Turkey Trot 2009!!!

Buffalo host's the annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day every year. Apparently we were the first to have a road-race, and this was the race! We started this (like I had any part but the big WE!) 114 years ago (see I totally wasn't around then!). So this year, my first year was the 114th! I was pretty impressed to find out that there were 18,000 people signed up to run. (mostly cuz I thought 18,000 people cant all run faster than me, right!? some are bound to walk!!!).

So I was aware that people dressed up for this race and it was a bit of a spectacle but I was lucky enough to have my own personal cameraman (Kevin) taking some photos a few of the entertainers.



A few running penguins (I mean its Buffalo, we were lucky it wasnt Antarctica cold that day but in the past it has been!)



A green caterpillar (these people actually attach themselves to each other and run as a team,, I'm totally impressed but exhausted by the mere thought!)




Apparently using a shopping cart is acceptable forms of transportation. Other years they'd have the person inside be like Santa or something, but it makes me wonder if these two rotated turns pushing and riding. Hmm.

And finally,,,,


(me). I'm wearing these special dri-warmth something or other training clothes underneath my sweats and free turkeytrot t-shirt (can you see pink!) as instructed by my friend Becky, and she helped me get better socks too!. Seriously changed and saved my life/feet! I was so warm and cosy and even hot at times (you may be able to see my winter hat choking me cuz it got too warm with it on!).

I was blessed to have my colleague at work, AB lend me her ipod full of 'hot beats',,, 76 songs on a playlist she made just for me to run to... which was super fun to wonder what was coming next and occasionally be shocked by the words being pumped into my custom-molded ipod ears! (you may be able to see the armband holding it in place and keeping it out of my way on my right arm).

I finished in 1 hr and 20 minutes. I actually crossed a few minutes after that but because I didnt get over the starting line for a few minutes (see first picture of where I was in relation to where the start was), it was about 1 hr 20. Which for an 8k,,, is about 16 minutes per mile, which is not half bad for someone that's only been training for a few months. (and is NOT a runner,,, yet!).

Afterward I was totally dehydrated and seriously pounded some vitamin water and H20 and Kevin and I went about our Turkey day festivities. I was surprised that I wasn't in as much pain as I thought I would be for the weekend. I was totally tired and my feet hurt by sheer pavement pounding but that stopped in the course of a few hours.
I was entirely convinced that running/walking this thing would end up with me with a broken leg/ankle/shin something.. So that's super awesome.

I ran approximately 40% of the whole thing, which leads me to believe if I can continue to prepare for 5k races more in the coming months that next year I might be able to run the whole thing next year and therefore decrease my time a bit? Its a thought but I'm mostly stoked that I started, finished and didn't hurt myself so overall its a victory!!!!

So supposedly there are many 5k's and so we're setting our overall sights lower than 8k but hopefully possible!@:)

Lean on me Part II

"no one can fill those of your needs that you wont let show!

So last nite at the end of one of my fave shows GLEE (shocking I know), they sang the song in the previous blog. I tried to find a video of that part of the episode but Fox wouldn't let me and so I settled for the music instead.

When I was watching, this particular line really shot through me as something I never heard so clearly before.

I think we as humans, but especially women do not like to let our needs show. We like to put everyone else first before ourselves, and inevitably our cups runneth over and not in a good way,, in that "I think I just flooded the basement way". We don't like to show the needs we have that others can assist. There is a lot of negative personal connotations with seeing a psychologist or talking about your personal problems with others, and that same barrier keeps us from our own healing and positive psychology.

Sometimes we think we're the only ones to solve our problems,,, and we're wrong..
and also conversely,, sometimes we think we cannot do anything to solve our problems, its everyone else's fault, , and we're wrong there also.

So where is the balance,, between opening ourselves up to others so that they can empart their knowledge and healing, and also knowing when its intrinsically something only you can change.

Lean on me..

"when your not strong, and ill be your friend"

"no one can fill those of your needs that you wont let show!"

