tough times to raise a buck.

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

As I go to press with this post that has been looming in my psyche for days, I hear the muffled sighs and rolling of eyes.  Or, maybe that’s me.

Most of my friends and family know that I’m fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  It’s all over this blog.  I started fundraising accidentally in 2009, and also accidentally found out that my Grandfather also died from a blood cancer.  Thus, my new love for TNT.

It was easier in 2009.  I was fresh.  Fundraising was fun.

Last fall, I definitely wanted to run the Nike Women’s (Half) Marathon for that Tiffany, and didn’t get the lottery draw, so I joined TNT again.  One heel injury, and vertigo spells later, I had to bow out, with $800 to the good.  I definitely wanted to finish what I started for SF, and found out that San Luis Obispo was also a TNT race.  WOW.  Rollover complete!

This is not a lottery race.  It’s fairly cheap, and I could buy my way in.  I don’t have to continue to raise the money.  At $2550, I think of how much MORE I have to raise to run with the team.

It’s tough times.  I am in a forever non-foreclosing house, making near poverty level, hanging on to rickety pickets on my fence, propping up my back fence with 2 by 4s, broken bits and pieces of the house held together with duct tape.  Seriously.  Why would I take on fundraising in times like this?  Why not just pay for the marathon, and be done with it.

Because.

Because I know that kids who have leukemia have a 97% chance of living now.  From the FACTS brochure: (my words…and my stellar chart-reading skills)

  • If you had Myeloma in 1960, you had a 12% survival rate.  Now?  41%
  • A kid with Hodgkins?  In 1960, 40% chance…now…86%
  • Every 4 minutes someone in the US is diagnosed with a blood cancer.  By the time it took me to run my 5 miles today, 14 people were diagnosed.  Every FOUR MINUTES.
  • Myeloma rarely occurs in people under 45.
  • LLS has awarded $814 MILLION in research grants.  MILLION.  That’s a lotta zeroes, people.

So.  I have $900 more to raise.  I have a football pool.  I am trying not to bug you.  It’s a bitch to raise money in these times.  People don’t want to see me coming.  I usually think, why would I want to do this?  I HATE asking people for money.

Then, I think about my Grandpa.  How I was the first born grand-daughter of the Bon Bon Ice Cream Machine inventor.  How, when I was in 6th grade, and he was so sick, and I had my new Simon & Garfunkle album, my mother rushed in to tell me not to play the Rock and Roll.  And.  He said.  ”Dee Dee, let her play that song…”  He loved Bridge over Troubled Water.  I am the Silver Girl, and I think of him every day.  I like to think that every time I hear it, he’s in heaven, smiling.

Chances are, he never would have seen my sons.  But.  He might have seen me graduate from college, or be the first one in our family to get a Master of Science degree.  He might have been at my wedding.  Or my other wedding.

So.  I raise money in his memory.

Please don’t think I’m playing on your sympathy.  I hate that mushy shit.  However, if it moves you to donate…even $5, then that’s awesome.  I often get hit up for fundraising.  I take my little check and let it roll into a $10 donation.  I’m embarrassed that I can’t give more, but I can’t.

So.  Go to the raffle on the top of the blog, and let your money play a game.  $1000 will be donated to TNT, and the LLS.  I will do the same for you, if you only ask.

 

Posted in family, team in training | 1 Comment

a six mile learning lesson

Posted on January 15, 2012 by

 

I had to run six miles today.  Yesterday was my first off running day in six days.  SO, like the old days, I had something relatively unhealthy for dinner.  I used to justify my over-eating, or eating of the wrong crap.  Like, look.  I ran.  So I can most certainly have a Big Mac.

I had some Chinese food.  And.  Not the real stuff.  The Fast Food–fast and yummy and greasy type.  Thinking of course that I’ve run all these miles, and have taken 12 pounds off.  So yeah.  Gimme the Panda.  Plus, a week or emotionally draining conversations and old connections.  I earned this, right?

I had a relative amount of decent calories yesterday.  I hadn’t really had too much food.

This morning, I woke up with the salt and MSG hangover.  That slimy feeling in your mouth that means you have something nasty in your system.  I never realized it before, because I ate like this all the time.  But.  Since Hanson training started, I’ve been a little more clean with the food.

I flushed.  I drank Nuun.  I drank more water.  I took Advil.  I waited until noon to lace up.

The first mile I was sweating much more than I ever had in a regular training run when it’s only 47 degrees outside.  I had to hit an 11:00 Half Marathon Pace.  I looked at the watch, and I had to slow down.  I was going to NAIL this.

My stomach didn’t cooperate at Mile 1, but after that, I didn’t stop.  Not even for water.  Because I knew if I did, I would most certainly have  stopped, or slowed down.  So I drank off my belt, and kept running.

It was a great run.  But, it only happened because I was not going to let my bad choice of food compromise this day.  I powered through, and then made a clear decision.  If I’m going to cheat, it will be on a Friday night.  The night BEFORE a rest day.  Not after it.

Off topic:

  • I am so grateful for the number 8 & 9.  If you know this number #xa, you know what I mean.
  • Sponsorship:  Blessed.
  • I seem to run better and faster with a broken heart.
  • Friends hold me up.  I thank you for that.

Week 7 of Hanson training began with a learning lesson.

Posted in hanson trainining plan, running | 4 Comments

Wonder Woman Ran Too.

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

I ran a marathon.  This week.

27.2 bloody miles.

Hanson Training is making me feel strong.  12 pounds down and daily running has become a salve to me.

At the beginning of the week, I was slayed by a personal decision that went awry…love that goes away unexplained or with non-acceptance…and I knew that I had a buttload of miles to run every. single. day.

