Marathon Prep

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

~Philipians 4:13~

I am here. Week 26/26. This is the week before I run a full marathon. I've trained for 25 weeks. 25! Looking back at my summer, every weekend involved finding a way to work in a long run - wherever I was - Montana, Phillips, Oshkosh... it didn't matter, but I had my running shoes and I ran. This is the hardest things I have trained for. Running is hard for me, and the training really took a lot of time. But I knew that going in, and was determined to make it happen. Once I cross that finish line on Saturday, I'll be able to cross it off my list.

Right now I'm reading about how to prepare the week before, and one of the things that keeps coming up is to prepare mentally. I need to stay relaxed and visualize the run - the whole thing, but mostly I need to visualize myself coming down that last 2-3 mile stretch confident, strong and happy. I'm trying - but I laugh every time because I'm fairly certain I will be in quite a bit of pain at that point - but I am still not loosing that "positive" attitude I need so that I can be as ready as I can mentally. As tired or as sore as I will be at that finish line, I will smile - and I know I will feel proud.

While working on the "stay strong mentally" part of preparing, I'm also trying to drink a lot of water this week so that I'm well-hydrated on Saturday. Another part of staying well-hydrated means to cut back on caffeine and beers. The beers haven't been a problem, but the coffee... I usually have a few *large* cups each day, so I'm cutting that down to two. Quitting right now would probably not be a good idea... I don't need to deal with caffeine headaches!

I'm also trying to boost my carb intake, which, to be perfectly honest, has been absolutely joyous! I love carbs. Tonight I'm having whole wheat spaghetti and ice cream for dessert. I'm trying to keep the rest of my diet in check, so I'm trying to keep with my eating 2-3 fruits each day, about 4 servings of raw veggies, my daily yogurt, egg sandwich, almonds and oatmeal. That all keeps me munching throughout the day.

I've tried to clear out my week so I can get ready physically, too. Yesterday (Monday) I had a late class, so I wasn't able to do much to prepare. In fact, it was a really stressful day. I had a 110-point project due that wasn't working, and a test! So I was pretty much freaking out all day yesterday, but I got my project to work in the last minutes before going to class, and my test actually went pretty well. I'm glad that's over, because now I can really focus... I hope!

So I guess there's this thing called "Taper Madness" and I keep getting emails with articles about how to avoid it and stressing how important it is to notice it and keep in control. Well, the last 4 weeks have been taper weeks for me (meaning my miles became less and less with no super-long runs on the weekends), so I started to read these articles. Apparently, most runners get into the 4-week taper and just decide to throw in another 18- or 20-miler just because they want to do a long run. What!? I saw my miles taper down and sighed with relief! A break! Woo-hoo! I figured I didn't really have to worry about this whole "taper madness" nonsense - I easily followed the mileages on my training schedule. But now -- the week before -- I can't help but think to myself, "I haven't done a long run in FOUR weeks. How on earth am I (or my legs) going to be ready to run 26.2 miles!?" And then I started to understand the taper madness. Maybe it doesn't necessarily have to be because I *want* to run 18 miles, but I kind of feel like I should. I won't, of course, it's way too late now, anyway. But I'm starting to understand this crazy phenomenon.

Tonight (Tuesday) I'm going to run 6 miles, eat my spaghetti, drink lots of water and do some stretching. Tomorrow night I'm going to pack my clothes and make sure I've got everything I need for race day. Thursday night I'll run 4 miles and get to bed early. I read that getting a lot of sleep the few nights before the race is really important, too, because most runners get little sleep the night before. This makes so much sense and wasn't something I thought of! So I'm trying to get more sleep this week than normal.

Friday morning Adam and I plan to wake up nice and early and get on the road. We've talked about taking fun back roads from Oshkosh to Ashland and maybe stop somewhere on the way up for lunch. At 3:30 the packet pick-up begins, so Adam and I will both pick up our race packets (he's walking the 5K), maybe visit the Expo, then head to Phillips. Friday evening will consist of a *very easy* 20-minute run to keep my legs limber, stretching, a somewhat bland, high-carb dinner, and lots of relaxing and sleep (hopefully).

Saturday morning at 3:30AM I will wake up and shower, get ready for the day, make coffee and breakfast and hit the road around 4:00 or 4:30. Drive the 1-1/2 hours to Ashland, find a place to park, get our stuff together and jump on the shuttle bus. Get to the start line, go for a jog, stand in line to pee, stretch, stand in line to pee again, then find my place at the start line.

Then... 9:00AM... I run.

Right now I've got a few goals in mind, which I always do before a big event like this. I usually set three -- one that I'm pretty certain I'll be able to achieve, one that I have a good chance at, and one that could be tough, but still possible.

Goal #1: Finish the marathon

Goal #2: Run the whole marathon without slowing to a walk

Goal #3: Finish in 4:22:11 or under. That's a pace of 10 minutes/mile

Okay, okay... here's a moment of pure honesty -- I always tend to push myself, and admittedly sometimes a little too much. See goal #3 up there? I really would like to finish under 4:09. But I read over and over again not to focus so much on time for your first race, so I'm trying really hard to just keep it out of my mind -- that's why a 10-minute mile is goal #3 and not goal #1. I have never once run over a 10-minute mile during my training, so I really shouldn't have a problem reaching that goal. But I don't have any idea what those last 6.2 miles will be like, so having that mental time-buffer in there might be all I have to hang onto if the going gets tough.

