Badwater Ultramarathon

26.2 is long enough for me. And I am almost certain I will never do anything longer. But I still found this inspiring.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/08/12/california.badwater.ultramarathon/index.html

"You run Badwater because there's something in you that wants to get out there, in the middle of nowhere, and think about something. It's a way of freeing yourself, getting back to what I really believe people are supposed to be doing instead of relying so much on a bunch of material crap that only makes us weaker. We are built to run, to cover great distance, for survival sake."

St George - 2nd

NAME: Julie Isaacson
EVENT: Marathon
DATE: Saturday, 3 October 2010
BIB/DIV: 5894 / Women 25-29
GUN TIME: 3h:52m:35s
CHIP TIME: 3h:38m:57s (net)
OVERALL: 1088
SexPl: 239
DivPl:32

Do you know what that means?? BOSTON!!! April 18th.

It was an emotional and painful ending. Crossing the finished line, I was so sure it was last year all over again.

Warning: some of these photos are not pretty.

Thanks for taking the pics Em! And thanks Scott, Emily, and Betty for cheering me on at the end.

worth a few minutes

http://mormon.org/people/

Creative Idea for Those Old Clothes

My sister sent me this link - creative solution for my old clothes/t-shirts (see post from August 12).

http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2010/09/finalists-and-final-vote-lil-blue-boo.html

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have the skills (or the sewing machine) for it.
I also don't have kids for it either.

Weight of the World

Sometimes you read/hear things and quickly forget. But others you read/hear and remember always.

I heard this in 2001 and have read many times since. The load during college was heavy - and this seemed to help lighten it.

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=848&x=46&y=1

"My purpose today is to remind us that we are not involved in a weight-lifting competition to determine whose world weighs the most. Instead, we are involved in the competition of helping others to lift the weight of their world when it becomes unbearable."
How:
1. Lend a listening ear.
2. Look for small things.
3. Err on the side of action.

Time to move to plastic?

The set had 12 glasses when we got married. We are down to 5. Another broke in the sink again tonight as I was putting dishes away.

Mom tried out real glasses when we were growing up - we broke all those and moved back to the plastic ones.

Either this is one small step toward simplifying and eliminating excess in our kitchen, or Scott and I will be shifting to plastic sometime in the next few months.

But Will It Make You Happy?

I can't find the cord for my camera - There's a lot to share from the last month, but without pictures, it's a bit boring.

A friend recommended a great article on Monday about happiness, money, and simplicity - Its called 'But Will It Make You Happy?'
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=general&src=me&adxnnlx=1281362407-CcBVGaicBZqwEVIrK9FjWQ

It came at a timely moment. Just the day before, I'd being feeling so claustrophic in our apartment. After a week in the wide-open spaces, tall trees, and quaint lake town of McCall Idaho, it was hard to come back to our tiny place. I measured it tonight - its less that 500 sq ft.

One theme of the article focused on simplifying and decluttering. I dont think I could abide by the '100 Thing Challenge' mentioned in the article--maybe I could, but I'm not sure how I could dress for work, church, running, and fun on such a limited wardrobe--but it is an intriguing concept.

So we started with the closet.

*** Imagine a large laundray basket heaped high with clothes and shoes spilling over ***

It feels better already. Waking up and being able to find just the shirt i want to run in without rummaging through the ones I don't like. Coming back from my run, rushing to get to work and being able to quickly decide what to wear since their are fewer options. And not feeling guilty about not wearing the clothes that need ironing, they aren't among my choices anymore.

Its hard to know what to do with it all - as I organized and folded everything, I was struck with the memories. T-shirts from races that I've run - paid for both in money and sweat. That pair of shoes that I wanted and waited 6 months to buy, but I just dont wear tennis shoes often enough to justify keeping a cool blue pair. A nice jacket from Ann Taylor that I spent a lot on and that I thought I would love wearing to work - maybe i wore it 3 times. And other work clothes that I used to wear so often, but dont need with the more relaxed dress code at my current job.

It seems hard to just give some of those memories away - and I doubt the running shirts will be lucrative or a fast moving item for the thrift store. I made a t-shirt quilt about 6 years ago. I'm questioning if I need another.

Any other ideas?