The Anthem Richmond Marathon

So, since I can barely walk today I may as well get to blogging about this weekend! Aarik took off Friday so that we could leave early in the morning. We got started a little later than planned, but I had decided after the ridiculous week we had that we were going to avoid stress, and any outside responsibilities as much as possible. As worried as I was about the race we just didn't need any negativity or aggravation. The way that Sprint GPS took us was absolutely gorgeous. Mostly back roads & small highways. The first half of the trip we got to see lots of farm land, relax & listen to country music while Parker slept & the rest of us got to chat. Then Parker woke up & screamed the rest of the way, everyone had to go potty every 5 seconds & I got a barrage of poorly timed, non marathon weekend text messages. By the time we got to the expo we were all worn out, over being in the car and a little grumpy. Because of that, we were in and out of the expo very quickly and I never even got to see the medal I was hoping to earn the next day. I did however purchase a 26.2 magnet for the Jeep and said a quick prayer it wasn't a waste of money and we bumped into a new friend made on the Richmond marathon Facebook page who we had lots in common with. The expo was crazy crowded but looked to be very well organized, and had more than enough gear for anyone interested in spending money to help remember the event. There was ample parking outside of the convention center. They had booths specifically to answer questions for out of towners and had plenty of free maps on hand. The Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield booth even gave the kids all free cowbells to ring to help cheer the next day. Other than those things it was your typical race expo.
Our hotel was located in a pretty central spot, but let me say I was not impressed with it at all. The shower looked to have never been cleaned and the front desk girl that was there during check in & check out was one of the most rude people ever. I was thrilled, however, that there was a Denny's in the adjoining parking lot and we were happy to be able to walk over to dinner and be the only people there when we ate at 5:00. The kids, of course, love any excuse to have pancakes for dinner! Jennifer and Ray were kind enough to offer me a ride down the next morning which took a big stress off of Aarik,would let the kids get more sleep in the morning, and allow us to spend time together as a group. So Aarik and I tried to plan his route to get to the finish and signed him up to get live updates while I was running. Navigating Richmond and paying tolls every five minutes was another not so fun thing to plan around. When Aimee and I talked I found out we had broken $4000.00 and doubled out fundraising goal!! Inspiration and motivation!! We got the monkeys ready for bed, I laid out all of my race gear, we prayed & went to bed. The kids all slept great, thankfully, and I woke up every hour thinking I had overslept. At five I got up, ate a small bowl of Captain Crunch, got dressed and went downstairs to meet up with the Riska family. We spent less time than I expected looking for parking (not to say it was easy finding a place, just not as hard as anticipated). We got to watch the start of the half, go for a quick jog, found a nice warm place to go to the bathroom (if I run this race again we will stay at the host hotel. Complete opposite of where we stayed), and made it down just in time to have Ray snap a few pics, give hugs to Josh, Aimee & Callie & get in line for the start.

Jennifer and I started the race together and stayed together almost 16 miles.

I wore my hydration pack because I was concerned with all of the NY marathoners coming in at the last minute the race would run out of water & Powerade, especially if my leg gave me a fit and I was at the very back of the pack. {Sidenote: they never ran out of anything as long as I was on the course.} It was nice to be able to chat with Callie's grandma about running, our training, Callie, the course, books and anything else that came up along the way. As we ran together in our Team GSF jerseys we had lots of people yell out to us "That's right! Never Give Up!!" We were even called "The Never Give Ups" a few times. It was such an awesome reminder to us of why we were there. There was ton of course support, signs everywhere, people out with their kids & dogs. People sitting on their lawns with signs, shop owners doing their own water stops, people giving out Twizzlers, cheering... You name it! It was obvious why they call this "America's Friendliest Marathon". The most beautiful part was when we ran along the James River for a while. It was almost silent other than the sound of the water. After the water stop that we got seperated I decided to listen to music. I was really nervous about the Robert E. Lee bridge because I'd heard terrifying things about it, but it gave me no trouble at all. The wind that people talk about must have taken pity on us that day. It was where I saw people start to drop off though, some walking, hobbling, limping, some sitting down on the side. From then on out the race thinned out a good bit. When I came off the bridge one of the race volunteers said, "You've got this, if you did the bridge your fine, it's the hardest part!" How silly of me to believe her!  Truthfully, I did myself in because when I tried to walk through a water stop at mile 11 I realized if I tried to walk anymore I'd be in big trouble. For some reason at mile 20 I went against my decision from just nine miles before and decided to walk through a water stop so that I could call Aarik and let him know to start heading down to the finish area with the kids. Being the amazing man that he is, he was already in the car with them. But when I started running again it was SO painful that it slowed me down A LOT. I kept thinking about all of the people I love who I wanted to do this for, the support they had given me, and I would tell myself that I WAS going to finish this and it would end faster if I kept running and that in only "X" amount of miles I was going to finally be a marathoner. It worked, I kept running. Not running fast, but running. At mile 24 I picked up my pace again, but couldn't maintain it for the last two miles after going up an unexpected hill. When I got down to mile 26 I was searching for my family- people who knew me and loved me and would be cheering me on.

