5 things I am grateful for having in my life lately!

When you love what you have you have everything you need! Life is beautiful and sometimes we forget this, but I’ve been given so much and that is what I want to focus on!

And I think nowdays people spend too much time looking for more, instead of appreciating what they already have!

I have so many things to be grateful for , but now I am just going to list the 5 most important for me lately:

1. Running!

2. Mountains and the beautiful surroundings where I’ve been able to live lately!
3. My husband!

4. My niece!

5. Books!

What about you, what are you grateful for right now?

The three races!

In old times, fable retells the story of the young athletic boy hungry for success, for whom winning was everything and success was measured by such a result.

One day, the boy was preparing himself for a running competition in his small native village, himself and two other young boys to compete. A large crowd had congregated to witness the sporting spectacle and a wise old man, upon hearing of the little boy, had travelled far to bear witness also.

The race commenced, looking like a level heat at the finishing line, but sure enough the boy dug deep and called on his determination, strength and power .. he took the winning line and was first. The crowd was ecstatic and cheered and waved at the boy. The wise man remained still and calm, expressing no sentiment. The little boy, however. felt proud and important.

A second race was called, and two new young, fit, challengers came forward, to run with the little boy. The race was started and sure enough the little boy came through and finished first once again. The crowd was ecstatic again and cheered and waved at the boy. The wise man remained still and calm, again expressing no sentiment. The little boy, however, felt proud and important.

“Another race, another race!” pleaded the little boy. The wise old man stepped forward and presented the little boy with two new challengers, an elderly frail lady and a blind man. “What is this?”, quizzed the little boy. “This is no race” he exclaimed. “Race!”, said the wise man. The race was started and the boy was the only finisher, the other two challengers left standing at the starting line. The little boy was ecstatic, he raised his arms in delight. The crowd, however, was silent showing no sentiment toward the little boy.

“What has happened? Why not do the people join in my success?” he asked the wise old man. “Race again”, replied the wise man, “…this time, finish together, all three of you, finish together” continued the wise man. The little boy thought a little, stood in the middle of the blind man and the frail old lady, and then took the two challengers by the hand. The race began and the little boy walked slowly, ever so slowly, to the finishing line and crossed it. The crowd were ecstatic and cheered and waved at the boy. The wise man smiled, gently nodding his head. The little boy felt proud and important.

“Old man, I understand not! Who are the crowd cheering for? Which one of us three?”, asked the little boy. The wise old man looked into the little boy’s eyes, placing his hands on the boy’s shoulders, and replied softly .. “Little boy, for this race you have won much more than in any race you have ever ran before, and for this race the crowd cheer not for any winner!”

Author: Darren Edwards

My vertical race – in search of the sky!

Ok, all right, I know what VERTICAL means, and if not I can always go to the dictionary and find out exactly, but you know, when you think about running, especially if you are coming from the road running, and most of the time you run on clean park alleys, or roads flat as pancakes, what you picture in your mind when you think about a vertical run, even if it’s trail, and even if it’s “vertical”, is still some sort of … running!!!

Al right I did some HILL running, I repeat I ran some hills in my time, and every time it was going up with more than maybe 20% gradient, and I was able to do it without my lungs exploding I was feeling like Usain Bolt crossing the 100 m finish line, so I really thought I have at least an idea of “VERTICAL” run, BUT I did not exactly picture or expect this:

So, at almost 1400 m difference in altitude over 5 km, I never suspected for a second that my performance would worry the local Kilian Jornets, the rake-thin champ mountain goats who weigh in at twenty kilos less than me.

But the competition was really with myself, and thank God the race was in the morning, before my brain could figured it out what I was about to do!

I just went along with the event, as the organizing was great, I didn’t have to think too much, and than it started!

As it is a narrow track, the race was conducted as a time trail, with each racer getting a specific departure time, 30 seconds apart. The faster your estimated time, the later you compete. I obviously started in the very beginning where infact all the girls started.

And ohhh yes, if I didn’t imagine, I did learn what vertical running is, I did learn, I did feel it, in my legs, in my lungs, in my arms, in my hands holding on the security chains, I did learn it in my brain, in my muscles, in my pain, but mostly I learned it in my HEART!

And maybe my legs were tired, and my lungs were screaming, and my brain was telling me to take it easy, but my heart was singing, my heart was taking it all in, the absolute stunning beauty of the mountains, the smell of the fresh air hitting my lungs with so much force, the taste of the mud and the feel of the surfaces I touched with every part of my body, and then at the peak when the fog came in I felt like I reached the sky and I was flying in the clouds, the smell of wild shepherd’s thyme overwhelming, and then the people waiting for us on the plateau, I couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot!

