I am just rounding out my fifth week of school and I am already ready for winter break. The novelty has worn off as I am more and more sluggish to wake up at 6am or 7am to go to class. I am hoping to hold it together for 10 more weeks before I can reboot and prepare for the next segment.
I only have 3 classes, but they are intense. Every time I get one assignment off my plate I get two more and of course all of it is research and critical thinking.
I have this class called Informatics that is taught on-line and I feel completely lost in. I am not understanding how this pertains to nursing. It seems like busy work and no one in my cohort is in this class. They are all in the general nursing program. It doesn't seem to use any crittical thinking. It requires to post your work and then respond to (2) other people's work with comments. I try to post something of value, but I receive feedback such as "ohhh, I really like the background you chose for your powerpoint" or "I thought including a link for the websites and citing your work was a good idea." Come on people!!! How about some in depth feedback????
Into to Accelerated nursing is busy work. Write papers utilizing APA citation. I am not really sure why I have to know how to write research papers when I am going to be dealing with patients hands on.
Nursing Assessment is by far the most intense class I have. It is 10 hours of class time with a test every 2 weeks. I just finished my 2nd test. I studied and fretted over the first and scored a 93 (it is 100 multiple choice, bubble in your favorite freaking letter). I can usually get through 70 quesitons before my brain is fried and an acute case of ADD kicks in. Yesterday I had the same situation, 70 questions done and ADD hits. Our grades were posted today range of 96-71. I scored a 93 again. I am not sure if the test was harder as I only studied for 4 hours the night before and completely neglected to review the section on skin assessment.
I have learned a lot about the type of person I am and that I do not necessarily agree with everything being taught. For example you are not suppose to give false reassurance to a patient and say "everything will be okay." You cannot guarantee it will, therefore do not say it. Also, if a person smokes you can only tell them the facts about smoking. You cannot criticize them or tell them they should quit. That is just Bullshit!! I will never be mean or condescending to a patient, but you can bet your ass I am going to try to very nicely convince them to quit.
Oh, and people "WASH YOUR FREAKIN' HANDS!!!" The most common way to prevent the spread of infection is by washing your hands. Scrub those bad boys for 15-30 seconds and when I say scrub, I mean use some friction for cripes sake!! Getting them wet does nothing. The key is FRICTION!!! Oh and if you meet somebody with a PhD do not shake their hands. Studies show the higher the education level the less likely a person is to wash their hands...GROSSS!
Temperature is usually taken in one of the following ways, tympanic, temporal, oral, axillary or rectally. I am sure most know this, but do you know on the new oral thermometers they have red and blue thermometers? The blue is for oral and the red is for rectal, so if a nurse ever says open wide and goes to stick the red one in your mouth....RUN!!!!
Euthanasia is not legal in the United States anywhere, but in Oregon and some other state Physicians Assisted Suicide is. I guess the process takes 17 days from start to end. The patient must meet certain qualifications, meet with the physicians and a therapist and if all checks out they are given pills (not sure of what...maybe arsenic) that they themselves must take to end their life. Creepy.
I was hoping to be near perfect, but all the work is taking away from my running and really making me cranky. I started this program hoping to graduate as an overachieving nurse with damn near perfect scores, but now I just want to pass and be done with it. I did not choose this profession because I wanted perfect scores on tests. I chose this because I want to provide people with the best quality of life they can have, even if it means they will die prematurely.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
North Shore Border War Recap
Before I end my play time for the day and get back on the study stick for school, which by the way has completely destroyed my ability to train I wanted to get this up. I will have to edit and report times and splits when the site has them up, but here goes maybe my last race report for quite awhile (sniffle).
Going into this race I was stressed. I was only completing my thrid week of school and I had skipped out on workouts with friends and forgone racing my favorite road race the week before due to an excessive need to study and do research. I felt completely unprepared for this race to say the least.
This week I had managed a really weak training block of 3 runs (6M, 10M and 4M) with one quick 25 minutes swim. I tried to justify it as a taper, but I knew I had fallen off the f*cking wagon. I had a huge test on Tuesday and other than worrying about whether I should do the race or not, I really had no time to stress about the race itself or mentally prepare, except for last night when I thought I would mostly just find my mental game at the bottom of a porto-john tomorrow if I raced.
I made the decision however, at 5:13am this morning to race one last time, to lay it all on the line, to race at least one time as a 32 year old (ick!). I was 32 today and I was going to ask myself 32 times if need be "are you going hard enough?" "is that all you got?" Then I was going to hunker down...I hoped and go harder.
It was chilly, in the low 50's near the start. I had my hoodie on and was cold. Other people were wearing gloves and winter hats. Boy, this was going to be a cold one!
I managed a warm-up of about 15 minutes of running with AH before donning my wetsuit and hoping to stay warm. The race started about 15 minutes late though, so my warm-up was becoming useless...Brrrr!!! Have I said how cold it is? Anyway, the men started 10 minutes ahead of us and although the swim was supposed to be a 1/2 mile, it looked to be a short 1/2 mile as I saw the leaders coming out in less than 10 minutes. I also noted going out it looked like you could touch for the most part. I didn't really pay much attention though as I started swimming with about 7 minutes to go and it was like taking a cold bath. It was a little shocking. Whoo!!! I felt the difference in my stroke and body immediately. I needed to relax, but was chilled and my body was rebelling. Oh, this swim was going to be unique if nothing else.
