Photo from Mount Royal, Frisco, Colorado.

"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

Sunday 5 April 2009

Want some inspiration?

I have been inspired by a girl I got to know through this blog. Meghan Hicks (http://www.meghanscrookedtrails.blogspot.com/) just took second overall woman in the Marathon des Sables in Morocco. As most of you know, this is a huge international race. She is a perfect example of what a great runner you can become if you are committed to training.


And I needed some inspiration. I have had a set-back in my running since we have moved to Denmark. Basically because of a knee injury and less time. Yesterday SR and I ran for just over 3 hours and it was SO hard. A few months ago I could run that long with seemingly little effort. But I'm not complaining. It is spring, my knee is better, and a new running season is upon us. AND in May I start a schedule with 2 18 hour shifts a week and the rest off! So I should be able to start to get longer runs in while The Lorax is with his dagplejemor (daycare mother).



Here some of the bigger runs were planning:


Midnight Sun Marathon in Tromsø, Norway on June 20th

Voyageur 50 mile in Carlton, MN on July 25th

Trans Alpine from Germany to Austria to Switzerland to Italy from September 5th to Sept 12th.


Instead of a song, I've got a...
Quote of the day (in response to an editorial in the NY Times http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/why-i-dumped-the-pump/ that asserts women shouldn't have to be subject to using the breast pump just because some say breast feeding is healthier)


I really wish this were the credible argument for womens’ rights that it is trying to be. “Hype” about breast milk is laughable when you consider what the formula lobby has done over decades to cause women to stop trusting their bodies, and themselves. Why are we arguing about a machine or chemically processed food for our babies and not about the right to reasonable paid leave from work, affordable day care and the necessity of almost every family to have two incomes to provide a decent living and education for those children?? I will be thrilled when the discussion becomes about the real reasons it is so difficult to mother today. Until then, topics like this muddy the issue and do a great disservice to women.— E. Woodhouse

5 comments:

Abbie said...

Wow, that is inspiring! I had been reading her blog back when she signed up for the marathon but stopped reading at about the time she moved to CA.

I actually read the article in Atlantic magazine and instead of arguing for/against breastfeeding/pumping I will just say that I love your response quote. Sooo true!! The quote is about the perfect answer in my opinion.

Danni said...

Meghan is amazing!

SteveQ said...

The typing doesn't reflect it, but I'm jumping up and down, knowing I'll see you two at Voyageur! Woo-hoo! (Train for hills. Seriously.)

I got to run with Meghan once. I'm a lucky guy.

Kate said...

Just chiming in to say, "hear, hear!" as to that quote.

I've read the NY Times article and the Atlantic one. I could understand certain valid points that the Atlantic author was making, and from talking to friends, the article definitely appealed to those who for 1 reason or another were not able to breastfeed or did not breastfeed for as long as they perhaps had originally planned to. I can fully admit that I wasn't the target audience, in a way. I agree that too much guilt seems to factors into people's choices about how to feed their child, which really should be their own informed choice, based on their own personal circumstance, with no guilt.

However, overall, there were a lot of things in that article that irked me. I won't clog up your comments with the full list, but I think my least fave was the insinuation that it's somehow anti-feminist to breastfeed (for very long). I just really disagree with that.

As for the medical stuff....I'm sure you know much more about that than I.

Meghan said...

Aw SeaLegs! You say such nice things about me, thank you!

I'm learning that building a good runner is as much about the people and world you are in as the training you do. Much of my success is coming from the good people, good world side of things.

Thank you!
Meghan