IT'S GETTING HARD

Well, I did manage to get in 7+ miles tonight. I didn't run last night as my knee was hurting after teaching class. Work has been very busy for us both this week. James will hopefully return in time from his flyout to leave for a meeting in Chicago tomorrow morning at 5am...I have to cover at work this Saturday and James is on call so we will not be participating in the Lake Monona 20K; we will have to find some other time to get the 16 miles in we are slated to do Saturday.

It seems like we have hit a little plateau in terms of donations and training. We really continue to need your support, especially in trying to get these miles in to be ready for the marathon in 8 weeks! Remember to check-in with us and if you can send an encouraging note/email/message. We hope to have some updates on Dick's progress late on Friday.

A WET CRAZY LEGS!

As most of you living in the Midwest have probably experienced it yesterday too, here in the Madison area we have received a lot of rain. Therefore, the best way to describe our Crazy Legs experience is to say WET, WET, WET! Despite the rain (and lightning and thunder), we did rather well. James finished in 41:15, while I finished in 42:35. I think it's because I had to start 3 heats behind James. I guess having a last name starting with "A" pays off occasionally! It was a really good experience in how to maneuver with so many people. (Over 18,000 people participated in Crazy Legs.) Seattle's event has sold out with 25,000 entrants! A big thank you to my sister-in-law Erica for coming up to watch Christopher, and to our neighbors for letting us warm up in the hot tub after the race!

This week is a pretty busy week (again) and we hope to be able to keep up with the 35 miles we are slated to run. Dick is scheduled to make a return trip to the Mayo Clinic on Tuesday. Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers. He has had a couple of really good weeks without chemo, and we will anxiously await test results and word on what will happen next.

TIME FLYS

Well, it's hard to believe it's been 1 week since my last post - where has the time gone. I always thought that things would slow down as I got older, but it really seems to be the opposite. The week went fast preparing for the first days of summer registration at the Park & Rec department. Thursday, Friday and today the work day has flown by while I feel I have accomplished little except processing the hundreds of registrations and talking parents through which swimming lesson level is the best for their child...everyone seems to be on track to be the next Michael Phelps!

We did manage to squeeze in a group run and dinner last Wednesday with members of Team Wisconsin. It was great to be able to sit and visit with team members about the trials and tribulations of training and life! And, if you can believe this, Dano's wife is a Pi Phi!!! Dano is this great guy who has done multiple events for TNT basically because he sees how leukemia & lymphoma affect those around him. Dano is a candidate for the LLS Man of the Year. There is a black tie dinner May 22 to announce the winner and we hope to be able to attend to support Dano much like he supports the rest of us! Check out this web link because the Man of the Year Award is in part a fundraiser and he needs your support!
http://wi.ironman.llsevent.org/pledge/index.cfm?mid=DANO

And, oh yes, training...this Saturday is Crazy Legs! We are slated to run it and of course this week would be completely booked for James. Wasn't it last time before the big race??? We did manage to get in most of our training runs last week. Saturday was so busy for us we had to run our long run on Sunday. James went first for the 14 miles, I got about 11 in before it started to sprinkle, but got home before the heavy rain. (I hate running in wet, sloshy shoes.) I should be able to get in most runs this week before the event. James on the other hand will be lucky to get another run in before Saturday. He will be in the Wisconsin Dells for a conference spearheaded by the UW, and of course he's on call. Send us good vibes - we need it!

IT'S MONDAY ALREADY???

Wow, hard to believe it's Monday already. The weekend, even with the extra day off went really fast! James and I ran together on Saturday an got 12+ miles in. Both of us experienced some sore knees yesterday, but at least we made it. That's the farthest either one of us have run at one time! This week we are up to 32 miles total. We are hoping to get an easy 3 in today (since neither one of us did yesterday).

This week will be a busy week for both of us. James is on a long call stretch and is currently on his way to Rockford, IL for a recovery. Summer registration starts on Thursday and I expect to be working some extra hours Thursday & Friday to manage everything. Saturday is a very full day and I don't think we can squeeze in the 14 mile run we are scheduled to do - might have to try on Sunday. Please be sure to check in with us this week, as it will be tough to be motivated to try to get the miles in with everything else on our "to do" lists.