Swim: There were about 20-30 women in this race. I stood in the water in the second row. The horn sounded and there was water flying everywhere. I have learned to bilaterally breathe and debated trying it, but there was too much going on so the decision was made for me. I needed to see and breathe. The swim out was into the sun and completely sucked and should totally be negated from the swim time! I was swimming, but when I looked over I saw so many girls running I was shocked. This is a swim, not deep water running!!! I was even more frustrated to see girls runnning next to me and keeping pace! WTF!! I thought about running myself, but this is a triathlon and my pride won out, I kept swimming. It seemed there were 2 groups, of swimmers, the girls way ahead of me and then the rest of us. At the final buoy we made the turn to come back and that's when the race took a turn for the better for me. The water apparently deepened and I began passing girls on both sides of me. I was elated. I might have also been swimming a little technically less sound on the way out too as I noticed I had been dropping my shoulders and my hips were not up. I could also feel the slight twinges of cramps in my toes. My body was as acclimated as it was going to get to that freakin' ice bath. I needed to get out of that lake as soon as possible. I could easily see the last green buoy down the beach and I swam right for that bad boy. I jumped out of the water and as I ran up the beach I heard a friend yell I was 6th woman out of the water. No way!!! Sweet!!! I knew "Amanda Freak'n F****" and KK were 2 of the girls ahead of me and possibly this girl from the ETC who is a extremely fast swimmer, but not as fast on the run as me. I want to say 12:00 minutes but who the "F" knows. Definitely a short swim.
T1: I found my bike and noticed Daisy's hubby standing next to my rack and gave a nod as he was on the phone, so I didn't say hi and interuppt his conversation (still have to be polite in a triathlon). I stripped my suit and transitioned without any mishaps, but it felt like it took me forever for some reason and I don't know why. I don't have a split, but I am going to say 2:00ish (it may be more like +2:00ish)
Bike: Hopped on my sweetass tribike that I love so dearly and headed out. I didn't wear any gloves, arm warmers, vests or anything with the cooler temps. I figured I would suffer through and if it got that bad I would tell myself "aww, is the little baby cold, well pedal harder Motherf*cker!!" My left foot went numb in my shoe almost immediately and it was weird. AH had told me the course was more than likely going to be a flat 13.5 miles and it was. There were some headwinds and some gravelly sections. There was a tiny incline going up to the lake and then a right through Geneva-on-the-Lake. There was something going on and there were cars and people out and about so I hoped nobody planned on popping out into the road from in front of a parked car! About 3/4 of the way through the first lap BS caught me on his second loop and yelled "hey nice bike." I laughed. He had race insanely well at HalfMax Nationals the day before in Oklahoma and was just doing this to seal the deal on the Tri Series championship. About the same time he passed me there was a group of 5 guys that rolled by. I was really disappointed as they were all on tri bikes and had this been a USAT race they would have been sited for "blocking" or "drafting." Someone had called out my name from the group and said way to go or something like that. I found out after the race it was AH. I would never get mad at AH on purpose, but I hate cheating, even if it means losing to a cheater. I was definitely not happy with that group of riders. This is "MY" race by "MY" choice and I will never let anyone change that. Back to the race. My legs were burning from the get-go. I was living on the edge. Every time I felt I was slipping I would re-focus ask my question and hunker down or I would repeat "Amanda Freakin' F****" in my head. I had a secret goal to not let her beat me by more than 5 minutes. The second lap was a tad faster, I think, but my legs were so tight and my foot was so numb, I questioned whether I would be able to run. I dismissed the thought as my legs have not failed me in the last 3 triathlons. They would be there today too, at least I hoped. Rolled into the park and did my very cool flying dismount (best one in a race so far, since I got the new ride). I was up to gut-checking myself about 7 times by the time the bike had ended and I had only caught one girl. Where the "F" were those other 4 girls? Time I will say 35:00-45:00 minutes, no computer, no clue and I actually like racing without one way better than having one.
T2: When I got into transition I saw Daisy's hubby still hangout by my rack, but this time he was off the phone, so as I was "transitioning" I managed a quick conversation.
Joey: Looks like the new bike is working for you.
Me: Yeah, it wouldn't be because I was ACTUALLY training (wink, wink)
See short and with that I was out, except I hear this noise as something hit the ground. Hmmm, don't know what it is, so worry later. Just after the mats I noticed the world looked different in some way. "OH MY GOD!" My lens on my right Oakley had fallen out. Shit!! Those sunglasses were over a hundred bucks. I debated going back, but decided not to. I would finish the race and worry about it later. I did lift my glasses off my face and over my head though, so I didn't look stupid. The guys were teasing me after making stupid pirate jokes...hahaha funny...NOT! Time was maybe a little over a minute because of the run down and around into transition after crossing mat. This one felt slow too, but I am sure it will be normal. I just don't know why I feel slow.
Run: I am not gonna lie. This hurt a bit. I left transition and felt the tightness in my quads and groin with every step. My left foot was still completely numb and I was just slapping that bad boy on the pavement hoping it would wake up. I finally saw "Amanda Freakin' F****" coming back as I was going out to and then I saw KK, but no other girls. I was confused. Had the cold weather frozen my brain. What happened to the other 2 girls? My breathing was really labored from the start of the run and as pained as my legs felt they were holding and moving me just like I had hoped. I figured KK was about a minute ahead of me and I would close that gap a tad as I am the faster runner...for now. I had plenty of guys in front of me to pass initially, but then even they disappeared and I was running alone. I was only able to focus on 100-200 meters at a time before I would notice myself slowing and getting sloppy, so I checked myself at those intervals and ran for made up landmarkers, telephone poles, stop signs, intersections, turns. One guy passed me with a little over a mile to go. He got about 10 yards on me before I picked up my speed to match his and stop the gap from getting bigger. As we ran up the last straight-away before turning right into the parking lot for the finsih, I made my only really disappointing move of the day. I had not done anything but focused on the task at hand and chasing the leaders down, but when I made the turn I looked over my right shoulder to see who was coming. Answer: Nobody! I would not have to sprint for the line. I did not necessarily slow, but I sure as hell did not put the hammer down to the mat. Run time was I think, right under 23:00. I hit the line by my new watch in 1:15:30. I was done. I had gut-checked myself about 14 times and my legs quads were heavy as all heck, but I knew I could close the book on my season knowing I had raced my ass off :)
And to top it off our local tri club took home the winning trophies for the border war!! Go OHIO!!!!! We easily beat PA.
*******EDIT******
Times are up...
