Some pictures from the weekend

I must admit, having a picture assignment made me think. There are plenty of ways of looking at things, and most of the time we look through fuzzy eyes because even though we look, we don't really see. A lot of what we're looking at is blurry. Sure, we really notice things that stand out for us, but what about what's really important?

What's really important is love. Love can be seen in so many things, if you know where to look. Love can be described as an emotion that is felt, but it's also very visual. It's represented by the heart but shows up all over the place.

Such as happiness. Happiness feeds love and love feeds happiness. Once we open our eyes to really focus on what we're doing, we can experience happiness in every day things. Being happy is a state of mind. Seeing life through the eyes of a child helps as well.

Being happy makes life sweet as well. I was reading a story about someone who's friend was always avoiding the things that would make her happy since they were usually bad for her. Then, one day she found out that she had a terminal illness and thought back to all of the things she had missed out on because they weren't good for her. She decided that from that point on, she wouldn't care whether it was good or bad, she would just do. So, eat sweets when you can. There comes a point when it just won't matter.

But, make sure you don't do anything illegal. For that, you could get in trouble and have to sit our a couple of rounds while others have all the fun. When there are rules to be followed, do so as much as you can because that will keep you in the game longer.

Then, when there is just the two of you, you can get a little crazy and no one will really care, because you've followed the rules, you've played the game you've enjoyed the sweets and you're as happy as your 16 year old life can be because you're in love and are looking at life clearly, well as clearly as a 16 year old can look at life.

It's For The Medals

Ran a half marathon yesterday. In a sense, that's not that big of a deal since there were 20,000 runners for the full/half/5k run that took place. All 50 states were represented as well as 13 other countries. 64% of the runners were female. Still, I was there, and I completed it. I've been running the halfs between 2:20 and 2:30 which is okay but I realized that I'm not really pushing myself in training, I'm just running. There's another run coming up the beginning of May. This is the run where I set my personal best of 2:16 four years ago. It will also be my 10th half marathon so I'd really like to beat that time and accomplish a new personal best. I'm not that far from that time, but I'd have to knock off about 45 seconds a mile to achieve it. Granted, it's not the exact same course but the mileage will be the same. I have 3 months to train for it, and since I know I can do the distance, I need to work up the speed. This past race, I wore out a bit over miles 10 and 11 so that tells me I need to also pick up the training distance. And, I did beat my previous time on that course by 4 minutes.

This whole running thing came about a few years ago. In my 20's I had run a few 10k races but never really thought about doing anything further and as the years went by, I pretty much stopped running. In 2005 I chose to train for and run a half marathon with my sister Maria and that was the start. I just completed my 9th and have a marathon thrown into the mix. After 2007, I thought I was done with the races and didn't run any in 2008 but for some reason, I missed it. I keep telling myself that it's for the medals but I think in a lot of ways, it's for the accomplishment. It requires training and it requires dedication but the early morning runs calm my soul. The completion of the race doesn't bring on emotions like the first couple did but I still feel the satisfaction of completing something that is pretty special. It's difficult at times getting up and getting going, but I'm usually glad I did.

I'm signed up for 2 more runs this year and then I know I'll be doing at least 1 next year in San Francisco. That will give me the California Dreaming medal. And, since the Surf City run changes medals every year, I suppose I'll do that one again, and when you've done 3 of those in a row, you get special benefits. See, I told you it was for the medals....