Help Me Pick My Next Vera Bradley

So I'm thinking about getting a new Vera Bradley tote to use when I start nursing school in June. I know which bag I want, but I haven't decided on a color. I have a whole collection of Hope Garden bags for my travel gear (large duffel, small duffel, Miller bag, travel cosmetic, flat iron cover, etc etc etc....). I want to get a new pattern and I've narrowed it down to two. The first is called "Totally Turq." It's not an old pattern, but it's been around for two or three years and is rumored to be going into retirement sometime this year. I've been eyeing it for some time now, but just haven't gotten around to buying one. The second pattern is called "Folkloric." It's brand new, one of the four new spring colors, and very popular. I expect that it'll be around for a while. If I don't get it now, I could probably get it for something else later.

So I have put together a little poll to see what YOU think. Should I get my new Pleated Tote in Totally Turq or should I get it in Folkloric?

**Update** The HTML coding for the poll was screwing up the HTML coding for my home page. Thus far the results were 5 votes for Folkloric and 4 votes for Totally Turq.

Totally Turq

Folkloric

And may the peace of the Lord be always with you.

The Grand Prix: 5K Race and Injury Report

Yesterday I ran the third race in the Grand Prix series, a 5K. I was a little wary of doing this event because our area got hammered with about six inches of snow on Wednesday and the race was supposed to take place on wooded trails. It was cold yesterday morning, but mercifully the race wasn't scheduled to start until 11:30. By the time I got to the course, it was hovering right around 40 degrees.

Most of the running trails had been shoveled clear, but there were still many slick spots so we had to be very mindful of our footing. My left foot has been hurting since I did the 15K last weekend. I haven't quite figured out what's wrong with it, though. It is most likely a deep bruise on my instep or a small blood vessel that burst. In any case, I stayed off of it as much as I could last week and it's definitely feeling much better.

My primary goal for the race was to get to the end without wiping out on any icy patches. Beyond that, I really wanted to run a sub-30 minute 5K. My all-time PR (personal record) for the 5K is 27:09. I knew I wouldn't be quite that fast because I still haven't had much of an opportunity to train. But I did manage to reach both race goals and came in at an unofficial finish time of 29:31 (9:32/mile pace).

What's even better is that my split times got gradually faster and faster. My first mile was 9:51, my second was 9:44, and my third was 9:11. The last 0.1 miles took me about 43 seconds... I have no idea what that means.

I'm still waiting on the Grand Prix point results. Officially my finish time was 29:30.7 (9:31/mile pace). I was 44th out of 103 women. Not sure about my division.

My foot hurts more today than it did yesterday, but less than it did the day after the 15K. I'm worried that this might keep me from running the half-marathon next weekend. OR if I still run the half-marathon, I'm worried that it will start to hurt worse during the race and I'll have to walk a significant portion of the course. If I rest this week and then can make it through the run next weekend, I'll have two weeks off from the Grand Prix before a 2 mile race and then two more weeks off. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a year of over-training injuries!

UPDATE - I got 5th out of the 6 Grand Prix competitors in my age group for 12 points! Yeah! Overall, I'm now 8th out of 12 women in my Grand Prix age group. 

And may the peace of the Lord be always with you.

Transcending Brokenness

The following sermon was written by the Reverend Kate Alexander of Christ Episcopal Church and is published here with her permission. 

There is a man in LA doing something extraordinary. A Jesuit priest named Gregory Doyle is in the ex-gang member rehabilitation business. Affectionately known as Father G, G-Dogg, or simply “G”, Doyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation program in the country. For 21 years, the organization has helped thousands of gang members remove their tattoos, get counseling, find jobs and move away from violence. Participants in the program work for a time in the Homeboy bakery, the silk-screening business, or the gourmet Homegirl Café, all the while learning how to live a normal life. One graduate of the program said that with Father G’s help, he realized that he loved his kids more than retaliation and decided to leave the life of crime and street warfare to be a dad. “The gift that Father G has given us is he sees the best in all of us,” said a former member of the Crips gang. And the testimonies continue. “He loves you. He tells you that he loves you. He tells you that he’s proud of you. This dude is a remarkable human being.”

In interviews, Doyle is quick to mention that his ministry has not always been successful or well-received. When it first started, his office received countless threats by phone and graffiti. He jokes that at one time, he suggested that his staff should answer the phone in this way: “Thank you for your call. Your bomb threat is very important to us…” He sees the threats as symbolic of just how powerful the cycles of violence and crime are for young gang members. Any threat to the system, any chance to see things in a different way, was very threatening to those powers that be. The bomb threats have subsided now, as decades have passed and the ministry is well-established as a lifeline to men and women who desperately want a different life. Doyle has said that on one level, he’s in the trenches telling young men and women to go home before shoot outs begin. But on a deeper level, his role is to offer them a different way of seeing their lives altogether. Lives that are worth more than these kids can imagine and so much more than they’ve ever been told. He offers them a glimpse of lives lived in peace, with healing and wholeness and the opportunity to contribute something of themselves to the world.

