Distractions from the suck.

Did i ever mention that i spend 8 million hours a day in my car in traffic? It's true!  granted it sucks, but i usually use that time to catch on the news and current events.


Only the news totally blows lately.  I can't listen to the coverage of the mass shooting in aurora for more than 10 minutes without bursting into tears.  I think its ridiculous that we now have to use units of measurement to describe over night shootings here in Chicago - (half a dozen people were shot last night - what's next?  A bushel of people??)  Spain is making nervous, with its impending bankruptcy and threats of a global recession.  And don't get me started on Syria.  Mostly because i still can't figure out what is going on over there, other than that it's really bad and lots of people are dying and it makes me sad.


The world is a little bit sucky lately.  Why can't we all just chill out this week, stop killing each other, and start obsessing over the olympics?  Well, since the news has majorly bummed me out today, here are some squishy feel-good stories about athletes in the news right now.

1.  101 year old marathoner Fauja Singh, also known as the coolest person to ever live, is carrying the olympic torch!  I always regretted being a late-comer to running, but Mr. Singh didn't start until well into his 80's! He has since run 10 marathons, including the New York Marathon.  At age 92, he ran the Toronto marathon in 5hrs, 40mins, beating my Rockford marathon time, and basically, showing me who is boss (him!)  I can't look at his face without wanting to cry tears of joy.  I love this guy so much. He has already expressed the desire to carry the torch for the 2016 Olympics, where he will be 105, and still a better marathoner than me.  You are so awesome!

2. Guor Marial is IN!  The South Sudanese refugee will be running the marathon in the olympics!!  While he won't technically be running under the south sudanese flag, every one in south sudan will know that he is running it for them.  So happy the Olympics committee is letting him run.  Did you know that his first marathon was twin cities last year, and it was the race that gave him the olympic qualifying standard?  The first ever South Sudanese olympian!  It's like cool runnings, only even more awesome.  YAY GUOR!

3.  While not an Olympian, ballerina Michaela DePrince just performed her first performance as a professional ballerina in Le Corsaire at the Joburg Theater in South Africa.  You would never guess that she spent her childhood in an orphanage in Sierra Leone during the civil war, witnessing atrocities most of us aren't even capable of imagining.  Her interview HERE is SO inspiring.  She is so cool and collected, and most importantly, sounds like an average, 17 year old girl.  


So there you have it.  There is a lot of crappy, crappy news these last few days, but there are also some truly amazing and inspiring people if you dig a little deeper!