1/2 Mile Swim: 11:22 (it was more like 550-600 meters)
T1: 1:13
13.5 Mile Bike 39:09
T2: :44
3.1 Mile Run: 22:59
Total: 1:15:29
And I did not meet my sub-5:00 goal on Amanda Freakin' F****!! Damn that one is fast!! Grrrrrr!!
Going into this race I was stressed. I was only completing my thrid week of school and I had skipped out on workouts with friends and forgone racing my favorite road race the week before due to an excessive need to study and do research. I felt completely unprepared for this race to say the least.
This week I had managed a really weak training block of 3 runs (6M, 10M and 4M) with one quick 25 minutes swim. I tried to justify it as a taper, but I knew I had fallen off the f*cking wagon. I had a huge test on Tuesday and other than worrying about whether I should do the race or not, I really had no time to stress about the race itself or mentally prepare, except for last night when I thought I would mostly just find my mental game at the bottom of a porto-john tomorrow if I raced.
I made the decision however, at 5:13am this morning to race one last time, to lay it all on the line, to race at least one time as a 32 year old (ick!). I was 32 today and I was going to ask myself 32 times if need be "are you going hard enough?" "is that all you got?" Then I was going to hunker down...I hoped and go harder.
It was chilly, in the low 50's near the start. I had my hoodie on and was cold. Other people were wearing gloves and winter hats. Boy, this was going to be a cold one!
I managed a warm-up of about 15 minutes of running with AH before donning my wetsuit and hoping to stay warm. The race started about 15 minutes late though, so my warm-up was becoming useless...Brrrr!!! Have I said how cold it is? Anyway, the men started 10 minutes ahead of us and although the swim was supposed to be a 1/2 mile, it looked to be a short 1/2 mile as I saw the leaders coming out in less than 10 minutes. I also noted going out it looked like you could touch for the most part. I didn't really pay much attention though as I started swimming with about 7 minutes to go and it was like taking a cold bath. It was a little shocking. Whoo!!! I felt the difference in my stroke and body immediately. I needed to relax, but was chilled and my body was rebelling. Oh, this swim was going to be unique if nothing else.
Swim: There were about 20-30 women in this race. I stood in the water in the second row. The horn sounded and there was water flying everywhere. I have learned to bilaterally breathe and debated trying it, but there was too much going on so the decision was made for me. I needed to see and breathe. The swim out was into the sun and completely sucked and should totally be negated from the swim time! I was swimming, but when I looked over I saw so many girls running I was shocked. This is a swim, not deep water running!!! I was even more frustrated to see girls runnning next to me and keeping pace! WTF!! I thought about running myself, but this is a triathlon and my pride won out, I kept swimming. It seemed there were 2 groups, of swimmers, the girls way ahead of me and then the rest of us. At the final buoy we made the turn to come back and that's when the race took a turn for the better for me. The water apparently deepened and I began passing girls on both sides of me. I was elated. I might have also been swimming a little technically less sound on the way out too as I noticed I had been dropping my shoulders and my hips were not up. I could also feel the slight twinges of cramps in my toes. My body was as acclimated as it was going to get to that freakin' ice bath. I needed to get out of that lake as soon as possible. I could easily see the last green buoy down the beach and I swam right for that bad boy. I jumped out of the water and as I ran up the beach I heard a friend yell I was 6th woman out of the water. No way!!! Sweet!!! I knew "Amanda Freak'n F****" and KK were 2 of the girls ahead of me and possibly this girl from the ETC who is a extremely fast swimmer, but not as fast on the run as me. I want to say 12:00 minutes but who the "F" knows. Definitely a short swim.
T1: I found my bike and noticed Daisy's hubby standing next to my rack and gave a nod as he was on the phone, so I didn't say hi and interuppt his conversation (still have to be polite in a triathlon). I stripped my suit and transitioned without any mishaps, but it felt like it took me forever for some reason and I don't know why. I don't have a split, but I am going to say 2:00ish (it may be more like +2:00ish)
Bike: Hopped on my sweetass tribike that I love so dearly and headed out. I didn't wear any gloves, arm warmers, vests or anything with the cooler temps. I figured I would suffer through and if it got that bad I would tell myself "aww, is the little baby cold, well pedal harder Motherf*cker!!" My left foot went numb in my shoe almost immediately and it was weird. AH had told me the course was more than likely going to be a flat 13.5 miles and it was. There were some headwinds and some gravelly sections. There was a tiny incline going up to the lake and then a right through Geneva-on-the-Lake. There was something going on and there were cars and people out and about so I hoped nobody planned on popping out into the road from in front of a parked car! About 3/4 of the way through the first lap BS caught me on his second loop and yelled "hey nice bike." I laughed. He had race insanely well at HalfMax Nationals the day before in Oklahoma and was just doing this to seal the deal on the Tri Series championship. About the same time he passed me there was a group of 5 guys that rolled by. I was really disappointed as they were all on tri bikes and had this been a USAT race they would have been sited for "blocking" or "drafting." Someone had called out my name from the group and said way to go or something like that. I found out after the race it was AH. I would never get mad at AH on purpose, but I hate cheating, even if it means losing to a cheater. I was definitely not happy with that group of riders. This is "MY" race by "MY" choice and I will never let anyone change that. Back to the race. My legs were burning from the get-go. I was living on the edge. Every time I felt I was slipping I would re-focus ask my question and hunker down or I would repeat "Amanda Freakin' F****" in my head. I had a secret goal to not let her beat me by more than 5 minutes. The second lap was a tad faster, I think, but my legs were so tight and my foot was so numb, I questioned whether I would be able to run. I dismissed the thought as my legs have not failed me in the last 3 triathlons. They would be there today too, at least I hoped. Rolled into the park and did my very cool flying dismount (best one in a race so far, since I got the new ride). I was up to gut-checking myself about 7 times by the time the bike had ended and I had only caught one girl. Where the "F" were those other 4 girls? Time I will say 35:00-45:00 minutes, no computer, no clue and I actually like racing without one way better than having one.
T2: When I got into transition I saw Daisy's hubby still hangout by my rack, but this time he was off the phone, so as I was "transitioning" I managed a quick conversation.
Joey: Looks like the new bike is working for you.
