a year of bests

in deference to the movie / television award season picking up soon, i thought that i'd hand some oscars out to some of the best moments in my life in this past year. i will skip the razzies for my worst moments, which were many and varied, and instead focus on all the fun stuff that happened. (don't be fooled, this is just another lazy post and excuse for me to create a list. you know how i heart a good list!)
and the award goes to....

best purchase all year
saucony kilkenny XC2 flats. they cost $19.99, are banana yellow, and have seen me through 1 marathon, 2 ultras and over 1300 miles. i mean, any way you slice it - that is $20 well spent.

best meal of the year
i may have to give it a lifetime achievement award for best meal in my entire life. we went to cousin Worth's house in maine this august and she served us all indigenous foods. we started off with squire mountain tub cheese (good Lord, i've been trying like heck to get some mail order and you can't get it. you local new englanders better appreciate what you've got), and some tasty local wines, then moved on to corn on the cob that was so fresh i felt like i was eating it in the corn field, gigantic maine lobsters, marinated steak tips (i am a CARNIVORE and that was the best meat i have ever had in my life. wow. just WOW!), and unbelievable bread from a local bakery. we finished with blueberry pies. i wish i could bottle the feeling of that first bite of steak. i nearly cried. all enjoyed while sitting out doors in the waning sunlight with wine and family and talking about religion and barefoot running. that is what life is about. just ask Solomon.

best surprise of the year
courage. it turns out that the cowardly lion does have courage... even without getting to the wizard. it was a year that self doubt died. i found i had the courage to race hard, to step outside of the box, to believe in myself, to trust God and dive in, and to try again when anyone else would quit.

best moment of the year
crossing the finish line at the boilermaker after the hardest effort of my running life and turning to find jim just 4 steps behind me. such euphoria! such elation! (and no, not because i beat my husband), but because i ran until i nearly puked my guts out and then i ran harder. i was so proud... for both of us.

best gift of the year
a second chance at marriage. merry christmas to us!

highest honor of the year
tied. first- the fact that a couple of crazy ultrarunners believed in my plans enough to get on board with the first ultra in rochester city limits in over 25 years. they signed on to share the burden and their ideas with me and get this thing off the ground. second- the BOD of Ultrarunning Matters taking a chance on me and welcoming me onto the board. not only are they really talented runners, but they are intelligent, experienced and humble. how do i get to be in the same category as them? i don't know, but boy, am i grateful that they haven't caught on yet that i'm not in their league!

best book read this year
really? jeez - how do i pick one? alas, i must and i choose: Marian Keyes, This Charming Man. i choose it because it was the first of her books that i read and it caused me to contact every library in town until i had my hands on anything she'd ever written. she is that good. this is not pedestrian, typical chick lit. yes, she is a chick and yes, she writes with women in mind. but she is fantastic in her own right - put her up against any man or any other woman, and in my opinion her humor, complex story lines, character development and surprise endings are better than any other modern author out there. it's just pure unforgettable enjoyment.

best blog post of the year
how can you choose a favorite? it's like choosing between your children. but, in shear amount of pleasant responses (mostly received on facebook) i have to give the prize to "thankful", my send up on thanksgiving tradition, my quirky family and hope for you all that you have something wonderful to celebrate in your own lives. the best writing weaves humor, emotion and human interest. it's hard to balance all 3, but when you do - the results can be memorable.

thank you for reading about my life this year. i don't know why you have taken an interest, but i am very grateful that i have had many people to share my triumphs and failures with. the bible says, "it is not good for man to be alone." and i believe that with my whole heart... that it is best for us to be paired with a mate who can share our joys and pains with us ( love you, honey!) and that we should be surrounded by family and friends to fellowship with, to lift up and collectively encourage one another. what an honor! what a joy! it has been such a memorable and special year. thank you for being part of it.

stick around and on thursday i'll reveal my new year's resolutions.

run on.

