Week-End Happenings and Upcoming Events

On St. Patrick’s Day, I ran the Leprechaun Lope 5K. This race starts at the southeast corner of Capital Hill, heads north up the City Creek Canyon Road, curves around and goes up the east hill toward the City Cemetery, but then turns around at 1100 East and goes back down the canyon to Memory Grove (where Kjersti and Jay were married). My goal was to run this race faster than I did the Painter’s Sun in January and I guess you could say I met my goal. I was expecting that I could improve my time by two minutes or more, but with all the uphill and the higher altitude, I was only faster by about 10 seconds. My official time was 34:13.31. I was 13th out of 20 in my age group and 297th out of 403 overall. I can say with relief that I have never been last in any race I have run, but I am always afraid I will be. Being last would just be too tough to take. Oh, and even though my socks were green, I didn’t win the prize for best costume. :(

As Kjersti has reported, the family went to dinner Saturday night at the El Matador in Bountiful to celebrate her birthday and then we came back to my house for games. We had a great time. It has been at least 6 months since I had any Mexican food and it was both delicious and awful, as my stomach gave me fits after I ate it.

On Sunday, I cleared my flower beds and got them ready for new wood chips. My real estate agent advised that I make them easy to maintain while I am showing the house. I worked for several hours and by evening was so sore that I couldn’t finish the job. I could barely make a fist with my hands after all the junk trees I cut with the “Daddy Clippers.” I dug out more overgrown, evasive grass than it would be proper to describe. Fortunately, Geoffrey came home just in time to help me get the last of the clippings into the garbage and out to the street. Otherwise, it would still be sitting there with me helpless to do anything about it for another week. When I went to work on Monday, my legs and back were so sore from all the bending and pulling that I could hardly climb the stairs to my office.

I hate to mention this, but this coming weekend I am attending the Landmark Forum workshop. I know, I know. Trudy talked me into going during a moment of weakness and now that I’ve paid for it, I can’t make myself walk away. I figure I will “participate” by watching and listening and who knows, it may be just what I need this time. After all the workshops I have gone to and all the self-help books I have read, sooner or later I should get the answer that “fixes” me, don’t you think? I promise you all that I will not subject any of you to my over-enthusiasm when it is finished and I also promise that if you will forgive me for going, I will never do it again.