#4in2014 = #14in2014 ...it's like the same thing.

More like #44in2014

I bet you wonder, just where I’ve been, huh? #thisisalateblogpost #readitlikeit’sMarch2014

Sure you have. I’ve been working. Working hard for the money. But…not too hard to keep at this running thing. #14in2014 is a serious matter. So serious.

Amidst a crazy work week, I got a facebook post from the one, the only, Angelica Rollerskates. You know, that sister from another Mama and Mister. We grew up in the house of the Father, the Son & Holy Spirit together! Easter speeches, Vacation Bible School, Church picnics and Christmas plays – we have seen it all…from the choir stand! Anyway, she shared a link to a race she wanted to do in Fremont. You know me – I went through the standard #14in2014 litmus test:

  

1.    Does it include a medal?

2.    Is it already on my list of “14” races?

My First Race Calendar #withmorepostitnotes

3.  Do I have another race that weekend? 
......#IdTotallyDoMoreThan1inAWeekend #DoTheDouble

4. What about that tech tee? *you know #BBP don’t like running in cotton, especially since they also do bikram yoga now… #BrandNew #YeaIFiredShotsAtYouEBoogie*

What were Angelica Rollerkates’ answers?

1.    Yup.

2.    Nope – just found it. It’s not on the pdf list of “14” races you email to me.

3.    Naw, don’t think so.

4.    Huh?

So I was soooooo down to do it, right? I agreed in that post. Of course I’ll run. Then I realized the date of the race. Saturday. As in the Saturday following the Friday, which was after the Thursday, which happened to be next to the Wednesday neighboring the Tuesday night we had this conversation. As in the same week.

We registered for Zoom! Quarry Lakes on Wednesday.

On Thursday a post with some of the prettiest sunflowers (reminding me of that field I blogged about) appeared on my page. A thank you from another someone finding her way running. I sent her compression socks as a way for me to be part of her first race experience this upcoming May since I am not sure if I will be able to make it to Florida to run it with her. She needs me there. However I can get there. If I can.

We made our race day plans Friday. Which include picking up our “packets” an hour before the race because, well, some races don’t come with expo’s… *insert A Runner's Face When*

In an earlier reflection, I thought about having a first-time race expo experience with that hot chocolate guy. It was only a fleeting thought about doing a race with someone; a race that did not include a medal. A race that would not get me any closer to my #14in2014, but somehow closer to something else. Something unknown. But, something totally awesome and worth it. And that somehow made that race count. It made that race part of #14in2014 – and part of the mileage of my #14in2014.

So I knew that going in to this, I would have a few more than 14 races. What I did not realize was that I would have people really buying into to what this means for me. And them finding a way for it to mean something for them. On Wednesday, after Angelica registered for the race, she tagged me in a post, proclaiming her year. Her 2014.

Her 4 in 2014.

She will not pay nearly as much for her races as I will probably pay in the gas alone, getting from expo, to start, from finish to home. There will not be a slew of Medal Mondays in her year. She could even finish this all before I reach the halfway point. No collection of race shirts, and pretty much everything she collects, could fit rather nicely on a wall, in a hallway separating rooms next door to each other. It is just 4 races, remember?

And yet her endeavor feels as though it has exactly the same energy, intensity, sentiment and impact. Maybe even more…or better. I started out doing this for myself. Yes, I came up with this idea with Eboogie and Dr. Splits On Trees, but it meant something very singular, very different to each one of us. Something that we never said in any of those conversations. Mostly because we did not know at that time that we would have to run each race to figure it out. We agreed to this, but we did not know why. And you really do have to run them to understand it.

There are those who would take seeing her #4in2014 post as an insult. How dare she take my thing and try to make it her thing? … The nerve of her! … Well, I never! *dramatic storm off* :::that’s how #BBP talk:::

But I don’t see it that way at all. I had a kool-aid smile so big, I wondered if the walls were about to cave in with a large red pitcher shouting, Heeeeey! I was overjoyed to see her smiling face as I finished the #408k. I really enjoyed being able to debrief my #Race4Medal3 experience over her free pizza and $4.08 mimosas. I appreciated her fawning over me in the background, so that she could get the perfect picture of my success in the foreground. In awe that she would walk a mile each way, just to be part of my thing, my day.

And I am honored. Honored that she is joining me in this exploit, by making it one of her own. We even have other friends with their own versions of #14in2014 happening this year! I am sooo excited for them!

I imagine that she is going to become something different than she could have ever imagined after #4in2014. I also am certain that now that she has agreed to do 4 races, that she will see more than 4 start and finish lines before 2014 is over #SheGotTheJuiceNow. And when she regales those around her of the pavements she’s pounded on her way to that new found self, that one amongst them will be inspired to do something great – because of her.

And that is what makes this an honor. Somebody I do not know, is going to refashion themselves into something they cannot even imagine because she and I agreed on a Tuesday, to register for a race on a Wednesday, that I forgot about on Thursday, but we still planned our race day on a Friday, so that we could find out way to a Start Line on a Saturday.