Complete a Marathon

In the summer of ’09 (mid-list creation) my sister asked me if I’d run a half-marathon with her. I’m not a runner, however, in 2003, I ran a half-marathon with a friend of mine. For some strange reason, I turned to Megan and said, “Well, I’ve already run a half, so why don’t we train for a full?” ...I’m sure the only reason those words came out of my mouth was because I said them while sitting in a boat drinking a beer. Anything seemed possible at that moment in time…



Since I’m not a natural runner (is anyone really a “natural” runner anyway???) crossing a finish line wasn’t enough incentive for me…I needed to know I was running for a greater purpose. So after some research, we made a decision to train with, and raise money for, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). A month or so later we found ourselves at the kick-off meeting officially committing to a 26.2 mile run and raising $7,800 for LLS.


When I ran my half-marathon, I thought, “13.1 miles is plenty. I can’t imagine ever doing a full marathon. 26.2 miles is a long way...and the thought of having multiple training runs over 13 miles seems awful…” I won’t bore you with the details of the various training runs for the marathon, but the big-picture over view is: we had decent weather for the majority of our training so for the most part running outside wasn’t too bad. It started to get uncomfortably cold in mid-December (the marathon took place mid January) and I finally drew the line with outdoor runs at 20*. The thought getting up at 5:45 a.m. to run 15 miles, around a lake, in 7 degree weather wasn’t going to happen…I think my rationale was reasonable. Generally speaking, it was fun to hit different milestones throughout the training. The first milestone took place in November when I ran the farthest I had ever run…15 miles. The other milestone (at least mentally) was the 20 mile training run in mid-December. I knew if I could run 20 (in the cold and snow)…I could run the 26.2.


Normally, I’m a very level headed, rational thinker. When most people run a marathon their thoughts and fears are, “Will I finish”? “I hope I don’t get a knee injury.” Or, for those with a competitive edge, “I want to finish in the top 10% of my age bracket.” Nope. Not me. My fears were more along the lines of, “I hope I finish without a heart attack, stroke, blood clot, or aneurism…” Not so “level-headed”… Actually, my fear wasn’t TOTALLY irrational…and here’s why. (Oh, FYI, some of you reading this…especially if you’ve known me for a long time may be surprised by what I’m about to type. So, know this isn’t a “secret”…it’s just never come up in conversation…) BUT, ever since I’ve been 3 years old, I’ve been an insulin dependent diabetic. So, my heart attack/stroke concern wasn’t totally off base.


My other “concern” (and this is a more logical concern) was: “Will I hit ‘the wall’?” In talking to a few marathoners, I often heard stories about how your body starts to “shut down” at mile 20. And how, “the last 6.2 miles are the hardest.” When I asked people to explain what they mean by “your body starts to shut down” they’d often say, “You’ll see…” What the…?!?


The night before the race, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hosted an inspirational pasta party dinner. Two individuals spoke that evening. The first spoke primarily to encourage us physically. He reminded us that completing the race wasn’t about winning or getting the best time. He also pointed out that only 1% of the population has completed a marathon. He did a good job of easing nerves and inspiring us to have fun and savor each moment along the way.


The second speaker was the father of a girl who passed away of Leukemia a few years ago. His talk centered around “Yes, tomorrow you will run 26.2 miles, but the greater accomplishment is the impact you had on LLS”. All the Team in Training participants for this event raised a total of $1.6 million. I’m not sure if you know this, but that’s a lot of money.


Towards the end of his daughter’s life, she created a list of the “10 Secrets Living”. Since her list is so insightful, I’m sharing it in hopes that my friends, family, and fellow bloggers will also be encouraged by the wisdom of this 15 year old girl, I hope it will help to put some things in your life into perspective as it did mine.


10: Deal with life one day at a time.


9: Turn every life experience into a learning experience.


8: Always look for the positive.


7: Try to do at least one new thing everyday.


6: Be true to yourself.


5: Touch as many lives as you can.


4: Enjoy the little things.


3: Don’t sweat the small stuff.


2: Hold on to your friends.


1: Make everyday count.


I really like her list. It’s simple yet deep. And what I love about it the most is written by a person who clearly knew life here on earth is temporary.


Ok, I hate switching gears like this, but I’m going to for lack of a better segue. Since this is a blog about the marathon…I should probably write something about the actual race experience. I didn’t have a heart attack, stroke, blood clot, or aneurism…Yay! We could not have asked for better weather. Sunny and about 72*. Every mile was marked by a live band and a water station...which made the miles go by pretty fast. I ran solo the majority of the time which meant it was a lot easier to pace myself. Though I didn't break any records...I was able to finish strong...which is better than my original goal "not to die". :)


Mile 21 was probably the “breakthrough” mile marker. At that point I found myself thinking,”I’m actually going to complete a marathon!! –and- I’m actually feeling really good…!” –and- “I'd actually consider doing this again." Plus, it didn’t hurt that the band on the side of the road was playing, “I’m Proud to be an American”. I honestly started getting a little “vaclempt”.


