I finally got tired of "wishing" I could still run...So I laced up my new ASICs and started back on the Runner's World Beginners 5k workout. It takes you from -0- to running a 5k in 8 weeks. I completed this workout in 2010 and was able to run a few 5k's before I tripped over my dogs and needed to have my 3rd knee surgery...
How sweet it would be to run like this again!
Finish of the 4 x 100 meter Relay at Everett Community College 1979
So, two years later I start again. I know I will never sprint like in that photo above (notice we won!)...but I should be able to jog a few miles. My real goal is to run a half marathon, but that was my goal last time and look where it got me...I nearly died trying. Ha!
Before my first 5k in 2010, Bellingham Bay Marathon - a few pounds heavier and 30 years later...
In order for me to drive to work on Tuesdays? I decided to find out this morning.
The street where I live...
It is actually harder than you think to keep count...listening to music, swearing at the car next to you as they drink coffe/talk on the phone/put on eye makeup, and just plain old lack of focus. I can get distracted by the goofiest things. Not to mention dodging Microsoft shuttle busses and bicycle riders...
In front of the next building over from my office...
OK...now for the numbers. On Tuesday I have to attend a meeting with one of our Distributors, so this counts the stop lights from my home...to their office...and then to my office.
Are you ready now? There are 53 stop lights between my home and Arrow Electronics in Bellevue WA. There are a total of 69 stoplights to travel from my home to Arrow and then to my office. And this is NOT big city driving folks. I knew it was a lot...but not this many.
I have been thinking about this for a long while now. When the Dixie Chicks made their comment about being embarrassed to be from the same state as George W. Bush they were absolutely vilified. They lost their career, received death threats, and had little to no support from the other country music artists. In fact many were very outspoken against them.
"Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" Natalie Maines March 10, 2003
Flash forward to the political discourse in America today. The visuals and verbiage being used against Barack Obama and his family are abhorent to me and really should be to most americans as this is our President. You don't have to like him, you don't have to agree with him, but you should have respect for the office. I disliked President Bush, but I respected the office he held.
Remember...all the Dixie Chicks said was they were embarrassed to be from the same state...It seems to be one of those do as I say and not as I do moments in US history. How sad.
Free speech is all well and good as long as you are a Conservative. Anyone on the other side may be shot on sight. I am very proud of these 3 women who took on all comers and did not back down from the repercussions of this one statement. Actually I'm proud as hell!
Sometimes you do have to laugh at how poorly these chuckleheads spell....showing their ignorance and stupidity to the whole wide world.
I don't have any answers, but I do know that I am ashamed of some of our fellow Americans right about now.
I had the chance to spend time with a couple of my friends from school over the weekend. We're talking all the way back to 3rd grade when I met Dawn and a little later for Mary. I have the good fortune to see Dawn on a pretty regular basis, but it has been several years since I saw Mary - it may have been our 30 year High School Reunion in fact. That was 2008. In fact at the BBQ on Sunday there were 4 of us who graduated High School together. Having friends who have known me for so long is a great blessing. You can just be yourself - they have pretty much seen you in all of your incarnations and like you anyway.
We laughed...they made jam...and we had a wonderful time. Here's to good friends...without them life would be so much less.
Fresh From The Farm Strawberries
Bubbling Hot Blueberries Almost Ready...
Another Batch Completed
Hope it isn't another 4 years before we are all together again.
Taken from "Confessions of a Recovering Couch Potato" August 30, 2009
This week didn't turn out anything like it was suppose to. Thursday I got food poisoning and threw up at work. YUCK! I missed my walk that day. Friday I did my workout and then realized it was wrong. I was actually doing the workout for NEXT Friday. I thought it was a big jump in minutes...but didn't check until after I got back home. Saturday I didn't know what to do with myself, so went out to dinner and had a wonderful blue cheese burger and fries. And yes - I skipped my workout that day. Today I decided my best course of action was to go back and do the minutes I was suppose to have done on Friday. It was really difficult. Of course I ran early in the day and didn't eat enough. I was breathing so hard part way through that I scared HotRod with the loud noise! But...I made it through week 2 and still feel like I am doing the right thing for myself. My knees still feel pretty good - except those pesky little kneecaps that don't track properly making going up and down stair a bit of a painful experience. Best bet...don't go up and down stairs. Wanna bet Merril calls me a whiney ass again? :-o
1. Should I get a dog?
2. If yes...what kind of dog? (Of course it would be a bitch and not a dog but you know what I mean).
3. How do I save money?
4. When was the last time I stayed at the Ocean?
5. What's up with our weather?
6. I love being bald!
7. What's up with all of the shootings?
8. Should I stay or should I go?
9. Monkeys
10. DINSDALE!
Last weekend I participated in our local Relay For Life event to raise money for Cancer Research and Support. It is a 24 hour relay event and every team needs to have at least one member on the track at all times. All day and all night there are tons of things going on - theme laps, zumba dance, lip sync contest, and the beautiful & powerful luminaria ceremony.
If you ever have the chance to attend and be part of the luminaria ceremony you owe it to yourself to do so. You will never look at a white paper sandwich bag the same way again. A few words of remembrance, a name, a picture...then when it is dark you place the bags all the way around the track and add light. Walking in the dark and seeing people huddled in front of a bag holding each other and crying - it will move you to tears and make your heart swell so huge. Relay for Life Luminaria Ceremony
Relay For Life Luminaria Ceremony
For myself I made the decision to fundraise by shaving my head. A great many people came forward and overwhelmed me with their support and their donations. Thank You to each and every one of you!! I don't yet have any video from the big event, but here I am directly afterwards. I rather like being bald - but know that for those who have lost it due to Cancer it is a completely different thing entirely. Choice is taken away from them by their disease and the treatment to overcome it. Many people told me how brave I am to have done this...but for me the decision was easy. Those who fight cancer and/or care for those who do are the brave ones.
My team, Purples & Pinks Cancer Stinks, supplies "lap beads" each year so people know exactly how far they walked. It has become a real tradition and we actually had people lined up to get their necklace and starter bead before the relay officially began! The real fun is staying up all night and talking to each walker as they pass by for their next bead. I think it keeps us going as much as it does them and we really get to know the people and the stories behind why they relay. I managed 13.25 miles, but there was one little girl who did closer to 30 miles! At least one survivor made it past the 20 mile mark. What an incredibly strong woman she is.
This year I Relayed for my Dad, My Sister, and the young man who grew up across the street from my parents who lost his life to melanoma one year ago. Andrew Pinkham was much too young and full of promise to have been lost so soon.
After hearing stories of love and loss during Relay for Life I can only say - tell your family and friends how much you Love them every chance you get. Should anything ever happen they will know. And live each day like you are dying - and do all of those things on your bucket list. Go crazy - shave your head even. :0)
I would also like to Thank each and every one of my teammates. Your strength and power inspire me. Special Thank You to my co-captains Mary Ann Tasker-Thompson and Cheryl Palm. You ladies ROCK!
