Being Presidential #ShamrockinGoodTimes

It’s been weird, you know, focusing on the miles and other things. It seemed more daunting, and yet manageable, to find a running event, sign up, show up, and show out. That kept me pretty busy. However, this year, every mile counts. I’m getting credit for waking up and running. And although that doesn’t happen every day, the fact that I can technically get up, go run, and get credit for it, is awesome.

You know what else is awesome? Spending time with Eboogie and Dr. Splits on Trees in the Capital City. Did yall know that Alicia Makeykey aka Eboogie aka always wanna call someone an overachiever but she really is the one achieving over stuff is training for a Marathon??? Right. Same thing I said.

So, we’re just calling this a training run for her. I mean, she had to run 20 miles, so a half is like, a warm up. So we (read: she) warmed up.

Okay, for real though. It’s an opportunity for Alicia to get a quick PR on her way to greatness #1PercenterStatus. For me to you know, be basic for bling, but log a hash mark in that new running event category. And for REJIII #ThePresident (JustBob) to get that first half marathon medal! See…we can all be great for different reasons on the same pavement.

Only 67% of that paragraph is going to be great. I spent all my greatness on… A tooth extraction, a night of dancing, a damn-near-half-marathon hike, ineffective pain medication, and well…life. You’re not surprised by this at all. You expect this from me. I’m so loyal to you.

Our race outfits were on fleek, while the right side of my face was on FAAAWWWWKK! Yo, getting a tooth extraction without proper pain medication and antibiotics is the devil. Ain’t nothing holy in it. Except maybe the hole in the back of my mouth stitched up by grace and new mercies.

Sacramento was beautiful. It’s been so long since the last time I ran SacTown #MOOnlight10k #AliciaOverAchievedThatDayToo, that I would have appreciated the beauty (OldieButNewbie #RunningHubby reads: booty) but it was hard to concentrate.

Enter Dr. Splits on Trees. See, the night before we were having wonderful conversations about life and running, and you know, smart people stuff. This somehow, inextricably led to conversations about the struggle of us Black folks and freedom and whatnot. Seriously. All from a conversation about running Rock n Roll DC in 2016. We went from taking selfies at the Dr. King Memorial during the run, to who was going to pace us on the Underground Railroad. Yes I love my friends. No, you cannot have them.

This, of course means that Dr. Splits on Trees is waiting for you around Mile 3-ish with a sign instructing you to run for your freedom. Our ancestors made it possible for me to be out here running this race. I just… I just… Just why Lord? Why?

Shortly past this point I was jealous that old people could remove their teeth and gums, but I like, still kinda needed mine. My jaw was killing me.

So, at around Mile 9 or so, I was ready to give it up. I mean, really, why are these my life choices? I’ve been compressing my hand to the side of my face, jogging and popping Tylenol with codeine because Kaiser wouldn’t let my original pain medication prescription be fully realized.

For the first time in history of a running event, I stopped. I deviated from the course, and took a detour into a restaurant. I’ve paused my run for a potty break, or to grab water from the stations, but never a non-race-related stop. I had to get ice. The side of my jaw felt like I went a few rounds with Evander Holyfield or something. I could not take it.

A nice man behind the bar filled my empty zip lock bag (once hold my less than effective pain medication) with ice. Gave me a cool plastic cup of water, and then wished me luck. As I began again, feeling defeated that I left the course, there was a group of happy people passing out refreshments. Because orange juice is refreshing and champagne is new life.

I mean, eventually I finished. But that wasn’t my reason for being there. See, #ThePresident was having a first experience too. We turkey trotted, but that is nothing compared to this. A half marathon? And we’ve traveled to the Capital City to inaugurate #ThePresident into our gaggle of serious athletes.

As you would have expected, Alicia killed it. #ThePresident made it in record time. And I, well, never would have made it without that baggie of ice.

What were the lessons learned on this day?

1. Committing to a training plan actually works. Because, science. #EBoogieDidThat #ItsKindOfAThingToTrainAccordingToAPlan

2.  Stopping only feels like failure if you make it feel that way. Most people don’t care. It seems to be a big deal to me tho.

3.    Supportive friends are everything. Even if they make race signs that literally cause you to laugh hysterically and almost forget that you’re running a race.

4.    Inspiration is cyclic. Much like energy it isn’t created or destroyed. Just transferred.

Inspiration.

If our lives are like #TheMatrix and we run into a program at the train station, then we know... Inspiration (like love) is just a word. What matters is the connection it implies - the meaning we give it.

Before the race, when #ThePresident asked Eboogie to take a picture of us, me being his running inspiration ... Not gonna lie, I felt a thug tear. But I held it together.

I have no idea what connection he implied or meaning he gives that word, but I'm honored and humbled. I'm not a great runner, but I suppose I've got something to give people who desire to run.

Oh, and he SMOKED the streets of Sacramento!

Somehow something I’ve said, or done or been, has inspired him. I knew all too well before his wave took off that he was going to run the race of his life. I had no doubt. I could see it in him and around him. And all the while, his courage in that moment, despite all the anxiety and unknown, was inspiring me.

