Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

I've been lurking at triathlon sites, reading about what it takes to complete a competition, when lo and behold, a friend asked me today if I'd be interested in training for a mini. I haven't wanted to spend the money to go to a gym for use of a pool, so I've not taken the necessary step to really train for something like this. But my friend has access to a pool and can invite a friend. How coinky-dink is this? I jumped on the offer, and by the time I left work today, we agreed to begin training for a mini-triathlon that is scheduled for April 2010. We both registered for the event to confirm our commitment, so there's no turning back. I'm stoked. I've been running regularly on the treadmill, having decided to run a 10K and having decided to work on improving my time, so the running part is coming along. Last night I ran my first ever 10-minute mile. It felt so good. I've had the treadmill set at a 1% incline ever since the 5K, so I do feel like I'm ...

The movie 2012 is absolutely horrible. It is a complete waste of three hours. I knew it was going to be, but every Thanksgiving we have family movie day, and this year the drawing from the hat went to 2012 , which wasn't my choice. I had to suck it up and deal with it, and let me say, dealing with it was painful. I mean come on, an end of the world story involving the oceans rising, arks complete with animals, and a main character by the name of Noah. On top of all this, the message about Christians is very clear: Christians are bad and will be the ones who will bite the dust in the end, as is evidenced by the Christ the Redeemer crumbling and the Vatican disintegrating. Pa-leeze. The best parts of the movie were the few intimate last minute conversations between some individuals. Unfortunately the movie has few of these conversations. My youngest was unsure about seeing this movie since it is about the world as we know it coming to an end. Things of this nature bother him, so to...

The breaking news of the global warming emails that suggest cover up, lies, and deceit, such as Gerald Warner's blog article, just make me say, uh huh, knew it all along. I've been a skeptic from day one, and on occasion I've had some intense discussions with family members. Like many in the global warming believing group, family members play the "all scientists agree" card. I've always thought and said if that's the case we're in trouble. We'd be opening ourselves up to further cover ups, lies, and disingenuous discussion. We need scientists who disagree. We need debate. Being part of the academy, I know only too well how lonely it can be working where the majority hold opposite beliefs. While I have many friends, I make a point not to get into discussions that include politics, religion, and a whole host of other categories. I sit quietly and let my colleagues who are also my friends carry on their discussions which usually have them preaching ...

In March my middle child experienced a situation at the school he was then attending, which resulted in him being disciplined. He wasn't allowed to participate with the track team, and he was given a written disciplinary notice that went into his file. The situation happened during a field trip, and after much discussion between the parents of some students involved as well as some of the teachers involved, I was convinced the teachers were more at fault than any of the students. It seemed the teachers were not supervising the rather large group of students carefully, which resulted in some of the students behaving badly. My son, though he did not actually participate in the bad behavior, was deemed guilty by association. Needless to say, I was furious with how the teachers as well as the administration of the school handled the discipline. This was the beginning of the end for my son attending this school. The end of his attending this particular school came after two teachers inv...

I finished my first 5K. I even shaved 1 minute 20 seconds off my usual time. I give that credit to my daughter who pushed me the first mile. After that, I had to slow it down or I wasn't going to make it. Poor Dear Daughter had to reduce her usual pace to stay with me. I told her to go on, to give it her best, but she was very sweet and stayed with me the whole race. Towards the end, my legs were feeling quite tired. I don't usually run outside. I'm a treadmill runner. There's a big difference between running 3 miles outside v. on the treadmill, and I was feeling that big difference kicking in. The last tenth of mile I saw my hubby standing at the corner, smiling big. That's all it took for me to kick it in and finish. Between him and my daughter, I was able to find it within to complete what I set out to do. I'm one lucky woman. My daughter even told me afterwards, "This is going to be a mother/daughter tradition for us." I certainly hope it is.

Listening is something I'm good at. I get accused of not saying a whole lot, of being "the quiet one." This is because I'm listening. I'd much rather listen than talk. I know some people who talk just to hear their own voices. Annoying. Several of these people think they're funny. They're not. They're just irritating. Why do they talk constantly? Are they that uncomfortable with silence? I love silence. I've noticed I've become very sensitive to the slightest noise. Even the hum of the furnace running gets on my nerves at times. I have to turn it off to get some relief. Some nights I've had to leave my bed because my husband's breathing is too loud. While his breathing is not actual snoring, it's close--ragged, throaty breaths that chase the quiet from the room. Since it keeps me awake, I get up and go to the couch. Sometimes I just go to my computer and work until I can't keep my eyes open any longer. I'll return to bed bec...

The sadness over the suicide of a young man I only met once envelopes me constantly. I keep returning to the thoughts of how much potential no longer exists, of what could have beens won't be realized. Of how beautiful he truly was. Why didn't he see these things about himself? I keep back the tears, not wanting my family to see the sadness I'm wrapped in right now. I'm not sure they would understand. I don't even understand it myself. I didn't really know him but for the one day I spent enjoying his writing. He gave me a gift that day, and I told all I knew who would apprciate it about that gift. He had a gift to give the world. Why didn't he realize this? What haunted him so much?

I didn't know him well. I'd only met him once, for a day of writing on campus, a day when area high school students came to enjoy the kind of writing they were interested in. He was one of three students I worked with that day. Yesterday he took his own life. I remember being awed by him. He was the kind of bright that makes a person just want to sit and chat, hear all ideas because they're good ones. He was the kind of writer that worked magic with words. He just did it. So many of us struggle to put words on paper, but his fingers flew over the keyboard. He had so much to look forward to. Or so I thought. I don't know the particulars. I don't really want to know. I do know I wish he was still with us.

My first 5K is just around the corner, and I didn't run all last week. Stupid. Very stupid. The papers piled up, and I just couldn't justify going out for an hour run with three classes of papers waiting to be read. I've always prided myself on only having student work for a week. Never longer. The result was not having the time to run. Today I got out, took a three-mile walk with the dog, and I could tell I hadn't run in a week. Just walking was difficult. All week, with the pile of papers, I kept thinking there has to be a better way. Part of me thinks I should lighten up on the week-only rule I have. If students don't get their papers back after a week's time, do they really care? I decided to find out. I kept the papers from one class for a second week, telling the students I just hadn't been able to get to them since there were several parts to the whole project and it was taking me longer than usual to get through the papers. All of this is true. The s...