The Scampering Horse

I just ran a lot. The event was Ragnar. It is a thing people pay to do because our lives aren't difficult enough. And people like to do hard things together Also, it is fun. Ragnar is a 200 mile relay race where each team has a runner going throughout the day and night. Did I mention people pay to do this? I just kind of can't get over it. I paid. There is a culture surrounding the event, involving costumes, vans with writing on them, glow-sticks, and a symbol that looks like an alien butterfly. Doesn't' that thing look like an alien butterfly? Anyway, I had planned on doing a trail Ragnar earlier in the year. That is where you camp, and run along trails. I love camping. I love running: it seemed like the perfect combination. Unfortunately, that event didn't work out for me for a few different reasons. But, the seed had been planted in my mind to do a Ragnar, and I was waiting for the opportunity to try one out and see if it is for me. This past Thursday mor...

I have started a new thing. It is an intense exercise program where someone else tells me what to do and I do the workout with a bunch of people. I find it very similar to personal training, but there are other people to workout with you. Some people call this program "Cross-fit," but I hesitate to tell you that because then you will think I can do a pull-up and that I throw up when I am working out.  I can't do an unmodified pull-up, and I haven't thrown up. I am still me, guys. Relax. It is just kind of a  cult . Not a big deal. Here is something super different about me though. I am changing what I eat.  I have never ever followed a program. Never. At all. Not weight watchers, not calorie counting, not anything. I tried to be vegetarian for a month or two my sophomore year in college, and I got really tired, and quit that. I am being basically the opposite of vegetarian right now. I can't even think about all the cute little animals...can't think about it...

My friend asked me why I watch "The Bachelorette" and  "The Bachelor." I think it is the same reason ancient Romans watched the Gladiators. It starts off with a group of people, and you watch them fight, and compete in a huge arena for survival. The goal is to be the last one standing. I don't think people who watched the Gladiators were anxious to be in the arena. It was just so awful, horrific, and spectacular, they couldn't look away. Kaitlyn, and a rose. This franchise keeps the rose industry hopping. So, this season has been especially awful. It started with two bachelorettes: Sweety Britt, and Hilarious Kaitlyn.  The 25 men voted for which bachelorette they wanted to date by putting a rose into a box with their name on it. It was such a weird way to start the season, increasing the power plays and competitive nature on every single level. Britt went home, but she had a guy follow her, so it is going to be OK for her. Don't worry. Her ...

Yoga has been summoning me back lately. So, today is the second time I've been a yogi this week. I brought my 9 year old daughter along with me both times. She had physical therapy for tippy toe walking. Such walking creates inflexibility and shortening of things that shouldn't be shortened within the calves area. I thought yoga would help with it, so along she comes. Plus, I love one on one time with my kiddos. She spends about 20 minutes in child's pose. The rest of the class is doing other things. But, the teacher said at the beginning of class that we could go into child's pose whenever we wanted, and my daughter took her at her word. She wants to be in child's pose a lot. I am doing other things. Planks, and downward dogs, and extended runners lunges, and baby back bends, and mountain poses. There she is, child's posing. I sometimes think she is sleeping, but then I hear her deep breaths, like the ocean. Sometimes she gets up from child's pose...

Dear Ian, This is the first Father's Day since we've been married that I haven't been with you. That makes me kind of sad, because---you are the best dad ever. Watching the love and fun you bring into our home is amazing. Your Dadding skills are even better than your excel skills. I remember your first moments as a dad. That baby came by c-section, and so I was an inactive participant in the birth of our child, puking into a bucket, and feeling really pretty.  There you were holding my hand and giving me a play by play of what was happening to my giant purple uterus. Then the baby emerged into the world. You were wearing scrubs, and those funny blue slippers the hospital puts over shoes to keep things sanitary, and a shower-cap hat. You looked awesome. You were able to hold our little girl first. And you said, "I'll try not to drop her," and then bounced out of the room while I listened to them counting the blades, ensuring none were left lying inside my a...

So, I sometimes hold a pole and say "I'm fishing." I really do want to catch a fish...sort of. I don't really want a fish. I don't want to eat it or anything. I don't want to keep it as a pet. I don't want to date it. So, when I say I want to catch a fish, I don't really think I do want to catch one. I want to feel the tension in the rod and then hold something up and get a picture of it. But I don't want to touch it, or gut it, or anything like that. I like the idea of catch and release. Catch it. Then release it. Here is the thing about releasing a fish. It has a hook in it. Once you catch a fish, you've put a hook in it. Like, pierced the fishy flesh and the weight of that gilled creature is hanging on a hook. And to release the fish, you have to get that hook out. Did you know that sometimes the hook doesn't come out easily? Sometimes the hook also will cut your finger in your efforts to get it out? This does not appeal to me. ...

I returned from a gathering of kindred spirits. It has been ten years since my European Literature and Hiking study abroad. I can't even remember where I heard about the trip in the first place, but I was made for it: hiking, England, and writing. The experience was a six week adventure between graduating from BYU and  marriage. I did take a British Novel class leading up to it, as well as a class on Thomas Hardy. Basically, I spent a lot of time with my professor, John Bennion. I don't even remember all the places I went on the actual study abroad, and there are many on the trip who were like me.  We woke up every morning surprised and delighted about our adventure for the day, and didn't look to close at the dots on the map. I know we started in Edinburgh, and went to the Isle of Wight and Tennyson Downs, Stonehenge, The Bronte Moore's, Stourhead gardens, Thomas Hardy's house, Stratford-upon-Avon, and ended in London. Even though it feels pretty fancy to ...