We’re going to need new shoes

There’s something about girls and shoes. The relationship is bittersweet. I like to think of it as a love-hate relationship. Shoes beckon our eyes and spending dollars with slick marketing and sexy campaigns yet can produce the most painful effects including blisters, sore arches and cramped toes. Yet we marvel in the pain and stroll each day in our heels, often tottering, just to look cute.

Currently, I’m seeing the Mini as another reason to buy shoes. You see, Scott has teased me for nearly 11 years on my "relationship" with shoes. I gather them and keep them for a long time. He tries to implement the rule: Buy one pair of shoes – throw two away. (He’d really like for it to be three.) I do...sometimes. We recently bought a new bed and upon lifting the old one up to clean under it before the delivery guys came with the new, BEHOLD – we found five empty shoe boxes. My hiding space was found! He just shook his head and smiled, knowing he fights a losing battle.

So, I already have new running shoes. They’re Nike with a pink swoosh – a women’s running shoe - and rather cute, I must say. They’re working out great so far. I’ve suggested Jay and I go to Finish Line and be fitted for running shoes by professionals as we begin our training schedules come January. Actually, my Nike's are probably good for now. But another pair come March might not be a bad idea. Afterall, we want to set out on the right foot and have a great “shoe experience” in the Mini. Perhaps we can complete our training at the mall!

The Bucket List

Jay Jay and I go back – way back. I remember meeting her at age 6 when she walked into the small apartment I shared with my mom on 2nd Street in Anderson. She was with her Dad, who was there to pick us all up for our first “family” date. You see, my Mom and her Dad had been dating and this was the first time they felt it was OK to introduce the kids. Jay and I are only 7 months apart, so from that night and what turned out to be nearly nine years of marriage between our parents that followed, we were thought to be twins most places we visited. Mom would just smile and say, “No, they’re not twins. They’re seven months apart.” That would generate some funny and confused faces.

For two kids who weren’t too keen on sharing toys (or parents) at first, we’ve shared childhood Christmas memories, clothes (as all sisters do), a bedroom when she’d visit us every other weekend…We’ve fought over everything from who was washing vs. drying the dishes, who got to drink from the “Tweetie Bird” glass (likely a McDonald’s giveaway) at the dinner table and who got to use the phone in our dorm room more at Ball State to call our boyfriends back home (We’re old. We didn’t have cell phones). We’ve weathered family divorces, boyfriend break-ups, cancer scares and deaths of loved ones. We’ve experienced proud moments college graduation, our weddings and the birth of her two beautiful babies.

Our husbands (not the boyfriends mentioned earlier – ha ha) are also childhood friends who grew up in the same southwest Indy neighborhood and enjoy golf and fantasy baseball and football leagues more than we care to imagine! They’ll be waiting for us at the finish line May 2. We can already visualize them standing there, cheering us on. We get teary-eyed just thinking about it. To some, registering for this race is just something fun to do. For us, it’s about growing old as friends and sharing our experience for years to come…a check off the “Bucket List,” if you will. We’ll probably look back someday and ponder, “What the heck were we thinking!?”

2009 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon: Our Heart to Start

They say there’s a first time for everything…and so here it goes. I’m starting a journey right here, right now into the unknown and seeing where it takes me. Isn’t that what life’s about anyway!? I registered last night for my first OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon-13.1 miles. Do I know what to expect come May 2, 2009? Sort of. I spent nearly five years as the Festival’s Director of Communications – pitching stories to media about the nation’s largest half-marathon, its record sell-out participation, its entertainment and training tips prepared by running coaches. But, the training tips and stories will be pitched to capture my attention this time. I’ve stood at that finish line and watched elite athletes from around the world beat record after record, but it was the every day people that really inspired me…sometimes to my own tears as they’d cross the finish line in all shapes, sizes, ages and motivations. I’ve been sweat on, puked on, fallen on and cried on at that finish line…and I want to experience that joy they felt in the midst of their challenge.

My life-long friend, Jay Jay, and I made the commitment to one another for several reasons. We’re 38 and we want to complete this race before we’re 40 – next year is our only option to meet that goal. We’re united in our struggles with weight and exercise and we’ve met up with our unkept promises. My 62-year-old mother had her third and fourth heart attack this year, the fourth just four months AFTER quadruple bypass surgery. Now, her ticker keeps accurate pace with a defibrillator and pacemaker. She’s recovered well after nearly losing her life – but that doesn’t take away the family risk of the disease for me. She quit smoking to start living. Me – I’ll quit sitting to start living.

It’s the "Heart to Start" tour for Jay Jay and me. 500 Festival VP of Operations, Terry Powers, my former boss, suggested this blog for us first-timers. As a journalist and communicator by trade, I wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that!?” John Bingham, a running columnist, frequently says, “The battle is not finishing the race – it’s getting to the start line.” It’s so true. We’ve registered and paid, but it’s up to US and our courage, drive and heart to make sure WE get there and cross that start line.

I’ll participate in honor of my mom’s survival, my own health, to complete it with Jay and probably a few reasons I don’t even know yet. For Jay – it’s setting a good example for 7-year-old daughter, Chloe and 4-year-old son, Gavin. Chloe recently asked her, “Mommy, why don’t I ever see you exercise?” (I’m a firm believer that housekeeping, cooking and raising a family IS exercise now matter how you put it!) But, what a joy it will be when she gets to witness Mommy crossing the finish line and hang that medal around her neck.

So, we’re soon going to take photos of us on New York Street – in the area where the Mini’s finish line will be. That will be a good match photo of the actual finish photo come May. We’ll be “back of the packers,” but I hear the party’s back there anyway! The Mini is recognized around the world as one of, if not THE BEST, half-marathon. It’s an experience and every one of those 35,000 participants has a story. Each have had the ‘heart to start’ at some point. Ours is right now!