“The endorphins of steep climbs are a thing without parallel, and that feeling you get upon reaching the top is a feeling to build one’s entire life around.” -Carrot Quinn Yesterday, after therapy, I took myself for a run. I didn’t have a specific route in mind, but I had the time and energy (read:… Continue reading Chasing Hills
For Adam on his 40th birthday. There’s a time of day so fleeting that it seems to last not even minutes, but moments. It’s first light. What is first light? Hunters know it, and anglers, and anyone else who rises when the stars still gleam. It isn’t dawn, but dawn’s precursor. First light is when… Continue reading First Light
I just finished a run that was about half a mile longer and a full minute quicker than most of my other weekday runs. On Saturday afternoon, in sunshine and temperatures that this morning runner isn’t used to, I ran a solo 10K “race.” Why? Because I needed to. I’ve addressed this before, but I… Continue reading In Defense of Not Playing It Safe
I don’t really know where this is going to go. And I’m relishing that. I’m currently reading A Year of Biblical Womanhood, by Rachel Held Evans. This following Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness, which followed Sarah Bessey’s Jesus Feminist. Do we detect a pattern? Between therapy and these kinds of books, for which I seem… Continue reading Metamorphoses
…or one of the best smells, anyway, is without a doubt the smell of fresh dirt. When I cut open a new bag of potting soil, tilt it over its target, and that earthy perfume floats into my nostrils: ahhhhhh. It’s planting season. Okay, it’s early planting season. I still have packets of seeds that… Continue reading The Best Smell
Seven things I am grateful for right now: 1) Wisteria time in Albuquerque. I know this vine can be a pest, but the blossoms are beautiful and smell heavenly. Thanks to my current neighborhood, I will forever associate March with plum and pear blossoms, May with rose and Spanish Broom, and April with wisteria. 2)… Continue reading Gratitude Check
On Saturday afternoon I went for my long run of the week. It started questionably — I’m still learning how to compromise between the running that my ego wants and the running that my legs will tolerate — but by the last mile, I was satisfied, even happy, with the run. And then a car… Continue reading This Is Not Okay
Rudyard Kipling closes his poem “If” with the following lines: “If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, and —which is more — you’ll be a man, my son!” It’s good stuff. I would like to take it further: I… Continue reading Sixty Seconds’ Worth of Distance Run
Do you ever read a book that you want to deliberately dawdle through, rereading passages and pages, so that you don’t come to the end? I’m reading a book like that right now: Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness. It’s a book that caught my eye during a couples counseling session. It sat on our therapist’s… Continue reading Great Books
One of my favorite things about this time of year here in Albuquerque is the blossoming of the plum trees. I like the pear blossoms too, even with their…unique…aroma, but I find the plums especially lovely. It’s the color contrast — that deep, rich pink of the blossoms against the chocolatey brown of the tree… Continue reading Hello, April
When I put on a sports braIt changes sitting down to standing up It changes stuck to moving It changes WTF to What IfIt changes I Can’t to I CanIt changes Maybe I Am to I Am NotIt changes Maybe They Are to They Are NotIt changes Poison to NectarIt changes Sighs to RoarsIt changes… Continue reading The Power of a Sports Bra
Nothing snaps you out of your head like taking a 4-year-old on an adventure. Yesterday, I took mine to the zoo. It was our first visit this year, and we were both excited. The cool thing about being out and about with a small child is that they notice and are interested in things you’d… Continue reading To the Zoo
Little victories are 100% worth celebrating. A few that I have witnessed recently: What victories have you had lately?