So that's the plan. My obsessing will hopefully pay off and not irritate too many of my friends and family! Adam has been super-supportive throughout my entire training, but I know he's getting pooped from all of this and I don't blame him! I drive myself batty! But I feel really lucky to have him by my side. He's talked me into going on runs when I didn't feel like it, encouraged me when I was feeling tired, and he even drove out on my long-run routes a couple of times to cheer me on. One time he was holding a piece of chocolate cake that I was looking forward to eating when I got done - the faster I ran the sooner I got that cake! He really helped make some of it fun - and made me feel important to him. But I know he's looking forward to the break in training, as am I.

...but first things first...

"Our Hike" for Bone Marrow Disease 2010

The "Our Hike" booth about the hike my mom and I took across America in 2006 -- complete with a worn-out pair of holey hiking boots!

Another fundraiser has come and gone, and once again, we'd like to thank everyone involved in making it a great success. However you were involved... by making a donation online, hiking with us, donating raffle items, spreading the word and awareness or even just wishing us well - we thank you! We couldn't do it without our supporters, friends and family.

The event was held on Sept. 11, 2010 this year, and we raised over $1,600 to be sent to the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation! To date we have raised nearly $130,000 to raise awareness and to find a cure for these deadly bone marrow failure diseases. This is why we continue to hike every year. Every little bit adds up to a bigger amount - and in the end we can all feel like we've worked together to make an impact. We just hope to help save lives. We need more awareness so the correct diagnosis can be made. We need constant patient education materials so patients and their caregivers can get the support they need. Research dollars are also so very important for Bone Marrow disease... these diseases are too often mistaken for cancer... but they aren't! There are no cancer cells involved, which would be a good thing to hear from your doctor... but in the case of bone marrow diseases like Aplastic Anemia, that doesn't mean you're out of the woods by any means. It's not as well known as cancer -- so there aren't as many huge studies done, and there aren't as many widespread support groups out there.

I have a little side-story here about my diagnosis, and I've heard similar stories from other patients, as well. When my mom, dad and I were at the clinic with our hematologist and they told us that it wasn't cancer, or leukemia... there was a sigh of relief. Why wouldn't there be, right? Well, when the doctor then explained that the disease I had was more rare, and that he's only seen one other patient with Aplastic Anemia, we started to feel scared and confused again. Now what, right? Well, my hopes are that upon diagnosis, more patients will be able to say, "Oh, I've heard of that..." and even better yet, "I know someone that's survived that!" What a positive outlook that would start a newly diagnosed patient with!

So we just keep on plugging away. We hope that everyone that joined us this year will be back next year, and we hope if you weren't able to make it out that you can next year. In the big picture we might be a small group, but we sure are a tough one as we continue to hike each year!

As of right now, we plan on having the next event on September 10, 2011, but we might try to move the hike out a couple of weeks so that it's closer to peak fall color season. We will be sure to let everyone know if that time does change, but go ahead and mark your calendars for 9-10-11 for now. :) 

A little synopsis from this year's event... and a few pictures!

We started out with registration at the Corner Connection where we gathered to start the hike. We raffled off two Gregory Daypacks this year for registered hikers - one ladies' and one men's. Ken one the men's and Brenda won the ladies' (Brenda is from Blue Door Consulting in Oshkosh and was a HUGE help with media when my mom and I hiked the ADT in 2006 - she was also someone I'd call if I needed cheering up - she's so bubbly and always picked me up when I was feeling down. She surprised us by showing up with her husband, Alex, to hike with us!)

 Hikers on Hwy. W

We hit the road, going in the opposite direction as we have in past years. We started walking on Hwy. W for a short jaunt, then turned onto Skinner Creek Rd., which is a gravel country road lined with trees. It drizzled on us a little bit, and it was a enough for me to throw on a poncho, but it didn't last too long. It was just enough rain to give the woods some super-vibrant color.

Then we took a slight left onto White Birch Lane - still a gravel country road - then onto the Georgetown ATV trail. The trail narrows and gets prettier as you go. We all enjoyed the woods, and there was even a spatter of fall colors in the trees here and there.

When we finished the hike back at Corner Connection, they graciously held a meat raffle for us! So paddles went around, we drew tickets for some door prizes, and pigged out on a lunch special of pulled pork, chips and a bunch of goodies that family and friends made to share with the hikers (THANK YOU to those who made treats, too!!!).

I think several of us took a little nap before heading to Club 13 in Phillips for dinner, raffles and music. We started out with a yummy spaghetti dinner, then the DJ set up and played some music, and we started up some paddle raffles in between songs. We had a lot of baskets this year (THANK YOU to everyone who helped with baskets by donating items and helping put them together!).

 Baskets for raffling!