How to Flourish

The following sermon was written by the Reverend Scott Walters of Christ Episcopal Church and is published here with his permission.

Most Friday afternoons I can be found puttering around on some project at our house, listening to a radio program called “Science Friday.” As I typed out that vivid snapshot of my exciting life, I suddenly realized why I don’t spend much time fending off paparazzi.

Oh, well. Anyway, I was doing my usual puttering and listening one Friday when the topic was Science and Morality. The springboard for the conversation was bestselling atheist Sam Harris’s new book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. And about half way through the show I put down my tools and started dialing 1-800-989-TALK. I dialed and redialed over and over again, but each call was answered with a busy signal, a sound of rejection that felt more personal each time I called. But I kept on dialing, certain that one of my calls would slip in between some biology teacher in Atlanta and the retired mail carrier from Dubuque.

But I just couldn’t get through. And oh how I wanted to set Sam Harris straight. Nothing seemed to help. Not even pacing from the kitchen to the front door and back 12 or 13 times while I dialed. Finally, the show ended, my hopes were dashed, and the blood began to return to the knuckles of my left hand as I slowly loosened its death grip on the phone. My heart rate returned to normal, abdominal muscles unclenched, and I went back to my project, which wasn’t any more likely to be completed than the one I’d started the Friday before, but it did help with the relaxation process.

What frustrated me about the conversation on the radio wasn’t Mr. Harris’s main point, which was that people can conceive a moral framework without being religious. He insists that people don’t need religion to agree on what contributes to something he called “human flourishing”, and their actions can be judged as moral or immoral accordingly. I kind of think he’s right.

But what got my blood boiling is that he never really addressed why it is that people’s blood gets to boiling and what to do about it. Put another way, Sam Harris didn’t acknowledge that there’s a difference between knowing what flourishing is and actually flourishing. And as I stormed around in frustration and disgust, I wasn’t flourishing. But I wasn’t thrown into this state of non flourishment by mistakenly thinking that an unshaven 43 year old, stomping through the house on his day off with caulking on his hands, cursing into his phone is the perfect image of a flourishing human being. It’s just that in wanting to set Sam Harris straight, I was the one who couldn’t manage to flourish just then.

Knowing what flourishing looks like and actually flourishing in one’s life aren’t the same thing. And the real question is “What’s a person to do about it? How do we actually change? How do our lives actually come to flourish?”

The Grand Prix: 15K Race

Well I think today might count as one of the coldest runs I've done in a loooong time. And only the second or maybe third time ever that I've run in the snow. We had a snow storm come through here yesterday. It snowed and then it sleeted and then it snowed some more. Oddly enough, we didn't have very much accumulation.. maybe 2-3 inches? 

Anyway, the race was supposed to take place at 9 this morning, but was postponed to noon instead. And thank God for that! Even though we had clear skies and full sun, it was only 30 degrees when we got to the race. Brrr!!

So my primary goal for the race was to just run the entire distance without walking. It's been over a year since I've run that far (I think.. I'm actually not really sure). My secondary goal was to run the entire race at an average pace of 11:15/mile or less. I marked the time on my watch at each split so I could keep track of how well I was pacing. My first couple of miles were all faster than my goal pace, so I kept track of how much time I was "banking" each time. 

I only ran at my goal pace for one of my mile splits. For every other mile, I actually ran much faster. I took a power gel around mile 6 and briefly ran without my jacket for about a mile (thinking that I was going to overheat). But once the wind started blowing (and it really picked up toward the end) I put my jacket back on and stayed bundled up. 

James finished way ahead of me (as always) and came back up the course to help me run the last mile or so in. By the time he caught up with my, both my hips and my left knee were really starting to ache and feel stiff. I really wish I'd taken some ibuprofen before the run, but we didn't pack any in our running bag. 

So anyway, my official finish time for the 15K (roughly 9.3 miles) was 1:42:43 (11:02/mile pace). I finished 127th out of 177 women and 20th out of 27 in my age group. I'm still waiting on Grand Prix results to find out how many points I earned. I don't know how many of the runners in my age group are also competing in the Grand Prix (all but one from the One Hour Track Run were there). If there were no new Grand Prix competitors in my division, then I'll end up with 15 points (woo hoo!). It'll be a few more days before I know that, though. 

Here are some pictures:

This is around mile 8.5 or so, right before James joined me

 

I may not look that bundled up, but I'm wearing TWO pairs of socks, TWO pairs of running tights, a tank top, an Under Armor cold gear mock-turtleneck, a technical tee, a jacket, gloves, and a hat.

James likes to pretend he's tired, but he's not.

My sweet DH

Yeah. We're pretty darn cute.

Update - Well the Grand Prix results are up and there were a few more participants that ran the 15K than had been at the One Hour Track Run, so I only ended up earning 3 points (BOO!!). But that's okay. I know that I ran a really good race for me and I'm satisfied with that. Like I said at the beginning of all this, my goal is not to be the fastest and to earn the most points at the events. My goal is to run every event and to earn my points for being determined and consistent. Two down, 18 to go!

And may the peace of the Lord be always with you.