Picture this

Hello, to all my good friends out there. First off, I would like to say I am sorry for being gone so long. Believe it or not, I was having the biggest writer's block even though I am truly not a writer in any sense of the word. But I was really at a conundrumof what I wanted to say next. I just knew that it had to do with monkey bars. Intrigued?
Let me start by giving you a little history into the sort of person and I am and how I think. I picture everything. When I see a maze I form a picture in my head first on how the maze will end. If I throw a party I picture how the party will go. I am sure we all do this, and we will do our damnest to make the outcome picture exactly how we imagined it. Which leads me to a email conversation that I was having with my wonderful friend Dana.

Why is there always monkey bars?" I write.
Dana writes back and you can hear the giggle in her voice, "What are you talking about? Monkey bars?" 
On my recent 5k Run for your Lives obstacle course the last obstacle was monkey bars.
"Yes, my Moby Dick, is monkey bars. I always see myself crossing them with no problem and that I just sail across like my 6 year old, but all I seem to do is grab one rung and then wham! into the water. If it was a life or death situation I would be dead. "
Dana writes back really laughing now,  and writes, "It cracks me up that your crying moment morphed into cussing when confronted by those damn bars." hee hee.. 

Living with Cerebral Palsy requires creative thinking in all aspects of my life. I type with one hand about 25 wpm. I eat and write with my left hand, and I carry most items with my left hand. If something I need to do requires both hands, I will work it so my right arm or hand is construed in some sort of geometry angle with no name to make whatever I am doing work. Sometimes it works, sometimes I am cleaning a mess up. The point is before I do anything I picture in my head how it will work. This is the same with the monkey bars. I stand on the platform, I picture that I am going to fly over the monkey bars to the other side. It is the most frustrating thing in the world to me when this does not happen. What happens is I fall to the ground and my son running off giggling knowing he is better then me, in his 6 year old way.

I owe this "picture everything" talent to all my parents. (Yes, I said all) I grew up with my twin and knowing that I was different, but not that different. C.P was not to be used as excuse, ever. In turn, I have to give my parents credit for developing my critical thinking skills when I am carry the 20lb box with one hand, or dangling from the tree house 7 feet off the ground but knowing I am not going to be able to climb the rest way up. So thank you moms and dads for helping me develop my pain tolerance in life so early. And developing my mantra "Oh this going to hurt."

Next. Picture this 2..... 
 

The Final Battle

Standing on the hill I was thinking. Dwelling on the fact that this could be it for me. I hadn't even finished the first mile and I am about to be hit by this Zombie who is watching us with eager eyes. "Come my pretty", she saying, which was more of a moan then actual words. As I was planning the actual path I was going to take, and looking at the ground with its ruts and the brush around the trail and thinking how am I going to get around this without hurting myself. When all of sudden I hear from the back of our bunch "1...2...3!" Our makeshift team surged forward, I paused for a second and realized my twin has already taken off. Oh, great, she has left me again. I bounced after her and ended right behind her. She was trying to figure the best way to run around the Zombie without grabbing for her when I came up behind and went to her left, while the Zombie went for her right. And as I flew by her I came up with this one thought. The thought that we don't say out loud because maybe this is the true you and not the nice person that you believe you are. But because I am honest to my readers I will tell you my deep dark secret.

I will not hesitate to use you as a body shield to protect myself from a Zombie war.

And that is what I did to my sister. I let the Zombie go for her as I used her as a body shield, and yes, I ran on.
At the bottom of the hill was a wonderful, beautiful water station signaling the end of the first mile and I still have three flags, and yes, I was getting cocky. After hydrating and ready for the second mile I knew now after a rocky start I really could finish this. I was hurting by now, my knee was killing me from when the eagle landed previously and my hip was starting to remind me that I do have Stage Four Arthritis but I pushed on. There was a maze that I flew through, a couple more fields, which I will now admit that I have lost one flag and I have reached the 2 mile water station. Yea, for me!

The Last Mile
If you all have seen my blog you will notice that I posted a picture with an arrow and the word "hill" on it. This was the first of many of the "hills" on the last mile. I would like to say that I breezed right through, but let me say, no one "breezes" these hills. They are made for dirt road motorcycles that requires wheelies at the top. But I will say that I did make it up the hills without sliding back like everyone else was doing. (Thanks Brooks Trail Running Shoes. Always give credit were credit is due.) It wasn't until I ran into a large Zombie that for the record got a little too friendly by slipping her arms around me to steal my two last flags. I was irritated, but well crap happens. So I ended up helping my team by acting like I had flags and ended up being the body shield for others. (See, always remember to pay it forward) I was walking towards the end of the race now and one of the race photographers was taking pictures, and since I had nothing to lose I stopped in front of the photographer and strike a pose. Ta DA! I stood there as he snapped, and when he was done he said, "here you might need this." He hands me a red flag. (Oh, yes, I found a safety box!) The game was on once again!
Well.. on when I make it up another hill and the three Zombies on top of it. ( By the way, I have no idea where my sister is at this time.) I ran as fast as I could up the hill feeling like I was Ms. Flash Gordon, but the truth is it was probably more like Yertle the Turtle. Which didn't give the Zombie any kind of challenge and I will admit that by the time I was at the top, I just tore the flag off my belt and handed it to him. He smiled.
That was it. That was the last hill now there was a couple of last obstacles to complete and a run down the virus infected shoot and to hose off in freezing water line. But it was done. I was handed the medal, my very first one ever. Let's all say ahhh. But to me this was a great achievement.
I would have never thought in my life that I would complete a 5k obstacle course. I am not naturally athletic nor have I  really been inclined to be so, but when I saw read about this race originally, I was compelled to just do it and I didn't quit. I will never be a marathon runner and I will always have to work harder, but the truth of this is I tried and I succeeded.

See you May 11, 2013
http://www.runforyourlives.com/north-cali-overview-2013/