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2011 Running stats

2011-12-31T17:06:00.006-05:00

2011 GOALS: (previous post)

-Set a new PR for 10K and Half marathon
(CHECK! 10k PR; 55:40--Half PR; 2:01:43--also PR'd in 5K; 25:22)*
-Run at least three half marathons
(CHECK! - Ran 4 Half Marathons)
-reach 1000 miles
(CHECK!)

*Unofficial Half Marathon PR - 1:57:23 - run on December 17 with Trevor Gibson during "Trevathon"

2011 Stats:

Running miles: 1150.09
-ONLY 2 of those were Treadmill miles!!!
(Buffalo Wild Wings Relay for Life Fundraiser-July 27)
-102 were run in races.
-Ran on 178 days
-Total Runs: 179 (1 day with 2 runs - Oct. 30th)

Monthly miles:
Jan-96.77
Feb-89.16
Mar-107.66
Apr-91.24
May-50.16(injuries)
Jun-88.52
Jul-108.35
Aug-100.38
Sept-93.68
Oct-97.33
Nov-83.87
Dec-142.91 (Marathon training!)

Mile 1000 ran on November 29Th, Dedicated to Mahlon C. Smith, Jr.

Longest run of 2011 -- 15 miles (ironically the last run too!) on 12-31

________
Races: 17
5K - 10
10K - 3
Half - 4

Wins: 1 (Holly Arthur CF 5K) BONUS!!
1st in age: 4
2nd in age: 3
3rd in age: 2

_____________
2012 GOALS:
-PR in a Marathon (Ultimate goal: under 4:30)
-Run 1000+ miles, ideally more than 2011
-Complete my first Triathlon
-Learn to swim efficiently

laying low...

2011-08-04T16:16:00.006-04:00

Been lying low lately. Sorry. Not much going on. It's way to hot to do much! I did manage to get 108 miles in July though! (No help from the Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot.) Still on track for my 2011 goal. Our running group is blossoming steadily! We have 26 people running Tupelo next month. We just ordered tech tanks and I'm setting up a pre-race dinner. I'm looking forward to a great race with a great group of folks. It's likely gonna be SUPER HOT this year. Not looking forward to that. Last year's weather was excellent. I'm pretty sure that's the reason I had such a good race. Not expecting that this year.

I'm planning my next marathon adventure right now. I'm currently set on the New Orleans marathon on March 4th. It's really flat and close enough to not break the bank. (NY = $$$$!!) I'll do the Blues Half in Jackson as well on Jan. 7th. I also decided after this years Sunfish that I am participating next year!! My first Triathlon! Mom, Dad & Wes volunteered with me this year. They enjoyed it. Here's a picture of Me, Dad, Tim and Mahlon in the water before the race. (Dad wasn't paying attention).

----------------

I'm officially a college student again!!!! :) I've finally decided on what I wanted to do. Exercise Science. I'm taking a few classes at MCC, then heading to UWA next year. Can't wait! With this degree I can do a number of things fitness related, from personal training to coaching. I haven't decided that part yet. We'll see what sparks my interest. I want to remain active and involved and this will help me do that. It'll also help BRC too!

BRC's newest addiction...

2011-07-13T01:22:00.003-04:00

Lately after our weekend long runs, we've been treating ourselves to fresh watermelon. It's quite refreshing! Especially these last few weeks with the humidity being SOOO high! This summer is BRUTAL! I'm completely exhausted after a long run. We run at 5:30 am, the coolest time of the day. But when the coolest is 78 degrees with a high of 99, there's no relief. We've done good staying hydrated and taking it easy.

State Games Races...

2011-06-19T23:07:00.004-04:00

The State Games races are officially over. I placed exactly the same as last year... 2nd in Cross Country and 3rd in the 5K.... The 5K was harder this year. Definitely challenging! I felt great throughout the whole race. I walked a little bit up the hill and ended up loosing the 1st place lead. I was 13 seconds behind the 1st place girl in my age group (Kicking myself for that, but oh well...)

Anyway, I am currently (still) on track for my 1000 mile goal for 2011! I have reached 501 miles! :) There are also about 15 folks from BRC and Meridian that have registered for the Tupelo Marathon/14.2 race in September. Its gonna be fun!!!

SHARE THE ROAD

2011-06-07T00:52:00.002-04:00

Jan Morgan and her husband David are the owners of Boardtown Bikes in Starkville. They are avid adventurers and lover of all things athletic and outdoors. I don't know them personally. I've never met them actually. But I've gotten to know them a lot over the past three weeks. Three weeks ago, Jan was riding her bike and was struck by a car from behind and thrown from the car's hood. She is in critical condition. David is by her side night and day, holding vigil. Like I said, I don't know this couple, but I can feel the love they have for each other through David's daily blog posts about Jan's recovery. Jan's accident has brought the Share the Road movement into the forefront of area running and cycling clubs.

Please read David's posts and be in prayer for her. And SHARE THE ROAD!!!

Running update...

2011-05-27T16:08:00.004-04:00

So far this year, I've achieved two of the four running goals I set for myself. I've set new PR's in both 10K and the Half Marathon. I do plan to run a third half this year (there aren't any nearby until the fall), which will complete the third goal. The fourth goal is the one I'm unsure about. I want to run 1000 miles this year. So far I am on track. I have to maintain at least 84 miles each month to achieve this. I did 100+ in January, 90+ in February, 100+ in March, and 89 in April(I can't remember the exact numbers). This left me with a 55 mile surplus going into May. I felt great about this because I was hurting a good bit when training for the Renaissance Half. I felt like I could relax a little in May if I needed to. Well, I needed more than relaxation. I pretty much needed to stop running all together. I've had injury after injury. Once my shin and knee stopped hurting, my Achilles started hurting. Then I got Plantar Fascitis in my right foot. I feel okay today, but because I have ran only 3 miles this week! For the month of May, I will have 35-40 miles, depending on whether or not I can suffer through the pain and gain a few more over the last few days of the month. This month I'll eat almost all of those surplus miles, which means I won't have room to relax anymore this year unless I can get over all these injuries and gain it back. I haven't totally given up on my goal yet. But I've accepted that fact that it may not happen. (If I'm 10 miles shy on New Year's Eve, I'll definitely be out for a run!)

The next race is the State Games... the cross country race on June 4, and the 5K on June 18.

Alcatraz

2011-05-20T15:07:00.002-04:00

This is a new JJ Abrams drama coming to FOX next year (2012). It looks great! Finally, good stuff on TV again!!

Youtube video

FireWire Review

yummy homemade pizza

2011-05-19T13:28:00.003-04:00

If you enjoy a homemade pizza for lunch (like I do nearly everyday), you must try these flatbreads I found at Wal-mart. They are $2. The perfect size for a small pizza. Very Yummy!!!!

It only takes a spark....

2011-05-16T20:25:00.013-04:00

Then....

And Now!!

This weekend at Camp Meridale was just what I needed. There aren't enough words to describe how much I needed this. It brought me back to what I knew before life got in the way. Simplicity, friendship, compassion, fun. I had forgotten how to have those things in my life. Instead of getting upset because there was no 3G service and I couldn't access my email, I put the phone down and enjoyed nature and the fellowship with old friends I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. I enjoyed the scenery and listening to the other Girl Scouts' stories from their summers spent at Camp Meridale. Stories from the 1940's. Stories from the 1970's. I loved walking through the camp and realizing the "long" walk to the treehouses, really wasn't that long at all. I remember the dinner bell being huge. I remember walking arm-in-arm with fellow campers, shining our flashlights on the path watching for snakes and other critters. I remember the treehouses being really high off the ground. At 10 years old and 4 feet tall, everything seemed larger than life. Now, despite my perspective changing, it was still a magical place. Carla, Brandye and I (girls from my old troop) immediately became best friends again. We walked around the campsites posing for each others pictures and remembering which tents, treehouses and wagons we slept in as kids. We reminisced about campfires, mock suppers, skits and songs, breakfast in the trees and the adventure course. I truly felt like a kid again.

I saw these cups in the cabinet in the old lodge and started remembering how much we used them! These cups were our drinking cups at all our meals. It's little things like this that allow those memories to come back! Carla, Brandye and I wanted to take some home with us!
Troop 16 together again! Mrs. Eloise (back) was our leader. In the middle is LaShundra and Brandye. Sitting is Tabitha, Carla and me.
This is Leslie Lee Priester. She was instrumental in organizing this reunion. She started working with the Girl Scouts in the 80's when I started camping. I remember her and Mrs. Lexie (old B&W photo below) were the camp directors. Ms Leslie Lee lead our campfires and songs this weekend.

Mrs. Lexie Muse passed away earlier this year. She was instrumental in the camp's development during the 70's, 80's and 90's. I remember her always being so strong and held together with a bunch of little girls running around. She lead Grace before meals .She was always involved with the skits and songs we sang. She entertained us with her stories and songs.

During this weekend, we planted a Southern Magnolia tree in her memory. Mrs. Lexie will definitely be missed.

This past weekend at Camp Meridale was amazing! I haven't laughed and cried happy tears this much in a long time. I still get all sentimental, days later. I feel rejuvenated and have a fresh perspective on life.

Since the reunion, I've made many new friends. Together we have come up with the idea of starting a blog to collect all of our camp memories. Here's the link. I added my thoughts already. We hope others who weren't able to make it to the reunion can add to the blog their photos and memories of their fun times in Girl Scouting. I also emailed the current director of the local Girl Scouts about volunteering this summer.

Painting With A Twist

2011-05-09T16:29:00.004-04:00

Mom & I had a blast at Painting With a Twist yesterday. Here's a few pics from our painting class. We started out with a blank canvas with a simple outline of the bird and flowers. We had 6 colors (red, white, blue, yellow, green, black) and three brushes. Julie Lee, the instructor (she has a studio downtown and some of her artwork is at Deli on 5Th) showed us what to do in steps. She helped us blend colors and showed us a few techniques. (She helped me with my bird feathers) It was really fun. I plan to go again soon. Even if I go by myself.

My finished "masterpiece"

Mom's Day with a Twist

2011-05-06T16:29:00.004-04:00

This Sunday is Mommy's Day. I love Mommy's day! It's always fun to surprise Mom with something unique and fun. These last few years have been kinda tough because Mom has everything. She doesn't need anything. A few years ago, I took her to the movies to see the new Star Trek. This year we are going to a painting class. Painting with a Twist has chosen a hummingbird painting for its Mother's Day class. I suggested it actually! Last month, I emailed the local studio and asked about their schedule for May. They responded by asking for suggestions. I said my Mom loves Hummingbirds. When the May schedule came out, I was elated! The perfect Mother's Day! I haven't been to Painting with a Twist yet. A friend invited me to a private party a while back. I wasn't able to go because of work (wish work wasn't always getting in the way!). So it'll be a first for both of us. I'm getting excited about it actually. I'm not much of an artist. But I think I can pull this off. :) We'll see how it turns out. I'm looking forward to spending time with Mom though.

Scouts Honor...

2011-05-05T16:26:00.003-04:00

Next weekend I will be reliving the good ol' days down at Camp Meridale! I cannot wait! When I was a girl scout, I spent several weeks there each summer. It was like a home away from home. I loved every minute I spent there. So much that (being a tomboy and not caring about my appearance) I often went a few days without washing my hair. Washing, drying and fixing my hair took too much time. They were lucky I even bathed! I was having so much fun, I didn't want to miss anything. I also remember once not telling anyone that I had been stung by a wasp (I'm very allergic) because I knew they would call my Mom. Someone noticed how swollen and red my arm was and I ended up leaving camp. I wasn't happy about that at all.

I hope to not have any issues that would cause them to call my parents this time. I think I can be responsible enough now. :) I'm looking forward to seeing the old place again. Eating in the lodge, the flag ceremony, capers and nature trails and the like. My friend Carla is gonna be there too. Her mother Ms. Eloise was our troop leader. We had some good times together. We are both staying in the treehouses again.

I promise I'll wash my hair this time. Scouts Honor.

Thanking God today...

2011-04-28T16:03:00.003-04:00

As I sit at work today, eating my weekly Deli on 5Th Cuban sandwich and Brownie, I break into tears every time ABC news breaks into programming with another death toll update. Yesterday was an emotional day. This picture is of the tornado that ripped through my hometown, taken by Gia Kennedy, someone I don't know, but have been following on Facebook because she lives near the tornado's path and was able to get pictures of it and its aftermath. It came through just south of downtown Enterprise, walking distance from the Elementary and High schools I went to, a mile from my parents house. Thank God they weren't affected. Thank God they weren't home.

