The Holidays: good for family, bad for training

I have not been on schedule this whole training season, and now with the holiday on Thursday, I don't see this week being the week that I jump back on schedule. But Saturday should be my saving grace. I plan to start hardcore training on Saturday and for the remainder of this season. Until then, it's turkey time!!! Hope that everyone has a great and blessed holiday. Love, Cyndi

I'm Baaaaaack!

After a tiny break both in my foot and my training schedule, I am back. Training for the next half marathon began last week. Though thanks to a virus and upper respiratory infection, I was unable to attend. However, I am back and ready to go.  I will be training for the Memorial 1/2 Marathon in Oklahoma City on May 1.  We have already done quite a bit of fundraising and only have a little bit left to go. Hopefully, it goes by quickly so I can concentrate on training and take better care of my body.  No more aches, pains, breaks, or sprains. Wouldn't that be nice?! So get ready for this continuing journey. I'm sure that there is tons of madness yet to happen. Peace, Love, and cheese, Cyndi

My first race is in the BAG!

Before the race - Not quite awake yet!

On Saturday, the 28th, I ran and finished my very first 5K race. I ran the Moore War 5K to raise money for scholarships. It went pretty well. My time wasn't great but better than I expected.  I finished in 45:02. There was about 400 people there. It was my first time running in a crowd, which if you don't know, can be kinda scary. You better move your butt or you will be ran over. The course was okay. I think I met the cousin of the hills that live in norman, so that part sucked. But overall not a bad run. 15 minute miles is a long ways from the 20 minutes miles I was running when I started. Plus we had cute fireman at a couple of the water stops. : ) I felt like a real runner with my gear on, my IPod cranking out some wicked tunes, and my bib pinned securely to my shirt. Though I did have issue with my pants. My specialty dryknit runner's britches that used to be too tight that I could barely get into them tried to make a break for it and started down toward my knees. I kept having to pull them up every few steps.  It completely threw off my stride. So definetly time for some new pants. And I will admit that I am a little ashamed that I was passed by a few people pushing strollers, but in my defense they were flying by like they had the RT's.  It was overall a good experience, and I'm glad that I got my very first race in the bag.  I'm an old pro from here on out. : )

My familia came out to cheer me on! P.S. Daddy dressed them. LOL!

That Makes Me Nervous

I have my first official race this weekend. Nothing big, nothing fancy. Just a little 5K in my hometown to raise money for scholarships. But I'm a little nervous. I've been training for almost 4 months now, but I've never ran in a real race before. So hopefully, all goes well and I finish in a respectable time. Fingers crossed!

Just Kidding.....

Just Kidding. I am back in the game! I just found out that I will be able to transfer to a different race. So I only thought that I was finished with training.  Yippee!!!! I will begin training for the OKC Memorial Marathon. Right here in my very own city. So no big travel plans, but a meaningful race to commerate the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing. So I will still be training and blogging.... Keep checking in to see what happens next!

Sadly, yes...

Sadly, yes.... I am no longer training for the Team In Training 1/2 marathon in San Francisco. I did not meet my fundraising goal by the deadline. But we raised a big chunk of money for LLS, and hopefully it will put us one step closer to finding a cure. I will keeping training, just not as hard and will have a headstart on next year. Our fundraising will be bigger and better and we will meet our goal and I WILL cross that finishline. Until then I will continue to update this blog and train and maybe run some small races to practice. I will be skinny....okay, less fat! OH, and raise money for cancer research! : )

Miles (Stairs) in Paradise

View from my room. St. Thomas, USVI

The dreaded "99Stairs"

Me, tired & sunburnt

I just spent the majority of the last week in a tropical paradise. I won a trip through my job .

