An attitude of gratitude: Mile 5

Before I get into tonight's thank-yous, let's take a quick (obsessive) look at the current weather report for race day:

May 16 Sunday
Morning clouds followed by afternoon sun. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 50s.

Not bad. I like the cloud part. It could be a little cooler, though. 50-ish degrees would be really nice.

Here we are at Mile 5 already! Hard to believe we're approaching the halfway point of our race. I hope to be settled into a nice easy groove by this point and stay relaxed as the miles click by.

I feel fortunate to work in an interesting field full of smart, well-educated, well-traveled people, and it is also a field where people are usually very generous with one another, providing referrals, helping out with tough questions on mailing lists, and generally being kind and supportive.

I want to dedicate Mile 5 to five wonderful colleagues without whom work would truly be a chore:

First, there is the magnificent Jill. I met her at a local professional function just after she moved back from Europe in 2001 (I think). She is not only a highly respected professional who routinely makes excellent presentations at our association's national conference, but also a discerning foodie who knows the local restaurant scene better than anyone. If you want to get the lowdown on fabulous food, Jill's the one to ask. She did the Breast Cancer Three-Day last year (you walk 60 miles in three days!) and is doing it again this year. She has raised $2,000 so far and just needs $300 to reach her goal! She also has the best Facebook updates and periodically comments on this blog to let me know someone's reading it. ;-)

Next (and honestly, I am not doing these in any particular order), there is the marvelous Susanne. We used to visit each other because she lived within driving distance, but she moved out of state a few years ago and I have only seen her at conferences since then. Which is a pity, because she is witty and great company and loves her dog as much as I love mine. She also was one of my inspirations to start running--she started working with a personal trainer and lost weight and got into terrific shape! I still vividly remember the conversation where she told me about it. It got the wheels turning in my own head, and now here I am about to run a half in less than seven days. Thanks for the inspiration, Susanne!

Without Carmen, I would probably be living in a cardboard box somewhere muttering to myself. She was instrumental when I was just starting out professionally--constantly sending me referrals, turning me on to great reference materials or Internet resources, and always being encouraging and helpful. I looked up to her and was so grateful for her steadying influence. There were lots of great phone chats about this and that, and when Carmen heard the news about my mom, she sent some very interesting health information that came from her own successful battle with cancer. Thank you, Carmen. You remain one of the classiest, nicest people I have ever met.

I think of Dorothee as a professional cousin of sorts: we are of similar ages, have occasionally been mistaken for each other (we look a bit alike), have a similar outlook on many things, and work in the same little corner of our field. However, she is so successful she is the incoming president of our professional association, so I'm Marvin Berry to her Chuck Berry, or something like that. She's like my famous cousin.

Last for today, but not least in any way, shape or form, we have Ruth. Ruth has been my roommate at the national conference for something like 5 out of the last 7 years. It takes a special person to put up with all your foibles when you're traveling, but she keeps asking me to room with her, so she clearly has nerves of steel. She even forgave me when I deleted a voice mail from someone who seemed to have the wrong number--but was in fact her husband! (Oops.) She also has a wonderful talent for organization, putting on a marvelous division dinner at last year's conference in New York and taking me with her to see Wicked on Broadway (an incredible night--if you haven't seen Wicked, you should!). Thank you, Ruth. Need a roommate for Denver? ;-)