Sorry Honey…

This story was too good to pass up…

For those of you who know Jim & I…you know we have a lot of GOOD laughs…we tell a lot of stories about each other…together…and we laugh at ourselves, at each other, at the story…people are always telling me that I need to just write a blog about Jimmy stories…well…laying in bed the other night…drinking a glass of wine, catching up after a few days apart…Jim is filling me in on all sorts of things…then he keeps saying…I can’t remember what I was going to tell you…but it was something funny…

(Most of you know that Jim has very bad lungs…he works hard to keep them healthy…running mainly…and even though he runs…he does not have the capacity to run fast…but Jim is Jim and he just runs to run…it’s never been about being the fastest…add that to his almost 6’4” build and you have to figure that running just isn’t easy on this 40 year olds body)…

“OH!”, says Jim, “I remember…”

So you know that dirt road that you take to Kep from the Casino?  Yes I tell him…NOT the one going to Phnom Penh, but the one to Kep?  Yes.  I know that road.  Well, if you run down to the bridge and back to the casino, it is 4 miles…You know…I’ve been working really hard at trying to get some time to be healthy…making sure I run, drinking less, doing my pushups everyday…I feel GOOD!…So I decide to go on a run…it’s 5 pm…it’s hot, dusty…but I have my iPod, my music is playing and I’m ready to get out and get the blood pumping…(those of you who know him can just hear him now!)…So I’m running and I hit that little village…you know the one?  It’s right past the casino…I don’t know…maybe 1/2 mile into my run…you know it, right?  Yes…I know it!…Well I’m running and feeling good and the town drunk runs up next to me.  EVERYONE starts laughing and pointing and I’m thinking to myself, OK…they can all laugh and have their fun…I’m just out running and feeling good…

Well…this town drunk is DRUNK…is smoking a cigarette, has old tight jeans on, no shirt and no shoes…on a GRAVEL road…he starts running faster than me, then running back and runs a circle around me…WHILE smoking an effing cigarette…everyone keeps waving and pointing and laughing and I’m thinking I just need to get past this town and the guy will go back to his bottle…so on it goes for about 3 or 4 minutes…he speeds up, slows down, runs a circle around me, takes a puff of his cigarette and keeps running…ON GRAVEL…with big rocks…with no worry about where his feet are hitting…when I get past the village, he’s still next to me…SMOKING…and STINKY…So I just put my head down (those of you who have seen him run know this look!) and keep running listening to my music.  I’ll be DAMNED if that bastard doesn’t keep running with me.  The same thing, speeding up, slowing down, running back to me, running a circle around me…and THEN points to my headphones…he runs ALL the way to the damned bridge with me…which is 2 miles…I wasn’t going to run the whole damn thing because I CAN’T.  You know I can’t run 4 miles, honey…but I had to keep running because this drunk guy smoking a cigarette is literally running circles around me…finally around 3 miles I have to slow down and catch my breath and walk…so what does the bastard do?  He slows down and takes big steps like me, big breathes and puts his hands on his hips like me…until I start running and then he runs circles around me again…

…and does he stop when we go to back thru his village…NO.  He runs all the way back to the border with me, waving his hands to everyone in the village.

I just laugh and say, “Well, I hope you brought that poor guy into the beer garden and got him a few beers.”  Jim says, “Hell no.  I was so pissed I just kept my earphones on and kept running…I take care of myself and can’t run 4 miles, but this drunk guy outruns me with no shoes smoking a cigarette.  Pissed me off.”

Poor Jimmy!!!  If you know us…you know how we sat in bed and laughed at this story…if you don’t, then please just laugh with us, because it is told in a self-deprecating, I can’t believe this happened, it’s really fricking funny kind of way…we really don’t think the poor drunk is a bastard…

I love you Jimmy…Keep on running…you make me laugh like nobody else can!!!!