Setback City

AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This has been a week of frustration. I have been busting my bodonkadonk with my fundraising. We had two bake sales and a garage sale in three weeks. And we would have had a car wash too. But my sister got sick and we had to reschedule. But no matter how many functions we have, it feels like we are just chipping away at the goal and it's getting a little frustrating. But more frustrating is my training. I have went to visit a little town known as Setback City.  I didn't hit all my miles this past week. I just didn't have time. It was either run or bake. So I baked! Then my run yesterday was terrible. It was hot and hot and well, hot. I was drenched and burned and hot and I'm pretty sure that I now have a stress fracture in my right foot. What fun! And to top it all off, it was revenge of the RTs. That's right, the POJ was not just a shrine but a valuable piece of training equipment yesterday. Unfortunately, I was not the only one that had the RTs. And some people should be ashamed of themselves. Do you have any idea how hard it is to poop standing up and not get it everywhere? But I manage to do it, why can't everyone else? Dirty runners. So I did what any good athlete in training would do, I left after my run, went to my friends' K&M's place and laid out by the pool or as K would say I sunbaked. It was fabulous and very hot. So maybe training will be better next week. Here's to hoping there are no more trips to Setback City.

Fundraising Like Mad Women

Our great volunteers

Garage sale goodies

We, T and I, have really been focusing on our fundraising the last month. It's been good and bad. A lot of time and a lot of energy... and a little money. But I have to admit that I have some of the greatest friends and family ever. They have been volunteering like crazy. Helping out in whatever way that they can. You All Rock!!!! So we had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, and it went all right. I thought that if we told people that it was for charity they would be less likely to haggle, uh not true! There are some haggle happy people out there. Really?! You want to haggle me for a quarter when there is children with cancer, but to each there own. Whatever money we make goes to a good cause. So it was me, my sis, my mom, my cousin Lexi, and the best brother-in-law ever, Stephen.

Sheila, our winner!

So then we had another bake sale, this time up at my work.  It went really well. We made in an hour and a half what took us 8 hours to make at Wal- Mart. And my peeps really came through on this one. Kell and Aussie Mike baked their little Australian Arces off. God Bless your Aussies! They made this sinful confection called honeycomb, amazing melt in your mouth, expand your waistline, crack-like habit-inducing stuff. We also sold my last two cookbooks and raffled off a gift basket from William-Sonoma. Above is a picture of our raffle winner. Congrats Sheila!

So I actually enjoy some of this fundraising stuff. I like organizing and baking and decorating, however I am still a ways away from my goal.  I am hoping to win the lottery so I can just pay for it and be done with it. Next year, we are doing big events and hopefully raising crazy mad money. So more fundraising craziness to come.

Too Tired To Blog

Too Tired To Blog. Must Get Some Sleep. Need Sleep. Want to Sleep. Ah, Sleep, Oh how I miss you!

The Hills are Alive.... Part Deuce

Norman! I used to love Norman! It is my adopted hometown. The home of my alma mater and the greatest college football team ever. But now, I think Norman just might be the gate to hell and an evil little town and not for the same reason that my husband thinks (Silly OSU fan). It is evil because of those stupid, horrible hills!!! I was one of only two people that showed up in Norman today!!! I started off doing pretty good. I was trying to keep up with the other girl and was failing miserably, but it did increase my mile average by a minute. The first four miles went pretty smoothly. I ate some jelly beans and kept on trucking. Since there were only two of us and it is the hottest day of the year so far, we got personal service by one of our trainers. He was there with water at every mile marker! Thank you B!! Then came the last mile stretch. I rounded the corner, and what do I see?! The dreaded hill!!!! I started up it pretty gingerly and then lost any and all energy I had. I'm pretty sure I was going backwards at some point. But I somehow made it up to the top and the last half mile to the water jug! I did it! My first 8-mile run. Wahoo!!!! However, my sister did not attend this mornings run and because of that, T, we are even! ; ) Actually, you owe me a mile. : ) Love you! Anyway.... so after I finished my run I hauled butt (in my car) back to my mom's house, where we were having our fundraising garage sale! I have baked in the sun for 7 hours. Now I'm going home to take a shower and a nap, not particularly in that order. Just kidding! : ) So I want to give a special shout out to: Our trainer B for being the best waterboy ever, my friend Shelly for opening the garage and selling her butt off, my sister for sweating with me all day long (I bet that we are 6 pounds littler), and lastly for fat girl rock. The Gossip got my through the majority of my run today! Awesome!!!