Though my diabetes doesn’t play a major role in my day-to-day life, there was something really cool about the fact that I was a diabetic and I was running a marathon. I think one of the best things I did throughout the race was simply listen to my body. If I needed to stretch, I’d stretch. Walk, I’d walk. Get water, I’d get water. If I felt like I could keep running…then I’d keep running. And, much like on my safari experience, I was struck by the fact that God and His creation are pretty amazing.


As for the next day, well, I felt great! I think it’s because I stayed on my feet and kept moving after the race.


Am I glad I did it? Definitely. Will I do it again? Maybe…nothing is ever out of the question.

The First Wild Card—Sponsor a Child.

At the last minute (basically the day I turned 30) I amended my list “rules”. I decided to give myself two “wild cards”. After all, the list really is just a way for me to be intentional about doing and experiencing new things. Yes, there are new things I’m doing outside this list, but for the most part they’re inconsequential—like the other day I went to a new bar and grill. I never thought of going there before, nor is there anything all that unique about the place…therefore a place like that will never be “wild card worthy”. On the other hand, a few weeks ago, my friend Krista invited me to a Christian concert. I don’t go to many Christian concerts, but for some reason, I decided to go to this one. Mid-concert, I learned concert proceeds would support an international adoption agency, “Holt International”.

Over the past year I’ve prayed about the list. That God would use it, teach me, reveal himself…and basically not let it become simply a “year of Holley doing whatever she wants”. Honestly, I don’t have any specific plans for glorifying God in any of these items, I just trust that since I’ve prayed, God will lead me different places.

Back to the “Wild Card”. About 10 days before the concert, the earthquake hit Haiti. Like many, I found myself thinking along the lines of, “How can I help”? And, “Which organization should I give to?” When I learned Holt International had a “sponsor a child” program…which included Haitian children, it didn’t take me long to decide this is a “wild card worthy” item. I love this because I have no idea how long I will sponsor Marie, but she will be a good reminder that God hears my prayers and is faithful. She will also be a good reminder to pray for the people and country of Haiti. And $30 a month will remind me of all that I have to give thanks for…and that my money can (and should) be shared with people who have far greater needs than my own.

Paging Dr. Phil...

Since the majority of my family lives in town, more often than not when we all get together, the dinner tables are split between kids and adults. I go back and forth between the two…but truth be told…I like when all of us cousins are together at the “kids” table. :)


None of the cousins are married. The kid table (which sometimes includes family friends) ranges from age 6 to mid 30’s. Thanksgiving ’08 three of us were in our late 20’s / early 30’s (I was the only girl in the “late 20’s”) and three more (including Ryan) were early 20’s. That Thanksgiving, we found ourselves in a conversation about dating…specifically discussing MY dating life.

I don’t remember the details, but I do remember learning from Ryan that Facebook is for “booty calls” and Match.com is for “serious” relationships. News to me… but that does explain all the inappropriate wall comments on my Facebook page… (KIDDING!) I also remember Ryan gave me what I like to call the “Dr. Phil Challenge with the Ryan full money-back guarantee”.

Dr. Phil is/was somehow affiliated with Match.com. He has (at least had) some guarantee you’ll find true love on Match.com within X number of months…if not…you get your money back. I was (and still am) a skeptic. Ryan told me if I signed up for Match.com and didn’t find “love” in 90 days…HE would give me my money back. Honestly, I wanted to take him up on the challenge just to prove him wrong. Could I possibly get Dr. Phil to give me my money back and Ryan to pay me on top of it? Did I actually have the potential to make money with online dating? Sweet. :) Oh, but it sounded so mean make my recent college graduate cousin reimburse me for something I “knew” was doomed for failure. To make a long story short, I told my table not to get their hopes up, but I’d “think” about it.

In the meantime (and totally unrelated) I came up with the idea to do this “non-bucket list”. Many people gave me ideas for things to add to the list. Four or five people encouraged me to sign up for Match.com. (Not sure what that says about me…) but ANYWAY, one of the categories in my list is “do something uncomfortable”. It seemed that was an appropriate place to add Match.com…right next to skydiving.

Disclaimer: Though online dating is great for some people, I’ve never been too interested in the idea. My views on online dating are simply based on MY experiences, and personality so in no way are they a judgment on those who enjoy (or enjoyed) online dating. All that to say…I tried it…and pretty much hated everything about it. Granted, I only gave it 30 days…but that was enough.

