Bad Day

Do you ever have one of those days where you just wish you could crawl back into bed and start the day over? I was very much wishing this earlier today. The day, fortunately, has gotten better as it moved along, but this story is so ridiculous, it's worth sharing.

A good friend of mine is helping direct a local 5K race coming up at the end of the month. Several months ago, she and I discussed if I could provide flyers for my triathlon club and Luna bars for the goody bags for the race. Back in January, I started working with my triathlon club on getting our flyer updated and getting 300 copies so I could provide them for the race. After many weeks of editing the flyer, making sure the club could afford it, I finally picked up the flyers from Griz, I forgot that each one had to be folded. It took me a few nights, but I finally got them all folded...and wouldn't you know, I only had 277. So, I contact Griz and get the rest of them last Sunday.

Additionally, I created a small little flyer to attach to each Luna bar for the race to promote our Team Luna Chix. We're still a new team and the more publicity we can get, the better! I created the little flyer, had about 400 copies made and began stapling them to each mini Luna bar. This was a much more time consuming task than I had anticipated! They sat on the family room floor for about a week where I would staple 40-50 bars each time I was able to sit down for more than 10 minutes.

FINALLY, I had everything done and I was ready to go. I let my friend Kathy know I was ready with the "goods" and I'd just drop them off at her house on my way to the pool this morning. I didn't want to drop them off after swimming because I had a run planned and was meeting people and there just wouldn't be enough time.

I left my house at 4:30am to get to her house to drop off the materials in order to get to the pool at the usual time. It was a heavy rainy/snowy mix this morning, but I found the house no problem (it was the only house with a light on as Kathy was going to be joining us at the pool this morning). I pulled into the driveway and went to the trunk to begin unloading the boxes. However, the car immediately started rolling backwards and I realized I must've forgotten to put on the parking brake (I have a manual transmission). I freaked out a little bit (not fun to be run over by your own car) and ran to the driver door to get to the brake. I swung open the door and quickly sat down so I could get my foot on the brake. In the process, my elbow hit the lock on the door...but I didn't even think about that. I yanked up on the parking brake, got out of the car, shut the door and went back to the trunk again. I think I lost all color in my face when I realized what I had just done.

I dropped the box back in the trunk and ran to the driver door. Yep, locked. And when you hit the lock on my doors, the passenger door locks, too. Car is running. Music is loud inside. Heat is running. Headlights are on. All doors are locked. SH*T! I call my husband to tell him what happened. I asked him to come out and bring the keys and he started yelling at me. I said I'd try to get in the trunk and kick down the seats (they do fold, but the release is on the inside of the car). I kicked 4-5 times as hard as I could and they didn't budge. I also knew it would cost a good amount of money to get them fixed if, in fact, I was strong enough to break them down.

I can't figure out what to do, so I take the Luna bars and the flyers out of the trunk and put them on a bench near Kathy's front door. I go back to the car and she comes out of her house asking me how I'm doing..."Not good," I tell her. "I just locked my keys in my car." Do you know, I've had this car 10 years now and this is the very first time I've ever locked the keys in it. She immediately tells me she'll get her husband out here...Oh yeah, he's a police officer. "Sweet!" I thought. He popped out his little slim jim, got a flashlight and went to work on the lock on the door.

I went inside with Kathy where we chatted a little bit and she made some tea. The whole time I'm thinking about the car, how I'm late for swimming, will there be any damage, why did I do this, and how I ticked off the Saint by waking him up with my phone call. We go back outside where Kathy's husband, not wanting to admit defeat, says the anti-theft system on my car makes it impossible to get in with a slim jim (maybe THAT'S why the car has never been stolen!). Kathy goes to call the police department, but they tell me the cops will probably damage the lock and I just think...jeez, he can just come out here with the extra key...and seeing that it's just after 5am, he can still make it to work on time.

So we decide not to call the police, but I call him again and this time he answers the phone by yelling "YEAH!!?!" And I cringe as I tell him that we can't get into the car and that he has to come out with the spare key. He starts yelling as me and asking how it happened. Does it really matter right now? Can you just hurry up before I run out of gas, too? I tell him the street name and he asks "Which house is it?" I say, "Well, it will be the one with the RED CAR RUNNING IN THE DRIVEWAY WITH THE LIGHTS ON AND NO ONE IN IT!" Jeez!

Then what? Well, I went to the pool. I mean, all my stuff was in the trunk...and the trunk was open. I figured I'd go get in the swim while I waited for him to bring out the key....maybe this was a sign that I should be tapering and not going to the pool this week. I was just doing something for a good cause and look at all the frustration it caused. Yes, I'm sure one day I'll find it funny. But I'm certainly not laughing now!

But the car is all good...no broken lock, got my swim in, got my short run in, and my friend Kathy got all the materials for her goody bags for the race, all before 7am. So he had to get up about 90 minutes earlier than he normally does...and drive about an our round trip out of his way before work...guess it could've been a whole lot worse. Sure didn't make for a good start to the day!