BAKE SALE SUCCESS!

Some of our bake sale goodies!

In picture: Tamara (on left) and Me (in sunglasses)at our bake sale.
In picture: Our bake sale table, Tamara, Mom (in torquise), and Frefre in red).

This past weekend, my sister and I worked on our fundraising by having a bake sale in front of the Wal-Mart in Moore, OK. It was a great success! We didn't raise a ton of money but we definetly raised more than we thought we would. We had tons of goodies. We had some great volunteers (Thanks Mom!!! Thanks FreFre!!!)And we had some great customers!!! Some of my good friends and family came out just to support me. (You are AWESOME!!!!) Most people would stop and buy one or two little things. But for every three of those, we would get someone who had been touched personally by cancer and they would give us fists full of donations. Boy, did we hear some stories that day! Some sad, some happy, some just made me even more determined to keep doing what I'm doing. It's was overall a really great experience.

It was kinda of a slow start to the morning. I think that we got out there too early, because people were kinda cranky, a little rude, or they just ignored you all together. Like if they don't make eye contact, you don't exist. But I just kept smiling and waving and eventually they started coming over. I did, however, debate going and putting on my penguin costume to get people's attention. Thank God that it did not have to resort to that. : ) Though I will admit, I kinda like wearing it. Anyway.... the only time I lost my smile was when someone would stop right in front of our table and light up a cigarette. OMG! I used to smoke... a lot! So I don't have anything against smokers in general. It's gross, it's expensive, and it can kill you. But so can sushi, and I still love sushi. But you do not, let me repeat, DO NOT stop in front of the fundraising for CANCER tent and light a cigarette! I let the first couple of people who did slide by, but one guy not only lit up, but proceeded to stand there and smoke. So I said something out loud to my sister and the guy heard me and felt bad enough that he bought $5 worth of cookies. It was win-win in my book. Then we had some great little kids. One little girl gave us all the change in her coin purse. How awesome that kids that young are learning about charity and giving. Gives me a little hope for the future.

Now that I've gotten all that ooey gooey mushy stuff out to the way, let me just say.... There is a reason that there is a website called the people of Wal-Mart, and I think that we saw some all-stars!!! And I'll just leave it at that.

7 miles of Hell

Saturday was my first 7 mile day. I knew that it was not going to be a good day when I got up and I felt like I had 80 year-old knees. This stupid weather, while it may be offering some relief from the heat, wrecks havoc on my knees. But I got up and pulled on my running clothes anyway. We met up at Lake Hefner for our run, and I was geared up and ready to go. I got about 1 mile into my run and I just couldn't run anymore. My knees were throbbing and aching with every step I took. My sister hung back and encouraged me through the next couple of miles. I guess that I took much longer than anticipated because one of the coaches called another one of the coaches looking for me. I was still going, slowly but surely. When I got to the turnaround, my coach wanted to know if I had to stop off at the port-a-john again. VERY FUNNY!! : ) I started feeling a little better and started to run a little more, when one of my coaches drove by and told me to stop running and walk the rest of the miles to save my knees. So I walked a lot more than I wanted, but I finished my first 7 mile day.

The Hills Are Alive...

The Hills are Alive... with the sound of Cyndi screaming. Ugh! For our 6-mile (yes, I said 6-mile)run on Saturday, someone thought it would be a good idea to map out a course with some seriously sadistic hills. I thought that my very first day was brutal, but Saturday totally topped that. There were big hills, little hills, rolling hills, and stairs (oh dear God, the stairs). One hill in my last 2 miles was the size of Mount Everest. As I was climbing the hill, I could have sworn that I was passed by a mountain goat. Turns out, it was just a laborador. They said that they are trying to prepare us for San Fran, and all I could think was, "What have I gotten myself into?". To top it all off they made us get up extra early to avoid as much of the heat as possible. So there I was at 6am, running up mountains, being passed by mountain goats, and screaming my head off. So Julie Andrews I'm not. But at least there was no poop involved. Thank you Imodium.

OMG Running gives you the runs!!!!