Here’s my thinking:

A. I’m not a good emailer

B. I’m not a good phone talker

C. I have a hard time justifying a meaningful email to, or hearty phone conversation with, a total stranger…when I have real-life friends to whom I owe return calls/emails.

D. It’s unnatural to click on a “no thanks” button to tell someone (who you know NOTHING about) that you’re “not interested”. It just seemed so cold.

Not only that, but the world is small…especially St. Louis. When you first sign up… you get a lot of “activity” on your page. I replied to this one guy because he seemed normal and low key. Well…turns out we have mutual acquaintances and I know exactly who he is (however, he doesn’t realize I know who he is). Not only that, but multiple (unrelated) people confirmed he’s bad news. Honestly, I probably would’ve gone out with him, just to come up with my own conclusion BUT all he ever did was text or call just to chat. Sufficed to say…considering point “B” above…it fizzled.

For the record, it wasn’t ALL bad. One of my friends was on Match.com at the same time as me…I thought I was funny when I “winked” at her and sent her a message to tell her she looked like the “after” picture for a Weight Watchers ad. :) In addition, when I signed up for Match, I was in the middle of training for a marathon. One of the guys I talked to has run 44 marathons. What?!? Yes…FOURTY FOUR! Needless to say, super nice guy, and really helpful and encouraging to talk to re: training. He even made a nice donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

Some people think I’m silly for only giving it 30 days, and in all fairness, I probably should’ve given it more time. But I dunno, it just wasn’t a fit. All that to say, it takes a lot for me to say that a door is permanently closed…or permanently open. So who knows…maybe some day in the future I’ll take Dr. Phil up on his challenge, until then, match.com isn’t for me.

Cheap shrimp, a free band, tasty food on a stick, good people, and semi-expensive beer...

Want to hear a fun-fact? In the 1920’s Anheuser Busch originally opened a little restaurant in Alton, IL (just outside St. Louis) called Fast Eddies Bon-Air. But, AB was forced to sell sometime in the 30’s because of a new law prohibited breweries from owning drinking establishments. Fast forward about 90 years and not only is Fast Eddies still in business, BUT they’re a local landmark that is apparently always hoppin’.


Obviously, since I'm not 90 years old, Fast Eddies has been around my entire life. And, throughout my life, I’ve heard tons of commercials about their cheap beer, cheap shrimp, and cheap chicken on a stick. While creating my list, I often asked other people for ideas, my cousin Bob and his wife Maggie mentioned Fast Eddies. I thought it was a great idea. It was a quintessential, “St. Louisy”, (even though it’s in Alton, IL) new thing to experience…plus…it was easy on the pocket book.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. One of my favorite things about this list is I don’t have any (or at least many) specific plans about how or when I will go about accomplishing something. I’ve come to realize part of the fun is observing how things organically come to pass which, oftentimes, results in me hanging out with a new or different crowd...another fun thing. That’s what happened with Fast Eddies.

My friend Ryanne’s birthday falls in December—right around the time when everyone is spending lots of money on Christmas gifts and new clothes for holiday parties. So, for her birthday this year, she decided to have a low key birthday party at Fast Eddies. Not only do I appreciate Ryanne for her overall quality personality, quick witted humor, and stellar event planning skills…BUT I also appreciate her personal challenge to be the one person who does the majority of these things with me! So far, in addition to Fast Eddies, Ryanne has watched the Birds with me, she was with me while I was reading Tipping Point (that kind of counts because she asked about it…), she came to hear Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill, she supported me and my sister in a fundraiser we did for the marathon we're running (in 4 days) with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (so that kind of counts towards the "marathon")…AND…one mustn’t forget her being my fabulous South African travel buddy!  

So, her birthday celebration was the perfect way to experience Fast Eddies. I made some new friends, saw some people I don’t get to see very often, AND hung out with friends (and even family) that I DO see on a regular basis…it was fun-tastic!!

As for Fast Eddies. I’ll go back. I mean, how can you say “no” to cheap chicken, shrimp, and beer?!? Plus, a live band and dancing AND (I almost forgot) some AMAZING people watching!?! ...a favorite pastime of mine. However, to add twist…I think I’ll go in the summer so I can hang out on the patio. I’ve always been a sucker for listening to a live band while sitting outside enjoying a few drinks. Kind of makes me wish it wasn’t January and 15*…

"Ice skating"

I consider myself a proud St. Louisan. I’ll be the first to admit, St. Louis is no New York City…but I think STL has a lot to offer, and despite some pretty hard hits to our local economy we continue to hold our own.