I was so happy to see Josh, Aimee, Callie and Aimee's two sisters off to the side.

Then I saw Ray, Callie's grandpa who was awesome enough to be cameraman &course support Team Callie for the weekend.

I kept looking for Aarik & the kids and then I spotted two Never Give Up shirts in the crowd and realized it was Hannah and David. Those shirts on on my two teammates gave me a little more fuel and I finished the race at the bottom of the hill. I stopped my Garmin and looked down to see 26.32 miles in 5:03:08. I'm not going to lie, over 5 hours was hard to swallow. I've always been a middle of the pack runner, but usually toward the front end, not the back end. But I reminded myself of all the trials I had overcome to get to the finish line, and how blessed I am to be able to run at all, and that at mile 21 when my legs felt like someone had set them on fire I had decided this was such an incredibly hard thing to finish this race I would be proud of my time no matter what it was. I also found comfort in the fact that I beat Katie Holmes' marathon time ;). Called Aarik, they had gotten lost and then couldn't find parking, but they were out of the car now and heading to the finish area. They found Josh and Aimee. We could meet there. Another few minutes of walking and I was given my medal. I saw bananas and bagels, but they made me gag even though I was starving. Picked up a piece of pizza and a Powerade nibbled the pizza, but then decided it wasn't a good idea and tossed it, made my way through a ton of people laying on the ground, asked a cop how to get back to the finish line, followed his directions, climbed entirely too many stairs to get to the bridge off of the island, realized the fence in the way would make it impossible for me to get back to where I'd seen everyone before, went up to the next street,walked up another big hill and finally got to see my family! My sweet kiddos started yelling "Go mommy go! Go mommy go!" And I made a controlled collapse to the curb. I found out Jennifer had crossed the finish line shortly after me & was so excited & proud for her. As we sat & waited for her to make the same confusing journey back to the family, Ray offered to take a picture of me with the family. It's my favorite one from the day.

I'm so grateful he was so thoughtful & helped preserve memories from the weekend, otherwise I wouldn't have a single picture. Unfortunately, there were tons of people with dogs around so within just a few minutes Mckenzie was screaming like a lunatic and even knocked Parker down causing him to slam his head on the road. I decided (in my not so coherent mind) that I couldn't handle anymore of the dog induced spasms, and we left. I wish that I'd been thinking more clearly for photo purposes, because I left before we'd gotten a picture of all four of us with our medals. But here are the others with theirs

They all did awesome!

I learned a lot from this race that I'd like to share. It was so much easier and harder then I thought it would be; and I definitely want to talk about the aftermath of it all, but this post is too long already, so... Next time!

It's Here

So I've been trying to figure out what to post for my "last post before the big weekend" post. I had decided not to do one because I'm not thinking clearly and wanted it to be meaningful. Then Aimee said something to me that made me really think and I woke up to an article written by Victoria Strong, and I realized what I would like to write about.
As part of my fundraising I've spent the past several months describing how this disease works. Telling everyone about all of the things these kids can NOT do because of SMA. Truth is that these kids, and their parents, are told every day what they can't, and won't and shouldn't do; then these amazing children, along with their courageous and supportive parents, go out and they DO. Their parents become innovators, inventors, and activists. They make friends with their physical therapist, neurologist & pediatrician and as a team they make things happen.  These kids DO. Some live past 6 months, some go to Kindergarten, or ballet classes, and they run distances that most adults  "can't". They teach. They are inspirations for those of us who say we can't to get up and do. Their bodies fail them daily but they don't write a blog post to complain about it, they find a way to work around it. They don't ask for pity, they ask for support. When they reach the finish line of their life, no matter what the distance they traveled, they have given it their all. They run the perfect race, finishing with nothing left in the tank because they leave it all on the course.  I hope if I happen to meet "the wall" tomorrow (it's more likely than not) that I can remember the lessons I've learned from observing these amazing people this year and push through it, keep running because I'm blessed to have a body that can run.
For tonight, we're in Richmond, exhausted from the crazy trip, pancakes in belly, wrestling a teething 1 year old  & hoping we can figure out a way to get to the start line through all of the closed, most direct roads! Prayers appreciated ;)

Forced Taper

This morning I had plans to run somewhere between 16 and 20, depending on how I was feeling, and despite being advised strongly not to. My training plan called for 12, but last week had gone so well...
After some hard core jumping in the leaves last night my right leg had started to bother me so I decided it would be better to hang out near 16. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I had to cut out at 13 because I was having so much pain in my right shin, a weird burning in my ankle and some other odd thing in my left foot. I figure it's better to gut it out in two weeks in Richmond, walk if I have to and finish than it is to gut it out now when I don't technically have to and not be able to run any of the race. Goes to show you should listen to those who are more experienced than you.

