« January 2005 | Main | September 2005 »

April 18, 2005

Emotional Weekend


This weekend ended up being an okay one, in spite of the tough emotions. Running wise, it could have been better, but it was to be expected with the stress of a funeral and wake. I spent my Friday night in a funeral parlor, trying to support my friend T. He is a terrific person and has lots of friends, so I mostly kept his mom company. He's such a special person that it was good to be there for him. It was also quite sad. I thought the wake would be tougher than the graveside ceremony, but I was way off.

I didn't run on Saturday morning. I was finishing one dog sitting job, rushing to another where my boyfriend would take the people to the airport so I wouldn't be late for the funeral. I thought I had gotten out of bed early enough to run, but I should have known better. So, I had to take a zero for Saturday. It was okay because it was very important to be there for T. After the funeral, some of the people went to T's parent's house. His family is so sweet and his dad is a caterer, so the food was terrific, too! We met a fantastic couple from San Francisco, who had flown in for the funeral, and were invited to visit them. I hope they meant it because my boyfriend and I are already talking about it! They were talking about how many people they bumped into from Maine out there (one of them is from Maine, too) and how there is a cart out there that sells whoopie pies and they are from Maine. Soooo, my boyfriend - D- and I are joking about how we are going to take 2 large suitcases of whoopie pies and one backpack of clothes, etc. each and then sell whoopie pies to finance our trip!

By 8:30 Saturday night, D and I were asleep! We were pretty lazy all day on Sunday and got a workout at the last possible minute. I ran about 11 miles or so at a very easy pace, weaving in and out of streets and running around a soccer field too many times to count, as dark approached. I think the emotion from the week really caught me this weekend. BUT, it's Monday now and I am ready to get back into the training mode. I have finished my coffee and need to get training.

Good luck to everyone in the marathon. I will be looking forward to reading your blogs about today!!

Posted by lilly at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2005

Long Winter!


My life the past few months has been somewhat crazy. So, that's my excuse for not blogging, but I know it's really not a good excuse, but it's all I have:)

My "new" boyfriend and I are doing great. He lives about 40 minutes from my house, so I have spent a lot of time either at his place or driving. Thankfully, I have a decent car- very unlike my old car that had over 200,000 miles on it and was just a piece of junk by the time I "retired" it:) Two winters ago I had to jump the car every time I started it. Luckily, I had one of those neat portable things. But, it was a real pain in the butt. So, when I got my "new" car in May of last year (I cannot believe it is an entire year ago- time FLIES!), I was absolutely ecstatic. I still remember how lucky I am every time I start the car. The car was my grandmother's car and she had decided not to drive anymore and that she wanted someone to enjoy her car. It was 7 years old with 7,000 miles on it. It was so sad to see her stand in her driveway while I drove off with her car. A few months after she gave me her car, she fell in her house and ended up in a nursing home (but no broken bones) It was a very sad process to see her in the nursing home, having lost her independence. She died this winter and it was the first time I experienced old age death and it really hit me hard. It was terrible to see this woman not able to move, talk or even open her eyes the last week. So, driving her car now has an entirely different meaning to me. It is a daily reminder of her. This winter/early spring seems to have been filled with sadness for me.

My best friend's ex partner died at the beginning of the week. They dated for 10 years, had been split for about the past 2 years and had stayed in touch on a regular basis and even entertained getting back together at times. He last saw him last Wednesday and realized that he was saying good bye to him. He hung himself on Monday. My friend is the most positive, caring, sweet, loving person you could ever hope to know. As I told his family a few nights ago, he has a great ability to turn a shitstorm (excuse the language) into a rainbow! So, seeing someone who is so positive and great so sad has been extremely hard. I never realized that he had never gotten over his ex until this week (dumb friend, huh!?) I'm trying to be there for him the best I can because he is a very special person in my life. It has made me realize- yet again- how short life is and how it really doesn't matter what you do as long as you are happy and that every second spent unhappy is just wasted time. It has also made me want to reach out to people I haven't been good about staying in touch with now that I am madly in love.

So, that is what is going on in my personal life. My running has been okay but nothing special. I have been doing a ton of lifting with my arms, legs and also doing core workouts to get my body strong. I was running quite a bit, but my back kept bothering me, so now i am building back more slowly and doing lots of strength building things. I scratched the marathon in June and am planning on Twin Cities instead because it is the first chance to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Trials. I have a long way to go, but that's what training is all about:)

But, for now, I need to go. Today is all about supporting my friend at the wake tonight and focusing more on myself once my friend gets over the rough patch. So, I PROMISE to blog at least every other day from now on:)

Good luck to everyone at Boston. I'll be sending everyone good, positive vibes!

Posted by lilly at 09:24 AM | Comments (1)