Somehow nearly half a year went by without my writing one word in this space. I know blogging is very 2008, but I still love this space despite my lack of engagement with it. Between all that has happened and not really knowing what to say about it, I found myself starting a post and not finishing a number of times. Here’s to hoping this one is different…
Continue readingCategory Archives: Hope
A Bright Light.
It’s been a strange month. Strange and sad and sweet and beautiful all at once. We lost Dave’s mom this month. Before she died, we were able to spend sweet time with her and some of her extended family. And since then, we celebrated her in a couple of gatherings that had her fingerprints all over them. And now, Dave’s immediate family is in Austin, having surprised us by flying in on Christmas night. We being old people were asleep when they arrived, so we didn’t experience the surprise until the day after Christmas, but their presence here has been sweet. It’s fun to be with them, particularly as we celebrate Dave’s birthday. I’m so grateful. Continue reading
Taking Care of Myself (and Others).
So much of my effort this year has been about taking care of myself. I hope it hasn’t been selfish. I don’t think it has. I just feel like there is so much aggression out in the world that I have to be extra diligent about both preparing myself for it and shielding myself from it. For me, that’s meant really looking at what improves my life and what doesn’t. Continue reading
A Thing on My Elbow.
For a few weeks now, I’ve had a thing on my elbow. It’s a bump. A hump. It’s about the size of a dime, and it moves around. It doesn’t hurt unless I press on it really hard. It’s just there. And it’s been freaking me out. Continue reading
At a Crossroads.
Not too long ago, I was feeling my age. Then I was temporarily out of commission. Now I’m at a crossroads of sorts. Something in me is changing. I have less patience for what I do not care to do. I have less patience for things that feel unproductive to me. And I have less patience with my own willingness at times to be less than whole-hearted in whatever I am doing. I feel like my moments matter, and I do not want to waste them. Continue reading
Waking Up.
My alarm went off at 4:45 this morning. Last night, I made the decision to skip my Monday swim because I couldn’t quite embrace the cold I would experience in the thirty or so steps it would take to get from the locker room into the heated outdoor pool. I considered sleeping in and running instead, but even the extra couple hours of sleep didn’t seem worth having to run outdoors in the twenty degree temperatures. So I forced myself up super early and out the door to 5:30 spin. It was a great way to start my day and my birthday week. Continue reading
Countdown to Wisconsin.
Three weeks from today, Dave and I will fly to Madison so that I can race Ironman Wisconsin on September 11. I printed the Athlete Guide today. It’s super exciting stuff. It seems like not that long ago that I was in Wisconsin acting as a sherpa for Jeanie and supporting other friends, and now it’s suddenly my turn. Will I be ready? Continue reading
About the Last Year.
A year ago tomorrow, Dave rolled into town in a U-Haul, committed to starting a new life in a new state with some girl he’d known for less than a year. He asked me today what I thought about the last year. I answered in the moment, but I haven’t stopped thinking about the question. Continue reading
Healing.
When I last wrote, I will dealing with a lingering hip injury. Not long after that post, my hip was fixed, and I’ve been running like a mad woman since. Not just running actually. I’ve been running and spinning and playing tennis, which has been a ton of fun. It feels phenomenal to move again without pain. I’ve learned an important lesson from this experience: healing is about surrounding yourself with the right people. Continue reading
On Not Racing.
In January of this year, I proclaimed my race schedule for 2015 and declared, “There will be no skipping races in 2015.” As it turns out, I should have said, “There will be no winning the lottery in 2015,” because the exact opposite has happened. Since the 3M Half Marathon, I’ve done nothing but skip races. I skipped the Austin Marathon because of a calf injury. I skipped Cowtown for the same reason. (That race was actually cancelled due to weather, but still, I had made the decision to skip it before it was cancelled, so I count it as a skip in my book.) One day of my MS 150 was cancelled due to heavy rains. I didn’t even sign up for the St. George 70.3 because Dave and I ended up planning a trip to Roatan the weekend before that race. Even my Wicked Wine Run 5K didn’t happen because of the weird storms we’ve been having, and when the race was rescheduled, I had hurt my hip and had to skip it. And now I won’t be racing Coeur d’Alene either because that injury is lingering. I don’t know what’s going on. Continue reading
It Started With Coeur d'Alene 