Being Derbied by Running

The Olympics are over. Have the tears dried?

I was so inspired during the Olympics, seeing the life time goals reached by these incredible athletes, tears streaming, heavy sobs of joy as golds were attained...and the athletes seemed excited too!  By now all of you should realize I am a crier. This joy was juxtaposed to dreams dashed like raw eggs against a wall, tears of agony on their faces. OK, and yes mine too.

One particular athlete I was moved by, was Morgan Uceny. She tripped on the last lap of the 1500M final just as she was poised to take off from the pack, Olympic goals coming into her sights, only to trip and end up on her knees sobbing; absolute heart break.

I had a special connection to Uceny as I have "derbied" several times on long off road runs. Derbied is a term I have given to my particular style of flailing into the dirt. One of my all time favorite people, Lindsey,  plays Roller Derby and having been to some of her bouts, I have seen girls fly in a way that looked like it was more than painful! Derby falling is not just the usual fall onto the hands and knees, but is face crushing spills that wrack the body into strange contortions. This is the style in which I seem to fall on my runs...thus "Derbied".

I have derbied twice, tripped many times, but nothing is quite like the derby fall. Blood, busing and swelling are absolute results. I once fell so hard on my chest that the wind was knocked out of me and all I could think was 'wow, glad I don't have those fake boobies yet!'. The other derbied fall gave me the fun task of running the 6 miles back to the car with bleeding hands, knees and my left hip. I had to have looked like I had been attacked by a bear. Sweat had swept the streaming blood into a swirl down my legs, arms and through my clothes. It seemed only natural to tell my husband, who watched the fall and subsequent hemorrhaging, "Ya, that's right, go derby!" followed by a list of possible derby names that included wine puns or running puns. I think those 6 miles back to the car were very long for him. Amazingly I didn't cry! My supreme wit must have taken up all the juices left in my body.

Morgan Uceny wasn't "derbied" in quite the same way, but lets face it, falling in the final lap at the Olympic finals is a pride crushing, emotionally wracking event that would leave anyone in contortions of pain and bewilderment.

I hope someone had a lot of wine ready and waiting for her.

I recommend our new Riesling for wounded pride, our Refosco for emotional pain and our '09 Syrah for all contortions of pain.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

Olympic Trials & Tribulations

This past week, as we sat watching the Olympic trials on TV, my son sat near by writing his own dinosaur book and I realized just how much has happened in the last 4 years.

4 Years ago I watched my first Marathon on TV. Jesse insisted we watch the Olympic Marathon race. I couldn't have imagined anything more boring. Watching people run is like...watching people golf, only maybe more boring. I seated myself on the floor with our then 2 year old son as he played with his very first dinosaur; a gift that would alter our lives drastically. I settled in for what I assumed would be a slow decent into a torturous death.

As the women's Marathon came to a drastic finish with athletes collapsing, crying, barely walking, some unable to finish at all, I stared shocked at the TV. Why the hell would anyone do that? As if the producers of the show heard me, they launched immediately into the history of women running, the history of the Marathon in Greece that was 26 miles (the duty of a messenger to run information about the war) to the addition of the .2 mile being added (so the British Royals could have the start of the race in front of the Palace). It was amazing to learn that running, a natural instinct of the human body, was so controversial! Women had to sneak into races and were persecuted, literally shoved as they ran in races and degraded simply for wanting to run.

Katherine Switzer is one of the big names associated with women's running. She was the first to enter and complete the Boston Marathon in 1967. For those of you not into running as a sport, Boston is to running what Krispy Kreme is to doughnuts, or In n' Out Burger is to fast food burgers. It is what all the others want to be. Naturally everyone wants to run it, so of course it is the hardest to get into. It isn't the Olympic level, however Olympians do run it, it is the 'possibly attainable mega race' for amateurs...if running multiple Marathons really fast can be call amateur.

In order to run the Boston Marathon... you have to run a different Marathon... and have a qualifying time. For example, for Jesse and Chris' age group, they would have to run a 3 hour 10 minute Marathon just to be considered eligible for registering for Boston. Then they would need to fly out to Boston, pay a steep entrance fee... and run another Marathon.

For those of you thinking it isn't at all like the In n'Out or Krispy Kreme analogy, you must not live in Dixon, New Mexico where you have to travel hundreds of miles in order to get your hands on one of these delicious, heavenly delights, or you don't have an inclination for ridiculously amazing junk food.

Wow, I got way off track. No pun intended.

So I watched my first Marathon 4 years ago thinking what ridiculous people they were and cementing in my mind that I would never do that.

Now as I watch the trials and feel the excitement of watching the Olympic games, I look forward to watching the Marathon. I see how ironic my ideas of what and who I am have been and that you can never say "never". I have run for 3 years now which means it wasn't long after the last Olympics that I picked up the sport. I have run several races including a half marathon and a full Marathon and am deciding on which race will be next. A far cry from the woman sitting on the floor mocking the runners flailing on the screen in agony.

With the 2012 Olympics, I am reflecting on how much has changed in our lives. I am not only inspired by the amazing athletes but the incredible ability for people in general to adapt, change and thrive in situations they thought were beyond them. None of the athletes at the Olympics have an easy story of how they got there. It is with this thinking that I offer to all of you... what have you said you could "never" do? Why did/ do you think that? What would your life look like if the opposite were true?

It certainly can be applied to many situations, what if Jesse and Chris had said "open a winery?" "no way! I can't do that!". We would be sitting watching the Olympics with terrible wine in our glass, wondering how we will pay for our child to become a Paleontologist. We are still wondering how we will pay for his education, but at least we are enjoying incredible wine while we do it. You never know, maybe he'll be the one to run Boston.


-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!

www.VivacWinery.com