Mississippi Blues and more.

It's been a week since Mississippi Blues.  It seems like it's been longer!  Maybe that's because I had to go back to work last week.  It made the week seem very long.  Well, I have to work to support my running habit, so it's a good thing.

Mississippi Blues was super fun.  Probably anyone who reads this will have seen the pictures on facebook, but here they are with commentary.

My computer is being really weird right now and not letting me size things.  Here we are before.  No blues--just happy people getting ready to run a marathon.  I'm so happy to be meeting so many new people!  Running has brought so much strength into my life, and now it's bringing more and more people.  Some of them I see, and some of them get added on facebook and I get to see what's going on with them from different parts of the country.  Either way I love it.

My during shots are courtesy of I don't really
know who.  They were loaded to facebook and
I saved them.  Here's Annette and me and below is
Carrie and me.  I'm clearly never going to be a career blogger because my photo placement capabilities continue to be a challenge.  The race started off fine and pretty much stayed fine.  We stopped along the way for some photo ops and saw so many familiar faces along the course.  There are more pictures I should include but they are on my phone...and I'm a little lazy.

I went ahead of Carrie toward the half and spent the last 10 miles or so with Julie from Minneapolis.  She was running her 50th marathon and we bonded over hill walking, mostly.  There were a lot of hills.  I was glad to have the company to take my mind off of the running a little.  And it's always nice to share the time with someone new.

No race is complete without the post race food, and we really lucked out with our choice near Vicksburg.  The salsa was good and spicy and the vegetarian fajitas were amazing, particularly the broccoli and cauliflower.  The corona light was great, too, but of course what makes it best is the company, as always.  Whether it's my friends and family down in the river market or my running family on the road, being able to share times like these with friends is a huge blessing in my life.

This morning on my cold rainy 10 mile run I was thinking about a friend and all the things I want for her right now.  As I was thinking and praying, I realized that everything I was praying for for her, I needed in myself, too.  Peace and comfort to deal with hard times, strength to make the difficult decisions, clear sight and understanding to know the right thing to do, or at least to see the truth inside myself and act on it.  The self-preservation to reach for the hands that are there to bring comfort and laughter and happiness.  And I was talking to another friend about happiness, about how it comes as quickly and sometimes fleetingly as other emotions.  We all want to "be happy" as if happy is something other than every other feeling, some kind of constant state of being.  It's not.  It's a feeling just like any other, a good one, and when it comes, it must be wallowed in, swum in, taken in, swished around, allowed to tumble over my face--even if everything else in life is upside down or sideways.  It can't be pursued--I have to do the things that I need to do and trust that happiness will come in one form or another.

As my friend Kristin assured me would happen, I am not waiting until Little Rock to race again.  Just last night I felt a momentary pang at not having another race soon, and this morning I saw on facebook that spots had opened up in the Mississippi River Marathon.  So I signed up.