I also have seen so very many posts recently about children with SMA passing away. My heart aches for their families and my passion is ignited to continue to try to raise funds and awareness of this terrible disease. Remember, the fundraising page is here. The donation is tax deductible and for such an amazing cause. Really, this race isn't about me, or my time, or my medal. It's about why I'm running and I'm grateful that the good Lord reminds me of this frequently.

Trying to Catch Up

I need to. I need to try to catch up on blogging AND training. The month of September was so completely overwhelming that I chose not to blog about it and share all of the negativity I felt during that month. Suffice it to say we had way too much going on and I was also dealing with an injury. Between life and limb (the right leg to be exact) I missed three crucial weeks of running. Like, completely missed them. No running at all. For three weeks. When I started back just a couple of weeks ago I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run on my bum leg to catch up, or be able to make up the mileage since it would require finding my way back to the 13 I'd built up to AND adding on enough mileage to get in a few decent long runs before taper and race. My first week back I subbed for two classes at the Y, and since I taught four days of cycle in a row I couldn't get in any mid week runs. Frustrated, I went out for my long run that weekend not knowing if I'd run two or ten. Luckily, it went great and I ran nine with no problems. I stopped at nine to make sure it wasn't overkill leading to re injury after my time off. I was thrilled and renewed. I came up with a make shift training plan for the last few weeks to build up to what I feel will be an ok mileage and was looking forward to twelve the next week. The twelve went horribly. After only five miles my injured leg was screaming at me, and whatever bug my family had been passing around was nagging at me, so I decided to try the walk run method so many of the ladies in my FB Women's Marathoner group recommended. So I ran 20 minutes, walked 5, ran 15, walked 5... It was brutal, but I finished having run more than I walked. I felt defeated, and beat up and frustrated that so many things have gone wrong with this training period.  I decided to try my hardest to stay positive, any finish at any time was better than not doing this at all. I've always said I just wanted to finish. Run or walk, it's still 26.2 miles. I did a lot of praying and reminding myself that my husband has been very supportive and helpful. He totally thinks I can do this (insert nervous laughter here). So many people have contributed to the fundraising end of this deal. I thought about Callie, and her family. Again and again GSF's  "Never Give Up" on my wrist, my jeep, my t-shirt, running jersey, water bottle. After a few days I wasn't as sore, we had another busy week with no time for mid week mileage, sigh, and Friday morning I went out for my first ever fifteen mile run, worried that this type of crazy, thrown together training plan would back fire. While I was aware of my Achilles, it never went into full on pain. My knee did something weird the first mile, but eventually settled in. I spent most of the run praying in gratitude for each mile completed and asking for a few more. At mile eleven I had kept an easy, even pace the entire time and was feeling strong. At mile twelve I decided to take a quick walk break to check for pain, and was surprised that the worst pain I had was when I started running again. My pace did slow after the walk break, but I still managed to finish my 15 in just over two and a half hours. Not the pace I had envisioned a few months back, but one I'm happy with now. One i hope to be able to muster for as long as possible on November 10th. When hobbling home I had a few thoughts: a. It sucks not getting a medal for this. b. ouch and c. I hope I can add 11.2 more miles to this :-! My last long training run (18 unless i can magically bust out a 20) is this next weekend, then two weeks of taper and the race. I'm crazy nervous and terrified by the idea of being forced to walk 8-10 miles after running 16-18. Just starting to realize what I'm supposed to be doing in 26 days. I probably won't find much time to blog between now and then, but hope to at least once. I would appreciate any prayers on my behalf, or good running vibes sent out. Or donations! ;) this post is already super long & wordy so, I'll TRY to update after next week's run.

Cookies for Callie

It has been too long since I've blogged, but extra time these days is extremely rare, and normally doesn't last long enough for me to sit down and dedicate the amount of time that this post deserves. Having said that, I'm going to attempt it right now because Konnor and Mckenzie are playing Disneyland Adventures on the Kinect, and Parker is trying to break the vaccuum right in front of me...

Last weekend was Cookies for Callie, and it went great! I am lucky enough to know some really amazing people who had amazing suggestions, ideas, abilities, and items to donate. Several months ago Mckenzie wanted to do a lemonade stand for my fundraising so I wrote a little Facebook inbox to several of our friends with kids and asked if it was something anyone would want to be involved in. We had a great response and one of my friends, who is the biggest example of living life charitably, mentioned that she had planned on doing a yard sale later in the summer and donating all of the money she made to GSF. Everyone thought it was a great idea and we started planning. One friend called around to local churches to find a place to hold the sale. We worked through lots of different schedules to find a Saturday that we could make work, tossed around lots of ideas, and we set the date. Then we all got crazy busy with Summer vacation, kids, family, church responsibilities, work... you name it. These women are among the busiest that I've ever met. When I realized it was only two weeks out we got back to work finalizing plans, making fliers, advertising on Craig's list, and letting everyone know that if they wanted a way to get involved and help, but didn't feel they could donate money for whatever reason, this was the way to do it. We bought matching Never Give Up t-shirts, wristbands to sell and got lots of change for Saturday morning.

