I've carried a planner around with me since law school. It is a bit of Franklin Covey's finest fake black leather, peeling and cracked like parchment flakes, and full of the oddly necessary bits of my life: the first day of my last period; a daily account of my water intake; the last time my furry kid was at the groomer; the weekly training schedule; reminders to pay my student loans; stickies with ridiculous, un-remember-able passwords; my bone marrow donor credentials; new health insurance cards, unopened and in triplicate; September wedding invitations; Polaroids of suspect moles taken by my oncologist to review with my dermatologist; a Washington Humane Society Paw Print Sticker ("I'm a lifesaver"); my best friend's icing recipe - laminated; a proposed brunch menu for 30; business cards; a menu of dinners for the week; my Rothman Institute doctor's cell phone number; my Students Run Philly Style training schedule; and, among the calendars with various birthdays and color coded social engagements, somewhere in the very back, is a section with six months worth of notes for unwritten blog posts about ghosts of races and runs past.
This post is that list, as it appears in the back of the planner that is my equivalent of George Costanza's wallet, out loud, all caught up, chronologically balanced and ready to move forward. Specifically, what follows is a compilation of my handwritten notes, just as they appear to me now, on paradoxically small paper for what they contain, lined and accented with the abstract art of the Franklin Covey HPOV-Classic model, and completely out of the box:
True Grit: Running on the treadmill at 5:30AM, still dark out, watching my reflection in the blackness of the windows and seeing a guy, post-shoulder surgery, behind me doing squats and working out with his arm in a sling. (2/3)
Keep me in Your Heart for a While - Warren Zevon (3/2014)
A love letter to running: and in the end, there is power in the Yes.
Love Half Marathon (3/30): In the rain with soaked volunteers and spectators and overcome with gratitude for the support and anonymous love not just at the finish line - but even in the darkest, wettest, puddle-filled places on the course.
"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1
Garden Spot Village Marathon: 3rd F 30-34. "Never again" coursing through my veins until I saw Ben waiting for me at mile 26, ready to run me in, and I let him.
Missing the 25k trail run I signed up for on a whim because of the flu and how that screwed with my mind every hour of every day that I was sitting on the couch in my dirty sweatpants with my gross hair watching reruns of the Real Housewives of Melbourne.
7.28.14 - things I've recently discovered: (1) Seltzer in scrambled eggs; (2) coconut water; and (3) Argon Oil.
And, for the love of running (and Warren Zevon),
"Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while."