Me: Yeah, it wouldn't be because I was ACTUALLY training (wink, wink)
See short and with that I was out, except I hear this noise as something hit the ground. Hmmm, don't know what it is, so worry later. Just after the mats I noticed the world looked different in some way. "OH MY GOD!" My lens on my right Oakley had fallen out. Shit!! Those sunglasses were over a hundred bucks. I debated going back, but decided not to. I would finish the race and worry about it later. I did lift my glasses off my face and over my head though, so I didn't look stupid. The guys were teasing me after making stupid pirate jokes...hahaha funny...NOT! Time was maybe a little over a minute because of the run down and around into transition after crossing mat. This one felt slow too, but I am sure it will be normal. I just don't know why I feel slow.
Run: I am not gonna lie. This hurt a bit. I left transition and felt the tightness in my quads and groin with every step. My left foot was still completely numb and I was just slapping that bad boy on the pavement hoping it would wake up. I finally saw "Amanda Freakin' F****" coming back as I was going out to and then I saw KK, but no other girls. I was confused. Had the cold weather frozen my brain. What happened to the other 2 girls? My breathing was really labored from the start of the run and as pained as my legs felt they were holding and moving me just like I had hoped. I figured KK was about a minute ahead of me and I would close that gap a tad as I am the faster runner...for now. I had plenty of guys in front of me to pass initially, but then even they disappeared and I was running alone. I was only able to focus on 100-200 meters at a time before I would notice myself slowing and getting sloppy, so I checked myself at those intervals and ran for made up landmarkers, telephone poles, stop signs, intersections, turns. One guy passed me with a little over a mile to go. He got about 10 yards on me before I picked up my speed to match his and stop the gap from getting bigger. As we ran up the last straight-away before turning right into the parking lot for the finsih, I made my only really disappointing move of the day. I had not done anything but focused on the task at hand and chasing the leaders down, but when I made the turn I looked over my right shoulder to see who was coming. Answer: Nobody! I would not have to sprint for the line. I did not necessarily slow, but I sure as hell did not put the hammer down to the mat. Run time was I think, right under 23:00. I hit the line by my new watch in 1:15:30. I was done. I had gut-checked myself about 14 times and my legs quads were heavy as all heck, but I knew I could close the book on my season knowing I had raced my ass off :)
And to top it off our local tri club took home the winning trophies for the border war!! Go OHIO!!!!! We easily beat PA.
*******EDIT******
Times are up...
1/2 Mile Swim: 11:22 (it was more like 550-600 meters)
T1: 1:13
13.5 Mile Bike 39:09
T2: :44
3.1 Mile Run: 22:59
Total: 1:15:29
And I did not meet my sub-5:00 goal on Amanda Freakin' F****!! Damn that one is fast!! Grrrrrr!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Never Forgotten
"In a 2,000-degree inferno, the tower crumples and crashes to the ground at 9:55 am. Minutes later, at 10:29 am, the north tower collapses."
"As the heat from the inferno became intolerable, trapped workers were forced to jump from the towers to escape the flames."
Alisa Schindler, searching for friend Charles. "We go around to different places, but you run out of places to go. So we always end up back here at Bellevue."
It's hard to believe it has already been eight years since the 9/11 tragedy. I remember it still so clearly. It was sunny out. I was working in the cash office at my old job when I heard the news on the TV's. Surreal wasn't the word. It was unimaginable and then when the second tower was hit, along with the Pentagon and United Flight 93 I was sick. I felt completely helpless and pissed off! I cried so many tears that day and the many days after.
I remeber watching interviews with family members of loved ones who died and my heart broke for them. One lady received a call from her husband from UF-93 telling her he and some others had to stop the hi-jackers and that he loved her and to tell the kid's he loved them too (and as I type this I am cying) before saying goodbye one last time to his wife. In her interview, she was crying as she was telling her story and she said after he hung up with her she held phone for hours after the battery died unable to let go. It was unthinkable.
I also found this site a few years later after I started running. His name was Stephen Siller.
Stephen Siller, beloved husband and father of five, was a firefighter from Squad 1, Park Slope Brooklyn. On 9/11, he was off-duty, and on his way to golf with his 3 older brothers.
When Stephen heard on his scanner that the World Trade Center had been hit, he turned his vehicle around and headed towards the site. When his truck was prohibited from entering the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, typically of him, he raced on foot towards the site with his gear strapped to his back.
He was last seen alive on West and Liberty Streets where he, more than likely, went looking for his Squad, all of whom perished. The Tunnel to Towers Run retraces Stephen's footsteps on that fateful day.
In running along his path, we honor the memory of all the Firefighters, Police, and EMS workers who performed their duty that day. In running this race, we are reclaiming still another part of the city for all our heroes and for all of those who died on 9/11.
They will never be forgotten!
Watch the video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Meat and Potatoes of the Pine Line Marathon
I wrote this months ago :( But of course, just now adding one of the greatest days of my life to my blog
____________________________________________________
It seemed like just a few months ago that I had broached the idea of a family marathon to my mom, but it had already been over a year. Everyone had trained through the winter months and made the trip home to Medford Wisconsin.
The race was to start at 8:00am and we had instructed everyone to arrive no later than 7:30am!! We were staying in my godparents camper, which was sweet! It was definitely an experience. My roommates were so excited to be in the near north woods of Wisconsin they were tempted to “camp” outside, but due to the horrific rains and woodticks they felt it best to sleep inside with us :) Anyway, the camper was less than 2 miles from the start, but we had to run into town for coffee…mmmmmmmmmmmm and more bathroom breaks. The rain was coming down and it was only in the 40’s (what happened to the sunshine? It was beautiful the day before!)