We had a couple of "big ticket" items that we sold separate tickets for, too. This was something new we tried, and I think we can improve on it a little bit, but it was still a success. Ken's Carpet in Phillips, WI donated a recliner at cost for us to raffle off. My mom made another crocheted Sock Monkey - those are always a big hit. That sock monkey ended up being the man of the hour for sure! I think everyone got a dance with him! :) Mimi Seamens, the mom of a good friend of mine (Jake!) and her Quilting club put together an "Our Hike" quilt made with our signature bandanas! It was awesome! In fact, my mom and I usually don't get in on the raffles, but we both decided we'd put a ticket in for the quilt... and my mom's name was pulled! It was really funny, because when her name was called she didn't hear it at first... then she saw everyone looking at her and she exclaims, "What!? Who won!?" When we told her it was her, she jumped up and down and squeeled! She was so excited. I think everyone was happy to see she won it. And I'm totally cool with it because she already told me she's gonna' will it to me! Tee-hee! :)

The "Our Hike" Quilt with some raffle baskets

 After the music and raffles were done, some of us were headed out to the Phillips Fairgrounds where we had a group camp set up. Mike and Joan, the owners of Club 13, arranged a limo ride for those of us staying out there! That was an awesomely fun perk to camping! I can honestly say I've never had a limo ride to my tent before this!

The campers got a limo ride back to camp at the end of the night 

Our night ended at camp with a nice campfire, a midnight snack of sweet corn on the fire, a ringing bell and some great conversation. Thanks to everyone for such a fun time. I already can't wait until next year. Again, we hope to make it bigger and better next year!

We'd like to send out a special thanks to The Corner Connection, Club 13, Mimi Seamens and the Sassy Quilter's, and Kens Carpets.

Highlights from Summer 2010

Well, now that summer is nearly over and I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, I can play a little catch-up with my blog.

Probably starting in January, I started to fill in those two little blocks in my calendar that land in the “Saturday” and “Sunday” columns… in every month through September. Before I knew it spring was over (those weekends were full, too), and summer was here, full blast. While making the decision that 2010 was going to be the year I run a full road marathon (so I can finally check it off my bucket list), I kept myself so busy that I don’t know where I found the time to run.

After all is said and done, I look back and see that I didn’t spend as much quality time with Adam as I should have, which is bad… but every weekend was stuffed-full of funness, which is good… and I’m now finding myself feeling exhausted… which is good and bad. I have no regrets from this summer, but I have to admit that I’m looking forward to the second half of October through the end of the year. I don’t know what’s next, and right now – in all honesty – I don’t care! I love that!

I don’t have enough precious time to write in detail about all my summer adventures, so I thought I’d do a little rundown of it with a picture popped in here and there to illustrate it all. First of all, I need to point out that training for a 26.2-mile marathon is REALLY hard and time-consuming. I didn’t get backpacking nearly as much as I normally would because it just didn’t work with my running schedule – and an even more honest reason – I simply had too many things already planned. But I decided that if I could make it through my and Adam’s 2-week road trip vacation in June, the marathon was ON. No excuses at that point. Long story short, I stuck with it – I’m now 2 weeks away from that marathon, and I’m not quite sure I’m 100% ready, but I’m 100% sure I’m as ready as I can be… if that makes any sense at all.

In May we did our annual Canoe Trip. That was fun as always. We paddled, partied, enjoyed campfire, family, friends and had an overall good time. I always love spending time up north doing stuff outdoors. There’s so much! Rivers, woods, paths, roads, fire pits, gardens, lakes… it’s never ending!

Mom and Dad in their canoe.

Towards the end of June Adam and I went to Country USA again. It was fun and crazy as always! It’s nice to have those five days for us to spend together, and at that time we’d both just gotten back from our awesome vacation to Montana. We were kind of “out-of-sorts” I suppose you could say. We were coming off of a vacation high and some other things he and I were working through at the time. So it was kind of a whirlwind.

Before Country USA and before our vacation, Adam and I started talking about all kinds of things and learned some new things about each other… some good, some bad, some scary… and we both knew we had some things to work on. What better time to get into a rental car and drive together for two weeks? A lot of friends and coworkers thought that we were crazy, most of them saying, “I wouldn’t last a day cooped up in a car with my spouse!” But Adam and I are a little different that way, and very different from each other -- the list of activities that we both enjoy is a short one. But one thing we both have always enjoyed -- and enjoyed doing together -- is road-tripping. So that's the trip we planned and it was perfect for us.

One random day before we left, I told Adam, “We need to give our vacation some sort of name…” for which he replied, “How about Gus?” I laughed and that’s what stuck. So GUS became the theme name for our trip.

We got a rental car, dropped our kitties off at Adam’s mom’s house (she was kitty-sitting for us while we were away), and we hit the road. We drove through South Dakota, hitting the Corn Palace, Wall Drug, the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. From there we drove into Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. We stayed there a couple of days and toured as much as we could. We stayed in the canyon area, so we hiked to upper and lower falls, then on our way out toured around the loops to see buffalo, a grizzly bear, some bighorn sheep, Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, among some other awesome scenery!

Adam and I at the bottom of Lower Falls, Yellowstone

On our way out of Yellowstone, we took the famous Beartooth Pass. We left in the afternoon, and the roads were nearly empty of all traffic. There was still 10-20 foot snow banks along the side of the roads in some places, and it was kind of scary riding around the hairpin turns. Adam did most of the driving, and he did an awesome job. The best part of Beartooth pass was the sunset. It was incredible. I won’t even try to explain it because it wouldn’t do it any justice at all. Please, if you go anywhere near Yellowstone, this you – must – go – and – see.

Beartooth Pass at sunset. Not even close to how gorgeous it actually looked!

