Word play

Curious George has always been one of my favorite cartoons for my son. The humor is pure comedy, age appropriate, with no situations or innuendo that would ever concern me, unlike other kid's shows.

And now I have another reason to like the cartoon.

Today, at Easter dinner, I served my son an obligatory leaf of the salad I served. He has learned to eat the 2 or 3 leaves I give him. Hopefully, we will move up to a full salad one day.

I ask him if he knows what he's eating. He shrugs.

Arugula, I tell him. I love the sound of the word. I roll the r, and voice the g from the depths of my throat. I purr.

Oh, he says. I heard of that. The chef in Curious George cooked with it.

I am stunned by his response. Here I am trying to impress him with a strange word. But it turns out his cartoons are gourmet enough that arugula is nothing new.

Commentary

One of the chores that I can't stand doing is washing my car.
Not that I like having a dirty car, mind you, but I just don't like cleaning it myself.
So I regularly bring in my car to have the full service car wash. I always feel really lazy and bourgeois when I do it, but I won't do it myself.

On Friday, I brought the car in and instead of getting the lemon air freshener that I normally get, I chose vanilla.

The next day, my son hops into the car and gets a whiff of the new scent.

His response: "Mom, your car smells like it has fortune cookies all over the place."

You know you live in Florida....

when a conversation with your 5-year-old runs like this.

It was Monday as my son got dressed for school. He pulled out a short sleeved shirt and shorts. I was a little uncertain about his choice. I urged him to maybe wear long pants, just today.

Then he said: "But Mom! It's March."

The finish line

Of all the moments of my first 5K, I will probably never forget how I felt in that last quarter mile. How my right calf really started to tighten up and how I wondered how much longer I have to run.

I saw the last flag man wave me down to make a right turn. In the distance, I could see my goal - the parking lot of my church, where a crowd was gathered and a bright finish line archway, its silver flags fluttering in the wind. Finish strong, I thought. That is the goal, ultimately. To finish, yes, but to finish, running at a good pace.

As I approached, I heard the crowd, happy greeters cheering me those last steps and my family waiting for me, taking one last picture of me as I came in.

I DID IT!

In the end, I did my 5K in an official time of 40:34, which is better than any time I had achieved during February. And it had become my unofficial target, so I felt like I reached my goal.

Getting there was tougher than I had realized. The morning run was challenging some mornings, but I stuck it out, even when it was 40 degrees. The aches and pains concerned me, but I took care of them as best I could. Realizing that I am more out of shape than I care to admit, that may have been the hardest part.

But it was overall, thrilling. I had butterflies in my stomach as I drove in. I couldn't believe the size of the crowd - 200 runners and at least another 50 walkers and dozens of volunteers and family. I found all the steps in the process fun - getting my running number, pinning that on, and getting my little timing chip (which is this little marker that you put on your shoes so that you can get an official time.)
The actual start was a bit of a let down. I didn't feel a mad adrenaline rush, or at least I thought. It was just a big crowd that slowly started to move across the start line and I was with a bunch of walkers so they didn't really get a big start.

My opening split was decent - 11 minutes for my first mile. But I had been struggling with a serious foot pain, so it took a while for me to feel comfortable. I might have just rushed that first mile.
Second mile, I walked a lot more, but mentally, I didn't want to waste myself until the last mile.

But it went well. I finished and though I'm limping still, I have no regrets about how I did. I only wished I could have had a better time.
Which is why, I'm already thinking -- what will be my next race?