2014 I love you!

Wednesday, 01 January 2014

2014!!! Started off with a bang! Sisu and I went on the most beautiful morning run, along the ocean bluffs through Wilder State Park. We were planning on 7 miles, but the air, and the views! and our lungs and our legs all felt soooo good that we kept going for 9.5, making it Sisu's longest run EVER! As I was running, I was thinking about my daughter Maija, who was at that moment back in MN running the Polar Dash in 7 below weather. I was wishing her luck and hoping it would be as life changing an experience for her, as running the Polar Dash in 2012 had been for me. And I was thinking about how I always feel like hell the first mile of any run, like crap the second, but after the fifth I feel like my body settles into running like it was something it was born to do and I feel like I could run forever. I was thinking about how in running, as in life, it really helps to hold your head up, let your focus be up ahead on the road a piece and SMILE! Suddenly things go smoother. It was fun to run by hikers on the trail and say "Happy New Year!" Because running, for me, really has been all about happiness. And sharing that happiness with others. Running gave me the courage to change things in my life that really needed changing. It inspired a belief in myself and my own abilities. It made me look for the good in others and be more understanding about the differences. Running is my crack! LOL Later in the afternoon we went ocean sailing with our friends Mark and Margaret and Samantha. A beautiful, calm sunset sail with champagne toasts and great photo ops! And then when the sun went down and we were cold and shivery, we ended the night in the hot tub in Mark and Margaret's backyard. And suddenly I wasn't thinking at all. I was just melting! Welcome 2014! You have mighty big shoes to fill following in 2013's footsteps-- she was a VERY good year for me!! But I have a funny feeling that you and I are going to be very, very close friends too. SWAK!!!