Sunshine

It is ironic that I finally get around to the "Sunshine Award" post on a day that is rainy and stormy*.  It is also during a week when I need a bit of sun in my life.  I know that many of the bloggers out there have already been tagged with this.  I am going to go ahead and tag twelve people anyway, just so that I have an excuse to say nice things about some nice people.  This blog was started to document my training for my first marathon.  I have been pleasantly surprised how many actual friends I have met through this blogging journey.  The following people have added a little sunshine to my life...

*Irene-- tagged me for this.  She is a great runner and person who has overcome a lot.  She struggled with a major injury and still perseveres.  She seems to get stronger every day.  She is an inspiration.  I had the pleasure of meeting her this past summer at a race.  I look forward to seeing her at others in the future.

*Terri was the first person who ever commented on my blog (other than people I already knew).  We made an instant connection through our blogs.  Both of us were training for our first marathons and new to running.  You could say we were the blind leading the blind (although, she had her brother to help her).

Terri always offers thoughtful comments to my posts.  She gives encouragement and advice.  When Terri took a trip to my old stomping grounds in Oregon we talked on the phone a couple times. Since then, we have been friends, instead of just blogger acquaintances.

*Jill is another person I have connected to as a friend.  I was lucky enough to join Jill for a run when she was visiting San Diego.  We just fell into step and it was all so natural.  We talked the entire run.  Her stage in life is a few years behind mine and it was refreshing to chat with her about her future.

One of Jill's closest friends is someone I clicked with at a training seminar.  I am sure that since we are drawn to similar people, if we lived in the same city, we would hang out for sure.

*Alissa and I have also had the pleasure of meeting at a race.  We didn't run together, since she beat me by several minutes.  ;-)  We did get the chance to hang out though.  Her husband had car trouble, so my friend Laura and I were able to take Alissa back to the condo where she was staying, chatting along the way. 

I definitely will run with her someday.  Alissa is faster than me and I think she can push me.  However, she was the first one to text me and congratulate me for beating her PR in the marathon (although her half PR blows mine away).  LOL.  Her encouragement and support has been awesome.

*Penny and I have run a lot of the same races.  We have yet to meet face to face, although we have talked on the phone.  I have recently gotten to know Penny better through Twitter and Facebook.  Penny is a Half Marathon Fantatic, running half marathons every other week or so in order to motivate her to get a long run in.  Wow. She is also passionate about animals and raised a lot of money for Labrador Rescuers.  She has one of the biggest hearts I know.

*Alice's blog makes me laugh every time.  That's why I started reading it.  Then I started realizing that we were running in the same places.  Turns out that she lives very close to where I lived in the San Diego area.  In fact, my son went to the same grade school that her kids went to.

I have had the pleasure of meeting her a few times at races.  My favorite was at the End of Summer 4 mile race.  I joined the Heffers for a couple of beers and a breakfast burrito.  It wasn't mimosas, but it was a lot of fun.  Alice has a way of making everyone around her feel comfortable.

*Kristin  and I are right around the same age and our PR's are eerily similar.  I am convinced that if we lived in the same city, she and I would be perfect running partners.  Our running parallels quite a bit.  Our good runs and bad runs are so much alike and we approach our running pretty much the same way.

I think that Kristin is living a life that is very similar to what mine might have been had certain decisions been made differently.  Had I gone to law school... Had I not met my husband...   It is not only likely that I would be working as an attorney, but perhaps even in Washington.

I am sure I will run into Kristin one of these days.  I would love it if I could see her in Newport in June.  One of my friends wants me to run it.  If my financial situation changes soon, I just might.  Maybe Kristin and I could qualify for Boston together? 

*Glenn  and I have only recently met.  We have gotten to know each other mostly through Twitter.  He is the ultimate cheerleader for the running community.  He is the epitome of a social butterfly and is so good at rallying people to get together.  People like Glenn bring real life interactions to online social networking.

I was able to meet him at my first big trail race.  I doubt if I would have had the courage to show up if it weren't for Glenn.  He was so welcoming and encouraging.  I am sure we'll cross paths again.

*Aron  is someone whose skill I greatly admire.  I started reading her blog as she was on her Boston Qualification quest.  I think it was the Eugene Marathon race report that hooked me.  Her raw emotion that she shared on that post made me want to cry with her.   I admire her honesty and candor.  She also posts interesting and helpful reviews etc.

I am starting to get to know Aron a bit more lately through Twitter.  I hope that I can run into her one of these days at a race.

*L.B. is a true inspiration.  He used to weigh 308 pounds.  I discovered his blog after he had lost his weight and was training for the Surf City Marathon.  I was able to see him on an out-and-back portion of the race and give him a quick cheer as he was running his first marathon.   His blog posts are thoughtful and easy to read.  I am glad to have found his blog (actually, I think he may have found mine first).

*MCM Mama**was training for her first marathon right after I trained for mine.  She is a stay-at-home mom with two kids, just like me.  I enjoy hearing about the issues she faces that are so similar to mine.  Sometimes I think we're living parallel lives (except for all the snow, of course.  LOL)

She is on a quest to run a race in every state.  I hope that when she checks off California, it will be somewhere in southern California.  Better yet, it would be great if she vacations with her family and all the kids can hang out and play.

*Danica  Out of all the bloggers I have described, I think I have the least in common with Danica.  She is a fabulous, single twenty-something.  Her life is as different from mine as it could be.  But we both love running.  I enjoy her enthusiasm for everything.

I found Danica's blog while searching for race reports on a half marathon I was thinking about running.  I then happened upon her race report for the Long Beach Marathon and it was like a light turned on.  Her Long Beach experience was exactly what I was hoping for for Surf City.  She found her marathon redemption and had a dream race.  Her story gave me hope that I could do the same.  She encouraged me that I could definitely have that dream race.  The idea of that dream race kept me going through the tough miles.  I have Danica to thank for that!

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There are so many more cool bloggers out there.  Maybe I'll highlight some more on another day...  In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out some of these blogs!  Thanks to all of you for your support.

Award winners, if you would like to participate (and haven't already...or even if you have), put the logo on your blog or within your post (right click and save). Pass the award onto 12 bloggers, then link the nominees within your post. Finally, let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

Happy running.

*although I didn't finish it until today when it is Sunny and beautiful...gotta love a southern California storm. 
**I know her real name, but am not sure if she ever says it on her blog.  I want to protect her anonymity if that's what she wants.