The Bourbon Chase

WAIT! WHAT? How come I haven't heard of this till now?

2 days, 200 miles, 6 Kentucky distilleries, with 11 of your friends:



http://youtu.be/QMldPnwNdb8

The Right Honorable, The Lord Mayor, of London

http://youtu.be/z1ROpIKZe-c

One of the Best Running Podcasts I have ever heard

Steve Walker aka Steve Runner has been running since 1998. He has a podcast called Phedippidations (which I subscribe to on my Android phone via the Stitcher app) self described as "Inspirations, motivations, contemplations and conversations for and about runners". He's a running geek - but a thoughtful running geek. In one of his recent podcasts he explored one of the chapters of George Sheehan's book "Going the Distance: One man's journey to the end of his life" which Dr. Sheehan wrote while dying of cancer.

The podcast had me misty-eyed more than once and is one of the best podcasts I have ever heard on why we run. If you are looking for heart-felt motivation to get off the couch, this is worth your time.

Run long and taper.

Quote of the day

Paul said "Be As Harmless A Doves" & "As Wise As Serpents" Christ wants a child's heart, but a grown-up's head

- CS. Lewis

Quote of the day

Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is "finding his place in it," while really it is finding its place in him. 

- CS. Lewis

Quote of the Day

Now I'm a man who ain't afraid
I destroyed my ego just to make the space
Cause I'm born again yeah

-- Richard Ashcroft

Quote of the day

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson

Hoses

by George Bilgere

I love the hoses of summer
hanging in their green coils
from the sides of houses,
or slithering through lawns
on their way to the cool
meditations of sprinklers.

I think of my father, scotch
in one hand, the dripping hose
in the other, probing the dusk
with water, the world
around him falling apart,
marriage crumbling, booze
running the show.
Still, he liked to walk out
after dinner and water the lawn,
fiddling with the nozzle,
misting this, showering that.

Sometimes, in the hot twilight,
my sisters and I would run
in our swimsuits through the yard
while he followed us
with a cold beam of water.

And once, when my mother
came out to watch, he turned
the hose on her, the two of them
laughing in a way we'd never heard,
a laughter that must have brought them
back to the beginning.

Scarred for LIFE

A couple of years back, a friend of ours tipped us off to the work of Ted Meyer and his Scarred for Life project. Holly got in touch to compliment his work and recently we met with him to paint a few of Annie's scars.

We had mixed emotions about it but in the end we decided that we wanted to express that we thought ALL of our Annie-Lu is beautiful - not just the un-scarred parts. Here is Ted's masterful artwork:

his facebook link to this photo is HERE.

Ted asked for a brief Bio on what we thought of Annie's scars for inclusion in an upcoming book and that's why I wanted to do this posting. Here is what I wrote:
__________________________

During the second trimester of our pregnancy, as the ghostly shapes of the ultrasound swirled on the screen, the doctor began to murmur, “Lemon Sign . . . Banana Sign . . . Spinal Defect . . . Clubbed Feet . . .  “. Diagnosis: T5-Level Spina Bifida. Although in the mildest cases, people go their whole lives having Spina Bifida without even knowing it, we were told that our daughter would not survive more than a few hours after birth. Now here we are 4 years later with a happy and precocious Annie-Lu who just started her second year of preschool. 

Due to the severity of her condition, Annie is paralyzed from the waist down and she races about in the cutest glow-in-the-dark wheelchair you have ever seen. When people ask if she will ever walk, my response is, “Not with today’s medical technology but some of the smartest people on earth are working on it.” 

A year from now Annie will have another surgery (her 5th in total) where they will insert metal into her spine to correct the curvature. As parents it feels as if we have been receiving regular insertions of metal into our spines since the day of that ultrasound 4 years ago. It has been a tough road; one that has stripped us down to our core not only as parents but as people and rebuilt us with more tenderness and more steel. 