I've lived in the south all my life. I've spent many many nights in the family storm shelter praying to God to save our house and our community. For the first time in my 30 years on this earth, I know someone whose home was destroyed. I've seen it on TV so many times that I was immune to it yesterday when we were on the air for almost 7 hours. But when I learned that my friend LaWanda lost everything while I was sitting here yesterday evening wondering what I was gonna have for dinner, I became humbled and eternally grateful that my family was spared once more. LaWanda and her daughter are fine. They escaped the storm without harm. They are grateful to God for their lives.

While LaWanda and Kaitlin are safe, others are not. I've heard horror stories all day today. It's days like today I wish I didn't work in TV. I hear the things we can't broadcast, details no one wants to know. 5 people died in Clarke County yesterday. I didn't know them, but I learned today they are related to friends of mine. It's truly heartbreaking to realize how destructive nature can be, wake up in your own bed after an uneasy nights' sleep and remember that others didn't have a bed to sleep in.

Please remember the Southern states in your prayers. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing in Alabama and other more devastated areas. This event will take a long time to recover from. Many will not recover. We will definitely never forget it.

Week 4 of 5...

2011-04-21T16:33:00.006-04:00

This Saturday's race (however small) will be the 4Th race in 4 weeks... With one more to go... 5 races in 5 weeks. I've never done that before. Maybe there's a reason.
I think my IT band knows the reason.
The Bridge Run was Race #1 of 5, setting a 10K PR and getting under an hour for the 1st time. YEAH!! Then came the Anderson Cup, which I did okay on, placing 4th in my age group. (That hill at the end sucks!). Last Saturday I ran the Lamar 10K, improving my 10K time by 2 1/2 minutes! (55:40) I ran 12 miles on the trails Sunday without much pain. Monday my IT was pretty sore and Tuesday when I tried to run with DeeDee, but it was hurting really bad. Tim made me a homemade foam roller and I've been doing some new stretches. Today I ran an easy 4 with Mindy and it felt stiff but no pain. So we'll hope for a good pain-free race this weekend (Camp Eagle Ridge 5K at Okatibbee) and take it easy next week for the Renaissance Half Marathon in Ridgeland on April 30Th.... Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky, set a new PR, and win a new Honda! :)

Last week, Pete ran the Krispy Kreme 5K . The company hosts these races all over the place. You run to the turnaround point, eat 1 DOZEN donuts (!!!), and then run back! Pete came in the top 10! WOW! I'm more proud of him for not vomiting!

Bridge Run Weekend!!

2011-04-05T16:08:00.022-04:00

Our Charleston venture was awesome and very much needed! As you can see, we rented a nice spacious minivan, a Toyota Sienna, which was the perfect size. Everyone had leg room and enough space to crash once we got on the road at 5am Friday morning...

King & Queen of the middle row...

King of the road... We loved the sunroof!

Once we got settled in the hotel, we drove around the old base. (Ken just couldn't wait). This is the townhouse where Papaw, Mamaw, and the kids lived. Mom remembered what they looked like when she visited us, but Ken knew exactly which building and apartment. They are renumbered and now an apartment complex of questionable safety, but back then these were base housing.

the one on the right.

Mom has a picture of her on this porch as a toddler.

Later we met Pete, Kelly and some friends of there's at Andollini's Pizza on Rivers Avenue. We failed to realize that it was April Fool's Day. We were met with a funny surprise....

Thrift Store Masters!! Pete & Kelly with their friends, Noah and Robin Reed.

Saturday morning, we woke up super early to head to the starting line for the Bridge Run. Pete, Kelly & Josh were a little late, so we weren't able to get a photo of all of us. Josh didn't register for the race, but decided to try to sneak in. He was successful. He walked the race Bandit style....

On the Bus to Mt. P

Waiting to Run...

From my corral, I could see the start line.

Mile 1.5... heading to the bridge

Mile 2.5. On top!

Mile 4.5... turning onto King Street

Pete and I were gonna start together, but he was late. He passed me somewhere on the bridge and then I ended up catching up with him near mile 3. I saw his bright white chicken legs and then NAVY on his sweatshirt and knew that was him... We ran together for a mile or so, then I slowed down and he took off, finishing at 52:14. Noah was right behind him at 53:56. I ended up finishing at 58:02!! My goal was under an hour! It was the first time I ever got under an hour in a 10K. Pete and Noah bought girlie pink running shorts at the expo. They both wore them with NAVY shirts.... When he finished, he said he was pretty cold, among other things...

We hung out on the King Street side of Marion Square to wait for Mom, Kelly, Wes and Josh. I tried to get pictures of all of them, but only got Wes and Josh. Kelly finished in 1:28:38. Mom came running by us like an Olympian! I was so proud of her! She said she jogged off and on during the race and cut off a good bit of her time, finishing at 1:41:20. Josh hung with Wes and they finished in 1:57:21.

My Friend Sandy from high school found me on Facebook and said that her Husband was running the race too. We met up in Marion Square for a quick visit.

After we caught up with everyone, we all walked to the Market for a little while and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change. Part of King Street has pavers and Deb found this one.....

Gullah Sweetgrass Basket maker

Later we came back downtown and walked around the Battery and up East Bay to Rainbow Row and through the neighborhoods to St. Phillips' and St. Michaels' churches.

Rainbow Row

When Ken was a kid, he "took" a cobblestone from one of the streets. There are only a few cobblestone streets left.

Such a beautiful day!

Taking a break behind City Hall.

These folks had the right idea.

Sullivan's Island.

On Saturday night, we went to Gilligan's, a "must eat there" when visiting Charleston.

On Sunday, Wes, myself, Ken, Deb and Josh went to Mt. Pleasant. We had a little while before our Fort Sumter boat left, so we decided to visit the new park that was starting to be built when we left. Mt. Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park. I so wish it was there when we lived there. It's places like this that make me wish we never left!

The memorial for Mt. Pleasant soldiers

scene from out boat ride to Fort Sumter. USS Yorktown on the left.

After Fort Sumter, we went to see the Hunley. The Hunley was the first submarine to sink a ship in the civil war. It was lost at sea for 100+ years. The 8 guys were MIA. The sub was foun din 1995. They wouldn't let us take pictures of the Hunley. Its being kept in a water tank to prevent it from drying out. It's a really interesting story behind it. (Click the link for more info.)

On the way back to Pete & Kelly's for dinner, we passed by the Hump Bar. Mom went nuts... It's not real by the way. There's a duratran in the window.

Cooking out at Pete's apartment... no alligators in site.

Bridge Run Week!

2011-03-30T16:51:00.007-04:00

It's been over a month, I know. I have had trouble finding positive things to talk about these days (aside from running...) I'm following the same half marathon training plan I used for the Oxford half. I signed up for the Renaissance half in Jackson on April 30. Before then, I have the Bridge Run 10K on Saturday, the Anderson Cup 5K next week, and the Lamar Raider run 10K on the 16Th. One of my goals this year was to PR in a 10K. I PR'd at the Winter run in Ridgeland in February (1:00:35). Now I hope to get under an hour! The Winter Run was really flat and VERY COLD! I sped up just to get finished because I couldn't feel my face. :) The Bridge run is mostly flat (except for the bridge of course, which isn't bad) and the Lamar race is pretty flat I'm told.

So we are leaving Friday for Charleston! (CAN'T WAIT!!!) Mom, Wes, myself, Josh, Ken and Deb are heading there for the weekend. We (minus Ken, Deb & Josh) plan to run the bridge run with Pete & Kelly. (It sold out this year BTW).

We recently got new furniture for the living room. We sold our old red sofa and yellow chair on Craig's List. Wes bought them long before we ever met. Our new stuff has a somewhat leather look to it. I think its called durablend or something. I like it. We got new pillows too. The ones in the picture are the old ones. Notice Wes' latest finished project. We got these stumps from a guy on Wadmalaw Island (SC) after a tornado came through. The island was hit pretty hard. We had seen some similar side table stumps at a hotel years ago and loved them. A few days after the tornado came through, we used our press id's to get through the police checkpoint (they closed the island to non-residents) and drove around looking for already cut trees. We found a guy who had several in his front yard. Wes explained what he was planning to do and asked if he could take some of the stumps. (We got the guys' address and I plan to send him a photo and thank him again.) We got five. They sat in the dining room of our apartment in Charleston until we moved (Probably 6 months or so). For the past 2 years, they have sat in the shed with a fan blowing at them to dry them out. A few months ago, Wes took them down to Dad's shop and spent three or four days sanding away. Now they are our "coffee table." There's another one next to the recliner. Yes, they are super heavy, but cool.

Run For Hope Half Marathon

2011-02-26T20:53:00.004-05:00

Ran my first half marathon of the year today. The Run for Hope Half Marathon in Oxford. There was a 5K as well that Mom walked. The race benefited Camp Hopewell, a camp run by the Presbyterian Church. It was pretty chilly when we got to Oxford yesterday. We weren't expecting the temperature to drop so much. I was wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt. I didn't bring any tights to run in, so we made a stop at Walmart.
We went to the Oxford Convention Center and picked up our number and packet. The numbers were made of plastic which was pretty cool. They also were using D-tags, which I was pleasantly surprised about. The race volunteers were super nice and helpful.
The morning of the race, we were able to get a snack before the races started. We lined up and waited a few minutes. Then we just started running. There wasn't a gunshot or anything. There were volunteers at every mile calling out split times (even mile 13, within eyesight of the finish) which was great! The course was pretty hilly. I was not expecting hills. They weren't terrible, but there were a few that were pretty tough. I charged down the hills, but ended up paying for it later. I ended up hitting the 10K mark UNDER an hour for the first time ever! 58:19! I was pretty excited about that! There were lots of water and Gatorade stations. They had Grape flavored Gatorade, which is my favorite. Miles 6-9 took us through the Ole Miss Campus. I'd never been to Oxford before (yeah, I know). Mile 11 took us through the downtown square. It was nice to run through the campus and downtown squares and streets. Around mile 12, there was a REALLY steep hill...that we ran down! (Thank God!) I heard a few people saying that downhill was a bit too steep and could have caused people to fall and it should have been avoided. It was hard to run down it I have to admit. The race started and finished at the Convention Center. They had plenty of snacks, drinks, pizza and other catered foods there. Mom won a door prize. She got a $100 gift card to Kroger. Too bad there's no Kroger in Meridian... We did use it to get gas before we left town (costing $41!)
I really like Oxford. It seems a lot bigger than it is. This weekend there were several tournaments and college games going on. When Mom and I went back downtown for lunch, the square was packed with people. Overall it was a great race with great weather to go along, regardless of me not bringing tights....

First race of the year....

2011-02-06T20:59:00.003-05:00

Went to the Bob Coleman Winter Run 10K on the Natchez Trace this weekend. Good times. It was super cold at 28 degrees! I had a thick under armour shirt and a jacket on under my BRC shirt. I was running mainly to finish and get warm! I ended up setting a new PR. That under an hour still eludes me though. I hope to get there this year. I have two more 10K's planned. (Lamar 10K and the Bridge Run!)

Friday: Donation Day

2011-01-22T14:54:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, I got up and went for my last shot. I was really tired. I had planned to run after but when I got home, I had absolutely no energy. I laid on the couch til Wes got up. That electrical current feeling started a lot earlier than the three previous days. I felt it nearly all day. We headed to Jackson around 2pm. Checked in the hotel and then went to eat dinner. I was tired and achy all over from the shots. The shots pulled the bone marrow cells from my bones into my blood stream. This caused me to have bad headaches and bone pain. It was tolerable, but after four days with it increasing each day, it was unpleasant. I just kept telling myself that there was a reason for it. The thought that I am saving someone Else's life made the pain bearable.

On Friday morning, we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel and headed for the hospital. I had to have blood drawn first (The first of 10 needle sticks! 19 needle sticks in 5 days!!) Then we headed to the Aspheresis Unit of the hospital. I got situated and they started hooking me up... My left arm was going to be the return, where the blood was going to return back to me after it's filtered. The nurse stuck me and my vein started fluttering. That was a weird feeling. When it stabilized, they went to stick me in my right arm. They first vein collapsed. The second one started rolling. Turns out that the veins in my arms were not big or strong enough to handle the pressure of pulling the blood from them. (When you give blood, the blood flows out naturally. The machine was going to pull the blood out and push it back in). So I had to have a Central Line. The central line is a catheter that goes in a major vein. There's a balloon on the end that supports the wall of the vein. The Catheter was about a foot long. On the end that sticks out are two IV lines, one for extraction, and one for return. (This link is a similar photo of a central line in someones chest. Mine was in my hip). They took me (well, I walked) to "interventional Radiology." I was rushed back to a surgery room (My marrow had a plane to catch) and they numbed my hip and covered me all up like they were about to cut me open. It was strange and fascinating at the same time. The nurse (Stacy) was super nice and explained what they were all doing. They offered anesthesia, but I didn't need it. I was watching the guy dig into my hip with all these wires and things. I never felt any pain, just a little pressure. When he was all done, my hip was orange (sterile zone) and I had this thing hanging out of me. (I felt like an alien).

