Thursday, April 18, 2019

London prep (and other life drama)...


So the London Marathon is in 10 days and training for it is pretty much done. I have one tapered long run left but at this point if I'm not ready I will never be ready so mentally I'm feeling ok. I definitely do NOT feel overtrained and I'm not dealing with any nagging injuries or lingering pain/discomfort (which I think is a great place to be going into race week next week). My flights are booked, accommodations are set, and I have a list of activities for the "touristy" side of the trip.

On a non-running related note... two days before the marathon I'm presenting at an international trauma conference...
(I'm really excited about the opportunity to present a keynote lecture!)

So apart from wrapping up my training, preparing for all aspects of my trip and my presentation for next week, I've been spending a lot of time juggling various other life things. My baby turned 18 so I'm officially the mother of an adult. It's freaking me out a bit because time has really flown by quickly. She's off to college this Summer and I'm both excited for her and sad for me (it's going to be hard not having her around).

In anticipation of my impending empty nest syndrome I've been trying to plan the next few years of my life. I spent the past two years wasting my time and emotional energy. And then the past two months dealing with the emotions of that relationship coming to an end. So recently (after considering feedback from family and friends) I decided to dabble in the world of online dating.

So here's the thing about me and online dating:
- I'm not looking for a hook-up so the "tinder" type sites were a definite NO.
- I hate paying for things that don't provide a guaranteed return on my investment, so I avoided sites with a subscription fee that rivaled a monthly car payment.
- I have already found the process to be exhausting and tedious.

Anyway, I signed up for a site that claims to "cater to professionals" and filled out a lengthy profile. After my profile details were reviewed and approved by the site administrators I started to get "matched" with men who were (apparently) an ideal fit for me.

Well. By the time I deleted the men who:
  1. Had several grammatical errors on their profiles
  2. Had profile pictures that were not oriented correctly (it's not that hard people!)
  3. Answered yes, definitely to the "children in the future?" question
  4. Had profile (or gallery) pictures with other women (it could be their sister but how am I supposed to know that?!)
  5. Looked like serial killers...
...there might have been about five potential "matches" left. I'm almost tempted to delete the account and request a full refund. However, I was advised that I need to "be more patient it's only been a few days". So instead I updated my profile a bit to provide a little more clarity...

I've already given up hope that this particular approach is going to result in anything meaningful but no one can ever say that I'm not clear about what I want.

Apart from my initial online dating disaster, life has also been busy with job hunting and binge watching Dexter on Netflix.

Next week this time I will be in London (maybe a guy worthy of me will be there), and a week from Sunday I will be finishing my 4th Marathon Major, and 5th full marathon!

Have you ever tried online dating? (share your good and bad stories!)

What's the #1 tourist thing I should do in London next week?