Sage and Sun - 5 miler

Yep, I did do the Ephrata Sage and Sun fun run. I chose the 5 miler, because I had done it in the past and thought I would have no problemo. But I was wrong - everyone else that ran the thing - ran the whole thing!  I know that I'm a walker/runner - I can not run the whole way. 

Well, for some reason this time - there were no walker/runners - just runner/runners.

That's okay, I guess.

It's just that my name will be last in the Ephrata newspaper - which is a little humilating. It brings back all those memories that I think I told here in my blog awhile back. 

It's a story about when I was young and in a long distance race and was the last one. My Dad loves to tell it and has told it in church a few times. He says, and I quote,"Marie was way behind everyone else and should have just quit the race, but no she did finish it and was given a standing ovation - just because she finished!"

I know he is emphasizing that I didn't quit and that's what is important - but much to my chagrin - I still feel the pangs of being the last one and everyone thinking I should have just dropped out of the race - because I was sooooooooooo far behind.

Well, I will get over it now, because I am 50 and I feel like I don't care about the ego thing anymore. There are plenty of people like me in the 1/2 maras that walk and run - and do it for their health.  I will just have to stick to those kind of races!  Because I'm not last in those kind of races!! (knock on wood)

I do have to say that is was nice of Roger Pugh.(who had a shirt on - that on the back said, "Don't let the fat guy beat ya!")  Anyways, Roger did run back after he finished the race and both him and his daughter ran to the finish line (again) with me!  They were nice to think of me........:)

Discombobulated....

DISCOMBOBULATED - having self-possession upset - thrown into confusion.

   I heard this word on the radio the other day and it really intrigued me.  I kept saying it over and over - I'm trying to add it to my vocabulary, but I never seem to find the right time to throw it in.  Oh, well...........
I thought of it again today on my walk and decided that when I get home - I will look up the definition.
Well, that's the definition (above).  But why don't they just say: confused, or bewildered, or disconcerted??
That's what I thought it meant.
 I guess I'm pretty close.

I'm really not feeling discombobulated, but then again, I'm sure I should be. There are so many things we should be feeling discombobulated about these days, right?!   The Oil still pouring out in the Gulf,  the War on terror still going on over seas, the uncertainty with the immigration problem, the mess with our Healthcare system, and........just give me another minute and I'll think of more............you get my point.

   Well, I really don't want to talk about all that stuff.  I just wanted to present the word ..'DISCOMBOBULATED'  to you.   I think it's a cool word. :)

Here's a pic of a pretty tree on my walk/jog. What a beautiful day it was today and I can say that I went 10 miles. I'm feeling it tonight, but it's not that bad.   I just felt like I was in heaven today.  Everything looked so beautiful to me.  Everything looked so green and the sky blue and the sun shining and............

need I say more?  I felt so blessed to just have the time to be able to do this today.

I listened to my wonderful tunes and it seemed that all my favorites just happened to play today.  Okay maybe I'm laying it on to thick, but I want to just enjoy how wonderful it all was.  Because we all know that life goes on and in order to have these wonderful moments - we have to have the ugly, sad and not-so wonderful moments. 

You've gotta take the good with the bad or you don't deserve the good.(what my Dad always says.)

The critters......

Well, I had a great walk yesterday - even though I got rained on a little bit. But I was surprised at all the critters that I encountered on my walk.
The first picture is of some ducks (or geese??) and their little ones following behind.  I couldn't get them all in the picture, but there was quite a bunch of them and all out floating on the river.  It was a beautiful sight, but for some reason doesn't look as good to me in this picture.
  Then when I was walking across the footbridge over to Confluence Park - I looked below me and saw at least 20 (I counted) big fat gophers or muskrats or whatever you call them.  You can't see them very well in this picture....but they were there.   I was surprised to see so many of them hanging together. It looked like they were having a family reunion or something.

  And I think you can tell by this last pic - Yes, it's a big snake - but it's just a bull snake.  I was close enough to see that it didn't have any rattlers on the tail.  I'm also surprised that I saw a snake this early- usually it's toward the end of the summer - when it's really hot.  Oh, well....................
    And the other day I saw a huge Eagle fly right over my head.
 Oh, and while I'm mentioning wildlife - I saw the cutest little owl on my walk around the farm here.  I thought it was a baby owl, but Jay says there are small owl species around here.
   So you never know what you will see if you just get out and walk.  Sometimes it is hard for me to get out there, but I'm always happy that I did and I always feel better afterwards.

Now I have another pic to post.  It is of Rocky Jay and me.  We took this before the Elma, WA 1/2 mara (that we didn't end up doing) a couple weeks ago. When we went to the race start - there was hardly anyone there and we realized that this was a very, very  small town race.  In fact we were worried that we were the only ones in it, because the other people that were there - were in the bike race part.  I've never been to a race that looked that badly organized - they even gave us a shirt from another race.  They didn't have their own shirts!  So we decided to go up the road and the guys could go golfing.

 That's okay - I'll learn to check out the reviews on the races next time I sign up.  This one didn't have any reviews - I should have known.

Couldn't help it either....

This is from one of the blogs I follow - The Neologist - (Sarah)
I got a kick out of it - so I thought I'd repost it.  :)