This was a very small marathon. There were only 11 relay teams, about 20-30 marathoners and another 20-30 half marathon runners. Heck, they had packet pick-up on race day if that tells you anything. Everyone managed to arrive on time and we snagged a few group photos before the race. My aunt who has some sort of OCD, organizational disease I can’t quite put my finger on yet, had managed to make color-coded index cards with one side listing each person’s team members and on the other side what rival “Ray’s runner” was running the same leg as them. We had four teams of six runners each. The marathon was an out and back with legs as follows (4.3, 5.8, 3.0, 3.0, 5.8, 4.3)
Our team went Meagan (cousin), Adam (need I say more?), Michelle (cousin), Ben (cousin), me and mom. It was an out and back. I was to drive my rivals Eric (cousin), Kimo (friend from California) and Brandon (roommate) out to our leg. We hung around to watch the start and of course scream for the first four “Ray’s Runners.” We then piled into the car and headed out to the first exchange zone to cheer as we had a bit of time. We were anxiously waiting to see who the first “Ray’s Runner” team would be and then it happened!! Barb Klinner, a friend of the family who had gone to school with AD came through. She was an ultra-runner after completing her leg would continue on to run the entire marathon that day. She handed the exchange equipment (a scrunchy) off to my oldest cousin David and he was off!! Shortly, after my Aunt Nancy and another friend of the family came through and my roommate Mel was out and on her way, followed by my cousin Josh. Adam was getting antsy waiting for Meagan and I couldn’t help, but laugh. He was doing his leg and then continuing on to the finish to get in a long run of 22+ miles that day in preparation for the Cleveland Marathon. Meagan had strict instructions from me to strong arm her mother (Nancy) if it looked like she was going to get ahead, but unfortunately she had taken a misstep in a hole, but kept on going (YAY MEAGAN!!). When we saw her coming in the distance we started to chant meagaN – meagAN – meaGAN – meAGAN – mEAGAN – MEAGAN, each louder than the last. She picked it up as best she could and passed the scrunchy to Adam. Adam took off at sub-marathon training pace (oh brother – I knew it!!!) Adam hates to lose. Adam cannot run easy. Adam was on a mission….
and so were we. Like I said the race was small and there were only a few port-o-johns. I knew one was at the turn-a-round, so we hopped in the car and headed out. I was getting more and more excited. I put on some “Eye of the Tiger” as we drove, but as soon as we arrived I sprinted ahead to the bathroom. Ahhhhh, sweet relief!! We saw a few 3.0 mile Ray’s Runners warming up and stretching while we were there, but we couldn’t stick around too long, so we headed back to our relay point.
Upon arrival, we learned Adam had “been flying,” which only told me he couldn’t take it and had laid it on…hahahahaha!!! He had managed to move our team into first for the Ray’s Runners teams and slapped my 2 cousins on the butt for encouragement as he passed by. They got a good laugh, I think? Mel, my roommate had been on a mission and successfully held him off for over 5 miles. Go MEL!!! (I know he’s on my team, but she is a girl and that wins every time ) My cousin Josh, who has a nagging knee injury, but has a lot of potential as a runner, cyclist and triathlete came in next (sigh of relief) and then my cousin David, who was new to this running thing, but became one of the biggest supporters of this idea (thanks Dave) came through with his mom, AD and his son Kaylob. It was quite a site to see three generations of our family running together, side-by-side.
Beyond all that I only got the news from the rumor mill. We had mixed the teams with new and seasoned runners hoping the teams would finish some what close. I know my Uncle Chuck RAN. Yea, he RAN after stating he would probably walk his leg…he RAN (Go Chuck!!) Rusty, my Aunt Barbie’s beau also successfully, completed his leg running. My cousin, Melissa and her husband, Cody hung tough and ran well on their legs. My dad’s leg was also a 3.0. He is so lovable, but he can get himself into trouble and he ALWAYS needs to be supervised, so we had put him on my roommates’ team so they could watch him. Mel was handing off to him, so she gave him the scrunchy and a nice little slap on the ass to let him know it was his turn and then she ran with him for a little to make sure he didn’t go out too hard. He has been plagued on and off with shin splints over the months and thankfully today they did not bother him.
Meanwhile, I was jogging around to warm-up and jumping off the trail to pee behind a pine tree four times after the port-o-potty stop. Ahhh, I love race day, I am like a water balloon with a hole in it. I felt better when Brandon ran off into the woods too. I was running up and down the path, when I saw my cousin’s wife Amy head out for her leg. Man, if ever there was a woman on a mission!! You could just feel the determination as she went flying by me. I shouted “Go Amy!!” She gave a smile, but she was focused. I saw Adam come through around mile 16 and he was moving at his training pace again. He told me everybody looked good. I kept on doing out and backs on the path, but then I headed out on the road for one. I had stripped all my warm-up clothes except a sweatshirt and my ipod. I was jamming. I turned around about 100-150 meters from the path. I could see my cousin, Josh waving his arms for some reason. “Hmmm, what the hell is he waving to me for? OH NO! Ben must be through!!” I started ripping off my sweatshirt and ipod and sure enough there he was standing there waiting for me. My first thought was “nice job dumbass!!” My next thought “Ben is a sandbagger!!” What I didn’t know is my cousin, Ben had run cross country in high school and dropped some sick pace and to make matters better his sister, Michelle also dropped a fast time to our delight, but they are sandbaggers nonetheless
I took the scrunchy and headed out for my first race since Philadelphia, after all the injuries that had plagued me the last four months. I, immediately tried to settle into a rhythm as I had no idea what pace I could run after only being cleared to run one week ago. The terrain was also soft, so I ran by effort fearing the pace my watch said I was running would just plain piss me off. I had worn my capri’s, a dri-fit t-shirt, arm warms, and my Wisconsin Badgers baseball cap (which I wear in Ohio DAD!!!). I love running in 40-50 degree weather, so I should have been happy as a clam, but for some reason my breathing seemed a little too labored. The path was mostly flat with only a few slight inclines, no hills. The plan was to run a good pace for 4.0 miles and then drop it like I always do. I caught a few runners, but they were all marathoners. I felt bad every time I ran one down and spent a few minutes encouraging them to keep going before taking off. It was a very quite marathon let me tell you. I was surrounded by trees and farms and trees and farms. There were aid stations about every 2 miles or so. I thanked the people at each one for coming out and every time I crossed over a road I thanked the police officer who was directing traffic.
