north carolina

Taking my show on the road – Charlotte Runnings.

| cheriarmour

Having a sick parent totally blows.

My mom’s been sick since about March, and I had to make one of my first real grown-up decisions, leave my job for a few weeks, and come home to take care of bidness.  A lot of the care-taking was falling on my dad, and that’s a lot for one person to deal with.

I packed up my stuff yesterday, and hit the road to Charlotte, a place I haven’t really live-lived since the end of high school.  So I’m taking this time to take my running thing on the road, try a few new classes, meet up with some old friends, and document the whole tour! (All the while taking care of my mama!)  Can I do it?  Ya darn tootin’!

So after I peeled myself away from this face…

Mini

…and I headed back to the neighborhood where I spent the majority of middle school, and some of high school, Willowmere in Matthews, NC, for a little tempo run, and to go see my childhood home.  I wish I’d snapped a pic, but I felt like a neighbor would come and beat me if they caught me taking a picture of a home where children dwelled.  I had to play it safe.

So I ran down memory lane.

I ran down the strip of grass where two little douchenozzles on the school bus held my bookbag, and I flailed around, turtle style, as I missed my stop.

I ran down where the bus would usually let me off and I had to carry my bass clarinet allllll the way home in 7th grade. (I was a weird kid.  I literally get embarrassed when I see people from my childhood because I don’t want them to recall how strange I was.)

I ran past the house where the late Fred Lane, a football player for the Panthers, was murdered during a dispute with his wife, a less happy memory.

I ran down the cul-de-sac where we lived, and tried to steal a peek to see if our playground was still up.

I ran past the kid’s house who I had a crush on, but who moved away to like Ohio in 8th grade.

And I ran down to the track where my Daddy, no lie, woke up early for freezing morning track workouts so I’d make the track team.

What a weird and cool feeling to literally run down memory lane.

I know I’ve been MIA.

| cheriarmour

Shoutout to my adorable girl, Sam Cibelli, for allowing me access to her computer while I’m out here in the mountain.  More on that later.

This week has been dreadful.  But I’m beyond happy that the second suspect in Boston bombings was captured.  That said, I’ll reserve comment until we find out what’s really happened.

I’m in Asheville right now for a bacherlorette party, more specifically, the bustling metropolis of Marshall, NC, and of course, we run where we travel, right?  I’ll save the big post for later, but to say the least, this town is gorgeous.  And after this week, it’s nothing short of a blessing to be able to run without the fear and anxiety surround the fact that there was a psychopath terrorist on the loose.  I felt like, for the first time since Monday, that I could run without a weight on my chest.

So here’s a preview for the big Asheville post….

mountain

I’m a Scorpio, so the sound, the sight, and the smell of water has a magical calming effect on me. But the pictures don’t do it justice. I can’t to share this with you.