Yay Jenny!

Fantastic news for Jenny! Lumpy has not returned, no signs of cancer!

Spirit of the Marathon

A Jenny update: Her biopsy showed it is not AML, her WBC is going down and she is feeling good. They are still checking to rule things out but it was incredible to see the milage being ran for Jenny yesterday.

Today was a special showing of the movie Spirit of the Marathon It follows six runners as they prepared for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. We got tickets for it a few weeks ago and I was really looking forward to seeing it.

All I can say is : How freaking awesome! It was so inspiring to see "normal" people as well as elite runners preparing. I had to laugh (as did everyone) when a 26 yr old who was running her first marathon relayed the following:

"I tell my friends I am running a marathon and they ask me if I expect to win. Win? (laughs) No, I will be happy to finish!" Isn't that the truth? Why does everything have to be about winning? I only "race" against myself and I "win" everytime I get out there and finish a race.

It is just incredible to see these elite runners finishing 26.2 miles in just over 2 hours. I can't event finish 13 miles in that time. So they run twice as far as I can and faster. Incredible.

Go see this movie if you have the chance, there is a repeat showing on February 21. Check the website above for a theater near you. It is worth it!

ORN: I saw a movie about running, does that count?

For Jenny

Jenny is a poster on Runners World Beginners Forum. She is a lawyer and runs an insane amount of milage each week. Now, what is your idea of insane? 50 miles? 70 miles? Would you believe that she routinely clocks in over 100 miles a week?

Jenny not only runs and lawyers, she is also a cancer survivor. Last year, she found Lumpy, who turned out to be Hodgkin. Jenny completed her treatment and has been doing well. She has elevated WBC and a tender liver. She got a bone marrow biopsy to check for a variety of things and is waiting on news.

Someone on the forum suggest we run milage for Jenny. If Jenny can be the strong woman she is, I can suck it up and do 3 on the hamster wheel for her.

Feeling Miserable

Not me! Woo hoo...not that I am glad that anyone is feeling miserable. If someone has to be feeling miserable, I am glad it is not me.

I got up at 5:40 am to take Nicholas to seminary. He was still in bed so I got himm up. I heard him get into the shower. It is nearly 6 am and he is still not out and ready to go so I went to see what was up. He was back in bed and mumbled pathetically "I don't feel good." This is not like him so I told him to go back to sleep but next time, come and tell me before I sit half awake waiting to take him. He felt pretty crummy all day long. He took some Nyquil tonight and we will see in the morning how he feels. Since he did feel so rotten all day, I told him to stay home tomorrow but he wants to go to school.

I slipped on the ice outside the other day and twisted an ankle. Not badly but I am feeling it when I go on the stairs and attempted the treadmill. I am hoping it will be good tomorrow.

ORN: about a minute on the treadmill before Mr. Ankle asked to get off

We Have Ice!

Since I have not yet filled in the missing posts, you don't know that our freezer fritzed out on us. First the dryer, now the freezer. It was still keeping things relatively frozen but no ice. Naturally, we discovered this on Saturday morning. We had hopes that one of the kids had left the door open but with no ice and nothing refreezing solidly, our hope went down in flames.

The guy came today and replaced some thermostat in there and we have ice! I have heard it crashing into the container on a regular basis. So, we have ice in the freezer and plenty of ice outside.

Today not only was husband home but the kids were home as well. Two of the boys were supposed to be going on an almost 5 mile hike around the Manassas Battlefield. Greg was planning to go along to be one of the adult leaders. It was below 20F this morning and so I shot down the idea of the two boys going. They really don't have the clothing to withstand this kind of cold long term, one is dealing with a nasty double ear infection and the other is coughing (along with everyone else) Greg went up anyway and was willing to go along but after outlining our reasons for our boys not going, the hike was called.

We got Tinsel a new bed today since she has outgrown her other one. We found a nice pillow at Sam's but it had some greasy dirt spots. I asked about it, it is a discontinued item so no hope of it coming back in. I pointed out many others with similar stains so they took nearly half off. Tinsel likes her new bed.

ORN: Lost motivation, if found, please send my way because I really need it!

Grooming 101

See yesterday, I am still whipped

Cool Toys

Place holder, I have this written and just need to upload it!

Can We Get A Break?

Two hour delay this morning for school. Big surprise...

Yes, it actually snowed yesterday but along with it, Devin started to complain of his ears bothering him. He saw an oncologist on Tuesday, his ears were clear. He came down in tears last night so I gave him something and sent him back to bed.

I called for almost 2 hours this morning before I finally got through and was able to make an appointment for him. The doctor confirmed he not only has an ear infection, he has a pretty nasty ear infection in both ears. He is now taking drugs and is sleeping with a humidifier in his room to help with his cough. Obviously, he stayed home today. This week, he only made it to school one day. Next week, they have off Monday, Friday and the following Monday.

I am determined to just grit my teeth and get on that darn treadmill. I am considering taking the DVD player from the upstairs bedroom and take it downstairs. Maybe if I pop in a DVD, it will help pass the time.

ORN: Think of Scarlett, tomorrow is another day

Snow! Snow!

We had snow in the forecast but you all know how that works. Yeah, we may get snow and we may not. We were on the edge of the light snowfall and the heavier snowfall. It started snowing about 10 am yet school remained in, not even a 2 hour early release. I was surprised since we ended up getting more than 5" of snow.

The kids wanted to go out and play so badly but today was the first day this week that everyone went to school. Even Rhys was not coughing much.

With the snow comes the slippery black ice underneath so no outside running for me. I find as I get older, I am a lot more wary of running on less than stable surfaces.

ORN: ::::sigh:::::

Place marker

I am marking my place until I can write up today.

Now, don't take that to mean anything earth shattering is going to be here, just sick kidlets that want momma and no one else will do.

Wednesdays are always hectic around here because there is so much going on in the evenings. We have dinner earlier than normal so we can get out the door for Young Men, Achievement Girls and any other activity that could be going on. In this case, I had a Cub Committee Meeting after YM.

Devin was home sick again and Rhysie didn't want to let me go anywhere. Ugh, I will be so glad when sickness is gone.

ORN: Now I wonder why I put this here when it seems that everything conspires to stop me from putting running actually here!

Two Weeks!!!

I mentioned a few days ago that our new dryer, under warranty, stopped working. We had this happen in October and got it repaired quickly.

The appliance repair place can't get out here for TWO WEEKS! TWO WEEKS with no dryer! If it was the summer, no big deal, I could hang stuff outside but not when it is below 30F outside. I am all for renting a dryer but Greg doesn't like that idea. He wants to buy a new dryer rather than go to the laundry mat. I don't know, I guess if we could find a cheap one on CraigsList, maybe. Still, I am just stunned that it will take more than two weeks to get a warranty guy out here. Waaaahhhhh!

Three of the boys are barking like seals, two are running low grade fevers. Last night, Rhys was waking up every hour and finally settled at 4:15 am. Nice, I had to get up at 5:40 am. My neck is so stiff from holding him and trying to get him to sleep.

My Tigers met today, three were missing so we cut the meeting a bit short since we are doing Pinewood Derby on Saturday. Eeek....we need to finish painting Iain's and get the wheels on. T hen off to Riders to check it on their track.

ORN: zzzz...need more sleep

Who Knew??

It is true, I have delved deeper into My Little Pony Land. Last night, we took Precious Gem, washed her hair, conditioned it and then curled it with straws. While she was in curlers, we took a Magic Eraser to her and cleaned her up. This morning, she looks like her ravishing self once more. I took the 4 most frizzy ponies today and treated them to a make over. Rainbow Dash was washed, conditioned, combed and styled. Flower Flash got a similar treatment. Star Catcher had a more extreme make over, she had the tinsel removed from her mane and tail and then she was washed, combed and styled. She is currently wrapped and drying on top of the fridge. Also on top of the fridge, with deep conditioner, is Tink-a-Tink-a-Too. Can you tell I looked up all their names? I found a fabulous, for MLP anyway, website that you can search for who you have by color. I can click on Pink and then look at all the symbols to find which pony I have. Of course, Kierynn is not entirely thrilled with my interest in her ponies and told me to get my own. Guess what? I did!

I got some from eBay and plan to make some custom ponies for myself. These will be display ponies only but way cool if I pull it off. The ponies I got are already beheaded and had the hair removed. I need to dye, rehair and then customize. I have in mind what I want to do. I probably will try a few before I make the ones I really want to.

Enough of ponies, I know not everyone find it fascinating but who knew there was an entire My Little Pony fandom out there? There is even a group that collects fake MLP. Okay, I will stop. I promise.

I had a sick kidlet home today and 2 more are barking like seals. I ended up down on the deadmill rather than going out in the 33F weather. Our basement is cool, maybe 62F so it was a nice temperature. It was kinda weird to be on the deadmill with the mp3 player while the three wee ones were running around the basement playing and had on Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

It is interesting to note that I am not quite as anti-treadmill as I used to be. I still find it difficult and boring but I do have to admit that I went faster and didn't feel like I was putting the same amount of effort. This is a switch from a year ago when I felt like I went slower and was working harder on a treadmill. I didn't make it as far as I would have liked but I count any milage on the deadmill as a success.

ORN: 2 miles on the hamster wheel

Sickness

It is a sign of how deeply troubled I became after working 2 hours on pony tails and manes yesterday. It really bothered me how frizzy they looked after they were combed out and detangled. Kierynn didn't care, she thinks her ponies are simply lovely.

So, I spent an hour searching the web for tips on how to make the ponies look better. We have tested a few out by washing them in gentle baby shampoo and combing them out. I have a page saved to try to de-frizz some of them and recurl the mane and tails. It is a sickness, yes, I know. It gets worse though, I went looking on eBay to see what kind of customized ponies are out there and am contemplating ordering her one for her 5th birthday in March. We also took a magic eraser to the bodies to clean them up. I know she has a favorite pony so I will see what I can find.

A yucky, grey rainy day out. Afternoon church doesn't help. We changed times with the new year and don't start until 2 pm, getting out at 5 pm. This effectively shuts the entire day down where not much can be done. It is supposed to be yucky tomorrow as well but I am going to stand firm (maybe) and run in the morning. To help motivate myself, I will have all my stuff laid out this evening so when the alarm goes off, I can get in my running stuff, take Nicholas to seminary, come home, get Tinsel and head out. That is the plan as of right now any way.

ORN: none

Priorities and Ponies

Is it a law written down somewhere that if something crucial to family life (more so in a big family) is going to stop working on the weekend? Our dryer fritzed out on us (again) in the middle of weekly laundry. This meant we had 2 loads of wet laundry and about 5 loads of unwashed clothing. After much debate, we continued to wash clothing and bagged it. Once all of it was washed, the wet laundry was carted to a local laundry place and dried. Now, we have huge bags of clean but dry laundry to fold. We do have a service call in but I suspect it will be close to next weekend, if not the following week before it gets repaired. Yuck. I would love to be able to have 2 washers and driers someday.

As you can imagine, this put a huge kink in my running plans. I was getting ready to go out running when a sweet little voice said "Mommy, can you help me with my ponies?" Maybe you are made of sterner stuff but I couldn't tell her no. So, I spent 2 hours with 15 ponies, a 4 year old and we made them beautiful by brushing out all their tangled manes and tails. If you think it was easy, I dare you attempt it. Hasbro, who makes My Little Pony, needs to come up with a non-tangling mane and tail. I can say with authority now that the newer ponies are much easier to de-tangle. Some of these ponies were inherited from my 11 year old and you can tell which ones but the matted mane and tail.



On the basketball front, the Tigersharks did much better today! I can see where things are starting to click with them. We had a pair of excellent refs today too. Rather than just blowing the whistle and redirecting the ball, they took the time to explain to the kids why the whistle was blown, what would happen next and tell them which side to go to. They also would redirect any wandering boy. The boys wear color coded sweat bands on their wrist. Whoever on the gold team is weaing the green band, he guards the blue team member wearing the green band. It really helps them out. Iain played several of the sessions and did awesome. He has a traveling problem, not uncommon. He gets the ball, dribbles and if anyone gets close, he snatches it up and runs for the basket. We are working on it, we are working on it.

ORN: What the heck does this mean, anyway? I admit freely I acquired it from John "The Penguin" Bingham. He explains it better than me. ORN means "Obligatory Running Note", from the original Dead Runners Society list that required every post to have some running content No, I was never on that list but I still like ORN

9 on the 9th Sweetheart Shuffle

As I was reading a blog about a week ago, I saw a notice on one side for a "virtual" run and a race logo. It caught my interest so I went searching. What I found was, indeed, a virtual run called 9 on the 9th Sweetheart Shuffle.

Non-runner Nancy is the person behind this. Last year, she started a virtual run called Eight on the Eighth, compelete with race results. Reading through them is a lot of fun so this sounds like my kind of event.

My race director (who would be me) has hinted strongly that there will be a medal for those registered runners who finish (which would be me). I am feeling good, I may actually place first in my age group (which would not be a stretch since I would be the only "registered" runner here)

My husband has watched me talk about this and work on my medal (I was serious, it is currently drying before being painted) and asked, in a tone of disbelief "And this is an actual event? Why?"

Because it is fun! Because it is quirky and because it is a reason to get out and run 9 miles. I need to scope out where this run will take place but I am thinking it will be out on the W&OD, starting near Caboose. I am hoping to put up a water station (in the form of a water bottle) around the 4.5 mile mark. If I really want to go out, I may print out race numbers and have a goody bag.

No, this is not strange! Fun! Fun! It is fun! For more details, click the logo over there <-----

ORN: Pack Meeting, chasing 9 Tigers is enough today

Rain, Rain

Rain is a funny thing. I actually like rain. I like to watch rain, I like to listen to thunder and it is pretty cool to sit out on the porch during a heavy rain storm and just watch the sky lighting up. I don't like running in the rain.

Wait, let me clarify that a little bit. I don't mind running in the rain, if it starts to rain while I am already running. I don't like starting a run if it is raining. Yes, I am made of sugar and I will melt.

My plan was to bring my running stuff to basketball practice and go across the street to the high school and run on the track. How cool, I could actually log some miles on a flat track. Because the school grounds are a dog free zone, I would not be able to bring Tinsel with me. As the time came to get ready to go to practice, it was pouring buckets out there and I admit it, I weenied out. I didn't go over to the track.

It is looking more and more like I am going to have to force myself to run in the mornings after dropping off Nicholas at seminary rather than go back to my warm bed. That works out well with moderate temperatures but when it is cold outside, the call of the warm bed and my sweet little Rhys who is always willing to cuddle up to me...it is tough to fight that call.

Not at all related to running but still rather exciting from my viewpoint. I have been going to District Roundtable for months. Several months ago I offered my services when they asked for volunteers but never heard anything back. Tonight, they were asking for volunteers once more and this time it looks like they are bit more interested. I am hoping that they will do breakouts since I love working with Tiger and Wolf leaders. The little scouts are always the most fun to deal with because they are so excited with Scouting.

ORN: it was raining! I would have melted! Seriously.

My Play List

I don't run with music very often because I like to hear what is going on around me. When I do run with music, I keep it low enough to hear not only life going on around me but also when my Garmin beeps at me. And...so that I can hear if I am singing with it. My kids tell me I do even when I think I am not singing.

Since I am always looking for music, I ask people what is on their mp3 player. Here is what is currently on my mp3 player. There are a lot of songs I need to get put on there but for now, here is what is there.

American Idiot    Green Day
Battleflag    Lo Fidelity Allstars
Big Girls Don't Cry    Fergie
Boulevard of Broken Dreams    Green Day
Breathe (2am)    Anna Nalick
Bring Me To Life    Evanescence
Bulletproof    Blue Rodeo
Cast No Shadow    Oasis
Chasing Cars    Snow Patrol
December    Collective Soul
Bad Day    Daniel Powter
Drops of Jupiter    Train
Bonnie Portmore    Loreena McKennitt
Epic    Faith No More
Far Away    Nickleback
Here It Goes Again    OkGo
Holiday    Green Day
Home    Chris Daughtry
How To Save A Life    The Fray
I'm Too Sexy    Right Said Fred
I Can Only Imagine    Mercy Me
I Don't Wanna Be    Gavin DeGraw
If Everyone Cared    Nickelback
Is It Any Wonder?    Keane
It's Not Over    Chris Daughtry
Kiss From A Rose    Seal
My December    Linkin Park
Lips of an angel    Hinder
Love You Madly    Cake
Maybe    The Clarks
Move Along    The All-American Rejects
My Immortal    Evanescence
Photograph    Nickelback
No Rain    Blind Melon
Ordinary World    Duran Duran
Posession    Sarah MacLachlan
Right Here    Staind
Schism    Tool
Short Skirt/Long Jacket    Cake
snow (hey oh)    red hot chili peppers
River Lullaby    Amy Grant
Stay    Lisa Loeb
Mourning    Tantric
There's a Girl    The Ditty Bops
Wake Me Up When September Ends    Green Day
What's Left Of Me    Nick Lachey
What I've Done    Likin Park
Wonderwall    Oasis

Of course, this is not the order it plays, it shuffles around and I may skip songs during any given run or hunt for something specific.

ORN: Rest Day

Beautiful Weather

After the bitter cold, windy temps of last week, this weather in record highs is nice. We turned the heat off 2 days ago and have had windows open. It was 71F at Dulles yesterday, 71!!

Since I was able to breath all day long, I got on all my stuff for a run this evening. I didn't realize that I would have Tinsel, Greg AND Kaitlyn with me but we all headed out the door while the wee ones ate popcorn watching the older kids play on the GameCube.

Once again, I had forgotten to turn off my Garmin so I had no battery power left. Luckily, Greg had his charged so I set it to my interval rate and off we went. I decided to run up to the high school and then cut through the neighborhood before coming back.

My ankles and calves have really been protesting any kind of an incline. I would not say it is painful but they are most certainly making it known they are not happy.

Once we hit Weihle, I decided to cross over since we would have to do it up on the corner anyway and the light was with us. As it turned out, there was no sidewalk on that side of Weihle, which I didn't know. What we should have done was cross back over but I was thinking more of just continuing so we walked the length of Weihle until we got back to Dranesville. That serious slowed our time down but I was able to get back on my intervals and we completed the run. It took longer than I would have liked but I know my time will come down again as I continue to go out and run.

It was a gorgeous night for a run. It was about 60F out and windy but it was a warm wind, not that bitter cold wind. Tinsel got in a blinking red heart light so she had a blinkie on as well while we ran.

ORN: 3.04 miles 3/2

Basketball

If you ever want to have an hour of sheer fun watching a basketball game, go watch an Upwards Basketball game when the teams consist of 5 and 6 year old boys. My 1st grader plays Upwards Basketball and they had their first game on Saturday.

We knew coming in that he is NOT a basketball player. None of these kids have ever played before but the ones who are more athletically inclined or have older siblings who play clearly stand out.

They play 4 on 4 for 6 minutes. Each boy wears a sweat band of a certain color and he guards the boy on the opposite team who has the same sweat band. The two teams wear different colored shirts.

It is hysterical to watch these boys guarding their own team mates, trying to score a basket in the opposite goal, trying to snatch the ball from anyone who has it and my favorite, the fumble where all the boys pile on the ball and refuse to let go of it.

Iain was upset that no one passed the ball to him. I told him that just about everytime a ball hit him in the back, it was because the ball WAS passed to him and he was not watching.

