Social Media

I recently joined twitter. Now, if you're thinking, "Gosh, I need to follow Audrey", which I'm sure all of you are...let me just say this...there is no one more boring on twitter than yours truly. Save your time.  I currently have four followers (without a clue who two of them are), and to date I've "tweeted" seven times (four of those tweets done by my one year old). Did you know that Kim Kardashain has over 11,000,000 followers?! Don't worry, I'm not one of them, but I hardly think anyone is THAT interesting!  The truth is I've never seen the point of twitter if you're on Facebook.  It's basically the same thing right? As it is, I already have a somewhat love hate relationship with Facebook.  There are things about it that are good. It allows people to stay involved and share life with friends and family that live far away.  I love that I've reconnected with family I haven't seen in years, gotten to talk to friends I haven't spoken to since we left Mexico, caught up with high school friends, etc. However, I feel there is a negative side to Facebook as well.  I find it gives people the tendency to portray their lives in a distorted way.  It's so easy to post a certain status or photo to draw attention and get those  "5 minutes of fame". News feeds are chock-full of perfect kids, perfect weddings, perfect marriages, perfect vacations...perfect lives. Why? That's so far from reality. I've seen Facebook connect people in good ways sure, but I've also seen it hurt relationships and break up friendships. It has a way of tapping into people's insecurities and making it seem like the grass is always greener on the other side.  It's hard to find a balance of sharing life with family and friends and not succumbing to the artificiality of it all.

So no denying I was reluctant to add yet another social media with twitter. But a good friend of mine joined twitter right about the time the Boston Marathon bombings occurred. She was using twitter as a way to stay up to date on current events. That's what sold me on the idea.  I'm not one to watch the news or read the paper. I enjoy doing both, but it rarely happens.  So I made the jump, and admittedly really like it.  I have a few friends I follow, but most of my feed is filled with local and world wide news. Wow! It's true what they say, "ignorance is bliss".  Twitter for me is like the opposite of Facebook. It's nothing but real life...and real life is scary.  It can be heavy reading about kidnapped children, collapsed buildings, and current events in Syria all the time. It seems like there's always some sort of "death count". Have you guys been following the coverage on the Gosnell trial? Sickening! We live in such a fallen and terrifying world! I'm always thankful to find some comedic relief in Jim Gaffigan's tweets.  He's a good one to follow if you need a good laugh from time to time.

So we definitely live in the age of social media, and if I'm going to participate I'll have to accept the disadvantages right along with the benefits. If I've learned anything, it's this...

• I waste too much time on Facebook and Twitter.
• I like genuine.
• I hate fake.
• We live in a small world...wow! I have mutual friends with people all over the world.
• Depth in friendships can only occur when we are vulnerable and admit our own short comings, not by only posting/seeing the good parts.
• There is always a different truth behind the mislead perfection.
• I'm grateful I get to participate in the lives of far away friends/family and watch them become parents to beautiful babies (some that I may never get to meet).
• My kids are definitely cuter than yours.

Hahahahaha!! That last one was just to mess with you.  

A Proposition

Last November I ran the Philly marathon with my sister.  Best marathon experience yet! The race in itself was worth the trip, not to mention I got to train/run with my sister, visit one of my greatest friends, eat lots of delicious food, and set a new (the cherry on top)... PR! No question I was elated after crossing the finish line. Before Philly, I had never included speed work in marathon training, the point was just to finish.  Thankfully, those months of hard work paid off and I was able to accomplish what I set out to do.  I have to give most of the credit to my brother-in-law extraordinaire for coaching me, and to my awesome sister for keeping me motivated (always running in front was your way of doing that I guess hahaha). I walked away from that race with a whole new level of determination.  You marathoners out there know what I'm talking about...to qualifying for Boston!

Well, reality has set in. Maybe it's the dark mornings, cold weather, training alone...or maybe it's that I just don't have the ability to do it.  Maybe my legs are too short, I don't know.

I'm turning (a # I'm not ready to type out) next year, and I thought training to qualify would be a fun goal to try and accomplish before then. Now that I'm not so sure I can do it, I've decided to change my plans a bit. There is a certain marathon I've been thinking about running, one that I've never wanted to do before, one that would definitely qualify as a "challenge" before I turn (a # I'm not ready to type). But there's only one way I could fully commit to it...and that's if my running coach also commits to training for it. Yes Brett, you know which one I'm talking about... Heart of America.

Now before you rush to say no...I have already talked to a certain friend of yours (his name starts with D and rhymes with Male), and he too said he could commit if you did. I can think of a handful of other people who would rise to the challenge as well. So what do you say? I'll tell you what I think. I think you need to reunite your Lunatics!

I realize I'm putting you on the spot by bringing this up through a blog post. I'm hoping it puts a little extra pressure on you and makes it harder to say no :)

Think about it...but not too long.  We need to start training!

Not an everyday run...

Alright so it's been almost a full year since I last blogged.  I've actually written a lot over the last year, but haven't "published" any of my posts. Most blogs I follow are written by interesting people who write about their travels, their journeys of weight loss, their thoughts (usually educated thoughts) on different issues, their struggles/successes with parenting, or they are just down right funny and excellent writers.  When I first decided to blog, I had no idea what direction to go in (I still don't) so I lost all motivation. However, one of my new year's resolutions (I made 13 for 2013) is to write more, so even if it's just for a year, I'm doing it.  I don't pretend to be a writer, and I most definitely will make a ton of grammatical errors (English teachers be ware), but I honestly really enjoy it. So read if you wish, but don't expect anything too profound.

So this morning....

I got ready for my morning run like normal. Being that it was 17 degrees outside, I put on a couple of extra layers, grabbed my Garmin, grabbed my Mace, and was out the door by 5:50.  Why Mace you ask?  Well I'll tell you...

Getting out so early in the morning means most of my runs are in the dark, especially in the winter. I've never been too concerned with my safety since I'm usually on busy streets with plenty of street lights, not to mention I live in Columbia MO where the crime rate is pretty low. However, bad things happen even in Columbia, so my good friend Brenda bought me some Mace a few months back. I read the instructions...test before using, wash immediately if it comes in contact with skin, discard after three months, etc... This morning I decided to test it out again to make sure it still worked...it didn't.  Instead of spraying out like it should, it dripped everywhere drenching most of my right hand.  So just like the instructions said, I discarded it. Thinking nothing of it, I wiped off my hand, put my gloves on, and headed out for my run. Oh if I had just remembered to WASH my hands!  I didn't feel anything until I was half mile away from being done with my run. That's when the I first noticed the tingling.  Thankfully taking my glove off and exposing my hand to the cold air made it go away.  I got home, immediately threw my gloves in the washing machine and washed my hands.  It was too late.  As my hands warmed up by being indoors, the burning on my knuckles became more noticeable. I tried to ignore it. Still feeling chilled from being outside, I jumped in a hot shower (usually the most glorious thing ever).  Oh my gosh!! My hand couldn't even come close to touching warm water. Scalding! From then on the burning just got worse and worse. I spent the next few hours running cool water over my hand to get relief. Three hours later, the burning was gone.  It's comforting to know Mace actually works. I have no doubt it would deter an assailant. I can't imagine how painful it would be to have that stuff in your eyes!

So thanks Brenda :) I dedicate this post to you.   I'll be buying more...I'll be smarter next time.