The Nike Women's Marathon

I'm registered to run the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 19, 2008. This will be my fourth marathon, and it has tons of hype surrounding it. Here are some of the perks:

• a It's a women only marathon. 20,000 women running together... Girl Power!
• a The race expo the day before features massages, pedicures, and fun lady things.
• a The finishers medal is a necklace designed by Tiffany.
• a Said necklace is handed to you at the finish line by a fireman in a tuxedo.
• a The views along the course are fantastic.
• a The snacks along the race and at the end consist of champagne, strawberries, fine chocolate...

So I'm excited about it. But I'm struggling for motivation. I don't have a running partner or group here in Washington. Yesterday I even posted on Craigslist trying to find SOMEONE to run with me! Today I bought new running shoes. I'm back to the Saucony shoes. I briefly cheated on them and went to Brooks. But I see the error of my ways, and am hoping Saucony will forgive and forget (and keep my feet cool, dry, and blister-free).

I'm hoping one of the teachers at Komachin will be a runner. That still puts me over a month away from meeting him or her, but I'll get there.

Until then, I've got playlists to compile on my iPod, new shoes to break in, and hours and hours of books on MP3 to listen to. Not to mention all the time I'll spend imagining what my Tiffany necklace will look like.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I just finished reading Milan Kundera's novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Paige suggested the book, and I trust her literary judgment, so...

Kundera's style reminds me a lot of John Irving, who is one of my favorite authors. Where they differ is Kundera's philosophy sprinkled liberally throughout the book. It made the reading more challenging and more interesting. The original two printings were Czech, and it wasn't translated to English until 1999, four years after the original. The translation coupled with the German explanations reminded me a great deal of living in Germany, and thinking through what the German phrases might have meant literally and figuratively in English. It's challenging, but it lets the reader ponder more than one possible explanation.

Anyway, the title refers to the idea that since we only live once, we usually don't make a very substantial mark on the world or on history. If we had a chance to live twice or more and remember our past decisions, then our lives would have more gravity. It's true with all decisions, I think. We chose a mate, a career, to have kids or not, all based on the information we have on hand, which is normally not much. The book could also be called "Hindsight is 20/20" You do the best you can with what you have and then live to work out the consequences to your best advantage.

Though this was not one of my favorite books, I really enjoyed it, and feel better equipped for life for having read it. This is fiction that can make a difference.

Perfect: A Novel

One of my old high school friends, Beth Lahni-Boswell, has a fantastic blog that ignited my urge to have my own blog. She also teaches English, and has reviewed a number of Young Adult literature books on her site.

I found Perfect: A Novel by Natasha Friend on Beth's blog and was curious enough to read it.
If you understand that the book is written from the 8th grade girl with an eating disorder's perspective, you'll get a lot more out of it.

I'm glad I read it, and will put add it to my classroom library today. Also, I ordered Friend's next book, Lush today on Half.com. Thanks for the tip, Beth.

More Motivated Still

Did anyone catch last night's ABC special about Randy Pausch? I know I sound like a broken record, but there is something about this man's attitude that I so admire. How is it possible to know death is imminent and keep such an upbeat persona?

His wife, too, just showed phenomenal strength. Her message was one that said "Anything can be tolerated and accepted, even though we don't like it. And we can handle more than we give ourselves credit for." In the light of two deployments, I agree with her. But I always had the hope that Bob would return, and that there would be a happy ending.

There was not a happy ending for Randy Pausch. He died on July 25th. I felt silly for feeling so badly for a family that I didn't know and bemoaning the loss of a life of a man I'd never met. But apparently many people are feeling that same way.

I think the message here, folks, is:

Love, really love the people in your life, and appreciate them each and every day.

Live with gusto. Life is too short for negativity.

Hug your dog.

I added that last one myself, but I somehow think Randy would agree.

Boot Camp

On nights I work at the restaurant, I can't fall asleep immediately when I get home. So I read or watch DVR'ed Oprah shows, you get the jist. Last night, I was watching HGTV, and it went off the air at 1:00 a.m., and the Barry's Boot Camp Infomercial came on.

