Happy New Year!!!

New Year's Day - My Birthday Eve... either way, I am glad it is here.

2012 was an interesting year for me.  It was as if the cosmos was telling me, "no, you still have more to learn."  Everything I did was met with a challenge, nothing went quite as planned, and you know what - I made it out the other side.

I like to plan.  I like things to go my way.  I like having control over everything.  I don't like hiccups. 

But, it's in the hiccups that you find out what you are made of.  You can either throw your hands up and walk away, attending a pity party of biblical proportions, or you can learn.  You can reflect.  You can decide to grow.

It is in our failures we find success.  Character is built in the moments where you decide to stand back up, and do it again.

I will continue to stand, and I will continue to get knocked down.  At least now,  I can laugh as I regain my balance, shake it off, and say "what, is that all you got?"

This is my RUNNING story.

Hi, I'm Andrea and this is my running story!!

It's April of 2009 - I am sitting in the waiting room getting an IV put in my hand.  Today, I have double jaw surgery scheduled.  I'm a nervous wreck, but I am trying super hard not to let my mom, who has come with me, know.

They wheel me in to surgery, lay me on the table, and ask me to start counting backwards from 10; I am not sure I got to 7.  I awake to two ladies asking me nicely to open my eyes - it felt like the most difficult task I had ever been asked to do.  Eventually, I was able to look in the mirror.  *gasp*

Before surgery I looked like:

I woke up to this:

Aren't my bruises pretty??





This face is after my upper jaw had been severed, bone removed, jaw moved up, four plates, and eight screws.  Then, lower jaw severed on each side, bone removed, jaw pushed back, and nine screws.  This procedure left me with a numb lower jaw; as in I couldn't feel my face from my bottom lip to the bottom of my chin.  Could not - as in you could stick a steak knife in my face and nothing.

This picture to the left here, is one week post surgery.  That is me smiling as big as I possibly could.  Yay!!

At my six week check up - I asked the doctor if I would ever get feeling back in my chin, and what I could do to expedite the process.  He stated that if I tried some cardio - eventually it would help.  At that point I did nothing with the information.  It hurt too much to do anything, and I really wasn't in the working out mood.  Also, I thought "certainly this will go away.  It's still early in the game."

Fast forward to September 2010 - still no feeling.  I call my friend (eventually my coach), and say "alright Joe, I am going to start running.  How do I even start?  What do I do?  What do I need?  Oh, and I think I want to run a marathon."

Joe laughed, was patient, and told me to head out to a field of grass and run for 20-30 minutes four days a week.  He told me to call him after I finished my first two weeks.  I'll admit - I was not an athlete.  Not only was I not an athlete - I had hardly worked out at all my entire life.  Sure, I had a gym membership - but I went sparingly.  I'm talking once, twice, a month.  I was a couch potato.

That first two weeks was so hard.  My legs felt like lead, my lungs screamed, and my heart damn near tried to beat out of my chest - but I kept running.  Over the next couple months the runs became a little more challenging, and a little more frequent, and eventually I was allowed to run on the pavement.  By that time, running was no longer about restoring feeling in my face, it was about healing my soul. 

I know, I know - that sounds terribly cliche, but that is exactly what happened.  With every step I took, with every mile I logged, with every set of 100 I completed - I began to believe in myself just a little more.  I was able to turn off my brain chatter, and enjoy the silence.  I felt grounded.  I felt at peace.  It was a mental transformation that I have a very hard time describing.  It was as though I was meant to do it, and I found myself asking why I hadn't been doing this all along.

On December 4, 2011 I completed my first full marathon. 

I have never been as proud of myself as I was crossing that finish line - that day.  I knew that all the sweat, tears, moments of clarity, moments of chaos, snowy runs, runs in the rain, perfect runs, blisters, lost toenails, tired muscles, hungry tummies, and moments of pure joy - had been worth it.  I knew that if I set my mind to anything - I was crazy enough to get it done.

This is me today.  I don't LOOK a ton different, but my insides have changed.

Today, I am a runner.

PS:  On 05/05/13 I finished my 3rd Marathon in 3:57:29 - now, I've got Boston in my sights..... just need to shave off those last pesky 23 minutes :)

My Christmas card to each of you.

