1). The Funny Thing that Happened Today
I had to take my son over to where he wisely left his car last night because he had a couple of beers at a party. He got a ride home (good boy!). After I dropped him off and was on my way back I stopped at a stop sign and saw a woman coming up to my car looking sort of frantic. She was in a suit, holding a cup of Starbucks coffee (which was odd because I was in a residential neighborhood) and a tote bag. I rolled the window down and she said, “Excuse me – could you give me a ride to BART if it isn’t out of your way? You can drop me at the corner. I came out to catch a bus but I missed it and I’m already late.”
Whoa! I thought that was just so odd. Who asks strangers for a ride these days? On the other hand I am a small woman in an older Volvo Wagon so I guess I don’t exactly present as the trailside strangler. I said, “sure” and she got in. In that moment I remembered Wednesday in the Aadams family all “dressed up” for Halloween but wearing her regular clothes. When someone at school asked her what she was gong as she said, “I’m a serial killer. They look like everyone else.”
My passenger was very flustered and had a lot of stuff to deal with but I asked her to please put her seatbelt on and she did. She told me again about how late she was and then proceeded to give me step by step directions as though I had no idea where I was. Little Wednesday’s face kept floating through my head but as long as she didn’t pull a gun out of her purse we were okay.
The whole experience was very weird but I guess she really was just late and frantic and figured I was a safe bet. I dropped her off at the station and went on my way.
2). I have a new ambition for March.
I was reading the forums over at RaceAthlete and coach Mike Ricci told IronPol to improve his swimming by swimming every day in November. That reminded me of how important it is to spend a lot of time in the water if you want to get faster so I decided I’d adopt that plan, too. I won’t quite make it every day but I am going to try to swim no fewer than 5 days a week. My masters group has 5 workouts a day M – Th, 4 on Friday and 1 on Saturday. I’m not going to even attempt to swim Sunday because whereas IronPol must answer to God on Sunday, I must answer to my riding group, the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. No time to swim. I will report my time improvement early in December. I know there will be one because swimming is entirely unnatural and there is no way to get faster other than to swim a lot. Working on technique makes a big difference but if you don’t swim a lot the big difference isn’t nearly as big.
3). I’m going to get back to my tales of Peru.
I didn’t even get us to my second day yet. Stay tuned.
4). Go IMFL racers.
Special Go, go, go to Nancy Toby and to Bold. We’re with you, people!!
ps – if you haven’t read Bold’s ‘Final Thoughts’ post go read it right now. The man has more grace and humility than Ghandi. Sersly. What an inspiration.
21st-century-mom.com 
1. I totally hitchhiked a ride to the start of my last half marathon because all the official buses weren’t stopping at our stop because they were full. But that was in Canada – we all know Canadians are harmless :-)2. Were you the one who mentioned swimmingcommunity.com? I think so and I love you for it. I used to get so bored swimming before! Although I still don’t think I could get in the pool 5 days a week… Man.3. Please hurry so I can continue to live vicariously 🙂
I have to say you raised a smart boy to get a ride instead of driving after a few. 😀
I have to say you raised a smart boy to get a ride instead of driving after a few. 😀
what a nice person to pick up a stranger! ya done good. but then you raised some smart kids so we know where they get their brains.practice=better? Thanks for the reminder!! I’m practicing reading, lolling around, and staying up late. so far, so good!!and bold does indeed have a graceful, gracious, and intense way with words, and of course that endearing quality never ever taking yourself too srsly…srsly! This guy cares about people, his peeps, no matter who they are, fast, slow, witty, or not. He’s the real deal. thanks for the shout out on his behalf.:)
You are a nice lady for agreeing to give this lady a ride…I hope she gets back with you and at least buys you a Starbucks coffee along with some lemon pound cake! Swimming five days a week would be heaven…will start that in the summer to get ready for Sharkfest again in June. Just signed up today!Looking forward to more travel tales…and loved your comment on Wil’s blog. I don’t bother to any more…I found the X to be a better statement for me…she’s schizo!
You are a good person, 21stMom, for picking up that lady. When I told my husband I wanted to pick up a hitch hiker he went crazy on me. Did she give you a tip?If not, I shipped the moonbeam musk yesterday. So you got some good karma coming!
No way I could get in the pool five days a week. I’ll just watch you while you experiment with that!You’ll get good Karma for the hitchhiker. The Addams daugher’s name was “Wednesday”.
Julia – thanks for pointing out that I had the girl’s name in there as ‘Wednesday Friday’. I have no idea why. I just fixed it.
I, like you, must look “safe” because I can’t tell you how many times in the past 2 years I have been asked to give strangers rides. So far my answer (with good reason) has always been no:1st scenario: Nighttime and guy at the gas station in a not-so-great part of town (tank on E)wants me to put gas in a gas can for him and then take him to his car. Uhm, no.2nd scenario: Girl running through park at 6:30 am just as I get my bike set up for a ride, and wants a ride 2 blocks up to the bus stop. Again, no. (and duh!)3rd scenario: guy at the grocery store at 9:30 at night, with a full cart of groceries, wants a ride downtown, about 8 miles away. For God’s sake NO! Do I look like a taxi??4th scenario: Pumping gas at the gas station, busiest street corner in the city, cell phone ringing, grandkids in backseat, and a woman comes up and wants bus fare or a ride. Are you kidding?? Why would you even leave the house without one or the other??I could go on, but these are just the highlights.You’re lucky it was just a commuter and daytime!
thanks 21st!i’ve got better legs than Ghandi.so much for the grace and humility.i mean, could Ghandi do an Ironman?i’m just sayin’.but, most importantly, thanks for bein’ part of this journey with me… it truly made all the difference!!!!