Tag: marathon

Tuesday Top of Mind 2/25/2025- It is a marathon, not a sprint

However you have arrived to the conclusion, you must admit that we are in danger.

Not only singular we as a personal group of one or two, but we as a nation.

This is mainly by design. Their design.

The chaos, the mass firings, agency by agency.

All those lives ruined.

All those career civil servants who keep the lights on, and the airplanes where they need to be, who kept the national parks open and safe for visitors – gone.

No matter where you sit on the political aisle, no matter who you voted for, or why you voted the way you did, does this feel good to you? Is this what you wanted?

The number one thing that was cited over and over and over and over and over about why the votes were the way they were was the price of eggs. I know that this was a red herring, after all, the price of eggs is higher than it has ever been.

How is that working for you? You realize now that this is a ridiculous argument, right? Right?

We can get mad and scream and shout accusations.

Or we can get to work.

After all, resistance is not a sprint, but a marathon.

I am ready to weigh in with my purchase power. Are you?

Time to let the companies know that the American people mean business. As in, no business to them on those days.

This Friday is the first organized pocketbook protest. It is a no-buy day.

Nothing.

Nada.

Not even a stick of gum.

One of my friends lives near a shopping center and has told me they are going to keep watch on the cars going toward the shopping center on Friday. They hope that the amount of cars will be less. Time will tell.

The Montgomery bus strike lasted over a year. 381 days to be exact. I am prepared to go the long haul.

I have emptied my Amazon cart and most of my lists. The only things that are left are things for school and books for school. I haven’t bought anything from them since Christmas.

We can do this; we’ve just gotten lazy with the ease and convenience of it all.

It is time to make a new plan. I have curated a list of places I will be buying from, of small businesses that get our money. I have made planting plans for the spring, summer, and fall, and plan for the utilization of our fridge and freezer.

And protest with our buying power. A world in which I can make purchases easily but have a boot on my neck politically is not a world I want to live in. This is how we protest, small ripples that become a wave.

My protest begins with a single action. No-buy on Friday. This is the first action step in what will be a marathon of protesting.

It is time to be prepared.

Sometimes the beginning of the protest comes at a shout, like at some of the town halls that happened this last week.

Sometimes, the beginning of the protest comes with a snap, like the closing of the wallet.

What 5 things did I do last week for my employer? I’m not going to tell you.

Post-it Sunday 11/10/24- me and the marathon

This also is an unusual post-it post.

This is taken exactly, word for word from one of my written to-self notes.

I used to be a runner.

Well, I say a runner.

I was more of a shuffler.

But I participated! And completed 1 full marathon, 12 or so half marathons, one 12-K, several 10Ks, and innumerable 5Ks. A sprint triathlon and I was aiming for a half Ironman in the next year.

And then school beckoned and I fell out of like with the sport.

*** will indicate my current thoughts.

Denied.

7 miles into the half marathon my knees started to lock. The IT band tightening with every footfall. Each time my foot hit the ground the word “denied” sounded in my head.

Not the marathon one wants.

Up until then it had been a great race. 7 miles down in an hour and 10 minutes.

*** see, I told you I was a shuffler.

All my training, hours on the trail, and sweat had me on a great PR (personal record) pace.

Then I was effectively hobbled by knee pain. It took me 1 hour to do the last 3 miles.

*** for those playing along, this is half the pace I had been on.

*** also, this is not a marathon story, this is supposed to be a half marathon story.

Denied.

I wasn’t even supposed to be doing the half. I had an actual 26.2 marathon planned in five weeks. But if you did the half and the full in the same calendar year, you were promised a THIRD medal. And I love race swag. All the medals

Hubris brought me down. No matter that this run was supposed to be the week’s long run.

I limped back to the car and contemplated my lot.

I could still attempt the full marathon in 5 weeks. My training had been going so well. Miles were stacking up and I did not have any warning from my body that it had had enough. My long run was up to 19 miles. I was slow but I endured.

If I tried the marathon on legs that would still be recovering from today I would probably be swept into the DNF (did not finish) pack. I’ve never had a DNF. But 5 weeks is not enough time to rest my legs and rehab from this fresh hell. I could really injure myself if I continued

My car was the last in the parking lot. I don’t know what that says, but it was then that I decided that this year’s marathon was not for me.

I withdrew.

Present day me again. I did a full marathon 9 months after this. I ran in the debut All-American Marathon in Fayetteville, NC at the Army base. That was thrilling.

After I fell in the operating room in September 2019 and had a deep bone bruise to my left knee I have never run another race. We all know what happened in 2020.

Running doesn’t miss me, but sometimes I miss it.

Not really but I will get back out there sometime. Currently, I prefer to box or bike anyway.

You know, solitary endeavors.