Let me say that this was one of the most amazing things that I've ever been a part of. People went all out for this. For Callie. For GSF. Some even for me. So many people had so much to donate that I had to go collect items on Thursday AND Friday before the sale. We had two friends bring their lemonade stands for us to sale our baked goods and drinks from. On Friday several of us went to the church to collect and sort. There were people I knew well, people I had never met, some I had seen once or twice. I got to the church at 5 o clock and never sat down once. Loads and loads of stuff were brought in. Some people brought things both days. We had several people sorting and pricing all night. We filled (and I mean FILLED) two big rooms full of stuff. Not just any junk either. People donated a Play Station 3, a Prada bag, Vera with tags still attached, a beautiful acoustic guitar, $400.00 shoes (several pairs, in fact), there were baby clothes, luggage, text books and hand made cards...almost anything you could imagine. Not to mention the beautiful home made cookies and cupcakes and truffles and... Several women asked if their husbands could come help the next morning, some people even volunteered to have their teenage sons come out. At 5am. On a Saturday. When we finally left at 9 that night most of our items were not priced, despite the hard work put in by a group of people working a maximum effort. When I got home that night I thanked my mom for keeping my kids, got them all ready for bed and to sleep and then sat down to make signs. I didn't even close my eyes that night. Parker was sick and I felt like I was too from being so nervous. At 4 am , I got dressed and loaded up two caffeinated sodas, a water, signs, markers, money and my nerves into Aarik's truck. When I pulled into the church parking lot a few minutes early I expected to be the first one there, and alone for awhile, but just ahead of me my sweet friend and her husband were pulling in. She's pregnant, and had other obligations that day AND her baby shower that evening that was planned around this event. Within minutes we had an army in. Moving tables, chairs, and boxes full of sale items. Organizing and setting up tables, pricing things and making magic. I couldn't believe how smoothly it went. We were ready to go before sale time and good thing since we had a few early shoppers. Everyone did more than their share of work and it was very obvious how much love they felt for Callie, and her parents, and grandparents, and for this cause. As tired as we all were the day of the sale was fun and went by quickly. There were a few times that seemed like things weren't going as we had hoped and there weren't many shoppers, but then it would pick up and lift our spirits. Callie came for a visit. Lots of friends and family showed up to help, and shop and make cash donations. One man came before work and then again afterward. One of the elderly women from our church ward came at 7 and stayed a few hours to help. Some of our kids stayed the whole day, some for a short while, and they ran the baked goods table (and one ran the show. Seriously, girlfriend was on top of things!) It was so beautiful to watch every person come and say "I'm sorry this is all I can do" "I wish I could do more" and then to see what it all came together to be. Beautiful to see that if every person would jut do as much as they can do, no matter how big or small they feel their contribution is, that something beyond great can be accomplished. At the end of the day we had another small army come back in and clean up and drop off leftovers to the closest Goodwill and just like that it was over.

When we first decided to do this, I hoped we would spread awareness and make $500.00 or more. With all of the hard work put in I changed that goal to $800, just enough to reach the $2000.00 goal I'd set several months back. We actually raised $1970.00 for Cookies for Callie alone!!  Amazing! I wish I could thank each person individually, though no one did it for any type of praise. People kept saying that I was in charge, but really this small army of people made this whole thing happen. Good people, with big hearts, who want to make the world a better place however they can. I can't speak for Josh and Aimee and Callie or any of the other local SMA families that helped with and were thrilled about this event, but they were so grateful for all of the work that went into this event. We are planning to make this an annual event and are so excited for next year! I'm going to post a few pics and then I have to run (literally). I've missed two weeks of long runs between sick Parker, seriously painful shin issues and the exhaustion of the wonderful weekend this event brought on. Hope to find time soon to post about my recent issues with clumsiness and losing important things, more about running, my new job teaching cycle and Konnor and Mckenzie starting soccer!! Thanks again to everyone who made this happen!!

Tomorrow (and a few other days)

