What if you could run "your business”...
- What if you found out that if you worked very hard in school you would without a doubt become the chairman of the Federal Reserve one day managing the financial well being of our country? Would you care more about studying or slack off on your math homework?
- What
if you had a crystal ball which revealed that if you approached your
schoolwork with confidence and passion you were destined to become the
President of the
- What if that crystal ball told you that if you invested your time properly in school you were destined to discover the cure for cancer? Would you go on Facebook for 2 hours or study harder for that bio test tomorrow?
For Everyone else, here are “What if” questions for you:
- If you
could approach your day like you were boarding a plane to
- Would your life soar if you went about your day with a spring in your step and a smile on your face? Do you think that perhaps the people who do are the ones who receive the promotions, raises and awards?
- What
if you are the parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle of a future president of
the
- How would you manage your affairs if your success meant that you were helping support the future noble prize winner who finds the cure for cancer?
I believe like many people that we are all connected. Families are not only connected but we are all connected. Whether or not we all take our mission here seriously and devote our entire being into doing our very best or not, I believe that we ultimately affect each other and our future. When we don’t give our best effort potentially we all pay the price. How would we feel if we found out one day that because we didn’t give 100 percent effort a child who was destined to find a cure for cancer didn’t? Wouldn’t that be a crying shame?
Now I will take this question personally. What if there were mornings I just flat out tired where I didn’t have any energy. On those mornings I chose not to go on a run with my team, answer a few less emails, chose not to work on any newsletters or communications? What if because of digressions like these there was one charity that didn’t receive funds we could have raised for them? What if this charity was dedicated to saving lives? What if the funds they received from Team Running on Love saved one more life? How much is that extra effort worth? Obviously, it is worth the world!
What if I choose to devote all my heart and all my soul to grow Running on Love and gave it everything I had? How many lives could we touch? How many people could we inspire? How many great and noble causes could we help that might otherwise not receive any? If I choose to run my business the way I run my love whose life will be changed for the better? There is at least life that will. Mine!
Will you join me? 
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The Asbury Park Relay Marathon Video
Left to right: Front Row: Lori, Debra, Diane, Kathryn, Kristy, Back Row: Daniel, Barb and Mike
It was a heartwarming day in Asbury Park as 8 of us completed our first relay marathon. We came together as one team supporting many different charitable causes on that Sunday in October. The Asbury Park Relay Marathon was a first for many of our Running on Love team who had never done anything like this...ever!
Here is a fun video of that special day. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PP9jxJSbXo
3:40
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The Rehoboth Beach Marathon...Making the Right Choice
- It would be the first time I ran a race in Rehoboth Beach Delaware.
- It would be the first time I said I would run a full marathon but cut it back to the half.
- It would be the first time I kept my pride/ego in check and chose the right race to run.
- It would be the first time I listened to my family and friends asking me to cut it back and not listen or give in to my pride.
- It would be the first time I chose the safest route so I didn't risk injury
The Rehoboth Beach Marathon, Saturday December 11th
Running on Love in the Asbury Park Relay Marathon, October 17th, 2010
Mike coming into the finish at 5:34:02
The Asbury Park Relay was the first time many members of the 8 person relay team would be part of an amazing event of this magnitude. Everyone was excited and nervous! Why were we all nervous? Because we were a team made up of walkers and runners and were very aware of a 6 hour time limit. Some members of our team were walking and training for their very first event. After training and fundraising for worthy causes we didn't know for sure if we could beat the clock!
Captain Kristy waiting for the start
From left to right: Danny, Kathyryn, Diane, and Debra
Up next was Deb, beating her typical walk time by almost half. Kathy was all smiles as she jogged around the course. Up next was walker Dan, who started jogging when he saw the finish. Not only did we finish in time, we had plenty of time to spare! We smashed the time limit by about 26 minutes!! Go Team Running on Love!
The relay started with “Captain Kristy”, who did a great job in spite of a case of shin splints. Following her was Diane, the power walker who walks faster than some people run. Our team couldn't have asked for a more picture perfect day! The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze...a perfect day for a relay marathon. It was one of the 10 best weather days of the year!
Barbara jogged around the course with ease, waving as she went by. Lori, whose run is as lively and energetic as her personality, came across the finish line, waving her hands in the air, hootin’ and hollerin’!
