Late One At The Run

I can't remember the last time I stayed out so late at a running club...  2:30am before I got home!  I was e-mailing back and forth with Roofie's Brother the next morning, after he wrote, "Don't know about you but right now I'm not sure last night was worth it..."  In retrospect, it definitely wasn't, but we're all big kids who could have gone home at any time.  Nobody made us stay, so we've only got ourselves to blame for the lack of sleep!  

I'd still been recovering the day before from an insanely late night working on Sunday, and so I had a pretty chill day at work, just trying to catch up on things.  I was only too eager to get involved with a conversation with Irish Boy then who seemed to be okay with a slight distraction from work as well.  He was moaning about wearing a three-piece suit in an office without air-conditioning, it did sound quite brutal!  But how nice that he's the kind of boy who wears three-piece suits to work...

Running along the old rail lines

I feel like our conversations are always slow detective work on my part, trying to learn more about him.  I like most everything I learn about him, but I know so little!  Today at least I got that he goes to the US on all of his holidays, and is planning a big trip to Chicago at the end of August.  And he's been to New York several times and loved it.  So all good signs...

I was teasing him about a comment he made about how good the shopping was in the US, where he said, "And I say that as a hetrosexual man!!! The shops are brilliant!!!"

I teased him a bit about some of his more "metrosexual" interests, but assured him that after spending so long kissing him, I was quite sure he was straight.  To which he said, "I have a wide range of interests!!! But beautiful women like yourself is up there at the top!!! I think our special evening has rebutted any suggestions that my interests lie elsewhere!


It was certain one of the most enjoyable evenings I have ever had!!! In fact, I was the lucky one that evening, considering the stunningly beautiful chairwoman I was allowed to kiss!!! Do enjoy the run, and I too agree that the contents of that evening will be repeated asap!"

Running through the woods into the setting sun

It sounds so stupid, but now that there seems to be this funny, handsome, interesting, charming boy in the world who is so into me, I find myself thinking all of the time, "So what is wrong with him?"  (I mean beyond the obvious, that he lives in Dublin and uses an excess of exclamation marks).  God, I really do wish I could see him again soon, as I feel like that would resolve so much in my head.  Plus, all the chat is fun, but I much prefer kissing him in person!

So it was time to go out on the run.  It was a gorgeous and warm sunny day, although it would prove to be almost too hot for running.  I had almost forgotten about Roofie's Brother, and so shot him a quick e-mail in the afternoon to ask if he were coming, to which when I got to the pub, he said he couldn't make it for the run.  Oh well...

The old train platform of Crouch End station

The run turned out to be very long and hilly, as we went up and down the hills of Highbury.  We ran along an old disused railway line, which has now been converted into the Parkland Walk, a kind of "rails to trails" conversion.  It was neat, for as we ran, we actually ran along the train platform of the old Crouch End station, and eventually came out on a road with a beautiful view over the London skyline.

The crowds stopping to look at the view

Still, all of the up and down hills really killed me, and when we finally got back to the pub I just about wanted to collapse with exhaustion.  We'd run nearly 9 km, which isn't so bad in that I regularly do 10k runs at the gym, but then at least I'm just running on a flat treadmill!

Pretty view from the bridge of the London skyline

When I got back to the pub, I got quite the surprise when there was Roofie's Brother!  Too late to run, but still there to socialise.  He'd obviously recently gotten a haircut which I complimented him on, which got me the reward of a nice big kiss to say hello.

I spent most of my time before the circle chatting with him, as we talked about the upcoming Away Weekend trip to his hometown of Bornemouth.  I'm curious to see this place and enjoy the weekend away, given how much I've actually been enjoying running these days.  Plus, it will be fun to see where Roofie's Brother grew up, and see a bit more of where he came from.

