We Are Women Who Try

So um, over the long weekend, this happened:

One half marathon registration?  Check.
Scared shitless?  Check.
Did it to show Pete that I could really hit the submit button?  Check.
Signed up on the 29th so I could get a free shirt from this year? Check.
Forgot about it 1 hour after I signed up? Check.

Then, this happened:

I attended the expo for this year's race.  Then I sent the following text to Pete:  "Holy Shit, I signed up to run 13.1 miles in less than 3.5 hours."  He replied that I needed to breathe and believe.

And you know what?  He's right.  I can do this.  I can accomplish this goal if I put my mind to it.  I'm worried that I'll be bumped off the course by the hay wagon with the "not good enough" people.  Shhh...don't tell anyone...but even if that happens, it's ok.  You know why?

I TRIED.

Because not trying?  That gets me nowhere in life and it took me a long time to realize it.  It took me a lot of lost opportunities to realize that I could have gone a different direction, accomplished something or met someone.  Not trying isn't an option anymore.

Women Rock Minnesota is a pretty new race.  This was only the second year it was held here.  I think it attracted me partly because it's only females running.  Not that women are inferior to men, but it's less scary (to me) to be running against other women.  I think it's the same thing as a female only gym.  It's not a perfect body completion while you're working out.

This is the race I've been wanting to run.  This is the race I've been dreaming of.  This is the one that I want to finish.  I can do it, right?

PS.  I've never run in a race, just on my own.  I currently can't even sit up without help from my arms because the mastectomy reconstruction took blood supply from my bottom ab muscles.  But I can do this.  I can.

S.....L......O.......W......

For whatever reason I'm down to blogging about once a week. Partly because I'm working long long days the beginning of the week so that I can take Friday off and have a nice long weekend when we go camping. Partly because we haven't been doing much interesting. Partly because when we do go on interesting rides, I'm busy controlling a motorcycle and can't take pictures like I did last year.

I do know that in three weeks we'll be leaving for the annual run.

I'm excited, nervous, happy, freaked out, worried, psyched up, and all that...

LOL

Weekend Goodness

Wow, what a weekend.

Friday night we picked up the bike from the shop for it's 1000 mile check up. All good to go and Pete got the new handlebars put on. We dropped it off and went to shop for laptops. Pete had to turn in his work one because someone was going overseas and needed it. We bought a 16 inch home theater one that wasn't that expensive and should suit out needs well. We got home and Pete set it up for what he wanted and then went to shine the bike.

Saturday morning we got up at 7 and met a small group to ride to Hutchinson. It took a while and it was a chilly morning. When we got to Hutch we met up with a group called Dry Riders . We went on a range ride which meant that we rode to a gun shop and looked around. Then we went to and outdoor range and spent the day shooting. It was a lot of fun.

The group was pretty darn cool. We got warm welcomes from a lot of the group and they were really nice. They had lunch for everyone and prizes from raffle tickets (Pete won a cool wooden box) and everyone had weapons that they let others shoot. Pete invited Nancy from work who is the one that taught us in the conceal & carry class. She and her husband fit right in. It was such a cool day that we are going to prospect to join the club. And I got to shoot a .470 revolver. Pete helped steady my hands, but it was really powerful and cool!

We left there about 4 and started riding home. It was sunny and 80 something in Hutch. Only the closer we got to home, the cooler it was and the wetter it was. We were almost home and going around a corner when I yelled to Pete - "Is that SNOW?" and then realized that it was lots of small pea sized hail all over. Apparently we just missed the storm, which was a good thing as there is no place to hide on that stretch of drive. Saturday night we went to see some music in Minneapolis.

Sunday I woke up to find Pete washing and shining the bike. We got ready and left to have breakfast at Grantite City Brewery . Then we went to Best Buy where Pete bought me a new camera. It's a little Cannon Elph. It's got much the same features as my big camera, only small enough to fit in my palm & easy to carry. I tired it out on the back of the bike (lol) and it stablizied my pics so well that I am in love. We ran down to Centennial Lakes to see how a couple had it set up for a wedding. Then to his sisters to load up the old Harley. It went to a guy's house to be worked on. If it can get fixed, it's going to be my bike next year. If not, we'll have to look at getting a new one for me. Then we took a ride through Jordan and Belle Plaine. Only to come back to Raceway Park for the races. They were kind of borning and we left after the figure 8's.

Boy am I tired. Tired and red. I need to invest in some good sunblock and get a nap in!