I could tell my pace was all over the place and I just couldn’t settle into a rhythm. I didn’t berate myself too much as it was my first race back. I kept counting down the miles until I could push the button and then the time came. I pushed the button and nothing, nada, zilch. I had no get-up and go. The run had been too hard. Now, I was pissed. This is not the runner I know. The runner I know digs deep and unlocks her mind and MOVES!! I just didn’t have it to GO, so I stayed. I suppose in retrospect I guess it was better than slowing down, but I was disappointed.
I started thinking about my mom waiting up ahead for me and thought “I am coming mom!” I had thought the same thing the first time I ran the Cleveland Half Marathon and she waited for me at the finish. I had wanted to break two hours so badly that day and she had been my motivation to get in. I had told her that was my goal and I knew she was going to be looking for me, so I had pushed so hard to get to the finish – to my mom. Today, I was running to my mom again, and with a mile to go I found a little bit of pick-up in me. I was able to surge and push my way through that last mile. It was not pretty. I had a hard time focusing and when it became uncomfortable, I couldn’t push through. The goal had been 8:00/miles. I had run 8:04/miles. Grrrrr!!! It would have happened except my mental focus (what’s that technical term) SUCKED. I suppose the road would have been sub-8:00, but still the lack of focus is very disappointing.
My mom, who had been suffering some awful chest cold for the last 2 weeks headed out for the last leg. I grabbed some water and hung out with my family at the relay point for a bit talking and catching my breath before continuing on to the finish for a cool down. It was 4.3 miles to the finish, but what the heck, I needed a cool down and I wanted to make sure my mom was okay. I left but not before threatening to tackle AD and hold her down if she tried to pass mom before the finish. My cool down pace got progressively slower each mile as my longest run back had only been 6 miles and I already run 5.8 – hard.
I spent a large part of the time thinking about how much this meant to me, about how everyone had pulled together, about how they had sacrificed their time to do this, about how grandpa had beaten cancer, about how my mom had quit smoking after all those years, about how my dad had dropped 20 lbs and his blood pressure was lower, about how my aunt and I had done Philly last year and then I started to get emotional. I could feel the tears on the brink and I let a few ago, before regrouping and pushing those emotions back down. I got to an aid station and asked if they had seen a “Ray’s Runner” go by? They said she had just passed and she looked good. I thanked them and ran on. Finally, I saw her up in the distance. I yelled at her “GO MOM!! DON’T YOU QUIT!!! She stopped and turned around. I yelled “GO!” and she turned back to her running. About a half mile from the finish, I caught her. She was wheezing from her chest cold and her face was pretty red. Her arms were tight and she looked tense. I tried to help her by telling her to relax her arms and control her breathing. It worked a little. I asked her if she wanted me to run with her or let her go. She was okay with me running with her. I was worried she was going to have to stop for a minute her breathing a.k.a wheezing was so labored and told her all she had to do was finish. She looked at me like I was crazy. Even sick, she wasn’t going to down without a fight. She always tells me she doesn’t care about time and she isn’t competitive, but I have now seen her race two times and both times she has pushed herself and run faster than in training. All those months of training and I was going to be witness to it’s ending. I heard a car honking repetitively behind us as we ran to the 26th mile marker. It was my Grandpa. He and my grandma had driven around to the relay points to watch and cheer for everyone. I waved and then turned to my mom and told her she had to finish this alone before running off the course. She knew what I meant and as she ran for the finish her dad was waiting to welcome her, watching his eldest daughter run across that finish line of the Pine Line Marathon. There was something in that moment that I will never forget. I know this was for my grandpa, but I feel like in some way this was for her too, for all of us. I felt so proud of my mom, of everyone I just stood there trying to take it all in.
My other roommate B-bop (Brandon) had been out at my leg and I knew he might run me down as he is fast, but he had decided to run with my cousin, Eric. Apparently, they had nice little chat and enjoyed nature. C’mon people this is a race not a sight seeing event!!! (Just kidding!) I was really glad B-bop had kept Eric company. Kimo however, a seasoned runner had been left to his own devices and had easily completed his 5.8 miles like it was a walk in the park. I did wonder if any of it had been due to that sport drink he was using yesterday called “Rolling Rock.” Perhaps, I should look into this more??
AD came in shortly after that putting up a blazing fast time. My grandpa welcomed her with a big hug too. My aunt Valerie came in next, followed by my aunt Barbie. My aunt Valerie, and Aunt, Barb had run together for a bit encouraging each other. My aunt, Valerie finished just ahead of my aunt, Barb. However, when Barb came up the last stretch, Rusty, my mom, her sisters and her kids ran down to finish with her, but right before crossing the mat she stopped and then took one HUGE step to finalize the completion of the Pine Line Marathon and our perseverance as a family.
I believe that day I witnessed a miracle and was part of something so great I can never completely understand the magnitude of what my family has done. Thank you all.
HOLY SHIT AND THAT’S IT!!
Oh, oh, wait Adam, I forgot about Adam. Well, he managed to run every single person in the race down, but when he got to the finish none of us were there and he had no warm clothes to put on. He went into the pavilion to try to keep warm and then when he thought my cousin’s Avalanche had made it back to the finish he ran down and jumped inside, only to discover it was some other guy’s car. The guy gave him a really strange look, but thankfully, most small town people are nice and after Adam explained to him how he had mistaken the car for my cousin’s the guy was very accommodating. Of course, we eventually made it back to the finish and found him.
____________________________________________________
It seemed like just a few months ago that I had broached the idea of a family marathon to my mom, but it had already been over a year. Everyone had trained through the winter months and made the trip home to Medford Wisconsin.
The race was to start at 8:00am and we had instructed everyone to arrive no later than 7:30am!! We were staying in my godparents camper, which was sweet! It was definitely an experience. My roommates were so excited to be in the near north woods of Wisconsin they were tempted to “camp” outside, but due to the horrific rains and woodticks they felt it best to sleep inside with us :) Anyway, the camper was less than 2 miles from the start, but we had to run into town for coffee…mmmmmmmmmmmm and more bathroom breaks. The rain was coming down and it was only in the 40’s (what happened to the sunshine? It was beautiful the day before!)
