Memorial Services October 2, 2010, 8:00am

September 30, 2010. Uncle Jim passed today at 6:03pm. Services to be held October 2nd, 2010 on CR1400 (Quail Road). We gather to mourn his passing, and celebrate his life. As we pass his final resting place, and collectively hold our noses, (at mile 1.45, or so), we will remember why we came to run here today. Maybe.

Deadlines

I don't know who came up with the term, "deadline,"  but I sure as heck know that whoever did, must have felt the way I feel about them. I hate them. Adulthood is a slow progression of one deadline, one calendar event after another.

                                                                          April 15

Proposal due at 5:00pm 

8:00 am

Boston qualifying marathon

17:39 5K

20th anniversary

Mother's birthday 

etc.

etc.

etc.

As a precious child the first time you were confronted with the notion that a thing had to be done by a certain time, you probably reacted much like my 8 year old son does. The morning announcement of , "we will be leaving for school in 10 minutes," is ALWAYS followed by a slowing of all mental processes. His speech slurs, his motor abilities slack and confusion sets in. The intelligent boy that had been discussing who would REALLY win a modern-day battle between Zeus and Poseidon, suddenly is unaware of his last name and what is a lunchbox. 

So, resistance is innate. Perhaps it is our latent desire to cling to childhood and thus refuse impending death that keeps us from the inevitable task at hand. We are all going to die soon enough. Let' s live and be stupid while we can. Let's run and act like a bunch of kids. Doesn't that sound fun?

If you have seen The Bucket List you may remember one of my favorite lines.

While in his hospital bed, Carter turns to Edward and says,
"45 years goes by pretty fast" 

Edward responds, "Like smoke through a keyhole." 

So blow the smoke the other way.  Do like Edward and Carter and jump out of that plane, or run a silly 10 mile race. Boldly embrace your very near future. However anxious you feel now, it will get worse on that start line. Then it will be sooooo good as you turn the corner and head toward bbq and beer.  

The deadline for early registration is this 
Friday, September 17

Go ahead, click the link and register

On September 18th, we will be ordering the super special finisher's cups. Trust me, this is good stuff that you won't want to miss out on.  Please, please ensure that you receive your cup by getting your registration in EARLY. 

Like now. 

Go on.

Your Neck of the Woods

Where are you all from? So far, we only have committed, registered runners from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. We have a few invites out for people beyond, but no firm commits, no entries. These people, we know who you are. We know where you live.

But a few days ago, we discovered (one of us did, anyhow. Ok, it was me. The other one already knew.) that the blogger has things that can track, roughly, where our readers are from. (Don't get all freaked out. I don't know where you live. And I don't know your name. I don't know anything about you. )

And we have been fascinated by it. Most of you are in the USA. But we also have people checking in from Canada and the United Kingdom. Also, France, Australia and South Africa. Oh, and Portugal, Sweden, Iceland, Thailand, Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Japan, Spain, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and India are there, too. Indonesia. Macedonia. This is fascinating to me. The other fascinating thing is where you all are in the US.

Most of our readers are from Oklahoma. All over Oklahoma. Many small town folks, like us, and many from The City (OKC or Oklahoma City to the rest of you) and the Tulsa area. But, in general, you are from all over Oklahoma. Second most, you are from Texas. That makes sense, since we have made an effort to get the word out to our friends in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Amarillo, Wichita Falls, and other places in Texas. But you are from all over Texas!

The other surprising thing is how many people we have following this blog from Other Places. Western States are sparsely represented.

Kansas

California

Colorado

Arizona

Utah

New Mexico

Nevada

South Dakota

Washington.

But with the exception of Vermont and New Hampshire, every state east of the Mississippi or bordering the Mississippi is represented.

I'll keep you updated, but it looks like we will have people who are at least keeping an eye on us from all over the place. (updated 10/10/10)