Halfway to the Finish Line

So… This week marks several big milestones in my Team in Training season. We completed a 52 mile ride on Sunday. That’s half of a century. By distance, we are halfway to the century. This week also marks the halfway point in our training schedule. Actually, today is precisely the midpoint of our 17-week training schedule.

A little about Sunday’s ride… It was cooler than the week before, I managed to stay hydrated and, all in all, it was an enjoyable ride. Or a “Fun Fifty” as I dubbed it. We traveled through a bunch of small towns including Ferndale, which has one of the smallest post offices I’ve ever seen. It appears both of my tires were actually on the way out, since I managed to get another flat tire, this time on the front. Actually, the tire blew. We patched it with a GU pack and off we went. It lasted all the way to mile 41 and blew again. After repairing this flat (thanks to Erin’s spare tube), I finished the rest of the ride. This makes a total of four flats for me this season. I think I’ve had my share!

So the only halfway mark I have not reached is in my fundraising, which would be $2,000. I have raised $1,140 which is enough for me to recommit to the rest of the Team in Training season. Please help me reach my final fundraising goal of $4,000 by May 5^th. You can make a donation online at http://pages.teamintraining.org/ncfl/fletcher11/jrandolnhb. If you would rather write a check, send me a message and I’ll let you know where to mail it to.

Thank you for your continued support!

Who Am I This Time?

Fair warning, this blog pretty much is a complete spoiler.

I recently decided to start reading Kurt Vonnegut again. As most high school students, I was required to read Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five and a few others. To ease myself into it, I began with a collection of short stories titled Welcome to the Monkey House. Just reading the introduction had me cracking up.

One short story that really grabbed my attention was "Who Am I This Time?" It tells the story of an actor in a small town theatrical company. Told from the perspective of the director, it's an unlikely romance.

The lead actor of all the town's plays is a shy and retiring young man who can barely hold a conversation when out in the "real world." Give Harry a part in a play and he becomes the character. All his interactions with his fellow thespians, even when not performing, are carried out as if he was Stanley in A Street Car Named Desire or Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac.

When a young woman who travels from town to town installing new computers for the phone company is invited to try out for the part of Stella. Helene falls madly in love with the actor playing Stanley, as Stanley. Not realizing that he becomes a non-entity the moment he steps off the stage.

After several miserable encounters, Helene comes up with a novel idea, or should I say a "play" idea. At the end of their last performance, before Harry can slip away, she gives him a copy of Romeo and Juliet and has him read her favorite part of the play.

Juliet:
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Romeo:
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

And their relationship blossomed. By basically giving Harry permission to be whoever he needed to be in order to woo her, they developed a strategy of courting through plays.

As a postscript, I came across the 1982 film adaptation of the story starring Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon. Just under an hour long, it was an excellent adaptation, keeping many of the main themes behind the story. Christopher Walken was phenomenal in the roll of Harry and Susan Sarandon kept up her side of the story very well also.

29 Gifts - February 9th

Okay, I haven't been following the 29 Gifts like I should. It's been off and on that I've remembered to do anything. Today, however, I remembered!

A couple of days ago I made some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies from Bob's Red Mill mix following the directions except replacing the oil with pumpkin. Needless to say, they are yummy! So yummy, in fact, that I've been eating four each night when I get home. Not a good trend to start.

So this morning I brought in half the cookies I had left and gave them to another person in the office who is avoiding wheat.

This gift had several parts to it. The motivation was fairly selfish--I wanted to get the cookies out of my house so I would stop eating them. However, I was glad to give the cookies away to someone who would enjoy them without worry.

And one more thing, I have a hard time giving food away. It's strange, but I am always afraid I'm going to run out of food. (Not really a true worry.) Just subconsciously, I act on a basis of scarcity and try to hoard food and dislike sharing. So giving away the cookies also was a training exercise for me to let food go.