#15ThingsIn2015 Challenge

5 new states

4 new friends (OldieButNewbie #RunningHubby – 1 down, 3 to go)

3 new running events (Shamrock Half – 1 down, 2 to go)

2 back-to-back running events

1 Half Marathon PR

I Gobbled My Time #TurkeyTrot #Race18Medal17

And if by gobbled one means that I gobbled everything on my plate in my own time, then yea…I gobbled my time. But, I’m thinking that’s not what they meant. Oh, okay.

Its Thanksgiving morning and I am dragging. Jesus be a fire burning in my bones…because I am COLD! Starting to remind me of that Do the Double madness. Why does it have to be so cold. This Is California!!!! *in my this is Sparta voice*

But I am out here for a great and super important reason. For two great and super important reasons, actually. #HalfMarathonInFeburary kick off run (JustBob) and #4in2014 with Angelica Rollerskates. When you’ve achieved your goal early, and there is more time, you fill that time with helping other people get to the finish. Because, lest you forget, there was a time when you were reaching for a goal, and they were there, helping you. I don’t finish, until we all finish. Which means you haven’t finished your #14in2014 at all.

START: I am so hungry. And I left my bottle of water on the counter. I am so sleepy Jesus! I didn’t even cook the full Thanksgiving meal and I am so tired. This can’t be right.

Mile 1: Crap! I started playing the wrong playlist!!! I’m all off my game this morning… This waistband holder thing is awesome. It actually feels weird not running with stuff in my hands. Why did I wait so long to get one of these?!?!

Mile 2: Okay, let’s get it. Get your head back in the game. There are still more medals to be won. Still more running to do. Still more pavement to pound. You want that sweet potato pie, dontcha? Yea… Well act like it! Run dammit! Okayee…*sniffles*

Lady to her son: I’ve got a credit card if you can find us an open Coffee Shop! Do you see one?

Me: Wait, what? She is soooo serious tho. This little boy is hella strung out on caffeine.

Mile 3: You know, there was a 5K option for today. Just saying. You could be heading home and closer to eating Thanksgiving Dinner, you know. Oh, no. You’re not about that life. You want to overachieve and whatnot. This is fun…going above and beyond your own limits. Oh, um…just hungry…checking, I mean, just checking. My feet like, hurt… What’s up with these shoes tho?

Mile 4: Mimosa Station. Are they making mimosas for runners? This by far is the GREATEST run in the history of running. I love the City of San Jose.

Mile 5: Maybe a mimosa wasn’t the best thing on an empty stomach. Maybe. Well, empty save the jelly belly energy beans I only ate because I was hungry. Been in this waist belt since Las Vegas. Tasty. You know, that was actually a really good idea! You’re so smart. Pat yourself on the back!

Mile 6: Yea, the mimosa was a bad idea. Um, like a really awful one. I, Hurt.

Mile (6)0.2: That was the fastest 0.2 miles in my life! You mean I’m finished?! You mean I actually saw the finished line and crossed it before I coughed out a lung? You mean to tell me I might have actually taking a good finish line picture?! This. Is. Amazing!

FINISH: Yes, I think I am going to eat every sweet potato pie I see. I think it, before I am *eating all the pies*. My feet hurt. *looks down at shoes*

The San Jose Turkey Trot was awesome! Aside from the cold and the unorganized starting coral for the 8 – 9 mile runners, it was fantastic! A great course through downtown. Through it did not have the crowd fanfare as most running events do, I enjoyed the quiet. The sounds of runners. The children dragging their parents at Mile 1…and parents dragging their children at Mile 5.

Palmer College of Chiropractic. Yea, I didn't try to explain this.

I started the event with Soccer Dad JustBob. He had a hundred thousand questions, wonders, statements, anxieties, observations… Just everything. And I? I was so calm. So “all-knowing” as it seemed. So ready to just get it on. I imagine I was just like him those first few running events. But too many have passed that I can’t remember any of it. I’ve done just enough to be settled. I am incredibly thankful that people run “with” me. That they trust me, no matter how crazy it sounds or feels to them.

I finished the event with Angelica Rollerskates. I patiently waited for her to finish #Race3Medal3 of her #4in2014 so that we could take a picture…so we know it’s real. I waited in the photo line for her to pick up her medal and find me. While I was there, I noticed these two older black women running who wanted to take a photo. They got a little discouraged when they saw the line. So, I casually C’d my way into their A & B conversation and invited them to join the line with me. I’m thankful for the looks on their faces as they posed for their pictures. I hope, when I reach those years, I’ll be side by side with my friend, as I am on this day, still running, still taking pictures, hair still wrapped up.

A girl can dream.

This Race: Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, 10K, San Jose CA
Medaled Miles to date: 99.17 miles

Total Raced Miles to date: 122.27 miles 

-3 Medals To Go ǁ 121% Complete

(Challenge Medal 4, 21 Medals ǁ 150% Complete)

It’s Thanksgiving Season Yall #30DaysOfGratitude

So, it was Pearl’s idea to bring back #30DaysOfGratitude. You know, taking time out of your day to post something you are thankful for. No matter how big or small. Just getting outside of your stuff, to think about your life through a critical, thankful lens. So often we get so busy with our day, our life, our family, our issues, that we forget to remember that those are usually the places where our most profound gratitude is located.