Now we are ready for the big show. I went back up to the Aspheresis Unit and within minutes I was hooked up and ready. I was actually relieved that I needed a Central line because I had free use of my arms. I would have not been able to move my arms for 3-5 hours with the needles in my arms. And when we started, they told Wes that he couldn't sit with me because there were other patients in the room (there were 4 other beds in the room). Having use of my arms made it much better without him there. I set up my DVD player and watched a movie and used my phone. Here's a picture of my "stuff" starting to fill the bag...

Wes came in and out a few times. He stayed in the waiting area most of the time though. It was a really nice room with big sofas and a TV. He said he fell asleep some. Mom came in right after I got hooked up. She was working a few floors down from where I was.
So I watched my movie and then played with my phone for a little while. Around 3pm, the nurses said I was done. The bag wasn't very full, but they said that was all they needed. I learned that the recipient will adopt my blood type after the transplant. Here's a picture of it ready to go in the cooler. Kind a looks like V8 juice, doesn't it.

the cooler.

I couldn't see it after that point because they were putting the labels on everything. The labels had the recipient's name on it. So this whole time, all these nurses and the Donor Center people knew who it was going to. His name and info was sitting on the counter a few feet away. There was someone waiting at the hospital to take it away. They had a 3:30 flight originally, but because I needed the Central line, they moved the flight to a little later. They had this chain of custody stuff they had to follow. Mattie (the donor center recruiter) took the cooler to the person waiting to get on the plane. Then that person flew to wherever and handed it off to someone else. There was a 48 hour window in between me donating and the recipient getting the transplant.

After they were finished extracting the marrow, they unhooked me from the machine and got a doctor to remove the central line. Wes was in there at this point. There were no other patients there. He got to see the line being pulled out. (I don't think he liked it). Once they bandaged up where the line was, I was good to go.

So that's it.

Throughout this whole process, people have said to me "That's great that you're doing that....I couldn't do it," or "I wouldn't do it," or "I hate hospitals/needles/etc." Well, yeah, I don't like getting stuck either and I'm not fond of hospitals, but I never thought about not doing it. I never considered backing out or saying no. I guess if you're never given the opportunity, you can't say how you would respond. So to all those people who said you wouldn't, I think your opinion would change if it were given a chance. I mean, if you were physically able to help someone else and there was no threat to your own life, Why would you say no? If fear is the only reason, you are being selfish. Fear can easily be overcome.

Today is Saturday. The recipient likely received the transplant today and I pray he is on the road to recovery. I hope to be able to meet him someday. It's weird for me to hear all the praise people have said to me about this. One of the doctors said I was a hero. I don't feel like I have done anything monumental, even though I know I have. Maybe when I get to meet the recipient I'll feel differently. I just feel honored to be given the opportunity. Like I said before, I never gave it a second thought. I know I had the choice to say no, but saying no meant possibly costing someone Else's life. That would have been worse for me to have to think about for the rest of my life.

Would I do it again?

Definitely.

Marrow Donation Shot #3

2011-01-19T14:22:00.003-05:00

Went for Shot #3 this morning. Starting to feel tired. I think it's from waking up at 7:30 every morning. For the past two days, the side effects have been hitting me around 4pm. Yesterday it was bone pain. I felt like there was an electric current flowing through my legs and hips. It wasn't horrible, but definitely uncomfortable. I've been sleeping on the heating pad and when I wake up, I feel refreshed and pain-free. I plan to take advantage of that. Yesterday I did 45 min. on the Bike trainer. Today I ran 5 miles. Tomorrow I plan to run at 7 or more. I'm gonna miss one run on Friday and possibly miss the long run this weekend. We'll see.
I'm still feeling good about doing this. I've had a few people tell me I'm nuts. In my eyes, the pain is temporary and totally tolerable when I know that the endgame is saving someone else's life.

Tomorrow we go to Jackson.

Marrow Donation Shot #2

2011-01-18T17:15:00.002-05:00

So last night I started hurting. Around 4:45pm, my lower back started killing me. I called Mattie, the donor recruiter. She told me to take Tylenol. It's helping. Kind of. This morning I went for Shot #2. Had to wait for a while. I felt a little tired and sluggish so I decided to fore go my run and get on the bike trainer instead. It was about to rain too (it never did). I had very little energy, but I got through 45 minutes on the bike. Not long after, I started to ache all over. (It's 430pm) I'm still achy. My bones hurt.

Marrow Donation Shot #1

2011-01-17T14:07:00.002-05:00

Today I had my first Shot of Filgrastim for Friday's Bone Marrow Donation. I was pretty nervous about it because the list of side effects included nausea, vomiting, etc. I had to go to the Anderson Cancer Center for the shot. I went into the chemo room. That was a little weird. I had to sit in there for a half hour to make sure I didn't have a reaction to it. I felt fine. I came home and got ready to run! I got Wes to ride alongside me just in case I had issues. No problems.

UPDATES

2011-01-04T15:43:00.005-05:00

Changed my running log up a little bit. Trying to make it look a little better. I've been neglecting this blog over the last month. I'm pretty sure I'll be continuing that. It happens. As technology changes, popularity changes also. Blogger needs to update it's photo uploading. It's pretty irritating to have to load 5 pictures at a time and then rearrange them because they are all out of order. It also adds a line of empty space for every picture loaded (For example: the 15th picture I load also loads 15 lines in between, etc... The 40th picture also loads 40 empty lines.) It takes more time to delete lines and format than it does to type or just give up and load them on facebook.

Anyway, not much going on right now. Our second trip to NY was awesome! We took lots of pictures (stupid blogger). Most of them are on Facebook. Mom loved it! She was bug-eyed the whole trip. I think she was nervous the first night when we walked around at midnight. Wes flew up and stayed with us the last two nights. He went to the Statue of Liberty while I was running the marathon, so on the Saturday that we were there, he slept in and Mom & I went together. We got to see the Rockettes, Wicked, and spent nearly every night at the Rockefeller tree. The Waldorf hotel was amazing! And the limo tour was great! I totally recommend it! Had the Best pizza in the world at John's Pizzeria at Times Square! Here's a picture of us at the tree.

Wes graduated from MSU last month! YEAH!!! Now we're job hunting. Anyone have any ideas or leads?? He has a degree in Business Administration/Accounting. He's pretty much willing to do anything and go anywhere. We're hoping he has something within two months. That'd be nice. Here's a picture from Graduation.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! We sure did. We enjoyed spending time with family and friends all over Mississippi.
On January 21st, I will be donating bone marrow to a stranger. (Refer to previous post) I have to go to Jackson. The Donor Registry will put us up in a hotel and buy our meal the night before.

Please pray that all goes well for Wes' job hunt and whatever comes with it.

2010 stats

2011-01-04T14:57:00.003-05:00

Running miles:
877 (would have been 1000+ had I not had so many injuries)

Biking miles:
349 (includes riding to work)

Races: 17

1st place (age group) finishes: 2
2nd place finishes: 3
3rd place finishes: 2

New PR's: 4 (5K, 10K, Half marathon, Marathon)

____________
2011 GOALS:

-Set a new PR for 10K and Half marathon
-Run at least three half marathons
-reach 1000 miles

Donation

2010-12-15T16:27:00.003-05:00

So I was planning on running the Frostbite Half Marathon next month, but I won't be able to, it turns out. Thats fine though. I think helping another person is more important.
While Wes and I lived in Charleston, we signed up for the National Marrow Donor Registry. They are responsible for finding matches for people in need of a bone marrow transplant. This was several years ago. We had forgotten about it. A few months ago, I got a phone call early in the morning (9am is early for me okay!) saying that I had been matched to a person with Leukemia in need of a transplant. Of course I said yes. How can you say no to someone who has cancer. Well, I've had to have blood drawn twice, filled out a bunch of paperwork and had a physical and now I'm set to donate bone marrow cells in mid-January. Kind of excited about it, and nervous as well.
Since I have a bulging disc, I can't have the normal extraction procedure (they insert a big needle into my hip bone and extract marrow directly from the bone.) I'm giving Periphiral blood stem cells which is the same thing, but a different way of extraction. I have to take a shot everyday for 5 days. This shot "pulls" marrow out of my bones and into my bloodstream. On day 5, I have to be hooked up to an apheresis machine that looks like a dialysis machine, except it pulls blood from one arm and extracts the marrow cells, then returns the blood to the other arm. Here's a link to more info.

Marathon pictures from Brightroom (Official photographer)

2010-12-09T16:14:00.006-05:00

These aren't in exact order. These first two are from the runner's village before my group lined up to start (The bridge in the background is where we started.) I took my sweatshirt off for the picture, but it was freezing and I still had over an hour to wait. I waited to the last minute to take it off again. (Threw it and my pants in the donation piles)

Not sure where this is... I'm on the left

40K mark inside Central Park (A Marathon is just over 42K's)

Mile 13. I'm walking here because my knee was really hurting... (just in front of the clock behind yellow shirt guy)

Got my knee taped up at mile 9. Here's the evidence.

I wasn't vomitted on, but looks like I may have come close! Hope you feel better Andy. :)

Finish. I came right through the middle. Figured that'd be the best place.

I was right! Perfect picture! (My favorite one!)

Random aerial shots. I ran on the bottom of the Varazano. (This is at the start)

Varazanno-Narrows Bridge (Connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn)

Fire Department had their boats out and at the start of the first wave (I was in wave 3 so I didn't get to see it), they sprayed red, white and blue water.

New blog I've been reading...

2010-11-22T17:02:00.003-05:00

I still read the FireWire every couple of days. (Yes, I'm still here Larry)

I found this one today that reminds me a lot of a more obsessed me.

Run for Hope 5K

2010-11-14T18:35:00.002-05:00

BRC was very visible this weekend at the Run for Hope 5K! I wasn't expecting to do well at all because the marathon was just 6 days prior. But I ended up setting a new PR (personal record) in the 5K! 27:18! I was super suprised! My hip was hurting a little, but I ran through it. I ended up getting 1st in my age group! First time I've ever gotten first outright. (Strawberry 5K in Marion, I was first in 30-39 yo, but everyone in front of me went to far so I dont consider it legitimate). Wes walked the 2 mile course and got 2nd in his age group as well!! We all went home with little horses. Anyway, here's a few pictures.

Official NY marathon Photographer site....

2010-11-13T00:48:00.003-05:00

Brightroom

Search by name or bib number...

60128 - me
7127 - Edison Pena (Chile miner)
57459 - Jared Fogle (subway)
59987 - Al Roker
59984 - Meredith Veira

Look up someone elses' name/number here

Marathon stats

2010-11-12T22:04:00.000-05:00

ING NYC Marathon 2010 News
Stats from this year's Marathon.....

The ING New York City Marathon generates some impressive statistics! Here are a few to wow you:
45,350 starters—that’s more than in any marathon in history, anywhere
44,829 finishers—also an all-time marathon record, and 1,169 more finishers than in 2009!
1.46 million running times recorded, another record
3,430 Italian finishers, the most from any country outside of the USA
3,014 French finishers, the second-most after the Italians
111 countries represented (as well as all 50 states in the USA)
50 states (plus DC) represented
12,797 finishers from the tri-state area
More than 15,000 participants in the Continental Airlines International Friendship Run on Saturday, November 6
Oldest female finisher: Joy Johnson, 83, 8:04:59
Oldest male finisher: Sheldon Zinn, 87, 8:08:41

MARATHON SUNDAY!!!! (day3)

2010-11-12T16:29:00.020-05:00

map of the course

We got up around 6:15 and I started the process of suiting up…

It was really chilly and windy at Fort Wadsworth, so I wore an old sweatshirt and pants over my running clothes that I ended up adding to the donation pile at the start of the race (the donation pile was more of a mountain! People were tossing everything from hats, pants, I even saw North Face jackets!) We had to take the subway from our hotel to the ferry terminal (Staten Island Ferry) which is on the southern tip of Manhattan, at the financial district.

This is where Wes left me. He headed for the ferry that goes to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. (This is where he spent his time while I was running.)
Getting on the ferry gave me the feeling of a herd of cattle being lead to their doom…. But the ride was great. It made me miss Charleston.

