Time Flies

I cannot believe how time has flown by over the last few weeks. Tomorrow is the start of the end. I have my last Monday class until the fall. Thursday is final presentations and I am out of here and headed up north Thursday night.

I feel like I just moved in yesterday.

There are many things I will miss being away from campus such as the free workout center, friends being around every corner, sisters and spending evenings at the Phi Sig house, and afternoon walks downtown. Other things, like my miniature bathroom, Sodexo food and 50 year old mattresses  I won't miss for a second.  I cannot wait to get back to my home-cooked meals that I plan, shop for, and cook myself and know exactly what is in it instead of eating "Banana Surprise" - a breakfast desert made from what appeared to be cake, pudding, oreos, bananas and cool whip - good job, Sodexo! I will be so thankful to be sleeping at home on my brand new bed and enjoying all the comforts of home again, including spending time with family and Nick of course!

Speaking of Nick, I am not sure if I mentioned this on here or not yet but the reason we are heading north this weekend is for Nick. He will be running his very first marathon on Saturday morning. It is called the Bayshore Marathon and spans the length of the peninsula running alongside the bay the whole time. It is going to be truly beautiful and is my favorite city at least in Michigan.

Then we will have a weekend of celebrating his completion and birthday (Sunday!) I feel like it was just the other day when he was up at Alma visiting and had to get up bright and early to secure a spot in the marathon. Ever since then he has been training and working his way up to run this 26.2 mile journey.  I am incredibly proud of him and his determination to do a marathon before he turns 20, which he will be doing by less than 24 hours!! And I am so happy that I will get a chance to be there for it.

Sadly, being there means I have to miss Highland Festival in Alma. I have always wanted to be here for it and haven't had the chance too, yet. I will (hold me to it!) be here for it next year. It is a day of all things Scottish from food, to music, to attire and everything in between. My family will be here and my sister will be competing in the Highland Dance competition. I'm sure they will have a great weekend.

Anyway, back to Spring Term ending. I am pretty sure part of the reason it has gone so fast was that I went home two of the three weekends and this weekend my aunt (and Alma College Alumni) and two of her friends came up for the night. I took them on a tour of "what has changed in Alma" and we got Pizza Sams! We also went to Petticoat Junction for breakfast this morning. It was a good time and I was so glad to see them.

Another thing on my mind today is that this weekend is both DHS and EFHS's proms. I cannot believe it has been two years since Nick and I attended our senior proms. (They were NOT on the same weekend - that is just crazy!) We had such a great time and I sincerely hope that all the seniors this year have the same experience we did!

Throwback prom photos!

Now I am going to be reminiscing through "old" photos all day!

Happy Sunday! Go plant a garden or something!

xoxox

Time.

So tonight I hoped to be doing a positive  upbeat blog about the yummy dinner I made. However, I do not feel that I can ignore the events that have taken place today.

As I was sitting here, taking everything in and really trying to sort through it all and decide how to write about the horrible disaster at the Boston Marathon, a song came on through my Pandora that shed some light onto everything for me. I want to share the link and the lyrics with you. The song is Time by Hootie & The Blowfish.  Time on Youtube.

Time, 
Why you punish me? 
Like a wave crashing into the shore, you wash away my dreams. 
Time, 
Why you walk away? 
Like a friend with somewhere to go, you left me cryin' 

(Bridge) 
Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow and all the pain and sorrow, 
Runnin' free? 
'Cause tomorrow's just another day, and I don't believe in time. 

Time, 
I don't understand. Children killin' in the street, dyin' for the color of a rag. 
Time, 
Take their red and blue. Wash them in the ocean make them clean, maybe their mothers won't cry tonight 

(Chorus) 
Time is wastin', time is walking. 
You ain't no friend of mine. 
I don't know where i'm going. 
I think i'm out of my mind, thinkin' about time. 

And if I die tomorrow, yeah, just lay me down to sleep. 

Time, 
You left me standin' there. Like a tree growin' all alone. The wind just stripped me bare, stripped me bare. 
Time, 
The past has come and gone. The future's far away. Well now only lasts for one second, one second. 

You ain't no friend of mine. 
I don't know where i'm goin. 
I think i'm out of my mind. 

Time without courage and time without fear, is just wasted, wasted, wasted time, oh. 

So much of our lives are based on time. The events of today were based on time. All those runners had on their minds were time. They had no idea what would happen in time.

The time was 2:50pm. Where were you at that time? I was sitting at home, watching the news stories unfold. Some other people were not so lucky, but were watching it unfold right in front of them. Others cannot remember exactly what happened at 2:50 pm today, and others do not know what time it is right now.

You see, at 2:50pm today innocent family members and friends were watching their loved ones compete against time. A marathon is an individual event, based purely on time. You race against a clock, against your goals, and against your personal best. Some people today were racing away from an explosion, and away from danger, and racing so much more than time.

