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Running Hat Moment
Aug. 2nd, 2004 11:29 amI'm having a life moment, cleverly disguised as closet cleaning.
Specifically, I'm throwing away my old running hat.
Background: I bought my old running hat on my honeymoon. It was a black cotton ball cap, now faded to brown-- with black stitching, because the polyester thread that makes up the logo retained its dye when the cotton fabric, abused by sun and rain, did not. It has seen many miles of running, and it is quite worn out. No respectable runner would wear this hat. I bought other hats, to no avail: Replacement hats blew off in the rain and wind, or didn't fit right, or got lost.
Well, I have a new hat. It's dark blue cotton. It says "TREK TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION" on it. It fits right. The brim curves right. God help me, I look cute in this hat. Best of all, I paid for it by bartering sports massage at RAGBRAI, and I think that inadvertently restarted my own interest in sports massage. (I wandered up to the BikeWorld booth, it emerged in conversation with the booth guys that I am able to do that, and they all immediately sprouted pains and aches somewhere. How about that. I bartered 30 minutes of massage for this fine hat.
I largely gave up on the idea of doing sports massage professionally because I wasn't very confident that my skills and services were worth $1/minute (the going rate for a low-end sports massage). I just didn't feel like I knew enough to be useful.
Well, fast forward to now. I discovered in process of giving this massage (in the back bedroom of a motor home, using someone's body lotion and some interesting gymnastics to get into good positions to apply adequate pressure-- in short, a far-from-ideal setup) that I now know enough to be confident at it.
And I have a hat.
Specifically, I'm throwing away my old running hat.
Background: I bought my old running hat on my honeymoon. It was a black cotton ball cap, now faded to brown-- with black stitching, because the polyester thread that makes up the logo retained its dye when the cotton fabric, abused by sun and rain, did not. It has seen many miles of running, and it is quite worn out. No respectable runner would wear this hat. I bought other hats, to no avail: Replacement hats blew off in the rain and wind, or didn't fit right, or got lost.
Well, I have a new hat. It's dark blue cotton. It says "TREK TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION" on it. It fits right. The brim curves right. God help me, I look cute in this hat. Best of all, I paid for it by bartering sports massage at RAGBRAI, and I think that inadvertently restarted my own interest in sports massage. (I wandered up to the BikeWorld booth, it emerged in conversation with the booth guys that I am able to do that, and they all immediately sprouted pains and aches somewhere. How about that. I bartered 30 minutes of massage for this fine hat.
I largely gave up on the idea of doing sports massage professionally because I wasn't very confident that my skills and services were worth $1/minute (the going rate for a low-end sports massage). I just didn't feel like I knew enough to be useful.
Well, fast forward to now. I discovered in process of giving this massage (in the back bedroom of a motor home, using someone's body lotion and some interesting gymnastics to get into good positions to apply adequate pressure-- in short, a far-from-ideal setup) that I now know enough to be confident at it.
And I have a hat.