Once off the ferry, we were “herded” onto buses that took us to runners village in Fort Wadsworth. This guy was in front of me in line for the buses. I ended up seeing many kilted men...

entrance to the village

The runners village was divided into three waves (mass starts), Blue, Orange, and Green. I was in the green wave, closest to the bridge and the last to run. While walking to the green village (which took a while), the police created a barrier right in front of me and then opened a fence nearby. Out came the elite runners. That was cool. I got to see last year’s winner and Haile (the world record holder).

walk to the green wave (and porta john alley)

The elites

After I turned in my bag and figured out where I was supposed to go, I headed for the bathroom line. While waiting (and graciously accepting extra TP from the girl in front of me) the cannon went off and a few seconds later, the first wave of runners started the race. We could see them from under the bridge. Before I headed for the corales, I called Wes, left a message for Gracie on Becky’s phone and called Laura. (Last year, Laura prayed with me before the race. This time I called her and we prayed together again.)

Runners on both top and bottom. I will start on the bottom. bathroom lines

My start time was 10:40. I headed to the corrals (see why I felt like cattle?) and nudged my way into the start area. I befriended a girl from Toronto and we took each other’s picture at the start. Hers turned out better than mine because the start banner was behind her. We were packed like sardines so I couldn’t easily swap places with her. I found a cool Dunkin Donuts hat in the piles of clothing and traded it for my boring gray toboggan.
We started without a bang. Well, there was a bang from the cannon, but we stood still for another five minutes before we actually started running. We just kinda started walking and then came upon the start. Not much hoopla. That’s expected in such a big race though… Here’s pics from the course…

Water stop. After hours of runners trotting through, these thousands of cups will turn into gray slush, much like black ice on a snowy, busy road. This is evident by a picture we took after the race of the back of my legs...

The guy who passed me juggling! (BLACK SHIRT)

A Girl I passed with a CFF shirt on. I also passed a guy running whose shirt said "Double lung transplant recipient. CF survivor."

Bridge heading into Queens

Empire State & Chrysler building

Bridge heading into Manhattan (first time) Mile 15

Polland Spring water station. Mile 18

mile 19

Bridge going into the Bronx

Bagpipers

I saw this sign about three times. I think this is the same girl too.

Entering Central Park. Mile 23

Around this time, mom and wes both called me and said that Jared Fogle was right in front of me. I picked it up and caught up with him! (Sorry for the blurriness)

my reaction to passing Jared.....

last mile

finish line ahead. Pete called me right here. I was actually talking to him as I finished! Pretty cool.

I did it! Finally!

the herding continues....

It took forever it felt like to get out of Central Park. They herded us through the baggage pick up area and then out of the park. I met Wes a few blocks away and we headed back to the hotel. His feet were hurting too, so we decided to go ahead and get dinner on the way. (It was almost 5pm by then) We got burritos from a Chipotle near the hotel. The subway was so crowded!!

water/gatorade/paper cup slush on my legs (along with evidence of my aid station tape from mile 9)

That night, the Empire State Building was lit up with the marathong colors.

I’ll post pictures from when Wes met me around mile 20 in a different post. (Blogger makes is difficult to edit pictures)

The next day... it was sleeting.

New York! New York! Day 2

2010-11-11T17:11:00.012-05:00

So our intentions on Friday were to turn in early and wake up early Saturday, but it didn’t happen. We didn’t get to bed till 1am. So we ended up sleeping till 10:30 and didn’t get out of the hotel till near lunchtime. We ventured out for lunch and ended up eating at roadside carts. I had nuts and Wes had a hot dog. After eating, we decided to go to Rockefeller Center. Radio City music hall is nearby, as is St. Patrick’s church, which with our luck, was under renovation (EVERY big cathedral, castle and historical building we've visited has been under renovation while we are there. Never fails!)

Where the Christmas Tree Goes.

While we were there, they cleared the ice rink and the "Zamboni" came out to smooth the ice. It's not a real Zamboni.

Rockefeller Plaza. Mom and I are going to the top next month..

The Atlas statueSt. Patricks' Cathedral with its restoration scaffolding around it.

We were both pretty tired still and our feet were hurting, so we headed back to the hotel and sat around for a few hours. Tyler (Wes’ cousin)was at West Point for a football game. He and a friend came into town later that night and we met up with them at Grand Central Station.

Deserted train platform...

Here comes a train...

And the mob.....

Tyler and his friend wanted to see a show, so we walked with them back to Times Square for tickets, then we headed back towards the hotel and found another hole-in-the-wall diner for dinner/pre marathon carb-loading food. We found the Olympic Diner. We both got Spaghetti (wes had meatballs, I had meat sauce). It was wonderful! Very tasty as you can tell! After we ate, we took the subway (kinda got lost) back to the hotel and crashed. Had to get up early to catch the ferry to Fort Wadsworth. My ferry time was 8:15, but according to the website, that was the last ferry departure, so I wanted to make sure I got there in time….. (Turned out, they weren’t checking your time. I could have gotten there at 5am and got on.) yummmmmm!!

more random pics..... the subway was fascinating to me...

New York! New York! (Day 1)

2010-11-10T17:36:00.024-05:00

What a fun trip! I never thought I would actually like New York. The city-life I mean. I always pictured NY as a uber-busy, dirty, unsafe city. Muggings, no personal space, homeless and beggars on the streets, rude pushy "yankee" people, etc. I was wrong (or at least we chose the right part of town to stay in!) It was pretty busy and a little dirty (not nearly as dirty as New Orleans I must say). I never felt unsafe, even the morning I ventured out alone. With the help of an iPhone ap, we were able to pretty easily navigate the transit system. I've been to big cities before (Chicago, Munich & Rome are the only slightly comparable ones, although Rome is not necessarily modern), but nothing like this. It's hard to picture millions living in such a small area. Wiki says Manhattan has more then 70,000 people per square mile!

Anyway, we managed to make our flights and got there around noon. We took the airtrain from JFK to Manhattan and got on the subway to get to our hotel. It was a cool Brownstone (I guess it qualifies) with 8 floors of rooms, some with bathrooms, some without. We're broke, so we didn't spring for a private bathroom. The room was really small, but had everything we needed, including a nice view of the Empire State Building.

After we got settled in, we headed to find food on our way to the Expo. The Expo was on the west side of Manhattan, about a 20 minute walk from our Hotel. On the way we passed the Empire State Building, Macy's (which was partially decorated for Christmas), and a bunch of other stuff that probably has more historical significance than we realized.

The Empire State Building

Macy's took up a whole block.

After eating lunch at Five Guys, we headed for the Expo which was in the Jacob Javitz Convention Center. The Expo was held for three days. We were there on the second day.

We had to find the right place to get my bib number. It was pretty easy actually. I expected to be waiting in line forever. They had a counter for every 1000 runner numbers, which meant they had 65 counters! Once I found the right one, I walked right up to the lady and got my number in minutes.

The t-shirt/goody bag line was a little longer. It was divided up into shirt sizes. Once we had everything, we started exploring the expo... We didn't take that many pictures inside because it was pretty dark.

Gatorade's exhibit.

We headed back to the hotel to drop off my expo stuff and headed for the Empire State Building. It would dark by the time we got there, so we got to see the city lights from the top.

Saw this sign, had to take a picture!

First time I've ever seen a multi level car park like this... Wonder how long it takes to get those cars down off the top...
We ended up eating dinner at this little diner called the Skylight Diner (It had skylights in the ceiling. Go figure.) We didn’t want to eat at any of these expensive places where “everybody” (everybody meaning tourists) goes to eat. (BTW there was a “Bubba Gump” restaurant in Times Square). We wanted to eat where the locals eat.

From the top of the Empire State Building

old school mail shoots inside the Empire State.

You can tell where Times Square is by the bright area between the buildings.

It was mighty windy and cold up there!!

lobby

From the top, we could see how close we were to Times Square. We didn't realize how close it was. We were pretty tired, but wanted to go anyway..... Portions of the streets were turned into pedestrian areas which had tables and benches to sit on. We went at 10pm and it was as bright as daylight.

After Times Square, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. Here's some random picks from the subway I thought were cool....
Please "dip" your card??

more to come...

New ALIAS discovery

2010-10-31T16:10:00.003-04:00

((Nerd post))

Today we were watching the CBS sunday morning show and there was a story about Harry Houdini. Houdini died on Halloween. His real name: ERIC WEISS. Gregg Grunberg's characters name on ALIAS was ERIC WEISS. He was always trying to impress the girls with magic tricks. He even elluded to Houdini being an ancestor in one episode.
:)
Learn something new everyday!

Team CoCo blimp in Meridian

2010-10-30T02:15:00.002-04:00

Conan's promotional blimp made a stop in Meridian this evening for an overnight stay. Tonight, we went to the airport and took some pictures. Conan's new show on TBS starts next week.

As the Deer panteth for the water....

2010-10-12T23:59:00.007-04:00

This is one of my favorite hymns from my childhood years... It means a lot more to me now. You see, being in Papaw's house, a lot of things become nostalgic. It took me a while to get used to the idea of sleeping in Papaw's room and things like that. Now that Wes is graduating soon and we could possibly be leaving soon, these things are becoming more sentimental. Knowing that after we move out, this house will most likely be put on the market and will no longer be in the family is a little disheartening. But I know it's just a house. The memories will still be in the minds of those who lived and loved here.

Deer have often walked through the front yard across the driveway, to the other side of the road and across the yard of the neighbors house to another wooded area nearby. This happens often. Papaw loved seeing the deer walk by, and almost every day. I've seen them numerous times myself. At first it didn't mean much to me. But when Papaw died, the day after he was buried, Wes and I were home and two deer were in the front yard. They usually walk through within a minute or two. This time, they were standing in the yard. For close to five minutes, Wes and I watched as they nibbled on the grass and watched us as well as the dogs in the neighbors yards. It seemed like they stared at us through the window. I started crying. I was emotional from the events of the days before. I felt in my heart that those two deer showed me that Papaw and Mamaw were looking in on me, checking on me and letting me know that they were ok and they wanted to make sure I was going to be ok. I slept well that night.

I see deer often while running in the early morning at Bonita. I love this. When I see them, I immediately stop running and watch them. I thank God for sending them to watch over me. They are a reminder that Mamaw, Papaw and many others are in Heaven watching over us. The deer often show up when I'm alone and in the woods or back out of the lighted areas. And several times they've come out of the trees at the right time, when I feel a bit nervous.

On Monday, Mrs. Virginia passed away. She was 91. She was ready to go. At the visitation, there were lots of people who came through talking about how wonderful of a person she was. I felt blessed to have known her for as long as I did. From the beginning of her relationship with Papaw, Mrs. V never intended to replace Mamaw. And of course, she never did. She never intended for anyone to feel that that was her intention. She loved and cared for Papaw. They were sweet together. Their years together made Papaw happy. We truly believe Papaw wouldn't have lived as long as he did without her companionship. She was by his side when he passed away. Mom, Ken and I were there. We believe Papaw waited for her to get there that morning. She claimed us as her family. She was always smiling, cheerful and witty.

On Tuesday morning, the morning of the visitation, I was biking on the trainer. I intended to run that morning, but I didn't sleep well. While riding, two does walked through the front yard and stood there. Looking around. Looking at me. Two does. On Wednesday, I was running the trails at Bonita and THREE deer crossed the path.

They were beautiful.

He-He.....

2010-10-10T18:02:00.003-04:00

Ran 15 today!!! :) Very little pain! The insole worked great. My foot was a little snug in the shoe and it ached a little bit, but the pain was minimal. It was about a 1.5 on a 10 point scale. Very tolerable. Since the run, other than stiffness and a little soreness, still no pain.

:)

Less than a month!!

2010-10-09T02:37:00.003-04:00

And I haven't run in almost a week!! Freaking out!!!!! It's been a bit of a traumatic week for me. After Sunday's 20 miler, my foot was hurting as expected. What wasn't expected was the pain not going away. I skipped out on Tuesday's run and rode 17 miles on the bike that morning. (There's only so many times you can circle the mall before losing your mind). I set out again on Wednesday because it was still sore. On Thursday morning, I got up, got dressed, put the bike on the rack (just in case it started hurting), but I never made it out of the driveway. It was hurting. I ran down the driveway and down the dead end road. I was crying. It wasn't hurting bad, it just never stopped hurting. I came back in the house, laid down, and balled my eyes out. This can't be happening! I was furious, fed-up, frustrated, and exhausted from telling myself it's just a sprain. An overuse injury. It'll get better. Well, it still hurts. I've tried three different insoles (although one seems to be beneficial), ice (my toes are turning purple), and a pain relieving cream from a pharmacy friend, nothing seems to be working. After several tearful phone calls and a wonderful mom with connections, I'm going to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday. The doc mom knows is a triathlete. This helps because he knows the pain tolerance marathoners and triathletes will go through to finish a race. He won't be a jerk and just say stay off it without any care. He'll be sympathetic.

