Harbingers and Omens (or silly little coincidences)

Pretty funny, as I sign on with TeamPrevention and make a commitment to do something challenging and new (and, therefore, a little scary), all manner of little "signs" are showing themselves to me.

There's a newscast I like each morning when I come in at dawn between walking and work. There's a 50-year-old woman meteorologist who is a hoot, and the (younger) anchors are pretty fun. When one of the roving reporters recently booked a carpet cleaning job (she has an unusual first name and I recognized her voice) I asked, "Do you come into my home each morning over coffee?" She laughed and said "Yes, I am she." There are lots of spots on this newscast about events going on in Las Vegas and it gives me the tiniest sense of community, which is otherwise lacking here - at least for me.

This morning I nearly toppled the coffee cup when I heard - between shower and blow drying, and just after buying the pink slippers - about the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon to be held on December 6th. Hey, that's my event! The promoter was talking, and I learned I'll be joining some 29,999 other souls that day. The focus was on the runners, and probably should be - a marathon runner is a marvelous athlete. But as the Badger pointed out in his comments to a previous post, the walkers would be taking on a nearly 7 hour non-stop walk, and that is probably deserving of a nod.

Later in the morning, Yahoo Messenger announced an e-mail sent by the Badger's mother. Subject line: "You'll Love This!" It was a cute little forward with all kinds of tongue-in-cheek comments about walking, which I'll attempt to duplicate at some point on the blog. I hadn't yet told her about my decision to do the walk, so I popped back an e-mail to say "Mother Badger, please go read my last couple of posts to learn some news." Remember, she provides the subscription to Prevention! She's also been heard to comment that the Badger and I spend inordinate amounts of time working on fitness, but we'll see her reaction. I think she'll be supportive because she likes girls who kick butt. She is one!

Last little funny thing. Our IT engineer went to an electronics expo and, being an octopus, he came back with bags and bags and bags of give-aways. Water bottles, pens, little oddities. He was down to one item nobody wanted. "Limes, do you want a book?" "Hmmmmm, I don't know, what kind of book?" Well, it's not a book, it's a bound journal with a pen attached, elastic closure. Embossed on the cover (you'll know who the vendor was): "Sprint", which is close enough to "walk". It will be my training journal!

I've been noodling around on the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon website. There's a new course this year. They're calling it "flat and fast". This being Las Vegas, there are some interesting little things going on like "run through weddings". Huge party, food, music and beer (what?) at the finish line at the Mandalay Bay. Course time limit? 7 hours. For the walkers!

Tunes in my head right now (I don't really own these, so they're not actually playing and being picked up in my ears): Walk Away, Renee; Walk Like a Man (uh-uh, no way); These (pink) Boots Were Made for Walkin'; Walk on By; Walkin' on Sunshine; Walk Like an Egyptian; I'm Walkin'; I Walk the Line; Walk this Way

Something that charmed me today: A sneaker in development that would allow walking while posting to one's blog ~ ~ if that's what one wanted to do