The BC and a Shamrock Dream Deferred!

SOOOOOOOOooooooo, after 8 weeks of hard training....like I was getting it in y'all,  I didn't get to run the Shamrock Shuffle due to a technicality.  There was a mix up with my registration, and there you go..... I did have a bit of a pity party and I must say, I was also down right mad and disappointed.  However, after I came back to myself, I realized that in all things in my life, God works together, with those things to make them good.  My training was not for not.  Other races I shall run.  I am registered in full for the Soldier Field 10 mile during Memorial Day weekend and I will start training next week.  I am veering away from Hal Higdon's training this time.  I still think he is a running god. I just want to do something different.  I found a 10 week plan through Runner's World.com. I am already prepared to break my PR (personal record) from last year, so get ready for the updates about training.

I think my Shamrock blues tried to over shadow the fact that I finally did the BC!  Yes, y'all I cut all the relaxed hair off!  I AM FREE!  I can tell you that cutting off at least 6 inches of relaxed hair myself (my hubby helped too,) was completely freeing. DID I SAY I WAS FREE? My initial thoughts were, "Oh my Father, why did I do that,? I look like a poodle!...." Then I laughed and shook my head. For the first time in 29 years, I realized that I could be satisfied with the curls God gave me.(I had been getting a relaxer to straighten my hair, since I was 14!)  Like who told me that my hair was nappy? And if so, that nappy was a bad thing?  Why did I let society tell me that I was not good enough because my hair was not straight enough?  I know many of you might not quite get this whole thing about black women and their coifs, I don't know how to describe it other than, I was bound to the fact that if my hair was not straight, then I was not straight.  I didn't realize that was it, but that really was it. For me, it was not until I embraced the liberation that came along with cutting off the relaxed hair, did I really realize that I had been bamboozled and run a muck.  I challenge you to get along side a chocolate sister and investigate without offending her, why we do what we do.  Many people criticized Chris Rock's movie, Good Hair, but I thought the movie said something to us as a people in very profound way.

Don't get me wrong, I believe women are beautiful in many shapes, forms and hair types.  If a perm or relaxer is for you, go for it!  I am grateful that there are so many products out there that can help us do what we do.  But, this whole process helped me focus on why I was doing what I was doing and who I was trying to please.  At the end of the day, if we are not happy with ourselves on the inside, there is nothing we can do to enhance our beauty on the outside!  As the days go by, I am embracing my curls and I am learning how to do this natural hair thing. I got a great book from the library called Going Natural, How to Fall in Love with Nappy Hair  by Mireille Liong-A-Kong.  It is a great guide on how to get where you are going with natural hair.

Lastly, I was able to attend the 22nd Anniversary Christian Life Center, my church home, this weekend instead of running the Shamrock.  We had an awesome line up of anointed speakers, but I will just end with one nugget I grabbed from Pastor Gordan Banks.  His message was entitled, "The Closer."  The take home message for me was...Regret will always paint a picture of what never was or what will never be, so stop basing who you are on your regrets or your inadequacies.  Your failures cannot stop God's destiny for your life!  Wow....

Until the Springbok chops again.......

The Little Afro Springbok