Kids say the darnedest things. The other day, my husband and I were sitting in the living room discussing something (I don’t remember what) and our 10-year old daughter was sitting nearby, chatting on the phone with her friend. Her friend was talking on a cell phone, while my daughter was talking on our house phone. (Yes. We still have a land line.) She was having her conversation and all of a sudden she squeals, “ARE YOU BREAKING UP WITH ME?!?” Now, my husband and I realized she meant to say, “Is your phone breaking up?” Because based on the conversation, we could tell her friend’s cell seemed to be dropping the call. It was hilarious. I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.

Since then, my daughter has asked me at least three times in the  past week if she can get a cell phone. The first time she asked, I was standing at the sink gulping down a glass of water when she skipped up to me with her bright, smiling eyes and asked. After my eyes bugged out and I choked on my water, I quickly replied, “Not any time soon!” She shrugged me off and let it go. Then, a few days later, she stared up at me with those huge, brown pleading eyes and said, “Mama? When am I gonna be allowed to have a cell phone? All my friends have them.” This time, I wasn’t so shocked and  stared her squarely in those puppy-dog pleading eyes and said, “Not for a while sweetie. There’s no need for you to have a cell phone right now. Either your Dad or myself are always home for you after school, and we have a house phone. You can call your friends on that as much as you want.” Knowing she wasn’t gonna get a better answer, she walked off to play with her Barbies. A few days later, she  asked again, using the same logic  of “…but all of my friends have one.”

That did it. I lost it. And then, I  somehow morphed into my mother and found myself saying, (gasp) “Just because all of your friends have one doesn’t mean you get to have one.” I torpedoed into a lecture spouting off to her that it costs money, and we have a perfectly good house phone and blah, blah, blah… (I’m sure that’s what she heard too. You know – like any grownup talking on those old Charlie Brown Specials? Wah wahhh wahwahwah wahhh…) Yikes. When did I turn into my mother?

I suppose it happens to all of us at some time or another though. And I can’t say I’m sorry I did. Although a small part of me inwardly cringed, I realized the frustrations my mother felt when we asked for something ridiculous for the 10,000th time that we knew was probably out of the question. (By the way, sorry about that, Mom.) But hey – as kids – we had to go for it – right? If you never ask, you’ll never know the answer. And, to quote my very wise mother (who often quoted other people), "Ask, and you shall receive." Ha! See?

That’s something I think we forget. We get too nervous about someone saying, “No,” or not giving us the answer we wanna hear, so we simply avoid asking the question. Think about it. How many times did you avoid a confrontation at work, at home, or with a friend because of that?  Maybe it was asking for a raise, or needing a ride somewhere because your car’s in the shop. Maybe you have a big event to go to but you can’t afford something new but don’t want to bother your friend to ask to borrow something. Sometimes we need to throw caution to the wind, bite the bullet and spit out our question. Remember my encounter with the Mr. Super Cute Bass Player guy from the Killer Flamingos? (*See previous Blog “A Weekend Adventure: Bird Watching.”) I got up the nerve, asked my question, and got what I wanted! I’ve also had to suck it up and get over my nerves in dealing with all of this book publishing stuff. I mean, I just don’t know what I’m doing sometimes. But I’ve realized that if you just put yourself out there and ask the question you need to know, more often than not, you’ll get a decent answer. Although it’s not always exactly what I wanna hear, it may help me think of another way to approach my problem…give me a different direction to take. Other times, it answers my question easily and I can move forward from there. In any case, I’m always more satisfied that I’ve asked the question and I don’t have to wonder, "What if.." or "If only..." or "Why not?"

So go ahead, act like a 10-year-old and ask for a cell phone. Three times. Maybe you’ll get the answer you wanna hear. Maybe you won’t. But you’ll never know if you don’t ask. Can you hear me now?

I finally got headphones. Now, if you’re new to reading this blog, you are probably thinking to yourself, “What the heck is the girl talking about? Who cares? Why is she telling me she got headphones?” Well. Because I haven’t had any since I've been working out at the gym. (Or, ever...at least not in the last decade.) So, I usually stare blankly at the 14 TVs in front of me,  while I make up in my head what I think all those celebrities or news anchors are saying. Trust me, it can get quite boring at the gym if you don’t have headphones plugged into the TVs or an ipod or something.

Since I am technologically still living in 2003, I deferred to my friend’s advice (who has teenagers who are plugged in non-stop) and she advised me to pick up a pair of Skullcandy headphones. “They’re not too expensive and they work great, plus they’re pretty durable,” she said. Okay. Sounds good to me. Target had them on sale last week so I picked myself up a pair. I even decided to borrow my daughter’s MP3 player and download one of my own playlists on it so I could really jam out and get pumped up. I had a big night ahead of me…It was back to running after my six-day hiatus I took after the Martian 10K race. I was not looking forward to it. I needed something to get me motivated.

I changed into my workout clothes, slipped on my running shoes and plugged the MP3 player into my laptop.  It synced right up to itunes. Yay! That was easy.

I celebrated too soon.

I figured out how to get my playlist on the MP3 player, but then I couldn’t figure out how to access it. Stupid MP3 player.  It just seemingly scrambled up all the songs so I had about 10 High School Musical songs with a few Hannah Montana numbers and Jonas Brothers beats, with my ultra-cool music intermixed every so often. Ugh. This was just dumb. I kept scrolling and hitting menus and trying just about every single button and option I could find. Then, suddenly I got some icon that said, “Audiofiles.” Huh? What the heck was that? The MP3 player must have come downloaded with some sample audio books, cuz all of a sudden, I had Eric Clapton’s Memoir being read to me. I couldn’t get the stupid thing to shut off. Gaahhh!! I was about to throw the thing across the room. I hadn’t even made it out the door to the gym yet. After hitting every button at least four more times and shutting the thing off and on, I finally got Eric to cease his reading...

And I was back to High School Musical and Hannah Montana. The frustration I was feeling was volcanic.

I scrolled through and realized that every few songs I’d just have to hit the fast forward button and skip over the teeny-bop stuff. Oh well. I’d wasted over 30 minutes trying to figure out this stupid piece of technology. I annoyingly shook my head and figured I better get my butt out the door to the gym or I’d never get there.

I picked a treadmill in the back row under the huge ceiling fan. I started walking on it as I fiddled with the MP3 player and securely shoved the earbuds into my ears. I pushed up my pace and settled into my jog. The cord was jumping all over the place and bouncing around. Ah! It was totally annoying and distracting. How do people do this? I moved the MP3 player to a different spot on the treadmill. Nope. Still sucky. An earbud fell out of my ear. I fixed it. I moved the player again, barely concentrating on my jogging and more distracted by figuring out the perfect place for the dumb gadget. I’m sure I was drawing attention to myself. I wasn’t exactly being stealthy about my MP3 maneuvering. Then, another earbud fell out of my ear. “Stupid headphones,” I said out loud to nobody in particular. Although, I know the girl next to me heard and was really trying to ignore my shenanigans. I kept shuffling along in my jog while I readjusted the earbuds yet again and decided to hold the MP3 player in my hand. 

Bad idea. It kept skipping through songs. Man – those buttons are sensitive! One little touch and the thing skipped them or started the song over. UGH! I picked yet another place on the treadmill to shove the MP3 player and tried to hold the cords in my hand so they weren’t annoying me. Ahhh. This seems to be working.

For about four minutes.

I must have forgotten I had the cords in my hand and I really started to push my run.  KA-BLEWIE! The earbuds got yanked from my ears and the MP3 player went airborne off the ledge of the treadmill. I jerked my head as the cords, player and earbuds went flying off behind me, half on the floor and half mangled in the treadmill belt. I almost fell off the blasted thing. I yelped. Yes. I yelped. (Stupid MP3 player.) This time, there was no hiding. The girl next to me exclaimed, "Are you OKAY!?!?" Mind you, I was still trying to run, while half-turned around as I tried to wave it off and play it cool, “Oh, yeah. I’m not used to running with headphones. I’ll get ‘em later,” I replied, as I gripped the handrail and ungracefully twisted around. I don’t know why I didn’t just shut the dumb treadmill off, get off of it, pick them up and start over again. Nope, not me. I just kept running. And I stared straight ahead, at nothing, listening to nothing. “Those damn headphones will be the death of me,” I muttered.

I stayed on the treadmill on continued my run. I completely ignored my headphones, cord and MP3 player dragging on the back of my machine. Thank God no one was behind me. I love the back row.

The girl next to me was super nice. She didn’t laugh at me… at least not in front of my face. And when she got off her treadmill, she picked up my techno-gear and gently placed it in my cupholder for me. “Awwww!!! Thank YOUUUU!” I sweetly exclaimed. (Hoping to cover my embarrassment.) “No problem,” she said, and walked off.

I hope I never see her again.

I learned something that day though. A person cannot die of embarrassment. And, you can push through and do some pretty amazing things even when nothing seems to be going your way. Once I lost the headphones, I had a great follow-up run to my recent race. I ran four strong miles and even hit a nine-and-a-half minute pace on my last half-mile. It’s like Murphy’s Law…when something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Deal with it. Stop complaining about it. Just keep on running on that treadmill.

I don’t think I’ll run with headphones again though.  Oh, and in case you’re wondering, those Skulllcandy headphones took quite a beating and still work like new.

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I rather enjoy long drives. Especially if I’m alone. That might sound a bit weird to some people, but I actually like the time to myself. I get to take in all of the scenery and I get to jam to my tunes as loud as I want (and I don’t have to put on Justin Beiber or Radio Disney). I really revel in my time to sing like a rock star, think about what I need to do, solve the world’s problems, and make up scenarios in my head about the little towns  I’m driving through…you know…the usual stuff.

I was enjoying one of these rides of solitude on my way home from Ohio. As I was driving past the vast expanse of farm lands, farm houses, barns, silos and other farm-like buildings, I did what I usually do and hummed “Footloose” in my head because every time I pass a farm community I think of that movie. After all, there’s gotta be a town nearby with a kid named “Ren” and some stodgy, strict minister keeping the town from dancing…right?  Anyhow, I noticed a sign warning me that I would soon  be approaching an area airport. I kept driving and continued to fantasize about Kevin Bacon teaching me how to dance on a football field. (No, I have no celebrity crush on Kevin Bacon...he’s just cool and that boy can dance!) Anyhow…I must have forgotten about the airport, because as I emerged from under an overpass I got a huge surprise...and was scared outta my mind!

The car shook and vibrated. The windows shuddered and a loud, thundering booming noise drowned out the sound of my radio. ZOOOOMMMM! A huge plane crossed directly over me apparently lining up with the runway off in the distance on my right. “HOLY CRAP!” I  screamed (along with some other expletives, which I won’t repeat here) as I gripped the steering wheel and my heart skipped a beat (or ten). Movies don’t do it justice. Airplanes are frickin’ huge. And LOUD. Especially when flying directly over you as they come in for a landing. I felt like I could reach up and touch it. After I got over the initial shock of feeling like a plane was going to land on my car, I thought about the amazing engineering feat that an airplane is. I have no idea how much those things weigh, not to mention adding the extra cargo of people and luggage, but the fact that those machines can get up in the air, travel at such speeds and then come safely down is almost magical. (Yeah, yeah...I know it's all physics.) I thought about the fact that commercial airplanes didn’t exist when my Grandpa was born. The Wright brothers took their first flight in 1903. Look how far we’ve come in a relatively short time, especially considering how long our human history dates back. The Greeks were philosophizing in 300 BC (i.e. thousands of years ago) yet most of our major technological advances have taken place in the last 150 years or so. (See? I do some philosophical thinking on these long, lonely car rides. It's not just a hat rack.)

Then I noticed the vast expanse of train tracks whirling past my window and wondered about the old trains parked on the seemingly deserted tracks. I have no idea how long they've been there, or what their original purpose was…but I like to imagine the goods, livestock and hobos that were transported along those rails. Huh. The steam engine...another brilliant engineering feat.

As I let my mind wander back to small-town "Footloose" scenarios of high school proms, I suddenly saw the array of brake lights ahead.

Ahhhhh crap.

I thought to myself, "There’s either been an accident or there’s construction. So much for my peaceful traveling watching the rolling landscape and imagining Kevin Bacon dancing. Darn it! Now I’m going to be stuck in gridlock with about a hundred other cars and trucks, meandering along at a stop-go pace. Drat. I shoulda got off at that last exit ramp… "

I looked at all of the cars around me. First, there was a huge, black, custom Harley Davidson 4x4 truck. Behind it was a small convertible Pontiac Solstice, followed by a cranberry red Ford Mustang, which was next followed by a silvery-blue Ford Flex and finally a white Honda Prius. I’m not kidding. It was like they were all lined up in fuel-efficiency order so I could remember them! Ah…America. We are what we drive. Be it rough and outdoorsy, smooth and sporty, sleek and fast, suburban and economical or eco-friendly and green.

I slowly realized, as I thought about the plane that almost landed on my car,  the deserted train tracks and the lineup of automobiles, that I am in awe of engineers.

They have given us our modern-day life. Without them, where would be? Sure, they can’t all be genius inventors, but wow. I can make the world look pretty but they can really make the world move. They work every day improving our travel efficiency… making our planes faster and our cars safer. Without them, I would be walking along side a horse (cuz I wouldn’t be riding one). Even the horse-drawn carriage wouldn’t have existed without some great engineering mind to come up with it.

With all of the struggles the Motor City has gone through since 2001 (especially those employed by or outsourced through the Big Three) I think a little thank you is in order. Most of my family has worked in the automotive industry, as well as many of my friends, and I  think they get a little run-down and feel a little under-appreciated at times. While I know you can’t all create the newest mode of transportation, or come up with the most fuel efficient engine, I know you all have a part in creating some of the most amazing machines on the road or in the sky. So this blog is dedicated to all of you engineers out there. Thank you for working as hard as you do. Remember: you are an important cog in the wheel of production. I can paint the car pretty, but you guys make it run. And without you, I’d be shoveling manure.

There’s no big reveal today, (unless my Footloose fantasies count as some good gossip) other than my thanks to all the engineers out there and to tell you to hang in there if you’ve had a rough time of it.  Appreciate them. The next time you're on a long car ride or stuck in traffic, take a moment to appreciate  something amazing that's right outside your window. The world keeps moving, even when you're stuck in gridlock.

The martians have  landed! The martians have landed! Everybody RUN! Seriously. Move it. Run! That’s just what I did on Saturday when they arrived. I ran like hell.

But there was no real invasion of little green men. Actually, it was the 2011 Martian Marathon. The race was sponsored by Running Fit and offered a marathon, a half-marathon, a 10K and a 5K. I participated and attempted my first 10K race.

Wait. Did you catch that? A 10K. That’s ten kilometers. Six point two miles of road. And I ran the entire distance. Now that was an experience.

I have been training for a little while, but am still relatively new to the sport of running. Six months ago, I couldn’t run six blocks, let alone six miles. But after months of work, I managed to attempt the seemingly impossible feat.

Several of my friends participated in the race too. Luckily, I had a good friend, who runs almost the same pace as me, to run beside. We actually kept each other company for the first four-and-a-half miles. Then she lost me. A bit faster than me, she pulled ahead just before  we approached the five-mile marker. Although I kept her in my sight, I had to run that last almost mile -and-a-half on my own.  I was averaging a ten-and-a-half minute-mile pace, which was much faster than I normally run.

I was by myself. Running this race on my own now. I had no running partner anymore. I had no one to keep my pace with. It was hard. You see, going into this race, even in my training, I’ve only run more than five miles twice in my life. So this final mile was tough for me. Not only was I tired, out of breath, and pushing my body to its limits, but I really did feel alone out there. I just knew I had to finish. I knew I could do it. I knew the end was near… but boy. I just. Wanted. To stop. Running. 

