James

There is something you probably don't know about me:  I'm a musical theater geek.

Even after I abandoned my music performance major for the more 'practical' political science major,  I never truly lost my love for music or theater and I continued looking for ways to feed my need to perform after I finish school.  That's where this story starts, but this story isn't truly about me.  This story is about my friend, James.

Two years ago Courtney found an ad somewhere for auditions for Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  Joseph is an old favorite of mine and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  During my dance audition I met a man named James.

I would be cast as Naphtali's Wife and James would be the star of the show - He would be our Joseph.  Rehearsals started in May and when I walked into the first rehearsal, James was the first person to greet me.  We quickly became friends and I learned James was a runner.

Like most shows, our cast quickly became a tight knit family and James was at the center of it all.

That was the summer I had to go back into a cast because my foot fracture hadn't healed.  It was a blow to me as a runner but also threatened my role in the show. That summer, James would become my support, not just physically - he was an athlete and I was grateful for his strength when I often found myself unable to get around - but also emotionally.  It was the emotional support I desperately needed.

James was optimistic, cheerful and caring.  His empathy and patience showed in the way he helped me around.  James had a big heart and he loved to make people laugh but he also was a wonderful listener and he was always willing to help anyone in anyway he could.  James kept me smiling that summer, assured me I would be running again soon and on the rare occasion our packed rehearsal schedule allowed him to squeeze in a race, he came back telling me I'd be doing that race with him next year. James gave me hope that summer.  But for James, there would not be a 2010 race season.

After the show I didn't see James as often.  He worked at the Apple Store and I'd stop in once and a while to say hello and we'd see each other at other local theater events but we didn't see each other every single day anymore.

In early September I went to the Apple Store with my brother and James was there but was training a large group of employees.  I was in hurry, he was busy, we only exchanged a wave before I left the store.  I have not seen James since that day.

On September 19th, 2009, James went for a run. That day, in the parking lot of a strip mall in his neighborhood, James was hit by a car.  He went through the car's windshield and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

James' condition has improved since the accident, however, he has never fully regained consciousness.

Like all of James' friends, I hope one day we will truly get him back.  But we also remember the things we learned from James, we remember his strength and compassion, how his smile lighted up a room and how magnificent he was on stage that summer.  We remember how he always put others before himself and how he encouraged us when we went through hard times.

I think about James a lot now when I run.  He gets me through the tough workouts.  Right now, James can't run.  But I can run again, just like he told me I would and now, when things get hard and the miles seem too long and my legs don't want to hold me up anymore, I draw on the strength James gave me.

One day, I hope to get the news that James has finally returned to us.  One day, I hope James will be there with us to run the Miles for James 5K with us.  One day, I hope we will run those races we talked about.  But now, I run for James because I know he would do the same for me.


If you would like to learn more about James Javier or the Miles for James foundation, you can go HERE.

You can also follow these links to see video of James as Joseph:

Joseph's Coat

Close Every Door to Me

Indecision

I've got a problem.

A couple weeks ago I pulled the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon from my schedule because it just didn't seem like it was happening.  I had no travel plans, another race 4 weeks later, and worst of all, a baby shower was going to interfere.  The baby shower got moved but I just decided I would let this one go.  In the spirit of a true Cubs fan I decided I could wait 'til next year.  

I don't think I can wait 'til next year, though.  I've put off quite a few races this year because of costs, lack of travel time and scheduling conflicts.  Some of those were tough choices for me but for some reason, Lincoln is not letting go of me.  I thought I had settled down and moved on but I was asked about it at yesterday's Bad Girls group run and I can NOT get it out of my head.  

I'm fixated and I really don't want to wake up on April 2nd and regret that I'm not in Springfield.   I'm not putting Lincoln back on my schedule today.  And I'm not registering today.  But I'm not ruling it out.  

I don't understand it at all but I feel like I need this race.  Lincoln isn't a big, popular race.  Its not flashy, there's no on course entertainment, no fancy perks, there's more or less no race swag and no expo. But its 13.1 miles of historic Springfield sites and I think the simplicity is what's drawing me in.  I'm a history nerd.  I geek out so hard on this stuff, this race is my dream race.

I need advice, people.  Have you ever had a race eat at you like this?  What did you do about it?


****UPDATE****

Yeah, I'm running.  Thanks to Jenn, Lincoln is going to happen.  She jumped on an innocent tweet and short story long, she'll be meeting Courtney and I in Springfield to run Lincoln!  Massive props to Jenn for giving me the shove I needed.

Banana Blizzard Muffins

I woke up to this today:

The snow was still coming down and no one could go anywhere and even if we could nothing was open . . . so I decided to defeat the snow day by making these:

Don't they look tasty?  I promise they totally were.  And wait for it, kids: 77 calories per muffin!

Banana Blizzard Muffins: 

3 very ripe bananas 

1/2 cup Honey 

2 eggs 

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour 

3 teaspoons Baking Powder 

1 teaspoon Baking Soda 

1 teaspoon Salt 

2 tablespoons Water

Preheat Oven to 375 and line or grease 24 muffin cups. Mash bananas and add honey, eggs and apple sauce. Mix in 2 tablespoons of water. Sift together dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Spoon into prepared muffin cups and bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.

I hope everyone who was in the path of the storm is warm and safe!  It took a long time time and three adults to do it but we pretty well got the house dug out.  Now we just need a plow to come and take care of the street - its been over 24 hours and if one doesn't come by morning, I'll have no choice but to take another snow day!

