Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

So, BC and I had a talk yesterday.

Earlier in the week I had sent him an email telling him that as we’ve been dating now for almost three months I thought it might be a good idea to sit down and talk about our shared expectations about where the relationship was heading. He agreed, and so we decided we’d sit down on Saturday and have A Talk.

The day got going a bit late for both of us, him with a run in the morning and me with a bike ride with a friend, so we didn’t manage to get together until late afternoon. He came over, and we chatted casually for a bit, while we both seemed to work up the courage to start discussing what we were looking for. Finally I took the plunge.

I discussed some of what my relationship model has been for the past not-quite-a-decade since I moved into DC in 1999, how I’ve consciously sought open relationships, and how that was important to me. Then I looked him in the eye and told him I wanted to date him, and only him, and to have sex with him, and only him, at least on my side of things, if that was something to which he was amenable.

To say that he was surprised would be an understatement of immense proportions; shocked would be a good way to express his first reaction. That was what he had wanted as well, but he had been steeling himself for most of the week to hear something else, given my normal relationship model (we’d had some previous conversations about dating in the past). So when I told him that I wanted a monogamous relationship, though not in those words, it wasn’t what he’d prepped himself to hear.

Many hugs and a lot of silly grins and cuddling followed. We managed not to cry, barely, which was good (though tears wouldn’t have been inappropriate, I suppose). This is a big thing, and a big change, but it’s where I am now. I’m still just amazed at how right this has been, and how well we’ve meshed, physically and socially. I did warn him that people were going to wonder what he’s done to me, since this is very out of character for me since being in DC. He assured me he could handle it.

So, monogamy, then, for the first time in quite a long time. I’m ready for it, and looking forward to it.

The Nerd Herd from my last job gathered this evening, because one of us is getting married and moving to Peoria (!!!). It was nice to hang out with folks who know so much about each other, and who can discuss their own and each others’ love lives (and our parents’ love lives!) in a frank and humorous way. I think the parent stories were the best. We all agreed that with parents like ours we can all look forward to long and successful sex lives.

BC: So, what should we watch?
Me: Ooh, I know, let’s watch Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy!
BC: *skeptical look* You know, I usually require that the movies I watch have stars in them…
Me: But, but, it’s got a star in it! Jane Fonda’s in it!

It’s dangerous being home with a new(ish) cookbook, a lot of time, and the desire to cook something. I think I went a little nuts about dinner for BC tomorrow. Tomato salad’s done and marinating overnight, and there’s a coffee granita in the freezer and chocolate espresso balls in the fridge. The entree is fairly simple to put together tomorrow night over pasta. Should be a good meal, though I am disappointed my oven’s not reliable enough to bake bread or I’d have done that, too.

So, why home? Because my newbies ran their goal race yesterday up in NJ, and I wanted the extra day for recovery from traveling. It was a fantastic time, everyone finished, and we continued the tradition from last year of one of ours being the last finisher on the course, with yours truly meeting them on the other side of the finish line with their medal.

Glad I took the extra recovery day, it was nice not to have to get up at o-dark-thirty this morning, as I had the previous two days, nice to get in a long run on a Monday, and nice to get out to the grocery store while it was still relatively quiet. Should’ve gone swimming, too, but one can’t do everything. Started the write up for the ride the previous weekend, but not done yet. Have to get that up this week, but not tonight. For now it’s off to bed so I can ride in the morning.

Photos from this weekend’s ride. I’ll get more details up later.

Headed out here shortly for the Food & Friends ride. I’ll be without ‘net or email, so will catch up with everyone later (will have the phone & text messaging). Have a great weekend, y’all.

I can’t stop thinking about him.

We spent almost the entire weekend together. We hung out with friends. We crashed at someone’s house. We went to breakfast at 1 pm. We went to the movies. We cuddled. We explored each other.

I turned down an offer from another hot guy tonight. I couldn’t imagine not being with him.