So, I've been on the bike all this week. My rear end hurts... I don't know what's worse, arse pain or foot pain.... :) Sorry. Anyway, Tim let me borrow his stationery bike for a while. All I've been using is my bike on a trainer. I don't have a speedometer thing to tell how far I've gone. I've just been watching the time. The stationery provides more resistance and tells me distance. (I'm almost done with season 3 of Alias. I watch it while riding when Wes isn't around.) Although it's helping me maintain leg turnover and fitness, it's very dissatisfying. But I'll do whatever I have to do to make it to NY.

Tonight after my ride, I was looking at my feet. Feeling the area where the pain is. I realized that the bones of the pinkie toe on my left foot are radically different than the right. It feels like the bone makes a 90 degree angle up, then straight. It seems to me (I'm famous for self-diagnosing) that the way my foot hits the ground is causing the pain. I can walk slowly and avoid it. If I adjust my stride, it doesn't hurt. ((I just can't maintain that adjustment while running long distances). I don't know if this is the reason, but it makes since. I know that I have a metatarsal fracture between the 2nd & 3rd toes. That's what started this whole thing. But my compensating for that pain and the way its healed may have somehow changed the "structure" of my foot and how it lands when I walk. I don't know if this is the cause or if I'm being effected by the "Trumans" toes again. (Grandmother has bad feet. She's had several toes amputated. I hope it doesn't come to that.) I guess we'll see what the doc says this next week. I don't know if I can stand to go another week without running. If I can position that insole in a good place, I'm gone!!!

Please pray for my foot....

2010-09-24T15:47:00.003-04:00

It's really hurting. I'm worried. I'm doing pretty good with keeping the anxiety at bay, but that's only because I haven't missed a long run... yet. If it's not better by tomorrow, I'm gonna miss one on Sunday. I'm not happy about this. It's very disheartening. I decided to get the boot out of the laundry room last night. I'm wearing it today. I'm not doing a whole lot today. I'm trying to avoid the questions. I don't want to explain why 50 times today. I know that will just bring on the depression and anxiety.
It's possibly a metatarsal fracture. I know. (I tend to think the worst). It won't show up on a x-ray for a while, so there's no sense in wasting money on one. It seems to get worse with every run. Thursday morning's 10 miles wasn't pleasant, but I was able to get through it. The pain afterwards was pretty bad. I plan to continue training on the bike if I can't run, but I still hate it. I haven't run anything longer than 17 and I'm still 6 weeks away. I have to be able to run at least two or three more long runs before the marathon. I know I have to stay off of it, but my brain is fast-forwarding to an image of me limping or crawling to the finish line. (Which is fine, as long as I finish.)

Please pray that my foot heals. FAST.

Maybe this is a lesson for me. Maybe my bad feet genes are finally catching up with me. I think God is teaching me to be less prideful. It's working.

Gracie T-Shirts!!!

2010-09-16T01:20:00.003-04:00

Team Gracie T-shirts are now available! $15 each!! All proceeds go to Benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in honor of Gracie. To order one, email me (standbyone1@yahoo.com), message me on Facebook or comment back to this post with your size, address and phone number. To donate without purchasing a t-shirt, go to www.cff.org/GiftReg/EvelynWatkins

Tupelo 14.2 Miler... AWESOME!

2010-09-05T19:26:00.005-04:00

This was a GREAT race! It was the first overnight CHILL! The temps were in the high 50's at the start. It started at 5am too, so it was really dark. A lot of runners had headlamps or were carrying flashlights. I didn't have one, but it was good that others did because it was easy to follow the course because I could see the lights bouncing in front of me. The race was pretty small (only about 650 runners) and there were no sponsors. I was unsure about this at first, worried there would be course issues and not enough volunteers or water stations. But it worked out perfectly. The weather was great. I maintained a 9:30 pace throughout the whole race. I talked to this guy who was wearing a New York Marathon jacket. I talked to him about the race and got some advice. I ended up finishing at 2:18:06. Mike Tvar finished at 2:10. At the half marathon mark (13.1), I PR'd at well!! I'm not sure the exact time but it's around 2:08. That's 12 minutes better than last time!! My overall time was better than my old half marathon time! Oh yeah.... I finished 47th in the female division!! :)
Here's some pictures.....

Trying to stay warm...

finish line

Week 7 - 68 days to go...

2010-08-30T13:24:00.004-04:00

So far so good in training for NY. It's been a little rocky. My calf is still hurting. The knee problem I had a few weeks ago is a result of me handicapping myself because of my calf. I think anyway. My calf is tolerable. I think it needs a little more R&R than I've been giving it. Last weekend, we all ran the Run for the Fallen 5K and then attempted to run 10 more miles in Stonewall and Enterprise. It was way to hot! The race didn't start until 8:30. This put us starting our 10 mile run at almost 10am. It was already 90 degrees! We made it 6 miles, totaling 9 for the day. The heat drained us! We did four miles without a problem, but then it hit us fast! I drank all my water and powerade and we hobbled home. It was terrible! I came home and crashed. We really needed to cut the grass, so Wes got out there and started it. It was still really HOT! I was feeling better, but I felt bad for him, so I went and helped as much as I could. When he finally finished, he was on the verge of a heatstroke. So needless to say, we were both pooped! We didn't go to church last Sunday.
This past Saturday, I ran 12 without a problem. My calf didn't even hurt. (It's sore after this mornings run though.) The weather finally changed last week! I ran today at 9am. This time last month, it was 95 degrees by 9am! I'm positive that the rest of training will be much more pleasant!

This Sunday is the Tupelo Half Marathon! Well, its actually a 14.2 mile race. Not sure why. I have to do 14 this weekend, so it works perfectly! One of my running buddies will be there too.

Week 2

2010-07-31T19:52:00.003-04:00

This week was rough. Monday & Tuesday's runs were great. Got on the bike on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, I kept having weird stress dreams and woke up every half hour or so. Last Friday, I broke my crown. I had a new temporary put on it. It's been aching all week. This didn't help. So I missed Thursday's run. I got on the bike for an hour though. Today, I met up with 13 other folks and we ran 10 miles through town. I was amazed at the turnout! We stuck together for about 4 miles, then started splitting up. Anyway, it was a great redemption to a rough week.

Marathon Training!! Week 1

2010-07-23T01:03:00.003-04:00

I've been neglecting this blog lately.... Running out of things to talk about. Maybe it's just that I have nothing I feel that's worth talking about. I don't like my job. I'm in a rut. It happens.

Anyway, Marathon training has officially started... I've been fighting off a calf strain. Nothing bad. The shin splints were a lot worse last year. Hopefully it'll get better. First long run this weekend. It's only 7 miles. Thomas is running with me. Here's the schedule I made.

Independence Day Road Trip

2010-07-04T23:20:00.013-04:00

We had no plans for this weekend, while everyone else was cooking out and traveling and all that. Mom went to Arkansas and Dad left for his mission trip. Pete & Kelly are in Charleston with friends. (BTW, Pete is back for some R&R. He'll head back to Afghanistan on July 15. Once he returns, he'll only have three months left.) We had no plans, so we decided to take a road trip. Our original destination was Natchez via the Trace. We started in Ridgeland and rode a while on the trace until we decided that would take too long, so we got off and headed to Port Gipson, a charming little town. (Sort of, I guess. Not much to see.) We did see this......
I'd seen a picture of this church steeple before (in MS magazine). It's the steeple on the Presbyterian church. Kinda cool I think. We did a little iPhone searching and remembered there were several ghost towns in the region we'd heard about on Mississippi Roads. We also remembered that Windsor Ruins (wiki link) were nearby too... The address of Windsor is not navigable by google maps or our GPS. We found it anyway. Cool place. I'd never been there. Wes had though. It was destroyed by fire when somebody left a cigar burning in 1890, causing it to burn to the ground! Tragic considering it survived the war.

Notice the iron rails still attached where the upper floor porch used to be. Pretty cool. While we were there, this man asked us if we had been there before. He said the staircase from the house is being used at the chapel on the campus of Alcorn State University.

Here's the staircase at Alcorn's Chapel. The iron rails were also from the house.

We decided to look for the Ghost Towns nearby (according to Wiki). Rodney was the first one. We knew Rocky Springs was nearby too. Rodney wasn't that easy to find. The road that would lead us there was HWY 552. It split off and then turned into a gated private property. We had to go back to Alcorn State (which is really in the middle of nowhere! Why would anyone want to go to school there??!) and find our way through campus to a road that would lead us to Rodney. There was construction at Alcorn which made it difficult to figure out where to go. We found the road....it was dirt. We'll more like an old logging road/trail that hadn't been driven in 50 years! It was terrible! I felt like some redneck hunter in dirty overalls was gonna come out with a rifle like a troll and make us pay to pass or something.... It was that bad! (I should also say we were in the car too). The road eventually got better, then worse, then better again... We were truly in the sticks!

We finally found Rodney. (wiki page) The road went from gravel, to dirt and back a few times. Then is suddenly turned to paved with curbs and gutters and everything. It was nice, but the thing was, it hadn't been touched in years. Grass was overtaking the pavement. Their was this huge pile of dirt/grass/whatever in the middle of the lane. It was weird. Then it turns back into dirt and whalla... there's the "town." This is the Presbyterian church. The one where the "battle" took place (read the links above).

Here's a shot through the window. The wiki page says there are still services here. Looks like there are new floral arrangements in front. The white tassel is the pull for the bell.

Notice the cannonball in the wall above the window.

This is the Baptist church.

This was a commercial building back in the day.

I think this was an old corner store. It was next to the main road. Notice the old gas pump.

After finding out way back to civilization, we headed towards Natchez. We wanted to find Rocky Springs, but it was 4pm already and we had no idea where it was. (photos) There was little to no cell service so we couldn't search for it. It obviously didn't show up on the GPS. Maybe next time, we'll find it.... Here's a few pictures of Natchez. We didn't do much. Just drove around a little and then ate at a restaurant on the river.

EXCELLENT FOOD!!!

Welcome to July Sweeps....

2010-07-02T17:25:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the language in this (I didn't write it), but it's absolutely hilarious!! After working in TV news for almost 10 years, this is what I see when watching....

THE ONION

FINALLY Found a HALF!!!!! Sort of....

2010-06-30T16:23:00.003-04:00

Finally found a half marathon during the 12-14 mile weeks of my training schedule! September 5 in TUPELO!!!! It's actually a 14.2 mile race. Don't know why, but it's cool! There's a marathon too. It'll be small (capped at 250), but I think it'll be fun! :) The website is a little old school, but that's okay. Now I'm getting excited!! :)

Turning Thirty

2010-06-22T15:35:00.011-04:00

I've been sitting here thinking about the pros and cons of turning thirty for about an hour. (i like spelling out the word better). This is all I could come up with.

PROS:
- Some people may stop asking why we don't have kids. They'll probably assume something's wrong with me. That's fine as long as they stop asking.
- I'm not afraid to admit my age. I know a girl who won't tell anyone her age... Why lie? What's the point? I don't necessarily like that I'm 30, but I can't go backwards...
- "Older and Wiser?" Nah. This goes in the Cons category I think.
-

CONS:
- It's 30. It just sounds bad. Three decades.
- Moving up an age bracket. It felt good being the oldest in the 20-29 age bracket and placing. Don't think that'll happen much in 30-39.
-
-

30th birthday bash

2010-06-20T00:36:00.010-04:00

Mom & Dad threw me a birthday bash yesterday... (I have four days left.....) Most everyone from Mobile came up. Grandmother was there. Tammy and even Jim came! Both my Aunt Deb's came. Laura and Becky came. We had a great time! All of the grandkids on Grandmother's side were there except Brandon, Pete and Adam. We ate sandwiches and Popeyes and had homemade Grape and Butterfinger ice cream (YUMM!!) ...

My cousins hand-turning the ice cream.

Mom got a slip-n-slide for the little ones. They had a blast...

Mom got me a Garmin 305... :) (gps watch)

I love Fraggle Rock! :) Wes bought me an inversion table.. It's really cool actually!

Mom's friend made a super cool cake!! It tasted good too!

After eating, we headed to the river to cool off. The river was too low to float, so we just sat in it....

Nathan likes to open and turn things on and off. He found mom's dryer fascinating...

Wes. :)

Jay. :)

Dad and Nathan mesmerized by Woody and Buzz...

my last 20-something 5K....

2010-06-20T00:02:00.007-04:00

Saturday was the State Games 5K road race at Bonita. I was super hot! (Sunday and Monday's high was 99!!) I wasn't real nervous, but I wanted to do well since it was my last one in the 20 something age groups... I ended up in 3rd, which was fine. It's just too hot this summer. There's no point trying for a PR in the heat. My PR's in the 5K and 10K were both in February. Before that, my PR was set in December. Anyway, here's pictures from Saturday morning...

Starting line.

already sweating

Nick interviewing the guy who shoots the start pistol. He's been helping with the state games since it started.

water please?

