High Five

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. The only thing that would make it more accurate is changing "running" to "slowly jogging my 16-minute mile."

Rubber Band Man

I always feel proud of myself on Wednesdays for getting my act together in the mornings. Wednesdays (at least this school year but not for much longer) are my days where I go to work from 9-5, go to the Y for Couch to 5k from 5 until 5:30 and then teach dance from 6-9 p.m. (Thrilling my schedule is, I know.) 

Anyways, back to why I'm proud -- even though I live really close to the Y, I have to take my running clothes with me and change at work in order to achieve the perfect work-run-teach balance on which my life so carefully depends. Every Wednesday morning, I throw my shorts, tee shirt, socks, sports bra and shoes in my purse and pat myself on the back as I skip out the front door. I give myself an extra high five if I've remembered to grab a sports bra that is an appropriate color for the tee shirt I've chosen. (Hoping not to subject any non-suspecting Y patrons to a black-bra-with-white-shirt combo that will leave them murmuring in a daze "I was just trying to Zumba... why God, WHY?") 

There is always one thing I forget, and the terrifying thought always hits me around 3 p.m. on Wednesdays. I DON'T HAVE A HAIR TIE. Or hair elastic. Or ponytail holder. Call it what you want, but the short point is I DON'T HAVE ONE. I dump my purse over, praying to the... Patron Saint of Hair Ties ... ? ... that somehow one will have magically found a home in the depths of a bag I haven't seen the bottom of in months. Because I do this every week, there is never a hair tie in my purse. 

Now you might think -- I'd rather forget a hair elastic than say, socks, and okay. I'll give you that. But seriously, nothing is more annoying, or more ridiculous, than running without a pony tail. I have decently lengthed hair, and running without my hair pulled back is just silliness. Me running invites enough ridicule on its own that I don't need to call any more attention to myself, let's be honest.

My quick solution-of-the-day is to find a rubber band. You know what I'm talking about -- the kind people use every day in offices to... well... honestly I'm not sure what, as I rarely if ever find myself in a rubber band emergency at work. I'm not Pee Wee Herman after all. Lacking any sufficient office supplies in my desk (will a paper clip work...?) I take off to the office supplies closet. Looking around, it soon becomes very obvious that rubber bands, although once the wave of the future I'm sure, really don't have a job in the workplace of 2012. Luckily (as this story has certainly gone on long enough, if one could actually call it a story) I came up with two rubber bands, and quickly pocketed them for my post-work runorasmostwouldcallitfastwalk. Because let's be honest -- if I only took one rubber band and it snapped, then I would be back to square one and who wants to read this post again? Certainly not anyone with sense. Or free time. 

The savior of the day... the multipurpose rubber band. I'm sure you could find something equally as stunning at Wal-Mart or Office Depot.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's sure-to-be-interesting and epic saga -- how in the $%#@* I got the industrial-strength rubber band out of my curly hair.