Why I love 5K races.....

I have been running many 5K races lately. I think I have run six different races in the last 10 weeks so, more often than not, if your looking for me on a Saturday Morning, I am probably at a 5K race. And here's why I love them. Anyone can do it. Unlike Marathons, 10K's, triathalons etc. The 5K race is the everyman's race. Even if you haven't run in decades, you could probably choke and wheeze your way through a 5K. It's a classic entry level race that's not very intimidating. Sure, sometimes you get to the race and you see that only 80 people are running and 90% of the field is under the age of 20 years old (this happened to me this morning), and you resign yourself to the fact that you have more body fat in your left elbow than some of these kids have on their whole body, but so be it. You are still making the distance, same as them, just a little slower. Ok, a lot slower, but who gives a diddly? It's still fun, there's still food at the end and you still get a free tshirt. Oh, I almost forgot, it's also good for you.
I tend to like the bigger 5K's that have a wider field so I know there are at least 50 or 60 people who I may (and I emphasize "may") be able to outrun. That always feels good. Knowing you just passed the octogenarian with the "will run for beer" t-shirt. Talk about redemption! Small races are fun too. There's something nice about hanging out after a race on a cool summer morning with about 50 or 60 people you have never met before who all have the same thing in common. They would rather run with their friends than stay under the covers. I always meet interesting people and I usually have one or two women who seem to keep the same pace as me and we seem to help each other along. There's usually one fan/family member on the side lines who offers me a high five at Mile 2 when they don't even know me. That's what's cool.
So, if you are looking for me on a Saturday morning around 8 or 9 AM, you will likely find me around the registration tent of a 5k. Getting my number and my t-shirt and trying to find the nearest port-a-potty. Even if I never break 30 minutes, and even if I never have another PR again, I will be there, because it gives me a sense of accomplishment and fellowship that I can't get anywhere else. That's why I love 5K's!

On the other side......

In the last 24 hours, I have heard about several friends who have recently gone through or are currently going through major transitions in their personal lives. When I say major transitions, I think everyone knows I am talking about the loss of a relationship. As I have heard these individual's stories, I couldn't help but reflect back on the year 2000 when my first marriage ended and how at that time, I really felt as if my world was falling apart. Up until that moment, I thought I had it all, great job, husband, house, infant daughter.........all was right with the world. Then, like a Mack Truck careening into my home, it all came to an abrupt end. If I really want to be honest with myself, I probably knew the truck was coming and saw it coming around the bend long before that fateful Labor Day weekend. I just chose to ignore the screeching tires and the horn.
When the dust settled and I realized it was over, I did what every self respecting woman would do......I collapsed. I cried to my mommy, I probably drank too much wine, I smoked a lot of cigarettes, I was a mess. And then, my friends showed up. Even friends I didn't really realize I had. They arrived with notes and flowers and food and held me up. They came to my house and decorated my tree on my first Christmas alone. They took me out to dinner and kept me busy during the times my little girl was with her dad. They made me run up Point Lookout just to prove I could do it. Then, a funny thing happened, time passed, wounds healed, divorce finalized, chapters ended.
Then, I met Mark and we fell in love....got married......built a family.....and lived happily ever after. The funny thing is, I want to tell my friends who are going through hell right now, that it's all going to be ok....in fact it will be better than ok. They will move on with the next chapter and someday, just maybe, they will "bless the broken road" and find that happily ever after. I want to tell them that, but it won't likely make it hurt any less right now. So, the thing to do is to arrive with notes and flowers, and help them decorate their christmas tree and take them out to dinner when the kids are with their father. I should hold them up the way others held me up when I felt like I could collapse if the wind blew the wrong way.
I am a firm believer in fate and I believe everything happens for a reason. Someday, these friends will be happily remarried...or not. They will have more kids....or not. They will move to new places....or not. They will be friends with their ex-spouse (I am)....or not. And all this pain will be a distant memory. I hope that day comes soon for my friends.....until then....I am on the job.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I am on a quest....a journey really, to rid my home of "High Fructose Corn Syrup." If you believe what you read, and this I do believe, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is the worst kind of "foodstuff" there is. For the last month, I have been focusing on eliminating white flour from the Parker diet and now we are onto the Liquid Death as it has been called, HFCS. The problem is, this junk is in everything, and I mean everything! So expunging it is not an easy task. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find Ketchup, a staple at the Parker abode, that doesn't have HFCS? Virtually impossible, unless of course you want to spend 8.99 for a jar of "natural ketchup" at the Whole Foods. Which of course, I will do, once we finish the Heinz squeeze bottle of poison that is currently sitting on the shelf on the door in the fridge. I mean, you can't throw away perfectly good ketchup can you. Next up, find me a cookie, any cookie that doesn't have this stuff in it.....almost impossible. Now I am up to making homemade cookies for my families lunches since I can't find a decent cookie in the store that isn't loaded with hydrogenated oils and HFCS.
So, tell me friends, have I lost my mind? Am I going cuckoo? I just figure there has got to be away to eat food that has real food in it right? thoughts.....anyone?