From Yellowstone, we drove up to Bozeman, Montana, which we both immediately fell in love with. We dreamed of what life would be like living there (and still do). Maybe one day we can call it home, who knows! We spent some time at museums and relaxing, then took off again, but this time north towards Glacier National Park. On the way to Glacier we hit Skulkaho Pass and its amazing waterfall, the Sapphire mines at Philipsburg, and a cool little place to get huckleberry shakes. We tent-camped one night in West Glacier, but the second night we upgraded to a small, one-room cabin. We took road tours as far as we could go on the Going to the Sun Road – it was still closed at the top. But we went as far as we could on both sides and saw some great scenery.

Adam and I at Eagle’s Falls, Glacier National Park

From the East side of the park, we took the Going to the Sun Road to St. Mary’s Lake and pulled over at a famous photo-taking spot. There’s this tiny little island in the middle of the lake with about 3 little pine trees on it. As I had my back to the island, and Adam about to snap my picture, he suddenly got this look on his face like something was behind me. His jaw dropped open and his eyes got HUGE. I turned around and there stood this teeny little spotted fawn! I grabbed the camera and took a quick picture, then continued to take some video. He wanted to walk straight up to me, and almost did before realizing I wasn’t his kind, then he turned and ran off. It was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip!

Little fawn that surprised us, Glacier National Park

After Glacier, we hit the road heading back home. We hit a winery and a BBQ festival on the way home, landed at a family gathering in Wisconsin, then back to Phillips to get the kitties… and home to Oshkosh. It was a great two weeks. Adam and I never got sick of each other, I kept up my running, we ate fairly healthy and inexpensive (Jetboiling meals in the hotel rooms), we talked a TON about all kinds of things, and came back feeling refreshed. It was a real vacation, and it was our first.

July rolled around pretty quickly. Adam and I went to Green Bay and saw Star Wars in Concert. It was really cool. The orchestra played a bunch of Star Wars theme music and a huge screen behind it played scenes from the movie. It was hard to remember sometimes that the music you were hearing was actually live. I had to keep looking down at the orchestra to remind myself. It was amazing with all the lights and fog, too!

My running training picked up pretty heavy in July, but I just kept at it. We had time for an 80’s party with friends Anne, Craig, Shannon and Kevin in Sheboygan. It was fun getting all dressed up in 80’s attire and getting together with friends for a fun-filled night.

Adam and I at 80’s night in Sheboygan

In late July Adam and I started making secret plans of a crazy future. He was going to go back over-the-road truck driving. We were nervous about the change, but excited for just that reason – change. But we wanted to start something different, and we thought maybe this would be a fun new adventure… and if things were going well, I’d eventually join him on the road. So a lot of the first part of August was planning things and getting Adam set up with a trucking company and orientation. I dropped him off in Chicago for a 3-day packed orientation, and on my way home, alone in the car I cried. The thought of not seeing him for 3 weeks was really making the change hard. I knew it would be difficult, and so did Adam… but neither of us know how close we’d actually become in the past few years. We both struggled, but Adam finally got officially hired and hit the road. After only a few days, and a LOT of patience, Adam started to realize that this company wasn’t just dragging him through the dirt because he was new… they were dragging him through the dirt because that was they way they ran. Needless to say, it didn’t work out, he quit, and he came home. We both privately prayed to God that He give us some sort of sign if it was the right decision or not… I think we got our answer loud and clear. We are both glad he tried it, though… or we’d both still be wondering “what if?”

So on to the next chapter! What that is, I have no idea!

While Adam was working out a way to get home from his trucking run (he was stuck in Springfield, Ohio), I had plane tickets, along with 2 of my girlfriends, to visit our friend Sarah in Colorado. She was on vacation there with her boyfriend for 7 weeks and invited us to come out for an extended weekend. At first I wasn’t going to go. I thought of a bunch of different reason why I shouldn’t (like money and time and blah, blah, blah...), but after Heidi and Becky both bought tickets, I decided to just jump. The tickets were really cheap, and after a conversation with Adam when he said, “Quit stressing about it... just go and have a nice time,” I got online and put in my credit card information. Before I knew it, I had a confirmation email from the airline.

We flew out to Colorado the last weekend in August and stayed with Sarah and Michael for a few days. We dayhiked one day, visited Rocky Mountain National Park the next, shopped the day after that and just chilled out and relaxed the rest of the time. It was a really nice way to spend some quality time with friends.

Heidi, me, Becky and Sarah at Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

A couple of other things that happened in August were Manly Man Movie night, which was an event Adam put on. It was originally for guys only. They were going to go to Prime Quarter to grill their own steaks, then hit the movie theater to see “The Expendables.” I wanted to go, but felt I’d have to “be a guy,” so the rule was in place – women could go if they wore a fake moustache… facial hair was required. So the guys all grew out their beards and moustaches and goatees, and I sported a fake fu manchu. It was a great idea, and a lot of fun!

Me sportin’ the fu manchu

The day after Manly Man Movie Night, Adam and I joined friends Jamie and Eric for the Green Bay Tall Ships Festival. We enjoyed the day looking at all the ships, all the people, eating, and freaking roasting in 100-degree weather! It was so hot that day, but we managed to pull off a fun day. We went and went and went until the heat took everything out of us. We did enjoy a sail-tour on the Appledore boat, though. That was really fun. Once on the water and out in the bay, the captain even let us steer the boat for a little bit… which is fun for kids, but adults, too!