That’s exactly where I found much of my gratitude this month. Especially that first two weeks. Baby Pey remembering who I am?! OMG. Nothing like it. She was a minion for Halloween, so I bought a pack of minion Mike & Ike’s for her trick-or-treat pail. AWB text me this month and said that she walks around the house shaking them, and saying my name. Being remembered? – gratitude. Realizing that my capacity to love is much more than I could have imagined? – indebted to Baby Pey forever.

I survived Rock n Roll Las Vegas this year…even with the double running! Though the original travel plan and group didn’t work out as planned, I had an amazing time with my friends, made new ones, and got to meet a living legend. I was inspired by every moment of solitude as I laid me down to rest at night…or morning…or whatever time it was. And woke up ready for the world.

I continue to remain challenged by the awesomely difficult career path I’ve chosen. But unlike any other tactic I have used to meet these challenges where they are, I have learned the power of my silence (when used strategically). I embrace it. I have lost nothing in my silence. I have, however, gained peace of mind like none other.

Of course, there were many other moments of gratitude…like My Uncle changing his clothes after a long day of work, fighting through traffic to the auto parts store, and fixing my blinker light thingie on the car. Milk for cereal. Pops! 2 dollar bills. Angelica Rollerskates & E-boogie’s born day celebrations. Halloween candy being 90% off at CVS. Bacon being a “free” add on item to my grilled cheese sandwich. My bed. Kindness. Mail. Poetry…of course I am always thankful for words #ItCameFromConcrete #ItsTenacity #ItsWillToReachTheSun. And lest we not forget, red wine. It helped me get through when Shonda Rhimes came for every single one of my edges like Sallie Mae does my loan payments with those season finales! #FatherGodBeAnEdgesHairPlugReplacement

But then something happened. The verdict came in. Or, the non verdict came in about Michael Brown. And I got so sad. I was detached from my gratitude like Avatar Korra and her past Avatar lives. I couldn’t sense gratitude and thankful feelings because the City of Ferguson was burning…like the hope in my heart. As social media so eloquently posted, retweeted and instragrammed… What kind of world is this, where we KNOW a man will get away for murder? And why am I thankful for it?

It would have been disingenuous of me to not mark this moment to you. At least to those of you reading this here blog. Up until this point, I’ve been making straight A’s, right? Setting the bar high and soaring over it in a leer jet. But since that day, it took a while for me to get back to it…to tell the world what moment made me realize gratitude. And it was a heartfelt memory from my childhood, being played out the night before Thanksgiving. As I sat with my bowl of dark chocolate cheerios and last bit of milk, I was so thankful. For memory, for family, for MY cereal bowl, the warmth of this apartment, and to be filled. I have a day without hunger. To have a meal that really and truly satisfied my being. There are people in the world right now longing for a feeling that just came to me. Without having done nothing but lived long enough to experience it.

That next day, Thanksgiving Day, I ran a 10K. Not a PR by any stretch, but an amazing moment to see JustBob take off and complete his (probably) fastest 10K ever. He’s had to endure so many #MedalMondays of mine that he’s going to have a couple of his own. And the first one, we will share together. Thankful. As I walked the finish line area, I awaited Angelia Rollerskates as she completed the 3^rd running event of her #4in2014. I could not have been more proud to take our #MedalRunDay pictures with our hair wrapped up. Thankful.

I cleaned up, cooked up, and high-tailed it to the Juke Joint to spend Thanksgiving Day with my family. The womenfolk prepared everything in the kitchen while the kids (anyone under 18 and/or dependent in whatever way to an adult for their daily existence) did the dishes, cleaned up around us, and basically, indentured servants. We all held hands and shoulders in the kitchen as the sounds of the football and basketball games played in the background. And, when the youngest grown up male in the circle was asked to bless the bountiful dinner, we bowed our heads and closed our eyes. He began… Jesus Wept. And ended. Hella Hungry. And kinda thankful? Yes, he had to do the prayer over… It wasn’t much longer the second time. But it did include more nouns, verbs and adjectives.

That night, after I salivated over the spoils of multiple Thanksgiving Meals in various homes around the Bay Area, I got a text from JustBob wanting to know IF I wanted him to stop by with a slice of his sweet potato pie, because apparently, one needs permission to being ME pie. Oh, okay. #nomnomnom Um, I mean, thankful.

Even in my failure. I still...gotta say..Thank You.

I haven’t posted since milk for cereal. Not because I’m not back, or I don’t feel any more thankfulness inside of me. It’s there as it always has been. I’m just stretching myself. I am learning what it feels like to fail, no matter how small…because aside from relationships, I do not fail. The old me would have pulled out a calendar and thought back to each to do remember what I was thankful for, to post it…to catch up. But the new me? I’m going to sit with this…and find the gratitude in it.