aging

Live your life and forget your age.--Norman Vincent Peale

In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, and then only, are you grown old.--General Douglas MacArthur

I won a really BIG trophy on Saturday at my friend Leroy's RACE FOR RECOVERY. It was the 9th one and it benefits a recovery house for men. Leroy and his wife Linda and I have been running together many years. Leroy trained me for Boston and we ran it in 2003. Several people came up to me and commented on the size of the trophy and you know what, it was bigger than the age group trophies. I am 53 and a GRAND MASTER runner and it is nice to age gracefully and because I am old, I acquire really BIG trophies! Running and the camaraderie help me stay young at heart. and fit.

Kansas Ironman 70.3

(Photos:Ken & Craig, me & Craig, Simon, bikes & peace, KS hills, Amanda)

Well, Ken and I signed up because KS is flat…NO it is NOT, at least not in Lawrence KS.
We did a very hilly course that even the Pros (Craig Alexander, Simon Lessing, Amanda) agreed it was tough! But we did it, after traveling thru some tornado warnings in ST. LOUIS and seeing rivers spreading beyond their banks, we arrived in hilly Lawrence Friday night and after cleaning up we headed to the Sunflower Bike shop where we dined on pasta and chicken and sat and chatted with Craig, Simon, and Simon’s wife Lisa. There was a drawing and both Ken and I won Newton running shoes! We picked up our race packets Saturday morning and shopped in the lively & eclectic downtown of Lawrence. We drove the course on Saturday and realized how tough the bike was going to be and I worried about the bike cut off and if I would make it. Clinton Lake was muddy but Ken and I enjoyed a picnic by it on Saturday before we drove the bike course. No shade all hills, even the flat was uphill!
We took our bikes to the transition area and after eating at the restaurant that had catered the night before, we got a good night’s sleep (if you can call getting up at 4am a good night’s sleep).

At 15 seconds before my wave start, I dunked my goggles in Clinton lake and they came up with so much mud on them I had to spit- spit- spit on them to get it off. Could not see, but did not matter since I was in the second wave (after the pros) I did not pass any of them, but I sure got passed!

Bike was just hard! Hills and wind, wind and hills, no shade, water stop on a hill and I could nto grap the water, but at the next one I stopped and drank all I could and put some on my bike. We crossed an intersection 4 times – it was called the iron cross. My legs felt like iron, but I made the cut off! Started running and found Ken and we ran together doing the run 9 minutes and walk 1. Then the thunder and lightening started and as Ken and I were passing the Finish line to go on the 2nd loop of the run we were directed to the Finish line. We humed and hawed and tried to keep going but the volunteer said no they were stopping the race because of the storm. So Ken and I ran into the finish line and got a medal!
Which made me in the results run a 3-4 minute mile!!!

Opponent

Your opponent, in the end, is never really the player on the other side of the net, or the swimmer in the next lane, or the team on the other side of the field...your opponent is yourself, your negative internal voices, your level of determination.

My power animal is the turtle. Who would guess that a turtle that is big and somewhat awkward on land is such a effortless swimmer. Or that the turtle won the race against the faster rabbit because the turtle was determined to keep its steady pace!

LIVE

(Photos: sign in Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park, Sugar and snowman, balloons, pool party with Kindred Spirits)

Remember To Live Your Life TodayToday is a beautiful day to be alive, to be the person you are. A beautifulday, simply, to be. Don't waste energy trying to possess or control. Don't let yourself be burdened by things that have happened in the past. Don't worry about being "right," or about impressing anyone.Focus instead on creating things that have never before existed. On adding value to the lives of others. On finding ways to express the unique person that you are. Feel good by simply deciding to, rather than by abusing yourself or others. Look at everything that happens as an opportunity for growth.Accept and be thankful for the abundance that is yours. Dust off yourdreams and find a way to follow them. Life is precious and beautiful.Every breath you take is an opportunity to live life to the fullest.--Ralph S. Marston, Jr.

Life

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Love the ones who don't just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly. God never said life would be easy. God just promised it would be worth it.

Life is worth it! and it helps to have kindred spirits with you who love you no matter what even when you cannot love yourself.

Kissing

I was brought up with Fairy tales and Bible stories/parables and both have had an impact on me. But the fairy tales of the princess getting the kiss of all kisses - I mean it wakes them UP! has made my kissing incidents lackluster. How can a kiss I get compare to a kiss in a Fairy tale that WAKES up a gal. Is that what I am waiting on – the BIG WAKE UP kiss?

(note-since writing this, I have had a few kisses and they were firework kisses!)

Once upon a time, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog in a pond. The frog said to the princess, " I once was a handsome prince until an evil witch put a spell on me. One kiss from you and I will turn back into a prince and then we can marry, move into the castle with my mom and you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children and forever feel happy doing so." That night, while the princess dined on frog legs,she kept laughing and saying, "I don't THINK so."

Collarbone

I had surgery on 1/3/08 to repair the broken collarbone from a bike accident in September. The Doctor told me that morning that they might have to do a bone graft from my hip - they did. It is what hurts. But I am glad I have a big hip bone!Wow! I am feeling such gratitude for this adventure/experience of collarbone surgery.Gratitude for Tracy’s early morning prayer in the “waiting for surgery” room. And staying with my parents and visiting me on Sat.Gratitude that surgery went well and I awoke! I was scared about the anesthesiology part, but my anesthesiologist was a runner and we had a great conversation before surgery so I felt better about “going under.” He said I was the healthy person in the hospital!Gratitude that in my room, my brother’s neighbor Jill (nurse at Central Baptist) came to check on me and observed I had a very nice, but talkative (MORE than me!) roomie and got me a private room. This really helped my recovery.Grateful for all the visitors. I was a bit out of it and I know when I talked to you I made no sense. I was told I even talked about the Twilight Zone (maybe because I was in it!)Gratitude for the lovely flowers from Angela and from Mark and Lucy and from my work.Gratitude that Sugar was being cared for (as well as I was!) by Marcie.Gratitude that I have such wonderful family and went to my parents’ home from the hospital on Friday who gave me such good care. My mom makes great chicken vegetable soup! and fudge!Gratitude for all the calls, thoughts and prayers. Gratitude for the book holder, book, cards, bag of Skittles, chick-fil-a lunch, and another day off yesterday to rest. Gratitude for God who was present with me.
So I have been on the mend since then ..walking a bit slow due to the hip, but then a couple of weeks ago got the ok to run (a mile or 2) I did 5 this past Sunday. I faxed my doctor and told him this – always better to ask for forgiveness, then permission! ….Can’t wait to be back biking soon, swimming sooner (can do this in 2 weeks. Last Tuesday I water jogged and did swim one lap just to see if I could. I thought I might have forgotten since last September, but I remembered. Actually, Susan my swim coach said my stroke was better on that side!

ME as in Mary Elizabeth

Praying and cussing seem to be part of my life - I am doing one or the other. I think the praying part is the part most people will agree is a good thing. Yet every now and then a good ole expletive seems to be spiritual. I have blogged about doing a half Ironman in NH and doing an Ironman in ID and I thought I would just blog about ME. I was doing a sprint Tri in Ohio (COLD) one time in the spring and the cross wind would knock you off your bike - this is when I started to cuss and pray at the same time, one right after the other and it became a mantra "help me God, MF wind!God thanks for my strong legs, Sh!t what the h...
You see the pattern....And I thought, this is a good saying about life - kind of similar to bittersweet. Have to take the bitter with the sweet.. well you have to pray and cuss, cuss and pray.