I also got to hear stories of a recent group trip to a wedding, in the same city in Portugal where I had been playing polo in August.  I was very glad in retrospect that I didn't go, but instead stayed in London to go to Henley and see the tennis final.  Much better time!  Still the stories of the group's madcap adventures definitely made me laugh, including just the general insanity of Scottish Lawyer Guy.

I went inside briefly to get another drink, where I was pleasantly surprised when a guy who was a visitor that week happened to be at the bar, remembered me from a conversation ages ago, and insisted on buying my drink.  How sweet!

Looking at the pretty skyline view

It was to start a pattern for the evening, when I got chatting to a South African guy who is also going through the citizenship process right now, and he bought me a drink, and then his friend did as well...all of my good intentions to stay for "just one drink" were quickly going out the window!

Finally the pub was closing for the night, so I assumed we were all heading to the station to go home, but I had forgotten that we were with Scottish Lawyer Guy and the Ginger Lawyer, who lived locally and didn't have to worry about any trains.  So instead of going onto the train and going home, we somehow got steered into a late-night jazz bar.  Where then the drink tally included a beer, a jagerbomb in Red Bull (thank you Roofie's Brother!) and at least two gin and tonics.  At least you'll note I wasn't paying for any of this, as I hadn't bought myself a drink all evening since the first one of the night.  Sometimes it's dangerous being a pretty girl...too many boys buying you drinks!

I spent quite a while chatting intimately with Scottish Lawyer Guy, as the music in the place was loud and it was hard to hear, so we just were talking cheek-to-cheek, whispering in each other's ears.  He's grown a beard recently and it tickles a little bit, but I like how it looks on him.  When I told him so, he laughed and assured me that my opinion mattered a lot to him.  It's very funny with us, as we so clearly like each other, but also know the very real things that keep us apart:  He drinks and smokes too much, and knows I won't tolerate it.  Even at one point I did say, "If only you'd quit the smoking, then you'd be perfect.  I mean you're a Scotsman, so you're pretty close to perfect, but the smoking is definitely your one flaw..."  That comment made him absolutely throw his head back and roar with laughter, as only I seem to be able to make him do.

He filled me in on the news that the girl he'd been telling me about on our run two weeks ago had broken up with him, which he was rather bummed about.  He also was reconsidering how at the time, when they hadn't been sleeping together, he'd taken it as a sign that she was holding out for a more serious relationship.  Now, in retrospect, he was thinking that perhaps it had been because she just wasn't that interested.  I felt bad for the guy, but as usual he seems to have moved on quickly, with another girl who he noted with glee who had slept with him on the first date, and he was a lot more interested in her as a result!

At some point (I don't quite remember how) I found myself chatting to the drummer who had been on stage, a rather cool girl who was a student in London, studying art but doing drumming as something else to do.  She seemed interesting and promised to add me on Facebook, so we'll see if that ever happens.  Of course, the boys were more interested in getting her contact info than I was, although if they really wanted to, they could go chat to her themselves!

Finally, having acknowledged that I'd thoroughly missed the last Tube (it was now nearly 2 AM), I thought about getting a nighbus home, but I figured I'd saved money from all of the boys buying me drinks, and I just wanted to go home straight away.  So I booked a taxi on the Addison Lee app, and although the price (£31!) made me realise that staying out late had proved to be quite an expensive mistake, I still booked it.

The cab arrived quickly, and I begged the driver to wait a moment so I could tell my friends I was going, and then dashed back to say good-bye to everyone.  I caught all of the boys except for Roofie's Brother, and when I went inside to see him, he surprised me by jumping out from behind a column and startling me, laughing his head off saying he'd seen me coming and wanted to trick me.  Rather funny, although indicative of the state we were in...definitely too many drinks!

Although at least on the upside, I got lots of big kisses as we took advantage of our tipsy state to indulge a little bit, although I really did have to go.  And yes, was perhaps feeling slightly guilty about kissing this boy after so enthusiastically chatting to the Irish one just hours earlier.  But at least it didn't go too far and I went home, quickly making it into bed by 2:30 AM!