All three days this week I took the train making it commute number 5 using the train. It is fun to be green and I get a little extra exercise. I'm going to try to make sure I keep up and make it to my goal of 50 train commutes this year. I'm also scouting out my bicycle, but what I really like is going to put me back about $600.
Struggling with my identity, and thinking about moving back to being a marathoner/hash runner. I just don't seem to have the drive nor the time to really commit to being an ultra-runner anymore, furthermore, the last two races seemed like more of a pain in the ass than something fun to do. Maybe my narcissism has run out, or I have really realized that no one cares if you can run 5 miles or marathon, or can really even comprehend running 50 or 100 miles. I guess I'm at a point in my life that I've done that and check the block, at least while I'm living here with the bad weather that makes running ultra distances a real pain in the butt.
I still have more than enough to still be defined as a marathoner. I will continue to hit those and a few trail 50K/50 milers in order to get off the road and into something more beautiful, but 100K/Mile will be thing of the past. As for Hash Running, that will probably define me while I am here at Chicago. I've made some good friend and really enjoy learning the city through this quality running organization!
I have also been reading a lot; here is the review I recently wrote concerning The Long Jouney Home:
I should not be surprised by the writing genius of the Mother of one of my favorite writers, Augusten Burroughs. Mrs. Robison weaves a story that captures your imagination immediately. Her prose can only be described as pure art. She explains that her real passion has always been painting more than writing and it is interesting that she defines herself as a writer, but had to work to be a painter.
Throughout the book, her painting proved to define what was happening in her life. I could not help but to fall in love with her story and keep longing for her happiness. Throughout her life there seemed to be so many challenges that most of us escape, and your heart goes out to her and her love of her children.
She explains her love of her husband and how she tried desperately to make it work for over a decade, despite incredible abuse and challenges that surround anyone with a drinking problem. Her family life did not stop with simple drinking problems from her husband. She endured infidelity, violence and his own mental illness that ended up threatening her life. All these stress pushed her over the edge into her own mental illness that landed her in a state mental hospital. The journey through the hospital can be defined as horrific.
Through all of this she finds a way to love and to slowly discover who she really is, and with that she is better able to love her family. This book continued to follow her life and the incredible roller-coaster that it turned out to be. Her challenges in love, were beautifully explained, and how love is about the relationship and not the gender of the person.
Throughout her life she was haunted by her homosexual feeling, but in her wise years came to deal with those feeling and better express who she really is inside. This book enables one to feel closer to anyone with a mental illness because you will have a firm understanding of what they go through. It is hard to be prejudice or look down at someone with mental illness after reading this book. In fact, this book is refreshing because it is a triumphant story of success against all odds.
She finds love and art through all the pain that is a part of life; her marriage, hurtful words by her son, dealing with a stroke and her internal mental illness are all struggles that she struggles with then defeats. It is incredible how brilliant her family (even her abusive first husband) is throughout all the challenges. They are all a work of art and I mean that in the very best of terms!