 

Adam and I steering the ship at the Tall Ships Festival, Green Bay

Over Labor Day weekend I went on our backpacking group’s annual backpacking trip at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Upper Michigan. I was stoked because it was going to be my first (and biggest) trip of the summer and fall. And boy oh boy, was it a trip to remember! The first two days were crazy with weather! We survived 40-60 mph winds along the shores of Lake Superior, which had 20-23 foot waves! We called it Lake Superior’s first hurricane: Hurricane Aardvark! It rained, the wind whipped, the waves crashed, and on the actual shoreline, sand and spray from the waves would sting us in the face. The first night we were all tucked away in our tents at 7:30pm! That’s early! But after the weather calmed down the third day, we really enjoy the scenery that this place has. It feels like you’re in a whole other world with how clear and colorful the water is. I really enjoy time in the woods, and the crew we had was awesome. Everyone that came along was loads of fun, and we all really weathered the storms together!

The backpacking crew at the Grand Sable Visitor’s Center at the start of our hike.

Me standing on a cliff edge overlooking Pictured Rocks.

The weekend after Pictured Rocks was our annual “Our Hike” for Bone Marrow Disease fundraiser. I will be posting a separate blog entry about that, but we had a fun time, as we do every year! Below is a photo of a bunch of us packed into the little tent my mom and I used while we hiked the ADT. Oh, the good times!

A bunch of us crammed into the little tent

On September 19 (which also happens to be my mom’s birthday – Happy Birthday, MOM!), I ran in the Fox Cities Half Marathon. According to my marathon training, I was supposed to run 10 miles that weekend, so I opted to make some fun of it and join a race. I felt great, the weather was perfect, and I ended up making a personal record! I was so excited to cross that finish line that I nearly teared up! My fastest half marathon had been 1:51, and I finished this one in 1:49:53. Close, but still faster!

 

After the Fox Cities Half Marathon with my finisher’s medal

One other thing I want to share that’s really awesome (but not directly my adventure) is that my brother and his wife had a new baby boy on May 5^th! So that’s really cool!

So many little things in between all these fun and good things happened, too… most are small, but some bigger… some bad, some good -- but there’s just not space, time or energy to share it all… and besides, some things are best left to tuck away into the ol’ memory bank… or what I’ve got of one (my memory it terrible and that’s another HUGE reason I blog!).

Coming up is the Oshkosh Dragon Boat Festival this weekend. Our 4imprint team is once again competing, and I’m looking forward to that full day of fun! I’m also running the event’s 5K run in the morning – so it’ll be a tiring one for sure! Here’s hoping we don’t tip the boat!!

The first weekend in October our backpacking group is heading to the Porkies in Upper Michigan for a fall colors hike. We got POURED on last year, and for the first time I was actually a little miserable while hiking… I’m hoping the weather is a little nicer to us this year. But I’m going rain or shine, and I know I’ll have a blast either way (despite the misery last year, we still came out with smiles and great stories… so it’s always worth it!)

October 9 is a big day for me – that’s the day of the Ashland Whistlestop Marathon. I’m signed up to run the whole 26.2 miles, and I’m freakin’ nervous as can be! I’ve run 20 miles during my training – that’s the farthest I’ve run, and it was H-A-R-D. During the last 3 miles I wanted to curl up in the ditch and cry, but my dang stubbornness pushed me. I can only hope my body and my mind can hold up to do the other 6.2 on race day! But more on that later….

I should give a prize to anyone that read all of that! But I don’t have much to give… I just know it was a long freaking entry with playing so much catch-up. I always say I’m going to write more often, but I know better than to make any promises. So everyone enjoy the rest of what’s left of summer (if any), enjoy the fall, and look forward to winter, because there really is a lot to do when the flakes start to fall!

Spring 2010

A few things from this spring -- Adam graduating from ITT Tech, another up-north cabin weekend, a rainy backpacking weekend in the Kettles, and the canoe trip!

Adam with Dr. Reynolds after the graduation ceremony

Adam graduated from ITT Tech on March 26 with his Associates degree in Software Programming. It was a nice ceremony at the Tundra Lodge in Green Bay. We had a party planned back in Oshkosh after the ceremony was done, and since there was a group of friends waiting for us there, and karaoke booked and ready to play, Adam was in a hurry to jet out of there as soon as he had that diploma in his hand! It was funny. But it really was a nice ceremony... Adam graduated with a 4.0 GPA and Dr. Reynolds even told me that Adam was one of his best students... and that "he was so serious." Haha! That didn't surprise me! When he puts his mind to something, he totally takes it serious and does a great job. I'm so proud of him. ITT is already asking him to come back for his Bachelor's degree, but he needs some time off for a little bit. And ITT is quite expensive, too! So we're going to just ride the wave for a while and see where life takes us.