Wheelchair participant with his Dad behind him. He was in the Strawberry 5K last weekend too.

finally finished!

Me, Laurie Shirley and Mike Tvarkunas, fellow BRC members

Me & David Shirley at the finish (BRC running buddy)

BRC members......

Award ceremony.... I got 3rd in my age group. The two people handing out medals are Olympic medalists! I cant remember their names. The man held the long jump world record for 25+ years and has gold, silver and bronze from the '68 and '72 games. The lady was a sprinter and has gold, silver, and bronze medals from '68, '72, and '76.

Mike got 3rd in his age as well.

David got 1st in his agr group!

2010-06-13T18:13:00.003-04:00

Olivia Grace Dennis was born in August of 2008. Gracie is the daughter of Jim & Becky Dennis of Vicksburg. Becky is my cousin. Gracie will be two years old this year. She is an adorable little girl with tons of energy and life. Shortly after birth, she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. The diagnosis came as a shock to the family. No one knew the CF gene was present. Jim and Becky, their parents, family and friends have become advocates for CF research and awareness and are active in the Mississippi Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

On November 7, 2010, I am running the New York Marathon. I plan to use this opportunity God has given me to raise awareness and funds for CF research in honor of Gracie. Cystic Fibrosis is a life threatening genetic disease that effects the lungs and digestive systems of approximately 30,000 children and adults in the United States. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in extending the improvement and quality of life for those with CF. However we continue to loose at least one precious life to CF each day. That's why our collective help is needed to ensure a cure is found sooner, rather than later. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with CF.

I want to take this opportunity to ask for your help in supporting a cause that is near and dear to my heart. I hope that you will "sponsor" me in the New York City marathon by making a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on behalf of little Gracie.

Please click on the link below to learn more about our efforts to raise funds and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis research and education. The goal for this event is $1000. Please help us achieve this goal. Please forward this along to help spread the word.

Thanks so much,

Evelyn Watkins

Run for Gracie 2010

RUN FOR GRACIE 2010 DONATION PAGE

My L5 hates me.

2010-06-07T16:29:00.004-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated this much recently. I've been kinda blah... I think it's a combination of: turning 30, back pain, bills, and the beginning of a really hot summer. I'm hoping and praying that this back thing doesn't hinder me from marathon training. It's a little worrisome. I can run without pain, but that's about it. Sitting here hurts. It started really hurting again last week. It was much worse yesterday and this morning because on Saturday after the State Games XC race, Wes and I cut the grass and weed-eated and weeded the flower beds and all that. I should not have this much pain after doing that. I should be a little sore, but not unable to sit up straight. After church yesterday, we came home and I only left the living room twice, once to pee and once to find dinner. Well, three times... once to go to bed. I thought doing nothing would help. It's better, but not tolerable. Getting old sucks!
My insurance is terrible too. The doc wants me to go to physical therapy. I tried to, but I learn that Riley's isn't considered an in-network provider... But then I learn that the closest in-network provider is LIVINGSTON, ALABAMA!!!! 40 miles away!!! Sad. This is what private insurance is coming too. (Anybody who thinks health care reform is a bad idea, come talk to me!) There are three hospitals in this town. There are probably a dozen physical therapists in this town as well. I can't go to any of them. Ridiculous! Even the in-network PT is gonna cost me an arm and a leg! Doc wants me to go three times a week for 6 weeks. (not to mention the gas to get to Livingston as well). Co-pays are $40 a visit! Add that up.... $40x3 times a week = $120 per week... $120x6 weeks = $720!!!! (I won't even mention the cost to go to an out-of-network PT) My car is in the shop. Wes just paid over two hundred dollars for ONE book for school! We just paid $$$$money for the MRI, doc visits and other tests for my back.... My plan is to go once or twice and just do the PT on my own at the gym or at home. It's the only way it'll work. And PT is not guaranteed to help me feel better either.

All this is adding to my depressive state. So I apologize in advance if I'm not my usual chipper/slightly pessimistic self. I hope to be out of it by my birthday. In case people are wondering, I do know about my birthday get-together at Mom's house... I've been told that lots of folks will be there. YEAH!!! Can't wait to see my Mobile cousins again! Also can't wait to see Becky, Laura and the babies too! Only wish Pete could be there. That's okay though. So if you're not sure about coming, please come! It'll make me feel better! Don't bring me a gift either. (I only have three things on my list anyway!) Instead, go to this site................ More on that soon....

This weekend is the Strawberry Run 5K in Marion. I've learned that it's going to be a pretty small race... Seems that is the only way I can place... That's okay. This one and the State Games road race are the last two 5K's I'll do in my 20's...

Bring it on!!

Pictures from State Games Cross Country 5K....

2010-06-05T15:28:00.006-04:00

HOT! But fun.... This was my first Cross Country race. It was harder than I thought. There weren't many hills. Actually there were only two. It was a small race too. Only about 30 runners. You would think there would be more high school track teams participating. I think the State Games is going down hill a bit. Last year's 5K road race had about 50 or so runners and only 8 walkers. That race is June 19th. Hopefully it won't be as hot.... Doubt it. Anyway, I was pretty happy with myself. My time was 33:45. Not great compared to my other 5K's, but when you factor in the cross country aspect, the heat, and the fact that halfway through, i thought I got stung by a yellow jacket, it's pretty good. There were only 8 or 9 girls too. I was 6th or 7th. But I was 2nd in my age group so I ended up with a silver medal. The age groups were 10 year spans too. (20-29) Pretty cool I think. Hopefully I'll do well in the road race... The road race is at Bonita. Last year, part of the race included the lower lake loop. For the past 10 months, the lower lake loop is impassable because they are working on the dam. It most likely won't be ready to run on til this fall! (It was supposed to be done by May I think!) Anyway, we're not sure how the course is laid out this year.... Anyway, here's some pictures from the XC race...

(okatibee Reservoir)
the start

(There were only three people behind me. I was trying to keep it that way!)

Hill #2

Tim finished 3rd and came back to help me finish. About 3/4 of a mile left.

There were no water stations... I did not know this. Apparently this it normal for XC courses.

Bonita Running Club: LtoR - gray shirt guy, Me, Pauline, Manuel, Tim, (can remember his name), Jim (in blue) and Glen (overall winner)

Goodbye to good television

2010-05-24T11:51:00.007-04:00

The Memorial service for good television was held last night on ABC. Fitting that it actually ended in a "memorial service." You always feel a sense of disappointment when something great ends. How else could it end though?? Although I didn't like the fact that they were "all dead," it didn't disappoint. I cried. I love the couples reuniting. Sawyer & Juliet, the best! There are still questions that went unanswered too, but do they really matter since they are all dead? I'm sure there are hundreds of theories already floating around. I take on it is this: Yes, they are all dead. They didn't all die together. I'm thinking that they "met" at the church when they were all dead. Some died in the crash, some may have lived their lives and died naturally. The "funeral" was everyone going "into the light" together with the one(s) they loved. Obviously we know that Desmond and Penny were not on the original plane. Maybe Penny lived a long life and died in later years and joined them as her younger self. It was as if they were living in some purgatory/dream state and when the last one died, their memories changed, and they became aware of their path. Maybe they went back to 1974 so the ones still alive could "live" for 30+ years in real life. Where was Michael and Walt? Why wasn't Lepidus or Miles there? Charlotte and Daniel met again, but are they still alive? Was Ben just a tortured soul or ghost that could never find his path? Is/Was his job to lead others in the right direction? Where did Richard Alpert go?

Does any of this even matter? No....

race results...

2010-05-16T13:32:00.002-04:00

Had some issues at the Boy Scouts WTLB 5K last weekend so we are just now getting the results posted. They didn't give out age group awards at the race. Hopefully they'll get them sent out.... I was the 10Th female finisher (there were only 50 people participating) and 2Nd in age group as well! :)

RESULTS

Going to pick up Wes today. :)
This Saturday is the Magnolia Meltdown!!! Big FUN race in Jackson!

Things that happened while Wes wasn't here...

2010-05-14T00:24:00.003-04:00

The Tivo tuner dies... twice. (I nearly missed Lost ...AGAIN!) (-this one's a bit selfish I must admit)

The outlet the microwave and fridge are plugged into decides it wants to freak out. Only one plug works. So no microwave for Evelyn.... yea.

My car has been acting up for a while. It takes a few times to crank it. The last two days, its taking up to eight times! Twice in the last week, Samaritans have asked me if I needed help. Luckily I didn't. Slightly embarrassing...most likely to be expensive.

My dad starts leaking spinal fluid! (Sounds like something my car would do, not my Dad) Not cool! He had a test done on Monday to determine where his back pain is originating and ended up in the hospital for two nights with a spinal headache. (Dad doesn't cry very often. He was crying.) He's much better now. Hopefully the docs will figure out what the deal is soon so they can fix it. He's really hurting. I have three rocks in my life... one is out of the country and one is crying in pain. That only leaves one.... I can't balance on just one. I need all three!!

So Wes, no more leaving for two weeks! I know it could have been worse and I'm glad it wasn't.

Oh yeah, and I missed you too.

Nike + Mini-me...

2010-05-04T21:03:00.002-04:00

Since Wes took the netbook with him on his trip, I'm not syncing my phone so my little Nike + mini me will be neglected. It's already walking as of this post. Hopefully it won't be laying on the ground by then.... We'll see.

The Boy scouts 5K is this weekend.

PETE'S BIRTHDAY....

2010-05-02T22:11:00.004-04:00

Pete's Birthday is May 16 (Two weeks from this posts date)... He'll be 26. PLEASE send him a card, letter or box of goodies, or even socks and underwear! I don't care! Send him something! It would be awesome if he got dozens and dozens of mail for his birthday! I am sending him a box off this week to make sure it gets there in time. I'm also sending another with more stuff I couldn't fit in the first one...
He has a microwave. He has his own room(kind of). Here's a list of things he likes:
New Orleans Saints
Ole Miss
any sour candy (the sour-er the better!)
Bottle caps (the candy, not actual bottle caps)
cookies
weird stuff (like nasty tasting jelly belly flavors!)
boiled peanuts
sunflower seeds (including flavored ones)
small mind games (sudoku, puzzle games, stuff that cracker barrel sells, you know)
hunting/fishing magazines
he's recently started running so I'm sending him my old runnersworld mags
Sweet potato sweets (for all you Martin folks) He like the little pies i think.
itunes gift cards

I don't recommend sending anything valuable. He can't bring a whole lot of stuff back. I think most people over there mail things back that they really want to keep. He has a small laptop and uses Itunes for movies and music. (Its better than having a bunch of cd's and dvd's to carry around and really, who buys CD's anymore). Send him silly toys. Stuff he and his buddies can play with (nerf balls, silly string, barrel of monkeys--i saw them in walmart today and it brought back memories) (I sent him 10 water guns and a couple of bottles of bubbles.) The dollar stores have a lot of silly toys and candy.

We have his address. I don't want to post it in case some unwanted person reads this and takes advantage. So email me, call or comment on this post or facebook or whatever and I'll give it too ya.

PLEASE show him that you care and are thinking about him and his group! (If you can, send the whole group a big box of something!)

Been a while.....

2010-05-02T21:23:00.006-04:00

Been busy. Not really just lazy to be honest...

Mom and I went to see Point of Grace and Mark Schultz at the temple last night. GREAT concert!! I hadn't been to the temple in years. Looks exactly the same. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I did smell like an old drafty house. About halfway through the concert, it got real hot! I mean REAL HOT!! Anyway, enough negative.... the concert was great. I had forgotten that POG had originally started out as a group called "Say So." They sang at OHBC when I was like 7 or something... I don't know for sure. (wiki link) Point of Grace formed later with four women. Over the years, two left to be with family. Now there are three. Two are still original to the group. I've seen them three or four times in concert over the years. I've also seen Mark Schultz before too. I think it was at 15Th Avenue BC sometime in 2000 or 2001. Mark sings a song called "Letters from War." I'm sure by the name you can guess why Mom and I sobbed while he sang it.... I took a few pictures and videos with my phone... here's a picture... It's not that good because we weren't real close to the stage...

Well, Wes left yesterday for South Korea. He called me around 3pm today and said they had just landed. It was 5am there. On Monday morning that is.... He's 14 hours ahead of us. So basically he skipped Sunday completely. The airport must have had free Wi-Fi. He called using the Skype for iPhone thing. It worked pretty well. they flew from Memphis to Chicago and had 6 or 7 hours of layover there. He went into downtown Chicago for a while. (He's never been). He sent me this picture from the Sears Tower. (I've been there before when Pete graduated from Boot Camp). Last year they built these glass boxes that you can stand in and you're basically standing out over the city a hundred stories up.... Pretty cool! (nice legs too!... Wes', not the other persons....)

