The family that runs together......

Well, we aren't really RUNNING together.  
This girl is RUNNING and our hearts are RACING with pride......

Our newest marathoner!  Here she is running The Magnificent Mile Half Marathon in August!

Today, my amazing, smart and beautiful niece is running the Chicago Marathon!
I'm sitting here in Judiland doing a 5 day stretch of DAD DUTY while my sister and my nephew are in Chicago seeing all the wonderful sites,  cheering her on and keeping the rest of us up to date on how things are going.
Unfortunately---her mother (my youngest sister)---was sidelined by some emergency surgery last week.  So, she's home recuperating while her daughter runs.  Our sister who is in Chicago has been given the formidable task of bringing the marathon to Pittsburgh for all of us!
Although I would have loved to be there (because I love Chicago and I love, love my niece), I have to hold the fort down here in Dadland.  Plus, we are headed to Columbus later this week because our son the doctor is running that marathon.  
I'm not quite ready for marathon running yet...but I'm a fabulous spectator....remotely and in person!

RUN ALEXA RUN!!!!   

YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION!!  

WE SO PROUD OF YOUR SPIRIT AND YOUR HARD WORK AND YOUR DEDICATION!! 

 RUN ALEXA RUN!

 As I slowly go through the training to run a 5k and to someday have the honor of calling myself a runner, I am slowly learning why there's this thing about running....
First and foremost--running forces you to be in the moment.   This is not a natural thing for me.  Between you and me---as much as I get on my soapbox about appreciating the here and now and being present, I am not that girl .  I am always on my way to something else or somewhere else. 
In my world, everything is about how I can finish this so I can do that and then finish that so I can do the other thing.
I am not a SAVOR THE MOMENT KIND OF GIRL....
So, I took on the C25K challenge the same way as I take on everything else---with my eye on when this whole thing would be over.   Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! When would this warm up end?  When will this run end?  Let's hurry this up, I've got someplace to be, someone needs me, someone is waiting for me, I've got things to do.......

Last week when I was running the trail and my group somehow got way in front of me and I was left behind as the solo last runner, I found myself thinking " I have to go faster, I have to get to the end....".   Then, when I got to the end....I was done.  It was over.  
Once again, I had hurried through something to get to something else....
Why?

 Words to remember....