Finishing up the relay time was Mike "the Closer", who completed his lap in under 20 minutes! He was greeted with yells and hugs from the team as he crossed the finish line!
Left to right: Kathy, Diane, and Barb
From bottom Left to Right: Lori, Debra, Diane, Kathryn, and Kristy Top Left to Right: Danny, Barb and Mike
The awesome Asbury Park Marathon finish line crew gave us our finisher's medals and hats and took a team picture for us by the finishline. We celebrated by having dinner on the boardwalk at an awesome outdoor cafe. This experience was so meaningful and special to our new teammates that most of them have signed up to run in the NJ Marathon in May of 2011. It would be our honor to have you join our team and Run on Love with us as we devote ourselves to give help and hope to others in their time of need.
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Saying "I Love You"...When is it O.K.?
As Often As Possible!!
I said, why walk alone, why worry when it's
By now if you know me at all you already know my answer. So what do you think? It is certainly debatable. There probably is no right or wrong answer and it is a matter of opinion. It is a choice.
We have a choice to make. Do we keep our thoughts, emotions and expressions of love private or do we share it with others. In my case I have made a conscious decision to share mine with the world. Is this O.K.? I don't know. But it sure feels good!
When I was growing up my family said “I love you” to each other all the time. In my family it was appropriate to say I Love You when we woke up, when we went to sleep, when we said goodbye, and before we hung up the phone from every conversation. My college roommates noticed that every time I ended a phone conversation with my parents I said “I love you”. They thought it was unusual and said their families never did that.
As I grew up and met other people and families I realized that most other families didn’t express this as often. It wasn’t because they didn’t love each other. Not at all! It was just that it was considered a silent given. It was known. They knew without a doubt how much they were loved and how much they loved their parents and siblings. I am not 100% sure about this but I do hope that was the case.
Some people feel that saying I love you too much or too often takes away something from the deep special meaning. If you say it too often or to too many people it makes it mean less. They believe you reserve this personal message for only special moments and for only immediate family or the closest people in your life.
Still others feel that saying I Love You is just idle talk. They believe that it isn’t words that have power, but the actions of a person that prove that they love you. They believe you don’t have to say these three words nor should you unless you back it up with action. I can’t say I disagree with this notion that you need to follow these words with action, do you?
These days, as I get older and not younger, I realize I don’t know how long my journey here will be. I am just one year shy of the age my father was when we lost him to cancer. There are no guarantees, are there? Yes it is a choice and I am making my conscious decision to Love out Loud. When the emotion bubbles up inside me where I can’t keep it in any longer, I just have to let it out! Look out, I have been bubbling quite a bit these days. Now one of my favorite web acronyms has a new double meaning…LOL!!!
Here is my choice. I choose to agree with Cat Stevens when he says " Why can't you say, If you know, then why can't you say. You've got too much deceit, deceit kills the light, light has to shine, I said shine light, shine light. Love, That's no way to live your life, you allow too much to go by, and that won't do.
Soooooo, What do you choose? I would love to hear from you!!
Lyrics to "I Can't Keep it In" by Cat Stevens. These are words I choose to love and live by:
Oh I can't keep it in, I can't keep it in, I've gotta let it out.
I've got to show the world, world's got to see, see all the love
love that's in me.
I said, why walk alone, why worry when it's
warm over here. You've got so much to say, say what you mean,
mean what you're thinking, and think anything.
Oh why, why must you waste your life away,
you've got to live for today, then let it go
Oh, lover, I want to spend this time with you,
there's nothing I wouldn't do, If you let me know.
And I can't keep it in, I can't hide it and I can't lock it away.
I'm up for your love, love heats my blood,
blood spins my head, and my head falls in love, oh.
No, I can't keep it in, I can't keep it in, I've gotta let it out.
I've gotta show the world, world's got to know,
know of the love, love that lies low, so
Why can't you say, If you know, then why can't you say.
You've got too much deceit, deceit kills the light,
light has to shine, I said shine light, shine light.
Love, That's no way to live your life,
you allow too much to go by, and that won't do.
No, lover. I want to have you here by my side
Now don't you run, don't you hide, while I'm with you.
'N I can't keep it in, I can't keep it in, I've gotta let it out.
I've got to show the world, world's got to see, see all the love
love that's in me.
warm over here. You've got so much to say, say what you mean,
mean what you're thinking, and think anything. Why not?
Now why why why not?
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Change, change change! All this talk about Change!
