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Showing posts from February, 2018

The Beast-Running for My Dad

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“Tips up.” “Put the rope between your skis.” “When the rope gets tight, stand up and lean back.” That’s how my dad taught me to water ski.  We had this old aluminum fishing boat with a 9 horsepower engine.   My brother would have to sit up in the front, or the nose would rise too far out of the water.  I skied on a pair of adult skis that my dad had cut down.    Eventually, we moved up to a proper motor boat, and real slalom skis, but what did not change was my dad driving the boat.   He spent hours driving us around that lake...taking us through the whip so that we could work on our leans and sprays...and, alternating my brother and I through the slalom course, so that we could turn on a dime.   Rick and I spent countless hours behind that boat.  We were competitive, and we held our own with the Ski Nautique skiers on the lake.  The rest clamored to go tubing.   My dad took the helm for all of us. When he would drive us by our house, we would flash four fingers i

Living Up To My Name: Mid Maryland 50k

You don’t get a name like mine accidentally.   My three letters of mispronunciation were passed on to me.  Growing up, I was “Little Eva” to my Aunt’s “Big Eva”.  She was always quick to tell me that she was actually “Just Eva” as her grandmother also shared the name.   As an adult, I giggle, I guess no woman wants to be called “Big Eva”. This past weekend, I ran the Mid-Maryland 50k.   This is a 50k broken down into 5-10k loops.   I decided that I would dedicate this race to Aunt Eva.   Loop 1:   I thought about the quilt that Aunt Eva made for Noah when he was born.  She hand-quilted this beautiful square, that became a favorite for my Boy.  This became the blanket that Noah took EVERYWHERE!  This blanket became so adored, that it took on all of Noah’s experiences.   It got so dirty, it was affectionately referred to as “Skanky the Blankie”.  And, although he does not carry it with him anymore, I was overjoyed to see Skanky on the shelf in his closet when I took a p