IT FEELS LIKE FRIDAY!

Well, it was kind of a Friday today - tomorrow is considered a holiday at the City and I have the day off - YEAH! It was a busy week with the mailing out of our summer brochure. I also conducted a Zumba Party for my friend Megan, the Recreation Director in Columbus, yesterday. It was a lot of fun - 30 women having a great time dancing!

It is really getting tough now with the training...it is getting harder to get these long runs in after work and when needing to complete the other 100 things on my "to do" list. Christopher is good about riding in the jogging stroller, but honestly it's getting really hard to push him for more than an hour! Saturdays are long runs are scheduled. This week it's 12 miles. I'm going to pay our babysitter to watch CJA since that will take me 2 hours or so to complete. So, if you have any extra time these upcoming Saturdays/Sundays that you wouldn't mind watching Christopher while we run we would greatly appreciate it.

We have one more request...when everything posts that is outstanding, we will have raised $9984.70. We would really like to say we raised $10,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Thus, if you or anyone you know would be willing to donate (the $16.30 we would need) we would greatly appreciate it. Of course, a huge THANK YOU is due to everyone and what they have done to help us. We couldn't have done this without you!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE we need your support as the training gets harder. Drop us a line of encouragement (or a phone call) to make sure we stay on track!

ZUMBA PARTY SUCCESS

What a day!!! We had our Zumba Party this morning - it was awesome! I was extremely nervous that we would have people (and that I would mess up or trip in front of everyone)! We had a great turnout and raised $580 in donations! A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated and/or donated! A big shout out to the ladies, my fellow instructors, who helped me pull this off - I appreciate it so much. James was able to be there the entire time and he took several pictures - hopefully we can figure out how to post them!

I was floored this morning when I returned to the gym. James was speaking to someone that looked really familiar...it was my cousin's husband! They drove over 3 hours to take part in the party - as a surprise! It was great! We even got to enjoy lunch with them after the party - thanks Tammy & Ray!

Tammy mentioned she read about the Zumba Party here on the blog. I honestly don't know how many people actually read this on a regular basis, but her comments give me hope that there are people out there reading this blog. Don't forget to post comments!

What a great day...I hope this means it will be a great week (minus the 4-8 inches of snow they are expecting here later tonight)!

WHAT A WEEK!

What a roller coaster week it has been. First off, Dick was released from the hospital and plans to return home to Bertha tomorrow. Chemo has been discontinued for the time being as it obviously is not helping. The test results also confirm that the chemo was not helping and causing him to become very sick. He will spend the next 3 weeks receiving a steroid treatment 3x a week. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Secondly, the benefit for Dick this past Sunday was unbelievable. Mind you, Bertha is a town with a population (if I remember correctly) of 407. Over 500 people attended the benefit raising more than $8000! A big THANK YOU to everyone who contributed, came, sent kind words, etc. Your generosity is quite overwhelming.

Thirdly, James and I made our total fundraising goal by April 1. Yes, we have raised over $8500 to date. Our goal was to make the 50% mark by April 1 (we needed to in order to continue), but to already be at our required total is unbelievable. We can not begin to thank everyone enough for everything you have done for us so far - the donations, notes, emails, thoughts, prayers, etc. Please don't stop though; the hard part is actually upon us - training to be able to finish the marathon.

Training is going to start getting quite challenging. We are scheduled to run a total of 27 miles this week. The runs are getting progressively longer each day. It is beginning to get challenging to be able to fit everything in 24 hours that we need to do. The weather really isn't helping either; it is getting very boring to be looking at the same spot on the wall while running on the treadmill these miles. Please continue to check-in and encourage us; we will need to be able to get to Seattle.

Finally, the ZUMBA PARTY is this Saturday!!! I was on the NBC 15 Morning Show this morning (very briefly) to talk about the party. It will be at the Princeton Club East in Madison from 11am-12:15pm this Saturday. Members are able to come for free, but asked to make a donation. Non-members are welcome with a $10 donation. All proceeds will benefit Team in Training.