my keys and what they mean to me

Honda Civic. This is my key to freedom. If I want to, I can at any time take to the open road and drive anywhere on the continent. Usually "anywhere" is home to Pennsylvania or a road trip with friends - but at anytime I could just drive to the coast and hang out on the beach ...

Bike Lock. This is me being environmentally conscious and physically fit. It's also another kind of freedom, cruising through the streets of South Bend, obeying stoplights only when there's someone around ;) It also makes me feel more rooted in this place, getting to know the city better, having more time to notice the houses and businesses and people on my way to and from work.

Choir soundboard. This is competency - getting all the mics set up before Mass, making sure everything is balanced. In reality I just barely know how to work the board - it usually doesn't need much adjusting - but being the one with the key makes me feel like I know what I am doing.

House(hold) key. This is belonging. This is not my house but it is my home, there to keep me warm and safe, and where we live life in common.

Work keys. These have a lot of different meanings for me. Responsibility, when I am unlocking doors to evacuate the family dorm during a fire drill. Authority, when a shelter guest needs my permission and my key to get into the kitchen or someplace. Ownership - this is my place, I know how things work here.

Soccer keys. These almost always give me a sense of gratitude, for being able to have soccer at our second home, the Center, and also a continuing sense of wonder that I am a soccer player. If I have the keys that must mean I am there almost every Sunday night - that's just crazy ;)

Anyone else have keys that have meanings for you?

just a song i like right now

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby
Temptations lose their power
When Thou art nigh

I need thee, oh, I need thee, every hour I need Thee
I need thee, I need thee, I need Thee every hour

I need Thee every hour in joy or pain
Come quickly and abide or life is in vain
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee, every hour I need Thee
I need Thee, I need Thee, I need Thee every hour
I need Thee, I need Thee, I need Thee every hour

Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee
Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee
I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee
Oh I need Thee every hour
I need Thee, I need Thee, I need Thee every hour
I need Thee, I need Thee, I need Thee every hour

Oh, bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee

Sunburst: the good, the bad, and the funny

Let's start with the bad first, to get it over with.

• I felt pretty bad (physically) for the entire 10K run and did a ton of walking, which I just didn't want to do. I don't know if it was the heat & humidity, or what, but I just couldn't keep up.
• This is only my second race but during my first one, last November, Nora ran with me (a great sacrifice for her - she could have gone 50% faster without me!). I didn't have anyone to run with this time, and couldn't even find other friends doing the 10K to stand with at the start time, and that was lonelier than I expected.
• I also didn't expect how sad it would be to be so far behind the pack. There were 840 people running the 10K but for parts of the race I was around only two or three other people. Makes it feel not so much like a race.

Hm, let's do the funny next.

• I beat a bunch of my friends to the finish line! Because they ran seven miles farther than I did. ;)
• This is not funny, it's cool: one of the other 10K runners was a woman with a prosthetic leg. This is the funny part: I had trouble keeping up with her.

And now for the good ... this list is much longer ...

• Anne made me a sign saying "Go Sheila Go!" with a little picture of a running person on it. She wasn't in town to hold it up during the race, but I thought of it often while I was running :)
• I got up early-ish to cheer on the marathoners as they hit Mile 2 about a block from my house. I was the only one out at that time of the morning so I stood around for ten minutes clapping by myself, until the last marathoner went by. I got to see Fr. Mike and Fr. Brad go by and I shouted, "Go Holy Cross!" probably too loud for my neighbors who were sleeping. That was fun.
• Jen T. was in town! I got to see her just before she started the half-marathon, and wish her luck, and we got to chat a bit after the race.
• Running into the stadium at the end, I felt like my legs were being powered by something other than me. Just kept going. They announce people's names as they run over the finish line and since I was not in the middle of a pack, my name was one of the ones announced. They kind of mispronounced my first name, but still. My name, over the loudspeaker, in Notre Dame Stadium.
• Once I was finished running I had a really fun time hanging out by the finish line waiting for friends to get in. I knew TONS of people who were running one race or another.
  
