In 1980-something, on a bright sunny July morning, I signed the guest book at the summit of Mount Rainier. It was a day for the history books. Mount Rainier is much bigger than it looks from a nice patio deck in Seattle. I was in the best shape of my life and climbed with a group that included a friend of my parents who was celebrating his 50th birthday ( at the time I thought that was ancient and that he must have been in amazing shape to do that at 50!).  Surely, I could do this easily if some old geezer was celebrating his 50th b’day by doing this thing.

We went with guides from Mount Rainier and they told us that our goal was not to reach the top but to get back down to the bottom again. I am glad we made it to the top though. And even though I climbed with a group of people I knew when we finally did reach the top there was still a little hiking involved to get over to the guest book ( and I was for sure going to sign in). So, there I was at the very peak of Mount Rainier with a skinny guy named Barry from New Jersey, another giant of man who swore like a truck driver but ended up being an english major with some very profound thoughts once we had reached this point in the journey, and myself. The mountain had brought these three strangers together for that one moment.

It has been over 20 years since that climb but I still love looking at Mount Rainier and I still appreciate its awesomeness. I get inspired by what it took to make it to the top and by the fact that it wasn’t just a given that we would make it to the summit even though we had guides with us. Now I start my day with Mount Rainier as my theme on my iGoogle homepage. You can add it to your homepage too by clicking HERE or visiting WardnerSoftware.com.

That morning in July I gained a new found appreciation for the mountain – and for 50 year olds that could still kick it even at that age.  Now I take the mountain with me wherever I go.

Arrrr… Sitting here having my Pomagranite / Blueberry juice drink with a splash of Mona Vie in a big Pirate Mug. We have really decluttered the kitchen but did keep a couple of fun coffee mugs and glasses up on the top shelf. It is great to de-clutter but have a box to pull out with a few fun little nick nacks to keep things silly.

I ran in my first 5k since 1988. ( holy moly – when I put that in writing it looks a lot longer than it seemed. I remember the last several official races I ran like it was yesterday. But 1988 was not just yesterday) It was a great day. The big news was that I finished. That was my goal. To jog the entire course and not walk. So, I did it. Actually kept a pretty good pace and finished the race in 38 minutes. Not exactly running but definitely not walking. Although the official race picture of me shows me pouring it on to the finish line and the woman in front of me is clearly walking.

So, I am putting it in writing today. My running goal is to run a marathon. I have walked a marathon (pre 1988) but never run in one. So I’m logging into Active.com and starting my training today. I haven’t decided which marathon I want to run as my first one so if you have any suggestions please let me know.

So you on the road!

It was a glorious Saturday morning in Baltimore Maryland. I had not participated in an organized running event in over 15 years ( maybe even longer ) and there I was standing shoulder to shoulder with two of my kids – the tallest kids. We were in position for the big start just moments away and discussing strategy. Mike was going to try to keep up with Matt, Matt was going to run a steady race as he has been out of the race ciruit himself for over a year, and I was, well, I was going to finish the race. Putting into consideration my lack of a rigorous training schedule I figured I could at least finish it in an hour ( walking time of 20 minute miles ).

So, my boys said to me “Mom, just don’t walk”. That was the goal they set out for me. Matt thought I could do it in 35 minutes – Mike gave me 40 minutes. And then we heard the start gun and the race had begun. That was the last I was to see of the boys until after the race.

There was a cool breeze and the sun was up but the course ran through the downtown area and so the course consisted of shadey areas mixed in with sunny spots – it was perfect. I started out at my regular jog pace and decided I would just run at my own pace and not let the excitement of the crowd get me too burned out too fast.

At the beginning there were lots of people passing me but by mile 1.5 I started passing a few folks and that gave me a boost of energy. Then around mile 2, I started to feel like I was getting warmed up for this thing and I could really jog at a decent pace. I was feeling pretty good coming into the homestretch until I realized I was getting beat by a little old 90 year old man jogging next to me. Holy Moly, surely I could beat this guy to the finish line. So, I put my head down and said to myself over and over “finish strong, finis strong”. And I was past him. Ha. I knew I could do it. The finish line was almost in site. Then suddenly from almost out of nowhere, here came that little old dude flying by me.

So, I was smoked by the 90 year old but I still finished with my best time of 38 minutes.

The race was really well organized and the finish area was filled with volunteers, water, oranges, bananas and other assorted treats. There was also a celebration village with live music, food, refreshments and some vendor booths. There was also a booth where we could go and get our official times printed off on a sticker that we stuck to our race bibs. It was easy to meet up with the boys and then even more fun to have Cousin Monty there to cheer us on at the finish line. We met up with Monty, walked around the party and checked things out and then left.

It was a great day and my kudos go off to the Baltimore Running Festival. It was a fabulously organized event that included a family fun run, a 5k, a 12 mile and a marathon. It was sponsored by underarmor and the race T-shirts are all time one of the best shirts from any race I have ever run.

Check out the website. If you like to run, or just are interested in visiting Baltimore, it is a great event: Running Festival

This morning as I drink my wonderfully thick and dark coffee the thought of who or what am I is the one that I hope to find an answer to at the bottom of that cup.

Two reasons for this.

Today is Yom Kippur – happy Yom Kippur everyone! -
I am not exactly Jewish and so this holiday is marked more as a day with the kids because their school is closed for the holiday. Technically, I could celebrate the holiday as there is enough Jewish ancestry to make me official but I grew up episcopalian and have converted to catholicism so that is my religion of choice. I do like the concept of Yom Kippur though. Also, I just reconnected with a friend from high school through facebook who is jewish and so it has made me think more and more about our faiths and who we are.

Secondly, my kids have been asking me if I am Republican or Democrat. They really want to know because their elementary school teachers and middle school teachers tell them that they should be involved and should know what is going on in the upcoming election. My daughter wisely told a fellow student that she is not even eligable to vote so she really wasn’t planning on spending a lot of time worrying about this election. I have encouraged them to squeak out as many days of kid-dom as they can. Kids are asked to grow up so much faster these days and there will be plenty of time for them to grow up and worry about elections in a few short years from now.

I have been registered with a particular party for decades but like my christian/jewish heritage there are things that I like about both parties. I’m not exactly a Libertarian because I do think there is a place for some government – it just seems to have gotten out of control this year. The gross snatching of power right from under our eyes is astonishing – and the arrogance that has gone along with it as though they know so much better than we do how we should run our lives is amazing. But is there really anything we can do about this?

I found my answer at wikiversity. Apparently, I am a compatabilist. When Free Will and Determinism are wholly compatible. I definitely believe in God and I believe that God gave us all Free Will. I believe in the natural consequences of our actions and that we are responsible for choices that we make – at the same time I do believe that everything happens for a reason. What comes around goes around – karma – the whole bit. It’s a bit of a mish mosh. But apparently the word for that is compatibilism ( I don’t remember ever hearing that term before even though I studied humanities all through school – maybe I was just snoozing that day).

So, for me I will keep my coffee dark and continue to live as a compatabilist. That’s just who I am.

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