Warning: This blog entry may too too much information for some people to handle, but when I started this I promised that I would chronicle my journey honestly, embarassing moments and all. So only the brave of heart need to proceed. (S, do not read any further. I say that word poop.)

So I have been running for 6 weeks now. My miles have slowly increased and I've had my share of ups and downs, progresses and setbacks. But nothing, I mean NOTHING could have prepared me for the horrible, terrible, world-shattering thing that I learned this weekend. Running gives you the runs!!!!!! Not only is that incredibly embarassing, but it is very painful. I was ready for shin-splints, muscle cramps, and vomit, but poo.... well, poo was just completely unexpected. I was short my miles this week by 1 1/2 miles because every time I would go for a run, my stomach would start rumbling, then cramping, and then before you know it I would end up running... towards a bathroom. I'm still not sure if it is the up and down motion of running, or if I was eating something that didn't agree with me, or if I am just one of the lucky souls that gets the poos when they run. So I did a little research and was introduced to the ugly monster known as "runner's trots". Classy, huh?! But it's a real, honest-to-goodness thing, and I'm not the only one that gets it.

So I decided to take an Imodium before my run this past Saturday. I was confident that nothing would happen. Boy, was I wrong. Let me just say that I used to think that Port-a-potties were disgusting, horrible things and I would never, ever use one. Well, after Saturday I am thinking about building a shrine to the God-send known as the Port-o-John. HOWEVER, I want to say that about half way through my 6-mile run, my Imodium finally kicked in and I was able to complete my run AND do 30 minutes yoga afterwards. AWESOME!!!! So I will from now on, get up two hours earlier and take my Imodium, so that I can admire the P.O.J., but NEVER have to use one again. And from what I hear, I pray that I NEVER have to use one on race day. Oh, and S, if you reading this.... POOP! : )

Okay, so last week I issued a challenge to everyone. If I could raise $200 in donations by Friday June 11th, then I would run my weekly miles in a grass skirt and coconut bra. Well, we fell short of our goal (hence the absence of the coconut bra), but I got enough donations that I thought that I should keep at least part of the bet. So I ran my Saturday miles in a grass skirt. Surprisingly not a lot of people commented on the skirt. So either it looked very natural and a lot of runners run in grass skirts that I didn't know about, or people just automatically think I'm nuts and not worth commenting on. Oh, well. Thank you to all that donated! Remember that we are making a difference. And if I gotta do some weird stuff to make it happen then so be it. : )

Conversation with my legs

Last night as I prepared for my nightly run, my legs wanted to have a conversation with me. It began harmless enough, but quickly escalated into the kind of conversation that I have with my two-year old. If you have ever spent time with a two year old, then you know that it gets really ugly very quickly if you try to make them do something that they do not want to do. The conversation went as follows:

Legs: “Hey! Whatcha doin’?”
Me: “I’m getting my shoes on to go run.”
Legs: “We already did that.”
Me: “On Saturday, we ran, but we have to run again tonight.”
Legs: “We don’t wanna.”
Me: “Too bad. We have to do this because we are in training.”
Legs: “NO!”
Me: “Yes, this is necessary. It is something that we HAVE to do.”
Legs: “NO! WE DON’T WANNA!”
Me: “It’s happening. End of discussion.”

They were quiet while I walked down to the park and then did my stretches. Then as I began my run, they began yelling.

Legs: “We hate you! You’re mean! We hate you!
Me: “Shut up and run!”
They then began chanting “We hate you” over and over with every stride.
Me: “Be quiet! We are almost done!”
Legs: “We hate you! We hate you!”

As I walked home, they continued to whisper mean and terrible things to me. And even as I climbed into bed they taunted me.

Me: “Good night.”
Legs: “Still hate you.”

Wait ‘til those sadistic brats see what I have planned for them tonight.

5 Miles!!!!

5 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did 5 miles on Saturday! 5 whole flippin' miles!!! 5 hot, sweaty, stinky miles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did 5 miiiiiiles. UH! I did 5 miiiiiiiles. UH! I... DID... 5... MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 gut-wrenching, nearly vomit-iducing, side-splitting miles!!! In your face 5 miles!!! And I felt good afterward. At no point during the 5 miles did I stumble, or rest, or army crawl. I felt great. I wasn't really winded or tired. It was wonderful. And then.....


