Stranger than fiction

Yesterday was shaping out to be a pretty good day. Deb and her brother Matt had both achieved their goal of running the B.A.A. Half Marathon; for Deb, it was her first long race since having our second baby in three years, and for Matt it was his first long-distance race period. I ran the race last year in the rain, but this year it was a perfect day for a race. Nice and cool, cloudy but dry. I hung out with sister-in-law Tricia, mom-in-law Susan, my girls and their two cousins. Other than cousin Danny wiping out on top of a pile of dog poop, it went very well. My man Briggy had a good race as well. We piled back in our vehicles, Hannah opting to ride with her cousins in Matt's minivan and me driving while Deb got in the backseat to feed a starving Lily her formula. Matt had already turned onto our street and I was waiting to make the left when all of a sudden...BANG! We were rear-ended by an SUV. Lily started screaming but fortunately it was just the shock of it all, not an injury. I turned onto our street, pulled over and got out to see how bad the damage. Turns out we actually know the woman who hit us; she was on the phone and just spaced, I guess. We were stopped and waiting to make the turn, so she really wasn't paying attention to the road. She felt awful about it and we exchanged info and waited for the cops to come. The rear end of our Maxima was totally crunched. None of us were hurt at all; we had Lily looked at by the paramedics who showed up, but they didn't see anything and said we should call our pediatrician just to be on the safe side. Basically, we were lucky it was a big SUV because if the other vehicle's front end had been lower, it would have hit us on right on the bumper and had much more impact. As it was, it pushed in the trunk, which absorbed much of the impact. It's scary to think what might have happened.

It's been a bad year for the Kumar cars. First, we drop a shiteload of cash on fixing a radiator fluid leak on the Honda. Then a doofus from Comcast drops a ladder on our Maxima, damaging the roof and smashing out the rear windshield. Then the Civic dies on me. And now this. Un-freakin'-believable. We took the Maxima to the auto body shop we've been frequenting (it was still driveable...sort of) and rented a Mazda 626 station wagon until the repairs are complete. Today was Columbus Day so we won't know how long it'll take to fix until at least tomorrow, but I figure it'll be at least a week, probably more. We also borrowed a car from a friend of Susan's for me to drive for a little while, so at least I won't have to beg for rides from co-workers. Ugh.

Well, it's Sox vs. Yankees again in the ALCS. Should be a doozy of a series, but this time, I predict the Red Sox will take it in six. They've got better pitching and hitting. Hell, they should have won the series last year, but let's not get into that again.

Christopher Reeve died over the weekend, but not before proving that he really was Superman. Another notable death was that of Ken Caminiti, the 1996 NL MVP who later admitted to taking steroids. The guy was only 41, but was reportedly having problems with drugs the last few years. What a waste.

We watched The Station Agent tonight. Excellent, low-key film with a great performance from Peter Dinklage.

I'm a week into my month off from running. It sucks, especially yesterday watching the half marathon. I did a leg workout at the gym Saturday and I'm still sore from it. But I've gotta stick with the recuperation so I don't make things any worse. Ugh.