I want to fill my ring with event numbers!

Running hurts. It hurts an hour or two after I’m done, it hurts for days. But, because I’m in Brad Gansberg’s #10kin100days program and run every other day, I get back out there whether I’m hurting or not. Once I find my groove, the pain fades. I like that. I am starting to like it a lot.

As I write this beads of sweat are forming on my skull, beneath my curls, and dripping down my forehead and into my eyes. My arms, including my hands, are sparkling with sweat. My torso is generating so much heat I wish we could convert it to reduce our electricity bill. And all I’m doing here is sitting at my laptop typing.

A year ago, I was getting hot flashes but then they stopped after about four months. Frankly, not getting a period all that time was pretty awesome. When I did get it, sometime last summer, I remember I was in the bathroom at work.

“Oh, SH^T.”

I’m pretty sure whoever was in there knew what was up. I was gravely disappointed. That monthly cycle sucked from the time I was 13 when I first got my period. I never had cramps, but I did get horrendous headaches, so it was nice not enduring that, too. And sure, I had a heck of a time conceiving and holding on to babies, but eventually that all sorted itself out.

Four years ago when John decided to pursue his marathon dream, I encouraged him but I had no intention of participating. He got me on a bicycle and I was happy with that. I didn’t want to do anything else. But then, I was a pretty good swimmer, so I got back into that. Then, last summer when I was in the swim and spin in the Na Wahine Festival, and won my age group, I thought that MAYBE, just MAYBE I’d see if I could start to run.

Baby steps. I was in no hurry. If I wanted to compete in triathlon events, then I figured the training would help. And I would enter to complete, not so much to compete. But many people know I’m quite competitive. To a fault.

This month I’ve done a 5k and an 8k, thanks to John and my friend Stacy Hernandez, a woman who runs like a gazelle and always places on the podium. This year I’m going to be in another 5k, a 10k, a half-marathon, the ANA Lanikai Triathlon, the Haleiwa Metric Century, maybe some rough water swims, the Na Wahine Festival, and the Honolulu Marathon.

This year of liberating change, when my body sheds its maternal purpose, I can convert it into anything I wish: Healthy and athletic, sexy and fun, wild and crazy, inquisitive and inspiring. I’d like to think I’m already all that! The last period is not the end.

Expose yourself on the Internet carefully.

Consider the outside chance that something might change. You might like the idea of having a job where there’s an HR department, benefits, and someone else taking care of payroll. A job where you keep a jacket, spare pantyhose, a Tide stick, lipstick, and a deoderant stick. A job where you resist the urge to stick it to the man.

Or maybe it’s not a job. Maybe you meet someone special, someone who knows you from a perfect split second where a smile or a hello and the magnetic pull between you makes everything else disappear. A split second. A split second where you wish you could rewind life and erase every bad judgment call you ever made. Well, maybe not all of them.

One day you might have to snap your knees together and shut up. One day you might have to zip up your fly or put your boobs back into your bra, delete hawt and sexy photos from your social media accounts, and stop writing and saying things that could haunt you when you’re interviewing for a job, applying for a grant or venture capital, or somebody’s considering you as marriage material.

Written words are probably the toughest things to drop. Now that we have the Internet, everything we write or say lives forever. If it’s not too late, I recommend cleaning up your act and start spinning your observations positively. Eventually, the old ink fades, overcome by more thoughtful and respectable word flows. You start looking like an intelligent resource instead of a flamboyant blow hard or Bimbo with a capital B.

What's at the end of your rainbow?

I know this. I am the voice of experience. But there is something else I know. There are those who are determined to earn their own painful knocks, scars, and woeful tales. Go for it. I hope you don’t turn out like that old roommate of mine I saw digging in a trash can at Ala Moana Beach Park years ago.

Look. What I have done and what I have been have shaped me to what I am now. I’ve said that here on lavagal.net several times. I will always admire those who finished college in four years and then proceeded to advanced degrees.

Toast to your future!

My beat has been more bongo drum than collegiate marching band. If you march to a different drummer as well, then you should also be resilient, flexible, a chameleon in today’s work force. And when  you are, it’s OK to make a glass of bubbly your avi on your birthday. I know this.

Paragliders make faces in the sky above Diamond Head Lookout.

I know it’s not nice to whine about the weather in Hawaii. But in the winter we sometimes experience Kona breezes — hot, muggy, winds from the south that deliver high humidity and vog, aka, volcanic haze. I don’t think any of us actually like being hot and sticky with stuffy noses and, for those of us with asthma, coughs that make us sound like we’re hacking up Hawaiian hair balls.

For more information visit www.windlines.net.

Here’s a video of a few guys in the sky.

Here’s a video of a perfect landing.

When we took off to run from Kapiolani Park, John and I shared our plans. He was to go on to Triangle Park in Kahala, I was to run for 15 minutes, and then run back. I ran up to my half-way point for my weekend bicycle ride, the bridge that looks down at the surfing breaks at Diamond Head. I decided to run there, which actually took me 16 minutes for my 2.1 run for my #10kin100days program. I took some pix and then headed back to the park.

Both times I passed a group of guys sitting on the wall. They were easy going, friendly, having a good time, not smoking, not drunk, not stupid. Haha. They were very pleasant and I felt like they were very nice as I ran by both times. By the time I made it back to the car, John had caught up with me and we drove back in the direction of Diamond Head Lookout. That’s when we spotted the paragliders. And that’s when I realized that these nicer-than-average guys were them! John found a parking space and we took some pics and video.

Like I said, they were really friendly and lots of fun. Normally I see paragliders when I ride my bicycle to Makapu’u Lookout, but today, thanks to the lousy Kona-wind conditions, they were at Diamond Head. I asked anyone who wanted to answer if they were married and had kids or grandkids and they laughed. They do. And they say their spouses are quite tolerant, but they could also have some handsome insurance policies waiting.

It was fun watching the guys launch, float into the sky, tug on their lines to steer left, right, up and down. One came in for a landing, and he touched down lighter than an angel. I am intrigued at the idea of climbing into a harness, spreading out a paraglider, confirming lines aren’t tangled, and running off a cliff with faith that there is enough lift and breeze to float you.

High above the iwa birds flew, curious at the spectacle of the big, orange pouffy man birds, that added color to our overcast Hawaii skies today.