This might be one of the craziest things I’ve done.  I find it utterly intimidating and I fear for both my ability to walk without pain on a regular basis as well as my sanity.

I was an overweight child though and never was athletic growing up so the fact I even run on any kind of regular basis as an adult is a miracle.  I love the fact my girls know I do this – that I take care of my body.  Mini Me rolling her eyes, “you are going for a run AGAIN Mommy.  Why are you always running?” and the Munchkin in her sweet baby voice says, “Mommy running” as she sees me in my workout clothes.

Superman does crossfit and we met for the first time at the gym.  This feels like going back to our roots which is both comforting and scary at the same time.  Comforting because it is familiar and scary because who the hell wants to go backwards in their relationship?

Saturday was one of those days.

About a mile into my run I was struggling up this hill.  It wasn’t even that big of a hill – it was a long small incline that I always psych myself out on.  As I am running a car comes along and parks on the street a few yards a head of me.  This car had all these stickers on it – things like ” I <3 Soccer”  and 13.1 and 26.2 – blah blah.  In my head I say “of course – OF course THIS is the car that parks in front of me”.

Then, something amazing happened.

Out of said car emerged a guy – athletic build, medium height, dressed in black compression pants and red shirt with this flash of a fro of black hair pulled back away from his face with a head band.  This guy gets out of this car and starts cheering me on.

It took all of 10 seconds – maybe 15 – he smiled – he cheered me on and said I could do it.   Then he got back into his car and drove away.

I have no words to explain what this meant to me.  This guy does not know me.  He does not know my flaws.  He does not know how long I’ve been running.  He does not know I’m a mom.  He does not know I’m a wife.  He does not know anything about me other than the fact I was running up a hill.  My guess he is could tell by my body language that I was having a hard time.  And to this stranger – I was worth cheering on.  He believed in me.  He didn’t know if I would stop in 2 minutes.  He didn’t know if I’d run faster.  He just believed in a stranger, in me, and drove away.

If only that was all he did.

He also restored my faith in people – in the good of people.  He made me realize that I should believe in myself.   He believed in me and made me wonder why I can’t/don’t believe in myself as much as a stranger.

I do have some goals for this new year and I hope that I can stick to them.

• shoot at least a roll of film a month
• keep up my running – at least 2 days a week (which is my average for busy weeks) but my preference is for more
• listen to the teachers – there are many that come my way but my listening skills are not always well honed
• attend mass more regularly – at least three times a month would be ideal, but sometimes life gets in the way (it shouldn’t but it does)
• unplug more – I need to work on being more present in my life
• spend more quality time with the people I love (kind of goes with the whole unplugging thing) – not just time – QUALITY

I keep seeing things about people picking a word for the year – I have no idea how to do that or what that means really but it resonates with me so I’m going to roll with it.

My word for this year is “listen”.

If you’ve met me you know what a stretch goal that is.

Here’s to 2013 – Happy New Year’s!

I started a couple years ago – like 3 maybe – right before I got pregnant with El Diablo The Munchkin.  I did a 5K, got tired and didn’t pick it up again until this past spring.  A couple of months ago I did a mud run and hurt my foot.  Not being able to run for a month made me realize how much I actually enjoyed running.

So, this blog is all about mom’s who run.  I read their book and love what they are about.   They have some 10 running related questions and I thought it would be fun to answer them – so here goes:

1. Best run ever: I had a great run after work on Monday – it was my best time/distance (which is not far).

2. Three words that describe my running: short, meditative, sporadic

3. My go-to running outfit is: if the weather is cool enough leggings and a tank is my favorite no fuss outfit.  In the head shorts and a tank.

4. Quirky habit while running: I have to hold the cord of my earphones a certain way

5. Morning, midday, evening: whenever I can fit it in!

6. I won’t run outside when it’s: icy, crazy hot/humid, dark (although with fall approaching that will probably change)

7. Worst injury—and how I got over it: I hurt my foot in that mud run a couple of months ago – rest rest and rest

8. I felt most like a badass mother runner when:  I went running after an afternoon on a friends boat and a couple of beers on a holiday.  Oh, and after completing my first race (see above picture)

9. Next race is:  Saturday I am scheduled for one (an 8K) but was unable to train up for it because of my foot injury so nothing on the books right now.  I need to change that.  ;)

10. Potential running goal for 2013:  I’d like to complete a 10K in 2013

I love Glennon and everything she posts at Momastery.  Today’s really resonated.

Go read it

Mini Me got her ears pierced – she was so brave.  She is getting really big and seems more independent every day.  She wants to grow, I want her to stop.  Same old, same old.

The Munchkin has been hard this year – she is such a strong willed child.  She has turned a corner recently though – or maybe we have just met in the middle.  She is such a physical thing – climbing all the time.  I call her my monkey.  She responds “aahh aaahhh oooo oooo”.

I’m up for a promotion at work….again.  Didn’t get the last one.  Fingers crossed for this one.

I picked up my camera – took pictures at the beach – film.  They are just now being sent off for processing – look for those in another month.  I also picked up my digital camera – took some pictures for dear friends.  I like it.  I want to do it again.  I want to shoot more.

Superman is renovating our kitchen – lots of house projects we have coming.  I hope to blog more on those – be ready for some kitchen progress soon.

That’s all for my current goings on.

I feel like I am getting to a point I will have more to say soon – I did shoot a lot of film at the beach – just need to get it developed.

As I thought about this topic and given that I didn’t photograph what I had been thinking about, I wondered what on earth I would post about.  Then it hit me – film!  Film – my newish obsession –  is all about anticipation.  You have to anticipate the shot and think it through more, there is no “spray and pray” with film.  You have to be selective about every push of the shutter.  That isn’t even the worst of it though – thing you anticipate most with film is getting your scans back.  Imagine taking your image then having to wait close to two weeks to actually see what you got.  TORTURE – but oh it hurts so good.  There is no immediate gratification with film, but as with many things in life – good things come to those that wait.  Here are a few shots I took recently fairly recently on my holga.  It is a great little toy camera that produces some fun images.  I hope you enjoy.

Please be sure to check out the lovely Jen Snyder’s blog – I just LOVE her take.

Recently I’ve been using my iphone to take some self portraits.  It has been an interesting exercise and something I am considering perusing as a personal project using my better cameras as well.  I used to think that self portraits were rather, well, self centered; but now I feel that they are more an interesting way to explore one’s psyche.  It will be an adventure to see were else I can go with these.  Here is a bit of what I’ve been doing with instagram so far.

He posted this on facebook yesterday.  It was like he knew exactly what I needed to hear – not just this song – but this version.