Tomorrow I will run 14 miles. That is the farthest I've ever run, and it's been almost two years since I've run that far. If it weren't for my mean right shin I would be so excited to have finally made it to this point. Well, I'm excited either way because,with all of the injuries so far, I never thought I'd get to this point. Last weekend I went out to run 12 and in my attempt to not be a hood runner (** see note) I added too many extra roads in and wound up running 13. While this shin has me running MUCH slower than I would like, the pace was such that I could have kept going a while longer and been fine. I also had to cut out one of my short runs this week in hopes it would help my leg, or help it not get worse. So I'm accepting that this time around with training I'm very injury prone, which means the best case scenario for November 10th is that I'll be in Richmond and toe the line very undertrained because of the time  I'll probably continue to take off to nurse these things. It's so frustrating to be physically capable, in every way but one, of doing something you want terribly to do. It really makes me think about what it would be like to have SMA and be fully mentally functioning and know how to do things, but not be able to do them. Which then makes me grateful to just have injuries from doing too much, or doing something wrong. I'm just hoping to go up there and run, walk, crawl or roll 26.2 miles in less than seven hours. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Things are starting to come together for our rummage sale, "Cookies for Callie", that's one week from today. This is going to be one heck of a crazy week. All of the last minute preparations for what looks to be a huge event, Aarik is switching to second shift Monday, I'm required to start going to the Y two mornings a week for training until my classes start the first week of September, adjusting to putting the kids to bed by myslef when it's really been a two person job so far,  it's supposed to be a 30 mile week (4, 7, 4 and my first ever 15), getting ready to have some major work done on our house, then add in the normal cooking, cleaning and preventing disasters, and the rummage sale itself. A week full of great things that, combined, are a little overwhelming. But, come Saturday night we'll hopefully be in rest/celebration/happy mode. If there aren't any updates until then, I'm sure I'll be excited to update after Cookies for Callie.

If you're wondering, we DO still have our three kids. They still do funny, busy things every day, and they are still wonderful. Right now it's just easier to shoot a picture onto Facebook or Instagram to update family about how Parker, who is barely one year old, is climbing EVERYTHING in sight. Like things that adults and monkeys can't climb. Or to quickly type a status update about how my 6 year old Konnor figured out how to crack the family lock code on Netflix. I can let everyone know at the same time that if they see us out in public Mckenzie picked out what she's wearing, bless her sweet heart. It certainly was not my idea. But, to hold you over until we start school the first week in September and Mckenzie starts soccer, and Konnor starts swim lessons and Parker starts... whatever craziness he starts next, here are a few random pics from lately.

**This is my own made up term for running only in neighborhoods. Every other time I have trained for a race I have been a hood runner. This time I am slowly venturing farther out with each run and am determined not to be a hood runner. The most I stay in the neighborhood anymore is about 2.4 miles, then it is out on main roads to stretch my legs and avoid most dog traffic... MOST. You can expect to see this term used in the future on this blog.

A Sweet Reminder

Of why I'm running to help me on my 7 miles tonight.and the 14 Sunday. 

Junk food, a new job and a Yard sale

Last night I had a great run. Didn't think it would go well with the way my shin and ankle were hurting, but in one of those miracles of running the pain went away about a quarter of a mile in and hasn't come back yet. Sweet! Tonight, however, after a full and very long day, I skipped my run. I'm completely exhausted and just needed a night to be home with the kids and Aarik. To make matters worse (or, maybe better) I just sat down and ate the biggest bowl of ice cream I've ever had in my life while I watched Crime 360 on Netflix. Hey, we all need to relax sometimes!

Two more things:

I'm really excited to have been presented the opportunity to teach group cycling (spin) classes at the YMCA right by our house a couple of times a week. It will be great for my mental health and, while the pay is almost laughable, the benefits make it well worth the effort. It is one of my passions to help people work toward healthy goals, and I have worked at both Gold's Gym and Peak Fitness in the past. It will be fun to do something new in a positive atmosphere and everyone there seems wonderful. I'm hoping that the cross training will be good for my marathon training and not make me more prone to injury than I already am. While the timing is a bit tricky, this will be a great thing for me, and the rest of our crew. I'll be posting more in the near future on how it's going and how the kids are doing in the programs we are signing them up for there.

Also, on August 25th, here in Winston Salem on Jonestown Road, a few of my wonderful, giving and inspiring friends and I will be having a rummage/yard sale and bake sale with all proceeds being donated to our fundraiser for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing and charitable people. We are working to finalize plans and strategizing ways to make it as succesful as possible. If anyone out there has lots of experience in this area, buying or selling, please share tips! I am excited to be running this marathon but the reason behind all of this is to raise as much money as possible for this charity. Hitting the goal would be great, but going above and beyond that would be even greater. With a 1 in 40 chance of being a carrier of the SMA gene, I can't think of anyone it wouldn't benefit to donate a few dollars to this cause. Any locals please stop by and say hello, shop for a cause, grab some cookies, or just drop off a donation! I'll keep you posted on this and let you know how it all turns out!

A New Video from The GSF

The Forced Step Back Week

So last week Aarik worked almost 60 hours. I ran in the 98 degree weather and with insane humidity for my mid week runs- a 3, a 5 and a 3. We have had lots going on with our house, and our car, and our kids. Not all bad stuff, just lots of stuff. Then on Thursday Aarik informed me he would be working Saturday morning from 6-12. Maybe all Saturdays from now on. Saturday mornings when I'm supposed to be doing my most important run of the week. Saturday mornings when most people want to sleep in and not get up and come to my house with my three kids at 5:30 am so I can get out the door to run. I REALLY, REALLY do not want to run on Sundays. I've done it before in a pinch, but I don't like the idea of making it a planned permanent thing, so I tried to get help. To no avail.  According to Hal Higdon it was supposed to be a step back week anyway. Bu according to my body in the past, step back weeks are a no no. Normally if I step back I pretty much have to start from scratch next long run. So I planned on running at least 11 instead of the 6 he said to run. Well, Saturday afternoon one of my very first and very favorite running buddies sent me a text to ask if I was up to running that night, so I jumped at the idea. If I could at least run the six my training plan suggested, but shoot for the eleven I wanted I would be good to go. Well, let me just tell you that a long run in the South, in the Summer, in the evening, after a crazy humid and very hot day may actually kill you. I wound up running and walking my six miles. It. Was. Miserable. Never again.