I ran 6.2, then 3, 5, 5, 4, and finally yesterday did speedwork at an avg pace of 10:14.  This is not me.

And today.  Today I get to rest.  Washing all of the clothes that I will wear again starting tomorrow at the beginning of my 6 day a week workout, leading up to San Luis Obispo Marathon.

I’m raising money.  I’m paying bills.  I’m in court and I’m working the best I can on the 12 steps that I love so much.  I’m raising teenagers.  My work started Wednesday.

I just really want to sit the hell down.

It appears that pain is a great motivator for me.  Since the beginning of this horrific week, I ran a PR, lost more weight, nailed all of my splits…I ran crying and I ran laughing.  It hasn’t been pretty.   Crying myself to sleep.  Waking up with an emotional hangover.  I used words like “devastated” and “crushed” in my vocabulary this week.  Amazing friends stood by me even when I made really questionable decisions.

The Lasso Of Truth.  Wonder Woman’s own lie detector.  I’ve been in that this week.  Compelled to tell the truth to myself no matter what.  Committed to telling the truth…MY truth to those I love and the ones who love me back.

It’s been a rough week.  I want to sleep.  I want to wake up and find that my world is still in tact.

But instead.  I run.

Posted in running, weightloss | Leave a comment

i have no words.

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

 

Posted in relationships | 1 Comment

SuperBowl Anyone?

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

 

 

Fundraiser for TNT!  

Go to this page at the top of the blog to see the SuperBowl Raffle Pool 

For $20, you could win $500!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

PR.

Posted on January 8, 2012 by

Yesterday, I wrote about my new plan:  To run a 5:30 marathon.  I know.  It’s a 30 minute PR.  But.  I spent hours crafting my paces and types of run, and finally, finally.  Wrote. It. Down.

Losing 10 pounds made a difference.  I’m told a gallon of milk weighs 7 pounds.  I had that on my back, my thighs.  Seems like not a lot, but it has made a huge difference.  And, I still have some to go.

This morning was the California 10K in Stockton.  I signed up at the last minute, but for $25 you couldn’t go wrong, and I had done this before, although it was the California 10M.  It’s a great local race, and where all the people my age who’ve been running forever, come out and support the cause.

I got to the race early-ish, and found Row, and my new gal pal Alexis.  We quickly added each other on Facebook, and started snapping our “before” pictures.  This one, was in front of the ambulance.  I LOVE IT…Wore my Husker hat so that Lisa would be proud.

I was already having a blast, and the race hadn’t even started.  I do what I do at the beginning of every race.  I look for the 50 year olds, and try to put a target on their back.  Cuz I know they will be faster.  But.  Not today.  I know I have the volume needed for the 10K, but do I have the speed?  5Ks are speedwork, Half Marathons are slower paced…but the 10K, you really have to burn for 6 miles.  I love finding them!

My PR for a 10K had been set in October of 2008, with a Sacramento area race.  It had been over 3 years since I had done anything really good on a 10K.  But, today as I toed the line on the levee, I knew I had it in me.  The only thing I am going to try to do differently is to run negative splits next time.  I burned a lot at the beginning, and had very little at the end.

Mile 1: 10:18

Mile 2: 10:47

Mile 3: 10:42

Mile 4: 10:56

Mile 5: 11:12

Mile 6: 11:04

This course is an out and back, up and down race.  I learned from my old coach how to run down hills, so I just let my arms go and let gravity take me, and I would again have use my arms to run up to the top.  The main thing I’m doing in my training this time, is never EVER walk a hill.  I hear SLO is mighty hilly…so I need to prep for that.

I really enjoyed this race.  It was sunny and 40 degrees, near perfection.  I had my Zensah sleeves and dollar store gloves, but those were off by mile 2.  The volunteers were great.  I took a sip of water and kept running at 3.  I could feel myself slow way way way down at mile 4-5.  I had tried a Chocolate Cherry CLIF shot, and my stomach was doing somersaults.  A girl who had run with me the whole way, suddenly took off running.  Turns out she was 28 years old, and got 2nd in her AG…I was pretty stoked about that!

Then I saw them.

An older couple.  My age.  Slowing down.  I had a half mile to go.  I put the target on her back, because I had seen her at the turn around, and quickly assessed her to be in my age group.  Slowly, methodically, I started talking to my feet.  Catch. Her.  And.  About 20 yards from the finish, I sped ahead of her.  Got in moments before her.  But, that was all I wanted.

As I crossed, I felt Puke Threshold coming, and knew I better walk.  I hadn’t burned that way in a long time.  In fact, my last 10K in May was an 11:46 pace, and VERY slow.  Only 8 months later…a minute faster.

I couldn’t be happier with this race today.  I’m almost 53.  My last PR for this course was set when I was 49.  Who says it can’t be done?

Not. Me.

Posted in 10K, hills, running | 5 Comments

Renewed Promise.

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

Here I am, 5 weeks in to the Hanson Training Plan for my 5th marathon.

And.  I’m in love.

In love with the miles, the training, the exhaustion.

It took this month, and last to lose 10 pounds.

And so, with those pounds less running, I am now ready to re-tool this plan.

I started with the hopes of a 6 hour marathon.

I have tried to run the slow paces, but it is not working.

Energy, coupled with new hope and rising passion, has given me a new goal.

5:30.

Here is the new plan.  Complete with new times.

It took me 81 miles to figure this out.  But.  I can do this.

Six days a week of running, starting tomorrow.  The Cal10K race in the morning.

This marathon.  It’s seriously mine.

Posted in marathon | 3 Comments