Am I Just "That Good" or do I have "SUCKER" written on my forehead?

Anyone who has peered at my FB page in the last 36 hours knows that I have spent much of that time at the Annual St. John's Bazaar, chairing the soda booth. Now, this is not a complex assignment. The chairperson is required to contact volunteers and finesse them into giving away their valuable weekend free time to help out the church and sell some soda for Jesus. So, about 3 weeks ago, I made calls in earnest and found myself about 12 or so volunteers to cover various shifts throughout the weekend. Unfortunately, a number of folks on my list have since moved away so there were several shifts left uncovered.....and that meant I had to cover them. No biggie, I enlisted the help of my 14 year old daughter along with her friend to help "man the booth" They were a great help, but it quickly became clear that they would rather be riding the rides with their friends. Plus, I needed them to keep my 5 year old occupied, so for much of the weekend, I sent them off to play games and ride rides and I was alone in the booth as the designated St. John's "Soda Jerk." I must say I didn't mind working the booth alone. I was the picture of efficiency, with noone to get in my way and I was really busy so the time flew by. Let's be honest.....In the world of Bazaar Food Booth's, I was good! Soon I had attracted the attention of some steering committee members who were clearly impressed with my fountain drink prowess, for soon I was fielding questions about whether I might be interested in joining the Bazaar steering committee next year......what? All I did was make some lemonade and Iced Tea. Why was I all of a sudden a hot property? This evening, I came home with blistering feet, an aching back, smelling of fried dough and I asked my husband this question. His answer........"because you show up and you lead." How the hell does one lead the soda booth? I think it's more likely because I show up. I also think the word is out that when I am asked to volunteer for something, I never say no. (I always intend to say no....but then I can't, it's an illness) So, guess who will be attending the steering committee meetings for next year's bazaar friends? Yup, you got it.....Jill, the "leading Soda Booth Chairperson" of Brunswick. So I got that going for me........which is nice.

Any day.......

I received word on Saturday night that a man that I knew passed away unexpectedly that morning. Now, I had not seen this man for at least 5 or 6 years and we certainly weren't close but I remember this man fondly for he was truly "larger than life" in personality and spirit. The type of person who should be immortal, one might think. Unfortunately, that was not the case as this 45 year old man who was full of zest for life, suddenly died of a heart attack just a day after returning from a Disney World Vacation with his wonderful family. I found myself spending alot of time thinking about him and his family during the past two days. It was a busy weekend, but he kept creeping into my thoughts. My heart ached for his wife and children who are no doubt reeling from this sudden and horrible event. I prayed for them to find some peace in knowing he is in heaven watching down on them. I prayed that their close family will hold them up and keep them safe and sane during a truly insane period when, I am sure....absolutely nothing makes sense.
Of course, being the narcissist that I can be, I began to think about my own life and about lives in general. It seems lately, I have come just way too close to so many cases of amazing people leaving this world well before they were supposed to. It really makes you pause and think about how life is really so short and uncertain. Many of us become so self involved and think only about the minor inconveniences in life as if they are the end of the world. The truth is, they are just that, inconveniences. Even major issues like divorce, job loss, home foreclosure should seem insignificant compared to the immeasurable grief of a family who loses a loved one well before "their time."
Again, the question becomes, understanding the impact of an event such as this on those of us in the periphery, what does one do? Maybe, just maybe, we hug our kids a bit more, we drink a bit of wine, we go for a 2 mile run, we call our mother, we go to church, we reach out to old friends on facebook, we make love to our spouse, we sit on the deck with some iced tea, we smell the flowers, well, you get the idea. And we feel at that moment as if our kids are just a bit sweeter, the laughs are that much funnier, the iced tea is the best we've ever had, because we really savor it. That's my plan. Because, let's face it, life is a crap shoot anyway and there are no guarantees. That's the lesson here, a painful and awful lesson, but one that I need to remember more often. Rest in peace Chip.........I am sure there will a Preakness Party in heaven this year.