Tonight when I went out for my short three mile run I was surprised how strong my legs felt and how easy the running came. So smooth and natural, the way you're supposed to run after a step back week. Fingers crossed that my eleven this weekend will be as great! And, as a side note, I saw my first REAL bare footer tonight. No Vibrams, no moccasins, nothing. Just feet. Running in the same neighborhood as me. Completely bare foot. I felt the way walkers must feel when runners breeze past. I just watched him, feeling like I should be doing more. It was the first time I've ever thought of bare footing as an option. Pardon my French, but it just looked so bada$$. This is obviously not the time for me to experiment with it, and the lust for barefooting may pass as quickly as it came on, but for now I'm putting a pin in the idea. Considering I can't run in anything less cushioned than ASICS, I'm thinking I need to just let it go.

By the end of the month, if all goes according to plan I should be running thirteen miles. I had hopes to reach the half way point with fundraising by the time I reached the half way point in my mileage. Just a little personal goal that I think about when out running early on Saturday mornings. You have a lot of time to think when you run without music. It can be nice. Or weird. Depending on the day and what you had for dinner the night before, or how the heat plays mind tricks on you. If you know of any way to get the word out about  the fundraising page, the race and the reason PLEASE help! I am in awe of the support that has been given by my friends and family, thank you all! This is quite a journey and a lesson to experience.

Go Team GSF!!!!!

Just wanted to share this blog post!  Go Team GSF! GO TEAM CALLIE!!!

GSF founder Bill Strong

Bill talks to Fight SMA about what Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is doing to help out in the SMA community. You'll see part of why I love this charity!

26.2 miles

OK, I may throw up. It's official, if all goes well with training, I will be running The 2012 Anthem Richmond Marathon on November 10th. "America's friendliest marathon". I signed up tonight. It was a last minute change from the marathon I've been planning to run for the last several months, (Callie's Uncle and Grandma had some things change on their end & we can all run this one together) but it looks awesome! If it's anything like the website makes it look and sound, then I know this was the best choice for my first marathon. It will be wonderful to share this experience with both my family and Callie's. They have all been so supportive, both the ones who are local and the ones across the country. Now I can start getting excited... right?!?!

This week, as I've been anticipating signing up for this, I've been a ball of nerves. The anxiety has been manifesting itself in every facet of my life from motherhood & being a wife, to cleaning, to running and back again. I'm hoping that since I now know for sure which race I'm signed up to run, and have already taken the plunge, that the nerves will ease up and the training can begin. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out, with Aarik's work schedule due to change twice between now and then, and the usual life with kids thing. It's comforting that this race is two weeks further away than the other, also. Two more weeks to train and save money for the trip. Anyone who likes to pray for others, feel free to add me to your list. I'm lacking the confidence I'd hoped to have at this point in the year, and hoping that the donations, and my running ability (and excitement) will pick up again. I'm so honored to be able to join "Team GSF" and help raise money for this wonderful charity that does SO much to help improve the lives of families living and dealing with SMA.

Thank you to all that have supported me in both my fundraising and running efforts. I'll try to post as often as possible about how training is going, and keep you updated on the kiddos and Aarik too! I'm excited to share this fun and physically demanding journey with whoever cares to read about it, but hope to always keep in mind the reason that I'm doing this in such a public way. I'd be perfectly happy keeping my shortcomings as a runner to myself, especially with such a big commitment, but it's worth putting it all on the line for people to learn a little about Spinal Muscular Atrophy and maybe support the cause too! Well, here we go...