So anyway, I ran yesterday on the treadmill (hate it) because it's monsoon week. Plus the humidity is ridiculous. I'm not ready for it yet.

So I have this friend that I haven't talked to in a while. I have no excuse for not talking to them, its just that I'm busy with my own life and so are they. It happens. (It seems to happen a lot to me. I tend to have these selfish periods where I unknowingly ignore others and then it turns to alienation and then when I see them again, it's awkward.) This person has not had the easiest life. They've had a lot of bumps in the road. But they are remaining positive and seem to be happy with themselves now. But, in the eyes of an outsider (which I consider myself to be because I haven't been around them in years until recently), they seem to be walking down the same path that lead them to those bumps and bad choices. I know it's not my place to judge them. I don't know what they've gone through and I can't really relate to them. (This person has children). I don't know the whole situation, but I just don't think their setting a good example for their kids. I can't say anything to them. It's not my place. I just feel the need to say this in general because I care about them. I really do, even though I haven't shown it much. Please pray for this person. They seem to be happy, but I feel like the bigger picture is more important to focus on than happiness in this situation. I don't know if this person reads this, but if they do, I'm sorry, but I just think your main focus should be your influence on your children and not the other thing.

Food, Inc.

2010-04-24T02:58:00.005-04:00

Great Documentary. Everyone should watch it.
I don't think I'll ever eat another piece of bacon again.... Seriously!!

The 5K at Camp Binachi was moved to May 8 because of the weather. That's good because I had nothing to do that weekend. But not good because now I have nothing to do tomorrow...... oh well.

Hump Day.

2010-04-14T15:10:00.004-04:00

Man, It's been a rough couple of days. But things are looking better. I don't know why sometimes I let frivolous things get to me. When lots of little easily-avoided problems come at you at once, you wonder, is it really worth it? It got real overwhelming. Well, lets just hope the rest of the week is better.

Anyway, I have basically set up my training schedule for the marathon. the 16 weeks starts July 19th. I have three months to take it easy and focus on 5K's and speed. (and most importantly: staying injury free!~) The last two times I've run, I didn't use the inhaler. It seems like the inhaler is more of a hindrance then a help. Tomorrow is our group trail run. I'm not going to use it. I just need to slow down. The group is growing fast! On Tuesday morning there were 7 people. I didn't go because I couldn't get to sleep on Monday night. I wish I would have now though.

Anyway, off to Hump day.... BREATHE......

30 sec. feature of Pete from Afghanistan.....

2010-04-14T15:03:00.003-04:00

WATCH IT HERE

This is a 30 second video called the Freedom Watch Diary. I guess they feature different soldiers daily. This is from April 7.

I'M IN!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-08T01:20:00.004-04:00

Somehow, the running angels looked down on this slow, sometimes lazy, almost 30 year old redneck; smiled and said, sure, she can come to the biggest city in the US and run one of the biggest marathons in the world... Wow. This just happened. And on my first try too.

Last night when I came home from work, Wes told me that he checked the bank and there was a charge from the marathon on our account. I knew that they were drawing the lottery today. But when he said they charged our account, my heart fluttered.... I went online and tried to log in to the site, but it was closed until 12:30 today for the announcement. I looked at the facebook fan site. Lots of people were saying their credit cards were charged too. But some were also saying they don't have any charges. I didn't want to get excited yet because it wasn't announced yet. Sure enough, this morning around 12:30, I log on and it says "Accepted." :)

:)

We've booked a hotel already. There's over 700 hotels in the area.... Now I just have to train for it.... That's the hardest part.... But the funnest too!!!!! :)

Pete in Afghanistan...

2010-04-03T14:33:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures that Pete has been posting on Facebook from Afghanistan... Mom talked to him last night. He's doing good and having a good time.

The transport plane headed to Afghanistan...

Pete's job is part of the supply transport vehicle. He had the best score on the big gun on top of the MRAV so he gets to sit on top. They travel from their area in Paktika to Bagram to get supplies for the PRT.

Meat Market

Playing cards

Love the camel...

another big gun....

This is my favorite one... This is Bagram. (FYI: This is the base that Obama visited last week)

Sloshy Anderson Cup.

2010-04-03T14:18:00.005-04:00

Today's Anderson Cup was fun! It started about a half hour late because it was pouring rain and thundering. We warmed up by jogging through the parking garage. The race started real quick. I guess they wanted to fit it in between rain showers. Didn't work though. It started sprinkling as soon as we started and then started coming down pretty good when I was near mile 1. There was even some lightning and thunder too. Some of us runners got a little nervous... It was fun though. I finished at 28:27 and surprisingly got 3rd in my age group too! I wasn't expecting that at all. (I also got a door prize). Tim won the Masters. Thomas ran with us too. It was his first race. He trained with us for the marathon last year, but had a bad knee injury and had to quit. Here's some pics...

Thomas, Tim, Me and Tom Mattimore before the race.

Food is Gross!

2010-03-26T20:41:00.003-04:00

Three restaurants in the past few weeks have really disappointed me... First, Little Caesars' is just terrible... There $5 pizzas aren't worth $5 at all!! That should be predictable. Second, McAllisters has just gotten ridiculous!! The last three visits have been bad.. How can you mess up a potato?? I ordered a chicken sandwich last week and it had a few very small pieces of chicken with like 5 pieces of cheese... It was nasty... Yesterday, Quiznos kept me up until 3:30am.... Not fun....

What is with restaurants these days????? It makes me not want to eat out anymore. ever.

Degenerative Disc Disease....

2010-03-20T21:32:00.003-04:00

Huh?? Apparently this is what is wrong with my back. I don't quite know or understand what it's about. I was pretty depressed about it yesterday, but I feel better now. I got out and ran this afternoon. The weather was beautiful!!! I ran the trails today at Bonita. Afterwards I sat on a swing and watched the people and enjoyed the weather. It was great!! Welcome Spring!!! :)

Nike+....

2010-03-18T21:15:00.003-04:00

My little nike+ mini me is sitting around. The reason is because my Nano doesn't want to work right this week. On Tuesday, it stopped working halfway through the run. And today, it stopped working a quarter of a mile into the run. We both just got an iPhone 3GS, which has the nike+ software already installed so I don't need the receiver. Tomorrow I plan to calibrate it and start using my iPhone instead of the Nano. So now the count is off by 50+ miles. Sorry Mini me....

stuff....

2010-03-18T15:40:00.007-04:00

So I've spent WAY to much time this month in doctor's offices! I'm tired of it! With all this pharmacy screw-up stuff and my back hurting, I'm ready to get back to my normal boring life. I had an appointment for my back yesterday. It was supposed to be a followup to the first appointment (which resulted in the pharmacy error.) My back has been hurting for about two months now, on the lower right side. It hurts most when I sit, which is ironic to me. I can stand, walk and even run without pain. After sitting for a half hour or more, it's very irritating, almost unbearable. For the past two weeks, my right foot will go numb while running. On Tuesday morning during our group run, it was so numb, I was unable to feel where I stepped and I felt like I was dragging a sandbag. I was afraid I would twist it or step on something. (The trail surface changes a lot with rain causing ruts and rocks, limbs and pine cones everywhere. We run in the dark too, and use flashlights until the sun comes up.) I ended up having to stop and walk several times. When I told the doctor this, he said that he's going to forgo the x-ray and do an MRI instead. He said it's most likely (hopefully) a pinched nerve that's causing this. Let's pray that it's nothing more than that. He said depending on the outcome of the MRI, the plan is A) physical therapy or B) sending me to a surgeon. I don't like this at all..... He gave me some different pain medicine this time (Which is wonderful by the way!). I also used the other pharmacy (same company, different location).

Today is Mom & Dad's 32ND Anniversary! :) YEAH parents! They are great! My parents. They are so happy together and are an inspiration to me. 32 years together means that I'll be 30 this year.... AAAAAAHAHAHHAHA!!! :) I'm not ready to be 30. It just sounds weird. Wes will be 32. This aging thing is not cool....

Pete, if you're reading this, I sent your package off on Monday. It's full of junk that will rot your teeth and a few things that won't. There's also a MS flag in there too. Mom said you would really like some toilet paper. I heard the story about the Afghani people's bathroom habits.... There WILL be toilet paper in your next box. Mom said Kelly's sent you some too. Can't have too much toilet paper. That's my opinion anyway. PLEASE don't pick up their bathroom habits!

So, I've got lots of races planned for this summer (pending what the deal is with my back). I've registered for two in April and the Natchez Trace Century Ride as well. Wes and I are doing the the 25 mile leg. There's three races in May I'm thinking about and possibly one the first week of June. That'll be four in a row. I doubt I'll do all four. We'll see. I haven't looked past June yet. There's a few that are already posted.

Wes & I are going to see Conan O'Brien in Atlanta in June. He'll be at the Fox Theater. It's the last stop of his "Legally prohibited from being funny on television" tour. Can't wait!! :)

Legal Beagle 5K Pictures....

2010-03-13T20:11:00.003-05:00

Three Members of bonita running club (Tom Mattimore, Me, & Tim)

Wes has been using our new HD video camera. All these pictures were taken on it. He recorded a lot of video. Check www.bonitarunningclub.com for the video to be posted soon.

Legal Beagle 5K this morning..

2010-03-13T19:55:00.002-05:00

Ran the Legal Beagle 5K this morning in Jackson. It was pretty chilly. Wasn't expecting that. I wore shorts and a short sleeved shirt. It was real windy, but once the sun came out, it was pleasant. I finished in 29:15. It wasn't my best time, but that's okay. I wasn't expecting a better time at all! My ankle was really hurting so I took it a little slower. Last week, I went to the Allergy doctor and told him about my breathing when I run(among other things). I can't get over 8min miles without heaving. He did a lung test and turns out I have a little bit of Exercise Induced Asthma!! Never thought about that at all. He gave me an inhalre to use before I run. I used it today and I did feel better(except for my ankle). I think part of why I'm so tired and draggy(and the reason my time increased) is because I've increased my racing so much too suddenly. 3 races in 4 weeks is a lot. I'm got nothing for the next two weeks so I plan to take it easier. I've got two races and a bike ride set for April.

pics from the Vicksburg Run Thru History

2010-03-07T19:55:00.004-05:00

These are not in order...

After the race, we visited and played with Gracie.

We drove around the park and took a few pics....

Grant

Race pics... before the race

Thanks Deb & Ken for letting us stay with yall!!! :) And thanks for Breakfast as well!!! :)

ANOTHER PR!!!!

2010-03-07T18:01:00.005-05:00

Got me another PR this weekend!! (1:01:53) The Vicksburg 10K was yesterday. Had a blast! This hills were awesome! Not quite as difficult as I expected. FUN though! Wrote up a race report on www.bonitarunningclub.com as well... Here's some video that Wes shot. Sorry they aren't in order. Pics to come next.....

Medication Roulette

2010-03-04T15:39:00.006-05:00

Wow. That's all I can say about the last few weeks. February started off fine. Nothing unusual. It ended with a life "toiling" event. Medication Roulette. I really feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now. If you haven't heard already, here's the story. I had this all written up, but decided to shorten it to spare you the useless details as well as names because I don't want to incriminate anyone....

On Thursday (Feb. 25), I went to the doctor for my back pain. It has been hurting off and on for a month or so. Doc gave me two prescriptions, one for a muscle relaxer, and a stronger dose of an over-the-counter pain reliever. I dropped the prescription off at the pharmacy and picked it up on my way to work. I took one of each when I got to work. After the shows, I went home and Wes & I ate dinner. We watch TV for a while after dinner and around 8:15pm, I get up to get ready to go back to work. I walk by the mirror and notice my face is real red. I turn on the light and then see not only that my face is red, but blotchy and it's all over my neck. I look at my lower arms, and they are the same way. That's about when I start to feel it. My elbows, underarms and neck start to feel real hot. I run to show Wes. I have no idea what's happening. It's getting worse. Within another minute or two, both arms are red and swelling, my neck is really hot and my face and ears feel like they're on fire. I have to go back to work, so I decide to try to relax and calm down. Freaking out makes it worse. I go to get in the car and I start to have trouble breathing. I sit in the car for a minute and then it really hits me. It's getting bad quick. I call Mom and tell her what's happening. She tells me to go to the ER. (Mom had surgery on her elbow on Wednesday the 24th). So we do. By the time, we get there, I'm shivering inside, but my skin feels like I'm being scalded! Its near freezing outside, but I'm sweating.
The ER nurse gives me a shot of Salumedrol(sp?), benedryl and Pepcid(apparently its a anti-histamine). I immediately feel relief. I take the two medicine bottles with me to the ER and give it to them. They write down all the info. The ER doc says he wasn't sure why I had this reaction. He said it could have been what I ate but he can't say for sure it wasn't the medicine. (I had the exact same meal on Monday. The only "new" thing I did on Thursday was take the medicines). So I leave the ER around 10:30 or so. When we walked in, I was sweating, but shivering. When we leave I'm shivering. Uncontrollable teeth chattering. We go home. I go to bed. (Benedryl knocked me out). (Meanwhile, Adam & Becca are in town and were headed to our house. All this has thrown a wrench in our plans. Luckily for us, they were late getting in.)

