Golden Glasses

Forget looking at the world through rose colored glasses. I’m a runner and all I see is gold. No not the gold medal kind (finishers medal is just fine with me), but truly seeing the world with a golden glow.

I ran around Lady Bird Lake today and took the trail less traveled, aka east of IH-35. I managed to loose the trail twice, but the pain of those mishaps vanished when I was running with the sun on my back and a golden glow surrounded me. The sun filtered through the amber cypress and sycamore leaves (I’ll take fall colors whenever they get here…even if we had to wait until December) and glistened off the water on both sides of the trail.

I wish I could have captured the light to give all of you some running motivation, but trust me it’s worth it. “My” patch of sycamores/bald cypress is on the north side of the lake between the old Holly Power Plant and Pleasant Valley. There’s also another beautiful section of bald cypress on the south shore behind the Austin American Statesman offices.

Happy trails to you…

South TX Safari

In Botswana I wrote every week and felt like I had something to share, but now that I’ve settled into a hum drum adult life it seems like things just aren’t that exciting but I think I’m completely wrong. The mass email I got the most positive comments about from Botswana was about waiting in line at the post office, and how much more day-to-day can you get than that? So it’s simply a psychological phenomenon of changing perception. Yesterday I went for a run around Lady Bird Lake and had a man in his 50s or 60s in full running gear skip towards me…yes skip, you would NEVER see that in Nac but somehow it fits into the Austin landscape…perception.

So for Thanksgiving we made the trip to find our oh-so-scattered/distant Texan cousins in the hopes that they’d share some jellied cranberry sauce with us (Which reminds me that for some reason I missed cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving! Must go back and repeat it really.).

South TX really should cash in on the eco-tourism trade, and not the game farming/lets go shoot an imported African deer trapped inside and enormous fence, but the kind where you go and look at animals ...odd concept I know. Folks get sooo excited about seeing an impala or two, why not some of our south TX species instead? Around Hebbronville I saw javelinas, Mexican eagles, a fox, a lone coyote, a stunning herd of deer, and what I was most excited about wild turkeys. It was like being in a game park and would have been easy to forget that we were simply cruising down a lonely stretch of very straight road. If I’d had a camera my album from the weekend would have looked a little somethin’ like this:

Rantings/Runnings of a Mad Woman

Forget Remember, remember, the fifth of November…from now on I’m always going to remember the 11th. On November 11th I ran my first half-marathon. Why you ask? Because I couldn’t find a triathlon that fit into my schedule and I figured running is waaay harder than swimming or biking, so the half marathon’s actually a bigger challenge. Sometimes my logic astounds me.

Better yet somehow I talked two friends into joining the madness with me. Well actually I talked three into it, but Gillian proved that she has more sense then the rest of us combined and decided against it in the end. We spent Saturday night in a hotel 0.3 miles from the Alamo (thank you Trang you brilliant woman), woke up to a 6am wake up call, stumbled into my fancy new socks and then to the starting line, and KA-BOOM cannons exploded in front of the Alamo. Forget some piddely little shot-gun start, this is Texas!

13 miles is a looooong way. We went through poor neighborhoods covered in litter, rich neighborhoods with historic homes, back and forth over the river walk, through downtown twice, through the Mission state historic park, and ended in the Alamo Dome. When I was in England I ran 13 miles with my Dad and had the insane idea that it wasn’t so bad and that I could do a full one. At little after the 9 mile point when the half and full courses split all illusions of wanting to do the full marathon evaporated (along with gallons of my sweat leaving me covered in salt). I couldn’t have been more grateful that I only had 4 miles to go, and those poor folk had to face 17 more miles!

After 1 hour and 52 mins of running I raced across the finish line, stumbled into the arms of lovely volunteers who hung a finishers medal around my neck, removed my timing chip for me, and handed me bottled water.
Memory is a fantastic thing. I groaned for three days after the race as I tried to sit/stand or climb stairs, but as soon as the pain faded I remembered the sense of accomplishment and started talking folks into the 3M Half Marathon in January. So who’s in?

Thankful

Yesterday should by any account have been a challenging day, but somehow it wasn't that stressful and I still feel happy...there must be some medical explanation for this. Bad things come in 3s: 1) Had man expose himself to me while I was running on an isolated part of Shoal Creek Trail, 2) had half of my front tooth fall out while flossing my teeth, 3) bike stolen.

At the end of the day I went and laid out by Barton Springs and watched the bats swooping over the water and clouds with lightening roll in. I knew I should be a bit upset, but all my friends think it's comical because when I start talking about it I can't stop laughing and oddly enough after an hour of laying out watching the clouds I felt very thankful. Things to be thankful for:

-A few years ago I would have been too depressed for any of the things to have happened. I wouldn't have been out running 8 miles so I wouldn't have run into the weirdo, I would have been too lethargic to take care of basic hygiene (like flossing) so my tooth would still be there, and there's no way I would have had a fantastic job that I love to ride my bike to or the energy to ride a bike so my bike wouldn't have been stolen. It's an amazing change.
-I have a wonderful boss who'll let me use flex time today to talk to the cops and make my dental appointments.
-I'm stable financially, so while I'd rather use the dental money on a flight...I do have money to fix my tooth and to buy a new bike.
-I have wonderful friends who did everything from tell me they love me without a front tooth, to offer wine on the porch, to understanding that I had to reschedule some things, to joining me for swimming/playing in Barton Springs after my hour of quiet time.
-Places like Barton Springs. In the middle of the city I can find quiet and safe spots at night to sit by the water and think.
-Great lazy days. It was a wonderful day! After working so many days in a row I needed time to just do what I wanted and catch up on chores. Friday night spent it with Ara/Sarah. Saturday: planted a butterfly garden with a group of volunteers, worked a little bit, took a nap, caught up on a bunch of chores, met Friends to watch an outdoor swing competition and drink wine, jumped on a trampoline, danced goofily to Russian music with friends in the living room. Sunday: ran 8 miles, volunteered in a creek for a short time, made myself a lovely sandwich fresh mozzarella/fresh basil/tomato/sea salt/crusty bread/garlic/olive oil, took a loooooong nap, read in bed, was contacted by a close friend from High School who I haven't heard from in years, lay out/swam in Barton Springs.

It really is a lovely life.

Crazy, certifiably nuts, flat out looney

…that’s me. Why do I commit to soooooooo many things? I got an email from a fellow volunteer today and he wrote, “Jessica, even if you WERE triplets, there would not nearly be enough of you to go around. :o)” Why do I do so much?

Today:
-6:30am-7:30am, woke up got ready
-7:30am-8am, rode bike to work
-8am-noon, work
-Noon-12:15pm, walk around Lake Bird Lake
-12:15pm-4pm, work
-4pm-4:30pm, ride bike home
-4:30pm-5:00pm, take check for cedar logs out to McKinney Falls
-5:00pm-5:30pm, go home and grab something to eat
-5:30pm-6:15pm, driving and meeting volunteer at KAB’s Tool Shack
-6:15pm-6:30pm, driving
-6:30pm-7:30pm, answering Friends of McKinney Falls emails about workday on Saturday
-7:30pm-7:45pm, travel home
-7:45pm-8:00pm, change clothes
-8:00pm-8:45pm, tennis
-8:45pm-9pm, travel & changing
-9pm-10pm, swimming at Barton Springs
CRASH

And that doesn’t even go into all the things I’m supposed to get done today at work, and the couple of minutes it took me to write this and vent.

I know a lot of it is temporary because I have a couple of big events the next two weekends, but still….WHY?

Agape

I’m a little nervous…

I went to a church school, my Granny and Great Aunt Eleanor played violin every Sunday in their log cabin church, a lot of my children’s books were stories from the bible, but it’s safe to say our family is non-religious. We still have a lot of the stereotypical Christian morals, but I’ve never read the bible and take issue with rich preachers.

However, after a friend’s wedding in June I really started to question my resistance to organized religion. During the ceremony I felt such peace with the rituals and it seems so reassuring to be in a partnership where your romantic partner (and maybe one day parent of your children) has the same grounding beliefs. I started asking friends about their experiences and suggesting religious or soul searching books for our book club, and then two Sundays ago one of my closest friends called to see if I wanted to go listen to gospel music at a church she’d seen an add for on tv.

First red flag-they have enough money to put adds on tv
Second red flag-I accidentally pulled into the designated bishop’s parking area and they like nice cars…lexus, bmw…

We went in anyway, but with our typical guard up and on high alert. The preacher seemed like he was talking directly to us and our private issues. I’ve never had someone cut right to the heart of my experience before, but somehow he did and managed to unite everyone in the shared experience. The music was so uplifting and joyful that we found ourselves singing and dancing along with the rest of the congregation, but my guard was still insurmountable…or so I thought. All of a sudden it was time to introduce yourself to your neighbors. I’ve been to lots of Catholic services and you politely turn to your neighbor and shake their hand or give them one of those pat on the back hugs and say “peace be with you” or something to that means. That’s sweet, but nothing like what we were about to experience. A woman from the row in front of us came back and pulled my friend into a bear hug from which they both emerged grinning and giggly. Then it was my turn and I was enveloped in the most profound hug I’ve ever experienced. I hugged back, but she held on and started swaying back and forth until I relaxed into her and *poof* my insurmountable wall vanished. We came out of our hug with tears in our eyes and smiles on our lips.

Later during “Agape Time” the preacher asked everyone to go to the opposite side of the church to hug people that you didn’t know. They say that getting five hugs a day does wonders to improve health and I believe it.

We went back last night. :)

Four Glorious Four!

It’s enough to make me burst into song (think Oliver). My favorite number has always been two, but then four is 2*2 AND 2+2 so that should make it doubly wonderful right? On Saturday I did what is typically my most dreaded task in life and turned it into a glorious (word of the day) occasion...I went shopping for jeans...dum-duh-daah.

Now inspiring music that gradually swells...I fit into size 4 jeans. That’s right 2*2 jeans! I know it is thanks to vanity sizing…there’s no way I’m smaller than I was in high school, but I don’t care. Whoever came up with vanity sizing is a genius…and probably a multi-gazzilion air and I love them...yes love...do you hear that vanity sizing man?