gratuitous holiday picture post

well, it's over - mostly. we still have a super duper fancy new year's eve party to go to at artisan works. if you don't know what artisan works is, i'll attempt to explain it, but likely fail. it is this multi-level warehouse type of affair that was converted into an art gallery. but it's not 'pretty pictures evenly spaced on the wall with matching placards underneath'. this place has cars, trains, sculptures, big installations, paintings on the ceiling, photographs... virtually every surface on all 3 floors of this massive place is covered with art. and on new year's eve there is a fancy dress party all night long with live music and awesome food. i've never done anything special or fancy for new years... it's usually pizza and bed by 10:30, and i am so excited to go out with a couple of friends and have FUN!
speaking of fun, the holidays have been nice. lots of baking. LOTS of eating. family parties, frenzied present opening. my favorite gift to give (i mean, ahem, for santa to give?) a great big doll house to our little girls. my favorite gift recieved? a headlamp! my favorite moment? when baby Maya walked up to her daddy and kissed him on the cheek and said "merry christmas, daddy." all in all it was a good one this year. hope your's was too!

stay tuned... still to come this week - 'a year of bests', and the long awaited '2010 resolutions'.

(above - jim and i on xmas eve, maya going to a 'happy place' while on santa's lap, the dollhouse, reading 'twas the night before christmas', santa eats the cookies that lily left and leaves a little note, lily and her daddy, lily the builder, and my beautiful girls.)

good eats

my husband accused me of becoming martha stewart the other day.
i hate martha stewart. but i am beginning to really enjoy cooking. no- not as much as eating, but it is rapidly becoming a favorite past time. i am posting again so soon, in the hopes that if i catch you without a thing to bring to your holiday party or give to your kid's school teacher you can throw together an easy and pretty treat that i make, and knock their socks off.

i'm not sure how the cooking extravaganza started, but i think i can trace it back to a few months ago when jimmy did some work for the neighbors. it turns out that the neighbor makes the fresh pasta for one of the better italian restaurants in town, and instead if being paid money for his trouble - jim requested pasta and lessons in how to make it. (every time he wanders down to the neighbor's house now he comes home with a plate of food! you know how i feel about food, so -yes, clearly i love the neighbors.) so jim brings me neighbor joe's pasta roller, a bag of semolina flour and directions, and suggests we learn to do this. magically, i instantly morph into the swedish chef (funny... i AM swedish) from the muppets and flour is flying around the room and the kitchen does a great impression of a certified disaster area. it was rough goings the first few times i made ravioli (just making linguine is dumb. there is nothing wrong with boxed pasta... it is easy and cheap and tasty. i figured if i am going to go to the bother of making fresh stuff i am going to be making fillings and sauces and generally going to town to make it worth while). i made the dough too thin, or didn't seal them right or left too much air in and they would explode in the water when i cooked them. i'd over cook or under cook or the filling would be bland... but now, i've pretty much got it down and they are worth the hours of work that it takes to turn out one dinner.
any way - this is what got me started and now i am like a train out of control - trying new recipes, honing old ones. i got a lot of compliments on my pumpkin muffins that i brought to the mendon trail runs (FRESH pumpkin please), and i make a mean molasses spice cookie (though i am not the best baker. that title goes to my sister, who's cookies would make a grown man beg), and am now experimenting with breads. the neighbor's wife is the baker in the family and she let us try some of her home baked bread.
good GOD! best bread i have had in my life. she gave us the recipe, and i kid you not - as long as your yeast isn't expired (ha ha, ask me how i know) you cannot screw it up and it literally makes the most fantastic bread you've ever tasted. it's heaven.. see for yourself!

rapidly, what used to be one of my least favorite parts of the holiday - cooking, is becoming one of my favorites. there is nothing like seeing jim's face when he walks through the door from work and the smell hits him. or putting little bitty aprons on the girls and having them "help" me bake. also, it's a pretty cheap-o way of giving someone a holiday gift.
speaking of holiday gifts- no, i didn't forget. as promised, here is the quick and easy recipe for peppermint bark. throw some together, put it in a pretty tin and voila- instant gift to make anybody happy! make it and eat it in good health! (thanks for the recipe allison!)

peppermint bark
2 sacks of white chocolate chips
12 candy canes, crushed
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 cup dark chocolate (optional)

melt white chocolate chips over low heat double boiler, stirring constantly until smooth. stir in extract and candy canes and pour onto rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. use spatula to smooth the top. while still unset, drizzle or flick melted dark chocolate over the surface in random pattern. refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. break into pieces and enjoy! store in the fridge or cool dry place.

final 09 resolution updates

well, we have a few more things to get to before the end of the year, so i figured i'd get this out of the way now. most people would shun grading their life performance at the end of the year in front of family, friends and strangers- but i embrace it! for previous updates, click here.
drum roll please...