Well, it happened - I forgot to send out Christmas cards.  I think about one in every ten years you get a free pass.  So, instead I invite you to watch the video below. It might be the happiest performance of a Christmas song EVER!!! How can you not help but smile, and dance, and grab the nearest object to help drum out a beat with the band??  That "band" by the way is Roots - great band, but let's just say this isn't their typical scene - but hey, when the world hands you a kazoo, you play.

So Merry Christmas!!! May the spirit catch you singing and dancing, may you celebrate with those near and dear, may you go easy on the eggnog and crazy with the love in your heart, and may your days be merry and bright.

and 1, and 2, and 3...

Did you not about die when the kids poked their heads up?  OMG I need a sock monkey hat!!!

New Year's is coming!!!!

It’s almost time!!!  It is almost New Year’s Day!!  You know what that means right??  PEOPLE!!!!! (and my birthday)

The nice quite noon time workouts will be hectic, the machines will all be taken, the weights will all be in use, the tracks will be full, the people will take to the streets in masses (well maybe not with all the snow), and your normal routine will be all jammed up.  *shaking fist*

I don’t normally get into New Year’s resolutions (of any real substance) – this year my resolution is going to be to learn to play the air guitar.  Yep, air guitar. 

BUT – I’ve had a thought.  What if all of us come together?  What if we help those that are new (who are excited about trying), and give them support, and woot woots, and random high fives.  Let’s encourage all the new folks to keep going!!  You very well know it is so hard to take the first step in trying to make life changes, and I can imagine that it is even harder when you have a whole gym of experienced folks giving you the stink eye, or sighing deeply, or waiting for you to finish - hand on hip.

We finally get to be the cool kids (I don’t know – maybe you have always been cool), and we should make the most of it.  We should offer a hand, some help, some words of encouragement, a smile, a buddy, and maybe make a lifelong friend along the way.  Let’s turn this into a wonderful opportunity, and not a reason to be frustrated.

I challenge each of you, each one of you that may not be looking forward to the masses of resolution folks, to encourage one person to come with you, to run with you, to workout with you, to sign up for the local 5K.  If someone has a spark – then let’s fan the flames.

... and then magic happened.

I am a sucker for a flash mob.  I love them!!  They are my favorite.

Yesterday, a video was brought to my attention - it is now my favorite flash mob of all time.  Here let me share:

Now, this isn't my favorite because of the clever dance moves, or the great choice of music.  But it is my favorite because of the man who just believes that sometimes the world gives you dance parties.

That is me. 

You are walking along, thinking "today's a great day, but you know what would make it more awesome? A DANCE PARTY."  Then, BAM!  The world breaks into a dance, and you can no longer contain yourself.  You MUST participate.

My favorite part is when he takes off skipping through the middle of the group.  To me, he's saying, "here I go - this is my big moment" - and it's brilliant.

My wish for you is, that your life suddenly turns into a dance party, and you get your ass off the wall and DANCE!

Cranky Pants.

I am in a BAD mood today. 

Yesterday I suggested that we should all be a little kinder, a little more understanding, a little more awesome to each other - and I still believe that.  I really think it's time to quit USING SHOUTY CAPS, and questioning each others morals, and leaving rude comments to each other on facebook.  Is it really that hard to be nice??  Promote what you love, talk about the people that you care about, the causes that mean something to you.  Leave the bashing, the sarcastic asshole funny, the taking people down a notch, alone. 

Here, let's make this super simple.

Namaste.

Random Acts.

We've all had a lot of time to think.  To reflect.  To ponder.  To wonder.

I've been thinking a lot about the what ifs.  What if we were kinder to each other.  What if we changed our tone.  What if we tried to understand each other.  What if we promoted tolerance instead of fear.  What if we stopped fighting so hard to make others believe that our way is right, and theirs is wrong.  What if we promoted what we love instead of bashing what we hate.

I've decided to partake in random acts of kindness, this week, and next year.  It will be my goal to do something nice for strangers at least once a week: buy someone a coffee, tape a dollar to the vending machine, scrape a windshield, give out high fives, bake cookies for the students, foot the bill for the person behind me in the drive through. 

Because what if that's all it took.  Because what if someone pays it forward.  Because being kind is the easiest thing we can do; it's what we should do.