Cannonball Run

Today was the Cannonball Run half-marathon in Greensboro. Almost every member of my running group participated, which made it extra fun. We cheered and high-fived each other on the course as we passed.

I had what must be described as the best run of my life. The 13.1 miles flew by. I never felt tired, never felt winded, never felt "Dear God, when will this misery end?" In fact, the last 3-4 miles were my strongest.  A huge help was that I ran the majority of the race with 3 people from my group - Jennifer, Louie, and Pam. We kept each other on pace (meaning we mainly kept reminding each other to "slow down")  for most of the race until we split up and each did our own thing at the end.

My time was 1:55:25, an 8:49 pace. I am thrilled. Last year when I first started running and was averaging a 10-minute pace I remember thinking, "I would be so happy if I could ever run a 9-minute pace. " And now that I've done it, I am happy. I'm also thinking, "I would be so happy if I could ever run an 8:30 pace." 

One of my friends pointed at his left shoe after the race. It was blood-soaked. Blisters formed and popped and he still finished the race in 2 hours. That's devotion. Or as Blair refers to it, insanity.

Overall, an immensely satisfying day.

Clean It Up, Pack It In, Throw It Out

Forget spring cleaning. I am all about the fall purge. The weather here finally turned crisp and I'm aching to jump in and give the house a top to bottom once over. I looked in my closet today and noticed I have something like a billion t-shirts. Of these, I wear approximately 3. Time to let go.

The conflict is that I'm still swamped with work. I've got 2 speeches to deliver in November to not insignificant size audiences and haven't even thought yet about what I'm going to say. Still trying to work through the muddle of written work that awaits me before I go there. Not a good plan.

But my mind wanders. Who wants to write articles when there is a make-up tray dying to be straightened? How can I focus on speeches when our kitchen shelves need rearranging? And how can I be expected to get any work done knowing the junk drawer in the office is gasping its last breath?

Just call me a girl who doesn't know how to concentrate. Although I think it's more than that. A friend and I were talking the other day and we decided we just don't want to work. Not for forever, but you know, like maybe for 2 weeks.

We want no pressure, no deadlines, no "must call" or "must meet with." We will take our free time and organize everything within our reach. Recipe books will be sorted by category and calorie content (versus my current method of stuffing the poached salmon recipe in the "Baked Goods" section because that's where the book fell open).  Jewelry will be categorized by weight and color. Coffee mugs will be examined and no mercy shown to the chipped or non-dishwasher safe. And everything will be cleaned, stacked, and swabbed down. Then I'll take myself, Blair, and the cats to a hotel room so we don't mess it up.

But for now, there is real work to be done. I'm on it. Have a good weekend.

Do You Seek Out New Friends?

Ever notice how easy it is to become complacent and not reach out to others, even when you think you might have something in common?

For example, yesterday in my Toastmaster's meeting a new member gave her Icebreaker speech. This is a 4-6 speech that introduces the speaker to the group. I loved yesterday's speaker. She spoke of searching for meaning in her life, but did so with humor and insight. She grew up in Germany and now lives in the U.S. As she was speaking, I was thinking, "She's someone I would be interested in getting to know better."

And yet, I left the meeting without saying anything to her other than, "Great speech."

Does anyone else relate to this? Do you actively seek out new friends or are you content with those already in your inner circle?  I tend to be a person who has a wide range of acquaintances, but few close friends.  But I like having a wide breadth to chose from and that so many of my friends are so different from one another. I sometimes wonder if I threw a party and invited everyone, would anyone get along? =)

I have my artsy friends, my writer friends, my running friends, my past colleague friends, my spiritual friends, my younger friends, my older friends, my neighbor-friends, my funny friends, my wound oh-so-tight friends, my long-distance friends, my "kind-of-wish-they-weren't-anymore" friends (Oh, save it. You have them too.), and of course, my best friend.

Many fall into several groups, depending on the day and time you catch them. I wonder how others categorize me? I know I'm a writer and runner friend to some. But I do tend to slot people into categories (just to keep track of them) and it's fun imagining how I may get slotted myself.

Then again, some things may be better left unexamined...

Voodoo

A friend of mine is in an emotionally abusive relationship. The newest twist is the guy has told her he practices witchcraft and has created a voodoo doll of her that he will stick pins in. 

Are you kidding me? This guy couldn't manage to light a fart coming out of his own ass, but he's going to master the dark arts? Right, you betcha. But my friend is very religious and I was concerned something like this might scare her. To her credit, she thinks he's full of it.

I tried to cheer her up. "You tell him you have a witch-bitch friend, " I said, "who isn't afraid to go voodoo on his ass."

That got her laughing, so I went further.

"And remind him," I said, "that I'm smarter than him and am capable of reading the advanced potion books.  The ones without all the pictures."

We were rolling with laughter. Thank God. The occasional lighthearted perspective, while not a cure by any means, can help make a situation temporarily more bearable.

Voodoo. I just have to shake my head in disbelief. What on earth is this man thinking? Scratch that. We know exactly what he's thinking. How to induce fear and gain control.

Very, very sad.