Mother's Day Post

Hooray for Mother's Day! I remember growing up my sisters and I would ask my mom what she wanted for Mother's day and every year she would say the same thing- "a clean house and for every body to get along". I always thought that this was because she was a single mom and knew that we kids probably couldn't do much more than that anyway. Now that this has become my request (or very similar to it. mine is actually a clean house, a nap and a day of food that I don't have to cook. Even if it's out of a can/box/drive thru) I understand that as a mom this is actually all you ever really want for yourself (ok, again close to all you ever want. a new pair of jeans or shoes doesn't hurt either). As a stay at home mom, even more so. I find lately I spend my days in a frenzy of cleaning, cooking, cleaning, diaper changing, cleaning, teaching- only to sit down at the end of the day exhausted and surrounded by a cluttered house. Is it all worth it? Absolutely! Do I always remember that? Not quite. But I try. I also have found that the week leading up to Mother's day is often the most chaotic week of the year, many of the days spent in tears, status updates of the insanity, and finally after the hurricane hits it's peak the calm after the storm is usually a beautiful moment, or two, that reminds me why I love what I do. Luckily that part is a day or two before Sunday. This week it was Friday afternoon. After two separate trips to the grocery store, only to come home and find out that there was no solid evidence that anything we bought could be put together to make a meal. While feeling proud of myslef for sending out Mother's Day cards that will be late but were sent before the Monday after Mother's day, and after dropping off dinner to someone else's home, when I put all three of my little monkeys in the bath together. As they sat in the tub splashing the walls, floors, ceiling, and me, I got to have a moment to think about how great they were. How well behaved they had been all day. How awesome it is to finally have all three of them here healthy, and beautiful and funny. Watching them play together and laugh together and love each other. It was a confirmation that everything Aarik and I have done to get these little people here was worth it. The pregnancies and miscarriages, the sacrifices and the struggles, the stretch marks, and most recently giving up ice cream and cheese and sour cream in hopes that it will help Parker to get no more ear infections for my milk to have no cow's milk in it. Putting ourselves and often our marriage, on the back burner. It is an amazing feeling of completion and accomplishment. As much as I fail in life, I did three things perfectly. Raising them is another story, but we do our best, right?! Other things I learned this year for Mother's Day: if you're a "mother runner" you don't get to sleep in Mother's day weekend AND if you leave it up to your husband to come up with Mother's day food, you just  might end up eating a Cliff Bar for breakfast and whatever he's been craving the past few weeks for lunch (like, I dunno, a Burger King chicken sandwich?!)

A week from today is the Diva's half. It will be my third half marathon, and the first one back since having Parker. Of more importance is the fact that my mom is also going to be doing this race. She has trained and worked hard for it and is getting excited. Some time this week I'll find a little time to blog about all of this.

My gift this year is The. Coolest. My hubby bought me my marathon shoes.

Mckenzie wanted me to know that they were HER idea, but daddy was the one who went and bought them. Bless her heart.

I won't be running in them for the next couple of weeks but I'm especially excited to have them for the last couple of months of marathon training, and of course the day of the big race. Lucky for me Aarik knows how much I love shoes, and how hard it will be for me not to wear heels this year since training in higher mileage equals foot problems for me. Thanks babe for making sure the shoes I will be wearing the most will be hot!

Today I'm grateful for my mother and all of the sacrifices she made to raise her children as a single mom. I'm amazed at her strength. I'm also especially mindful today of the moms, grandmas, and nanas praying and fighting for a cure for SMA. The challenges I think I have are nothing in comparison to the ones they deal with daily. These women are angels, and rock stars and deserve a huge shout out, and loads of respect. Victoria Strong at Gwendolyn Strong Foundation  is an amazing woman, and mom, and has been so wonderful to support me in trying to raise money and awareness for their foundation. I'm equally amazed by the positive attitude that Callie's mom, Aimee, has. She is a wonderful mom, and friend, and one of the main reasons that this cause is so dear to my heart. Thanks to all of the wonderful mothers in my life! Happy Mother's Day all!

No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother's love.  It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star.  ~Edwin Hubbell Chapin

This is SMA

Some of you guys have been following the story of little Avery, who was diagnosed with SMA type 1. My heart was broken today to see this. She was here for such a short time but made such a huge impact by making SO many people aware of this condition. This is what SMA does and this is why it is SO important to beat this disease. Prayers for her family and gratitude for what they've done. Please be a part of helping us raise money to find a cure!

The Hospice 10k

This seems to be the year of glitches and frustrations. You guys know we've had lots going on so I won't go into all of that, but let's just say as of Friday night I was pretty sure there was no way I'd be running Saturday morning. But, when the alarm went off Saturday I got up and got ready and Aarik did the same and we headed over to the Hospice Run. Neither of us felt well, or well prepared, but we figured the distances we were running were short enough we could walk back if we needed to. They had a record turn out which is great for them and their fundraising efforts, a bit frustrating for some of the runners. Apparently, record turn out means they give your t shirt away to someone who registers the day of, and they start the race 45 minutes late, and they are "looking into" posting the results online so people who paid for timing can hopefully find out what their finishing times were.

Okay, to the positives- it was gorgeous weather! Couldn't have been more perfect for the distances we were running! Since they started the 5k thirty minutes before the 10k (???) Aarik was finished and rested enough to think about taking a picture with his cell phone when I finished. He never runs with his phone, so it's fun he did this time!

Hopefully the Hospice people got one of Aarik. We both ran the whole time, and finished somewhere around what our average times are for racing these distances( 54:33 for my 10k and Aarik said he thought his time was 25 something), nothing too shiny. The course was crazy hilly and so it always makes you feel good to finish something challenging; my legs are paying the price today. There wasn't enough time for the extra 3 miles we had planned on running after, so we went straight home. Sorry, not much of a race update. Hopefully the next two will be more positive experiences, with more pictures, and more to talk about!

