On 'An Occasion to Remember'

Someone once said, “We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

This past weekend, my parents celebrated their 30th anniversary with a vow renewal  ceremony followed by an open house for our friends, family, and church members (most of whom fall into the previous two categories). There was SO much cake. Too bad we weren't around during the French Revolution, or Marie Antoinette would've probably said "let them go to the Forsters' house." Overall, the day was amazing, and I don't believe I have ever seen mom so pleased with herself. 

She and dad had a lovely time, and hosting this event forced them to finish up our new room we just added to the house. And by "we", I mean "they", b/c I've been at school. So I basically just get to enjoy the finished product, but I didn't have to work any. It's pretty great, I'm not gonna lie. 

Aside from the driving home and back, the only bad part was that I ate TONS of food this weekend. It's sad, really. I'm on this, for lack of a better term, 'weight-loss kick' right now... I'm working at the beach next month, so I'm sure you can understand. So, if you see me around, eating something dense with calories, give me a firm stare. Being at the pool so much does help. I swim b/c there's nothing else to do. I need to pick back up the marathon training. 

Anyway, the most interesting thing that happened: I got to drive home a drunk man. In a six speed Jeep Wrangler. (Which, btw, is my favorite vehicle.) He was a friend of the family, and had a little bit too much at the place where my brother works... and by a little bit too much, I mean 20- ish shots. It was great. So I drove his car, and my brother followed with a friend. Good times.

I was pretty pleased with myself. I knew my driving a manual abilities would come in handy someday!

"I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul"

Alice came to a fork in the road.  "Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland


I have never seen Alice in Wonderland, old or new, but I completely understand where she is coming from here. People make thousands of decisions per day. What to eat, what to wear, and whether or not to make coffee are the more obvious decision making processes. Then you have the smaller decisions, like whether to go up and talk to somebody, or to stay seated. Whether to go to the bathroom now, or wait until the commercial break. Then you have the huge life decisions: where to go to college, what to major in, where to work. If you put all these decisions in light of an ultimate goal, it generally makes the choices more obvious. I've been wondering lately what my ultimate goal is. Am I making decisions based on some bigger picture, or am just blindly wandering around in the dark, chasing shadows? I have a broad, ambiguous idea of what I should do in life. I have a general inkling of what I want to do. 
There's a TobyMac song ("Lose My Soul") that talks about 'living in light of eternity'. In light of eternity, all these day to day things that I feel like I deserve mean absolutely nothing. This begs the question: am I living in light of eternity? Are you? With forever before me, am I making worthwhile choices?

A fork in the road

"The obstacle is the path." ~Zen Proverb

After a pretty rocky obstacle [/path] I am deferring my TNT run to either this fall or next spring. I'll probably do a triathlon instead. So that I am still doing something for TNT this season, I am running a 5K the Saturday after finals at the zoo- so if you would like to participate or donate, let me know!

Until then, I think I'll take a slightly different road on here... Let me know what you think =]

Peace.

Spring break is upon us.
I ran earlier today.
It was hot.
My run was terrible.
The end.

Not really. But my run was terrible. I've been thinking... Maybe I'm not cut out for this. I'm in it now- too late. But I could bump it down to the half marathon. Whenever I think about that, however, I feel like I am letting people down. Specific people, actually. I am letting down Ron Jones, Bill Pittman, and Betsy Dobbins, only one of whom is still around to realize that I am letting them down. At the same time, it can't be letting them down if I am still raising the money to research, right? But I'm not dedicating myself wholly to the cause by not practicing as much as I know I should...

This is tough.

It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), Nichomachean Ethics

Sail away

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

So, recovering from being sick has gone well. Sucking it up and running in this freezing cold weather-- not so much. I have to constantly remind myself why I'm doing this. When it gets TOO cold (like it has been) I normally swim or bike (inside) instead of run. Today I biked on a high level for 45 minutes, then did p90x and refereed a soccer game. Sunday was awesome. I ran five miles, then played soccer for two and a half ish hours, then had a Frisbee game that night. I slept through my 8am class. But it was so worth it. Soccer has been giving me great extra workouts- some awesome sprints- but unfortunately, I haven't been doing enough long distance. I actually got a little hurt in my game tonight... my right ankle is swollen and my left knee has a huge knot under it. I don't think that's good. But tomorrow, I will keep pushing on. Or at least, I'll try. I'll let ya know. Until then, I think I'll pull my shin guards out of storage...

Stomach bugs and Valentine's hugs

Today I ran 6ish miles in 56 ish minutes. Including the two times I stopped- once for water (approximately 15 seconds) and once because my knee was hurting (a few minutes). And I had to slow down a couple times because of my knee. But I did start out a little slower than usual, which I think was a big help, and really hard for me to do. I think I may have felt the most accomplished when I passed a man. He looked like he was in shape... gave me a run for my money. But in the end, my competitiveness and agile athleticism dominated. Or it may have been because he was old and overweight. But not much overweight!
The reason I haven't posted in about two weeks is because, honestly, I haven't run in about two weeks. I got a bad stomach virus that had been going around right after my last post. It is only supposed to last 24 or 48 hours. Mine lasted six days. Yes, 6. You don't need to get your glasses. I lived off of Gatorade and Pedialite- well, the generic, which by the way, tastes alot like Gatorade these days. Needless to say, I didn't want to see Gatorade again for a while. I did not even try to run during that week, knowing that it would be worthless. Once I was finally over the bug, It was cold outside. Being the wimp I am, I decided to bike and swim instead of run. I only ran once-- about three miles. What I learned: you can effectively cross train and not lose any running skill! The six miles I ran earlier, aside from my knee bugging me periodically, was surprisingly easy! My breathing, and therefore heart rate, was not too heavy the whole time, and my leg muscles weren't burning at the end. (Of course, I was going kind of slow.) I would be willing to argue that a person could just do one long run and one shorter run per week, cross train the rest of the time and effectively train for an event- such as a marathon.
Well, I have nothing further to report on this subject today, except to keep in the forefront of our minds the reason why we are doing this. Not to lose weight (although I really hope I do =]) and not to gain friends (even though I have and am really glad of it), but to raise money for cancer research and hopefully contribute to a cure. That's what we're here for...

"Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
John Updike

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Birthdays and Classes

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: Many people die with their music still in them. Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.

So, you guessed it. Today was the day where I officially aged an entire year. yes, I did. That said, I didn't eat well today. I mean, I had a ton of calcium (chocolate) and a whole bunch of energy (carbs). And some chicken. That's about it. But it's totally okay because I ran about four miles. Well, I have a confession.
I didn't want to.
You would think that, since I signed up to do a marathon, I would LOVE running and want to do it constantly. Well, you would be believing a lie. I enjoy running once I get out there- most of the time- but today I did not want to get out there. It was a tiny bit cold outside (lower 60s- hey, I live in the South, that's chilly) so I went to the gym here on campus. All the machines were taken. But I was already in workout apparel. One thing I have learned- once you're in the clothes, it is really hard on your conscience to NOT do something athletic. Or at least for me it is. So I called my dear friend Emile, who was on her way to run, and went with her. Once I started, I was good to go.
It was tough to start, but once you jump in the water's great, right?

"The courage of life is a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must, in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures. And that is the basis of all morality." -John F. Kennedy