Rattatouile

Kirk and I saw Rattatouile (check my spelling please) a few weeks ago as I am a big fan of Brad Bird, Pixar, and their animation machine. The Incredibles is definitely on my top ten favorites. Rattatouile, while not up to The Incredibles, was completely cute, fun, and had one of the best flashback scenes I've ever seen. However, there was a part in Rattatouile where a large number of rats invade a kitchen, and I was not the only one in the audience who gasped "Ewwwww!" at the disgusting sight of all those furry creatures on top of stoves, in ovens, and stealing food from the refridgerators. My first apartment in New York had a pretty severe mouse problem. At one point it was so bad that mice would jump out of our kitchen trash can, like something you'd see on Tom & Jerry, one after the other, like they were in a swimming pool and couldn't be happier jumping from the trash to the counter where we kept the microwave, then back down the wall to the little holes they'd constructed while I was sleeping. I went to great lengths to get rid of them, even going so far as setting those dreadful glue traps that, really, are totally inhumane. My only defense is that I was desperate. And disgusted.

When I was a kid I loved rodents; guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, mice. I had them all. Now, the sight of any of the above gives me chills. I hate their sharp little paws and their stupid little rodent teeth; I hate they way they scurry. I hate the word "scurry"! Just thinking about them now is causing my face scrunch up. There is a big difference between the animated rat in Rattatouile and the rats in real life. First, Rattatouile could talk, at least to his other rat friends. And, he could cook, so he had some talent. He was pretty charming in an animated rat sort of way. And there's Rattatouile's biggest plus right there -- he's animated!

"What does all of this have to do with running, Erica? I came to this blog to get some training tips, not read about rats." Okay, okay, I will get to the point. This morning, Alison and I were RUNNING, heading uptown on the WSH. Side note, we were doing 4 miles and we decided to pick up the pace -- less talking, faster running. Anyway, as we were going up this incline, a HUGE rat ran right in our path. My right foot was in the air, about to strike the ground, and if it had I would've come right down on the suckers mid-section. Alison got the worst, though. The rat hit her shoe and kept going. Oh, my face is doing that scrunching thing again! I hate rats!

On the flip side, we survived a faster run. No thanks to the rat.