This was a very small marathon. There were only 11 relay teams, about 20-30 marathoners and another 20-30 half marathon runners. Heck, they had packet pick-up on race day if that tells you anything. Everyone managed to arrive on time and we snagged a few group photos before the race. My aunt who has some sort of OCD, organizational disease I can’t quite put my finger on yet, had managed to make color-coded index cards with one side listing each person’s team members and on the other side what rival “Ray’s runner” was running the same leg as them. We had four teams of six runners each. The marathon was an out and back with legs as follows (4.3, 5.8, 3.0, 3.0, 5.8, 4.3)
Our team went Meagan (cousin), Adam (need I say more?), Michelle (cousin), Ben (cousin), me and mom. It was an out and back. I was to drive my rivals Eric (cousin), Kimo (friend from California) and Brandon (roommate) out to our leg. We hung around to watch the start and of course scream for the first four “Ray’s Runners.” We then piled into the car and headed out to the first exchange zone to cheer as we had a bit of time. We were anxiously waiting to see who the first “Ray’s Runner” team would be and then it happened!! Barb Klinner, a friend of the family who had gone to school with AD came through. She was an ultra-runner after completing her leg would continue on to run the entire marathon that day. She handed the exchange equipment (a scrunchy) off to my oldest cousin David and he was off!! Shortly, after my Aunt Nancy and another friend of the family came through and my roommate Mel was out and on her way, followed by my cousin Josh. Adam was getting antsy waiting for Meagan and I couldn’t help, but laugh. He was doing his leg and then continuing on to the finish to get in a long run of 22+ miles that day in preparation for the Cleveland Marathon. Meagan had strict instructions from me to strong arm her mother (Nancy) if it looked like she was going to get ahead, but unfortunately she had taken a misstep in a hole, but kept on going (YAY MEAGAN!!). When we saw her coming in the distance we started to chant meagaN – meagAN – meaGAN – meAGAN – mEAGAN – MEAGAN, each louder than the last. She picked it up as best she could and passed the scrunchy to Adam. Adam took off at sub-marathon training pace (oh brother – I knew it!!!) Adam hates to lose. Adam cannot run easy. Adam was on a mission….
and so were we. Like I said the race was small and there were only a few port-o-johns. I knew one was at the turn-a-round, so we hopped in the car and headed out. I was getting more and more excited. I put on some “Eye of the Tiger” as we drove, but as soon as we arrived I sprinted ahead to the bathroom. Ahhhhh, sweet relief!! We saw a few 3.0 mile Ray’s Runners warming up and stretching while we were there, but we couldn’t stick around too long, so we headed back to our relay point.
Upon arrival, we learned Adam had “been flying,” which only told me he couldn’t take it and had laid it on…hahahahaha!!! He had managed to move our team into first for the Ray’s Runners teams and slapped my 2 cousins on the butt for encouragement as he passed by. They got a good laugh, I think? Mel, my roommate had been on a mission and successfully held him off for over 5 miles. Go MEL!!! (I know he’s on my team, but she is a girl and that wins every time ) My cousin Josh, who has a nagging knee injury, but has a lot of potential as a runner, cyclist and triathlete came in next (sigh of relief) and then my cousin David, who was new to this running thing, but became one of the biggest supporters of this idea (thanks Dave) came through with his mom, AD and his son Kaylob. It was quite a site to see three generations of our family running together, side-by-side.
Beyond all that I only got the news from the rumor mill. We had mixed the teams with new and seasoned runners hoping the teams would finish some what close. I know my Uncle Chuck RAN. Yea, he RAN after stating he would probably walk his leg…he RAN (Go Chuck!!) Rusty, my Aunt Barbie’s beau also successfully, completed his leg running. My cousin, Melissa and her husband, Cody hung tough and ran well on their legs. My dad’s leg was also a 3.0. He is so lovable, but he can get himself into trouble and he ALWAYS needs to be supervised, so we had put him on my roommates’ team so they could watch him. Mel was handing off to him, so she gave him the scrunchy and a nice little slap on the ass to let him know it was his turn and then she ran with him for a little to make sure he didn’t go out too hard. He has been plagued on and off with shin splints over the months and thankfully today they did not bother him.
Meanwhile, I was jogging around to warm-up and jumping off the trail to pee behind a pine tree four times after the port-o-potty stop. Ahhh, I love race day, I am like a water balloon with a hole in it. I felt better when Brandon ran off into the woods too. I was running up and down the path, when I saw my cousin’s wife Amy head out for her leg. Man, if ever there was a woman on a mission!! You could just feel the determination as she went flying by me. I shouted “Go Amy!!” She gave a smile, but she was focused. I saw Adam come through around mile 16 and he was moving at his training pace again. He told me everybody looked good. I kept on doing out and backs on the path, but then I headed out on the road for one. I had stripped all my warm-up clothes except a sweatshirt and my ipod. I was jamming. I turned around about 100-150 meters from the path. I could see my cousin, Josh waving his arms for some reason. “Hmmm, what the hell is he waving to me for? OH NO! Ben must be through!!” I started ripping off my sweatshirt and ipod and sure enough there he was standing there waiting for me. My first thought was “nice job dumbass!!” My next thought “Ben is a sandbagger!!” What I didn’t know is my cousin, Ben had run cross country in high school and dropped some sick pace and to make matters better his sister, Michelle also dropped a fast time to our delight, but they are sandbaggers nonetheless
I took the scrunchy and headed out for my first race since Philadelphia, after all the injuries that had plagued me the last four months. I, immediately tried to settle into a rhythm as I had no idea what pace I could run after only being cleared to run one week ago. The terrain was also soft, so I ran by effort fearing the pace my watch said I was running would just plain piss me off. I had worn my capri’s, a dri-fit t-shirt, arm warms, and my Wisconsin Badgers baseball cap (which I wear in Ohio DAD!!!). I love running in 40-50 degree weather, so I should have been happy as a clam, but for some reason my breathing seemed a little too labored. The path was mostly flat with only a few slight inclines, no hills. The plan was to run a good pace for 4.0 miles and then drop it like I always do. I caught a few runners, but they were all marathoners. I felt bad every time I ran one down and spent a few minutes encouraging them to keep going before taking off. It was a very quite marathon let me tell you. I was surrounded by trees and farms and trees and farms. There were aid stations about every 2 miles or so. I thanked the people at each one for coming out and every time I crossed over a road I thanked the police officer who was directing traffic.