We have some great restaurants. A decent number of free music events. The St. Louis Cardinals. Lots of quality people. AND…one of the largest parks in the nation. Did you know Forest Park is 500+ acres larger than Central Park?
Forest Park Fun Facts

Speaking of Forest Park, in all my 30 years I’ve never ice skated at the Forest Park ice rink. That’s not saying too much considering my ice skating experiences are few and far between…and as far as I can remember…all indoor. Early December, I learned some good family friends, John and Angie, (aka Santa and Snowflake the Elf) had a skating “gig” at Stineburg Ice Rink on Dec. 12th. One of my favorite things about this list is I generally don’t have any plans for how (or with whom) I’ll do various activities. If an opportunity randomly comes up to carry out an item I’ll usually do it…especially if it involves spending time with people I don’t see on a regular basis. All that to say, it seemed all the stars were aligned and it made good sense for me to lace up my skates and hop on the ice for a few loops with Santa and Snowflake.

I won’t subject you to the story of my horrible experience at Wherenberg Theater the night before…but know this: I left Wherenberg super annoyed and $21 poorer. My ice skating experience was similar…pretty much to the penny. It is January 2nd as I type this blog entry and I’m officially re-annoyed.… but I digress…

Because of some other things happening in the afternoon, I knew Megan and I had a very narrow window of time to skate…i.e. 30ish minutes. By the time we purchased our ice time, picked up our skates, laced up our abnormally long laces, talked with Santa and Snowflake…nearly 30 minutes had passed before we actually got on this ice. After my first five steps (maybe 10 steps) …and just before I was about to move into my Triple Salchow (ok…that was just a test to see if you were still reading) the zambonie comes out to clean the ice (a 20+ minute process). Ever heard the phrase, “piss-poor timing”? Yeah…well…that’s what this was. Seriously? Didn’t Steinburg rink know that I had a hair appointment at 2:30?!?

Though I technically skated at Forest Park (all 10 steps) it really wasn’t quite what I had in mind. I tried getting my rink time money back from the kid behind the register…but I guess this whole “we’re in a recession” thing is making places tighten up their purse strings. So…much like my Wherenberg experience…I left annoyed and $21 poorer. Bah humbug. For the record, it doesn’t cost $21/person to skate, I was treating Megan since she was nice enough to join me on this endeavor.

Because I like to think of myself as a “glass half full” kind of gal…maybe the piss-poor timing of it all made the whole experience all the more memorable. Though we didn’t even make it a quarter of the way around the rink, I don’t regret why we chose to skate that day. I’m glad Megan and I got in some sister bonding and we were able to support some good friends. That’s worth $22. And, maybe it’s a good reminder that I shouldn’t try to cram so much into one day.

If you (whoever you might be) are in need of an ice skating buddy, particularly at the Forest Park Ice rink, let me know...I feel like I should go again.

Juno

Most “bucket lists” are filled with unique items, such as reading the literary classic "Moby Dick" or  “skydiving” (which is on my list) or “seeing the pyramids of ancient Egypt”…so…it is important for me to remind you this is a “Not Quite” a Bucket List. Which means, a number of items are simply things I just haven’t gotten around to doing. I’m quite confident I would die a happy woman with…or without…seeing Juno. Juno made the list because ever since the movie came out I’ve either heard people refer to it in conversation or people have told me I’d appreciate the humor…and generally speaking…enjoy the movie.

I think I mentioned it in another entry, but one of the things I like about this list is I don’t have any real plans for “how” or “when” I’ll go about accomplishing something. Over time, I decided if someone randomly organizes an outing/event incorporating one of my list items, then I “have” to do it.

What does that have to do with Juno? A few times a year, my church has a movie night after the evening service. Since Sunday night is “family dinner night” I generally don’t attend. However, when I heard the next movie was Juno…I knew I’d have to break the disappointing news to my family that they’d have to eat dinner sans-Holley.

Honestly, I don’t have too much to say about the movie itself. I enjoyed it. I appreciated the quick wit of Juno and some of the other characters. The movie itself is kind of slow so the trade off was good character development. The movie is about a 16 yr old girl (Juno) who gets pregnant and decides to put the baby up for adoption. Throughout the movie, Juno bounces back and forth between her own chaotic/messy family and the prim and proper soon to be adoptive parents. SPOILER ALERT….In the end Juno’s chaotic/messy family exemplifies unconditional love and the prim and proper adoptive parents turn out to be the “messy” ones.