I see you. Yes, you: frustrated, despondent, too weary to lift your hands up in supplication. I’ll lift them up for you. I lift up your hands, with their callouses and cuticles and chipped nail lacquer. With their clenching, with their fidgeting, with their strength. Those hands labor and love; those hands are honorable. I… Continue reading Offering
Birds have built a nest in a little birdhouse-style feeder hanging in our backyard. It happened, I declare, in less than a day. One moment I saw a bird flying into the feeder with a twig; a few hours later I peeked in and saw a full-on home in there! Birds are marvels. All the… Continue reading Bird’s Nest
I recently got a notice that I’ve published 500 posts on this blog. It got me thinking about how long I’ve been at this; how many twists and turns I’ve navigated with this blog alongside me, or at least nearby. In the beginning — spring of 2011 — it seemed like everyone had a blog,… Continue reading 500
If you’re a parent, have/did you ever volunteer at your child’s school? I highly recommend it, even if you only do it once or twice. Last week I volunteered at a science event at my daughter’s preschool. There were different stations that the kids visited, each with activities lasting about 10 minutes. One involved magnets,… Continue reading Through the Preschool Glass
It was a rough day. We’re talking swimming upstream, running into the wind, wiping with sandpaper, lunging at windmills. A day where a casual observer would cast a befuddled gaze and ask, “What is the big deal? What is going on?” And I wouldn’t have a good answer. Hormones? Sleep cycles? Cumulative stress extracting a… Continue reading Sandpaper Days
I signed up. No, not for another race. This time, for a women’s event at my church. I don’t know if anyone I know will be there. Gulp! Admittedly (and this is something I’m thankful for), I have grown much less self-conscious about meeting and talking to new people since having children. Frequenting playgrounds, spectating… Continue reading Stepping Out
I just bought flower and vegetable seeds at the grocery store. Why did I do that, since planting time is weeks away and they’ll just live tucked away on a shelf until then? Because I like to plan. I like to take steps of hope and optimism. And if those brightly-hued little packets with bundles… Continue reading Buying Seeds
I recently tried The Dozen for the first time. What is The Dozen, you ask? It’s a series of 12 exercises meant to strengthen your core, improve flexibility and balance, and generally improve/diversify physical fitness. It’s been around for years, but with a marathon this fall, the fact is I want and need a stronger… Continue reading Core Work
Once upon a weekday… I let myself take the day off from running. I let myself stop second-, third-, and fourth-guessing my gut and kept the 4-year-old home from preschool with congestion and a cough. I let myself feel DEEP satisfaction after tidying up the floors and vacuuming. I let myself sit down to watch… Continue reading Letting Myself
The following is a note I sent to my niece on Saturday. Here’s to big goals. *** You know it already. How strong you are. How tough you are. How capable you are. How ready you are. You have the blood of warriors in your veins. Sounds cheesy, but that is a fact. You come… Continue reading To Ava On the Eve of Her First Half-Marathon
When I go running, I’m not trying to outrun the dark. I don’t run to escape demons. I don’t even run to exorcise them. I don’t think that’s what running is about. I think running is about becoming familiar with the dark, with the shadows. It’s about becoming comfortable with them. I did not say… Continue reading Running with the Dark
Well, that went south fast. Shortly after I finished writing my last post, we discovered that our truck wouldn’t start. In the middle of nowhere. With sunset and plunging temperatures only a couple of hours away. After a moment of quiet panic, we — who am I kidding, it was Adam — decided the best… Continue reading Javelina Hunt, Part 2
Now this is an office. I’m sitting in a camp chair in a meadow in southern New Mexico. The other furniture in this office consists of grasses, juniper, and piñon. Over there is a cattle guard, flanked by barbed-wire fencing. Crows and a hawk ride the thermals overhead, no doubt as thankful for the sunshine… Continue reading Javelina Hunt, Part 1
Sometimes a run is just a run. Sometimes a run is light and practically effortless from the first step, and you feel like you could go forever, and you are nothing but smiles and miles. Sometimes it’s a slog, heavy-legged, heavy-spirited, and you are nothing but grudges and trudges. Most often, it’s somewhere in between.… Continue reading Sometimes a Run
What is a beauty shop? It’s a place where people go to feel better. Not just look better, although yes, a fresh haircut can certainly add a little strut to our step and lead us, “coincidentally,” past more mirrors than usual. I’m talking about the kind of beauty shop with loyal customers. People who have… Continue reading Beauty Shop
What do you love about the place where you live? I moved from the East Coast to New Mexico 17 years ago. Over the years, something has gotten into my blood, and not just green chile: all the open spaces. Given our state’s population, they’re never far away, and they’ve become essential to me. When… Continue reading Open Spaces
I read something recently that advised paying attention to how you feel immediately after spending time with someone. Do you feel depleted? Heavy? Light? Strong? Bewildered? That feeling is an indicator of how much — or little — time with that person is in your best interest. I had brunch the other day with a… Continue reading Energy Boosters
One of my oldest and best friends got married in October. I wrote a poem for her wedding, and today I thought I’d share it with you: Love Is Not Love is not a poem.Love is not perfection.Love is not roses or romance.Love is: a field of dirt.Yes, dirt.After all, on what do we build… Continue reading Love Is Not
It snowed! It’s not our first snowfall of the year, but I’m still excited. I know some of you love snow about as much as a kick in the face. Or maybe you live somewhere that gets so much snow that you don’t have any feelings about it; it’s simply part of life. Here in… Continue reading Snow Fancy
