Looking together in the same direction.

Looking together in the same direction.
Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart.

by my favorite poet, Mary Oliver

"Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it."

Mary Oliver


Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween...




     Saturday AM run group---The cute little boy dressed as a bunch of grapes won.  I did get 3rd place as Rosie the Riveter and won a yoga mat.
My friend Sue and I


Costume contenders


Whole group



     Tonight, this will be me, except I'll have a beer and a bowl of popcorn to share with the dog.  My dog goes crazy on Halloween with the constant ringing of the doorbell, so instead of crating her for 3-4 hours, this year I will just shut off all the lights and go into the basement where we will watch Netflix.  I really am turning into Maxine!  Here's hoping nobody eggs my house.


Saturday, October 29, 2016

I think we all need this right now. The world has become a very scary place.


The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things” from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Copyright © 1998.

PS  Did you know the US is bombing 7 different countries right now and we aren't at war with any of them?
Did you know that there are 65 MILLION refugees who have been torn from their homes?



Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Good news....Running may be good for your knees.


     You've heard non-runners say that running will ruin your knees.  For decades research has shown that to be false.  New research is showing that running may actually be really good for your knees.

http://www.runnersworld.com/sweat-science/is-running-actually-good-for-your-knees

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Amerithon virtual challenge update


     Today I earned my river guide badge by arriving in Cortez, Colorado.  The next miles take me between Silverton and Gunnison, CO, in gold mining territory.


     I have been putzing around on my journey lately.  I have to get back into it if I am ever going to finish.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

"Use those glorious elbows of yours to carve out just a little more space for yourself"


     This is a great post on why we still need feminism.  (Note, there is some bad language)  This has become so apparent:

Whatever you think of the US presidential candidates, it’s undeniable that Hillary Clinton running for president has unleashed an incredible amount of misogyny into our awareness. 

http://declaredominion.com/2016/10/21/time-for-our-global-takeover/


It’s about starting right where we are, in our own homes and families and language and boundaries. It’s about stepping up to leadership roles in our companies and communities. It’s about being a little bit braver than you thought you could be. It’s being strong enough to be gracious and diplomatic, but still say the damn thing that needs to be said. It’s not waiting until we are full of rage to speak– because then our furious voices are incoherent and hard to hear.
I know it’s hard. I know people will tell you that you’re being selfish and ungrateful and shrill. Those people can suck it.
I know you think you aren’t doing the world a service every time you demand a little more space, but you are.  Every time you use those glorious elbows of yours to carve out just a little more space for yourself, you are making more space for every one of us.  

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Rock n Roll Half


     It was a beautiful morning walking my dog at 4 AM with the full harvest moon and fairly warm temps.....until we got drenched by the sprinklers at the Elementary School!  What a way to wake up.
     By 4:45 I was on my way to the light-rail which delivered me downtown by 6.  It was a quick mile walk to the Civic Center Park with lots of other crazies.
      The race was hard but I finished.  Yay. It was 85 degrees by the end...a bit warm.

At the start with Angela and Ellen


My weekend Bling, It is all about the Bling, a 5K medal, a Half marathon medal, and the Remix medal for doing both.
My official time was 2:57:48.  Overall 5835/6661.  Division 10/26.  Gender 3456/4113.  My GPS watch said I ran 13.55 miles, though;  not the 13.1 they claim. There were so many twists and turns on the route, I obviously didn't take the shortest corners.

Ellen and Angela did the 10K and had a blast finishing 1:28.

More than 14,000 runners and wheelchair racers did the 10K and Half. I forget that there are professionals actually competing in the race. I certainly never get to see them.
 Ethiopian Gebrekidan Abadi, 32, who lives in the Denver area, won the race in 1:06:46, while Kenyan Elvin Kibet, 26, of Colorado Springs, won the women’s division in 1:15:22 by edging out her twin sister,Valentine Kibet by 3 seconds at the finish line.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Rock n Roll Denver 5K


     The first 2 pics were from the expo with friends on Friday.  The last 2 were from this morning from the 5K start....the Capitol and Civic Center.  I love 5K's.  There are all ages from 4 to 80s.  I am not embarrassed to say a 4 year old sped by me with his Dad and left me in their dust.  There are all levels of fitness from speedsters to walkers.  It is just pure fun.
     Tomorrow is the 10K which my 2 friends pictured are doing, and the half which I am doing with several other friends.  We have to enjoy this gorgeous weather however long it lasts.








