and cool, for Atlanta that is. The gist of my week in Atlanta was wake up early, visit a couple of colleges, make conversation with admissions counselors, return to the hotel, dinner, too many drinks, lots of conversation and laughter, bed, rinse & repeat. I did make a change in the schedule on Wednesday when Libby and I headed to the recently opened Georgia Aquarium. We spent four hours wandering through the various exhibits watching beluga whales scratch their heads on underwater rocks, leafy sea dragons hover in beds of kelp, yellow jacks hiding from larger predatory fish by swimming in front of the mouth of a whale shark, and giant grouper posturing for the crowds. It was great, and Libby imparted much of her fishy knowledge on me.

I arrived back in San Francisco on Friday afternoon and spent the evening hanging out with friends playing Scrabble, drinking beers, and eating pizza in a bar around the corner from my house. Saturday morning was only an 8 mile run called "loop di loop". We ran the whole time in Golden Gate Park making loops around the polo fields and four lakes. As soon as I got home I jumped in the shower and got ready to tackle the "new car" problem.

I headed out with high hopes. First I stopped at my bank to secure an auto loan where I was told that they no longer offer auto loans and I would have better luck at a credit union. I visited two more banks that basically told me that same thing. Next I thought I would visit the Toyota dealership to test drive a Matrix. During my week in Atlanta I did a lot of research looking for a car that offered the cargo space of my RAV 4 but with better gas mileage and low emissions and came up with the Matrix. The guy at the dealership looked at me like I had two heads when I asked to drive a manual car, and get this - they didn't have any manual cars in their stock. Apparently no one drives manual cars anymore, especially not in SF.

I came home for lunch and to pout a little. By this time all of the credit unions were closed and I was feeling like this was going to be a bigger project than I had planned. I finally found the car that I wanted in Santa Rosa, about an hour and half north of San Francisco. I drove up there, holding my breath the whole way, and 5 hours later I was home with my new car.

To make it an even longer and more emotional day, Joel told me that he wasn't ready to date anyone seriously right now. The things I told him about creating friendships and concentrating on myself first on Sunday night hit home with him. He has decided to take some time to focus on friendships and himself before diving into another relationship. I totally understand and applaud him for recognizing what he needs before adding another person to his life but that doesn't mean I'm not bummed.

I'm looking forward to a short week at work before my 23 mile run and then heading up to OR for a two week family reunion.

posted by Heidi @ 8:39 AM