M1- The Full Story

I got up and ran 3 miles this morning. It's been 9 days since I ran last. My legs felt sluggish, but not in any pain. So I'm feeling pretty good. Not great, but better. It's so weird to imagine how much I was loving running about 6 months ago.

On to more exciting topics. Several of you want to hear more X-Files, so here'z it:

Matt #1.
I was at a bar with girlfriend on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2006. He saw me from across the bar, walked right over and said, "I want to buy you a drink. I'm leaving with my friends, but give your number." My friend rolled her eyes and gave me a look like "don't even think about it." But there was some weird manly thing about him, so I just did what he said and gave him my number. He was not good looking, but he was tall, strong and extremely confident.

He called me the next day asking me on a date. I didn't want to be stuck in any situation with him so I suggested that we go hit some golf balls on our lunch break. (Great idea, by the way!) The date went OK, it was only an hour and we had fun. So I agreed to see him again.

This time he wanted to take me to dinner. He picked me up in his p.o.s. truck. I don't mean to sound superficial, but this guy was about 10 yrs older than me. He should have a decent car by now (Red Flag #1).

On our second date to a restaurant I noticed Red Flag #2 - road rage. Not normal, muttering under one's breath while driving. No, he had full on road rage. The drive to the restaurant was seriously only 5 mins from my house. He was yelling at everyone, cursing, cutting people off, basically driving like a total maniac. I felt uncomfortable to say the least.

Red Flag #3 - The Dinner
He takes me to Joe's Crab Shack. I'm sorry, is this supposed to be romantic or even fun? No, it was gross. Gross food, kids everywhere, birthday songs being sung, cheap wine. Then he acted like he was spending all this money on me. It was weird. If money was an issue, at least take me to some cool, local hole in the wall as opposed to this creepy tourist trap.

But I continued to date him through the summer.

Red Flag #4 - The Sleep Over.
He invited me to his "house." I use that word lightly. I arrive to his "house" (remember he is in his 40s) to find that he lives above his brother's garage. Seriously. I stuck around. Hey, he was good for some things....

There were so many other anger, rage issues that came up. The way he spoke to people (including me), the way he seemed to always be the "victim" or always had "bad luck." Little baby red flags popped up everywhere. It kind of became a running joke in my office. I always had a great story about something that he said or did. I knew I wasn't in love with the guy, there was not an emotional connection for me, at all.

Red flag #5 - The Deal Breaker.
It was a Saturday afternoon. We decided to go to Costco. As any Costco shopper knows, Costco is crazy on the weekends. You just plan for it and deal with it. Mr. Road Rage was a flippin' nightmare in the parking lot. I thought he might really go to blows over the stupidest things. We sat in the car and I told him I was over his outbursts and that it made me uncomfortable. He didn't apologize.

We cram into Costco, grab a cart and start walking through the aisles. There was a little cart-traffic jam and a VERY elderly woman in front of us stopped her cart. M1 swung the cart around, SLAMMED our cart into hers and said "Watch it, you F*$king B*&ch!" And he stormed off.
To an old lady!
I turned bright red and faced her.
I said, "I'm so sorry ma'am" and walked away, mortified.
I walked right over to him and said, "Take me home right now."
He looked at me like I was an alien and said, "Why? What's wrong now?"
He didn't even realize he had done something completely inappropriate.

Needless to say, I left right when we got back and never answered his calls again. He called my cell, my work, my home. He even did a few "stop overs" at my house, but luckily I was never home (he left notes).

That is the story of M1 - Mr. Anger Issues.