 Time 38:21, pace 12:21, overall 740/1173, gender 425/763, DIVISION 1/21.   Yay!  Too bad no age group awards for 5k.

Run because

     I love this because it is so true. It expresses the range of emotions felt while running.  Have you ever seen the finish line at a race and seen all of the tears? They are all of these.


Friday, October 14, 2016

Amerithon virtual run/walk update

     Today I arrived in Mexican Hat, Utah and got my Sombrero badge.  The next 88 miles will be following the San Juan River into SW Colorado.  Wouldn't it be nice to actually be there walking along the river through the mountains?  Of course, that would mean I would be getting to the Rockies as winter starts.....maybe not so nice.


Thursday, October 13, 2016



                                                                               Thinking Humanity




............................................................................................................
     I have discovered a poet I like as well as Mary Oliver.  I can't wait to get the book, "Poems from the Pond," from the library.
Poet Peggy Freydberg, Poems from the Pond

CHORUS OF CELLS
Every morning,
even being very old,
(or perhaps because of it),
I like to make my bed.
In fact, the starting of each day
unhelplessly,
is the biggest thing I ever do.
I smooth away the dreams disclosed by tangled sheets,
I smack the dented pillow’s revelations to oblivion,
I finish with the pattern of the spread exactly centered.
The night is won.
And now the day can open.
All this I like to do,
mastering the making of my bed
with hands that trust beginnings.
All this I need to do,
directed by the silent message
of the luxury of my breathing.
And every night,
I like to fold the covers back,
and get in bed,
and live the dark, wise poetry of the night’s dreaming,
dreading the extent of its improbabilities,
but surrendering to the truth it knows and I do not;
even though its technicolor cruelties,
or the music of its myths,
feels like someone else’s experience,
not mine.
I know that I could no more cease
to want to make my bed each morning,
and fold the covers back at night,
than I could cease
to want to put one foot before the other.
Being very old and so because of it,
all this I am compelled to do,
day after day,
night after night,
directed by the silent message
of the constancy of my breathing,
that bears the news I am alive.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day





     Thank goodness Denver is one of the many and growing number of cities that is changing Columbus Day over to Indigenous Peoples Day!  I'm proud to be a Denverite.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Song for the day....

                                                    Youtube

Monday, October 3, 2016

I will.....





by Joanne Bailey Baxter When I'm an old lady, I'll live with each kid, And bring so much happiness just as they did. I want to pay back all the joy they've provided. Returning each deed! Oh, they'll be so excited! (When I'm an old lady and live with my kids...) I'll write on the walls with reds, whites, and blues, And bounce on the furniture.....wearing my shoes. I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out. I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they'll shout! (When I'm an old lady and live with my kids...) When they're on the phone and just out of reach, I'll get into things like sugar and bleach. Oh, they'll snap their fingers and then shake their head, And when that is done, I'll hide under the bed. (When I'm an old lady and live with my kids...) When they cook dinner and call me to eat, I'll not eat my green beans or salad or meat. I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table, And when they get angry...I'll run....if I'm able! (When I'm an old lady and live with my kids...) I'll sit close to the TV., through the channels I'll click I'll cross both eyes just to see if they stick. I'll take off my socks and throw one away, And play in the mud 'til the end of the day! (When I'm an old lady and live with my kids...) And later in bed, I'll lay back and sigh, I'll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes. My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping, And say with a groan, "She's so sweet when she's sleeping!"

Sunday, October 2, 2016

15 K Hot Chocolate run done (9.3 miles)



     It was a beautiful day, but hot for running.  Here are pictures taken with friends.  Every time I get up at 3:30 on a race day I wonder what the heck I am doing, but there are thousands of crazies just like me doing the same. Actually, I have a Facebook friend who lives on the East Coast.  She posted as she left for a race at 1:30 AM Eastern time....now that's crazy!
     My next race is in two weeks....the Denver Rock and Roll half which starts in this same park, which means getting up at 3:30 again.  I am so glad there are hundreds of us waiting for the 5:30 light rail, and then walking the 1+ miles in the darkness from the light rail stop to the park.  You gotta love using portapotties in full darkness. It is something everyone needs to experience at least once.
     Having the portapotties in the race photo background is par for the course.  They are so ubiquitous that you forget they are there until you see the photos.