Start by writing one true thing, Hemingway said. I’ll do that. I walked into the running shop needing a new pair of shoes. It had been too long. I knew better, but the months had gotten away from me. It was early on a weekday. The senior salesman, or so I presumed, pounced gracefully. I… Continue reading One True Thing
1) Leap Day. This only happens every four years. What will you do with your extra day? 2) Girl Scout Cookies. Orders will be coming in later this month! Followed by booth sales at grocery stores and other places! A mom I know says she has a policy to buy only from scouts, not parents,… Continue reading 10 Things to Love About February
My 6-year-old is learning to ride a pedal bike. A big girl bike. No more Striders, no more training wheels. EEEEEEEEEKK!! That was my [silent] reaction. Hers was different. How it happened was: she and her sister wanted to ride bikes. All the other bikes were too small for her. Thus, my husband said, “I’m… Continue reading That “New Thing” Feeling
I heard a quote that grabbed me: “Faith and fear are two sides of the same coin. Both require you to believe in something that hasn’t happened yet.” Which side do you usually choose? I wish I could say I usually choose the faith side, but nope. When I look hard at the way I… Continue reading Two Sides, One Coin
“Your registration is confirmed.” These are some of the loveliest, most powerful words in the English language. They are words of affirmation, hope, faith, commitment, confidence. They are words of Oh God what have I done?!?! But in a good way. Mostly. I registered for the 2024 Duke City Marathon, here in Albuquerque in October.… Continue reading Those Magical Words
Saturday was the anniversary of my dad’s death. Naturally, I went for a run. A run is my favorite, and most frequent, setting to remember Dad. He is after all the one who got me into this sport — he ran in high school in Kenmore, New York, and kept right on through the decades… Continue reading Five Point Two
The four-year-old and I were at home one morning when she said, “Let’s go for a walk!” I hesitated — my chore momentum was up and running, and nothing disrupts chore momentum like, well, a disruption. But this kid rarely suggests taking walks. Trips to the playground? Trips to Target or a friend’s house? Sure.… Continue reading Letting Her Lead
The U.S. women’s marathon trials for this year’s Summer Olympics are this Saturday! I have a definite bias for sure, but I believe you don’t have to be a runner, much less a marathoner, to find the event captivating. Women’s marathoning in the United States has taken off like gangbusters in terms of talent and… Continue reading Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials
For my last two long runs, I’ve headed to a trail a little less than a mile from my home. That means most of the run is on dirt, and given that my runs usually occur before sunrise, I’ve realized a few things about trail running in the dark that I wanted to share. *… Continue reading Dirt in the Dark
I was running the other morning and came to one of my favorite bridges. It’s a pedestrian bridge, one of those that spans a busy road to spare us non-motorized folks the hassle of negotiating traffic. Usually, it’s an uneventful crossing. But on this occasion, rain had fallen the night before, and the temperature was… Continue reading The Icy Path Cometh
-“Why do you want to run since you won’t get a reward?”-“No matter what, I want to run!”-“Then run!” -2 Samuel 18:22-23 This passage, between an Old Testament military leader and a messenger, made my heart sing when I read it last week. The messenger knew he didn’t have great news to deliver, he knew… Continue reading No Matter
Have you heard the Greek word “skopos”? I just learned it. It means “goal,” as in a singular purpose a person is working toward, and it made me think. I have a whole list of goals I’ve started working on this year. They cover a range of subjects including exercise, relationships, faith, and writing (heyyy!).… Continue reading Skopos
I went to my first session of individual counseling/therapy the other day. Going into it, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. That’s partly because when stress is everywhere, it starts to lose its sting, and also because thankfully, therapy has been increasingly normalized in the last decade. At least in the… Continue reading Talking It Out
My husband is a hunter. We live in New Mexico, which is a hunter’s paradise with all of its public land and, to use a technical term, OODLES of wild game. One of the animals he hunts here is turkey. So he has a turkey blind, which looks like a big, cube-like, camouflaged tent. The… Continue reading The Turkey Blind
Over the weekend I attended the baptism of a very dear friend’s family. Yes, her family: her husband, 3-year-old son, and baby daughter all got baptized. How incredible is that? How often does that happen? I had(have) the honor of being the baby girl’s godmother, and as I stood on the church’s stage with the… Continue reading Baptism
Remember in my last post, how I mentioned looking for the door in the wall? I found it. Or rather, it was revealed to me. I don’t know that I can take much of the credit. After my hard day, I woke up the next morning and went for a run. The fact that my… Continue reading The Door
Yesterday I felt like I was fighting gravity the entire day. Walking around was tiresome. Running seemed outlandish. I looked at messes the kids made, shrugged, and swayed past. Do you ever have days like that? Days where the idea of hibernation seems positively brilliant? But of course, we never quit on a hard day… Continue reading Hitting the Wall
Occasionally I’ll be running or driving and see someone running with a stroller. Sometimes even a double-wide. Invariably, these runners make it look effortless. They glide along with a smooth stride, barely even making contact with the stroller. It’s like they’re using the Force to push their kid(s). I’m envious. When I run with a… Continue reading Stroller Running
Running Sunflower 
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