Friday, September 19, 2008

Holy cow, where'd the money come from?

I looked on my TNT page and woa, I've got $2000 more that I had last time I looked.
Turns out that we've been trying to track down the corporate matching check that got lost in the mail back in June and somehow that turned into $2000 being credited to me from the "money with no owner" fund.

I will be fixing this as soon as the Lone Star chapter has it's offices back up. At the most, $1000 should have come to my account, which means the other $1000 should have gone to someone else. Either way, the money goes to LLS and that's what I'm here for.

But, holy cow, that sure was an eye opener when I saw my little money thermometer shooting through the top!

Just another thanks to everyone for helping me get there!
Amy

Sad News

Life is slowly returning to normal after Ike.
With a little bit of bribing, the kids have helped everyday and cleanup is almost done.

The sad news is that the two baby birds we rescued didn't make it. We, my son and I, tried our best. It has hit him hardest because he totally committed to taking care of them..giving them water out of a dropper, digging worms to fee them, making sure bedding was clean an that they were warm. We'll never know why they didn't make it. They were doing so well and then one day they were both just too weak to eat. My son has learned that valuable life lesson that even when you try your best, things don't always work out.

My training group will give it a try tomorrow morning. I'm not sure I'll go up because of curfews, but I will get out there to run somewhere. Other than lots of yard work, my training has been weak.

I wore my "Out For Blood" shirt today. This shirt is a fund raiser for Tammy Law, another TNT runner. I highly recommend getting one if you like that raw, don't mess with me look.
http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/houston09/tlaw

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Delay In Training....courtesy of Ike

Been a few weeks so I wanted to catch up while I can.

On Sept.6 our group had a 14 mile run but I didn't want to push it so I did 10 miles. And it wasn't so bad. I still mostly walked the last 3 miles, but knee is doing awesome and foot is hanging in there. It's time to buckle down and really work on conditioning so that I won't be a puddle of mush when I finish that marathon.

Worked out during the week and then the hurricane is heading our way. Kids got Friday off from school and work was closed. The kids and I grabbed anything that wasn't tied down and put it in the garage or barn, filled the bathtub and the coolers, made ice and got everything ready for the storm. We even ventured out to the chaos on Friday of Target to get some extra supplies and a new movie to watch. Power was lost Sat. at 1am.

The storm came and went on Sat. (i.e. no training run) and then another band of heavy rain followed Sunday. All in all, we came out very lucky. No trees down, no broken windows. A few shingles off the roof, many branches and about a thousand pine cones on the ground. The yard was flooded, but it drained quickly. We basically camped out, using the Coleman stove for cooking food and coffee (gotta have that). We have a battery powered TV (3in) that was good enough to get local updates. Played some games with the kids and after a long session of yard work, hopped in the pool to wash off the sweat. Power came back on Sunday evening. For many of my friends and coworkers, it may be 2 weeks or more.

In all of this, I forgot about running until yesterday. The kids are out of school until Thursday, so I could have gotten up early and run, but having these few extra days to sleep late (7am) has been heaven. Once school is back in session, we'll be up at 5:30 again. I'll be getting a run in later today, lots of stretching, and start swimming again once the YMCA is open. Very few stores, eating places, or businesses are open. As power is restored, more will open, cleanup the damage and get back to the grind. For now, long lines as people hunt for food, gas, hardware, wood and supplies to just keep going.

Some of the good news I heard on all the reports is that downtown Houston and the Medical Center area continued to have power through and after the storm. For all those patients in the hospitals there, this was tremendously fortunate.

On a side note, we found two baby birds that had blown out of a tree. We took them in because there are many stray cats around. My son and I have been digging worms every day to feed them. Unfortunately, one of them died today. Just goes to show no matter how much you do try, some things are not meant to be. Cross your fingers for the other baby bird. My son and I will continue to do our best.

Take care.
Amy

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Getting Back On Track

Wow, way too long since I've posted.
Yes, I did the 10 miles.
Yes, it was very painful (foot more than knee).
Yes, with the advice from my coaches, I decided to take 2 weeks off to let things heal.
And no, I did not cross train as much as I should have but I have been stretching like crazy.
So, here we are, first week of September and I'm ready to dive back in.

Here's the really cool news, I've been working with my knee constantly and now have more flexibility that I've had in years (woohoo!). I'm stoked!

Other good news, my friend Marcia is doing wonderful now. She almost died from encephilitus that she got during the complications of her last chemo, but she's recovering now and will hopefully be home soon.

Other good news, I've signed my "commitment" forms for actually doing this marathon. This is due to YOU and the encouragement (and funds) that you guys have contributed.

My buddy Christina Bouwens is coming from Orlando to do the run with me (we did our first half marathon together). If she can slow down to pace with me, I'm sure we'll talk the entire 26.2 miles :-). She's a veteran of 2 marathons now and the San Antonio is a "warm-up" for the Goofy Marathon and a Half that she will be doing at Disney in January. You go girl!!!

And last, my daughter Sam will be coming too to volunteer with the LLS crew and cheer people on. Way to go kiddo! Of course, I haven't told her how early we need to get up on marathon day yet ;-)