Friday, October 30, 2009

my father's daughter

From DAD: “Mom wants me to be legal from now on - and I am trying - but it is not easy”

I am my father’s daughter. He confirmed it again this morning with that one little line in his email. For the past couple years, I’ve collected an assortment of parking tickets. They’re usually at junior colleges where I’m playing or coaching volleyball…and I’ve discovered that junior colleges really want their money…and they’re in cahoots with the CA DMV…so I can’t renew my license plates without paying outstanding parking tickets. Such a bummer.

After hundreds of dollars in parking tickets, one might think that I’d start parking legally…yet, I continue to park where I want to if there’s no real spot available…and usually I get away with it. Sometimes I get busted. Of course, there are other laws/rules I choose to ignore – I mean, if it doesn’t make sense, why abide by it? I bike like I’m a teenager that doesn’t realize I need to follow traffic laws, j-walk when I want, etc… As I’ve written, I live by the idea of “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.”

Unfortunately, that generally doesn’t work with the law…which I need to remember…but it is not easy.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

silicon valley half marathon

i convinced myself to sign up for the silicon valley half marathon at the san jose rock n roll half marathon expo three weeks ago - i figured i could pull it off, and they offered a discount & t-shirt.

this morning 3000 of us gathered in san jose to start out on the trek. i believe 800 people (including four of my friends) were running the full, the rest of us cutting out at 13.1 miles. i was concerned that i'd feel like a wimp quitting at 13.1...but that's not the case. i kinda feel like the smart one 'cause it's stupid to run 26.2 miles (unless you're built for it, which i am not).

tono & i were tryin' to run fast...sub-2 hour half and sub-4 hour full marathons. according to our watches, we both beat it by 10 seconds - we'll see what the chip time is. because he beat 4 hours, i'm supposed to take trapeze lessons...but it's on him to make it possible.

peggy met me at the finish line so we could head over to mile 21 to cheer our friends along. i'd also set up a cooler for our own "water" stop - gatorade, OJ and beer. why beer? at mile 18 in the SF marathon, i was handed a dixie cup of beer...and it was the best tasting beer i'd ever had. i wanted to be able to pass that brilliance forward...and we did. i think only two runners actually took my dixie cups of beer, but several smiled and told me i was nuts. was it worth it? YES! one guy told me it was the best beer he'd ever tasted - brilliance passed forward.

all in all, it was a fun morning - it got hot, so the marathoners weren't as fast as they'd like to have been...but everyone finished. and we didn't have to go anywhere to enjoy another marathon.

(i'm still retired from the full marathon, for the record)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

thankful

yesterday i woke up to an email from my dad listing many of the things he's thankful for. it was a pretty great way to start the day, so today i'm tryin' to do one of my own...

i'm thankful for sleep, my cozy room, the beautiful day we're supposed to have, my many pairs of shoes, my awesome family, minnesota, my amazing friends, tivo, yoga, pasta, flip flops, Goofy, my car, nail polish, running, life, books, my job, coaching, volleyball, my car, softball, laughter, movies, beer, projects...

it's not as easy as i thought...but maybe it's too early and i'm reaching too deep. no less, i've got a lot and i'm thankful for it. and when i focus on what i do have, what i don't have doesn't seem so terrible. huh.

happy trails, all! tell someone you're thankful for something.