Last weekend, my family and I headed to the inaugural Salt Lake City Comic Con. The only person in our family that has ever been to a Comic Con was Tracy; so this was a whole new experience for Nate, Naomi and myself. The line up of celebrities and authors was amazing. It included some of my grade school crushes (Dirk Benedict from Battle Star Galactica and Richard Thatch from Buck Rogers). It included some of my "older years" crushes like Dean Cain and Kevin Sorbo! Then there was Tracy's favorite author, Tracy Hickman! The two "biggest" celebs on the line up were Stan Lee, the creator of some of our favorite Marvel Comics and Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). It promised to be a HUGE event, and it certainly didn't let us down.
The entire event takes place in 3 days. We only went for the last day, Saturday. Which also happened to be the busiest day. The fire marshal estimated close to 80,000 people! It was insane, and I don't do crowds! My goal for the day was to get Tracy to Tracy Hickman and to see Henry Winkler and William Shatner speak. I also wanted to catch a glimpse of Dean Cain and Kevin Sorbo (and possibly some others on my list). Nate and Naomi wanted to go off on their own and were a little lost and confused about things. So they missed the panel on horror movies. But Naomi did learn how to play Pokemon (something her brothers played when they were younger) and she got to meet a few Power Rangers. (Funny, how the 2 generations had other ideas of what they wanted to see and what was important to them.) However, Naomi, Tracy AND Nate wanted to see Stan Lee speak.
After meeting Tracy and Laura Hickman and grabbing some lunch, we stood in a very VERY long line for over an hour to see William Shatner speak. Thankfully, when considering how long the line really was, we were at the relative beginning of the line! We managed to get decent seats. But while we were waiting in line, we really thought, "Well, if we don't make it in, we will be in the front of the line for Stan Lee!" We kept having the conversation about who to see. Nate did NOT want to see Shatner and kept asking me why (if I didn't like the guy) did I want to see him? The easy answer was, "He was a huge part of my childhood." But the real, emotional answer that I could not express at that time is this:
When I was a kid, I would watch TV and my dad would come in and demand that I change the channel so that he could watch his shows: The news, Star Trek and Hogan's Heros. I HATED all of these shows! However, we had 1 TV so I grew up with them. My dad and I did not have a great relationship. It was actually pretty miserable..complete with sexual abuse. My dad had his issues and was not a happy man. But watching Star Trek and Hogan's Heros, he was happy, calm and at peace. So seeing William Shatner (who, based on reading his autobiography, I believe to be egotistical money grabbing person) was my way of connecting with my dead father in a happy way. While Shatner was on stage, he was funny and charming and it was fun to watch him speak. My dad would have loved it. Actually, I think William Shatner and my dad have some very similar qualities. Anyway, while on stage, Shatner was asked why he won't do appearances on The Big Bang Theory. His reply was, "Well it's a 30 minute sitcom, and I'm an actor." (To me that sounded like...."I'm a REAL actor and am too good to do cameo appearances.) Anyway, the fan told him that his fans would LOVE to see him on the show. Shatner agreed to call the producers of Big Bang Theory on Monday. "If you still want me, I will be on the show, but only if you pay me a HUGE sum of money!" Nice. So do you think he called them today?
I could talk a whole lot more about the amazing experience at Comic Con. There were so many other AMAZING things and speakers. Like Henry Winkler's amazingly inspirational talk. But we will stick to Shatner, my dad, and transition it to this morning's trail run.
Sometimes, as a runner, it's a good feeling to go back to a particular starting point and revisit your humble beginnings. Today, I went to run Table Rock. It has an 844 ft elevation gain in 1.5 miles. I guess that is not really a big deal, but it is a steady climb with some pretty steep parts. I did this in 2009 and had the hardest time. I had to keep stopping. I broke down in tears. I was with a weight loss challenge group and my friend Jacob ended up literally pushing me up the hill. I was 240# and I thought I was going to die. We ended up in a really emotional conversation about my relationship with food and my dad and my dad's relationship with food (he was 500# when he died, and he had passed away a little over a year before.) So to me, THIS was my starting point, even if I didn't start running and really getting in shape until 2011.
Fast forward to today. I just spent a weekend thinking about my father as I was looking forward to (and eventually sitting in a ballroom) listening to William Shatner and how my dad would have LOVED it. And now I am power hiking up this hill. I only had to take 1 "oxygen break" to catch my breath. Otherwise, I powered up it. I passed people who were thinner (and from the outside looking) healthier than me. Every once in a while I would turn back to look at this particular couple. They were maybe about my age. They passed me during my oxygen break, but I caught back up to them and passed them rather quickly. Then I would look back to see their progress. They had to take several more breaks before reaching the top. I remembered the day I climbed it with my group in 2009 and how I cried and thought I would die. And now here I am power hiking up this thing and passing people who (from the outside) looked healthier than me. A sense of pride filled my heart.
After a bit of a break, I ran back down and I passed that same couple again. It felt great to run back down. In 2009 I had to kinda hobble down. I was so afraid of falling down the steep parts and rolling my ankle. Which is kinda funny cause today as I was running down (having just rolled my ankle a few weeks ago) and I ended up rolling my ankle, not once, but TWICE! The second time, a whole string of profanities came out of my mouth as I felt my ankle and foot start to swell. I have an ultra marathon in 4 weeks!!!
Let me repeat that, I am running my first ULTRA MARATHON in 4 weeks!!! Today's run was only 3 miles, but it is a HUGE reminder of where I have come from. Not just in my physical health, but in my emotional health. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to see Shatner in person. No, I would NEVER spend the $75 they were asking to get a personal picture with him, but it was enough to just see him in person and listen to him speak. It was enough to feel that kind of "closeness" with my dad. And today running Table Rock, it is more than enough to know that I have broken this cycle of obesity that my dad, his father and so forth created. I used to HATE Star Trek because it was something my dad loved. It has changed for me. I love Star Trek now, and seeing Shatner brings me good memories of my dad.
I am happy... even with my once again swollen and cranky ankle. I KNOW that nothing will ever stop me. Abuse never stopped me. Bullying never stopped me. My weight challenges never stopped me. And this silly rolled ankle will not stop me!
Thanks for reading!
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