Forest Gumpette

I love running.

Running scared, late or behind? No. Running as far as these german clodhopper legs can take me? Heck yeh!

I love to keep active, I'm not much for sitting still. Call it a poor attention span, call it obsessive, call it what you will. There's plenty of time to rest when I'm ten feet under. Might as well use my strength while I still got it. And i plan to 'still got it' for a long time to come.

That being said - there are approximately 8 days, 11 hours and 6 minutes left of daylight savings time. And what does this mean for me? This means darkness. This means wake for work when it's dark - leave from work when its dark.

This does not fair well with me.

So to commemorate this sad occasion I am having a bit of a going out party. A party of one, that is. At the 13th annual Oley Valley Country Classic 10 mile run. WOO HEE HOO!

The course is described as beautiful and flat to slightly rolling hills through the Pennsylvania Dutch Farms of the Oley Valley. $25 plus $3 processing fee and I am registered! Nominal fee for a morning of painful delight rewarded by sore legs and a multicolored longsleeve tshirt to all runners.

All I ask is that you think of me while you lie sleeping comfortably in your bed that morning, unconscious of the fact that you forgot to change your clocks ahead and should be on your way to church.

Be it as it may, think of me even if it's to pray that my knees don't give out.

And one final note:
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Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get... if you don't get your lazy behind out of bed and do something challenging!
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life lessons

Life can be an uphill battle
when I'd rather walk a trail
if a mountain stands before me
i have to climb it to prevail

A path that even i create
to know the end, i must explore
for mystery makes me curious
even if fear makes me unsure

The only thing that's certain
is that nothing has certainty
for faith is still just that
believing what we can't see

I've walked a line so ever fine
between what's wrong and right
I've denied what I knew was true
by putting up a fight

The still, small voice inside my head
speaks volumes when I deny it
it grows even louder still
that is, when I try to hide it

Doubt can be a theif in the night
robbing us of faith and hope
and even if there's miles before you
you come to the end of your rope

But it's all about perspective
how we see it is how it will be
to know what lies ahead of you
you need to look inside and see

So when faced with a mountain
and it seems too steep to tread
don't see it as a battle
but a victory instead

little italy comes to the poconos

This weekend it officially felt like fall.

I was able to finally wear my new boots which means I was one happy camper. I love autumn breezes and crunching leaves under my feet and what better way to experience this then with newly adorned feets.

Wes and I decided on a last minute adventure to the Timber and Balloon Festival at Shawnee Mountain in the Poconos.

The what? You ask. Yes, exactly. THE most random event I've been to in some time. Think lumberjacks and hot air balloons and warm apple cider and farm animals and uhm.... new yorkers.

Yes, quite the variety of spectators AND spectatees. Or should I say, the people watching was GRAND!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the car and by the time I realized it, it didn't matter much anyway. It ended up being too windy to launch any of the some 20 hot air balloons that were there for the show. Bummer! The most they were able to do was partially fill a balloon and let people pay a couple bucks to walk inside and take pictures.

And take pictures, they did! I heard one tourist say to his companion 'I'm at least gonna get a picture of this cause noone will believe we were actually here'.

Like 'here' was the Great Wall of China rather than The Great Wall of Tourists... aka Shawnee, Pennsylvania.

After dodging a few thousand strollers and velour track suits, we made our way back to the car only to sit...and wait. That is, until Wes caught sight of an "opening" and maneuvered his way through to get a head of the pack. A few well-deserved glares or two and we were off!!

All in all, it was a nice trip. But let me just say, thank goodness for all the weird and interesting people in the world! Makes me feel normal as can be.

Til next time!

just a thought

I believe in the journey and learning to delight in every character, creature, and experience that paves my way.

I like taking a roadtrip just to let my hair blow in the wind, seeing not just the road ahead but seeing the world at my fingertips.

I live for the wild blue yonder and all the wonders God has in store for me.

I have been intricately designed but I am a work in progress uncovering the design.

