90 to nothin

This week I went home for a few days for Thanksgiving.

And going home is always a little bit weird.
I am from a college town which means it is always different. Under construction. Updated. With newer hipper places to eat and shop and drink coffee.
And my parents don’t live in the same house I grew up in, or even on the same side of town. I live close enough, but don’t go home often because we usually do family stuff at the lake. And I’ve reached the age where I don’t really call my old friends the second I get into town. Most of them are elsewhere or we are too busy trying to cram in family stuff and put our toddlers to bed to go out for drinks, wrap houses, climb the band practice stand, steal street signs, sneak into apartment hot tubs or smoke cigars on the football field...not that I’ve ever done any of those things  :) …
Instead I hung out with my family, ate too much, and went for some really long runs.
On Friday, after a few pieces of pie (yes for breakfast) and put on my sneakers. Everyone was bundled up and a cold front was supposed to have rolled in …and I HATE running in the cold so I didn’t expect to go more than a mile.
But cold for College Station isn’t really cold.
And the air was warm and thick and humid and easy to breathe.
And the sidewalks just seem to go on forever.
So I kept running.

Past the local high school. And my ipod kept playing good songs in my ear, so everytime I turned around to go home I decided to keep going in a different direction.
When you are in the middle of a good run you just have to go with it.
So I went past my friend’s old house.
And my sister’s old house.
Down Wellborn.
And even down fraternity row.
And these streets weren’t quite as familiar as they sound.
I got lost more than once which is my favorite way to run.
But my thoughts and memories or high school and friends and our shenanigans were.
So I skipped ahead on my ipod to as many mid-90s tracks as I could find.
To give them their proper soundtrack.
And there weren’t near enough on there….which I’ll have to fix soon.

And even though I felt like I could go a little bit further, I figured I better head back before my husband and dad came looking for me.
And I waltzed in the door, with my music still blaring almost an hour and a half after I left to my mom waiting by the door and my husband pointing to his watch and my dad out searching for me in the car….and it was kind of just like highschool (minus the husband part).
I got myself a drink of water and settled in for my lecture and thought of all the songs I’d have to put on my play list…..

So here goes, and yes, I know I normally only have a dozen or so songs…and this one is completely out of control....just like my run, so just keep scrolling down. I’m sure I left some good ones off. Feel free to let me know in the comments.
Also, keep in mind that some of my friends were really cool listening to the Smiths and sneaking out to shows in Northgate.  I was not. I was blaring Snoop Dog and old 80s music, the Grease soundtrack and even the occasional country song from my black 2 door 88 Grand Am through my country club neighborhood filled with mostly old people who had no idea what Gin and Juice was. Impressive I know. But enjoy the rest of the tunes circa 1992-1996ish.

 (2 things about this photo. first, 90%  sure we were supposed to be in class when it was taken and 100% sure we were not supposed to be in the back of the truck that was our homecoming decorations...and also for the record "lay the cougars" would have been a way better homecoming theme than "crash the cougars"  I said it then and stand by it still.)

(my friend kate on the left. we've been friends since second grade where she not only punched me in the stomach on the playground but also had a matching chili bowl haircut as me. Mrs. Aycox to graduation day)

(who knew precal could be so much fun, my friend shannon on the left who is some super science researcher in the midwest, and in the middle my friend julie who listened to much better music than me and never wore the same outfit in a six weeks)

 
 
and since the theme of this blog post is apparently not stopping at the appropriate time...
let me add a few more things.
1) running for over 80 minutes is not my normal. running for about 20 or 30 is. And I am no super runner. Today my left knee is swollen and my right foot feels like there is something terribly wrong. I am paying for every mile over 3 that I ran. And am pretty positive I could still be running right now and still not make a dent in all the calories I consumed over the week.
2) notice the decorated dickies overalls in most of the pics. this wasn't some bad fashion trend of the 90s like Z. Cavarichis, it was just a tradition we stole from a&m b/c when you grow up in a college town you pretty much copy everything. They aslo said senior on the ass, which is downright classy if you ask me.
3) and yes, I know, one day I'll have to learn how to use my scanner and stop taking pictures of picutres. Until then....everyone that I went to highschool, camp and college with will sleep better knowing I won't be scanning any old pics into facebook.
4) and yes, i also know that this is the friday playlist and it's almost sunday. I was tardy a lot in high school too....just ask my first period Enlgish teacher.