Saturday, December 14, 2013

'Tis the Season.

Happy Holidays.

I just needed to say that.

It makes me feel so politically correct.

And for the record, I do not see anything wrong with wishing all of my friends Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays covers the season; all of it - without offending. After all, I do have some Jewish friends and some atheist friends and some non-Christian friends who are celebrating  holidays other than Christmas at this time of year.
  
Happy to you! All of you!



Now on Christmas Day, you will hear me say Merry Christmas  - because after all, it is Christmas  - Christ's birthday - or the day we choose to celebrate his birthday. Jesus was a good person, and a good teacher, in my opinion.  I like the things he taught - do unto others and all that. His birthday is certainly worth celebrating. And since he is no longer here on earth to receive birthday presents, let's celebrate by giving each other presents and spending time together.  I am good with that.  You can all celebrate my birthday when I am dead and gone.  Give each other presents.  It would make me happy.  And cake - chocolate cake:)



If you believe Jesus was more, you are entitled to your opinion - and your celebration of that belief.  

But  for the record, I do not believe that you have to believe Jesus Christ  is God or the son of God to celebrate his birthday.  Just as we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.  I do not think anyone believes MLK is a god, but his birthday is certainly worth celebrating.  In my opinion, they could step up that celebration a bit and give us all a paid holiday....



Personally, I do not believe Jesus was or is  the son of the one true God.  I am not sure I believe in the concept of one true God.  I believe there are gods that each of us worship in our own way.  If they help us through life, more power to us  - and them.

I also do not believe that Jesus was immaculately conceived. That is just a little too far-fetched for my logical mind.  I have a feeling Joseph the carpenter probably felt the same way. In fact, I bet he was pretty offended that someone else was taking credit for his son.  But then again, maybe not.  It did get him off the hook for Mary's pre-marital pregnancy. Lucky for him DNA technology was still far off in the future.  






Sunday, December 8, 2013

You ran out of what????

Yesterday, I WALKED the 5k Christmas Story Run.

I realize now that I should have tried to actually RUN  a little more, instead of at the very end to make it look good as I crossed the finish line.

Because, if I had RAN just a little more and actually passed up a couple more people, I would have not had to wait around another hour in the freezing cold to get the medal I just earned.


It's a major award and I earned it....

And as I crossed the finish line a volunteer was supposed to hand me one....

I watched as the runner in front of me got his....

And heard the volunteer tell me...wait for it...

"We're out of medals."

Say what????

You are out of medals????  I walked for that medal.  I paid for that medal - this run was not cheap!!!  

Ok, so maybe that is not totally fair.  Come to find out, they just ran out of medals at the 5k finish line.

I could go to the 10k finish line and get my medal. Or I could wait a few minutes and they would send some from the 10k finish to the 5k finish. My choice.

Ok, I could wait a few minutes.  I was still warm from walking/running (a little).

Well the few minutes turned into over an hour - I kid you not.  The wait was longer than it took me, or any one else for that matter, to run/walk 5k.  By that time, I was freezing - as were the nearly 100 hundred other runners/walkers who finished the 5k behind me (I wasn't last as I had feared all week- yay me!).

It was not a pleasant wait.  They kept telling us that the medals would be sent to different locations near the finish...wait right here, no wait over there, no we will bring them here.....

And then, when the box of medals finally arrived, it was handed to the unnamed  (because I do not know it) person  (I will not say gentleman, because he is not)  in charge.  Mr. Non-Gentleman grabbed the box and literally plowed (like a football linebacker) through the crowd of waiting finishers, actually knocking into me (and a few others) almost dropping me/us to the ground.  He ran right through us and kept going 100 yards to the food tent where we had been told the medals would definitely not be sent (after we had been told they would be there and then not and then yes and then...).

[Sigh]

There were other snafus along the way that kind of irked a few of us....conflicting packet pickup instructions, and changing parking and busing info.  The event is the first annual, so the planning should only get better, right?  I am not sure I will make the trip back next year to find out.  It was pretty expensive to begin with and I am not sure I trust them to plan better enough next year to make it worth it.  Standing in the cold for an hour was the last straw.  Granted, we could have waited in the over-warm, overcrowded gift shop but every few minutes we were told the medals were on the way.  I just did not realize that it would take the same amount of time to go 3 miles by car that it took me on foot. My bad.


But all in all it was a fun walk through downtown Cleveland.
And there were posters along the way with trivia about the movie.
And there was plenty to do downtown had I chosen to stick around,  but a hot bath seemed to be calling...

And best of all, I had a personal best time: 55:56.7 
OK, so maybe it is not that great, but it was my first official walk,and I can only get better, right?

And my daughter and her friend, who actually ran fast enough to not have to worry about getting get a medal before they ran out, also had personal bests....under 35 minutes.

Yay us!

So I may not do the Christmas Story Run next year, but I have resolved to keep walking and to register to walk in at least one other run this spring.


Who knows, next time I may even RUN a little more than the last 10 yards:)