i was from portland.

I ran a half marathon yesterday.

It went much better than the half marathon I ran two weeks ago…

most embarrassing thing that has happened to me on a trail... falling HARD before mile two in front of, oh, i dunno, 200 people.

But don’t worry… they took care of me oh so well…

drinking beer whilst two people attend to my scraped knee... by the way i was squirming, i should've been drinking apple juice from a sippy cup.

Anywho, yesterday’s was harder than the one before.  Don’t know why.  But later in the day, driving back from a pot luck in Wilson, I reeeeeally wanted to go sit in a hot tub.  I was already getting sore from the run and just wanted to soak.

My bathing suit was in the car, so it was go time.

I pulled up to a local hotel, changed in the driver’s seat… pretty sure some tourists saw my boobs… welcome to jackson!

Waltzed in, grabbed a towel, hot tubbed.

Twas amazing.

Gosh, I need more hot tub in my life.

The funny thing about hotel hot tubs, is that they’re the place for adults to get away from their families for a whole second.  To talk to other grown-ups.  The kids are in the pool, dunking each other and firing squirt guns at each other… and here we are, the adults… talking about where we’re from, what we’re doing here, what we’ve done here…

I was from Portland.

I had lived in Jackson for a couple years before.

I was here on business.

I was a graphic designer.

It was crazy how the answers just flowed from me.  Lying without hesitation about the life I don’t live.

Well, I wasn’t going to tell them, “I’m a dirty local that lives a couple blocks away… I’m just real sore and have blisters all over my feet from running.”

– So, you came out by yourself?

– Oh, yeah… My fiancé had to stay in Portland to work.

Well, look at that… I’m engaged… Who knew?

– How long have you lived in Portland?

– Two years.  I moved out to work for an energy conservation company.

– Oh, that’s great.  How do you like the rain?

– Jeez, I wouldn’t say I like it.  But the people there have made it bearable.  There are always things to do, people to enjoy, during the rain.

Gosh, I’m good.

And it continued.  And I kinda felt bad… but not really.  I had just listened to a good ten minutes of talking about the awe of “Grand Mountain” and how “scary” it is on the lift ride up and down Snow King.  Not that I was exactly making fun of them in my head, but they had entertained themselves with vocalizing their feats of the day and now I got to entertain myself with my fantasy life of the day.

And it’s all silly because I love my life.  I love this place.  These people.  I don’t want to be in Portland.  [well, not right now.]  I don’t want to be engaged.  [well, not right now.]  I don’t want to be traveling away from my home for “business”.  [well, not right now.]  Right now.  Right now, I want to be here.  I am here.

I want to be in the place where I’m in awe of the people, the life of the surroundings.

I want to be in the place where I slap my collarbones in the shock of the beauty by day and handsome cowboys entertain me by night…