Riding into the Sunset

Last week Jim and I said farewell one of the most amazing men to have ever lived, my grandfather Richard Charles Jackson (Rich). Jim likes to call him the last cowboy. There is not a better term I could use to describe this man whose love of adventure, the West, and Oklahoma is only dimmed by the love he extended to his family.

As a child my grandparents where always present and always available to their six grandkids. They only had two girls so my family provided four of their six grandkids. Even though they are gone they still remain a shining example of how wonderful life can be when lived with love, commitment, and hard work.

When my grandmother passed away I remember Rich saying, "Those in heaven aren't going to know what to do with my beautiful Enola." If you ever had the privilege of meeting my feisty and beautiful grandmother, you would understand why that was both accurate and amusing.

Rich was not only a father to my mom and a grandfather to me, but he was also the closest thing my father had to a dad. He took a special interest in making time for my dad to go fishing, hunting, and other excursions. Everything he did in life, was done with humility and compassion.

He was a luminary for his time and upbringing. Even after he became a successful engineer, he would still don his boots and cowboy hat to go plow the field at his beloved Flying Circle ranch or fix fence posts. Rich taught me to bait a fishing hook, ride a horse, shoot a bow and arrow, and gave me my first driving lesson before I could reach the pedals.

His obituary is a wonderful Cliffnote version of his life, but still doesn't do the man justice.

Up until a year ago he was still riding horses, fishing, and tinkering in his shop at 88 years young. Over the last year his health continued to decline. On one of his last days in the hospital he looked at my mom and asked for his sunglasses. My mom was puzzled, and asked him why he needed his sunglasses inside. His response, "Cause I'm about to ride into the sunset."

Marathon Training Part Deux

Last year I swore I would never train for another marathon. I would especially refrain from any long term training commitments until I was out of grad school. I made Jim promise to never let me consider something so foolish again. Following my successful completion of the Baltimore Marathon last year I promised to resign my future running activities to anything under 13.2 miles, because 26.2 hurt...A LOT!

Now it's one year later not one race was entered and finished by the Azzano household in 2013. So why on Earth did I think it was a good idea to sign up to run the 2013 ING New York City Marathon on November 3, 2013? I am still in grad school. We are still trying to adopt. And apparently I have yet to learn my lesson.

There are two reasons:

1. I have always wanted to run the NYC marathon. It is on my bucket list and I hope I scratch it off in 1.65 months (Right now that .65 is important).
2. I'm doing it to raise money for the Epilepsy Therapy Project. Every year Jim and I create a team for the National Epilepsy Walk, to support Jim's brother with epilepsy. This year I'm just adding a faster paced 26.2 to miles to that walk.

I wish I could say I'm confident on the training and fundraising front, but I'm starting to feel the time pinch to get both done. If you read this and want to help please donate here:  https://epilepsytherapyproject.myetap.org/fundraiser/2013NYCMarathon/individual.do?etapCacheBuster=1376939252394&participationRef=189.0.588347433