Category Archives: Walking Wisdom

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Team Terrie Warm Up

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Get your muscles loose (your finger muscles that is) as it’s time for me to try to cross Tennessee again. As you all know by now it’s 314 miles that I must complete in 10 days.

The last two years I made it because of you guys and in 2021, of course, there was Warden Paul as head of the Team. But last year you all pulled me through the down times and times when i thought I’d failed again and would have to switch to crewed. You all got me to the Rock and I am forever grateful.

This year will be interesting. I haven’t posted much in the last 8 months because it would have just been about the various injuries that beseiged me. Some are ok, some are intermittent but the one i worry the most about is my hip. i have labral tears and most importantly a completely detached gluteus medius muscle on the right. I can deal with the pain but I can’t deal with it slowing me down. that is my biggest fear. If i have to limp, my pace becomes even slower and you all know what that means..here comes Oprah passing me and next thing I know i’ll end up in the meat wagon. So please focus your energy on praying that no matter what i’m feeling, i can keep ahead of Oprah!!!

I am certainly not complaining because these 8 months of recovery have taught me so much (maybe even another book if i can ever get the one that’s out there ready for Amazon..lol). Just stating that I don’t know what the outcome will be. But what I want to convey to you more than anything is that i know you will continue to support and love me no matter what happens. I’m not sure i ever knew that until now. I am so grateful.

I’m filled with excitement and trepidation at the same time. This is my family reunion in a sense. Both in Tennessee and virtually – it’s when all of Team Terrie comes out to play.

I will have to have my own discipline this year since the warden won’t be there to limit my interactions but like last year I intend to update as often as i can and also do videos. The only things that will hinder that is 1) falling way behind or 2) massive rain that will prevent much use of the phone.

Thank you in advance and I’d really like to try to figure out how and what to do to get us all Team Terrie T-shirts when this is over. You guys deserve that for sure!

I head out driving to Tennessee on Sunday so I’ll be posting along the way. The race actually starts on Thursday the 13th and you can follow us at vacationwithoutacar.com – right now it’s headlining the last race (HOTS) but on Thursday there should be links for Vol State so you can track us.

Thanks in advance for all you’ve done for me since 2019 when i tried to cross the USA. You have been with me every step since then!

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Worry…

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Maybe I’m just a slow learner but things are coming to me in old age that I have been trying to learn and understand for decades…lol

My mother always told me not to worry. My father, however, was an expert worry-wart. I inherited his “worry DNA”.

But, for some reason, much has become clear to me in the past month or so. Maybe it’s having to be off my foot and what that has symbolized.

I think I am learning NOT to worry. I am amazed so I don’t want to make any official press releases to that effect yet. Ha!

It really doesn’t do any good to worry. But, I think it’s a control thing. We feel that if we worry about something, we are exerting some sort of control over our fate and the “thing’s” outcome. Many of us, including myself, have hung on to that belief for so long. When control is taken away from us, we think it’s the most horrible fate in the world. But it’s actually freeing. Let me give you an example.

Anyone who has followed me for 4 years knows how much I have hated (which really means been extremely frightened of) the dentist. My dental state can testify to that. Of course, it shouldn’t be a surprise because until I got so sick in 2017, i didn’t think enough of myself and my body to take care of anything. The “invulnerability” syndrome of a person’s 20s persisted in me until 2016.

Anyway, I have had to have a lot of dental work as a result. Since before Vol State this year, I have had a problematic tooth that has consistently, but intermittently reminded me of its presence. So, last week i decided it might be time for something else to be done (it already had a filling, so “something else” equals a root canal.

I made the appointment for today. I wasn’t afraid to do that. First surprise.

I have not worried about it at all – no catastrophizing, no “what if”, no “it’s going to hurt so much”, nothing.

I showed up today and this guy whom I just adore anyway (Advanced Smile Care is the best) told me since the max pain was 1-2 i didn’t need the root canal right now. I could wait until it got worse.

When I left, i realized how much time out of my life would have been wasted had i spent that time worrying about this whole thing. What a freeing and relaxing feeling.

When you realize you don’t have the “power” you think you have (meaning you think you can control the outcome of pretty much anything, vice controlling the process or effort you put into it), you feel so much better and have time to just enjoy being alive.

Remember to use the mantra I do – “Everything always works out for me!”

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Simple Wisdom

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“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”

Boy, is this a subtle but completely true statement.

It’s now December and I can come out of my writing hole. November is National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO for short). I have participated every year since 2004 but haven’t been very successful in all those years. Last year and this year I used the month to write at least 1667 words a day every day and although I haven’t been writing novels, this type of “contest” and its resultant discipline has been great for me.

Once again this year I wrote over 70,000 words and essentially finished what’s called a Discovery Draft (some people call it a First Draft but it really is when you discover what you’re writing about. I started out with one intent and then went in a different direction so I’m not sure what will happen.

Yes, it’s a “sort-of-sequel” to “It’s Not About the Miles” but much shorter and more intense and revealing. It’s a very personal story of my journey to my own Red Sea where Jan helped me part the waters and walk through. That sounds pretty benign but it’s definitely NOT benign.

I’m also working on a “journal” or daily reading book of the Life Lessons from “It’s Not About the Miles”. So, fortunately I have a lot to keep me busy.

Unfortunately, though, it’s not enough to keep me totally out of the doldrums of not being able to do any impact activity because of my messed up heel. A month, now, of no walking is driving me nuts.

But back to the quote – “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want” – to prevent complete disaster, I started going to the gym daily on top of my three times a week and am doing cardio. God, is that boring….but useful. I’m forcing myself to do this so that I can increase my aerobic capacity and also maybe do better on those damn steps if i get into Vol State.

But, I’ve also gotten the experience of not being able to be that active and trying to figure out what I will do with myself when the time comes that I won’t be able to. I had to learn not to run again but to walk, and now I’m learning (slowly, though) what I can do when i can’t walk.

We all get experience when we DNF or when we don’t get into a race we want to be in. That experience gives us more drive to figure out what we did wrong or better said, what we need to do to make our chances of success more likely.

What “Experience” have you gained? Can you look at the times you didn’t get what you wanted as gaining experience?