'Well, if it is so good, why doesn't feel that way?
I have been scratching my head since last week on this one. I've been struggling a bit this past week having taken our oldest child off to her first year of college. She is starting the next chapter of her beautiful life. It is all good and we are so very proud of her. Then why does it hurt so much?
For the past week I have been walking around our house looking at all the wonderful pictures my husband hangs everywhere. There are literally hundreds of them. In our basement we have pictures lining all the walls. He hangs pictures of our family large and small and dozens of collages of all sizes. When each of our children were in 1st grade they were given a school project celebrating the 100th day of school so I worked with each of them to create a gigantic collage of 100 pictures of each of them. They each had to be in all 100 pictures. Eventually we framed all 3 finished collages and they hang in our home as a beautiful memory of their childhood.
When Melissa was born we heard all the clichés like "enjoy it, it goes fast" and we knew it would so we did. We enjoyed every moment documenting them with photos and endless videos. But it still went fast and now here we are with our first born in college. Where did all the time go? It seems like yesterday I was putting a pacifier in her mouth to settle her down. It seems like yesterday we were watching Disney videos over and over again. Wasn't it yesterday she was dancing across the family room floor wearing a tiara and butterfly wings? So sweet are those memories!
So if growing up and growing older is part of the plan, and change from one phase to the next is all good, then why does it feel so hard. Why are all these amazingly beautiful moments like taking your child off to college filled with tears too? Is it because letting go and moving on is a very difficult thing to do? Especially when it has been so wonderful and good? What are we afraid of?
I remember being 11 years old and waking up in the middle of the night feeling sad and frightened about growing up. My dad would hug me and comfort me and tell me everything was going to be alright and there was no reason to be scared. My response to him was "But Daddy, I am so happy and our life is so wonderful that I want to freeze everything right now and not have anything change!" I wanted time to stand still. Of course we all know that isn’t possible and change comes to us whether we want it or not.
What is so good about change? Why do have it? Why do we ask for change all the time when we perceive things should be different than they are? Aren’t we just asking for trouble? Even pocket change can be a nuisance when we have too much of it so we trade it in for dollar bills instead. Isn’t change usually accompanied by discomfort? Sometimes we demand change and then we regret the changes that we receive. What is it that we get from this thing called change?
These are all good questions, each one most likely having many more than one simple answer. For me, after joggin my noggin this morning, I have settled on this one simple truth:
The movie “Back to the Future” with Michael Fox had such a beautiful message. If you “change” one decision that you’ve made and did it any differently you irrevocably change the future and risk losing all the beauty and love you enjoy now. Everything that happens to us is all part of our life and the time continuum.
If I had gotten my wish on that evening when I was 11 years old I would not have grown up. There would have been no 4 year college experience for me. My husband and I would not have met in 1986 and married in 1987 and enjoyed 23 years of marriage. We wouldn't have had our 3 wonderful children. Melissa would not be in her dorm at college about to embark on an amazing chapter of her life. The worst possible thing would have resulted if time stood still that evening. My loving family and all of those hundreds of photos all over our home would evaporate into nonexistence!
If I never grew up past 11 years old, learned to face hardships and tragedy, grew and learned from each change, enjoyed life’s sweet successes, I would not be sitting here right now typing on a laptop computer. I would never have run one life changing marathon in memory of my father let alone 3 more after that. There wouldn’t be a new charity called Running on Love with the potential of spreading love and doing so much good in our world and I would not be writing this blog right now.
When it is all said and done, I must accept with reverence all these changes because like them all or not, they are coming. All the changes are part of this wonderful journey and I need to put one foot in front of the other and march ahead in forward motion embracing all these experiences with their smiles as well as the tears…because in the end, it is all good! J
We seem to dread growing older
…Shouldn’t we be celebrating instead?
When I was 10 years old I looked forward to being, emancipated and independent. Being 18 was very cool because I could go anywhere and do anything. Way back in the olden days at 18 you were legally of age. Then 2 years later 20 came along. I dreaded 20 and hated the thought of not being a teenager anymore. At 30 I remember being somewhat pleased. I was still technically young and basically wrinkle free, happily married and looking forward to having a family. All was well. Then the dreaded 40 came. Oh no! I still looked pretty young but I was getting much older now. Ooooh 40! I was no spring chicken anymore. G-d forbid someone would ask my age, or even worse wind up guessing it correctly. There is a rule that you should never ask a woman her age right? I invested in every wrinkle cream, was glued to all the infomercials promising to take 10 years off my face. Good grief, only 10? I also became a workout maniac at the local gym. Aging wasn’t going to get me!! No Siree bob!