Adam's graduation party invitation picture

As of now, in May, we're just getting ourselves back into a routine. I just finished up a semester of taking a couple of classes at our local tech. It was a busy semester for me with a lot of reading. I was really feeling burned out, so I'm really happy that classes are done for a while. Adam's been working a lot for Ryder, and pretty soon he'll start looking for something a little more "regular." That job works him some super-long hours -- and he's only a "casual, part-time driver." Some weeks he works 50 hours, so I don't know that I would consider that "part-time" or "casual," but it's a job. I just have this dream for him to be in a position where he can work somewhat "normal" hours and maybe have some vacation time to play around with. I pray that an opportunity that's a good fit pops up for us. But we've got vacation planned here soon, so we've been focusing on that for now. We'll worry about those bigger life responsibilities a little bit later on. :)

Adam's graduation was the highlight of our spring. That was a lot of fun and a long time coming. It was great to see him so proud of something that he worked so hard for!

In April we had a busy Easter with church. It went quick, but it was fun. April was also memorable for me because I had two outdoor trips that month. The first one was at a cabin near Escanaba, Michigan that Randall (from our backpacking meetup group) set up. It was this amazing little cabin up north. We basically had this entire small lake to ourselves. There was still a little snow on the ground, but that didn't matter one bit to us. We went for a dayhike on Saturday, ate some food, had some drinks, made some cake on the campfire from hollowed-out oranges, and grilled a bunch of meat... it was a great weekend.

Tom's Lake

Chocolate cake baked inside oranges over the campfire

Two weekends after that one I head down to the Northern Unit of Kettle Moraine for another backpacking weekend that Randall set up. It was a rainy one, but still a good trip. I took lots of pictures with my new Olympus Tough camera - it's waterproof! It was fun to take it out for pictures without worrying about getting it wet. It worked great!

Rainy Kettle Moraine!

It was close to Randall's birthday, so we bought him a cake and decorated it on the way down, and Rachel and Graham bought him a chef's hat and some awesomely bedazzled giant sunglasses. It was a fun surprise.

Randall sportin' the bedazzled sunglasses, chef hat and birthday cake.

In May I was stressing out about finishing up my semester at FVTC. I had a busy schedule, my calendar got full until October and I was really having a hard time dealing with it all. I'm kind of torn because I have such a full calendar, but it's mostly all fun stuff that's going on. So I can't complain about it, really... I'm just kind of upset with myself for piling so much on. It's makes it difficult to be spontaneous. But... as I said, it's fun stuff, so I'm just gonna roll with it! Wait until my next entry when I write about June. Adam and I are vacationing, so we're really pumped about that!! And it's coming up FAST! Yippee!!

I just got back from our annual canoe trip in Phillips. It was less crazy this year, but sure relaxing. I got up there Friday night, set up and hung out by the fire. On Saturday we got up and paddled for about 5 hours, slowly down the South Fork of the Flambeau. We ate a lot and had a nice time Saturday night, then Sunday woke up with intentions of going out and playing in the water... but never made it out. We just sat around the fire for a few hours and relaxed. It was actually kind of nice to not HAVE to be anywhere. Then I stuck around Sunday night and my dad made some awesome steaks, Justin made some great garlic-mashed potatoes, and my mom had some garden salad she made up and grilled asparagus. Yummy!! Then I head back to Oshkosh late and slept in on Monday morning... rolled into work at about noon. It was the relaxed weekend I think I needed.

Now I'm ready for Memorial Day weekend - Adam and I are just using this 3 days to prepare for our 2 weeks driving out west. We are both just going through the daily motions until it comes time for us to just... run away for a little while!

GUS!! Here we come!!

"Empty my hands, fill up my heart"

Tenth Avenue North came out with a new album last week called "The Light Meets the Dark." One of the first songs I listened to this morning was called, "Empty My Hands." I began to really listen to some of the lyrics and had to listen to it again. Then again. I love it when it almost seems like a song has been written directly to you... this was the case for me with "Empty my hands." I particularly got stuck on this little phrase:
"My hands like locks on cages of these dreams I can’t set free
But if I let these dreams die
If I lay down all my wounded pride
If I let these dreams die
Will I find, that letting go lets me come alive"

I think it just reminds me to stop worrying so much about not being able to live out every one of my dreams and remember that there's always that "one thing" that's so much better than anything I can even imagine. There's something so much bigger, so much better, and all these things I worry about are so little. Dreams really are something to bide our time here on earth. It keeps us busy and working towards something -- gives us something to do. But it's really okay if we don't check them all off of our list, because in the end, we'll be in the best place ever... sitting next to God in heaven.
It reminds me that life is good, but heaven is better. It makes me so happy, relaxed and just at ease to think about it. What a relieving feeling. I love my life, and there's so much more to look forward to!

The full lyrics to "Empty My Hands" by Tenth Avenue North

I’ve got voices in my head
And they are so strong
And I’m getting sick of this
Oh Lord, how long will I be haunted by the fear that I believe?
My hands like locks on cages of these dreams I can’t set free
But if I let these dreams die
If I lay down all my wounded pride
If I let these dreams die
Will I find, that letting go lets me come alive?

So empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
Oh, empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
With You
With You, Lord

‘Cause these voices speak instead
What’s right is wrong
And I’m giving into them
Oh please Lord, how long will I be held captive by the lies that I believe?
My heart’s in constant chaos
And it keeps me so deceived
But if I let these dreams die
If I could lay down my dark desire
‘Cause if I let these dreams die
Will I find, You brought me back to life?

So empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
Oh Lord, empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
With You

‘Cause my mind is like a building burning down
I need Your grace to keep me
Well keep me from the ground
My heart is just a prisoner of war
A slave to what it wants and to what I’m fighting for
So won’t You…

So empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
Oh, empty my hands
Fill up my heart
Capture my mind with You
With You

With You
I need You now
I need You now Lord
With You
With You
I need You now Lord

Catch-up entry! First few months of 2010.

I’ve been busy! I’m playing a little catch-up here…

My first few months of 2010 have been pretty amazing. I’m feeling really fortunate and blessed to have so many special people in my life and the opportunities to do some fun stuff. I’ve had quite a few outdoor weekends, some at home, and I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of really great friends… and one amazing husband! It’s just been a really good year so far. I am one happy girl!!

My first camping weekend was the very last weekend in January in the Northern Unit of Kettle Moraine as part of a backpacking meetup that Randall put together. I don’t have any pictures from this trip because my camera took a poo on me, but we had a new hiker with us this weekend that took some video – Graham was new to our group, and for his first trip, he did amazingly well! Especially for being kind of a chilly, wintery weekend, he seemed very well prepared! After the hike he put together a really nice video, which I’ll post below.

I got there Friday in the early afternoon and parked at the Mauthe Lake Campground and hiked about 6 miles to meet the rest of the group at the shelter. It felt good to be out, but I did realize that my toes and knees weren’t completely healed from the Frozen Otter yet. But it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. When I got to the shelter there was a nice warm fire started already, and we made some food and had some drinks. The next day we hiked back towards Mauthe Lake campground and a little beyond to the next shelter. The trails were really solid with packed-down icy snow. It wasn’t necessarily slippery, just really hard. I brought my saucer sled, so I took that down a trail, and MAN! You really flew on that thing! Because the trails were so hard-packed down, there was almost no friction – it was scary-fun!! I almost hit a tree every time I went down – it was a rush!

Saturday night we had mexican and I made some tiramisu to pass around (which is messy and hard to make in the cold... and I know doesn't fit the mexican theme, but it just tastes good. :) I was sad to go, but I couldn’t stay overnight Saturday night because I wanted to be back in time for church the next morning. So I hung out around the fire until everyone was pretty much ready for bed, then I hit the trail back to my car. It was a good first trip of the year!


Thanks to Graham for putting together an awesome video!

February began a busy Lent season with church. We had Lent services on Wednesday nights, and we’d practice for choir after that. We were also at church on Sundays, and sometimes for both services because Adam leads the congregation during our later praise service, and he’s also part of the praise band. So he was always really busy working on all that and keeping the church's sound system in constant check! I did get a few chances to get together with our Pastor’s wife, Laurie, to do some flute duets. It was really fun to play with someone during the services. I also played my flute with a song our choir did on Easter Sunday, and it went really well. I really love all the people at church, and it really just makes me feel happy when I go. So Lent and Easter was busy, but left me feeling full for sure!

I also went on a girl’s weekend in Wisconsin Dells. It was a bit of a low-key weekend compared to last year’s trip, but it was really nice to get together with all the girls and just hang out and relax. We rented a condo as a group and drove down there on a Friday. We went out to dinner at a restaurant in the busy area we were staying in. It was one of those water park hotels, so there were kids running around everywhere! It was crazy! After dinner we went out on the town and didn’t get home until really late… and maybe had a few too many bevvies… but we sure had a blast! On Saturday morning we all woke up slowly and ended up sitting around the condo most of the day eating and watching TV movies -- with commercials. I don’t think I’ll ever like the movie “Notting Hill” after that weekend! I swear it was on for 5 hours! Sunday we woke up, packed up and head home. Oh, and Sarah and Heidi surprised us all with “Box Tour” t-shirts! That was really cool… and a really nice surprise! It was really fun having us all wear them when we went out. It was even more fun seeing people’s reaction to them… they would look at us like, “Does that say what I think it says?” :)

Here’s a photo that was taken of us girls at work for a staff favorite photo!
In the middle of March we had a meetup in Upper Michigan at a rustic cabin in the Porcupine Mountains wilderness area. We stayed at the Gitche Gummee cabin – it has no electricity and no running water, but it did have a stove inside that we could cook on and a pit toilet… (LOL -- after reading through this, I realized I made it sound like the pit toilet is on the stove or something... but since it made me actually laugh out loud, I had to leave it in! So, actually the pit toilet was a separate little thing outside! :) Our group normally goes backpacking, so this was living easy!! We had a lot of fun on this trip… our cabin was literally right across the road from Lake Superior, so we were able to walk out there at any time and enjoy the beach.

Lake Superior shoreline
I know that I had a severe case of cabin fever – what an ironic term since I cured it by having a cabin weekend – but I think everyone else was feeling kind of the same thing… we got up there Friday night and just kind of let loose. We ate, drank, laughed, hung out by the fire… I wore my new ginormous shades the whole weekend… it was a lot of fun. During the night Friday night I woke up (with my sunglasses still on) and realized my sleeping bag had fallen to the floor (I was on a top bunk). That wasn’t a big deal because I was sweating my BUTT off! It had to be over 100 degrees in that cabin – and I’m not even kidding!! I tried to get the window open that was by my head, but I couldn’t figure it out in the dark, and I was trying not to wake anyone. So I snuck down off of my bunk and head outside to the pit toilet. It felt amazing – was probably 32 degrees, but I didn’t care. When I walked back into the cabin I just started to laugh! It was so freakin’ hot in there you could hardly breathe! Then I realized that half of the other people in there were also awake from the heat – but everyone was trying to stay quiet hoping to not wake anyone up!! I walked around the cabin at that point and opened all the windows… then we were finally able to get a few zzz’s before the night was over.

