Now, I've somehow come down with some kind of cold or something and I felt awful when I woke up this morning. But because I'm reliable and I'm neurotic, I went to meet my friends anyway. There was an informal charity run this morning around the lake, which I did with my local bestie and another friend.
The running rule I've always heard is you can run if you're sick if the symptoms are above your collarbones. And mine are -- sore throat, headache, sinus pressure. So I went and ran about 9 miles and topped out the year at just over 1400 miles! I'm proud of myself -- but also a little nervous because I think I'm going to leave that number in the dust in 2011, like it or not. I don't think I'm even going to set a mileage goal/resolution for myself.
By the way, still thinking about goals and resolutions and have to wait for some free time to make a serious list, hopefully this weekend.
I'm participating in Reverb 10 for the month of December. Each day has a new prompt to encourage participants to reflect on 2010 and manifest what’s next in 2011.
December 31 – Core Story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.) (Author: Molly O’Neill)This is kind of tough since the stuff is at the core of me is mostly covered on my "about me" page. What else is my central story? I think Italy is at the core of me. I always joke that I am Italian in my heart and also in my hips because I am in my stomach. It's funny how you make some decisions in your life and you know they're big, but you have no idea how you'll change your life forever.
Not many people have ever seen the movie Sliding Doors with Gwenyth Paltrow. I highly recommend it. The whole premise becomes clear in the first few minutes of the movie. She gets fired from her job and is tearfully heading home. As she is running downstairs to catch the tube (set in London), there is a woman and her daughter coming up the stairs. The daughter is kind of fooling around and not behaving well. The little girl gets right in her way, and she has to run around her and then she misses the subway train. But then there's a flash back in time and you see the same woman and her little girl heading up the stairs, the woman looks up and sees the main character coming, and she pulls her daughter out of the way. The main character runs downstairs and slides onto the train, just as the doors are closing. She then gets home to discover her boyfriend/partner is having an affair. Of course, in the scenario where she misses the train, she doesn't find out. And then the movie goes from there, showing these parallel tracks her life takes all because of whether she catches or misses this single subway train.
Well, I knew studying abroad in Italy was going to change my life. But when I got back from that semester, it seemed like that was the end of it. It had changed me for sure, something I'll always remember, but I didn't see it continuing to shape my life.
Then after I'd worked for a few years, I wanted (and the firm wanted me) to get involved in some community organization/non-profit. I chose an Italian cultural organization. That choice led me to meeting my husband and changed my life forever. We love to travel to Italy, we have many Italian friends, we go back to the club where we met and meet friends there for dinner, and starting in 2011 (tomorrow!), we're going to try to speak Italian at home mostly.
If I'd chosen to study abroad somewhere else in college, I have no idea what my life would be like today. Sometimes I think the stars would have aligned for me to meet my husband some other way, but that Italy connection was the first thing we knew we had in common. Either way, I'm glad it's all worked out as it has.
BONUS: I've joked with Bella that we both seem to have many recurring themes in our Reverb posts. As I've written some of these responses, it seems like I could link to a post about my two big running events this year about every other day. I got my 5k PR when I didn't expect it. And I qualified for Boston. Those were both watershed moments for me in 2010. Hopefully I won't always remember the 5k -- because I'd like to beat it next year! But yes, the BQ is in my mind for good.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has a safe and fun night, and a healthy and prosperous 2011. I'm going to work on my resolutions this weekend. And I'm going to start official marathon training on Sunday! Wow...
No comments:
Post a Comment