run on sentences

It was 15 degrees this am so I put off my run till about 930 when it was at least 20 degrees.  The little dogs were not happy to be left home. If you look closely you can see the little dogs in the window I started out thinking that I was going to just do a short run - 5 miles maybe.  I know five miles is a respectable distance and I don't mean to brag.  It's just that when one is training for a half marathon, 5 miles is a shorter distance.  The older I get the more I appreciate even a two mile run....I am just happy to be out there and I don't care about how far or how fast.  On this day it was just me and the iPod.   I put it on "shuffle" and it played so many good songs that I kept telling myself that I would just keep going until I heard a song I did not like so much and then I would turn around.  I started out with an old tune by Melanie "Look what they done to my song, ma".  Reminded me of my sister cause we always liked this on...

As my friend Suzanne and I neared the finish of a 9 mile run in 9 degree weather, we chatted about various things.  For some reason, I remembered how my mom's favorite term of endearment to my dad was "Jesus Christ, Ray".   This phrase has become common in my family and we (lovingly) use it on each other when the situation calls for it. After I got in the house and warmed up with some coffee and added the dregs from the Bailey's bottle, I started thinking of my mom's entrance into heaven.  The first thing she said to my dad was probably, yup, you guessed it - "Jesus Christ Ray".  She probably said this because, as I have been told by the minister who performed both my mom and dad's funeral, you get your best self in Heaven.  So my dad probably looked like this: My mom looked like this but she didn't realize it yet since there are no mirrors in heaven because finally looks become unimportant and we get to see inside each other's soul.  ...

As I sat in church last Sunday, I looked around me.  Not many people were there since it was the first Sunday after the holidays.  More people come during the Christmas season...and Easter, and other traditional holidays but then slack off and stay home and drink coffee and read the newspaper. I have been there.  That's okay though cause going to church every Sunday as we all know,  (and as Garrison Keillor said) "won't make you a Christian, any more than sleeping in your garage will make you a car". I felt some sadness as I looked around at the empty places where some of my old friends used to sit.  In the years that I have been going to this church, I have met and befriended many elderly people, who, it seems have been plucked out of their pews, one by one - plucked out of this life and placed somewhere else.  And let's face it - whether we go to church or not, we don't exactly know for sure where they go. No one has come back to tell us unless you coun...

Last year,  there was a mishap with one of my favorite Christmas decorations.  It involved the demise of Mr. Clause who belonged to a set of a kissing Mr. and Mrs. Clause, sitting on a park bench (sort of reminds you of that Jethro Tull song, doesn't it?  'sitting on a Park Bench....eyeing little girls with bad intent'). I bought them years ago from a catalog called Current which sold cutesy stuff like this and note cards, wrapping paper, and other things mostly that I did not need and most of which are no longer needed by anyone. I don't recall exactly what happened to Mr. Clause but I remember feeling badly when I put decorations away on the day after New Years' day, which is my usual putting things away day after Christmas.  Maybe Mr. Clause decided to end it all, or she, tired of kissing him, pushed him off the bench and into the kitchen sink.  They usually sat in the kitchen window.   Poor Mrs. Santa would have to sit by herself for an entire year w...

I got up at 5:10.  Bruce went off to work shortly after that.  I left my house at 5:45 to  run with my friend Becky.  There was a full moon but no snow so it seemed really dark.  The smoggy air also has something to do with dimming the moonlight.  We are running well lately, Becky and I, but we both were watchful for potholes or uneven parts in the road - or uneven parts in our self for that matter.  She will, in a few weeks, be the same age as I am.   We share the diseases of asthma and heartburn and also being too nice to people who don't always deserve it.   Considering all the diseases there are, these aren't bad ones.   Our route is usually the same each morning only the scenery changes with the changes in seasons.  We never get tired of this route and often we see things that we may have not noticed in the past ten years or so we have been running together.  Our conversation is easy and usually positive for so earl...

“ Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am.” -Thomas Merton Yeah that comment may have nothing to do with this post but I liked it. And I started a blog post a few weeks ago using it but it didn't go anywhere. However I could not let go of the quote. I think I was going to write something about how we spend the first half of our lives trying to get over who we are and be someone else that we think we should be. Then we spend the second part of our lives accepting, finally, who we are. I have been thinking about that a lot lately and how once I thought I should get fake fingernails because I was going to give my first talk at a national conference. I didn't after all. Get the fake fingernails, I mean. I gave the talk and it was successful, even with my own stubby nails. Yesterday was my birthday. It was a great day but I was cranky. I missed the call from my mom where she would sing happy birthday on my answe...

It's been a little over a week since my 18th St. George Marathon and 35th marathon overall. My quads are finally settling down from the normal aches they felt after what some might consider torture - 26.2 miles of up and down in the desert of Southern Utah - the beautiful desert I might add. I am losing a little of the afterglow one gets from post marathon endorphins but with that, comes plans on how I can improve my performance...not necessarily the finishing time, but my preparation. My quads have voted on some strength training and I have to say I agree with them. They called me a lot of names the last 6 miles - and after all I have done for them.   This marathon was a solo experience despite the thousands of people I ran alongside. My good running buddy Suzanne tore a muscle and was sad not to be there...but she was in spirit, I am sure. Other running friends had commitments or other marathons to complete. Some had to give up marathon running altogether an inevitable o...