Dating the City

There's this great quote from (of all people, I know) SJP from SATC about how her city, NYC, is always there for her. I put it on an ichat away message years ago when living in SF because I obviously related, and every now and then when I happen to be photoshopping something for my own silly needs on my trusty 2003 PowerBook G4, I'm reminded of it.

One of the girls asks, "You're dating the city now?"
To which Carrie replies, "Yes, about 18 years now. I think I'm in looove."

Obviously, I looove my city. So of course I relate. I mean, I've only been pining for San Francisco since the day I left it (May 12th, 2006). I also have found that for the past two Valentine's Days, I've been in love with another city: Austin. Ear muffs, SF. Ear muffs.

Two years now running the Love Austin / Run Austin half-marathon, and this year it was as awesome as ever. We left snowy Dallas for clear, warm Austin. Got there, sat on a patio as one must do when in Austin, drank a beer, and life was good.

Race day, I bust my ass running an amazingly fast (es-PECIALLY for this girl) time of 1:53:02 across 13.1 hilly miles. I get to the finish, doing everything in my power not to piggyback on someone in front of me, and what do I get to drink? Well Austin, this is where we're in a fight.

I get a little bottle of neon liquid called H-E-B Quench.

Anyone who knows me knows the H-E-B was less quenching, more beating. H-E-B Quench? Hi, you just ran your ass off for two hours and almost died doing it, here's your nemesis. Drink up. (says the sinister H-E-Buddy)

So I drank the poison and felt better. Just a little taste of karma. Moving on. We ended up skipping breakfast/brunch/lunch to get on the road, having only the nast that is Quench, and half a blueberry muffin from - of course, Central Market, in our stomachs. Long hard run plus limited food plus being on the road for two hours means you start getting loopy. Suddenly, my friend says, "Those clouds look like Simpsons clouds."

Why yes. Yes they do! Hilarious! Or just hilarious at the time? We'll never know but we started repeating "The Siiiiimpsoooons" over and over in that sing-song way for a good minute practically waiting for those yellow letters to appear. Not unlike my "river rafting - don't drink the punch - mushrooms - oops my bad, let me out of this raft! let me out of this raft!" experience in Austin, although not nearly as long. Or wet. Or fun.

So. What do you think?





Anyhow, thanks, Austin, for being my Valentine two years running. No pun intended. You're always down for a good time, always there with open arms and open bars, and plenty of music, weirdos, and memories. A poor girl's SF? No, I'd go so far as to say you're your own little piece of greatness.

Also, next blog post: Not an ode to a geographic location.