As I approached the final hill (yes, there was a blasted hill in the last half-mile of the race…what moron planned that?) it was then that I realized I wasn’t really alone. I remembered something my sister-in-law told me.  She is one of my running heroes. Strong, determined and FAST, she is a vat of running knowledge. She told me this the day before the race:

“Remember, this race is the celebration of all your hard work and now that you’ve done a few races… here’s my secret. Strength comes from relaxed arms, pulling back and forth when your legs get tired. The harder you drive your arms at the end, the quicker your legs will turn over. In order to keep your upper body relaxed, think about holding butterflies in your hands…”

As I came barreling up to that final hill and I saw my friend running farther ahead of me, those words came spilling back into my mind. I concentrated on pulling my arms back and forth and I focused all of my energy and sent a mental whisper and prayer out into the air, willing my sister-in-law to send me some of those butterflies to carry me over that hill, instead of just having a few fluttering in my palms.  And you know what? She did. I suddenly felt lighter, faster and stronger. It was as if a million butterflies had lifted me, just an inch off the ground, and carried me up that hill. I was so amazed and in awe of the sudden feeling of weightlessness that I must have lost concentration, because I suddenly came thudding back down to the hard concrete once I came over the peak and sadly, my few seconds of flight were over. It was all on me again. I was irritated that my butterflies had flown away from me, but quickly realized that without her words of encouragement to get me, literally, over the hill, I could have easily sputtered out to slow walk as I pushed my tired body onward.  Instead, I embraced the small gift of energy she gave me and I thought, “I’ve almost done it. I’m almost there. In less than six minutes, I’ll be crossing that finish line. I can run for just six minutes more.” Six minutes was nothing, compared to how long I had already been running. Just a little farther, and I’ll have completed the longest, fastest run of my life. I. Can. Do. This.

I saw my friend about a block in front of me. I knew I wouldn’t close the distance, but knowing that I held on and didn’t let her slip completely out of sight was reassuring. I could see the finish line now. I pumped my arms. Back and forth, back and forth. All the sounds of the cheering crowd dissolved into a muffled hum in the air. All I could hear was the heavy sound of my breath and the falls of my feet on the pavement. All I could feel were my arms pumping…back and forth, back and forth. Somehow, my legs knew what to do. They hurt. Every nerve running down them felt electrified. I was almost there. It was time to kick it up…time to reach inside the tank give it everything I had left. I slowly ramped up my speed, taking care not to push too soon, because I knew my body would shut down, like a car sputtering out of gas if I pushed too hard for too long. Faster and faster I pushed my elbows back, making each stride longer, faster, closer to the finish line. I crossed the line and suddenly my ears opened up. I heard the noise of the crowd, the cheers of my friends, and the cheers for other runners finishing their race.

I stopped running.

I could breathe.

And then…I was filled with contentment and an overwhelming sense of triumph.  I finished my first 10K – the longest distance I’ve ever run – with my fastest time: sixty-five minutes and 28 seconds.  That time didn’t even place me in the top half of all the runners competing that day, but it gave me a first-place finish in my mind. It gave me new respect for myself and what a person can achieve if they put their mind to it. It also made me thankful of all the support I had to get me there. My brilliant trainer, who’s been my running partner since I started running in October; my friend, who ran with me during this race; my sister-in-law, who gave me words of wisdom and encouragement and who carried me over that last tough hill; my other friends who finished their race and cheered for me as I crossed the finish line….they all played a part in my success that day.

Sometimes, when we think we are running up that hill all alone, we have more people with us than we know.  It’s up to us to open our minds, feel them, listen to them, and use their strength to get us through the rough spots. Don’t be afraid to lean on the people who care for you. Don’t be afraid to call out to them when you need it, and don’t be afraid to listen to them. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to accept their help. When you need it most, they’ll send their butterflies to carry you over the hill.

The martians came. They laid out their challenge. I took that challenge. I leaned on my friends.

And then I kicked those martians the hell outta my way.