Facade of Control

I haven’t got it yet, but I’m hunting it and fighting for it, I want something serious, something fresh—something with soul in it! Onward, onward. ~Vincent van Gogh

My son has endured a health challenge recently. (Oh how I wish it was me instead.) It's brought a fresh new perspective on life. How easily the facade of control crumbles! When praying is needed but the words are elusive because the anxiety is so great, the soul cries out on it's own. Then comes the answer to prayer in the diagnosis of "not malignant" and "low recurrence rate". Alleluia!

Time for training has taken a back seat to time with family. Though a run was just the thing to calm myself when thoughts were racing through my mind. It was difficult to find the motivation, and even though I wasn't able to clear my head, I was able to physically tire myself out, which eased the stress. And a long bike ride with my son, while trying to keep things normal, was just the right thing to bring both of us a sense of peace.

Today, RunKeeper is beckoning, "Let's work out! You thought this was a good time a while back...remember?" In celebration of a successful surgery and significant recovery progress, RunKeeper and I will spend some time together today.

Idaho Postponed

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is! ~Anne Frank

Due to a life circumstance there's been a change of plans. The trip to Idaho has been postponed until July 2016. As with many things that divert one's course, the new course can turn out to be even better than the original.

I had scheduled the Chicago Half for July 2016. Too big of a race for me, really. Now, Idaho is in the July 2016 slot and Illinois has moved to August 2016. The August race in Illinois is now a trail race (Hooray!) with craft beer and a Chicago dog being served at the race finish (Big hooray!).

Nearly Sane Trail Half snapshot from website below:

Registered for ID

Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness. ~Brother David Steindl-Rast

I registered for the MAD Half in Idaho on July 1st. My family is coming with me. We’re going to drive, stopping at Yellowstone on the way out and Glacier on the way back.

The course is described as downhill. I'll believe it when I see it.

A friend just sent me info regarding an event in WA on the same weekend. It looks just beautiful. I may have to reevaluate the WA event on my schedule and try to work out a substitution in order to run this one. It's called Jack & Jill's Downhill.  Info is below: