Sunday Trot / I'm Cheating on You

We met at Swallow Cliff on Sunday morning.

I didn't keeping up with the big boys and girls. I trotted out 5.25 miles with Dennis and Tom. Tom kept going since he was feeling good. It was nice having Bubba hang back and catch up on things.

I was so happy to see our group out there. I haven't seen Gil for weeks and Dennis, jeez, honestly I can't remember the last time I saw him. And even Tom showed. I haven't talked about him for a long, long, long time. But last week-end he started riding and running again. And he was there again this week.

The only ones missing were Doug and Scott and it would have been just like the good old days. It was so good seeing everyone smiling, running, talking, laughing. I really am a mother hen if something like seeing them out there makes me so happy.

So, Sunday afternoon I get an email message from a relative. Something about a Facebook message. I ignore it cause I have no idea what Facebook is. Later that night I get another message from a friend from high school, about Facebook. This time I click the link from the message thinking if I just sign it then I'll be left alone.

Well, I felt like I opened the can of trick worms that pops out at you. I find out that all these people that I know write on Facebook. I'm thinking holy cow, how did this just happen and where did this come from.

I feel like by signing on to Facebook I'm cheating on my blog. Yes, I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous.

So, I guess between sharing my life with my husband, raising my children, hanging with the girls, training with my trimates and writing this blog, I will also check Facebook and see what the rest of the world is up too.

My Vote, Strep Throat & Are We Watching a Football Game or the Election?

Woke up Tuesday and was prepared to go and vote. I had made my decision Sunday night. I stopped watching the news and reading the internet. I didn't want to hear anymore.

Around 11 I went to the school and was so nervous after showing my identification I walked to the voting booth without my ballot. The volunteers got a good laugh. Once I did have my card I literally stood there for a couple of minutes because I had worked myself up to the point that I wasn't sure how to vote. Ok, I'm sure some of you are thinking, give me a break, if you knew who to vote for then how could you do this to yourself? Well, that's just the way I am for some reason. I finally got my wits about me and looked on the ballot and much to my surprise saw Ralph Nader's name on it. Holy smokes, is he still alive? Then I proceeded with my civic duty and walked out feeling complete relief and a sore throat.

Last night my throat was on fire so I decided to visit a doc in the box. Which I hate, so you know the throat was hurting pretty bad. The doc took a swab from the back of my throat and gagged me a couple of times. Sure enough, I tested positive for Strep. UGH! Gotta tell you the pharmacists at CVS were so nice. The filled my prescriptions ASAP. I think I was in and out of there in 10 minutes.

Watched election coverage with Scott until about 9:30 p.m. I felt like I was watching a close football game. Obama's electoral votes would increase then McCain's electoral votes would creep up. We had ABC on and they weren't saying that Obama had won but they sure acted like it. Scott was so nervous. He said he couldn't go to bed until he knew the outcome. So I told him to switch to FOX, their attitude toward the race would definitely let us know if Scott could relax and go to bed. Well, they were even saying is wasn't looking good for McCain. Scott kissed me good night and went to bed. Nothing was really happening with the news now so I switched to House for a little while and was ticked off when I realized I missed John McCain's concession speech. I did stay up for Barack Obama's acceptance speech and was glad I did. He kept it real. I hate when people say that, "keep it real" can be so flippant but there is no other way to describe that speech, he really did keep it real. I heard McCain's speech this morning, it was very moving and sincere. I do feel I need to rebut my comment about the character of both men. Last night they seemed to have our countries best interest at heart.

So this morning I wake up and Zak has a fever and swollen glads. He's home from school with me. I call the doc and he's nice enough to write him a prescription since he saw Gracie Monday and I told him I was diagnosed yesterday with Strep. Excitedly I tell Zak we don't have to drive out to see the doctor and what does he do? He starts crying, telling me he loves the doctor and really wanted to see him today. I tried not to laugh when he was crying. Parenting is hard, Gracie doesn't want to see the man in the blue coat and Zak can't wait to see him. Double UGH! (and the picture to the left is not our doctor just a model in a blue lab coat. I like putting pics on the blog :))

Now, I'm warning all of my friends and anyone else reading. I have been feeling this well of emotions building. This entire process has really affected me. I can't remember an election when I spent the time and energy checking each candidates views. I'm a very emotional person and the emotions have not come out yet. I know it's coming so, if I suddenly start crying when you are talking to me or if you see me pumping gas or on my bike and I have the ugly cry face, just ignore it. I'm ok. Oh, and they are tears of joy not sadness, just in case you were wondering.

The "P" Word

"P" is for Politics

The 2008 presidential race has been keeping me up at night - probably for the past 3 weeks. I lost the count of the number after about 7 nights of waking at about 2 in morning.


Literally my mind is going back and forth. I put a spread sheet together hoping is would help me reach a conclusion. I'm still reading it and rereading it.



The last time I felt this way was when Ross Perot was running in the presidential primary. I ended up voting for him. Its funny because when I tell people that, they say they voted for him too. I wonder how he lost?I probably wouldn't be having trouble deciding today if he would have won back then.


While running with the gang on Sunday the election was brought up. It's funny. We all have an opinion but no one really wants to talk about it. Maybe it has more to do with respecting one another opinion than not wanting talk about it.

There is one conclusion I can make about this election. All of the conspiracy theories, mud slinging, and back stabbing from both candidates reminds me of 5th grade when the kids from the south school had to come to my school for the year because their school was being renovated. In the beginning we called each other names, called each other's mother's names, wrote slurs on the bathroom walls, and so on .... but by the end of the year we all got a long. We were 11 tho, that's a pretty good excuse for acting the way we did. Unfortunately these are grown men, who have to be at least 45 years old to run for president. So what does that say about their character?

My mind is so cluttered because instead of sticking to the facts I had to put up with so much smack talk it made it hard to keep the real issues in focus. I watched the debates and instead of hearing answers to the questions I heard rehearsed rhetoric. Why bother with debates if you're going to rehearse them. Did our country make so hard for these men to keep it real? UGH!!!

I will vote Tuesday. My vote will, if not to anyone else than to myself. Hopefully I'll start sleeping again Tuesday night.

Pretty Lily

Scott checked on the bunnies this morning.

Our pretty Lily is gone.

It appears to us she died while giving birth.

Zak is so sad. I know there is no way to comfort him other than just being there.

Gracie wrote him and Lily a note -

"I feel sad for you Lily and Zak"

And life goes on.

Love / Hate

All relationships have a love/hate factor.



I've been married for 22 years. My husband, who I love a little more each day, wouldn't deny that we have had our bad moments, our hate moments. We both agree if it weren't for what we learned from the bad times we would never have the good times.



I ran on Saturday afternoon. Only 4 miles. I was busy with stuff around the house but finally got my butt out there. It was a beautiful day. I was able to put my mind in a place that made the running easy. When I got home I was surprised the miles passed without me looking at my watch or thinking about how slow I was moving. It was a good feeling. Sunday I rode. I met up with Rick and Ken. It was really good seeing them. I was a little nervous getting out there with Ken leading. He insisted he was riding like himself but still managed to move very quickly. Once I found my rhythm, the groups rhythm didn't matter. I was really happy to be out there. Even with the wind and cold. Brrrrrrr, it was cold.



A couple of weeks ago I read Megan's blog. She wrote how her blog is more like an open diary for all to read. She beat me to it, describing blogging that way. I love writing this blog and I learn a lot from going back and reading it. I must admit though that it takes me forever to write a post. I write it, publish it then go back and edit it after I've thought about it a couple of hours later. I've changed this post twice already.


But I think I see the love/hate thing with my swimming, biking and running this year. I've complained a lot about my performance. After reading some of the post I'm surprised some of you have come back to see what I was complaining about for the next week. This year was filled with seething over my run at McNaughton, minor aches and pains, bad weather and being two pedal strokes back with my cycling. I got so busy with complaining that I lost the joy of just getting out there. There was the occasional glimpse of clarity and enjoyment but not enough to get me out there regularly. I let my expectation of what this year should have been take over what I could actually do. Wow, I didn't have to pay a therapist to come up with that one.



So, it's time to just enjoy. Enjoy the cold air that hit my face on Sunday. Enjoy the changing colors of the season. Enjoy the company that I get to ride, run and swim with and enjoy the solitude of being out there on my own. It's time that I learn and start to trust what I know and take each day as it comes and leave my expectations on a shelf for a while. It's time for me to fall in love again, with just moving.

Chicago Marathon 2008

I volunteered for the Chicago Marathon today. I love this race. My only complaint is how the race has grown. Last year was a perfect example of how difficult it is to manage an enormous crowd. Thankfully Carey Pinkowski learned from last years mistakes and the race appeared to go very well.

For those who have never been to Chicago, (I know, I'm actually thinking someone I don't know is reading this blog :)) running the marathon would be a great way to see our city.

Congratulations to everyone who ran. It got pretty tough out there with all that fall sunshine beaming down on you but everyone proved they prepared themselves for whatever the day put in front of them.

Here are some pics of my great day .....

The clock reads 6:15. Caroline and I got down to North and Wells around 5:45. It took us a while to find street parking. You didn't think I was going to pay $10 did you? :)

While checking in we received our credentials. See that yellow dot. It means I got to work the Gartorade stations. O yeah! Me and my kids are gatorade experts. This was going to be fun!

We also got these very nice dry fit hats and also dry fit jackets. Unfortunately they only had large and x-large left in the jackets so I took x-large. I ended up giving my jacket to a very nice older gentleman who helped me put cups out and mix Gatorade when things got crazy busy. You would have thought I gave him the winning lottery numbers. He introduced me to his family and kept hugging me. It was pretty funny.

We walked down to Starbucks since I hadn't had my tea yet and then found a table and got to work.
It took us about and hour and a half to get the table from empty this to this....

See the boxes in front of the table? Caroline and I needed them to reach the 5th row of cups we made.

Soon it was 8:00 and all my friends who spent the last 18 weeks training began the final leg of their marathon journey. I was hoping I would see them but knew it probably wouldn't happen since I told everyone I would be near the O'Brien's sign and I was on the opposite side of the street. I was very excited to see Tom F.! I kept screamming at him as he ran by with a smile!

The guy on the left is from the Weather Channel. Wow, the race is making the Weather Channel!

The guy on the right is the captain of our aid station. He ran thru a list of what to do's and don'ts.

Here is the leader in the wheelchair division.

And this man to the right pushed himself with his legs. Very inspiring.

And then the professionals came. Making each step look like they were out for a morning jog. First came the men ....

and then the women ....

Our gatorade station closed right around 11:15. For as long as it took us to put everything up, what ever was left was taken down in a matter of seconds ....

And cleaned up in a matter of minutes. On the way home we laughed about how sticky we were from all the Gatorade that we either mixed on us, spilled on us, spit on us, and bounced off us. I guess that was a sign that we had done our job.

Now, do I run next year or volunteer?

Mind - Body

I've been thinking. Ut oh, I know. Hey, if I can't disect this years race season, then I might have more of the crappy same next year ....

April 2008

My Mind- Ok, let's go, we're running 50 miles. Oh yeah, ignore the rain, ignore the mud let's go, go, go, go, GO!!!

My Body - What are you crazy, I'm tired. TIRED!!! Tried telling that a couple weeks ago, remember? You caught that cold, the stuffy head, all that sleep. I miss the sleep. I'm not running. Nope, the legs aren't going.

Mind - What? Yeah, right. Here we go. Get over the tired. These legs have been training for weeks. Before that, I witnessed them attempt a marathon.....

Body - Yeah, and what happened at that marathon? Huh? Can't hear you? Tried telling you then I needed a rest ..... and ....

Mind - Lighten up. And quit trying to make your point by falling. I'm getting a little tired of saying get out of the mud.

Body - TIRED!!! I'm gonna keep falling until you listen!!!


May 2008

Body - Ah, finally a rest. Thank you - THANK YOU for listening.

Mind - You're right this isn't so bad, I'm really dig'n this time off. :)

June 2008

Mind - Ok, gotta race it's only a half ironman. Let's go, let's go, let's go

Body - What? We were resting remember, we're not ready, what it's a frick'n tornado out there, I'm not going anywhere ....

Mind - ENOUGH, get the legs moving, the horn just went off .....

Mind - Oops, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, the weather isn't being too kind to us. You just keep moving body and I'll stay as still as possible.

Mid - June 2008

Mind - There are you happy body. Gotcha a new bike. Now quit complaining. Get that big butt on it and start peddling.

August 2008

Body - Thank you for the rest - ahhh. No more surprises please. And keep drinking that ginger root stuff. It's helping.

Late August 2008

Body - A 100 mile bike ride - are you crazy?

Mind - Just peddle - you can do this.


September 2008

Body - A half marathon? Ok, I've had enough. ENOUGH!

October 2008

I went riding with Laura on Thursday. About 2 blocks from my house I realized my cold was going to make me feeling like I had an elephant riding along with me, hanging onto my chest. Met Laura downtown and let her know how I was feeling. Told her I wasn't sure how long I would be able to ride. Off we went. So, did I take it easy? Hang back, enjoy her company? Nope. I pounded. Head down, heals back, toes forward. We stopped and she commented that the way I was riding she wouldn't have guessed I had that elephant with me. And right then I realized it. It really is time to rest. I'm never going to make it to that start line in August 2009 if I keep doing this to myself.

Ok body - I hear. I'm gonna rest.