For some reason when we are young we delude ourselves into believing we will always be young, we will never get wrinkles, sagging skin happens to other people, we will never die, and those peculiar looking old people seemed to have fallen out of a space ship and just landed here right? Wrong. They were once young little chickies too!
The years went on and I started to approach the end of the next decade. My next birthday ending in zero was about a year away. Why is it the zeros that always seem to get to us? At 45 we think to ourselves, well at least I am not 50! Fifty years old. Wow! How did that happen so quickly? "Et tu, Brute?" I thought to myself. It was true. Father time was getting me too.
In the year prior to my 50th birthday the universe played a little trick on me. Someone decided to send me a lesson, a life changing one. Someone decided “Let’s give her a jolt. Let’s shut her ears off some more, take away a significant amount of hearing and see how she responds.” Oh yes, I responded alright. It wasn’t pretty of course, I did the whole self-pity, self-loathing, wallowing in fear bit, and woe is me party for about a year. Suddenly there were worse things than a few wrinkles and growing older.
When I finally turned 50 guess what I did? I celebrated! Yes folks, I celebrated. I had one of the happiest birthdays I had had in a very long time. I was not only happy to be 50, but I no longer cared about things like wrinkles, elastin in my skin, or how firm my butt was. It was a transformation in thinking that may not have happened if the wise universe didn’t beat me over the head with a sledgehammer, but it was a transformation none the less.
Based on all the birthdays I dreaded when I was young, I was convinced that turning 50 would be something I would dread. Much to my surprise it was actually freeing. Being 50 now means I am officially old and I have an AARP card to prove it. It is now official so its time to get over it and move on with it.
I have some questions that I have no answers to. Can you answer them for me?
- Just a few years ago I could never imagine being proud to state my age or happy about growing old. Why was that?
- Where did I learn to fear old age?
- Isn’t aging something we should celebrate? Other cultures do, don’t they?
- Wasn’t there a famous commercial telling us you aren’t getting older you are getting better? Did we really believe that?
- Who convinced us aging is ugly?
- Why are wrinkles and aging skin considered ugly?
- If we are lucky and fortunate we get to grow old, get grey, wrinkled and saggy. Why would we choose to believe all of this nonsense about aging if it makes us suffer so?
I certainly don’t have all the answers but I have made some dramatic shifts in my thinking. I don’t really mind my wrinkles any more. I am learning to appreciate them. Life is a marathon not a sprint and my wrinkles are my mile markers telling me where I am on this journey. If I chose to erase them all would I remember where I was and what I have accomplished? Yes I am sure I would. But instead of working tirelessly seeking out every avenue to look an age I am not, I will accept my age, grow old peacefully and accept my wrinkles as life’s trophies for a job well done.
On December 11th, 2 days after my 51st birthday, I will be running in my 5th marathon adventure. I will be doing the full 26.2 mile trek to the finish line in
I will be Running on Love in the Rehoboth Beach Marathon in support of The Hearing Loss Association of NJ. Please support me by donating here: http://www.active.com/donate/ROLforHLA-NJ/lori
What do you do when nobody is watching?
What would you choose if you were accountable for every action?
Last weekend I went jogging on one of my longer training runs. This one was just over 9 miles. It was a hot steamy morning as they seem to always be this summer and at the end of my run I found myself very dehydrated. I brought my typical Powerade and water that I always bring on these runs but I ran out quickly.
As I drove home my mind kept drifting to how thirsty I was and there it was, a very powerful craving for a diet cola. I had sworn off diet sodas for good because they were just replete with chemicals that were harmful to my body and had no nutritional value. I even made my kids promise to give them up too. Now, here I was having a craving like I hadn’t had in a very long time.
I stopped at a Krauser’s, walked over to the refrigerator and saw the selection of all the healthy beverages including water, juice, Powerade, etc. Then I saw the diet colas. They were calling my name. Nobody was around to watch my choice. I could easily down the diet soda before I got home and nobody would ever know I slipped. Ah, a decision to make. Ugh! I couldn’t take it. “What is one diet soda going to do to me any way?” I thought. Yup, I caved in. I purchased my diet cola and headed back to my car.