What do you do when you have a snow day? (Feel free to fill in whatever crippling weather event happens in your climate if necessary)

Friday Fun

I registered for the Illinois Half Marathon today!  I'm so excited about this race, Courtney will be running the full - her first - and Jess from Jess Runs will be there to pace her.

While I was trying to distract myself from some craziness going on in my life this week, I gave a lot of thought to my race schedule for this year and what my goals are for next year.

Last month I toyed with the idea of completing my first marathon this year - there is a marathon very near me the weekend of my birthday...my 26th birthday, no less.  This got me pretty excited because if there's a year to run a full on your birthday, I'd say 26 is it.  That said, at this time, I don't know that I would be able to prepare myself both physically and mentally for a marathon by September.  I have a lot of races this year I want to complete and I've decided right now those races (and the people I'll get to run them with) are more important to my development as a runner and achieving the goals I have than taking the step of training for a full.

I'll be updating my race schedule this evening, deciding which races are staying and which are going.

This year my two major goals are to become a Half Fanatics member and to complete the Kansas City Half Marathon in under 3 hours.

I'm hoping 2012 is going to be my marathon year.  I want to do it, I want to do it before I turn 30 and well, time is running out!

Kansas City and Ragnar are my two really big (important) races for the year.  What races are you focusing on the most this year?  What made you decide you were ready for a marathon?

The Truth

"The internet isn't written in pencil, its written in ink." - Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

My name is Rebecca Jean Petro.  I was born at 8:35 a.m. on September 19th, 1985 at Ingalls Hospital in Harvey, IL to John and Beverly Petro.  I have one brother, a cat and one living grandparent.  I'm employed by DiaTri, Inc. I attended Olivet Nazarene University and Tinley Park High School.  I have a Facebook account I haven't used in well over a year.  I'm addicted to Twitter.  I own an iPhone.

Oh. My. God.  I put personal information on my blog.  The truth is, this information was already completely available to anyone that wanted to find it.

I'm sharing this information to prove a point: There is no such thing as anonymity on the internet.

My readers may notice I've never allowed anonymous comments on my blog.  I have two reasons for this:

1. I think people should take responsibility for their words and actions.
2. Nothing on the internet is anonymous.

I feel the first is fairly obvious.  When I write something, I sign my name to it.  I don't share anything with my readers that I wouldn't say to their face - and sometimes I do say it to their faces, because I know a good amount of my readers personally.

As to the second, I'm a pretty bright girl.  My IQ doesn't break the bank but I can follow directions pretty well and my reading comprehension and problem solving skills are (not to brag) out of this world.  And if this wasn't true; my brother's IQ DOES break the bank and he is actually educated in computer science.  If you really want to leave an anonymous comment on my blog you should be bright enough to figure out how to get around my blog's security (which isn't that stellar, btw).  If you can do this, you might be smart enough to cover your tracks well enough to actually leave an anonymous comment.  MAYBE (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt; I'm kind of lazy, I'll probably get bored and find something else to do before I track you down.)  If you can't do this, your comment won't be anonymous even if I did allow them.  

This isn't the first time I've discussed anonymous blog comments but I hope its the last.  My final statement to anonymous commenters (all of them) is this:  I know who you are, Anonymous.  I know where you live and where you work.  I know the name of your spouse and your kids and your friends.  I know what you do for fun and above all, I know you're not that bright because you honestly thought you could be anonymous.  Remember in school when they talked about your permanent record?  The internet IS your permanent record.

So readers, do you allow anonymous comments on your blog?  Why do or don't you?  Do you ever leave anonymous comments on blogs yourself?  If you do: do you say things you wouldn't normally say if your name was next to those words?

And as I said, when I write something, I sign my name to it:  Rebecca J. Petro.

Civic (Blogger) Duty

I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight guys.

Courtney at Run, Courtney, Run (who also happens to be my best friend) has been named one of the 2010 Top Ten Best Endurance Sports Blogs!

She's now in the running to be named THE Best and I hope you will all help her out by VOTING HERE.

And of course, if you you're interested in checking out her blog, you can go here.

That's all for today!

Obstacles

"Obstacles are the things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal." - E. Joseph Crossman

Happy New Year, everyone!   How is 2011 treating everybody so far?

I'm going to start my 2011 blogging year (not sure if that's a term, but I'm making it one) off with a confession.  This fall and winter I went over 2 months without running once.

Yes, I had a minor injury that briefly sidelined me but after I was cleared to run it seemed like I spent another month running into brick walls.  I won't get into the ugly details but let's just say December was a bad month for me.

I refused to start this year like that, so I was out the door early in the morning on New Year's Day, logging my first miles of the year.  It was a hard run but it felt good, so I didn't mind.

I have definitely found my fair share of obstacles in the last few months and as a result I've totally lost sight of my goals.  It took a terrible wake up call in the form of a pair of jeans that didn't want to button to even slightly disrupt my funk.  I've pretty well gotten my eating under control again.  That's a positive step. Unfortunately, I can't get myself motivated to move.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, so I won't make any.  However, I do believe in having goals and I also believe we need to have expectations of how we are going to conduct our lives.

My overall goal (short and long term) is to live a healthy life.    My health is my first concern.   Do I want to lose weight?  Of course.  But the most important thing is for me to be active and healthy.  I don't have the best genes working in my favor: Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, a whole host of autoimmune diseases. I don't want any of these.  I don't want anyone in my family to have them.   I expect myself to be an example to my loved ones of how to lead a healthy life.

I know WHAT my goal is, now I just need to keep my eye on it, rather than whatever I seem to think stands between me and that goal