 
Around the campfire Saturday night


Saturday morning we all woke up slowly and made some breakfast, then gathered our gear and went for a dayhike towards Lake of the Clouds. It ended up being about a 9-mile hike, and was just what we needed after a late night around the campfire. It was beautiful to see Lake of the Clouds off in the distance all covered in white ice and snow, still. The sun was shining and the sky was blue – it almost felt like spring, except that the wind still had that crisp wintery bite to it yet. But we were all just happy to be in the woods with each other! On Saturday afternoon, after our hike, we all head down to the beach to watch the sunset. We played some lawn darts and took some pictures, then head back across the road to the cabin where we ate some more and had another campfire. Sunday we just packed up, cleaned up, and head out. We all stopped at a brewpub in Minocqua for a hearty meal together before we all split ways.


Thanks to Graham again for another fun video! What a way to remember fun weekends!

I’ll do another couple of entries in a bit so I can do a little recap of April and to catch up on the highlight of March – Adam graduating from ITT Tech!

Catch-up entry! Frozen Otter aftermath

I guess I’ve been busy! I haven’t written an entry here for quite a while! But I’ve had so many fun things happen and some amazing adventures coming up that I figured it would be good to get some update/intro entries written.

Well, if you’ve visited my blog in the past, you know the last thing I wrote about was the Frozen Otter. That was a great experience, and today I am still seeing some of the aftermath from that. 64 miles is a long ways to go, and doing it in 22 hours really pushed my body passed its comfort zone – which is one of the reasons why I do it. After the race I got some nasty blistering underneath my toenails. They got really swollen and were very painful so I went to the clinic and had them drained (I know, yuk, right!?). I kept draining them for a few days and finally let them dry out on their own. After another week or so of babying them and applying a lot of triple antibiotic ointment to them on a daily basis, they hardened back up good as new – and they turned a pretty tie-dyed color! It looked like I was wearing some super-funky nail polish! I questioned each day whether or not they might fall off. Well, believe this – only ONE WEEK AGO I lost my first toenail from the Frozen Otter!! 3 months after the fact! It didn’t hurt either, so queezy tummies can subside. I know it’s hard to understand the thought of losing a toenail not being painful – this is the first one I’ve lost, so I know! Before this, whenever anyone mentioned it to me, I would cringe too. But seriously – an ingrown nail is waaay more painful than this was. I taped it up during my Wednesday treadmill run last week, and afterward I just very gently pulled the tape off – with no pain – then gently pulled the toenail off – with no pain. It was crazy-weird! My toe looks SO naked now… I was really getting used to the purple tie-dye look. But my left big toe is still that weird purple color, and so are a couple of my little toenails. I imagine those will fall off in time too, but I’m in no hurry. :)

In addition to the toenail thing, I’ve been dealing with another “Frozen Otter aftermath” experience in the past couple of months. About a week after the race my right knee was a little swollen – I mostly noticed it when I bent it sharply. A bulge would stick out on outside of my knee and it looked sort of deformed – and that was the only time I really felt any sort of pain. I applied some RICE therapy – Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation (well, I didn’t do the compression part – so I did RIE instead). It didn’t seem to help. I took ibuprofin and that didn’t help, either. It wasn’t bothering me during my workouts too much. It really only bothered me during specific movements involving landing on a straight leg (like jumping jacks) in aerobic classes. I finally decided I better have it checked out. My doc took an x-ray and told me there was edema (swelling) in my knee. Well, I knew that! So she had an MRI scheduled. I had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor and told me the MRI results. I had a baker’s cyst on the back of me knee (this is why me knee looked all wacky when I bent it sharply). The baker’s cyst is pretty common – people can have them their whole lives and not even know it. It’s just a fluid-filled sack in the back of your knee. But my MRI showed the reason for the extra fluid was due to some cartilage wear on the inside of my kneecap. Doc said there’s like a little flap of cartiliage that’s being irritated and causing the extra fluid. The only way to cure that is to smooth it out with orthoscopic surgery, but I opted to try a cortizone shot first. I didn’t notice any effect from the shot until about a week later, and I’m happy to say right now that my knee feels almost back to 100%. I’ve decided I’m not going to even think about surgery until there’s a point when pain gets in the way of doing the things I love to do. I don’t want to start digging around in there until I have to.

So that’s that. The aftermath from the Frozen Otter. I’ll take it with a smile, too. I’m really proud of myself for finishing that sucker, it was an awesome experience, and I wouldn’t take it away to have perfect knees and fresh toenails. I know the consequences of my crazy-crazy… and I’m okay with it.

Well, I suppose that’s good for now. I’ll add a few more entries in a bit. I’ve got a couple of weekend camping/outdoorsy things to tell about – with some pictures! Adam graduated, and that’s super-awesome, I had a girl’s weekend getaway, a very busy Lent and Easter, and I’m getting very excited about a vacation that Adam and I are planning! So I’ll have a couple more updates coming.

Oh, and Happy Earth Day!