The post-movie discussion focused on the fact that the gospel message is all around us. More specifically it’s not found only in Christian music, art, books, etc. All of us are “Junos” in the sense that we make mistakes, are a little awkward at times, and may have some "messes" in our life, BUT just like Juno’s family loved her unconditionally, we too are loved by our Father in Heaven.

In short, I’m glad I saw Juno, but it wasn’t life changing or anything.

Oh, for those of you wondering...so far I've completed 7 of my "non-bucket list" items.…almost 25% completed.  A few other things (i.e. marathon training) are in the works, but have yet to be completed...

I Prefer People Tweeting on Twitter to the Tweets of a Bona Fide Bird…

I loathe birds. More broadly stated…“I don’t like living things that fly.” Even the idea of going to a butterfly garden is totally unappealing to me. Flying creatures are just too unpredictable. Plus, they often sting or bite. As for birds, I particularly dislike them for two reasons:

1. I don’t think of myself as one who has a particularly large head, but believe it or not, more than one bird has flown into my head. I think that is gross. I don’t like their filthy little feathers fluttering in my hair right next to my face. Eh…

2. I have seen many “lethargic” birds. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s true. I realized my disgust for lethargic birds during my college years. At my school, there was a bat problem (yes, another flying creature) and the maintenance people put bat poison in the attic. In the spring and fall, I would often notice birds just kind of slowly rolling around on the sidewalk, and it freaked me out. Turns out, the birds would sometimes eat the bat poison. (Between the bat problem and lethargic birds, my college is sounding really awesome right now isn’t it?!?) Anyway, to this day, whenever I see a sickly bird rolling around on the sidewalk…I get really annoyed. I know it’s not the bird’s fault…but it’s just so gross!

3. Oh, I just remembered a third thing…I’ve had birds fly into my house. I am not a fan of being in a confined space with an unpredictable, germ infested, flying creature…especially when it’s in MY space.

4. Point 3 makes me think of my sophomore year of college when a bat was trapped in the lounge area of our dorm floor…still gives me the willies…

5. Oh, and I also hate when birds repeatedly fly into a window. That gross repetitive light thump on a single pane of glass is simply nauseating.

6. Over the past 30 years, a number of birds have taken the liberty of pooping on me. This first happened to me as a young child one summer afternoon as I innocently picked cherries in my backyard. I’ve been told getting pooped on by a bird is “good luck”. Sufficed to say, I’m still waiting to win the lottery.

…hmmm…two reasons turned into six. See…this is a very authentic dislike for birds. If I sat here long enough…I could probably come up with 10 good reasons I think birds are disgusting.

Please don’t fault me for my strong opinion on birds. If anything, I hope you have a better appreciation for my beliefs.

In my last blog entry about the book “Tipping Point” I mentioned I often get into conversations with people about “human nature and the economy”. Well, for some reason, I also frequently find myself in the middle of an “I think birds are gross” conversation. At least 50% of the time, those conversations end with, “Have you ever seen the movie ‘The Birds’”? I always reply with, “No, but I need to”. So…that is why “Watch The Birds” made my list.

On my 11-hour flight (on British Air) from London to Cape Town I had an opportunity to choose from a large (and diverse) selection of movies. One of those movies was Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. I thought…”Hmmmm, this is prefect. I can essentially ‘kill two birds with one stone’ (pun kind-of intended…) by watching the movie while I fly to South Africa”….it was a fantastically productive plan!! However, I refrained because only a few days before I left for South Africa, my friend Rebecca mentioned she wanted to watch “The Birds” with me…So, after a few minutes of internal debate, I decided to watch “The Hangover” instead…I don’t regret it, it was funny.

To make a long story short…I watched the movie on Halloween night (only seemed appropriate). Rebekah was out of the country but “the show must go on” and though she was missed, I had fun with my gal-pals Ryanne and Stacy. None of us felt like doing the big Halloween “thang” this year, so it was nice to just be low key.

What’d I think about “The Birds”?? I expected it to be scarier, and quite frankly, I think we ended up laughing more than getting creeped out. I won’t tell you how it ends…but I will tell you the ending was kind of dumb and unpredictable…just like birds. And now we’ve come full circle.…if you’ll remember…the primary reason I don’t like birds (or living things the fly) is because they’re too unpredictable. Interesting…

After I saw the “The Birds” my loathing them was only validated. In the spirit of having a “take away” (which is something I’ve incorporated in to most of these blog entries…) I decided I don’t need to feel too bad for not liking this part of nature. I can appreciate the fact they’re part God’s creation…but it’s okay if I think they’re gross.

PS...The picture above is from my London/South Africa trip about a month ago.  Ryanne and I were at St. James park in London and it was FILLED with birds, mainly pigeons.  The large bird I'm pretend petting is both huge and real.