Id' like to preface by saying I've never ordered anything from an infomercial before, but this one seems like a pretty good deal. The idea is that in a 21 minute exercise session, you complete each exercise for one minute at 100% effort. So you max out that muscle group, take a rest for 30 seconds, and then go on to the next exercise. As they kept saying in the video, "It hurts, but you can do ANYTHING for one minute! (Bright white smiles, and gleaming bodies)."

It comes with the ball (mine is a normal looking ab ball, but is in bad shape, so I needed a new one anyway), the "Barry's patented resistance bands," and the various DVD's.

The whole package should be here by the end of the week, and we'll see.

I will follow it closely for one month and record the results. I don't feel I need to lose weight, but I think this in conjunction with running will certainly provide more muscle definition than I have at the moment.

I'm not sure I'll love being yelled at by Barry. But then again... maybe I will!

Stripping and Hooking

Those of you with your minds in the gutter will be disappointed to find out the title referred to a new hobby of mine involving wool. Wait, that still doesn't clear things up, does it?

When Bob and I drove across the country to move to Washington, we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit one of my dearest friends, Robin Ruzicka, who is staying with her parents while her husband is in Korea for a year. Robin's mom, Bobbie, teaches me a new craft almost every time I visit.

This time, she taught me rug hooking. It's a wonderfully fun process where you start with yards of wool, shred those into tiny little wool strips, and use this sort of dental tool to work into a design on monk's cloth. The picture above is my first project.

It's something I'd like to keep doing, but it's super expensive. Wool is around $40 a yard...
I'm thinking of doing the unit patch from each of Bob's units. I should get started on those now instead of 15 years down the road when I've got to play catch up.

Hook on, friends.

Goodbye

My mom called today to tell me my dad died. The most awful thing about this situation is that we don't know how he died, or where. Hopefully we will know these things soon. We do know the date he died, October 26, 2007.

I haven't seen my dad in years, and the last time I did see him, in 2003, he was less than lucid. So it's a strange set of emotions I'm feeling regarding his death. Though I did not have a relationship in my adult years, we were very close during my childhood. I loved my dad, and I'm sure he loved Daniel and I. I'm grieving more deeply than I would have thought I would.

>

However and wherever my dad died, I'm sure he was not honored properly. So I'd like to acknowledge the life he lived right here. Dad, I'm sorry to eulogize you eight months after you've passed away, but it should be known that:

• You had the best sense of humor I've ever encountered. The thing I remember best about you is your laughter. I can still hear it. And you laughed at our stupid, kid jokes just like they were brilliantly funny.
  
  
• You had this idea that I would be the youngest ham radio operator in the country. So we sat for hours in the attic learning morse code. I could barely read, much less spell, but I could piece together words on my own little morse code sending machine. Dit, dot, dot, dit...
  
  
• You played the piano and the guitar beautifully, without ever having a lesson. Sometimes when I'm having trouble sleeping, I think back to those nights when we had just got our piano. You would play late into the night as the rest of the household fell into a deep slumber. I'd try to stay awake to listen, but it never worked. I wish I had a recording of those hours. And I wish you would have taught me what you were doing so I could play just like you on the guitar and the piano.
  
  
• You played the Heart and Soul duet with me at my last piano recital. I was so nervous that I would screw up and embarrass us both. But you just nudged my knee with yours when I started to speed up the tempo. I was never so proud to be your daughter as I was that day.
  
  
• You had a way of saying "I don't see why not..." when you could easily have said "No."
• You would talk on the phone for hours with me. We would play this game where you would ask me what each of the comic strips were about on Sundays, and I would tell you. Every time, you acted like I had the best memory on earth and that you were amazingly impressed.
  
  

Dad, I'm sorry life turned out the way it did for you. And it pains me no end to think you might have died alone. But please know that Daniel and I loved you more than you can imagine. And we still do. Your life was important to us, and it continues through us. Goodbye for now...