What I learned from my online defensive driving class

So clearly the picture is Ironic and not me,,, but I was amused.. (cause you know I never put on lipstick in the car,, mostly cuz I forget lipstick often,,, but I know you are all aware of my custom molded earpiece for my cell phone so I'm hands free and comfortable (mine is pink but it looks like this)


So per Geico,, since I'm paying WAY too much for car insurance, and since they have till March when I'll be a 'premier customer,,, aka owed them my life for 5 yrs" when if they dont match my other offers I'll be out! So per GEICO I can take a defensive driving class and reduce my rate and the class keeps the rate low for a few years (three I think).. One of the perks of being a GEICO member is a cheaper rate for the online driving class.

but becuz NYS mandates this class, it must fulfill certain guidelines..
apparently the most important is that I sit in front of the computer for no less than 6 hours.. And they do this by not letting you move forward thru the slides until a certain little clock has timed down to zero. Often times I could have read the slide 10 times in the amount of time alotted which you think might be helpful in making snacks..

its not , and the reasons is becuz every random bit of time they require you to either answer a question that you've answered before for accuracy, , or (and this makes me insane) call a randomized number, give them a random student ID number and read verbally aloud a list of two-digit numbers... apparently to match your voice sample from the beginning. So you really cant move from the computer. Plus you have to take a test after each module to prove you read/learned stuff. Which is actually not impossible but after you've been learning and 'stuff' for 2-3hrs' really what is maintained its not like I'm in college or something anymore. I'm not taking notes here!!!

So anyway,, there have been some things that I have learned from this class.. and as this may not shock you.. i use the word 'learned' very loosely. In fact,, anyone who did not know these things should have their license revoked and I dare any of you to contest!
I'll only do a Top Ten unless I cant contain myself

1) What should you do if you come upon wildlife?- Well if your driving you should avoid wildlife of various sizes and shapes.

2) How should you drive differently in snow?- Try to avoid driving in poor weather conditions.

3) How should you drive differently in rain?- Try to avoid driving in poor weather conditions

4) How should you drive differently in sleet? (no joke people) Try to avoid driving in poor weather conditions.

5) What about flash floods? They then give some random % which I did not maintain cuz ITS USELESS about how often these occur and then the same line of 'try to avoid driving in poor weather conditons.

(to be fair they usually give one or two other suggestions besides avoidance but I almost screamed at the computer but of course no one would hear me like the tree falling in the forest... so why bother!)

6) Does everyone have to wear a seatbelt? (this was after they spent seriously 10 slides explaining the benefits of seatbelts),, NYS law mandates the use of seatbelts or carseats for all passengers.

7) Do I have to wear my seatbelt if I have airbags (duh)

8) I dont want to wear a seatbelt because then I won't escape if my car is submerged- someone stupid made this statement and why they chose to honor it is ridiculous but their point 'by wearing the seatbelt you are more likely to maintain consciousness after the point of impact which will allow you to escape the crash versus those who do not wear belts would be unconscious and have no chance of escaping' (valid)!

9) Look both ways before moving into an intersection (if you dont know this return your car keys now)

10) Reduce your speed on wet roads (again if your not smart enough to do this or 'avoid driving in bad weather'.. well you shouldnt live in NYS in the first place and second of all,, return your keys.

PS I'm still in this class and its way past my bedtime..let this torture end soon!


UPDATE: the torture continued TWO more hours past the blog.. for a total of FOUR HOURS this evening,

also duly noted that 'what should I be looking for while driving near a playground'.. was indeed a slide,,,and you maybe shocked but 'careless children' wasnt the first obvious thing to look for.. 'other cars slowing'... was... yeah not the dodge durango,,, dont dodge the child!
D

Running

So in the past year or so, probably longer if I think real hard, I have always wanted a runners body... well minus the running if we're being totally honest here.

I liked the sinewy legs and strong cardiovascular health and I liked the idea that in case of emergency I could actually run away if in danger of a bear eating me or something. (I know, not rational but I never claimed to be rational!)