There were two more donations this week! Aimee, Callie's mom, and I usually do a little text message "high five" of sorts when we see a new donation. It helps get us closer to our goal, but more importantly it's another donation closer to finding a treatment, or cure, for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  EVERY donation is special. EVERY donation makes my heart happy. EVERY donation counts. A donation can't be too big or too small. I want to share a story of one of the donations because it is awesome to have the opportunity to do that. There is a story behind every donation. This is such an amazing opportunity to be an important drop in the bucket that has to be filled to beat this disease. It's exciting to be getting closer to the half marathon next month, and then to be able to officially register for the big show, the 26.2 miles, just a few days later. We are all really looking forward to seeing the support roll in as we approach the goal race. We are grateful to everyone who has donated so far and gotten us on the path to exceeding our goal, and to all of the people that will donate along the way too. Each donation is a little morale boost for me when I'm struggling with getting out the door and putting in the mileage. It holds me accountable :) I imagine it's also a morale boost to Callie's family. I know it means so much to the people at GSF.  Feel free to share anything I post here. Please feel free to share the fundraising page and the marathon effort, tell people about the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, and help us spread the word, and make people aware, that this disease is out there and it's something that can be beaten! Thanks for all y'all are doing to get us where we want to go!

*** Update 4/16/12*** Results were posted here are mine. Nothing to be proud of, but I finished. Aarik's are here.

If You're Wondering Why

it's important to me to raise awareness and money for Gwendolyn Strong Foundation in honor of Callie to fight SMA, this is EXACTLY why.

I've seen this exact thing happen to people I love. It can happen to anyone, anywhere, without warning. Please consider clicking on the "Donate" link on the side of the blog to make a donation to help end SMA.

Last Night's Race

So last night was the 5k in Mount Airy. I've been waiting to get official results before I blogged about it, but I'm not sure when that will happen, so for now: I ran it in 26:35 (according to my Garmin) not super fast, but decent. From what I understand I placed first in my age division, which is exciting because that has never happened to me and probably never will again (my info came from a source very close to one of the directors).This only happened because it was a smallish race, but every little victory feels good. I had to leave as soon as I crossed the finish line to get home to Parker and make sure Aarik didn't miss his plans.   No, I didn't pee myself :) I did, however, have to take two quick walk breaks due to the crazy stitch I got in my side. Never had that experience before, and hope to never have it again. It was insanely painful and still hurts today. Not sure exactly what caused it but Runners World suggests this to fix it (for anyone out there who may have this experience in the future). So technically the 5k beat me again. What can ya do? Other than this dreadful pain in my side, the race was really fun. I got to run with a great friend who helped me run through the pain when she could have left me, the decorations on the course were super cute and it was fun to run at night. Callie's grandparents and aunts were there too. Some participating in the race, some taking pictures and some cheering. If I can get my hands on any pics (and don't look crazy in them) I'll post those and if and when official results are posted I'll update again. Please remember to pass on the fundraising page for SMA in honor of Callie. It's been exciting the past few weeks to see some of the advances in research. Just a reminder of how close they are to finding a treatment and how important it is that we continue to fund those doing the research. It would be great if those newly diagnosed with SMA never had to see the worst effects of this disease. My next race is a 10k on April 14th. OK, bedtime for the kids; we have all kinds of new schedules starting tomorrow!

Race Dates SO Far

In an effort to have some accountability, while I'm waiting to register for the Marathon and for them to announce the actual day in October, I am registered for every race I intend to do between now and then as "build up" races to help me gauge how my training is going. So I told you guys about my 5k in March, I'll also be doing a 10k in April and a half marathon  in May. If any of y'all are close by and feel like coming out to cheer me on I'd love to see you!  June 1st I should be able to tell you that I am registered for the Full Marathon and what the actual date is. So you can expect at least one big update a month on how training is going. After I'm actually registered for the full there may be one or two more build up races thrown in. I'm hoping that we will see continued support in our fundraising efforts for SMA on Callie's behalf. You can click on that link any time between now and race day and donate and your donation will go to GSF on behalf of Callie, which makes it a little more special than just donating. Right now we are at 5% of our goal, which is awesome but we still have a long way to go. I want you guys to realize that while there is currently no treatment, they are SO close to finding one. That's why it is so important that we do what we can to help them.

The little ticker to the right on this page is keeping track of where we are with our fundraising. It's a little droopy for some reason (I'm trying to figure that out) but it will help keep you guys up to date. I'm trying to find a ticker that I can update to let you guys know how many miles I've run for Callie since we announced our efforts. Until I find one I'll just share that info with you guys once a week after the longest run of the week (usually Saturdays). I want to show that this is a sincere effort with work going into it & hopefully people will match the work efforts with donations! Thanks for all  you are doing to help this effort along!

TEAM GSF: NEVER GIVE UP.

I joined Team GSF to run for those who can't run for themselves. Please donate to help us fight SMA. http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jessicaapplegate/runningforcallie