Chicago!!!!

I feel right at home along the lake front path on Lake Michigan. It is one of those places for me that grounds me, reminds me how small I am but also how I fit into this wild, dangerous and adventurous city. Part of me feels like this is home. That always bugged my Michigan family. However, they can't get mad at me for saying that, both sets of grandparents started in Chicago. I ran about 8-9 miles this weekend along that familiar path, where you cross the North Beach bridge, run alongside the massive, thundering waves of Lake Michigan and pass tourists at Navy Pier.

My Polish side - you know it, started in the northwest part of Chicago. My English/Scottish (?) side started out in White Sox territory. My family heritage, I should be a White Sox fan. Sorry, but I am not. Tigers all the way :)

My bestest friends in the whole world still ride the El, enjoy Michelin-star restaurants, battle the wind and find fashionable treasures in Wicker Park, Bucktown and Lakeview. They started their adult lives in this fabulous city and I miss them so much. Why does my semi-hippie, meandering spirit travel away from family and friends? How is it that one type of happiness weighs more on my well-being than the happiness I experience when I am with them?

How do I mix my need for adventure, athletic pursuit and mountain madness with my friends' sensibility at living in the same city, to be each others family? Will it come together? How do I satisfy my need to have these girls in my life but live my life in Denver, Colorado?

We all have those friends - friends for life, regardless of zip code, background, lifestyle. Some stick with their high school friends from childhood, some find friendship and family in their churches. I found mine in Chicago, a big city where I found myself. These friends were there for that journey and I can't wait to share the next 50 years with them.

Luckily, here in Denver I have started to build new friendships, foster new family feelings at holidays and discover more about myself with these new friends. And I am truly thankful for my Denver friends, they are becoming so important to me.

My last-minute plans to head to Chicago, spend a long weekend battling the cold and rain of Chicago winter and consuming so much great food (shout out to The Purple Pig and its fantastic sous chef, Amanda Ray)

But all that grey weather made me realize... I prefer living in Colorado and visiting Chicago

Sometimes someone else says it .....

I love Teach for America. I am a junkie. I think the organization has had tremendous influence within our communities and even if you don't like that teachers get 6 weeks of training and are thrown to the wolves..err..12 year olds..so soon, people are talking more and more about the cracks in the system, the lack of funding for schools and our future leaders, the disparity between rich and poor. TFA expedited the conversations, politics and reform. This weekend, Washington DC will host TFA's 20th anniversary summit. 20,000 some alum and who knows how many corps members. DC is going to have the brightest minds in our country for 2.5 days. I wish I could go, surround myself with the driven, Type A people that work to get students from 1st grade level to 6th grade level, that inspire a love of math in our students, that get undocumented students to college... I am in awe of the power we have to change.

This article is another look at how TFA has influenced our society - and digs into the science behind who we are as TFA teachers and alum.

http://educationnext.org/creating-a-corps-of-change-agents/

Winter? 65 degrees?

Today was energizing. I got out of school at 3PM - no students all day - and when I walked outside our building, I was warm in my jacket. Warm! It is January. 3 weeks ago it was below 0 degrees. What did my lovely Corolla tell me? 65 degrees!

The quiet drive down Montview, with a left in front of the Nature and Science museum, I was dreaming of lacing up my new Brooks Adrenaline running shoes. They know the treadmill, the stepper and the elliptical but these babies haven't taken me around City Park, Cheeseman Park or down 17th Avenue yet. So today I headed toward City Park and my body and heart just jumped into the sunny horizon and instantly, life's stresses go away.

Running is my escape, my freedom, my time to be alone. Do I escape from life, or run to live? I run to live. When I am running, I feel connected to my thoughts, my dreams and I can think. I can put together the puzzle pieces that float around in my head with no puzzle perimeter weighing them down. As I run, all the little puzzle pieces find a spot in my mind; they have a home by the end of 5, 10, 15 miles.

Running keeps me sane, keeps me alive and with it! First outdoor run of the year was inspiring - a success!

First race - half marathon in April, Platte River Half!

Mrs. Potato Head

Remember these fun characters? I loved giving them mismatched limbs and upside-down noses.

