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!