By Lori, on September 2nd, 2010
Sometimes it is a little easy for me to start feeling a little lost. My internal focus gets a little blurry and I entertain thoughts and negative emotions that are not a part of my day to day “normal” life. I was starting to feel lost when I was not running. My confidence definitely suffered. Many of the people who I follow and follow me on Twitter are runners. Reading their tweets while I was on the couch feeling sorry for myself was difficult.
I firmly believe that the universe is always trying to teach me something. I also believe that I need to work even harder to “hear” its message to me. I try to learn from each experience I go through, but when the mind is fuzzy it cannot “hear” well. One of my favorite lines in Avatar was when Jake told Moat that he was there to learn. Moat replied to him: “It is hard to fill a cup that is already full.” If our minds are already made up, if we think we already have all the answers, then there is no capacity for growth or enlightenment. I never want to have a full cup. I want to be able to continue to learn and grow.
Since I have resumed running, my head is much clearer and I feel confident and strong again. Part of the woman I am today is because I made a decision to change my life and do the things that I thought I could not do. The things people in my past told me I couldn’t do. I don’t want to go back to the woman I was before. I understand that I need to be cautious with my running but I can still run if I listen – and heed – what my body is telling me.
Another thing I have learned is how much I love and am loved by others. The amount of support I receive on Twitter, my blog comments, Facebook, emails, BBIMs, texts, is overwhelming. When my friends tell me to “be careful” it warms me from the inside out because this is love. This is friendship. This is support. These are people who see me as a complete individual – not just a runner or a cyclist. I humbly thank all of you for showing me how much you care each and every day. My blog has never been about attracting sponsors. It has always been about hoping to inspire just even one other person to step outside what they think they can’t do and explore what they CAN do. It makes me feel so good inside to encourage others. I believe in them all and I always will.
When you are a runner, you always strive to run harder….to run faster. It’s a natural response in the body and mind. But, it is not everything. Sometimes we forget that it doesn’t matter how fast you run there will always be many, many people faster than you. We forget what a blessing it is to be able to walk out the door and just run – how many people would be so elated to take your place because they cannot run…..or even walk.
I had started to forget my purpose. This week a dear friend unknowingly reminded me what my purpose was. Thank you Ryan for reminding me and helping me find my way back to me.
– Lori
By Lori, on August 30th, 2010
I mentioned that I had registered to run a half-marathon way back in January. That half-marathon was yesterday. I was supposed to be running this half-marathon as a training run for the upcoming Chicago Marathon and it was supposed to be Wendy’s second half-marathon. Both of those hopes have been dashed by injuries. During the course of last week my hubby and I were able to switch it over to the relay which means we would each run half passing off to each other midway through. Wendy has still not yet been cleared to resume running after her stress fracture, but she was there with us shuttling us around and cheering us on like a true teammate. Thank you Wendy – for everything!
It seemed a little aggressive to be attempting this after not having run for 6 weeks and then gradually starting back last week, but I wanted to do it. Both hubby and I have been struggling with running, each of us having the exact same knee issues (osteoarthritis). While he still ran it was pretty much just the barest of runs to maintain fitness. I have never participated in a relay before. I was a little nervous about the race. Not so much about doing the run, but because I knew hubby would be waiting for me at the halfway point and he is SO much faster than me. Like twice as fast.
I decided just to do the best I could without overworking myself. To me that meant starting the run and concentrating hard on comfortable breathing. As long as my breathing is comfortable I can make the legs follow through. About a mile and half in I met up with another runner named Gina. We discovered we were running the same pace and we chatted with each other until I go to my pass off point. This was the first half-marathon she had run without her running partner. I was thankful to find someone to help pass the time with and discover a new friend.
Here we are just before the pass off point – running together holding hands. And look at the awesome cheerleader in pink who is there when I finish every race. She is our inspiration for everything.
I did my 6.55 in 1:17 and I was absolutely thrilled with that. My pace was steady and I just enjoyed myself and was content just to be running once again. I passed off to hubby and he took us to the finish in a total time of 2:09 for 13.1 miles. That will be the fastest I EVER run a half-marathon in my life and his slowest. The important thing for us both was that we got back out there, enjoyed the event, and did something together as a team. It wasn’t about PRs and breaking records. It was about getting back to something we thought was lost to us and learning that we can still having running in our lives if we manage our expectations.
Isn’t that so true about our lives in general? How we manage expectations determines whether we see things as success or failure. How do you manage your expectations so that you see success instead of failure?