1) lose 20 lbs. to run faster, to "look" like a runner, to wear smaller pants.
when i set this goal i weighed 150 lbs. today, i weigh 125. for years i copped out and told myself this wasn't possible. it wasn't in my genetics, in my willpower, nor in my fridge. but i stopped being a baby and embraced the fact that it is likely that God did not design this body with the intention of it being fat. i would like to lose 5 more lbs, but i am NOT going to complain. i have lost 25 lbs. i do run much faster. i am wearing smaller pants. and at jim's work do on saturday i spoke to a lady who, entirely unprompted, said, " you have a runner's body." the transformation is complete.(pictured: ready to go for the work party, and xmas 08. as a bonus, see below for how awesome my hubby is looking these days!)


2) keep reading. i haven't read a book in 2 weeks and i don't want to fall off the wagon.
welp, i hate to say it, but the reading streak ended. i was a reading FIEND, and would frequently forsake daily duties in the name of zooming through an interesting book about politics, religion, giant pumpkin growing, world trade, disability rights or cheesy romance. i would read anything that wasn't tied down and it got to be unhealthy. have you noticed that i am an 'all or nothing' person? i am either flailing around in the deep end, nearly drowning or i am sitting in the pool cabana drinking mai-tais. why can't i go in the shallow end and splash round a bit? i smell a new resolution coming on...

3) run at least 1 ultra marathon. complete a usatf certified marathon. set a PR in the 10k. run at least 1 run for charity.
ran 3 ultras: 2 timed races, and 1 trail 50k. ran the rochester marathon. set a (weak) PR in the 10k. ran a PR in a charity race. it was a GREAT year for running. i have a few races that i am not entirely proud of, but something i learned is that belief in myself is the HUGE piece of the puzzle that was missing. running a time at the Boilermaker that i couldn't have dreamed of, running a 4:18 for my first marathon, and winning a 12 hour race has thoroughly proven to me that i can set my mind and legs to any distance and handle it well. i have so much improving to do, still, but i have already far exceeded the expectations i had of myself when i began running 2 years ago. my most notable accomplishment this year? running without shoes on. changed the way i run, the way i feel and my entire philosophy about sports, injuries, and the capabilities of the human body. running naturally without shoes is a very nice compliment to ultramarathoning: both things buck conventional wisdom about what is safe and what is wise, but both are fun, natural and truly, truly rewarding. God designed these bodies to run far, and He also designed them to run without shoes. what marvelous creations we are! very proud of my running this year, and looking forward to more of the same next year.

4) have more organized bible and prayer time. ( i was great for about 6 months and then maya came. and oh Lord, how the mighty have fallen since then.)
still a disorganized mess, but a beautiful thing that i learned and took deeply to heart this year is that i really really need Him to do life. truly - cannot successfully do it on my own. whether you are one of the faithful or not, you must understand that life in many ways was fantastic and better than i have ever experienced it this past year, but it has also been some of the worst times i have ever gone through. when you turn your back on God, and allow evil to have a toe hold in your life it will quickly move in and take over. i cannot make a success of myself or of this family without reliance on Him every step of the way. I cannot neglect to pray even one day.. i have seen the results and what i have seen i hope to never forget. organized, disorganized is no matter - as long as i turn to Him daily for help and wisdom, next year is bound to be better, no matter what circumstances come.