I embrace the feeling of curiousity and of hope that lives deep down to my toes.

I want my life to be lived with wild abandonment yet without losing sight of who's in control.

I look above for direction, inside for strength and forward with faith.

boys will be boys

This lovely pink joy of a dirtbike is on loan from a very generous friend who apparently wants to see me fall down and run into trees. She also wants me to have the most fun I've had in a long time being scared.

I grew up with brothers who always had some sort of toy they were tinkering with in the barn. I can remember a dirtbike or a motorcycle of some sort, up on blocks, under construction. Though come to think of it, I saw a whole lot more fixing then riding. And dreams of riding, I suppose. But that's just what boys do - and should do.

This has become a generation of boys who've traded in their baseball bats for nintendo, screwdrivers for computers. Now adays, you see a lot of young boys being coddled by overprotective mothers. They don't allow their child to explore their natural desire to want to try something risky - therefore, denying them the very thing they need to help develop them into strong, young men.

I guess I've been blessed to have grown up in a time where life was a lot simpler. Being a child meant skinned knees and discovery, climbing trees and taking chances. I needed to fall down and get bruised in order to build the strength it took to get back up each time.

You find out who you are not only in your successes...but in your failures. Even if failures come along with a broken bone or a bruised pride.

So, when I ride that bike, I am reminded of the freedom we have in taking chances. I am reminded of brothers who were allowed that freedom - and grew up to be strong men of character.

If I have a son one day, I know my first instinct will be to protect him from harm in any way humanly possible. And if a day arrives where he comes to me, wanting a dirtbike or any other type of dangerous contraption on wheels, I know just what I'll say.

"Go ask your father".

get inspired!

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http://www.designspongeonline.com

run birdy, run!

Ok, so I didn't take this picture of the running rooster. Thing is, I'm too busy chasing the bird in to running to be able to capture the truly glorious moment in a photograph.

I love running birds. The sight is purely and simply entertaining - to the point where it usually has me doubled over with laughter. Especially, if I am the cause of their birdy alarm.

You see, there is just something about the way they move so skiddishly that asks to be tormented (harmlessly, of course). They sense your presence but yet they never make eye contact. Move towards them slightly, they move slightly. Move at them a bit more fervently, watch their feathers russle and their scrawny little legs are a-turnin.

But my absolute favorite is putting on a full blown human versus foul chase. Watch their little bird brained heads dart faster than their bodies can catch up. Their squawks say 'hey you, you're frightening me!' but I hear 'chase me more, chase me more!'

Wild turkey, guineas hens...it doesn't matter. Chase a chicken and I promise you it will brighten your day.

No Trespassing

It was simply the most beautifully breezy lovely autumny weekend ever!

Saturday morning, after bundling up good, Wes and I took a motorcycle ride to skippack for some yummy goodness breakfast. After 3 cups of coffee and a huge plate of lard, we decided we had to do something - ANYTHING - to work off at least an eggs worth of calories.

The perkiomen trail is within steps of his front door and with new fallen leaves beneath your feet and the smell of autumn in the trees, its near perfection. We find ourselves there a lot, whether its me on a run or an evening stroll together or just an excuse to venture out to the waters edge to watch the geese be weird.

Well, today is not unlike any other day where I am content just existing and Wes needs to challenge conventional thinking in any way possible. And in today's case, it would be to ignore the clearly posted 'no trespassing' signs in a particular curious area of the trails.

'No, we shouldn't...' i say. He laughs. I stand back and watch him ignore me. I shrug and follow his lead.

We end up finding the coolest little undiscoverd nook in a man-made pavillion by the water. Hidden between trees, we were clear out of sight of anyone on the trails. We sat for a while, watched the geese and enjoyed the solitude, laughing at the idea of being discovered by the neighborhood watch.

And how under any normal circumstances, we could probably outrun them....if it weren't for the brick of a breakfast in our stomachs, anchoring us down.