Children such as Annabelle force our society to slow down and exercise patience for others. Children such as Annabelle force us to reconsider our petty selfish griping in light of the burdens she carries. Annie prompts us to open a door for a child when we would normally push through, to crack an encouraging smile in an otherwise smile-less day. Children such as my daughter, Annie-Lu, force us all to a higher and richer level of compassion, kindness and humanity than our society would otherwise attain. What do I see when I see my daughter’s scars? I see a little girl sent to save us by her example from our endless personal obsessiveness. When I see my daughter’s scars, I see a pint-sized savior; sent to bear the burden of our bitter self-absorption and to help us free ourselves from it.
_____________________________
She's gonna show you how great she is

Ashley Lauren Fisher

http://youtu.be/R7HM5SKlDWo

Quote of the Day

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.

- Kenji Miyazawa

Quote of the Day

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

"In America Anyone Can Be President That's One of the Risks You Take."

- Anonymous

Quote of the Day

The virtue of courage is a prerequisite for the practice of all other virtues otherwise one is virtuous only when virtue has no cost.

- CS Lewis

Quote of the Day

Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth; but you gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you aren't where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that's not you. You're better than that!

- Rocky Balboa

Quote of the Day

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. 

- CS Lewis

Quote of the Day

"Perhaps the outstanding example of blame displacement in chronically anxious America is what has come to be called anti-incumbency, the tendency of voters to reject whoever is in office almost irrespective of their party affiliation. This flailing at the political winds amounts to a collective irresponsibility on the part of voters seeking magical, quick-fix answers to a complex range of the problems of existence. Instead of focusing on their own response to the challenges of change, these voters find fault in their political stars. And it is not just a political phenomenon; it is occurring with regard to coaches, educators, CEOs, and clergy, not to mention marriage partners and parents ... It is more a reactive response to the voter's own inner emptiness, personal frustration, general unhappiness, loss of hope, and feelings of helplessness."


- Edwin Friedman, A Failure of Nerve, 79-80

Quote of the Day

I'm not a good runner, but I'm better than someone who doesn't do it at all.

- Captain "Sully" Sullenberger

Tell Someone

Walk up to your most unsupportive acquaintance and inform him you have started running. This is preferably a person who was as lazy as you were just before the first run (one run and you're no longer lazy!), someone who will chuckle or even make fun of you. Ridicule is a strong motivator. Ask anyone who has ever achieved anything in life to tell you about the high school teacher who told him he'd never amount to anything.

- Runner's World

Quote of the Day

The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other.

- CS Lewis

Quote of the Day

"Dogmatic ideological parties tend to splinter the political and social fabric of a nation, lead to governmental crisis and deadlocks, and stymie the compromises so necessary to preserve freedom and achieve progress."

- George Romney in a 1964 response on why he did not endorse Barry Goldwater

Fun Run

So my buddy Sean had the idea to hike Cowels Mountain one day to watch the sunrise. Cowles is the highest peak in San Diego County at a little over 1500 feet and I had never hiked it so I was stoked to give it a try in the dark!

We got the trail head around 5am, strapped on our headlamps and headed up.

This is the view of the valley from the top of Cowels:

There is a trail that links Cowels peak to another peak named Piles. I had heard that very few people ever made the extra hike over to Piles so I was all for it. Sean was content to relax and watch the sunrise from Cowels so I struck out on my own to see if I could make it before the sun came up.

There is something exhilarating about running an unfamiliar trail in the dark all by your self and I loved it.

Just before sunrise at Piles Peak:

Looking back at Cowels from Piles peak (Cowels peak is just behind the radio towers):

Clouds blanketing the valley below:

Moon above the valley:

Almost!:

WHAMO!:

It was a blast and I definitely plan on doing it again!

Great idea Sean! Thanks!



http://youtu.be/wHs_XvtulzA

Quote of the Day

We can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling 'darkness' in his cell

- CS Lewis

Quote of the Day

You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will. 

- CS Lewis

Quote of the Day

"Son, this is a big day for you. Today, you become the man of the house, because, when we get home, your mother is going to kill me."

- The Family Guy