5) have more fun. i think that this is probably an attitude thing rather than something i can plan and execute.
wow, am i having so much more fun. as much as i've had in my life, i believe. and i was right - it's entirely an attitude thing. in one month (january 31st, in case you want to send presents!) i will be 30. i am finding, that with every day that goes by, my courage grows. i have always been aggressive and assertive with my beliefs and opinions, but i really have gone through life as a very timid person. i didn't believe in myself, think i was special or that i had anything to offer. accomplishing extraordinary things was for other people, so was growing, changing and continuing to learn. but i see how silly that is now. i think that running - training, racing, watching myself improve - has made this difference in me. but i also think it has to do with age, as every day that passes by brings new revelations. namely, that i only have one life and time stands still for no man. if i want to hope, dream, succeed - i have to go out there and get it. spectacular things don't just happen, you have to make them happen. this year i have discovered that i am not a victim of life, that i can do and be whatever i dream up. and while i will never be bubbly and giggly - i am deeply satisfied with who i am (flaws and all) and where i am heading. can't get much happier than that.

6) organize my toter full of photos.
shit. i knew there was something i forgot to do... and at the busiest time of year too. well... there's a week and a half left. somehow i am thinking that in 2 weeks, this may be at the top of the new list. don't give up on me just yet...

7) be more reasonable
i wouldn't call myself more reasonable, but easily much much calmer. still can be a raving lunatic, but it is more of the exception than the norm i think. i've recognized that i can't control external circumstances or people's reactions, all i can do is own me and my actions and let the other crap go. i am certain this attitude is making me easier to talk to and deal with. Ghandi, i am not... nor will i ever be in the patience, humility and self sacrifice categories... but i made progress this year. in so many ways.

2009 may go down as one of the hardest, weirdest yet most satisfying years of my life. i can't really think of any that have been more eventful, more painful or more enjoyable. i know that is hard to grasp, but you'll have to trust me that somehow, it really was all of those things.
i hope that you have had your grandest year yet. and if you haven't - why not next year? you are responsible for that, you know? no matter what life throws at you, it's yours to do with what you want. set up goals for next year, and knock them down like dominoes. at the very least, you can make it your mission to
run on.

as promised, here is jimmy looking quite svelte.( insert wolf whistle here)

the ghosts of christmas past

an old friend of mine from my teen years used to say, "shelley, you are so sentimental." at the time, i thought that she must not know what the word "sentimental" means, but as an adult i have come to realize that she saw in me something that i had missed in myself. i now know that i am gushingly sentimental. really, i'm a caricature. i swoon over special dates, round numbers, photos, genetics, antiques, anniversaries, and items; like clothing, jewelry and mementos that remind me of specific events. i am the person who saves every card my husband gave me (and saves every one i've given him), who would have dried flowers all around her bedroom that some long ago a boy stripped from of neighbor's rose bush while we were out walking. the journal writer. the notebook saver. the calendar marker.
there is no time of year guaranteed to get the nostalgic juices flowing more than christmas. i remember as a small child being mesmerized by my father's christmas stocking. it was hand knit for him and had a santa with white cotton tufted beard and his name knit right into it. it was not like the stockings we knew that were wide and squat and shaped like an idealized santa boot, but was long, like a knee length sock and worn out at the end from years of being filled with walnuts and oranges. i believe it was an aunt who made it for him and i viewed the object with awed reverence. as anyone with small children can attest, anything that is more than 5 years old, to them , is a relic. an unfathomably ancient treasure, unearthed from the depths of "back then". "back then" being some unimaginably long time ago when for all they know, there may have been dinosaurs roaming the earth.
or maybe it was just me.
maybe the other kids didn't care. but i was and still am fascinated by the history and the things that "survived", as if earth had been hit by catastrophe and these special objects are our link to a world gone forever.

