I say this now because I won’t be writing for a while, not here anyway. I’m taking a couple of weeks off to go to Africa. It’ll be an entirely new experience for me – a new continent, a first mountain climb, a first effort in altitude, a first camping experience that will last more than one night, and a first time journeying entirely with people I’ve never met. I expect to learn a great deal about the world and myself while I’m away. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: December 2013
Running.
As I sit here Christmas morning, enjoying coffee from my Ironman Coeur d’Alene mug from this year, I can think of little but running. This was a year of running for me – running from or perhaps because of hard stuff, running to really great stuff, and running itself. Continue reading
A Report From the Other Side.
So my fortieth birthday came and went, and it didn’t hurt, as I was expecting it would. In fact, it was easily the best birthday I’ve ever had. Continue reading
Prepping for the Holidays.
I’m holding my breath a bit. There’s one thing happening at work that could cause the next week to be complete and utter hell. Or it could turn into absolutely nothing, and I could have a delightful week. I’ll know more tomorrow and obviously have a strong preference as to which way this turns out. I want to enjoy turning 40 on Sunday, celebrating Christmas, and my final preparations for Africa. Keep your fingers crossed for me, will you? Continue reading
The El Sendero Trail Race.
I ran a 20K trail race this weekend at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet. “Ran” may be too strong a word, as much of the route consisted of massive rocks that I had to walk. Even walking a great deal, I managed to slip going downhill and land on my butt, and I nearly face-planted on another occasion. My performance wasn’t pretty, but it was fun. Continue reading
A Pre-Mountain Revelation.
I’m blown away by how we are barreling through the rest of 2013. How can it already be December 11? How can my fortieth birthday be days away? How can my Africa trip be mere weeks away? Time needs to slow down. Continue reading
What I Learned at Aldermarsh.
This week on Whidbey Island, I’ve spent my days writing, running, sharing words in a circle of wonderful women, and getting to know them more fully as we spent evenings before a fire with a bottle of wine or a cup of tea, depending on our moods. It’s been a wonderful week.
The week didn’t go quite as I expected or hoped, but I’m winding down and preparing to head home with two very important insights. Continue reading
The Object in the Center.
A year later, I’ve returned to Whidbey Island for another PeerSpirit writing workshop. There are thirteen participants this year, all of whom have been through the initial workshop before. We are led by Christina Baldwin, whose writing and teaching I adore. I’m staying in the same house as last time, the same room even. I just got here this afternoon, and I’ve already done the beautiful run to the beach that I enjoyed so much last year. It’s good to be back in this place. Continue reading
Mile Markers.
Yesterday, I ran the Jingle Bell 5K for time. As part of my TriDot training, we periodically do time trial efforts to gauge progress. Yesterday, I pushed the 5K as hard as I could and improved my 5K time from 28:53 to 27:00. I was thrilled to see improvement. I was thrilled to push hard and find a new gear. I was thrilled to cross the finish line knowing that I’d done the absolute best I could on that day. Mostly though, it occurred to me that I depend heavily on mile markers, in running and in life, and that maybe I shouldn’t need them quite so much. Continue reading
It Started With Coeur d'Alene 