Some people were in the location of the bombs at 2:45pm, but by 2:50 had continued moving along the race route to be far enough away to avoid impact. These people had time on their side.

Time can change so much. Why 2:50pm? Who is behind this horrific event and why did they chose 2:50pm? Is there significance  Or does it have more to do with the fact that it was 4 hours and 9 minutes into the marathon? Did someone know who would be crossing through around that time? Did they know who would already be done and gone? Or did they know that a large group would come in around now? They did know the streets of Boston would be packed, and knew that many people would be affected.

There are so many questions that may not be answered for hours, or days, or longer. It is all in time's hands now. All we can do is wait to see what is discovered.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the friends and families, victims and rescue crews, and also to anyone that was in Boston today that witnessed this horrible event. Time wasn't on your side. 

Perks of Dating a Runner?

I would have never in a million years imagine that I would be dating a person whose favorite thing to do is run. You see, running and I.... water & oil. I can't run one block without stopping. Never could. I was the girl in gym class who would hide to try to cut a lap off my run and still ended up with a 21-minute mile and a half. I. don't. run.

Well guess what... Nick does.

Nick also played soccer, both of which require long drives to events and early mornings. The strange piece of the equation here is I like early mornings (sometimes.. depends how early were talking) and I love driving and going on long drives. Is this how I ended up at his number one groupie?

Why am I rambling on and on about this you may ask? Well I was thinking about this a lot today as I was getting up at 6am to go volunteer at the Martian Marathon. Even when Nick isn't running in the races.. he always wants to go help at them! I don't mind volunteering, and once in awhile 6am isn't so bad either, so I went along to help.

Guess what.... today, April 13th, might has well of been January 13th. It was SO cold and even snowed at one point. Here I am, standing with a stop sign, blocking people from driving down their streets and sending people home because they cannot drive through thousands of runners, all while admiring running shoes and planning another way to spend $100.

I was a "course marshal" and because of that, got this really cool sweatshirt!

Notice the "Obey Me!" Also, the back says "Ground Control."

Those packets that I am holding are called Gu, and they are essentially packets of sugars, carbs and electrolytes to provide energy while running. They are all the rage with runners and Nick just happened to get his hand on over 100 packets of this stuff today for volunteering. Mind you, each packet costs like $1.50 individually...  He was like a kid in a candy shop.

At one point during the race, I was running in place to keep myself warm and a lady ran by who said to me "Next you you need to be out here with a bib on!" and I said "No thanks, I'm a horrible runner!" to which she replied "A few years ago I couldn't make it from my front door to my drive way and look at me now - I'm running a marathon!"  That may have been inspirational, if I was not frozen solid and thinking about how crazy these people were to be running 26.2 miles in the rain, sleet and snow.

Another thing I always find interesting at races is that runners tend to put together interesting outfits. Some of which are costumes, but others just neon colors or other strange combinations. Today, in honor of the martian theme, there were several galactic costumes from "another world!" At the Corktown race, for St. Patrick's Day, there were fairies and hot dogs and all sorts of other things. I have become very good at people watching thanks to six years of watching Nick's sporting events.

After the race, and after getting my cup of Tim Hortons delicious goodness that I could not get before the race because I would not be a near a bathroom, Nick and I decided to go to Ikea.  I am getting a new bed and have been looking at all sorts of them and so far, my favorites are all from Ikea. Ikea was pretty much a zoo today. It took almost 15 minutes to find a parking spot. Best thing about Ikea --- Lingonberry Soda, just saying! I left with an umbrella for just $2.99 and a .99 cent ice cube tray and lots of photos of beds I want. Nick wanted to make another stop at Running Fit (Ya know, he hadn't had enough running for one day!!!!!!!) so we did that as well. He got himself a "stick," - more runner's lingo! - that is for massaging your legs and I got my feet analyzed. Apparently I surprised the worker because my feet when analyzed on their pressure machine showed that I turned them inward  but when i walked they actually turn out? (Something like that? Go figure - another reason not to run!)

We finally headed for home, but that is always easier said than done. We ended up meeting my mom at Big Lots to look and see what they had as far as bedrooms go, then getting something from her that needed to be delivered to Auntie A, which then resulted in a visit with Charlie and Ruby, and yes I know this sentence is incredibly long but so was my day.

Then I took a nap! A nap that lasted only an hour but felt like twelve. It was luxurious.

Now Nick and I are making cinnamon rolls and discussing our plans for his next race - The Bayshore Marathon- his first marathon! It is in Traverse City on Memorial Day Weekend. I told you.... number one groupie. Where Nick will run, I will get up way to early and stand around to see him run by for 30 seconds.

Goodnight!

xoxo

P.s. I thought I would leave you with a really horrible photo of me that should bring a smile to your face. Short story behind this photo... there is a heat vent down there. When we got back from the race it was blowing out all sorts of hot air and that little spot seems to be the warmest in the house

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