Pop-up runs
The featured image is a hint for the next pop-up run, subject to change with my ADHD and whimsy.
June 19: Happy National Eat An Oreo Day!
It’s National Eat an Oreo Day! Of course I celebrated not just by eating an Oreo, but doing it dressed like an Oreo (duh). Even that wasn’t enough… I centered the run at Storm Damage Central (AKA Loose) Park. Did you know that the original chocolate cookie and creme sandwich was NOT the Oreo, but Hydrox? And that it began right here in Kansas City? Read the fun story here. If you look downtown you can even see a building or two that still bear the name of “NAtional BIScuit COmpany.” The run itself was incredibly soupy and accompanied by booms of thunder. The “(O)REO Speedwagon” tie-in was meant to have been a race in March, but it got canceled. Sad. And it just so happened that the band was playing tonight at Starlight! I didn’t have tickets anyway, but my soundtrack was perfect. I got giggles and guffaws, honks and waves, and more than a few baffled stares. In other words, right back where this all started.
June 5: Happy Global Running Day!
The past 2 years I’ve enjoyed a group run at the KC Running Company store (now The Running Well Store). This time, I had the wrong time in my head and found myself 45 miles away with 20 minutes until start, so I just came back home. Whatever friends don’t remember reading this can see the ‘fit next year, but the Olympic butt might not survive. Always check the total area available when setting a size for a Cricut project. (And hey, my globes are up here, pal.) As in previous years, the playlist is a countdown of countries holding the fastest records (men/women combined) in the 5K. Then, as of last week, I picked the highest-charting song from each country that 1. has at least one artist from the same country, and 2. doesn’t have tons of cussing… in English anyway. It was a muggy one, and I’m technically in a recovery plan after lots of half marathoning this spring, so a solo run probably worked out for me in the end. I’ll catch everybody at the next race. BTW, this set of selfies will be the last from this particular front porch – moving day is almost here (still in KC).
May 27: Jet plane headed up to the sky -(Going the Distance 5K)
How is this race always so humid? The hills are what they are, and what’s coming this weekend at Hospital Hill is worse. It was like a little reunion/homecoming to see so many run friends in one place after we’ve been scattered lately. But dang, what’s got so many of us injured? As for the costume and playlist, with a theme of “Going the Distance,” a tacky tourist just seemed natural. Check out this video for an Indiana Jones type map of the destinations mentioned. As I was about to round from 51st to Wornall, a guy said he and his companions “voted” and because they liked the music so much, I should come with them for another lap! Yikes. I took a pass.
May 14: The Stars and Stripes… For-Ev-Er
It’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever” Day!* More active than I figured it would be for a rainy evening on the trail. I saw a longtime friend and fellow runner, but he was with a Tuesday night cycling club. As I passed by a kids’ football(?) practice on the return loop, several kids were laughing uproariously and a parent/coach yelled, “God bless America!” Then, right as I finished, a couple asked to take a photo from their car. I will never say no to that.
*John Philip Sousa wrote that he composed the march on Christmas Day, 1896. Sousa was on board an ocean liner on his way home from a vacation with his wife in Europe and had just learned of the recent death of David Blakely, the manager of the Sousa Band. He composed the march in his head and committed the notes to paper on arrival in the United States. It was first performed at the Philadelphia Academy of Music on May 14, 1897, and was immediately greeted with enthusiasm. Following an Act of Congress in 1987, it was officially adopted as the national march of the United States of America.
April 17: Banana makes me Fartlek
There’s a bunch I could say, but that might get slippery. It’s National Banana Day! ???? I wasn’t too yellow to dress a little fruity and make people smile, even though it’s Wednesday and not Sundae. Yo, @just_a_running_banana, how did I do?
HEY… Want to hear a potassium joke? K.
I’ve got a peeling I should stop now, so I’m gonna split. (No Minions were harmed in the making of this post.)
April 10: International Day of Pink! The Pink Manther strikes again
It’s the International Day of Pink and I’m in my monochrome era. This day was created in Canada as a way to promote understanding and diversity, and I’m here for it in the states. I had a playlist in the hopper for a while with “pink” song titles and artist names, but I needed way more material. Thanks to my pal, the Google, I stumbled onto predominant.ly. Pick literally any color, and dozens of blends, shades, and hues thereof, and it shows you album covers that are “predominantly” that color. There’s room for interpretation, but it helped create a fun playlist that shimmers pink in the screenshots. The Monochrome Tour will continue with future pop-ups!
March 18: Smile! It’s #ActHappyDay!
Yep, it’s “Act Happy Day.” And, according to Zensah, Wednesday is also International Happiness Day. They’re completely made up, but isn’t so much joy created just by deciding to act like you’re happy? The happiness chemicals DOSE (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins) can be “hacked” by engaging intentionally in self-care and reaching out to others. I’d say I hit pretty much all 4 quadrants – completed a self-care task/goal, helped others (by making them smile), exercised while listening to music, and got sun exposure while in nature. And you know what? I feel happier having done it. What do you do to make yourself feel happy when you need it?
March 4: Just me running around in my birthday suit
In honor of my 51st trip around the sun, I went for a run on the breezy side. It took a quick trip to Party City to grab a hat that would stay on, but I loved being able to use the pixel pads again. With more time to listen, I picked some of the #1 songs from across my years. Some were full length on the playlist. I didn’t get to specifically reference the “birthday suit” to anybody at ELP/PLP, but I got several smiles and a “love it” before it got too dark to see anybody’s expressions.
January 1: Janus the god says “Hello!” and also “Goodbye!”
Brush off your history books! Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus. It was great as always to see my run crew. During the first song, a guy asked me, “Is that Taylor Swift?” I’m like, “…yes?” thinking he was going to complain. He goes, “Well, I guess now I’ve heard Taylor Swift!” The 10K runners (that’s me/us) were with the half marathoners until we turned at 3.1, so it was 5,270 steps forward, 5,270 steps back. The playlist was as eclectic as ever, with a self-contradictory god bumping it to everything from Lizzo to Slipknot. For an idea I had sitting at a birthday party in November, it was a fair execution. Turns out it’s pretty difficult to get a mask face on the back of your head to look real.
Other pop-up years:
