You know you're a local when......

• You avoid town on "Cruise Ship Wednesday"
• OR you spend as much time as you can in town that day, just to people watch
• Your son complains of all the "tourists" at the beach
• It's actually possible to schedule something around sunset - without worrying that you will miss the sunset.
•  Someone asks if you have a house here - and instead of explaining the whole crazy situation, you just say "yes"
• you say you live in Holualoa to the clerk to enter your address, you don't have to spell it for her.  (good thing, not sure I knew how to spell it)
• We actually "own" our own water sports equipment
• We are not quite so "white"
• You shower outside - or with complete strangers at the beach
• You change clothes in the parking lot - and never show any extra skin.
• You have to listen to you iPod in the car, because you know Bob Marley or some stupid love song will be on the radio otherwise
• You can give someone directions to your house - in the dark, in the rain and they make it to see you.
• Mahalo comes out instead of "thank you"

And the true test.....

• You see a Rooster in the middle of the road, you speed up......

Happiness is......

• a sunset
• a day at the beach
• laughter
• finding a piece of beach glass
• letting kids ride in the back of the truck - on the side roads, well cause it's fun.
• floating in the water
• Hula Hooping on the beach - regardless of what everyone else thinks.

She finished well

Another moment in life.

While training for my first marathon, during the end, it was brutal.  Brutal in that all I wanted to do was cry.  Everything made me cry.  My periods stopped.  Every song on the radio made me cry.  EVERYTHING made me cry.

Stop it.  Stop crying.  Save those tears.  Save them for the finish line.  The finish line  - IN THE OLYMPIC STADIUM in GREECE in ATHENS - you know the moment you have been waiting for.  THEN, you can cry.

 Had it under control.  In fact, SO under control - the moment finally happened.  I ran 5 hours.  I'm in Athens, Greece and NOTHING.  NOTHING.  No feelings.  No emotions.  NOTHING.  The only thing that entered my mind?  "Holy Shit.  I did it".  Seriously, all I could do was cry for the last 3 months and at this moment, here it is, all I get is "NOTHING".

That was the finish line.

What I forget, and you didn't know - were the two moments that did make me cry.  Not at the finish line, just along the way.  Those unexpected moments in life that make you cry.

Mile 18.  My arm was chaffing.  And I couldn't get my chaffing cream open.  I'm standing at mile 18, asking the medic to cut open my cream.  We are in the middle of Greece.  We finish it all - I'm ready to go.  He's says to me:  "Carry On".  What?  I say.  ' Carry On".   Carolyn and I have always said that to each other - no matter where you are, what you are doing, or whenever you need me:  "Carry On"  - I'll come get you.  And here is this complete stranger medic guy telling me to "Carry On".  He had said it twice, I smiled, and knew Carolyn was there with me.  I can make it now.

Mile 9.

I can tell this story better than I can write it.  This moment changed my life forever. I know, "I could NEVER do that".  WHATEVER, it is.  I'm here to tell you.  YES YOU CAN.  I said the same thing.  I can't do it.  I don't want to.  THERE is the difference.  It's okay NOT to want to do something.  YOU CAN DO IT.  You have to want it.

I'm at mile 9.  I look up.  And suddenly, I don't know where he was, but suddenly he was in front of me.  In all pink.  A pink shirt.  Pink Hat, Pink socks.  You know, the pink. The pink.  And it says on the back of his shirt in big bold letters  "SHE FINISHED WELL".

I only hope she knew how much he loved her.

It still makes me cry.

My moments

I ran the same race as Nolan on Sunday.  Nolan is 12.  He will be 13 a week from today.  WE ran a half marathon - he finished in the top 100.  He's 12.  The youngest participant in the Kona Half Marathon.  I finished - with 9 stitches in the bottom of my foot.

Lily and Al ran the 5k - because of us.  Al has always been a runner.  Lily, she's a swimmer.  A really good swimmer.  They both placed first in their age division for the 5k.  Lily won a $60 gift certificate for the running store.  This was her first 5k.

Al ran Nolan in - They were waiting for him.  Nolan ran 8:36 minute miles.  AVERAGE.  13.1 miles.  His first.  If he would have run the 5k, he would have placed 1st in his age division too.  But, he's done one of those before.

It was cool to see my son on the corner, as I turned to run into the finish line standing there with his medal on.  Waiting for me, at the finish line. 

After the race - the after party, the awards.  People watching.  We got our picture taken with "Uncle John"  (founder of the Kona Marathon). (Oh, and in Hawaii you don't call anyone Mr/Mrs - you call people Uncle/Auntie)  We are still waiting to see if we made the island blog.  Then the radio DJ got Nolan on stage to congratulate him on being the Kona Marathon's youngest half marathon participant.   It was fun, at least for me.

As we all know, the moments that usually mean the most to us, come from some place out of the blue.  The place we least expect it.  That surreal moment that surprises us:

Nolan passing me at mile 7 (it was a loop) - made my day

Seeing Nolan waiting for me.

Seeing Lily 2 feet later waiting for me too

Seeing Al looking for me at the finish line

Getting drinks bought for us at Huggo's for completing the race

Petra

 Petra and her daughter were from Vancouver.  Petra came in second the 50 - 59 half marathon.  Her daughter was 28.  Nolan was laying on the ground.  Petra says to me, "he kept me going".  Huh?  Pointing to the kid on the the ground.  He took off fast, and then we got into a rhythm - Nolan paced at 8:36, she at 8:39.  "Every time I thought about slowing down, he was there to keep me going".  There were tears in my eyes.  Petra and her daughter do races together.  Petra and her husband have traveled the world doing marathons, triathlons, etc.  In fact, they are doing the "7 continents" goal - a marathon on each continent.  Oh, I went to Greece with "Marathon Tours" - Oh, we went to somewhere with them too......  Of course you did, circles get smaller all the time....  

They leave, we leave.  We are all walking to our cars.  We run into them again.  Petra turns around and says "I just told my daughter, we are going to see them again".  And I can't put into words what she meant, or what I felt, but yes, I will run into this person again in life.  You know, that random person you meet once and then again you meet randomly AGAIN.  On a plane, a boat, or maybe an island......

For a moment.
 

You only get one first

In 2010, I ran my first marathon.

October 31, 2010   Athens, Greece.  The 2,500 (that would be the twenty fifth hundred) anniversary of the original running of the marathon.  From Marathon, Greece to Athens, Greece.

I trained.  I ran.  I ran an ad on Craigslist and found two incredible running buddies.  In fact, I've found lots of incredible stuff on Craigslist.

Near the end of my training, I was SO burned out on running.  Burned out, like, I never even want to walk again, much less run.  If you show me another pair of running shoes, I will throw them at you - sick of running.  This is THE marathon though.  I have to train.

NEVER was it on the list.  Okay, that's a lie. It was on the list.  WAY down there on the list.  But it was there.  ONLY, Laurel and I thought we would do it when we were 60.  Quite honestly, I thought it would be the Dallas White Rock Marathon.  The little voice in my head always said "go back, to where it began".

When I was a child, my mom had my sister and I volunteer with her at the Dallas White Rock Marathon.  We didn't have much money and I remember loving the free t-shirts we got from volunteering.  She taught us to give.  And looking back, you realize you can give and get so much in return.

I always thought THAT would be the one.

Then I got an e-mail.  The twenty fifth hundred anniversary of the original running.  There was no "HALF" option.  It was the full or a 10k. First thought, "I'm not going all the way to Greece to run a 10k".  If there is a first one to do, well, wouldn't this be the one???    The FIRST?

Then, a little angel spoke to me.  You know, those angels whom look at us with big eyes like we have never thought of it before.  And this angel actually came through the same group whom I learned about the marathon.  I said "I"m so sick of training.  What do I do to keep going?"  And this angel said to me "you only get one first.  Just remember that".

Once again, you never know when you are going to change someone's life.  She was right.  You only get one first.  It completely changed my attitude.  So I made a sticker and wore it on my back "YOU ONLY GET ONE FIRST".

Near the finish line, when people would tell me to hang on, you are almost there - it made all the difference.

TOMORROW, we are back to another first.

My youngest sons' first half marathon.  We've been training.

He's a runner.  I run. HUGE difference.

It's funny.  People go, "Oh, you are running together?" "No," I reply, "We are running the same race".  BIG DIFFERENCE.

He's super excited.  I'm super excited for him too.

Today is Saturday.  On Tuesday, I fell off a board in the bay that has something out for me.  I sliced my foot open.  9 stitches.

I've never had accidental stitches before.  The arch of my foot.

Here is what I said to the doctor:

I faint during pain
Clean it out well
I'm running the half marathon on Sunday.

This is what he said to me:

This is going to hurt
I'm giving you shots on the bottom of your foot
I don't normally give stitches on the arch of the foot, but I have a feeling you aren't going to do what I tell you.
I making the knot's ugly so you know how to cut them out in 7 to 10 days.  If you don't listen to anything else, just wait the 10 days.  
Stay out of the water for 10 days
Keep it dry and stay off of it.


Conclusion: - or should I say, my compromise:

9 stitches on the arch of my foot
Ugly knots - 3 pairs of surgical scissors (they throw them all away), a pair of tweezers.  I can take them out.
Round of antibiotics
A foot bootie

Yeah, right.

This is all about Nolan and his first.  Maybe I'm being selfish. When I signed up for it, I asked him, "Do you want to do the half too".  After all, if you are going to pick a first, you only get one.   Is it too much for a mom to ask, well, to share that first?

Selfishly, you only get to run your sons first half marathon with him, well, once. And as long as the foot isn't gushing blood, well......


See you at the finish line.......

The National Enquirer Called

They said "You win"  We couldn't even make this stuff up.

We are all adults here.  Let's put it all on the table. 

The boyfriend has an old girlfriend living at his house.  I've known this since she moved in, in October.   We live 3,000 miles apart.  We all understand.

You also understand, I'm going to see other people too.  We all understand.

Now we have kids involved.  I have told my sons the truth from the very beginning.  You weren't so wise.  Kids are resilient - in fact, we are all resilient, IF we all know the truth - were everyone stands. 

My daughter likes you because you have two cute sons her age.  Yes, she does.  She also likes me, well, because, I'm me.  Wait, now she doesn't like my sons, and wants to hang out with me.  Which is it?  Does she like my sons?  Does she like me? 

I've told you before, I love your daughter, but what I really care about is whom her dad loves. 

Sometimes (and yes I realize I use that word over and over again), we deflect our pain and suffering into another.  Isn't that why we can play the "victim"?  It's not really our fault.  Someone else made us do it.  We have to do it because......  I wasn't strong enough because of my childhood or my brother or my boss or my mother-in-law - they all beat me down.  It was their fault. 

Still believing that story?

I can't do this.

RIGHT NOW.

WITH YOU.

Those four words are really important in a conversation.  Usually, we all stop short.  Of course we do.  It's easier.  We don't want to hurt feelings.  We want it all to be nice.  Life isn't always nice.

I'm going to try. 

Wait, wasn't that my theme for this year?  I completely forgot about it, until I just wrote those words.  I'm going to try - except I spelled it "tri". 

Tri - three?  Three chances?  One more time?  "Tri" again? 

Right now - I'm walking away. Please don't ask me to stay.  Don't ask me to be more than I can, because you can't be more than you are.  You can't say RIGHT NOW.  Instead, you keep saying "You have to have Lily be on my side.  I need you to help make this situation better". 

Guess what?  I can't.  I won't.  I can't do this.  On a train.  On a boat.  On an island.  With you.  Right now.

The National Enquirer called, they said "you win" - we couldn't make this stuff up.....

Do you ever really like someone, like you do

when you are 12? 

What, really, is there to like?  Do you like to do the same things I like to do?  Oh, yeah, and are you cute?  And I mean cute by, when you show up at the beach, do you have the cool toys?  And like to play?  What's not to like?

Then life gets confusing.  Because by next summer, you might have liked someone else.  You then arrive this year with last years feelings expecting the last year hasn't happened.  But, what if, you show up, and once again, just want to play?  You know, the play in the water.  The made up games we used to play.  Imagine.  Dream.  The laughter.

This year, I might like you.  You know.  Like you, like you.  Volleyball on the beach isn't the same.  It makes me smile differently when I see you dive for that ball.  It might make me like you more.  In a different way than how I thought I liked you.  In the better way. 

Suddenly, we can't spend the night at each others house.  Well, cause you're a girl and I'm a boy.  Our parents said no this year. 

It only took me 4 days to talk to you.  Even though, just like you, I've been waiting all year to talk to you.  I'm just too shy to admit it.  Aren't we always too shy to admit it?

I hope we are always friends. 

My mom has always friends.  Friends she met years ago.  Friends that are male.  Friends that are female.  As she says, friends arrive in all shapes and sizes in the most unexpected places.  My mom collects friends. Your dad does too. 

She told me, this year is going to be different.  I got a long on and on explanation of what is NOT going to happen this summer.  Then next thing I know, we are sitting with you watching the sunset with your dad and my mom.  She said wasn't going to happen this year.  She was wrong.  She's okay with that - being wrong thing.  We all make mistakes.

Mom has these friends that she met one summer and she says it was 25 years ago.  They are always friends.  Two brothers.  We know those brothers.  It's hard to think that we all might still be friends 25 years from now.  But your dad says the same thing:  "I hope you know these boys forever" 

You never know.

Stranger things have happened.  We might be those brothers.