No I was not running, I was flying, in the sky, through the clouds, it felt like heaven and my heart better than my brain, knew it, and will never forget it!!!!

I came fifth from the girls, very close to the 4th place (only 16 sec difference),and I did it in 1hour and 31 minutes, a course that is marked as a 4 hours, the best guy did it in 52 minutes, but I think he is not human, he is just an alien send here to embarrass us all the mortal human beings! Joking aside, the truth is there were a LOT of very good mountain runners there, and just to get a chance to run along with them was a bliss.

I’m no great runner, by any means. I am an amateur as much as an amateur can be, of course I can be competitive at times, and I want to be between the first to finish, but mostly I am competitive with myself, I like to compete with the old ME, the most important opponent in any race is myself, the way I used to be.
And for me on this one the miracle was not that I finished, or the time I finished in, but the miracle was that I had the courage to start.

This race made me belive more and more that as someone said before “The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other,… but to BE with each other.”

How to be cool on facebook!

It’s obvious and pointless to mention that in today’s world of the Wild West, sorry Wide Web communication …. you adapt or you disappear, you disappear from the cool social media like the dinosaurs disappeared in the Cretaceous!

It took me a while I have to confess, but I think I come up with how you can survive, and how you can start to be as cool as a teenager that can send 10 text messages in one minute, without using their hands!

I will start with these 10 basic, essential rules of coolness on Facebook, of course you can extend it and try to apply it on other online form of communication or socializing.
Here we go, prepare yourself to be transformed :

1. Vaguebooking. I bet you did not hear about this so far (see… I told you this is very cool). So be as vague as possible on your status, write things like : “This sucks!” or “What a terrible day”. Of course you’re not begging for attention, you are just so damn cool, don’t worry if most people won’t understand you, they are just not as cool as you!

2. Overload on the corny quotes
“..Dance like no one’s watching, sing like…” whoo hoo, even if you don’t have a clue what it means or tying to say, put it on baby, you want to be cool, don’t you?

3. Post timely statements frequently and regularly. Exclaim your desire or demand for coffee every morning: “Good morning, time for my coffee”, or your time to sleep: “It’s late, time for bed!”, or proclaim “TGIF” every Friday, because your friends will be thankful for the reminder that it’s Friday!

4. When you want to send a message to one of your facebook friends write on the wall instead of communicating privately,best example is when you invite someone to a private party, this way you make sure all the people on their friends list who you don’t want in the party will know!

5. Tag, tag and tag again, but remember there is a secret to tagging, : make sure you choose pictures where everyone else but you looks absolutely ridiculous, so you will be shown in all your glory, nobody else shadowing your coolness!

6. NEVER reply to comments especially if they are questions, that is so uncool!. If you ignore them all the time, chances are that they will eventually get it, and realize how cool you are.

7. Grammar is for losers, not for cool people like you, it is so uncool to write in a proper way, almost as uncool as saying thank you when someone is opening the door for you.So don’t worry, best way to write is something like this: „thinks ur as useless ass tits on a nun”, „ur roommate has 2 eat sum of ur food”, “wudnt mind findin out who robbed me fkin bag wid eveyfin in it” . This are beautiful examples of coolness, but to get there I am telling you, natural talent is required, it’s not impossible with a lot of exercise, maybe special coolness lessons included you might get there!

8. When you are chatting with someone, always leave your friend waiting for your responses, until you deal with everything else you have to do, I mean you are a cool person, and cool people have a lot of things to do, and DO make sure you are the one to abruptly end the chat session, no need for goodbye, have to go or any explanations like that, just leave and be cool!

9. Dedicate your Facebook profile to your girlfriend or boyfriend.
Matching pictures for each profile, confessing your love to one another under – dedications written to each other on your wall reminding them how much you love them. Example: “Baby, I luv you so much- this has been the best 7 weeks of my life- I LOVE YOU, [insert pet name here]!I can assure you this is beyond cool, is the epitome of coolness!

10. DO not forget to send all your friends, everyday requests for a gazillion games, apps, and social sites that you like, so nobody will ever confuse you with a mere normal, not cool person that is not up to date with all the coolness in the world!

2000 km., a hero and a bicycle!

Sometimes the most amazing people and the most amazing things can hide under the most common appearances!

