To the loves of my life.....

To my friends:

Thank you for bringing smiles, laughter, memorable experiences to my life, and thank you for "getting me".

To my immediate family:

Thank you for giving me a life I might not have ever had, if you hadn't adopted me. Even if you don't understand me or know how to love me, I will always be grateful and love you. Thank you for my sister, and her love and life long friendship through thick and thin.

To my "add-on" family:

Getting married and becoming part of your lives was one of the luckiest days of my live....HANDS DOWN!!

To my puppy:

I love you almost as much as I love your Daddy. You are my running buddy, you are my loud watch dog and you are my most favorite smell when you sleep....TACO CHIPS!!

To my sweetie:

We met and became friends....then best of friends and then we fell in love. Everyday when I open my eyes I see the one thing that completes my life. You make me feel like I can do anything but you also love me if I fail. You make me want to be a better person and you inspire me to try even when I get frustrated. You are the truest version of "love of my life" and I wish I could live forever so that we could share a zillion moments together.

YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND, YOU ARE MY SWEETIE AND YOU ARE THE SMILE THAT START AT THE TOP OF MY HEAD AND TRAVELS DOWN TO MY TOES!!

I love you! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo


Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

One of my favorite books.....

Sometimes when I need to smile I flip thru a Shel Silverstein book.
If you've never read any of his books you're missing out.
Costco has them cheap. Go grab a few copies.
My favorite poem in WTSE.


Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . .
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . .
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fried and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late. . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

Shel Silverstein, 1974

Time ='s Mind?........

You're probably asking what the heck that means, well here goes....

Most of us as we're training have a goal that we are trying to reach and more specifically a goal or mission on the particular workout that we are partaking in. Seems like the right idea, but in the past I have realized that I don't enjoy the activity as much when I have a task at hand. Make sense?

I've been accused of having a brain that works like a Pachinko machine, so one would think that giving me a task is a good thing. LOL Tasks aren't bad for me, they serve a purpose and help obtain goals but over the past few months I have realized I just like going out and "DOING".
Whether its a long swim at Lake Mead or a long trail run, I find that I am able to just "DO" and in the just "DOING" I can reflect, I can think, I can consider.....and on a good day I can even solve all the worlds problems without my cape and tiara. ;p It has also giving me back some of the joy that I hadn't felt in a long time.

As long as I can remember I have never been the type of athlete that gets into a zone or achieves that "Runner's High" (apart from the normal adrenal push) BUT now I do....In a very nice way my Pachinko brain gets to turn off and I just relax. Perfect example was my most recent half and a long swim. In the half mary I started and before I knew it we were at mile marker 6 and then 12. Woooo, I must be just THAT fast. Tee Hee OR perhaps my Pachinko brain has learned to do yet another thing while running. Another example was a long continuous swim at the gym. Swim was good, just a nice steady pace and as I solved the energy crisis (jk) one stroke at a time I almost forgot to flip-turn and cracked my nugget into the wall. OOPPPSSSSY!

So why??? Why have I stopped stressing about my workouts and have just started enjoy them and letting my multi-tasking mega machine relax. Drugs? Mental Breakdown? Too much Nutella? The Most Loving Supportive Husband in the world? I vote for the latter, but who knows for sure. :-) Whatever the reason that I'm having SO much fun with just " 90 min trail runs" , "2 hour swims" etc etc. Yes, I have some races coming up but for the first time I don't really care. I just want to enjoy, live in the moment of the activity I am participating in and smile.

Just like Stella getting her groove back....Sam has gotten her mind back. Well sorta. ; p ;p