Pete's Bucket List

Firstly, you may be a redneck if you watched the lunar eclipse from your bedroom floor through the scope of an AK-19 rifle. lol

We crossed something off Pete's Bucket List this week. He's never seen a lunar eclipse. Actually never seen any eclipse. So we did away with watching American Idol (guilty pleasure) and decided to watch the eclipse. It was hard to see with the naked eye so Pete got out some rifles with scopes on them. We layed on the bedroom floor and watched teh eclipse through the scopes.

For once, we crossed something off his list that I had done, but he had not!

5 Things

I see lists all the time in blogs and somewhat see it as an "easy entry". However this list that was posted on a message board took some thought and time to complete. I thought it appropriate for blogging. I really tried to complete it quickly with the first things that come to mind. And it somewhat reminds me of the Bucket List in that it makes you think about what is important to you.

Fascinate me:
1. 1960's era. The politics, the culture, the feeling, the events...
2. The ocean. Powerful, relaxing, beautiful all in one.
3. A child's mind. It's amazing how they think.
4. Pete. The man has lived and travelled in so many places. His youth was so different from mine.
5. Reality shows. Why would people go on them? What things do they do on them that they wouldn't? All of it.

Inspire me
1. My Grandma. The work ethic and ethic in gerneral for life makes me want to reach higher.
2. My niece. Seeing the world through her eyes makes me want to forget the big picture and focus on the little things that make me happy.
3. Food network. LOL I love to cook. And watching it makes me think about quitting this life and becoming a chef.
4. The sun. The brightness, the warmth, the way it colors the world around me makes me inspired to be nicer to nature.
5. Jon Bon Jovi. *giggle* I look at him and how he went from nothing to rock str, philanthapist, businessman, family man, friend. It makes me want to be more like him

Anger me
1. Child abuse.
2. Criminals who continue to revolve in the system.
3. Cancer. I HATE it.
4. People who are inconsiderate drivers. Your stupidity shouldn't put me at risk for a crash...
5. The government. It's a love/hate thing.

Confuse me
1. The buraucracy of government. How did we lose the simple idea of get it done to all that crap in the legislature?
2. Sokodu puzzles.
3. How a computer works (no matter how many times Pete explains all the workings...)
4. How people full of themselves cannot see that they are full of themselves.
5. Making Lebkuchen for Christmas! LOL

Delight me
1. A child's laughter.
2. Seeing Pete's smile at me.
3. Feeling the warm sun on my face.
4. Gooey chocolate cake.
5. A cold diet dr pepper on a hot day.

Amaze me
1. The vastness of the world that I have never seen.
2. That my parents lived through the turbulent 60's. That my Grandparents lived through the Great Depression.
3. That I am an adult.
4. How I can connect with people on the internet that I have never met.
5. True Love.

Sadden me
1. Child abuse.
2. Crime in general. The revolving criminal that is wasting a life.3
. Couples who cannot have children, despite years of trying.
4. The thought that I may not have children of my own.
5. The thought of losing my parents.

Fulfill me
1. My love for Pete.
2. Being creative - cards, scraping, crochet...
3. Reading a good book.
4. Learning something new.
5. Doing a random act of kindness with nothing expected in return.

Frighten me
1. Growing old without having children.
2. Losing my family to death.
3. The what-if's that I regrat doing or not doing.
4. Chemical/nuclear war.
5. Losing control of a vehicle while driving for any reason.

Relax me
1. A bath.
2. Laying in bed next to Pete with my head in his arm.
3. A nice glass of wine and a good meal.
4. A day walking around a museam.
5. The feeling of being loved.

So what are yours?

The Bucket List

What do you want to do before you die? What things make you happy? What do you want people to remember about you?

We went to see the movie The Bucket List over the weekend. It made me think. It made me think about what is really important in life. It made me think that I am selfish to continue to not talk to my parents when Pete has only one parent left who is is dying. It made me realize that there are things that I regret not doing, but that I still have time to do them.

Pete and I started a list in my cell phone about the things that I had never done or that he wanted to show me. They were things like go to a biker bar, the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, see the falls, Famous Daves for jazz music, bike around the lakes... Things that we could do together. When we had a free day we'd look in my phone and see what things we should be doing. We had a bucket list without even knowing it.

The only thing is that I deleted the things that we did. I wish I would have kept them. So now I started the list on here and hope to strike off the things that I've done. I hope to add to the list and finish the majority of it.

So I ask you, what is on your bucket list?