Good Thing One:

Not that I even have to say it aloud, because I’m fairly certain our entire country, and quite possibly the entire world, is pulsing with the excitement that we have a new president and that president is Barack Obama. I feel like shouting it from the rooftops doesn’t do this election enough justice.

There were some less good things about last night, a few ballot measures that passed–most notably Proposition 8, but others, too–and I will admit that makes me sad and disappointed in our country’s seeming progress toward civil rights, FOR EVERYONE. We surely do have miles to go before we sleep.

Ultimately, though, I really do find this day and our new president remarkable, and the giddy smile plastered on my face? Look for it to be there for quite some time.

Originally uploaded by Hankins.

Good Thing Two:

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I started perusing recaps from the recent ING New York Marathon and was almost immediately crying after reading the story of an Oregonian and Olympian, who chose the race on November 2nd as her marathon debut. She took third and ran one of the fastest times in the marathon’s history.

Ryan Reynolds ran, too, for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to benefit Parkinson’s, a disease with which his own father struggles, and talked about how actually seeing Michael J. Fox (be still my heart) on 5th avenue helped propel him to the finish line. He finished in just under four hours, which is awesome not only because my little sister finished her marathon faster than this body:

But because he, a self-proclaimed non-runner, FINISHED, and that is fantastic in and of itself.

In fact, thousands upon thousands of runners finished, and I don’t mean to suggest for a moment that one finisher is more important than another, because, well, I just don’t believe that. I do verily believe they are all some of the most inspiring and pavement-pounding of all champions. I just couldn’t miss the seemingly only opportunity I will ever have to post a picture of Ryan Reynold’s abs on my website without it seeming 100% gratuitous.

Because right now it only seems about 80% gratuitous.

After reading a few articles from various news sources, I started searching Flickr for images of the race and the runners, and these were three of my favorites:

Originally uploaded by Barry Yanowitz

Paula Radcliffe in the front, who would go on to win the marathon.

Originally uploaded by HVMedic538

Originally uploaded by the_junes

Good Thing Three:

While spelled in 7th grade cell phone texting style (or the way your mom writes emails), this! is nearly the exact verbage on my sister’s favorite sign she saw while running the Portland Marathon in early October of this year.

Good Thing I May Be Crazy:

I have two new goals. Real, hard, ginormously super-sized goals, for me. Goals that are going to take so much work I would be shaking in my sneakers were I not so excited. Goals I’m announcing here because I’m going to need all the help and support, all the accountability and questions you can muster. Goals I’m announcing here a full two months before yearly resolutions begin to bubble forth from the ambitious insides of friends and family, because I really am going to need the head-start.

The first goal is to attempt (and finish!) a half marathon on Nov. 29th, 2009 in Seattle.

The second is to finish a full marathon on Oct. 3rd, 2010 in Portland. Hopefully with my amazing and inspiring little sister running beside me.

I know people will doubt me, think I won’t be fully committed, or that I might not even be able to do it at all. I hear those comments in my own head on a daily basis and I’m going to imagine they are lining every piece of pavement underneath my feet until I finish those races.