“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

I woke up this morning, the first day of summer vacation, with complete and utter joy that I did not have to pack lunches, find misplaced shoes, sign binders/permission slips, or get a last minute note that oh BTW, your child is responsible for 20 cupcakes today. And to top it all off, I slept in uninterrupted until 7:05. It was glorious. (My inner teenager is horrified that I think 7:05 is sleeping in, but whatever. I'll take it.)

I thought I'd blog about my OC Half Marathon to celebrate the fact that I finally put my suitcase back in the attic after being home a little more than a month now from my trip to CA. See people, never worry about how pathetic you may feel at any given time. I assure you there is always a higher level of pathetic out there, and that I most likely have achieved it. So get out there and feel good about yourself!!

Kay, for starters, if I can stop my uncontrollable laughter just thinking of it, this is NOT me.

Knowing what I know now about surfing and the extreme level of difficulty, I just naturally assumed you would know that this picture is light years away from what I could do on a surfboard. But for reals, a serious THANK YOU to all those who made the leap that this was yours truly. (Rhett actually had to hold the computer an inch from his face to verify that it wasn't me. I needed a good laugh.)

So through a series of scheduling conflicts and knee injuries, it was finally decided upon that I would run the OC Marathon this past May 3rd in SoCal. (That's what us locals call it.)

Fellow runners out there can attest to the fact that once the race bug bites, the itch is not satisfied until you see it through. Doing the race there provided an excellent way to visit family. And let me tell you, if you ever would like to be a minute from the beach, have chance encounters with celebrities, be fed till bursting with great food, go to Disneyland and be driven everywhere, no matter how early, go stay with my cousins Alan and Kristina. (Email me. I'll give you their cells.) It was a much needed week of relaxing and fun. (Well, except for that whole running 13.1 miles thingy)

So even though the surfing picture was the result of a Google Images search, I did get some surfing lessons from my cousin. Well, he was wise to give me "ocean lessons" before we attempted surfing lessons. A city girl most of my life, I couldn't remember ever being in the ocean. Every time I got water in my mouth and it didn't taste like a lake, it was a shock to my system all over again. The water wasn't exactly bath water temps and the power of the waves was a bit startling as well.

So, I'm playing around in the waves with a Boogie Board for no more that 15 minutes before I start to notice Alan looking over his shoulder repeatedly. I don't think much of it at first since he had described the whole being careful to not drift to far away from where you start thing. But the more he looks, the more I start to remember that I am in the ocean and oh yeah, sharks live here. I finally ask him in a slight panic what he keeps glancing back at thinking at any moment he's going to say in that relaxed, chill SoCal way: "Now I don't want you to panic, but you see that dorsal fin swimming towards us? We're going to want to swim away from that."

What actually happened is going to be lost on so many since so few people in my life are fans of the show Prison Break. I love the show, and even sent my DVDs to Kristina and Alan and all but forced them to watch it, threatening guilt and family loyalty. My demands paid off with two new highly dedicated and enthusiastic PB fans. As it turns out, one of the stars of the show is Dominic Purcell, avid surfer, and local resident. Alan had seen him a couple of times around town, once being on the beach, and was pretty sure that a one Dominic Purcell was now walking our way down the shore.

We quickly devised a plan with no real structure once I got there, but that I would ride the next wave in on the Boogie Board and confirm that it was in fact him. I ever so coolly and not the slightest bit dork-ily, walked out of the water, got within five feet of him, turned excietedly back to Alan and gave him a big thumbs up while mouthing: "That's him!"

Later we started to construe this elaborate story that I had actually approached Dominic, we got to talking, became total BFF's, was asked to do a guest spot on the show...there was even talk at one point of Photoshop and putting together some doctored photos, but all that work and effort to make you all green with envy would be wasted on a mass part of my viewership who could care less. Dominic who? It pains me. But just know that it was very cool.

(Here is a rare picture of him smiling. He typically has all the trappings of the dark and brooding.)

A couple days later I attempted the real surfing deal. While the hardest part just might be getting in and out of the wetsuit, this sport is for real. I took a couple of spills that scared the living daylights out of me. It made getting eaten by sharks, fall down the list of things to be worried about. You walk away giving the ocean and the surfers out there making it look easy a little "Namaste" bow of respect.

We continued on my list of firsts by also going to Disneyland. That's right. Never been. I was experiencing the park much like my younger cousins, Ethan and Amara; Complete with being awestruck with the big costumed characters. My favorite ride of the day (and keep in mind I didn't ride everything) was Space Mountain, followed closely by Indiana Jones. My little cousin Amara helped me be brave during the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, by hugging me tightly throughout:)

(Ethan and Amara)


The place where all the magic happens.


Welcome to Liforni! You get the idea;)


This Star Wars show was awesome. Amara got chosen (by no small feat of the three adults all but tossing her out there during the picking process) to go get trained at the Jedi Academy. As it so happened, Darth Vader and Darth Maul showed up!! Can you believe the timing?? They had just learned how to fight with their lightsabers and not a moment too soon. There were some tense moments, but she stayed true to the Force and did not fall away to the Dark side.




Surfing, hobnobbing with celebrities, and Disneyland is a full and complete trip in and of itself, but there was still that business of 13.1 miles.

Training for a race is the meat and vegetables. Race day is the dessert. Especially if you can do it in a scenic place by the ocean. The course was beautiful, the weather was great, and my Ipod was full of good music. I started the race around 7am and ran it around a 2 hour pace. There was a loneliness to my training that I didn't like and so I worried I would feel a bit lost in a sea of runners, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed myself. It reminded me that race day is a solitary run for everyone, even if you have a partner with you. A race ultimately against yourself. Training for a race is setting an intention for who you want to be at the end of it, and race day is the accountability for that intention.

Part of our course was through this Wildlife preserve. I don't know why I thought this sign was just the funniest. It made me wonder who put it there. The people,or the birds...


I had such an excellent time and can't wait to figure out another excuse to go back. Besides, I promised Ethan and Amara I would up my Lego's Indiana Jones game skillset. It's painfully lacking. Thanks again you guys, for everything!!

"What distinguishes those of us at the starting line from those of us on the couch is that we learn through running to take what the days gives us, what our body will allow us, and what our will can tolerate." - John Bingham