Thank Goodness

Hard to believe that our little rogue Team Lucca is now in it’s eight year of running and cycling adventures. My hero this week is Allison Mann of Southern California. A fierce, passionate, very good, very dedicated professional mountain bike cyclist. Allison and her husband Justin are good friends of my son, Luke. All three ride together, race together, look out for each other and are each other’s biggest fans. I love this picture of Allison wearing her Team Lucca jersey, lined up with all the big boys at the start of one of three, “12 hours of Temecula” races this last weekend.


Allison finished first in the women’s solo division.


While out running today I thought how mighty lucky I am. Though, I am certainly not unscathed by life, I am still happy, still hopeful, so grateful, still running.

A year has gone by since I broke my elbow and tore my triceps. No huge deal really in the greater scope of things. I may never be able to fully extend my left arm, feel small twinges of pain and sometimes have to just laugh with the way my arm hanging oddly at an exaggerated angle reminds me of a Neanderthal.

Yet all so insignificant in relation to the physical pain some people suffer.

Life can be so fragile and who knows what lays around the next corner for any of us. So as I run I think of the million things I have to be thankful for.

I remind myself to never underestimate the profoundness of the simple, the little things, the obvious.

I look around and I realize every blade of grass is a vision, every breath I take a kind of victory, every footfall a momentous occasion.

Happy almost Thanksgiving. See you at the Run to Feed the Hungry.

Some books I recommend.
Ten Points: A Memoir by Bill Strickland, If you love cycling and critereum racing this is really a great book.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, Sweetness unlimited for those who know dogs have souls.

And Biking and Hiking The American River Parkway, New 3^rd Edition by The American River Natural History Association
A wonderful breakdown of each mile on the trail, from the historical, “mile 9.5 you are near the Nisenan village site of Kadema………or dance-house, site of important rituals” to the natural wonders contained therein, “mile 7.4 stands of wild rose compete for sun with wild grape vines” to the practical, beware “ mile 21.4 a stand of poison oak in on the northeast corner of the path leading to some picnic tables”

---