This is a non competative league so score is not kept but I can tell you that the Tigersharks did not win despite our one goal that was shot.

ORN: beautiful running weather, it will hold for tomorrow

Turning the Corner

Are you tired of reading about how miserable I have felt? Let me tell you, I am tired of feeling that way. Today, I felt marginally better which is surprising since I was on the go from noon on.

Today, we switched to a 2 pm start time for church, meaning we go until 5 pm. Prior to church, I had a Troop committee meeting so left the house just past noon. After church, we got home where the crock pot had done its job beautifully and dinner was ready. Shortly after dinner, I had to go back out for a Pack committee meeting. I got home after 9 and am beat. For all that, I can at least breathe and am not feeling too badly.

Based on that, I WILL be going out tomorrow to run. I am hoping I can get out during the daylight hours to run the trail. If not, we got some more blinkie arm lights and so will just run through the neighborhood on the other side of Dranesville since everything around us is all dead end courts.

ORN: thinking but not doing

Death Warmed Over

I thought I was getting better but today, I have just felt like death warmed over. My fondest desire is to curl up in a bed under a big, thick blanket.

In fact, that is what I am going to do.

ORN: 7.6 m for the week

Bitter Cold

It was another cold, bitter, windy day here. We stayed in the house and I seriously considered getting the fireplace, feeble though it is, going.

Today was the first day of Girl Scout Cookie sales so I took my Junior Scout out selling. We were out for about an hour before she turned into a popsickle and we scurried back to the house to warm up.

ORN: 1 hour of neighborhood walking..better than nothing!

Sniffle, drip, cough

Usually weather doesn't bother me but the other night when I took Tinsel and headed out, there was a viscious wind going. I had on ear protection but still...by the end of the run, my lungs were burning from the cold and I started coughing. It is not a bad cough, just annoying.

It has now morphed into clogged sinuses, with the headache to go with it, a sore throat and cough. Other than that, I feel fine. Still, with wind chills putting our temperatures near zero outside, I figured it is not a wise move for me to venture outside no matter how well protected.

Much as I hate to do it, until we get back up closer to 30 (or no windchill), I am going to have to resort to the freaking deadmill. Treadmill, how I loathe thee! I am hoping to tolerate it a bit better than the last time I had to use it but it is not something I am looking forward to. Tomorrow, I can bring the little kiddies down into the basement with me, pop in a video for them and get up on the hamster wheel for a bit.

ORN: none

Brr!

Yes, I wimped out tonight of my run. I took the older boys to a Court of Honor for a fellow troop member who got his Eagle rank. I had every intention of running but the bitter cold and wind chill lost to the feeble warmth of our gas fire.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike our gas fireplace? It sucks. You literally have to sit on the hearth to feel any heat from it. I think the previous owners has it for show, not for warmth. We just need to get a better set of logs for it. I would like to check into the cost of converting it back to a wood burning stove but I think the cost of wood here may be horrific.

I feel crummy, I am going to bed.

ORN: none

2008 Goals

Wow, what a difference a year has made. At this time last year, I was high on running and looking forward to moving to a new place. Things didn't work out quite the way I had wanted them to and my running suffered. This was through a variety of things, mainly me letting other things take higher priority than my running.

My goals for 2008 are simple. I want to consistantly run again. I liked running on a regular basis and I had fun doing it. I am bringing my dog with me on my runs so I have a ready partner at a moments notice. I would like to lose weight but ya know, that is a perpetual goal. I know that weight or at least inches will drop when I consistantly run. I plan to run the Women's Distance Festival again and take part in the Women's Training Program. I plan to start going out for the weekend runs with the Reston Runners. I think those are plenty enough goals for right now.

We can't find our arm blinkie lights so I ordered some more off of eBay. While I was there, I got Tinsel a blinkie for her collar. I do wear reflective gear but I will feel better when she has something reflective as well.

Happy 2008!!

ORN: 3.11 miles with Tinsel