So when I moved back to Buffalo, a colleague of mine, Danielle (yes we share a name and that doesn't begin to explain the connections) and her husband were preparing to run the Turkey Trot. The Turkey trot is a once-a-year 5k race in downtown buffalo on you guessed it,, thanksgiving. Now this may seem insane to any non-native Buffalo person as when I mention the word Buffalo I'm sure you immediately assume that we'll be under 15 feet of snow from Oct-March. Which could very well happen, but not yet!. So why would anyone want to run in the snow or freezing cold? I dunno I guess as a challenge although I haven't gone yet, apparently there are a lot of fun costumes and people carry like turkey rotisseries or something along the trail. I cannot verify any of this propaganda, but perhaps this year I will have some pics to do so.

Anyway so last year I had been working here for approximately two months when this activity rolled around, and I was not at ALL conditioned for this kind of activity. Plus holiday eating after years of being away was pretty darn exciting to me.

Well in a slow attempt to be healthier, lose weight and get closer to obtaining that sinewy self, I have been working out to increase my cardio strength and interval training to run/walk for as long as I can stand. It has gone well but I'm not as disciplined as I would like to be.

And its now November.

So I have been upping the anti, mostly becuz Danielle won't let me off the hook, and also because I really want to try to run as much as possible and complete the task. I know if I can run or complete this one, that I can then train for Corporate Challenge this summer and reach another goal, and it will be far enough between that I might actually be sinewy by summer (say that five times fast!)

So even with my increased exercise and gym-trips and walking outside to try to condition my lungs to cold (seriously I'm concerned about these things).

I'm pretty sure I'm going to die.
I did a little (and by little I mean I typed into google 'death by exercise') and I found this..I"M GOING TO DIE!

So I'd like you to all know that while I"m pretty sure this might be a bad decision, me running long distances at my current weight and physical abilities,, I'm still going to do it,, and I'm fearful, and I'm setting a small goal of running at least the first mile and then run/walking the rest.

PS the race map makes me want to cry
there is not enough stretching that will make me not die!!

Freaking.... but still gonna do it!

UPDATE!!!::: OH Crapballs I just read that is actually an 8k!!! I'm seriously going to die 4.97 miles is going to be impossible!!! Reconsidering the whole thing now.

Gloriana

This is my new most favorite band. My younger sister got me this CD for my bday since she knows I have similar music tastes as one of her old roomies. I have not been able to stop playing it and it makes me feel joy and sing and dance in my car and I hope you listen and 'stumble' on to something new you want to go out a buy/burn/itunes whatever you do!

My fave line is the chorus (shock) "Life’s an open road,You gotta take it if you just let go!".. Letting go of somethings has totally opened my road to other awesome things and I wouldnt trade those lessons for anything.

(I especially like it when the brunette takes the chorus on her own and puts her own spin on it. that I sing as loud as possible in my car!)

hugs folks

My first 30 years?

So this weekend I turned the big 3-oh.. bleh. My one friend said 'It wasnt till I saw the 30 on your birthday cake that I realized this wasn't another 20-something birthday and we hadn't discussed your feelings on turning 30.' I love her for knowing that I have feelings on turning 30.. I love her even more for volunteering to listen to me talk about it. The real truth is, I haven't passed the first stage of emotional adjustment on this one, and I'm pretty sure I'm happy being at this stage..

(denial).

Its not denial in the 'i hate being 30 and I'm ashamed of being 30.. I'm actually totally awesome with other people being 30, and I'm not upset that I'm 30. Its more complete disbelief that I have been alive for 30 years and what things I had pictured for myself by now are not in my cards just yet.

I dont know if that makes any sense , and this is not a knock on all of the things I have accomplished in my (first) 30 years. I am very blessed by the lessons and goals and successes and failures that have passed me by in the past years.

Perhaps its just a matter of perspective. When I was in HS a guy-friend of mine and I made a pact that if we were both 25 and unmarried we'd marry each other. Perhaps we had no concept of what 25 was like in the real world or like a child who guesses his parents is significantly older/younger than their real age cuz they have no concept of age,,, maybe we were lost. We're now both 30 and neither of us are married or have any intent of marrying each other (although still good friends)

The mere concept of myself having lived for 30 years is unfathomable and frankly deniable... like maybe 20,, maybe 25 even, but 30 seems like a lot of time. Right?

shrug