I went home and celebrated my victory with a 2 hour nap and ice packs on both ankles and one of my knees. But I still did 5 miles.

Today's Inspiration

I have a little calendar at my desk at work that my Mom bought me a while back. I flip the page everyday and it has a new little saying for the day. Some are cute, some are funny, and every once in a while I come across one that is really relevant to that day. Today's quote was one of those. It jumped out at me and I wanted to share it with you.

"We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but never let us lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way." - Gloria Gaither

However, she forgot to mention fall, cramp, puke, pass out, and crawl. Or maybe that's just me.

Out Among Nature

Okay, so for the long weekend, my husband, the kiddos, and I decided to go visit his family's farm in Arkansas. It is really beautiful up there, but not exactly condusive to my training. I was all psyched to do my run, 4 miles, out among Nature. The trees and hills and forest creatures. I had even planned to stop in a meadow and twirl while I sang a Disney song and all the little critters came to listen. : ) Instead, I got lots of rain and thunder, bugs big enough to carry off even a fat girl, and an angry momma cow that very quickly turned me into a sprinter. They had a little trail carved out where they regularly run the tractor, so I took off running down it. I was being bombarded by Jurassic Park size bugs, and just knew that one of them was going to pick me up and carry me off or at least mug me for my IPod. I got about a mile into my run when I rounded a corner and there stood the cutest little speckled calf. I immediately started looking for the momma because I knew she had to be nearby. Sure enough, there she stood out to my left. I started backing up slowly when momma decided she didn't like my shoes or the way I looked in my running shorts. I don't know, but I do know that she wanted me away from the calf, so I was more than happy to oblige and quickly. Then came the rain, oh the rain. Giant pelting raindrops. Thunder claps so loud that they shook the ground, and which at first, I mistook for the angry cow coming to get me. So this weekend is the first time that I have not gotten in all my miles. I'm a little upset about it, but I will add a mile onto my workouts this week to make up for it. It was nice to see the grandparents and it was the first time that they had seen Isa. So it was worth the trip.

Thank Goodness for Joan Jett

Oh, Thank Goodness for Joan Jett and thank you, Joan Jett for making some awesome tunes!! Bad Reputation and I Hate Myself For Loving You are the only reasons that I made it through my workout today. I wanted to quit, I needed to quit, okay I just REALLY wanted to quit!!! And then the music of angels appeared and Joan Jett started singing "I hate myself for loving you...". Instant energy! Not the greatest pace song, but it got me through that last 1/2 mile. God Bless You Joan Jett!

Okay, so last week was a week full of poopoo, but I made it through. It was a hard week with a bunch of different stuff going on. And I'm not going to lie, it was REALLY hard to stay motivated and get all my miles in. There were a few days when I just didn't think that I had it in me, but I did it!! Saturday was a 4mile day, my first. And the idea that I will one day soon be running over 3x that distance is well..... terrifying. I want to throw up just thinking about it! But you know I didn't think that I would be able to do 4 miles, and I did. So 13.1 miles, here I come! Though I seriously am thinking about painting my face blue, donning a kilt, and screaming "FREEDOM!!!" the first 12 mile day that I do. Whatever gets you motivated right. : ) What's not getting me motivated right now is the scale. Fat should be melting off of me like an ice sculpture in Hades, but I have managed to gain 3 freakin' pounds!!! I'll admit that my pants fit better and I have more energy, but could the scale have just a little mercy on me? Please? Pretty please?

The Food-Nazi

So one of our coaches advised us to start trying new energy food, drinks, and supplements, so that we can figure out what works for us before the big race day. So I went to the store and found an entire wall filled with yummies. I picked this one and that one, mixed it up a little, to see what I liked. So far there have been a few good ones and some really bad ones. An oatmeal one was da bomb. It tasted just like an oatmeal cookie. I could definitely be okay eating that. But I came across one that tasted like crap dipped in chocolate. Blah!!!! Check that one right off the list. Why can’t they make energy bars that taste like birthday cake or banana cream pie or strawberry cheesecake. I am more likely to eat those instead of a chocolate covered crap bar.