My lovely '07 Toyota Corolla has a name. Mrs. Potato Head. Why, you ask? (laughing, and hopefully somewhat concerned)

Last spring, I was snowboarding with a friend at A-Basin and lost my right rear hubcap somewhere between the parking lot and Denver. Potholes, mud and mountain altitude. Still haven't replaced it, even though there are many shops nearby my house.

This summer, with my dear friend Meg from Chicago, I was driving home from the bar one night off South Broadway and my right side-view mirror popped out. Not going into that... but the plastic component is still there, totally fine. Just missing a mirror. Those are not hot commodities on amazon.com. Salvage yard says they don't have them. I am going to check out a different salvage yard, with a different approach.

On the way up to the mountains, we were coaching my lovely car up the hills and to Breck for a weekend of shredding the gnar. We talked about car names, and that I didn't have one. It came down to Mrs. Potato Head or Betty Davis (looks old, but acts young, maybe had a stroke on the right side...) Both were so great!

How on earth did it come to Mrs. Potato Head? You really wanna know?

A pedestrian ran into my car, at dark, with his dog. He and his dog are fine, by the way. They took out my driver's side mirror. It shattered. His fault.

Can 2011 start already?

memories of SA

Big moment - and big air

I had a big moment this weekend. It was enlightening and so encouraging. We are studying Proverbs at Fellowship Denver right now and Hunter, one of our teaching pastors, delivered the message right to me.

Proverbs 13:20 Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm.

We can't choose our family but we can choose our friends. Our friends help to shape us and influence our habits, mindsets and attitude toward life. If we choose wisely, we become wiser. I can be closer to leading a Christian life. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

How many fools have I been around? Chosen as my friends? There are times where I am the fool, too. I recognize that. What constitutes a fool? What characteristics did I recognize that I don't want?

Jesus walked with the tax collectors; he choose to be friends with the 'wallflowers' because he knew his wisdom was contagious. The wise can rub off on other people. It is when we choose to not be wise and follow the foolish that we are led astray.

I am so glad that these simple truths can guide my life and my choices can be more deliberate.

So to all my friends out there - thank you for being wise people. You are in my life because you influence me in a positive way and I am grateful for your wisdom. I hope I can rub off a little on you sometimes...

MARATHON 10/7/2010

I placed 745 out of 2900 runners; 56 out of 330 in my division (F 25 - 28) and 201 out of 1350 for all women. WOW.

My chip time: 3:57:13. I loooooove it. I am so happy with my time - and overall place. My goal was a 4 hour marathon, a 9:09 pace. Well, I beat that and average a 9:00 min mile throughout.

My race splits: 5K: 27:34, 10K: 55:11; 13.1: 1:56. Phew... I felt so strong and confident 99% of the time. The damn 8th ave bridge, or whatever bridge that was at mile 23/24 was awful. I wanted to just stop. It wasn't the Wall. It was just torture (maybe, then.the Wall?). To be honest, my legs and arms were kicking the whole time, I didn't hit the Wall. When those last few hundred yards were called out, some sort of adrenaline shot zoomed through my whole entire body. The feeling was out of body. I heard someone yell, "nice kick!" And it was! I was like Speedy Gonzalez on crack. It was awesome. Thanks, Mr. Mills, for all those sprint intervals in high school track practice. It worked. Those kicks are my *secret* weapon these days!

The weather was gorgeous; 41 @ the start but in the 70s at the finish. The course was wonderful. Through city park, cheeseman and wash park. My parents and family friends were in to watch; Jerry even ran the last few miles with me and was a very accurate pace runner. Thanks Jer!

I am exhausted and my legs are SO incredibly tired. Walking was so difficult all day afterward. As I am sitting in bed now, my legs are just screaming out, "give me some love, some TLC and some ice." Well, I will take a few days off... then they are back to work. Maybe I'll give 'em the week off.

Can I tell you why I love to run? I ate the most flavorful, satisfying burger, fries and a drank a sharp-tasting pale ale this afternoon. Then I had Fro-Yo. Of course.

Next up: to qualify for Boston, I need a 3:40. Well, that is 17 minutes. If I do some speed work and continue my mileage, why not? My adrenaline is talking right now so I'll sit on that thought. Rock N Roll Phoenix? hmmm

let's see what the legs say tomorrow...