Early the next morning, the ER nurse calls and leaves a message on Wes' phone for me. She says that the Doc was finishing up paperwork and looking up the medicines that I took and told me that a severe side effect for one of them (Niaspan) is flushing, rash, swelling and redness. They say they're pretty sure it was the medicine. This is when I start to wonder. I call the doctor's office. (Wes, Adam & Becca go to Quitman for lunch, while I sleep in and then go to work) Later(Friday afternoon), The nurse calls me back and I tell her about the ER visit. She looks in the computer and the info from my visit on Thursday wasn't in the computer yet. I tell her the medicines he gave me... Robaxin and Niaspan. She was confused, she said "Is it Naprosyn?" I said that "I'm pretty sure the bottle said Niaspan. I said one was a muscle relaxer and the other...." She broke in and said "Cholesterol?" I said "No, it should be an strong pain reliever." She said Naprosyn again. I said I wasn't real sure, but I thought it said Niaspan. She said she'd tell the doctor and they would call me back on Monday. This phone call got me worried. Did I get the wrong medicine? I was almost positive the bottle said Niaspan because I had to pay $40 for it because there was no generic. I was at work and didn't have the bottles (I wasn't taking them or eating anything because I was scared to and didn't have much of an appetite either.) I went to Quitman to eat with Wes and his family for dinner and then went back to work.
When I got home on Friday night, I get both the bottles and look them up online. (Sure enough, I WAS RIGHT. IT SAYS NIASPAN). I was freaked!!!(Still am) Niaspan is a drug used for lowering CHOLESTEROL!!! I've never had cholesterol problems! I'm only 29. I didn't know what to think. On Saturday, I go to the pharmacy and tell them what's happened with the ER visit and that I think the medicine is wrong. The Pharmacist there was not the same lady there on Thursday. I tell her this whole deal and she looks at the scan of the prescription I brought them. Her eyes get REAL BIG.... She says it clearly says Naprosyn. She said it was clearly their mistake. She immediately apologized and called the store manager. I told him the whole story. (I think he goes to our church.) He was also very apologetic and kept asking me if there was anything they could do. I told them that I was going to talk to the doctor on Monday. He refunded me the copay for the prescription that they wrongly gave me and told me to call them on Monday.
On Monday, the Doctor's nurse says it was definitely the medicine that caused me to go to the ER. Right now, the insurance company representing the Pharmacy is sending me information about reimbursement for all this.

So this is where I'm at. I really feel like I am lucky to be alive right now. The pharmacy gave me the wrong medicine. They could have given me anything. How would I have known? Thinking about this over the weekend and this week has really set me back emotionally. I've been real quiet (sorry Watkins family). I don't really know what to say. The thought that my family could have possibly been dealing with me either having a serious health issue or worse is overwhelming.

On Tuesday, I'm telling a few friends about all this at work. It's between the 5 and 6pm news, when the national news is on. I happen to look up at one of the TV's and see Diane Sawyer with a graphic that says "Prescription Errors." I listen to the story. The SAME Pharmacy chain just settled a multi-million dollar court battle with a woman's family who was given the wrong dosage of medication. She suffered a stroke and eventually died! She was a 30-40 something woman with grade school kids! How is this not regulated better!?!?!?!??? The story said the person responsible for the error was a high school part time worker who entered the information into the computer wrong. Seeing that story REALLY made me feel lucky to be here! If we are passing all these bills to regulate over the counter cold medicine so meth addicts can't get their hands on them, why are we letting under qualified and/or under trained pharmacy "technicians" handle prescription medications? I read somewhere that one in every 1000 individuals in the US will be given either the wrong dosage or the wrong medication (often someone Else's) in their lifetime. 3% of hospital admissions are from problems from medication errors. This is ridiculous!!!!

BEWARE!!!!! Make sure you know exactly what your taking! Don't blindly trust your friendly smiling pharmacist you've used your whole life or the one standing in front of the nationally known franchise sign!!

Here's a link to a pill identifier I found online. This site also lists interactions and symptoms.

Missin' my Papaw and Mamaw today...

2010-03-04T15:29:00.005-05:00

Today is Papaw's birthday. He would be 81. Just one year ago this week, we threw him a big 80th birthday party in the carport of the house. He smiled and laughed the whole day, playing with his great grandbabies and blowing out candles on his cake. A few of the neighbors stopped by to see him. It was a great day. (here's a link to the blog post from last year.)

I miss them a lot. Mamaw passed away 8 years ago last week. (Great Grandpop too.) Lots of Martins in Heaven right now. Can't wait to see them again.

PRAYERS.....

2010-02-20T23:33:00.002-05:00

My brother leaves tomorrow (Sunday) for Afghanistan. Please keep him and Kelly in your thoughts and prayers. I have his address if anyone wants to send him anything. An encouraging word goes a long way. He's in a group of over a hundred and has made several close friends. Send him something he can share. (Mom has sent him food from Sweet Potato Sweets. It was a big hit!) He has a computer and phone and he'll be communicating with us as much as he can. Please let him know on Facebook or email that you are thinking about him. (I have his email address too.)

Kelly is full on in nursing school. She's in the quarter system that goes year round with no breaks. (no spring break or anything). She has heavy schoolwork and class schedule. It's keeping her busy which is good, but please pray she does well without Pete as well as in school.
Also pray for Mom & Dad.....

PR!!!

2010-02-20T18:26:00.009-05:00

Yeah!!! I set a new PR in the 5k!!! 27:58!! I was so surprised and very excited!!! I wrote a race report on www.bonitarunningclub.com. This was the first race of the season. I hadn't run much this week. My back has been killing me lately. It's fine when I'm standing, walking, and running, surprisingly. Sitting and lying down is torture! I haven't slept well in a while. I thought it was just a pulled muscle or something. I sleep on heating pads every night. Aleve hasn't helped at all. I tried Doans' back pain relief, but that gave me a serious itchy rash. Tylonel doesn't help. Ibuprofen helps a little. (I'm going to the doctor on Thursday) Anyway, I wasn't expecting to have a good time today. I wanted to finish as close to 30 minutes as possible. My previous PR is 29:14. I set a goal for this summer to beat that. I never expected to do it on the first try! And by 1 minute and 16 seconds!!! GO ME!!!!! Tim (my fast runnin' buddy) came in second (overall). I ended up in 5th in my age group. Which was good because I'm 29, the oldest in my age category (25-29). This will change this summer! Anyway, I was ecstatic!!! Here's some pictures... Oh, and somehow I got bib number 1!

Someone named Jessie who dressed like a penguin....

Chic Fil A cows....

Amy, me & Tim, members of BRC

The video Wes shot this morning is a huge file and is too big to load. (85mb) Tim is editing video together from our camera and from WTOK to post on www.bonitarunningclub.com. check there in a few days... Wes got video of me finishing... I freak out when I see the clock and when I realize I beat my PR, I start to cry! :) Awesome day!

Indiana Trip Days 3-4

2010-02-18T14:19:00.011-05:00

Tuesday, we woke up to snow. No big surprise! It hadn't snowed that much overnight. Just a couple of inches or so to cover everything (that wasn't covered) again. We went to the base around 9am.

My pants legs and boots after traipsing through the snow... :) FUN!!!

Dad took better pictures of snow and the Camp Atterberry signs (another post). They packed up into this big hanger thing like sardines. There had to be 500 people in there. The announcer and speaker said they were surprised at how many people came because of the weather. (If you gonna drive 10 hours to get there, you're gonna go, no matter what right!?! Lots of people flew there I'm sure.) They had to delay the ceremony by 10 minutes because people were still trying to find a place to park and get inside. There was one set of bleachers on one end and chairs set up on either side of the podium. We sat on the top row of the bleachers in the far corner. (dad's got a picture of it.) It was about 20 degrees outside, after about ten minutes, I was sweating. We shed our jackets, but I kept getting hotter. There was no ventilation. I had to stand up and fan myself. It was sweltering!! Once everyone sat down and the ceremony started it got better. I recorded most of the ceremony on our little HD camera. (Posting later) Pete was sitting with us because he had a bad cold and didn't want to cough and sneeze while standing at attention. We learned about Pete's group. He is a member of PRT Paktika. PRT stands for Preventional Response Team. Paktika is a region of Afghanistan. There are a dozen or more groups (all named PRT ___) Each group has over a hundred members. Here's a few pictures.

After the ceremony, we walked to the PX while the traffic was heavy getting off base.

Depth of the snow.... We were walking on the plowed road which was covered with black slush.

Outside the PX, snow piled up on the tables...

Outside the PX

Dad went into the barracks with Pete (only men were allowed.)

After the ceremony, we left the base and headed to Best Buy so Pete could buy a computer. Then we headed to Indianapolis (30 minutes away). Pictures from downtown Indianapolis. Nice city, reminded me a lot of Atlanta. Not much too it. Really nice mall. Not that many tall buildings. It was busy though. Still snow everywhere. We passed Lucas Oil Stadium. (Basketball & Minor league hockey) While we were in the mall, we met Jacques Demeres' son. His dad coached the Red Wings, Lightning, and The St. Louis Blues. He also coached Montreal and won the Stanley Cup. He's now a Canadian Senator. Cool stuff.

Us after the deployment Ceremony. Pete doesn't leave the country until Sunday.

On Wednesday, we headed home. In the post with Dad's pictures, we took a lot of pics of barns and things we saw on the way home...

Pictures from Dad's Camera

2010-02-18T14:03:00.009-05:00

From the Indiana Welcome Center with 5 inches on the ground....

Random things we saw on the way. Dad took a lot of pictures of dilapidated and snow covered barns.

A tree outside our hotel room.

Our car on Monday morning. We parked on the side of the building so the wind was blocked. There were cars in front of the hotel with much more snow. (The shopping center we walked to is in the background.)

This is the parking lot at Walmart, before it was plowed....

Parking lot... The snow was really coming down hard!!

Walking into the store....

more barns

Ice covering the sign

Pete's barracks

Pete's group (PRT Paktika)

more barns

Dinasour land (I think this was in Kentucky)

Indiana Trip..... Day 1-2 BLIZZARD!!!

2010-02-15T20:12:00.005-05:00

This is sooo cool!!!! Driving up to Indiana was cool. We took turns... There was little snow on the ground through MS and AL. Once we got past Huntsville, it was everywhere. Then after we got into Kentucky, it started to snow again.... And it never stopped! It snowed all the way to Indiana. We stopped at the Indiana welcome center... there was about 4 inches on the ground... The lady at the welcome center said we might get stuck up here.........

In our hotel... nice and warm inside....

Meanwhile, outside... our car got covered overnight... (never stopped snowing btw)

We had all day Monday to do whatever we wanted... We couldn't do much. After breakfast at the hotel, Dad and I went trekking in the snow. I didn't have adequate shoes, so we stayed in the road. We walked to the hardware store and to Sams. Later, we drove to the outlet mall, but barely... it was pouring snow! I learned why people turn out their windshield wipers sometimes.... they'll freeze to the window and you won't be able to use them if you don't.... I didn't bring any shoes worthy of snow-trotting. We had to hunt down some. Not real easy. I was just going to get some walmart ones, but they didn't have any. Ended up getting some from the Columbia Outlet store... Nice shoes but I hardly ever wear boots and they rubbed the crap out of my ankles! (ankle-chaffing.... a first for me!) Anyway, they are worth it, because now my feet don't get cold or wet... :) We drove back to the hotel and thawed for a while, then trekked out . Here's a picture of the height of the whiteout....

Hwy 65. FUN!!! Lots of cars in the ditch! If they're abandoned, the cops put police tape around them and move on. They come back and identify the owners later if they haven't gotten them already.

hotel parking lot

me & dad walking around...

this is Walmart's parking lot (before it's plowed)

got my snow boots on!! Now I can make a mess! :)

Dad's snow angel!

walmart parking lot - after plowing...

more pictures to come... Tomorrow(Tues) morning we are going to the deployment ceremony. Then we'll take Pete off base for a while. I think we're heading to a mall north of hear, near Indianapolis. It's supposed to snow a good bit tomorrow as well, but not as much as today. (It started snowing last night around 7pm and stopped around 6pm tonight. Almost 24 hours straight. I'm pretty sure there's more than a foot and a half out there).