I’m obsessed. And I get to see him tomorrow, maybe, then not at all for at least a week.

This is so odd for me. I get into someone, but not this into someone. Not to the exclusion of all others. This is Mr. Polyamory. This is the guy who can’t seem to settle down. This is someone who’s defined by the spectacular failure of the first long-term monogamous relationship. Who doesn’t settle. And yet I can’t stop thinking about him.

Hell, I watch pr0n and my first though now is, “I’d like to be doing that with him.”

It’s unnatural.

And I love it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have helped me raise $2,195 (so far) for Food & Friends. I’ve now managed to exceed my fundraising goal thanks to these generous contributors:

Thom
Jerry
Joe
Greg
Richard
Roger
Lea
Kevin
BC
John
Daniel
Doug
Jon
Frank
Mom & Dad
Dave B
Michael

Thank you very much!!!

Practice swim with my newbies this morning and two local coaches. Headed out to Sandy Point early to get in the swim before it got too hot. We swam, off and on, for about an hour, practicing swimming in the swells and going around the buoys set out to mark off the swimming area. It was very helpful to get out there, and I’m glad we do this.

This was the first time I’d hauled out the wet suit since last year. I was a bit worried
about getting into it, since it had been a little over a year since I’d used it. It fit just fine, no worries there. Whew. It was warm out – the wet suit wasn’t strictly necessary (borderline water temps for using it), but I wanted the practice in it. In the water it was fine, it was standing around listening to the coach that was warm.

Got the drink bracket installed on the bike this afternoon. That definitely makes it a lot easier to mount the water bottle on the bike (much, much easier than the rubber bands – well worth the $10). I’m hopeful this’ll encourage me to drink more water while out riding.

Mostly recovered from the work week as ‘acting supervisor.’ It was relatively quiet, and I’m glad nothing big was needed. I think it cemented quite firmly that I’m not quite ready to be a supervisor. I’m a specialist, I do my job relatively well, and I’m not ready to start herding other cats. At least, though, we know I can do it if needed when my team leader needs to go out of town.

Off to a party with BC this afternoon, then another long ride tomorrow to try out the water bottle before next week. I should run at some point, too, but I suspect that’ll be on hold until after the Food & Friends ride.

Stretching, a shower, lots of food, a lie-down (not really a nap), more food, and I’m starting to feel human again. Four hours and about 20 minutes after I started I got home from today’s bike ride out the W&OD trail, about 62 miles. Went out to mile marker 24, which is somewhere in Loudon county near Sterling. Stopped briefly, stretched some, then turned around to head back.

The ride out was great. The trails were well marked, and I had no problems switching from the Mt. Vernon Trail to the Custis Trail to the W&OD. The way back, on the other hand, I never saw a marker to get back on the Custis, so I ended up riding the W&OD all the way down to Shirlington, getting a little lost as there are NO signs worth crap down there, then finally finding my way to the Four Mile Run trail and back to the Mt. Vernon and home.

Wore a sleeveless jersey to try and even out some of the sun on my shoulders. So far, so good.

Overall I liked the W&OD. There were a tad too many stops when you ran though areas like Vienna and Herndon, but there were also some good stretches where I was able to get down onto the aerobars and relieve pressure on my neck. Not too many kids out, though I had one heart-attack inducing moment when I thought one little girl was going to turn out into the trail right as I came up beside her. Thankfully her mother, running behind her, intervened. I suspect that’s where my max heart rate reading came from for the ride.

Have to get the center water bottle set up for this upcoming weekend’s ride – I didn’t have quite enough water with me, which was really annoying when I was lost in Shirlington and couldn’t find my way out. Basically this just involves trimming the straw down to a height where it won’t annoy the hell out of me, but I’ve not needed it to date, so haven’t hooked it up.

Probably do a repeat of this ride, only a bit further out. Pretty much ready for the Food & Friends ride next week, just doing some last minute testing.