Prayers and Cares and Vegas Baby!

Monday, I wistfully stared out of the window of my office at the drippy grey afternoon. I needed an adventure. Cyclocross racing was fun, science was offering its own brand of excitement, and the election was drawing to a close. The national news was depressing. The economy was teetering like a man using stilts to walk a tight-rope across the Grand Canyon (I guess the latest casualty is the American Automakers… buy cars people).
What happens next? It is said that when the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster opens a door, some how it opens a window. And that’s when I got a phone call. Tuesday morning, Mr. Adonis himself, rang to remind me to vote (took care of that on Friday) and to ask if I would fill in for Rachel Ross on the marathon leg of the Splish relay team for the Silverman Iron distance triathlon in Las Vegas, NV. Sadly, Rachel was suffering a migrain and loss of sight in one-eye (get better fast, Rachel!  That's where one of the prayers comes in). I’ve only had one migraine in my life and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy… well maybe the worst.
A marathon? I swore up and down after the one and only other marathon I have ever run that I would not do that again... even under the best possible circumstance (it would be hard to beat the love and support I got on race day from Sarah, Vanessa, Joe, and Paul, particularly giving the cold, rain, and early morningness). In the end, it took six hours, numerous phone calls and preoccupation, more waffling than John Kerry in a presidential debate and IHOP on a Sunday morning put together, nudging from my BFFs A&E, and finally the humorous interjections of Mr. Adonis and the Goddess of Clean before I finally agreed to run (jog? walk? skip?) a marathon in the Las Vegas twilight on Sunday.
Dawn at Splish was fantastic getting my flight arrangements from P-town together (I’m on the plane now). And besides getting to hang out with her (and meet her for the first time), Ira, Amanda, and potentially my little sister, Short, we are going to a MADONNA concert on Sunday night (Like a prayer... :-)!
I was looking for an adventure.
OH…. And Change is on it’s way people…. Let’s do everything we can to make it happen.