• There were all kinds of good refreshments at the end. I like the green popsicles :)
• Despite how hard things were, I am still looking forward to the 10K trail run in July. Bring it on!

One last note - I didn't know what list to put this one in. When I got to the finish line, someone handed me an icy-cold wet washcloth. I sat down heavily on the grass while someone took the ChampionChip off my shoe, and I put the washcloth to my face and started crying. Maybe because I was happy because it was over, or maybe I was crying for all the disappointment and discouragement that I had been pushing through for six miles, or maybe that's just what I do when something icy-cold hits my very hot face ;) I don't know, I couldn't figure it out.

So overall ... the Sunburst was good. And it was bad. And it was funny. And it's over.

what am I doing?

since I've been busy out here I thought I would post all the things I would have put on Twitter, which by the way I am now putting on my site ... look at the right-hand sidebar ... Twitter is a site that's all about answering the question "What are you doing?" in 140 words or fewer to keep in touch with family and friends.

So here are some of the things I would have put on Twitter the past couple days if I had bothered to get on the computer, or if I wanted to pay for texting it from my phone ...

driving through the most glorious mountains I have ever seen

washing an endless supply of glass candleholders

running through a lumberyard

cutting fake cherry blossoms with bolt cutters

driving to Harrisburg with GPS to pick up two people I've never seen before

pickup successful.  Now arguing with the GPS voice

 ... and that brings me about up to date.  Who else wants to get on Twitter and tell us what you're doing?

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Uncle Jim tagged me with this ...

I am (a/an):

a. audible singer

b. bike-to-work kind of gal

c. charismatic catholic

d. delicious cook

e.  excellent writer

f.  free human being

g.  gracious hostess

h.  humble ;)

i.  inquiring mind

j.  justice-and-peacenik

k.  kan't think of what starts with k

l.  loving sister, daughter, niece, aunt, cousin, friend

m. mistake-maker

n.  nearsighted  8-)

o.  optimist

p.  pushy when I have to be

q.  quiet sometimes

r.  road-tripper (also recent runner)

s.  sinner (also swing-dancer, also soccer-player)

t.  tenacious

u.  unpretentious

v.  victorious

w.  willing to try new things

x.  ???

y.  yarn user

z.  ztupendous

from PA

Just a quick update from Liberty, PA, one of the prettiest places on earth. I had a lovely drive out here Monday - ten hours just flew by :) My favorite part of the whole trip is this little five-mile section of PA 64 that I drive on right after getting off route 80. The loveliest valley you've ever seen. I'll try to stop and take pictures on the way back. The other cool part of the trip was seeing the work they're doing on 15 North out here - they're ripping up the hillside to make the highway bigger or something - it was neat to see the bare, raw, red earth and the smoke where they were burning up big tree roots. They're going to begin blasting on Monday - ooh, maybe I'll get to see some of that.

I had a lovely last week in the Bend before coming out here. Wednesday I got to have lunch with "Uncle Jim", fellow blogger and brother from the Muncie branch. Maybe this is a wierd metaphor, but I kind of think of him as a tree God planted - strong and full of life - sturdy and unshakeable - he has a lot of love to give and seems to just give it unhesitatingly. He told me a great story about inviting a bunch of people (was it 11, Jim?) over to dinner even though he has minimal cooking experience :) What a blessing, meeting him was the highlight of my week.

I did get ANOTHER six-mile run in on Saturday - still pretty amazed. I am struggling to figure out how to keep up my training while out of town but I do think I will have time for a run tomorrow morning - from here to town and back is four miles. After a run and a shower I am down towards Lewisburg for MY BROTHER'S WEDDING! The words still feel funny to say. "My brother is getting married on Saturday." Crazy! Anyway, I am super-looking forward to all the wedding prep we're going to do these next three days - I am ready to roll up my sleeves, pull back my hair, and dive in headfirst. Can't wait.

I hope to get back to a computer soon to give you more updates on how it's all going, but we'll see what happens ... in the meantime peace to you all!

i like running too

... so with the help of the HOLY SPIRIT ... this morning I jogged six miles straight.