By Brady Crain
Skiing has proved a distraction for Crain’s running goals… he just can’t get enough of it, includeing this peak view.
So this is the week that I travel to Dallas to run in my race. Given my acute loathing of running on pavement, I have been avoiding it. Instead I’ve been skiing, doing short runs, walking a bit. Same as ever.
The skiing has been wonderful, and I am very sad to be leaving seven days of it behind. The line at the North Ridge Chair was so long on Saturday that I simply skied down from the Gondi and hiked down East Fall to the parking lot. Totally worth it.
But this week, the thing that is different is that I am leaving Pip “The Impaler” (my guinea pig) with a friend. Previously, I have engaged a caretaker to come to my apartment and feed him, but being gone seven days, I figured that moving him to the house of my friend would be prudent.
Pip and I have been making tremendous progress. I am getting a good long snuggle out of him once or twice a week, lots of chin scratches, and even the occasional nuzzle. It is happening slowly, but I am winning this battle.
To tell you the truth, I have kind of been winning at everything, and part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop, as I have never been one to have good luck for long. This is why I try not to have luck. I just work hard and live in the puddle.
Anyway, I dropped Pip off at his temporary home this afternoon and he seemed happy. We said our goodbyes and I went home to stare at the empty spot on the floor where his cage used to be. I already miss him, despite his confirmed sickishness. Leaving him was difficult. I will do my best to persevere.
This is the first time I have looked at the empty spot on the floor since Pete died. I am working hard to avoid being verklempt about this (I have always been good at drowning my feelings in the bathtub, if not whiskey), but it feels disingenuous.
I miss both my guinea pigs.
I can’t wait to be finished with this race so that I can stop running all the time. I’m over it. I’m ready to move on to other endeavors.
Brady Crain is a former full time stage hand, musician, engineer, Realtor, stand-up comic, and musician, who grew up in Randolph, Vt. Earlier this summer he decided to run a decided to run a 60-kilometer race in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec, then the Spartan Ultra at Killington Mountain, and now he is training to run a 5K Turkey Trot in under 21 minutes (under 7 minutes/mile). His prior experience consisted of running a 5K once in 1999.
