Bummer!

Yesterday, little Jason (our honored teammate my first season who is almost 5yrs old) spiked a fever and isn't feeling well. I haven't heard that status but he had to go to the clinic yesterday (and maybe today) because fevers can be dangerous for cancer patients, he has ALL... This is one of Paul's twin son's (my running husband, lol) and he had to leave work yesterday to meet his family at the clinic for blood draws to make sure nothing is lurking in his little body. Praying for his health and recovery so he can go back to being a spunky 4 1/2 yr old.

Also I want to send my prayers to my friend Donna who is taking her last CPA test today.

I am also looking forward to the busy weekend but one that is special. I have a friend who will be coming out to speak of their Cancer Journey this Saturday during our Mission Moments before we head out to do our 6 mile run. I have only known Sandy from her son Christian's Caringbridge website and this will be my third time meeting an online friend in person.

The first one was Gina Cousineau and her their journey with their son Evan who had a genetic disorder only found in males called ALD. The second person is McKenna's mom from MN, Krista... I met her the morning of our first race as TNT participants... I plan on hanging out with her again in Seattle. These families are amazing and I feel led to pray for these families as they are going through a tough time with their losses. These are the reasons why I am with TNT, donate blood as much as I can, on the bone marrow registry, and am on donor lists, click on that link with tissues... the video is a tear jerker but unfortunately is their reality. I just hope I am making a difference too!

Ah man, I just got word that cupcake day has been moved to Monday! Looks like I will need to find another source for my sugar high, lol.
::::hugs::::
Mel

dragging

Yesterday was definitely a Gwynne dragging me to Yoga, lol! I was so tired that toothpicks were a necessity at around 3pm... I find that when I feel that tired the best thing for me to do is keep on moving! The more my blood flows through my body the more awake I feel... if I sit down, I am history!

Gwynne is doing great with yoga and I think she is loving it too! I enjoy doing exercise with friends and I am glad I found something I can do with Megan and Gwynne... I don't think they have met before, hmm! Maybe we could do a three musketeer yoga day!

The over achiever that I am, looked at my running schedule after my run last night... the schedule said 9 weekday miles and I did 10! Also this week I have completed 4.5 hrs of hot yoga... tonight I am looking forward to my tap class, but not looking forward to grip of laundry that has accumulated from all the yoga and running... another late night is ahead of me!

I am not very sore today and I am finally waking up... I am looking forward to 3:30 today as we are celebrating a birthday at work and I am picking up cupcakes from Sam's Club (my fav.)

Tonight is our weekly pizza night for Jeremy and I... another yummy thing to look forward to :)

Happy Thursday!
Mel

Butt Kicked

Megan and I enjoyed the Monday class together and now Gwynne has joined hot yoga forces :)

Two words explain how I felt yesterday and continue to feel today in a lesser degree. Yesterday I decided to go back to hot yoga as it is supposed to help with soreness... and it did! YEAH! I dragged Gwynne to it and she had the same results that I had on Monday, we both lost 2lbs in a 90 min class. I found out that you burn 600 calories in a class and then the rest of the weight loss is water weight. I think I burned around 1100 calories yesterday with my 5 mile run and then the yoga class, whoo hoo!

I like the way my skin feels after yoga; it is so much smoother and also I felt so much more relaxed when I was done that I slept like a rock! It is amazing... I bought a pass that lets me in 20 consecutive days, don't worry if you find out I am going a lot... I am not getting addicted but using the pass to my fullest extent possible with my already busy schedule!

Tonight is another run and then hot yoga... I will be doing tap tomorrow and then 4-5 loads of laundry to prep for the busy weekend ahead!
Happy Hump Day!
Mel

Hot Yoga

Yep, I am trying something new today, hot yoga. I always like trying new activities out and this one may help my flexibility as I can't even come close to touching my toes. I am doing this with my friend Meg at a facility near my house. I have done Pilate's and yoga before but I get frustrated at my lack of flexibility... I am hoping the room that is 120 degrees will limber me up some.

Yesterday I had my bowling league and the verdict is unknown since our opposing team didn't show... but the important thing is WE all bowled great! The other team can make up their game w/in 2 wks so we may have to wait awhile to know who won what!

Other exciting news is that Jeremy has this Friday off from work; giving us a date night this Friday where we will go out to dinner and dance the night away at Atomic. I do have my TNT training in the morning so we may take separate cars so I can get a few extra hours of sleep. Jeremy's 31st birthday is next Monday and we are celebrating it this weekend... it kicks off on Friday with date night, Saturday a birthday dinner with friends at Hooters, and Sunday a birthday celebration at his parents (that is where he will get my gift to him)!

Other than missing my tap class for hot yoga today this weeks other activities remain unchanged. My tap class ends in late March and I am trying to decide my schedule my weekday activities for the next 10wks. I am really thinking about taking 1 tap class and then maybe trying jazz on Tuesday nights after my run... if I really like this hot yoga thing I may add that for my Monday night activities occasionally... I am a little worried for the jazz class because I have no rhythm but I am hoping maybe the class will improve it. I love my tap classes and can't afford taking all three classes (2 tap and 1 jazz) at the Senior Center... so I gotz to choose wisely... but its my curiosity that is making me want to try jazz, lol!

My bowling league is 3 weeks away from playing in Vegas. I am excited to get away from my routines soon and I hope to come back richer not poorer. Interesting fact about vegas: Did you know that the average person who visits Vegas, gambles $500 in a weekend. I don't think I have ever brought that much money with me to Vegas! I guess I am not like the average person, lol!

Happy President's Day to you!

I work today and am very thankful for that, with the uncertain economy and all!

We had the best weather this weekend, it was cold but beautiful and DRY! I loved the DRY part of it. I am so glad the storm waited until Monday to bring rain to the southland. I am loving the rain from inside my office today with my heater on my feet.

The best part of it is that I can take a day or two to relax and watch a movie at home. My Netflix turnaround time has been horrible and I am hoping this rain improves it even if it's only temporary.

Due to the Holiday, the Senior Center is closed and for me that means no TAP class. If the rain stops for a while I may run after work but then again... a nice warm meal and vegging in my warm home with a movie on sounds even better.

Tuesday I usually run with Paul and he has other commitments so it looks like another day to veg on my calendar to me. That means I need to have a good run on Wednesday with Paul at the Back Bay. The weather should be back to normal and dry, so that will help with the running bit.

Thursday is tap and then no activities until Saturday. I am taking much of this month easy on my legs and feet and running when it fits into my schedule... I really beat up my body the last month with the marathon and then two weeks later doing a half... I don't want any injuries so I am really concentrating on other muscles to workout... like my arms and abs...

I have to tell you that yesterday bowled awesome and we won every game last night (7 points) that was amazing. I had a 444 series for three games and my normal series is around 375! We had two players out and managed to win all the games! In a month and a half I think we have won only one game = 2 points, so last nights victory was much needed! We go to Vegas in 4 weeks and I am really looking forward to a mini getaway! I hope I bowl great and win some money :)

Stay dry!

Sunshine

Today was the most beautiful day in a while. It was super cold out here for us California folks. I think it was in the 30s at night and 50s during the day...

I have been really enjoying life so far this week. I think it helped going to work on Sunday and feeling less stress from my desks being a muck... as I have been cleaning and organizing everything so I actually know where things should be... the result is about two feet of paper that needs to be filed and sorted through.... maybe its reallocation that makes me feel somewhat accomplished but when the mess is off my floor at work... WOW! My office(s) will look nice! Yep I have two jobs, offices, and even e-mail accounts in one building... how special is that!

Onward to the exercise bit, yesterday I had my tap class and we are doing a number to "All that Jazz" from Chicago soundtrack which is really fun. I love the choreography that Renee does.

Today is my normal run day but since it isn't raining and Paul was busy I decided to do 3 loads of laundry.

Tomorrow however we are running the back bay route and I am really looking forward to running around their since it has been a LONG time!

Thursday is a continuation of Monday with both predicted rain and my tap class... I take two classes so it has a chance to sink into the brain and communicate to my feet!

As the rain is supposed to continue through Monday it should make for an interesting weekend but with as much normal activities as we can. I am getting my hair done rain or shine. I haven't had it cut since November and it really needs it!

Saturday we train rain or shine because as my last post explains you never know what can happen on race day then depending on the weather we will plan on Disney if it is not raining to hard. I am hoping we can have somewhat of a nice dinner that night too.... with all those romantics out their restaurants are sure to be packed... they should get married and then normal loving less romantic folks like my hubby and I can enjoy an evening out, lol! See what marriage does to a woman's perspective on Valentine's Day!

Sunday I am supposed to hang out with my mom and I have no idea what my mom and I will end up doing and then I have bowling that night! As for bowling, we lost every game last week. This week we will be bowling with 2 out of 4 players and I hope we can manage to win some games. I think we won 1 game in the last month... I am not a poor sport but come on!

New Bling

Here I my medals up close, click on the picture to see more detail.

So many wonderful memories and lessons learned...

From the Right is my first half marathon "Pacific Shoreline. I fell in mile 4-5 and ran with bleeding hands the rest of the race with a finish time of 2:45. I seriously didn't train properly for this and I was bed ridden for the rest of the day, lol!

The brown wooden board was my second half marathon right before getting with team in training and it poured down buckets of rain the whole time. It was my first time running a race with a friend and who better than Gwynne to share that with! We finished that race in 2:39! It was so cold that day... Gwynne and I went to the Sauna with hot chocolate and turned up the temp to 150 degrees!

The board in between was the race I just completed Feb. 1st. That was my third consecutive year doing the race... notice my long-board legacy club piece on the medal. I also got a shirt for being in the club :) I had my fastest race (finish time 2:00:16) and had a lot of people on the course that I knew from Team in Training... and it was fun running it with Paul and Jeremy!

The castle is my biggest medal so far and it was an amazing day. Gwynne was 6 mos pregnant with Claire doing a run/walk. Jeremy beat me by 5 minutes and my finish time was 2:01! I beat Paul and had a bunch of friends their both on the course and at the finish line! Disney really puts on a good show and makes the race really spectacular even if you have to run through the streets of Anaheim.

Santa Clarita was a beautiful run in November and my birthday weekend. I didn't have my best race due to both getting over being really sick and unexpected female issues but it was definitely a nice run and I finished in 2:10!

I have to skip to the one with the red ribbon! June 1st was my most emotional race ever! I cried "literally" at every mile marker from 21-26 running with an Ohio TNTer and cancer survivor! This was the most meaningful race and I will never forget this as long as live. Where my family, friends, and complete strangers made this happen by donated to the cause and helping me with not only the fundraising challenge but the challenge emotionally and physically! I couldn't have done this out any of you!

The Blue ribbon was a lesson learned! You never know what is going to happen on race day. I had been planning to run my best marathon and doing it with Paul. Instead I ran it mostly with Jeremy in the beginning and walking with him the last eight miles... I had the most fun on this race! Just knowing I could beat Jeremy at something was great but better yet I felt so good throughout the race and had fun getting strangers to the finish line with my cheers on the course while I was with Jeremy was just AWESOME!

It is always fun remembering the good times and thinking of the future races... I only touched base on the races that gave me medals... I have 18 race bibs and all with fond memories that if I could sit down long enough would be a super long entry or a short book. I am unfortunately missing one bib from the Stump Jump race last year in Tennessee... I know it is around here somewhere... it just has to be! I had a blast on that race and getting a taste of a REAL trail run course that no California trail run is sure to top!

Thanks for riding along as this journey continues...

Busy Rain

A very busy and rainy weekend is passing. I am actually at work right now getting some things organized and done before the work week. I am so thankful for my job and that I am busy enough to NEED to work on a day off.

Our first training run was yesterday and it drizzled a bit but for the most part the weather cooperated for us. I had so much fun with our new team of over 100 participants. I am going to show off my shirt of iron patches and such next week, in hopes to inspire others to use a talent like that to either fundraise for or better yet they can put their names on their shirts so I can put names to faces... I don't know how teachers can remember their students names...

Back on track, yesterday after the training I went to a Mexican restaurant with Paul (head coach) and Diana (team captain) and then went to a Hush party, lol! It was very interesting and fun! After that Jeremy and I went to dinner and Disney.

Dinner was very entertaining as we sat a booth next to the register and soda fountain.... not a good place to sit last night. Balloons popped sporadically that evening and a hostess dropped a glass of sprite right behind me, which nonetheless showered me pretty good and misted Jeremy. Luckily it dried up pretty quick and we weren't very sticky. Then we went to Disney and danced some even though it was a pretty quite night at the park due to the rain scaring people away! It poured towards the end of the evening and I was so exhausted from being up at 5am for TNT that by 11:30 I was toast!

Today I slept in and now I am at work. I have bowling tonight and plan on having fun... even if we continue our Streak'n Striker tradition of losing more games than we win!

I do have some pictures to post but it will have to wait until my computer at home cooperates with me... stay tuned.

Mucho Better!

I guess I should really pay attention to the weather report, lol! I am really not properly dressed for rain... I am wearing a short sleeve shirt and decided that a sweater wasn't necessary for today's wardrobe.... I can plan better for this weekend since it seems to be sticking around until Sunday!

I think my spirits have been lifted since the last post. It is amazing what signing up for your next marathon can do to raise your spirits. My next race/marathon is going to be San Diego Rock'n'Roll (RNR)! I am doing this race mainly for the bling (aka medal) and extra medal that you get for completing two RNR marathons in a calendar year is a music note. I am not stopping their Jeremy and I will be (hopefully) going to Seattle to make a visit to see family in the area and also for some activities... (swing dance venues and the RNR Seattle Marathon/Half Marathon).

Now the fun part is training with the team to get me there physically... I just need to figure this out financially too... since taxes didn't pay off to finance these events for me.

I am not sure what other races will come about after Seattle in June. I know we are doing RNR Las Vegas Marathon/Half Marathon on December 6th but all other races will be put on hold as I REALLY would like to sell our condo and get something bigger VERY soon.

My extra medals this year with doing 4 RNR marathons will include two music notes, triple crown, grandslam, and the four-titude! The only thing that could make me happier is doing 7 RNR events and getting all the medals in the link... money is the only thing stopping that from coming true in 2009! My priority is a house and I need to get focused on that!

This Saturday is our first team in training pow-wow for the summer season. I hope it is fairly dry... but regardless of what the weather does... we are bound to have fun!

When your down, remember things could always be alot worse... that is what helped me change my mood yesterday :)

I am however missing my Tennessee Family really bad right now. Just knowing that a visit this year in nearly impossible.
:::Peace:::

Feeling better but blue

Hi everyone,

Sunday I should have played a losing song.... after missing my goal time at the race by 16 seconds, my bowling league team lost every game, and I didn't win any money in the Super Bowl Pool at work... I decided to go to bed and boy did I sleep good.

My tap class on Monday went well considering all the pain I was still in from the race... and my feet seem to be feeling better. They sure took a beating on Sunday. I was surprised at how sore my legs were and still are actually a little bit sore...

Yesterday I donated blood and had a blast at the American Red Cross... the donation was quick and painless (considering your saving a life)... as I sat in the chair getting a pint taken out of my arm. I chatted with the volunteers and we made it enjoyable. Afterwards I went to Gwynne's and played with the baby while she caught up on her laundry. did my taxes and

The only downer from yesterday would be doing my 2008 taxes. I found out that we owe a grip to the state and get practically pennies back from the Feds. Last year was my first year full time from graduating college and so my income level nearly doubled... for that I am punished by the state. It could be worse... if I actually was lucky enough to get money back... this wonderful state of California will be issuing IOU's because they are broke and have budgeting issues! That is just horrible... that is going to cause more people to change the deduction status so they will get their money on each paycheck and force more to owe to the state every year... since they can't pay them back!

I would like to live in any other state... unfortunately my hubby is SOLD on California so I must make do with this horribly run state! I hope I didn't offend anyone, if so, I am sorry... just venting!

Things could always be worse and for that I am THANKFUL!

Personal Record Breaking Day

A new addition to my collection! Check out my longboard legacy status! You get that if you do this race 3+ consecutive years!

Surf City 1/2 Marathon results are in and we all broke our personal records today!

Jeremy ran a 1:52:13 on his third 1/2 Marathon and surprisingly seems to beat it at every race by 2min. So lets see if he will continue his trend at the Orange County 1/2 Marathon on May 3rd.... he will have to do a 1:50!

Paul and I ran the first mile together before his first and only pit stop. He caught up to me at mile 11.5 and then passed me up! He made his PR of 1:59:43 ~ Way to go Paul!

I have mixed emotions about this race! I am happy to have beat my personal record from Disneyland half marathon but was sad that I missed my goal finish time by only 17 seconds! All I really wanted was to finally be a sub 2hr finisher and I ran a 2:00:16! I guess it could have been worse, I could have missed it by only one second and that would've really bummed me out! I am however happy with my new record and ready to work on my pace to accomplish that goal on my next 1/2 marathon... look out!

Besides running a strong race today... I am getting ready to see my friend Erin's first/new townhouse and then we are off to bowl in our league. I did try and take a nap before eating lunch but my stomach kept me up!

As a result of this race I have a blister on my right foot under my big toe and on my left foot I have a cluster of blisters that shape a hidden Mickey! I am planning on see a doctor on my foot that has been bothering me and is now really aggravated since this race and then Tuesday I donating blood if my iron count is high.

I have so much more to say about this past week and if I have the energy tonight... I will post again... otherwise I will tell all on my lunch tomorrow :)
God Bless!