I Am A Color Runner

before

 That's right! I am a color runner! I have been stalking this race for awhile and I was so excited to have the opportunity to do it. The plan was that all of us were going to do it but it rained the ENTIRE time and Mason did not like being soaking wet. Danny and Mason went back to the car and changed into some dry, warm clothes while me, Mindy and Marti looked like drowned rats. We really did have a great time even though we were soaking wet. Mindy thought getting doused with colored powder was awesome and Marti and I did too. If you have a chance you should really sign up for the Color Run in Tuscaloosa. You will have a great time!

after

taking pictures through ziploc

Training is getting a little bit more difficult because of scheduling. School is in full swing and so is Alabama football! Roll Tide! I have also had a health set back. Nothing serious. I was experiencing some numbness in my right hip and went to the doctor. It turns out that I might have a bulging disc in my back. Like I needed anything else to bulge! Anyway it is pushing on a nerve and that is what is causing the numb feeling. I am taking prednisone and some muscle relaxers to help relieve it but I have to go back next week if it doesn't get any better. Edie and I will run into tail-gating tomorrow during our long walk. We've decided we will get in as much as we can. I think it will be a lot of fun. I never get down to the Quad during football season so it will be interesting for me to see.

My children have been raising money for the school by participating in the Boosterthon Fun Run. This is a wonderful way for your school to raise money. It helps promote fitness which is what I love about it. My kids have the best time doing this every year. They get pledges for every lap. The laps cap off at 35. They both made all 35 and they were exhausted.

Over 5 Hours of Conversation

after 15 miles...not too shabby!

As promised, here is my blog post on what Edie and I talked about during our 15 mile walk around Tuscaloosa and Northport on Saturday. I think I counted only one pause in our conversation and it lasted about a minute. These topics are in no particular order and don't even ask me how they got started.

• migraines
• how late we stay up
• work
• how to keep your kids from worrying
• how different kids are 
• wishing we could sit some of the kids down that we see everyday and tell them that it really doesn't matter in the long run...about anything!
• what we would do to different homes that we saw along the way (change the color, the porch, the concrete animals, etc.)
• power bills of huge houses
• tree houses
• how people walk different
• how hungry we were or how thirsty we were
• how many lawyers there are in Tuscaloosa
• medications
• t-shirts for our 60 mile walk 
• how much fun we will have on our 60 mile walk
• how she knows the sizes of her husbands clothes and shoes and he knows hers but Danny and I couldn't tell you what size the other one wears
• part time jobs
• The Bama Belle
• BBQ
• how much I wanted a Coke and I don't usually drink them
• family members
• breast cancer (naturally)
• almost getting hit by a car
• the creepy, white van that was parked next to Edie's car at snack time
• how much I loved the orange that I ate at snack time and I usually don't eat oranges (the watermelon was dang good too!)
• how good Edie is at packing snacks
• changing our socks after 10 miles actually made a difference
• the nail technicians we had the day before
• funerals
• porta-potties
• how fast apartments are being built in downtown Tuscaloosa
• scary people and how I think they are going to attack us
• what Edie was going to eat for lunch when we got done
• Dairy Queen
• homeless people under bridges
• how bad we smelled
• ghosts 
• Honey Boo Boo
• how some clothes match in the dark but when you get outside they actually don't match at all
• how hot it was and how the sun was sucking the oxygen out of our bodies
• gangsta walking through the shade
• dogs
• we should have worn hats
• how doable this might be (60 miles in 3 days)

We also did some singing and some dancing and there were probably 20 or more other topics but it is really hard to remember when you finish 15 miles!

Indoor Camping?

 Edie and I were going through our packing checklist trying to figure out who was going to get what and we noticed that a tarp was on our list. We found out that the tarp is to be used in case of rain. I decided to check with our coach to see if this was something that we should be worried about. Edie and I are not campers and we just assumed the tents were water proof. Guess we were wrong! The coach emailed me back and said that actually we will be camping indoors! Edie could not be more thrilled about this! I am excited about the fact that I don't have to worry about rain or the freezing cold but I have to admit that I was kind of looking forward to the experience of camping out. We will still be camping in the pink tents but we will be inside a convention center or something similar. The negative side of this is that the concrete floor will NOT be as comfortable as the grass outside.