And you would be “deceived” if you were to meet Sebastian Schmitz, and even if you were to have a conversation with him about his fantastic trip he’s doing right now, you would still be surprised as he is talking about it as if it is the most NORMAL thing in the world, and come on, we are not talking about a 10-50 or even 100 km ride as a way to stretch your legs on a Sunday morning, we’re talking about 2.032 km ride, through the unforgiving sun, through the rain and the wind, through not the most smooth roads in the world, sometimes even through trucks that think they own the road! And he does it in order to buy bicycles for children who can’t afford to have one! At least …not yet!

And I’m sure you’d agree with me it does take something really special to do ALL this and talk about it like it is the most normal, ordinary thing someone, everyone should do!

Seb you are an inspiration and your trip should be an example and a lesson for us all!

I am sure the kids that will benefit from your wonderful effort and dedication will think of you as a hero. And I’d say they should not be the only ones!

This is where you can read about this amazing trip and even become a part of it!

http://www.ro2de.org/

Homo gadgetus!

If only poor Charles Darwin would knew how wrong he was saying that we should not try to notice evolution in action, because if it took us hundreds of thousands of years to evolve from Homo Erectus to Homo Sapiens, things even in that department happens much faster nowadays, and if you pay attention around you,and don’t look too far, you might notice a new specie in full bloom: I call it Homo Gadgetus, and here are some of the tell-tell signs to identify them:

1. Their bodies are modified, as they have extensions on their hands, ears, eyes, things that buzz, flicker, ring, beep, tweet, vibrate and generally make noise! They can’t live without this constant buzzing inflicted into their brains!

2. They developed this amazing ability of having their body in one place while their spirit is in a completely different one: take this example, you are out having dinner with a homo gadgetus, deeply involved in conversation and suddenly you drop the fork on the floor with a loud bang … and no reaction, and you realize that his spirit is far away, and nothing, but the buzz of a gadget could turn it back!

3. This new specie doesn’t react to normal stimuli,because you might notice that while looking into their eyes with the most compassionate look you can ever produce doesn’t even get them blink,but the slightest vibration in their gadgets can get their stomach to knot and the nerves to come up their spine and make them want to act immediately, no matter the place, location, whether is their own wedding and the birth of their child taking place, all in the same time!

4. They consider rude if you think is rude they answer their phone and text messages while out on a date with you!

5. Their basic bodily functions are completely modified, as they can hold on not drinking, eating, going to the toilet, sleeping until the computer game is over! This of course did not come without sacrifices: a man dropped dead at his screen in December after playing continuously for 10 days. That eclipsed the stamina of the previous victim, who died after two days in the chair in August last year. Another one died in 2002 after 86 hours of non-stop playing.

6. Their language is pretty much different from the homo sapiens too : omg, lol, IMHO, wtf, 6y, A3, aap, aas, gg, rofl might appear in your word processor as mistakes, but is nothing but the new language of the new specie (And girls if he things fidelity is not good don’t threatened to throw yourself off the window)!

7. It’s not a question of them using their gadgets when they want to, but more if their gadgets want them they run faster than if they would ever do at the desperate cry of their own child!

I let this list open as the process is taking place right now and if you ever encounter such a creature, feel obliged add to this list so we can well document the human evolution!

Don’t give up – surrender!

Sometimes all the love I ever felt, all the happiness I ever lived, all the wonderful things I’ve ever seen and all the amazing people I ever met, ALL come back to me unannounced, unexpected, uninvited and I feel life bursting inside me, and I know I need to STOP, I need to run and find a patch of grass and lay in it, lay there, forget the world and BREATH, and LIVE!!!! I want to melt, and let the world kiss me, and let the moment get to the most raw and tender spot in my heart until I cannot help but surrender, until I cannot help but open and love! And flow with it!

There is no desperation in my surrender, there is no giving up, there is no apathy, or laissez-faire, there is only inspiration and hope and there are only open doors, only countless possibilities instead of the only one I grew attached to! There is only freedom, freedom of letting go of all that I “need” to control!

If it means to give up something, it means giving up the fight, giving up the judgement, and giving up the attachment to the results, giving up on trying to fix the Universe, essentially means giving up on fear! Knowing that it will all be OK!!!

In a world where utility and reason is what knowledge is all it sees, what I am trying to write about here seems so immensely complicated and hard to explain, I don’t even perceive it in my mind, don’t understand it exactly with my intelligence, I just feel it!

And it is my trust that helps me get it, my trust that the world loves us when we choose to love the world! My trust that I can have everything I want if it’s right for me, my trust that life is a wonderful, miraculous gift, my trust that I can lose the ‘I’ and the ‘mine’ and still find myself!

Do you trust that the Universe is providing you with what you need, or do you believe that life is a tough battle with many forces fighting against you?