Advent

Advent.  The season of preparing.  Waiting for the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.  The most wonderful time of the year.  Advent for me is always an anxious time of trying to get it all done; get it all done right; and remember the real reason ~ the birth of a baby boy to save the world.  I think I'm getting better at being less anxious.  The house is decorated.  The tree is up.  The presents are being bought. The music is being played.  

The Madison High School Jazz Band had their first Christmas performance at Giant Eagle on Friday night.  They sounded great & Jacob rocked his solos.  Once again, so thankful that both my boys have been blessed by the Madison Band Program.  

While we were listening to the Band ~ I catch a glimpse of the TV in the far back corner  (You can see the TV in the picture)  What is on that TV, you might be wondering?  A picture of Bruce Springsteen with the words "Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band  Live at Quicken Loans Arena"  WHAT?  A real quick search on my phone finds that Bruce announced Tour Dates!  And CLEVELAND is on the list.  February 23.  Tempted to get tickets for Pittsburgh...but I may be in Florida that date.  I guess I'll be happy with one concert.  SOOOOO excited for show #11!  Here are my hopes:  I hope he plays Sherry Darling and Roselita and Thunder Road.

On Saturday we got up early & lifted for 12 minutes so we could be running by 7:15.  Got in our 10 miles...During which we were yelled at by a police officer.  Seems it's illegal to cross train tracks when the gate is down...even when there is plenty of room to do so.   ~ story:  As we were running south on 528 we can see that the far gates are down ~ but no train.  We can also see there is a police car with its lights on.  As we get closer the near gates come down... and I see we have enough time to cross, so I say, "Go" so we all run across...However, just as I yell "Go"  the cops yells, "Get Back."  I'm kinda shocked that I've been given a directive from a police officer, but I'm not about to ignore it, so I turn around.  As we are running around the village grounds to get in our extra 1/2 mile we discuss the legalities of crossing tracks when the gate is down. Mike thought that maybe there was something going on on the other side of the tracks that would have been unsafe for us to be involved with; he just can't comprehend why we weren't allowed to cross the tracks.  But realistically, we kinda figure it must be illegal and laugh at the thought of being arrested during our Saturday morning run.  {I won't tell the story about the time we were running down Bates}  Later in the day I Google Ohio Revised Code & discover that it is a $55.00 fine to cross tracks when the gate is down.  That would have been an expensive 10 mile run.  And embarrassing.  Bad enough to get yelled at by an officer of the law.  Being thrown into the car handcuffed would have been horrible.
I'm 52 miles (or so) into my Rudolph Challenge 2015.  Doing all the events will be 66.6 miles.  I'm going to run all of them in full except the 26.2 ~ that one will be broken into pieces.  I will do that distance again, just not this month!

We had to run early because Dodd had plans that morning.  Seems little baby William Glenn Dodd was coming into the world.  What a beautiful thing ~ a newborn baby.  Such promise and love.  So sweet and precious.

So as we celebrate this season of Advent I want to remember the blessings that I have in my life.  Family, Friends, Music, Running.