It was cold and refreshing and tasted so good! I took a few swigs and then the guilt set in. “Why am I drinking this toxic poison?” I thought. The battle between the good Lori and bad Lori began. “Oh Lori, cut yourself some slack, it’s only a diet soda for goodness sake!” Then my higher self kicked back “Yes but I told my daughter not to drink this garbage and here I am doing exactly the opposite.” Could this be fodder for a new Joggin and Bloggin entry?
Some interesting questions popped into my head as I sipped on my diet cola:
- What do you do when nobody is watching?
- Do you make the same choices or different ones?
- If you knew sombody was watching and holding you accountable for your actions at all times would you behave differently?
As I pondered and sipped on my ice cold soda it started to loose its luster. What tasted so good a minute ago now had a different flavor. I didn’t want it anymore. I set it aside and vowed to make it home without taking another sip.
I then thought about my marathon run coming up in December. Proclaiming publicly that I would run a marathon in honor of my family and raise funds in support of HLA-NJ had a new meaning. By taking that step to announce to the world what I was doing, served to hold me accountable. There could be no turning back. I would have no choice but to push away the lazy me who might say “Aw come on Lori, you are tired and worked so hard yesterday, you don’t have to get up early and do all this running. Take a breather will you?”
What is the purpose of announcing to the world my intentions? By stating my intentions aloud I am held accountable to the people I know, love, and respect. It becomes more important than ever to show that I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I must walk my talk. It isn’t always easy and I may slip and fall occasionally. If I happen to fall, I need get back up and remember to stay on purpose, commit to do my very best, and know that someone is watching!
Hmmm, maybe we all would do just a little better if we knew someone was watching? J
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Just when you think you have it all planned…
The universe says not so fast!
Joggin and Bloggin: 7/26/10
I went to the trails this morning just after 6am for one of my shorter training runs, about 3 ½ miles. About 20 minutes into my run I was deep in meditation about what I would write in today’s joggin and bloggin when I thought I had it all worked out. I had created in my mind a fabulous and profound message to share with you today.
I reached the end of the trail halfway through my run and into a housing development onto the pavement. A stone had apparently lodged into my sneaker so I reached down to flick it away. I reached into my fuel belt and went to take a swig of my Powerade when I smelled that smell. The one you don’t want to smell when you are ingesting anything! I realized what I had flicked away with my finger was none other than Dog Poop! Ugh!! I have a fairly clean vocabulary; however, poop was not the 4 letter word that came to my mind at that moment.
I had a choice to make. Will I curse a blue streak and think terrible thoughts about every dog owner in the area? Engage in thoughts about how inconsiderate it was that someone didn’t clean up after their pet? I could allow it to be something that put me in a terrible mood and let it ruin my morning run…or, I could move right along. Hmmm, is there a lesson here to be learned? A clever metaphor I can extract from stepping in dog manure? Is the universe trying to teach me something?
After using the one tissue I had to wipe my hand I saw the bottom of the shoe was so covered, one tissue was not going to help. I headed back to my car knowing I needed to be totally present, and in the moment. It was key for me to remember to keep my right hand away from my face and G-d forbid I should forget what happened and take a swig from my ill-fated bottle of Powerade!
When I got back to my car, I reached for a box of tissues to clean off my shoe before I would get in. To my surprise I looked to find the bottom of my sneaker was completely clean. There was not a trace of the offense! Amazing I thought. You would never know what had happened here this morning.
Just when I had my day’s blog all figured out this unforeseen annoyance had to happen. What I planned to write was now forgotten. I now had something new to write now. I began to wonder about the expression “Stepping in it”. Why has something rather disgusting come to mean something good?
My top 7 reasons “stepping in it” now means something good to me:
7. I have learned that I may think I have it all planned, but the universe has another one.
6. I’ve learned if something annoying happens I can still put my best foot forward.
5. I’ve learned that running, is like life, I must practice staying present and alert, or I will miss out
on something or possibly step in it!
4. Moving forward, and pushing away negative thoughts is always my choice.
3. I can take any rude and disgusting situation manage to find something humorous about it or even possibly a lesson.
2. If I just put one foot in front of the other, continue in forward motion, eventually I will manage to leave all the poop behind! 
1. Finally, the number 1 reason “Stepping in It” now means something good to me:
Because I choose it!