I could tell my pace was all over the place and I just couldn’t settle into a rhythm. I didn’t berate myself too much as it was my first race back. I kept counting down the miles until I could push the button and then the time came. I pushed the button and nothing, nada, zilch. I had no get-up and go. The run had been too hard. Now, I was pissed. This is not the runner I know. The runner I know digs deep and unlocks her mind and MOVES!! I just didn’t have it to GO, so I stayed. I suppose in retrospect I guess it was better than slowing down, but I was disappointed.
I started thinking about my mom waiting up ahead for me and thought “I am coming mom!” I had thought the same thing the first time I ran the Cleveland Half Marathon and she waited for me at the finish. I had wanted to break two hours so badly that day and she had been my motivation to get in. I had told her that was my goal and I knew she was going to be looking for me, so I had pushed so hard to get to the finish – to my mom. Today, I was running to my mom again, and with a mile to go I found a little bit of pick-up in me. I was able to surge and push my way through that last mile. It was not pretty. I had a hard time focusing and when it became uncomfortable, I couldn’t push through. The goal had been 8:00/miles. I had run 8:04/miles. Grrrrr!!! It would have happened except my mental focus (what’s that technical term) SUCKED. I suppose the road would have been sub-8:00, but still the lack of focus is very disappointing.
My mom, who had been suffering some awful chest cold for the last 2 weeks headed out for the last leg. I grabbed some water and hung out with my family at the relay point for a bit talking and catching my breath before continuing on to the finish for a cool down. It was 4.3 miles to the finish, but what the heck, I needed a cool down and I wanted to make sure my mom was okay. I left but not before threatening to tackle AD and hold her down if she tried to pass mom before the finish. My cool down pace got progressively slower each mile as my longest run back had only been 6 miles and I already run 5.8 – hard.
I spent a large part of the time thinking about how much this meant to me, about how everyone had pulled together, about how they had sacrificed their time to do this, about how grandpa had beaten cancer, about how my mom had quit smoking after all those years, about how my dad had dropped 20 lbs and his blood pressure was lower, about how my aunt and I had done Philly last year and then I started to get emotional. I could feel the tears on the brink and I let a few ago, before regrouping and pushing those emotions back down. I got to an aid station and asked if they had seen a “Ray’s Runner” go by? They said she had just passed and she looked good. I thanked them and ran on. Finally, I saw her up in the distance. I yelled at her “GO MOM!! DON’T YOU QUIT!!! She stopped and turned around. I yelled “GO!” and she turned back to her running. About a half mile from the finish, I caught her. She was wheezing from her chest cold and her face was pretty red. Her arms were tight and she looked tense. I tried to help her by telling her to relax her arms and control her breathing. It worked a little. I asked her if she wanted me to run with her or let her go. She was okay with me running with her. I was worried she was going to have to stop for a minute her breathing a.k.a wheezing was so labored and told her all she had to do was finish. She looked at me like I was crazy. Even sick, she wasn’t going to down without a fight. She always tells me she doesn’t care about time and she isn’t competitive, but I have now seen her race two times and both times she has pushed herself and run faster than in training. All those months of training and I was going to be witness to it’s ending. I heard a car honking repetitively behind us as we ran to the 26th mile marker. It was my Grandpa. He and my grandma had driven around to the relay points to watch and cheer for everyone. I waved and then turned to my mom and told her she had to finish this alone before running off the course. She knew what I meant and as she ran for the finish her dad was waiting to welcome her, watching his eldest daughter run across that finish line of the Pine Line Marathon. There was something in that moment that I will never forget. I know this was for my grandpa, but I feel like in some way this was for her too, for all of us. I felt so proud of my mom, of everyone I just stood there trying to take it all in.
My other roommate B-bop (Brandon) had been out at my leg and I knew he might run me down as he is fast, but he had decided to run with my cousin, Eric. Apparently, they had nice little chat and enjoyed nature. C’mon people this is a race not a sight seeing event!!! (Just kidding!) I was really glad B-bop had kept Eric company. Kimo however, a seasoned runner had been left to his own devices and had easily completed his 5.8 miles like it was a walk in the park. I did wonder if any of it had been due to that sport drink he was using yesterday called “Rolling Rock.” Perhaps, I should look into this more??
AD came in shortly after that putting up a blazing fast time. My grandpa welcomed her with a big hug too. My aunt Valerie came in next, followed by my aunt Barbie. My aunt Valerie, and Aunt, Barb had run together for a bit encouraging each other. My aunt, Valerie finished just ahead of my aunt, Barb. However, when Barb came up the last stretch, Rusty, my mom, her sisters and her kids ran down to finish with her, but right before crossing the mat she stopped and then took one HUGE step to finalize the completion of the Pine Line Marathon and our perseverance as a family.
I believe that day I witnessed a miracle and was part of something so great I can never completely understand the magnitude of what my family has done. Thank you all.
HOLY SHIT AND THAT’S IT!!
Oh, oh, wait Adam, I forgot about Adam. Well, he managed to run every single person in the race down, but when he got to the finish none of us were there and he had no warm clothes to put on. He went into the pavilion to try to keep warm and then when he thought my cousin’s Avalanche had made it back to the finish he ran down and jumped inside, only to discover it was some other guy’s car. The guy gave him a really strange look, but thankfully, most small town people are nice and after Adam explained to him how he had mistaken the car for my cousin’s the guy was very accommodating. Of course, we eventually made it back to the finish and found him.
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