christmas to me is decorating a fake tree, with lights still on from last year. it is carefully placing 20 year old glass ornaments, it is baking fruit cocktail cookies with mom's old horse apron on (so you are clear, yes - those are cookies that have a can of fruit cocktail in heavy syrup as an ingredient, and the apron was mom's very first home ec. project), it's christmas sunday in grandma's drafty; rickity old farm house (with it's 5 bedrooms for 9 people), it's ham and dinner rolls and ambrosia salads, it's midnight mass, it's peaking at the presents in mom and dad's bedroom closet, it's eating candy and then pancakes for breakfast. christmas is this bittersweet feeling inside of us- the joy and the laughter, the heart ache and the let down. it's such a beautiful and tragic time. you celebrate all that you have and you drown in the sorrow of all that you don't: your loved one's passed on, you're without a special someone, you're far from home, you can't afford to take part in the commercialism and feel Xed out, you lost your job, or just the simple pain of knowing another year is over, and maybe you could have done things much much better. it's a gloriously bleak time of year- in my mind, one moment i am a frantic 7 year old tearing through my presents, but the next i am thrown back to a dreary demon from christmas past- reminding me what possibly lurks around another corner. dusting the cobwebs off the stocking holders and nativity scenes each year brings me great joy and small pains. even if you are not as sentimental as i, i know you feel this too. it's our shared memory, our shared heritage.

i hope it is not too late for you- try not to get too wrapped up in the commercialism of this season. remember Who we are celebrating. try and X out of your calendar anything you don't truly enjoy doing. love baking cookies, but hate sending out the cards? eff the cards! cross it off your list and use the time to listen to some burl ives and watch the falling snow. please, enjoy yourselves and your loved ones. i hope and pray for you that this year, it is much more sweet than bitter. I hope you personally know the joy in your heart of that babe in the manger, and that it gives you reason to rejoice. God bless you, every one.

and because i always love to leave you with an inspirational thought:

(pictured above: my rudolph ornament from christmases long ago)

awards previews

as previously mentioned, in addition to the zombierunner.com gift cards for 1st place in all categories, and trophies for placing top 3 in every category - here are a few of the first finisher's medals which are testing my patience and senses, as the stink of burning wood fills the homestead. who said this race director stuff was easy..?

almost there

- i bought this book that a friend wrote off this 'publish your own book' website about a month ago. REALLY long story short: my credit card got charged double, and i still received no book. i have talked to 3 different customer service reps 6 times now. saturday night they called me at 10:15 right as i was drifting off to la-la land. last night they called at 12:30 AM. now, i don't know what the frik time it is in India, but they need to get themselves one of those conversion charts and double check what time zone they are calling. i think... i think finally, it may be straightened out. ugh, i have a headache already.
- did my first real runs in ice/snow. wouldn't have been so bad but i got the opportunity to run in the evening. wow, i used to complain about running in the morning? what was i thinking? this running in the traffic crap is for the birds - seriously, it was like russian roulette out there. and i had to wait at countless crosswalks and stop lights. it may be really cold and really dark at 4 in the morning, but at least the road is mine mine mine. pass the alarm clock please.
and the ice wasn't that bad... i just had to remember from last year - slow down, place your feet carefully, watch the road. it's kind of like trail running. sigh. december is almost over, so it really doesn't even count and then january and february will buzz by, and march is only half yucky.. so, if you think about it, it's almost done. i can make it.
- i finally started working on the awards for MTD. so, the wood burning is headache inducing and my hand cramps up quite a bit, but other than that it's going well. when i am making one, i am imagining placing it around an exhausted and proud finisher's neck, and it brings me great joy. i figure that by the time i'm done with 80 medals i should be an expert, then i can work on the trophies with a bit more confidence. 2.5 measly weeks before registration opens people... ready or not, here it comes!
- i've been seeing floaters out of the top corner of my right eye. it comes and goes, but it is definitely on the increase. lots of people are lining up to tell me that they see floaters too and their eye docs say not to worry about it, but i am just over here thinking i have a brain tumor or something. did i mention that in addition to paranoia, andersons are hypochondriacs? but i am also lazy, so instead of actually going to get them checked out it is likely i will just sit and fret over it and hope it goes away.
- i love the holidays. i love to be with my little family and jim's family, i love to get dressed up and wear makeup, i love to give gifts and eat and take pictures. it's just good stuff. i am praying that this is a special and meaningful time for you and yours and for me and mine.

lots to do with the rest of the month, folks. BIG fish to fry. presents to wrap! food to make! parties to throw! halfway to the finish line... will we make it?