Forward Momentum.

Last year, I was all excited to sign up for the RocknStroll 5k.  Admission to Riverfest, a race, a Travelers game??  I talked Katie into it and we signed up ourselves and the boys.  Fast forward to race morning.  We go and pick up our stuff and then my unenthusiastic sister suggests that we ditch the race for IHOP.  The boys jumped on it and I was overruled.

So this year, when I saw that volunteering ALSO involved admission to Riverfest AND added to my plan of more race volunteering, I suggested it to Jessica.  She was willing.  I didn't run it by Ty.  I knew what his answer would be.  He got roused from a nice sound sleep on race morning and was a little incredulous that I was actually serious.  We went.  It was great, though Ty wasn't into it and Jessica's main job was to pacify him.  See him getting his head rubbed over there?  We made some new friends there, too.

Time passes, however slow it seems, however much the slowness of it sometimes tears at me, and school ended.  I can't convey the way I had to drag myself through the last few weeks, the way two weeks felt like months, the way I felt surrounded by heavy water whenever I thought about getting done.  But it happened, and the last day meant time to celebrate.  I'm lucky to have a wonderful friend like Jurel to celebrate with.  As the evening went on, I realize that I could breathe again.  It took some time, some deep breaths, some letting go.  Some sitting.

The next week we were all off to the work retreat.  We went to the Win
Rockefeller Institute for the retreat.  I didn't know what to expect, really,
and I was both pleased and disappointed.  Disappointed--because I think a retreat is more about forming relationships and breaching boundaries than it is about looking at data and rehashing information that has been gone over and gone over.  We can do so much more when we understand each other.  But the relationship forming was a very small piece of the official agenda--though we tried to make up for it after hours, which was quite pleasing.  Out of respect for the guilty I'm not posting pictures of the after-party, but I got to know lots of coworkers better than I knew them before, and I got a great run in one morning.  It was a beautiful place.  Paula and I borrowed bicycles for one afternoon and rode into Petit Jean State Park and went to the overlook.  It was beautiful.  This photo, though, was taken on the Win Rockefeller grounds at a small overlook that was just a short walk from where we stayed.  It speaks to a good bit of what Arkansas is to me--my home, a patchwork of colors and memories, both growing and dormant.  It's consistently surprising to me in a strange way to picture memories so clearly in my mind and remember that I will never be going back there again.  Luckily this view of Arkansas is never farther away than the top of Pinnacle Mountain.

This last weekend I participated in the pre-run of the 3 Bridges Marathon coming up in December. It was a course I knew pretty well--the river trail--but I got to do it with friends.  We were lucky to have cloud cover and took our time--lots of opportunities for photos.  Annette took this one of me out in front of the Clinton Library.  See that tiny dot in the middle?  Yeah, that's me.  It was a tough run but a reminder of how happy I am to be part of the running community here.  I'm looking forward to the race in December.

I'm looking forward to a lot of things.  More races: the Full Moon 50k is coming up in July, and in two weeks I'm running a no-frills, 1 mile out and back by the river.  I figure I'll bring a cooler of ice and water and gatorade and I can dunk my head in it if I need to.  Why not run a mile back and forth 26 times?  I'm looking forward to changing seasons, holidays, next steps, growing friendships...to life.