True, I hit a few good balls, (I was pretty hot with the sticks in the mid-eighties), but fear not, my endurance career is still the priority over a mid-life comeback on the fairway. Nevertheless, my first fore at Top Golf was REALLY fun!!!
Last Wednesday morning at 6:30AM PST, my husband, Marion, our dog Blueberry, and yours truly drove off in our, “not quite built out, but still smooth and comfortable” Sprinter van due East on the 10 freeway toward El Paso, TX. At 10:30PM MST, we rolled into my sister-in-law’s driveway, and at 5:00AM MST the following morning (Thanksgiving), I jumped in the car with my favorite runner in Texas, (my sister-in-law, Ecklyn), to join her and a handful of other runners on a brisk and blustery 6-mile jaunt through the empty and dark downtown streets of El Paso, TX, and nearby border city, Juarez, Mexico.
I barely slept during the few hours in between our long drive from LA and the start of that lovely (EARLY) run, but rather than being tired, I was invigorated and grateful for the invitation to share a big part of myself with Ecklyn and her buds; already feeling thankful well before sunrise.
The next two days were fueled by adrenaline, roasted vegetables, and love and devotion to these two wonderful people and their kin.
My world, aka, my husband, Marion, and step-daughter, Hannah.
I even lobbed up the winning card that locked in their victory during our steely/hilarious Thanksgiving night Skip-Bo Team Tournament.
Post-thanksgiving dinner/mid Skip-Bo Team Tournament. From Left: Yours truly, Hannah, my nephew Tony, my BIL, Jason, my nephew, Nick, Marion, my MIL, SIL, Ecklyn, and our Weim, Blueberry.
If you haven’t played Skip-Bo, check it out, it’s a super fun, but extremely cutthroat card game when played in certain gigantic states. Therefore, I just played my role in keeping the mood light and upbeat, while trying to limit too many false moves. In essence, I didn’t play to win, I played to survive.
Scene on my run.
I ran solo on Friday morning because Ecklyn and her family had a memorial to attend, so I eased into the day after logging a decent amount of sleep, and then ventured off on an exploratory, and quick four-mile jaunt around their gorgeous and expansive neighborhood.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up with my mother-in-law, her sister, Aunt Sheila, Hannah, and Marion, while Blueberry was curled up on Hannah’s lap.
We covered a lot.
As with most families, no two are the same, and I grew up in one very different from Marion’s; not better or worse, just different. Insert here: A long, emotional, and rambling passionate paragraph that will be exasperatedly written and then quickly deleted. Hot Tip: Whether choosing to publish it or not, it’s always worth writing IT out. :)
Later that night we celebrated my nephew, Tony’s twentieth birthday at that aforementioned towering and soundtrack thumping driving range/entertainment spectacle, Top Golf. Besides briefly reuniting with my golf prowess of yester-year, the highlight of the night was meeting the amazing human, fellow blogger, and kindred tall lady, my nephew’s life-long friend, Campbell Bowden.
Campbell and yours truly at Top Golf, El Paso. Marion had to document the rare "in person"event of another woman similar to my lengthy stature.
Campbell is a former Division One volleyball player at Baylor College who was side-lined her Freshman year due to a bout with Lyme disease. I enjoyed our wonderful conversation about the purpose and meaning behind sharing our stories publicly, and how that simple, yet courageous act of vulnerability can help others find their own strength by learning no one is ever alone in their struggles, and no matter how challenging life becomes, a positive outlook is always possible. Yes, it’s much easier to be negative, searching for the silver-lining in suffocating darkness is hard, but always worth the effort.
To learn more about Campbell, and to read her blog, CLICK HERE:
Originally, we planned to drive home Sunday, but with the promise of facing even nuttier traffic than we trudged through on Wednesday, we opted to break up the trip over two days for our sojourn home. Therefore, we decided on Friday night to leave Saturday afternoon for Tucson, and then aim to conquer the final leg of the trip back to California on Sunday.
But first, I had a cold and rainy thirteen mile run on tap early Saturday morning with Ecklyn and her running group. Sadly, it was too wet and dark to justify bringing my phone, so I have no photo evidence of the romp across the Rio Grande to the hinterlands overlooking El Paso, but the run was absolutely stellar, and inked another awesome memory in my heart and soul within my third ever visit to West Texas.
And then all of a sudden, it was time to go home...
We arrived back to unseasonably warm conditions, (even for Southern California), just after 2PM PST on Sunday afternoon, and were fast asleep by 7:30PM PST. Eleven hours later, the house started to stir (Blue was conked out, too) as the magnitude of the previous five days (actually, all of November) finally settled down.
There is no doubt that November was a rough month emotionally for me, and although I didn’t want my training to completely fall off a cliff after Backbone Camp, I just couldn’t give it the time, energy, and focus it deserved. Plus, I knew that I would break in half if I failed any, and/or all of the workouts Hillary assigned, so I requested a break in formal training in order to release some stress the rest of the eleventh month of year in the hope that I would emerge refreshed and ready to get back to it on December 1st. Well, I am happy to report that I woke up ready to get back to it on November 29th.
*I credit those 10+ glorious hours of sleep delivering me out of my November funk ahead of schedule. :)
End of November fun run.
The last two years have been odd to say the least, but throughout the last few weeks of being open to, and allowing in all of the pain and power each day introduced, instead of feeling unsure, or disillusioned about the uncertain future, I have grown VERY excited about what comes next. Next week, next month, next year, and beyond...
There is still so much I want to do, (there is still SO much for all of us TO DO), but I am certainly not waiting until January 1st to get started, I am starting right now.
Let’s GO!!!
The song and video choice this week is a live performance clip from Dave Grohl, the author of the FANtastic, and most recent book I read, The Storyteller, and his band, the Foo Fighters, accompanied by their special guest, Nandi Bushell. I guarantee these eleven minutes will make you smile. :)