Hello. My name is Erica, and I'm a runner.

I'm officially re-declaring myself a runner today. I made the decision on Tuesday, actually, but have been too busy doing very non-runner things to make my announcement (i.e., drinking, eating bread pudding, eating cheesecake, playing video games . . . you get the idea). In the down time between the aforementioned activities, I did find the time to check out Bandanna running company's race calendar and found myself excited to plan for some races. I'm choosing my blog as the medium to make this announcement because at last count I figured there are no more than three people who read my ramblings here. Should all three choose to hold me accountable for my declaration, that is a level of nagging, harping, chastising, and shaming I can probably handle.

The Boyfriend is a cyclist. (A "biker," I have learned, wears leather, not Lycra, and relies on gasoline, not thighs and calves for his power.) I have decided I again want to be "a" something--well, besides a writer or a fabulous cook or a really bad dancer. So I am again going to be a runner. Why running you ask? I'm good at it--not in the I'm fast at it type of way, but in a persistence type of way. Anyone who can run 18 miles on a broken ankle bone is either perseverant enough or stupid enough to be a runner. I'd appreciate no votes on which applies in this particular case.

I've really missed running since we had our big falling out a number of years ago. There is something so relaxing and soothing about running. Plus, I absolutely live for the dirty looks you get from non-runners when they see you out there on the weekends making them feel guilty for not doing the same. I also miss the way you can come to know a place through running. When I first moved to Corvallis, I started running. I was in Oregon, what else was I supposed to do? By the end of freshman year, I knew my way around town better than anyone I knew. I had run the whole town by that point. I knew the rises and falls, the best viewpoints of the river, and the subtleties that you can only know by travelling on foot. On the other hand, I didn't know which direction the one-way streets ran at all, which made me pretty worthless for giving directions.

I'd like to get to know this place on foot too. When I lived with Becky I used to go up in the foothills all the time. I knew those hills so well and it made me feel connected to that place more than I can ever explain. We have beautiful foothills by our new place too, and I want to come to know them just as well. I want to know the rises and falls around here the way the Boyfriend knows them on his bike (notice here that it's not a "cycle" even though he's a cyclist!). Most of all, I want to stop giving dirty looks and start receiving them!