Today, we decided to go shopping for supplies and to price a few things. I ended up with a sleeping bag. We couldn't find any sleeping bags that were pink for adults. All of them were for little girls. So I got a green one and I like it so it will have to do. We also looked at "fanny packs". They are also called "lumbar packs". I prefer the latter :-). I would like one with a water bottle. I sweat A LOT as I have mentioned before and I feel like I will need water the whole time instead of every 3 miles. I need it to hold the water bottle, cash, drivers license, camera, socks, etc. so it has to be kind of large. I tried one on that I really like but it has two water bottles and I feel like that might be a bit much. If it comes down to it though that is what I will end up with.

We missed this past weekend of training due mostly to weather. It was pouring down rain with thunder and lightning so we decided it was meant for us to take a break. We will be doing our long walk of 15 miles this Saturday. I think I will make Edie in charge of all snacks from here on out. She packs quite a spread for our long walks and it helps our energy level so much. Thank you Edie!

We've had several people ask us what we talk about for that many miles. We never run out of things to talk about. Sometimes we dance and sing! This Saturday, I will try to remember to do a post with a list of topics that came up on our 15 miler. Something for you to look forward to!

August has been a horrible training month for me but we have been so busy with school starting back! My little second grader and my little preschooler take priority over the walking and I definitely needed the time to get used to our new schedule. I think we are finally getting into the swing of things so hopefully the training will kick up! About 9 weeks to go!





The Great, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Great: I have fantastic news! One of the women I was walking in honor of, Jill Montgomery, just had her double mastectomy after months of chemo and radiation. The pathology came back ALL CLEAR!! Thank you for all of your support and prayers and congratulations to Jill and her family!

The Good: Training is going well. I was able to get back on track this past week and I feel much better. I'm not going to lie to you...the training is tough, especially now that we are getting into our double digit mileage. Overall, it isn't bad and we are making it through. Edie has almost made it to her fundraising goal and then we are on our way! We watched the safety video the other day and it really got us pumped up! Edie was a little concerned when they went over the camping and what sort of weather we could end up camping in but she still showed up for our 12 mile walk this weekend so I guess she is still on board!



after 12 miles

The Bad: I SWEAT! I mean, WOW! This morning, Edie and I met to do our 12 mile walk and I promise you I was sweating before I even got my car locked. I am seriously a bad sweater! By the time we were halfway through I could have used a whole new set of clothes! I decided to look it up and did you know that a person is born with about two to four million sweat glands?? If that is the normal amount then I am positive that I have about a billion :-) The picture that I took after my walk today really doesn't even do it justice. I couldn't wait to get home and take a shower and get rid of those soaking wet clothes! I wasn't feeling that great between mile 10 and 11 and it is probably because I was dehydrated. I went through 4 bottles of water and 2 gatorades but still, hours later, I am feeling the effects of slight dehydration and I think it is due to the excessive sweating. Thank goodness, October is cooler than August!

The Ugly: and boy is this ugly! When I was running, I really never had these weird things happen to me but I finally decided to take a picture of my bruised toe to show you the kind of damage that walking has caused. Now, this bruised toe is nothing compared to the damage that breast cancer can cause but it is my own little battle. I would like to apologize. I naturally have ugly feet and toes but they aren't normally purple. This toenail has actually already fallen off and grown back before it bruised up but I had kind of forgotten about the bruise until I took my nail polish off. I will probably have to cover it up soon because it is so gross!

Well, there you have it! Just a short little update on the great, the good, the bad and the ugly!

Halfway Point

I am now at my halfway point in my training. I never thought I would be able to make my fundraising goal by this point and I am thrilled that I actually haven't had to worry about that at all! The training has been great. There have been some tough times but I've always managed to make it through. This week I have been struggling with some motivation issues and haven't done my walks but I have decided today that I'm through with that excuse. I will get up in the morning and get started again. In the grand scheme of things, missing one week out of 24 isn't that bad.