– Lori
By Lori, on August 27th, 2010
This morning was spent at the local metro park with my youngest. We thought it would be fun to do a photo diary of our trip. I won’t post all of the pictures in this post, but you can see them in my photo gallery. I am not a photographer and just take pictures for fun. These pictures were taken with my old Canon PowerShot A85 which is only a 4.0 megapixel.
 Bellissima This photo takes hardly any explanation. She is the most beautiful “flower” in the whole garden.
 Jules This cluster of roses took my breath away when I first saw it. The absolute first thing that popped into my mind was my friend Jules. The rose in the center is her. I think she will know exactly why I thought that and no more words are necessary.
 Butterfly Love
 I love flowing water
This last photo reminds me of my dear friend Mo who I affectionately call “the Doc”. Those of you who know her know she is all things sunny, bright, cozy, giggly and warm.
 Monique Want to see the rest? Click HERE
– Lori
By Lori, on August 27th, 2010
My girls love applesauce but I seldom buy it unless I’m at Trader Joe’s or I buy organic and it is pretty pricey for the small individual serving packs. The reason why I don’t buy it? Check out the ingredient list for Musselman’s, Mott, or even store brands and you will notice that the first three ingredients are usually apples, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. Not one but both – so frustrating.
I have discovered that by having a crock pot I will never need to buy applesauce again.
6 apples (I used 3 pink lady and 3 granny . . . → Read More: Crock Pot Applesauce
By Lori, on August 25th, 2010
Today I’m echoing the words of Michael Corleone in Godfather III “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”
I’m running again. This morning I woke up and rolled into my running clothes and hit the road. I’ve now had my third pain free run this week. Granted they were just 3 miles each, but each run has left me feeling more possibility. I thought my running life was over. I had almost resigned myself to it. I believed I wanted it to be over.
But over the course of the six weeks I didn’t . . . → Read More: Just When I Thought I Was OUT……..
By Lori, on August 22nd, 2010
Yes, I am on vacation! I am calling it a staycation as I am spending it at home. It started Wednesday evening and I still have another whole week left. I have had a wonderful week. Tsion and I have been cooking and baking up a storm. Here is a link to our French Bread experiment yesterday. Today I am making Honey-Mustard Oatmeal bread which is my hubby’s favorite bread. I haven’t told him yet so it is a surprise. This is where the bread process is right now:
May I share something about the bowl that it is in? I have . . . → Read More: Getting caught in the rain………
By Lori, on August 22nd, 2010
Baking bread is something I always yearn to do but it seems so time consuming with the amount of time it takes the bread to rise. I really cannot attempt it during the week. Attempts at bread making are often met with failure in the beginning. At least that is what I have discovered. Yesterday, my youngest and I were on a quest to make french bread to go with our planned pasta dinner for the evening.
I am going to post the recipe, as well as what I actually used. I have found that the right . . . → Read More: French Bread
By Denise, on August 20th, 2010
Denise
What is it? Do YOU have one? How did you discover your passion? What differentiates something you like to do from a passion? I think about these questions quite frequently.
Now that I’m in my 40’s, i wonder if I’ll ever find my passion. Did I miss it along the way? Sure! I have things I like to do. I like to run, cycle, work out, cook wholesome foods, read, and knit among a multitude of other things. But I wouldn’t say the sun rises and sets for me around any of them.
Let’s take running. I REALLY like it! . . . → Read More: Passion vs Contentment
By Lori, on August 17th, 2010
I don’t know what I was doing yesterday that this thought came into my head. Perhaps it is because I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about past versus present. It occurred to me that hope chests are most likely dead. I would be curious to know what comes to the mind of my readers when I mention a hope chest.
Traditionally, a hope chest (aka dowry chest or cedar chest) is a chest used to collect items of clothing or household linen, by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life. That was WAY back in the day – even . . . → Read More: Resurrection of the Hope Chest
By Lori, on August 15th, 2010
There is something about the still silence of early Sunday mornings that I look forward to so much. The quiet time in the home where I am awake while everyone else is sleeping. Even as I type this, my dog is sleeping on my lap. The house is quiet and smells like coffee with a hint of chocolate chip cookie from last evenings cookie baking with my youngest.
My mother used to wake at about 5:30 every morning and sit in the almost dark kitchen with only the smallest of lights on. I used to think she was . . . → Read More: Learning In Silence
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