Believe it or not, I do eat pretty well. Lots of lean meat, lots of fresh veggies and fruit and I love me some rice cakes. I drink tons of water and try to limit my sweets. I do love CARBS, but now that I am running, I can have carbs. Yippee!! I eat even better now that I am really trying to watch what I eat. But the real kicker for me is that I sit next to the food-nazi at work (yes, you S!). I have my weaknesses (Dr. Pepper is my life’s blood in the mornings), but I generally do pretty well. Yet it seems now that people know that I am training, they think that they are entitled to have an opinion about what I eat or drink. Advice and suggestions are welcome, solicited even. But all snarky comments about how much I’m eating, what I’m eating, or if I should really even be eating that, will be met with a chocolate covered crap bar being thrown at your head.

First Week of Training

So this has been my first week of training, and so far, so good. I'm tired, a little cranky (sorry everyone!), but it is getting a little easier each day. However, magic shoes do not exist. I love my new shoes. They are great! They feel good on. They seem to push me a little harder, but they have failed to do the one thing that I hoped they would, which is make this running thing a whole lot more fun. : ( Oh, well! Hopefully in time.

In the Picture: My sister and I (in the red hat) on our way to our first training session.

Fat Girl Running

Fat Girl Running

Well, here I am, a little fat girl. I’m thirty (ugh!) and a new mom. I used to be very athletic, but the past tense is apparent every time I put on my not-so-skinny jeans. I have wanted to get back into shape for some time now, but as some of you know, it’s REALLY hard to get motivated when you have a brand new baby at home. You just want to cuddle, snuggle, and dress them up, but time is passing so quickly and I want to be able to run around and keep up with my kids. So I was on a mission to get back in shape, be healthy, and be a good example for my kids. I was tossing around all these ideas of how to go about doing that, when I opened up my mailbox and there it was a little purple postcard that said Team in Training. I was thinking, “That looks interesting, but I could never run a marathon”. So I was walking toward the trashcan to throw away the postcard when one word jumped out at me, leukemia. Suddenly I had the answer that I had been looking for, I would run a marathon. I felt like I as in one of those silly computer software commercials where the people have the epiphany and are all glowy.

So let me tell you why it suddenly became so clear. This past year I had two good friends lose their little boy to leukemia. As I watched them go through the process, I couldn’t help but think that they were experiencing what has to be every parent’s worst nightmare. You hear of things like that, you see the advertisements for certain charities or fundraisers, but you never actually know anyone who has been through something like that. Yet I have watched my friends handle their tragedy with such poise and grace that I couldn’t help but be inspired by them. So there I was thinking of their little boy with a postcard in my hand, asking myself could I really run a marathon. When in walks my wonderful, loving, amazingly supportive husband, and asks me what I’m doing. I showed him the card and asked him, “What do you think of this? Do you think that I could do this?” This brilliant man looked me in the face and said, “You can do anything.” And then he read the postcard. LOL! After reading it, he still thought it was a good idea. So I went online and signed up for a meeting. Unbeknownst to me, my sister had signed up for the exact same meeting. When I found out that she had decided to do the marathon too, I decided it was kismet. So that one word on that purple postcard was the prompt I needed to start to change my life and if I’m lucky, the life of someone else.

Now I will be the first to admit that my name and the word marathon have NEVER been used in the same sentence before. Even when I was in shape, running and I were not friends. So in the course of my training, I suspect that there will be tears, screams, cramps, shin splints, and perhaps even a little vomit, but if my friends can survive what they have been through then I can survive a few measly little miles. I will train and hope that you follow my journey through this blog. I want to raise some money and some awareness for a disease that affects more people than I ever realized, and maybe, just maybe I can make a difference. My hope is that one day no other parents, friends, or families have to go through what my friends have gone through. I will be running in memory of Jamison Watters. So, Jamison, this one’s for you.