Last weekend, we traveled to Diamondhead, MS and I was so proud of myself for getting up at 6am on Saturday morning and walking 10 miles. I had no idea where I was going but I really enjoyed it. The unknown scenery was a great distraction and it didn't seem like I had been walking for 3 hours.

I have been going to yoga on a regular basis and I'm surprised how much I like it. My yoga pants are thrilled to be living up to their name! I like the fact that in yoga there are several different ways to do certain positions. I am definitely always in the beginner position but it doesn't bother me. I just like the stretch. I have been very surprised with how much it helps with my headaches too.

Recently, I found out that a girl I went to college with was diagnosed with breast cancer and I have added her to my list of people to walk for. No matter how much I have learned about this disease, I was shocked that someone that young could be diagnosed. It really can happen to any of us!

Looking forward to getting up in the morning and getting started again! I got an email from Komen saying that I can check-in now and print my credentials. I can't believe it is getting that close!

The Need To Clean

I am going through a summer cleaning phase at the moment. I want to get rid of everything! I am one of those people that in order to really clean something,  I have to make a bigger mess. At this point, the cleaning phase is only mental. I haven't actually physically started doing anything. I'm just so exhausted! No excuse, right? Actually, I'm afraid I will get started and then I will have to leave it for some reason and I will never come back to it. I want to make sure I have PLENTY of time.

My kids have WAY too much stuff. I don't even know where to begin getting rid of stuff. Mindy manages to find the smallest areas to hide stuff in and she isn't organized at all when it comes to putting stuff back where she got it. There are game pieces, puzzle pieces, nail polish bottles and don't even get me started on the ponytail holders! These things are everywhere! Mason actually does a better job at keeping things organized except in one small area which makes things a little easier. I am actually thinking of rearranging his room. My husband will be thrilled!

My dream would be for someone to just show up at my house and go through each room and get it organized and deep cleaned. I would want that person to throw things out and then I would never know what we got rid of. Basically I need a deep cleaning lady or man. I would hope I would only need this person once or twice to get me started and then I could keep up with it on my own. Just out of curiosity, I looked up the average rates for a professional organizer: $55-$85 per hour. Maybe this is a career path I should look at!!

I'm no hoarder by any means but we could really use some help with the process. I think I use up all of my organizational skills at work. I am absolutely OCD about my desk and if any one removes something from my desk or just puts something where it doesn't go, I will notice. I'm not like that at home. None of us are actually.

I know this has nothing to do with my fund-raising or my training but I needed to just kind of "talk" it out. On another note, the training is fantastic. On Saturday, Edie and I did 8 miles. It was going fine and then after about 1.5 miles it started raining. Not a hard, pelting rain but just a steady rain. It stopped raining as we were getting closer to our cars. We were soaking wet but proud of our early morning accomplishment.

Moving At a Snail's Pace

I am trying to hard to keep my eye's open at work and it isn't working out so well for me. After a couple of weeks of no rain, it is finally looking like it might rain. Even if it doesn't the dreary atmosphere has me so tired and moving at a snail's pace. My walk yesterday was pretty slow and it wasn't even cloudy yet. But you have your fast days and you have your slow days.

Last week was sort of a rest week since we didn't walk over 5 miles all week. But this week they are bumping us up to 8 and I think next week is 10! This week is my ninth week of training! I am trying very hard to stick to my schedule and I'm not doing too bad at all! For the month of June, I completed 62 miles. The mileage will only get higher and higher! When I was running and training for my other races, I never had blisters or bruised up toes (until the race was actually over). Walking has given me blisters and I swear my middle toenail is going to fall off any day now since it is such a dark shade of purple.

My walks have been extremely hot. I am sweating bullets by the time we are done. But I definitely feel like I have gotten a good workout. The yoga is helping as well, especially with my migraines. I didn't realize how much it helped until I skipped a few times and my headaches started coming back.

Things have finally calmed down a little at home now that swimming lessons are over. The kids are enjoying the air conditioning and an occasional trip to the pool. I have noticed that whenever I have a conversation with Mindy, it centers around a television show or a commercial that she saw. So we have decided to start limiting her T.V. time. What do you limit your kids to?