Where the hell have I been?

Well, it's been a few weeks since I blogged. I am happy to report the heel spur is on the mend and I have been on the treadmill and out on the roads a few times since then, so it appears that the worst has passed. Still a little twingy, but ok nonetheless. But enough about my foot, let's talk about Sporcle, my newest obsession. If you haven't been to Sporcle.com......do yourself a favor, don't ever go there. It will suck you into a vortex of ridiculous trivia quizzes that will cause you to lose many hours of your life that you will never get back.
I spent a good portion of last evening on this giant time bandit of a website......I particularly enjoy the "corporate logo" quizzes where they show you the logos and you have to figure out what company it represents. I am amazed at how many I actually got right. It boggles the mind to consider how much useless crap we have stored in the recesses of our brain. For example, why do I know every major muppet character as well as the names of most Dustin Hoffman movies? How does this serve me in life? Only on Sporcle my friends, only on Sporcle.
So, once again, consider this my own personal PSA......stay away from Sporcle. You will find that you have time for little else.
night!

Heel Spurs and Vicodin

Ran a race on Saturday. The Brunwick Police Department "Hot Pursuit" 5K. I logged the best 5K time ever and shaved two minutes off my PR. Feeling good, walking tall. Came home, showered, went to the grocery, proceeded with a productive Saturday, thrilled with my accomplishment. Then at around 1:00 AM on Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, it happened. pain. searing pain. My heel was protesting my PR in the 5K and how! It felt like someone was taking a knife and plunging it into my heel. Attempts to "walk it off" were futile. I couldn't put any pressure on it at all. Up all night in pain, popping Advil, like tic-tacs, and it didn't even touch the pain. By 10:00 AM Sunday, I was off to the ER rather than to 11:00 AM Mass at St. John's. X rays revealed a big ugly heel spur that looks like the nose of the wicked witch of the west. My pain, due to inflammation around the "spur" from my PR in the 5K. Crap!
They sent me home with crutches, vicodin and strict instructions to ice and rest my sorry little heel.
The next two days are a drug induced haze. That vicodin is powerful and nasty stuff. Believe me, I was willing to put up with the incoherence because it beat the hell out of the ripping pain in my heel but jeez louise, the crazy dreams I was having were too much! Alligators, and monsters and murderers and crazy flying creatures.....all out to get me.......bizarro. Finally by day three of this crap, I went to the Podiatrist for a better treatment plan besides narcotic intoxication. Dr. S. was kind enough to give me a six day course of prednisone to calm the inflammation and a walking boot to ease the pressure. He assures me that in a few days, I will be on the mend and I should be lacing up my Mizuno's in a couple of weeks. As long as I follow his advice on my training and I let him fit my sneaks with Superfeet or orthotics, to protect my tender Plantar Fascia. No problemo Doc! We are in this together. So, I have added Dr. S. to my training team. He seems to be on board with what I am trying to accomplish here. Yay!
So, the good news is, I am starting to feel better. I am not addicted to Vicodin, so you won't see me on an upcoming edition of "Intervention" and I am getting back to my life. Amen. I am going to make it to church this weekend and pray for Dr. S. and my tender Plantar Fascia!