THE PICKLE GRABBER

In the midst of madness the simplest things can make you smile.....

A little background before we begin. I am settling into my new house, it is spartan to say the least. And lonely at times. Having lived with someone for the better part of 16 years, the adjustment to solitude can be tough. I don't have cable yet and I rarely turn the TV on. the strangest time is dinner time. It is just me, my dinner and what ever mail I happen to get that day.
I was sitting there two days ago in a funk. Worried about bills, money, the kids, yada yada yada. When I happened on a old book "The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff. So there I am with my spicy brats, corn on the cob, glass of milk and the local coupon paper and the book. Something was missing, I mean besides all of the usual kid sounds at dinner...pickles. How to get the pickles out of the jar, ahha!! I remember my mother-in-law gave a pickle grabber. Bet you never heard someone say THAT before!! Anyway, there I sit reading the foreword of my book fishing the pickles out of the jar and I found myself smiling. For that brief second all that mattered was fishing those pickles out of the jar and every time I got one....YES!!! It dawned on me how little it really takes to make us happy!
The next day, yesterday, I got to see my kids as they come over on Wednesday after work. You ever watch a kid. I mean just sit back and watch them be happy. They don't need money, cars, video games, TV, nice clothes, jewelery, a bunch of toys. Just put a small group of kids together and a game of hide and go seek and I will show you happiness like nothing you will ever see. I have asked this before, when is the last time you ran for the sake of running, or skipped? You have to be careful where you do that second one!!! The point is, stop for a second, grab the pickle grabber and be happy!!! Life is too short not to!

Have a great day and as always thanks for stopping by.

R.P.D.

P.S.
running again...more to come....

I was tagged by coach Ken.

Here are the rules as explained to me.Copy the rules (or your version of them) and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers and then tag 5 new people. If tagged, you’ll find your name at the end of this post.To be sure everyone tagged knows they’ve been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a comment notifying and referring them to your blog for details.Lastly, once the chosen have answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.

Here are my responses.



1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Ten years ago the only running I was doing was to the smoke shop.



2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

My best race was Nike '06, I think partly because it was my first marathon. I still remember every last detail about that day. The worst has to be the Crim that same year. Leading up to that race I had a miserable week and at mile 2 I was already done both physically and mentally.



3. Why do you run?

I started running shortly after I quit smoking. I felt myself getting fat and did not want to be one of those huge ex smokers!! After barely making back to the house after 1 1/2 miles the couch was looking pretty good, but one week later I was signed up for marathon number one...the rest is history.



4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you’ve been given about running?

Best...finish what you started!!! Worst....I honestly can't think of anything.



5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

my middle name is Pierre.



Who I am tagging....

Marathondudebill

Dabigleap

Motownrunnergirl

Gr8lakesrunninggal

Amy @ Runners lounge

WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP....

Wow! Almost 4 months since my last post, what a slacker!!! I could probably go back to June of last year and simply copy/paste and it would fit pretty well. I am incredibly out of shape, although according to coach Ken, round is a shape!!!

Finally have some sort of schedule figured out and I am running again on a regular basis. I have a new house, just got back to work after a 6 week lay off and I have about 20 pounds to lose...

Updates to follow and as always thanks for stopping by...


R.P.D.