2014 Missions

In my last post, I asked for a new word for goals because quite frankly the word goals stresses me out.  I took it to Facebook and after reviewing the suggestions, I have decided to go with missions.

Now that I have covered my reason for not having "goals", I give you my missions for 2014 in no particular order.

Mission #1:  Make an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Action Plan:  Always have fruits and vegetables cleaned, cut up, and ready for consumption.
Action Plan:  Choose healthier options when snacking.

Mission #2:  Accept and embrace that my best is good enough.
Action Plan:  Stop comparing myself to others and compare myself to the person I was yesterday.
Action Plan:  Define my own success and measure it by what I am able to do.

Mission #3:  Run 1400 miles in 2014.
Action Plan:  Run.
Action Plan:  Run some more.

Mission #4:  Run happy.
Action Plan:  Run training runs and races with friends as often as I can.
Action Plan:  Listen to my heart and not the beeps on my Garmin.
Action Plan:  Be thankful that I have been blessed with a healthy body that allows me to run.

Mission #5:  Do other workouts in addition to running.
Action Plan:  Find workouts I enjoy and actually do them.
Action Plan:  Participate in some monthly fitness challenges.

As this is my mission list I am giving myself permission to add, delete, or change them at any given time.   I will update you on my progress when I do my month in review posts.  Here goes nothing...

Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!

Columbus Marathon...As Ready As I Will Ever Be.....

Tomorrow morning I will be toeing the line of my 3rd marathon.

It just so happens that exactly 3 month ago tomorrow Uncle Joe lost his battle with cancer.  I am certain it isn't a coincidence that I am attempting my 3rd marathon tomorrow.  Uncle Joe always had a way of gently pushing us to our fullest potential.  As the saying goes, 3rd times a charm.  I know for a fact that Uncle Joe will have my back for all 26.2 miles.

When the pain sets in, which inevitably it will, I will draw from the strength of one of the most amazing men I had the pleasure to be related to.  My running mantra for tomorrow will be Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe.  He fought the good fight, he never gave up.  He will always be our superman!

I also have the privilege of having an amazing group of friends with me tomorrow on my journey!  They are there to see me through to the finish and thank you will never be enough to express my gratitude for each of their friendships!

My best friend Deb who is always there for me win or lose no questions asked.

Deb and Missi who have spent countless hours providing therapy and support out on the trails!

Dave my guardian angel that got me through my second marathon attempt.  He never gave up on me and he didn't let me give up on myself.

Joe my running coach and friend who will be running with me from afar as he takes on a 22 mile training run tomorrow morning.

Of course there are countless others who will be following me and supporting me via Facebook and Maptracker tomorrow.

There's nothing left but to JUST DO IT!!

Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!

Cleveland Marathon Expo

Friday afternoon I headed to the expo. Upon arriving at the expo, I texted Wendy to let her know I had arrived. I was at the packet pickup and she came over to meet me. She patiently waited while I gathered all 5 packets that I needed to pick up. Fortunately, I got a really nice guy and he didn't make me wait in each event line. He just got all of the packets for me. To that wonderful guy I must say thank you! Once I had everyone's bib number in hand Wendy and I headed over to the shirt area of the expo so I could get everyone's shirts and goody bags. While walking over to collect the shirts and bags, I came across Katie Lufkin. Her daughter Stephanie passed away two years ago from complications associated with ITP (a rare blood disorder). I shared a hug with her. Afterall, Team Stephanie is the reason I started running again over a year ago. In fact, I ran on Team Stephanie last year at the Cleveland 1/2 Marathon. Katie asked who I running for this year and I told her that I was running for one of my best friends, Deb, as this weekend is the ten year anniversary of her brain tumor removal. Once I had everything picked up, Wendy and I went over to the speaker area where we got to meet Amby Burfoot (1968 Boston Marathon Champion). In fact, he took this picture of us! Yes folks, Amby Burfoot touched my camera!

There were only six of us in the speaker area so Amby sat right down and just talked to us about the race and how a very large percentage of it is mental. You don't have to have long legs or a small frame, but what you do have to have is mental toughness. It was wonderful to listen to his advice. Of course Wendy and I got our picture taken with Amby. John "the penguin" actually took the picture for us. So not one but two running greats touched my camera yesterday! Looking back, I can't believe I didn't pull something out of my bag for them to autograph. Darn it! Oh well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

After this, Wendy and I said our goodbyes and I headed home to make some buffalo chicken dip to take to a Scentsy candle party at my neighbors. It was nice to have the party last night. I got to spend some time chatting with great friends and relaxing. I headed home shortly before 9 and started organizing the Team Curing Chordoma shirts. The shirts came out great! I couldn't be happier and will give a shout out to Madison Graphics of Lakewood, Ohio. Outstanding job Ron! Thank you so much for everything!

The last thing I did before heading to bed was organize everyone's packets! My house looks a little bit like a mini expo! Look at all those great numbers! Two marathon bibs, two half marathon bibs, and a 10K bib!

It is now Saturday morning and I am resting as much as I possibly can, while stirring the homemade pasta sauce for tonight's dinner! Tonight we will celebrate Deb while we carbo load! There is no other way I would rather spend my weekend! The icing on the cake, quite literally, is that Monday is my birthday! I couldn't ask for a better gift than the friendship of the 21 people that will be at my house tonight! To all of you wonderful, amazing people, I say thank you for the love, friendship, and support you show me every single day.

Curing Chordoma...

One mile at a time

Deb's our survivor

10 years tumor free

Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!

A jingling good time at the Reindeer Run 5K

Headed out to run a local 5k this morning with Brenda and Deb. When we all met at my house the temperature was around 30 degrees. Off we headed to Lakewood Park. Upon arriving, we were given jingle bells to put on our shoes, afterall it was a reindeer run. Among the many bell wearers, there was Elf, Mrs. Claus, and a few reindeer running the event with us. They all looked great and were certainly there for a good time!

As mentioned in my previous post, my goals were two-fold, placing in my age group and breaking 24:30. I ended up with 5th in my age group, but I ran another PR. Chip time: 24:08.45. I was passed by number 4 in my age group with less than .1 miles left. I did however outsprint a guy that had been running with us the whole way so that did boost my ego a little bit. Not sure what it did for his though...sorry buddy.

I also had a new playlist for today's race. The songs that motivated me today during the race and while cooling down included the following list.

~Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
~One Shining Moment by David Barrett
~Where I'm From by Jason Michael Carroll
~My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson
~The Best by Tina Turner
~I Run for Life by Melissa Etheridge
~You're the Inspiration by Chicago
~Toes by Zac Brown Band



I have to say this has been the best play list I have run to so far.

You inspire me...you're simply the best...keep running!


Brenda, Deb and I pre-race (taken by Kaelynn age 7)


















Post-race (taken by nice fellow runners)

Turkey Dash 5K

What a better way to start Thanksgiving than to run a 5k. So it was up bright and early to get ready for the race. My goal for this race was two-fold. I wanted to run a 24:30 and place in my age group. Neither one of these goals would come true for me on Thursday. However, even though I didn't run a 24:30, I did run a 24:34 which is 12 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR! I believe I was in the top ten for my age group. I was passed near the end of the race by at least two other women in my age group. The best part of the race was doing it with friends and having my kids cheering me on at the finish. There is nothing more motivating at the end of a race than hearing your 7 and 4 year old say "go mommy go". So even though I didn't meet my goals, the race was awesome and very rewarding. In fact, my 7 year old asked me if she could run it with me next year. We will see how that goes. I am signed up to run another 5k this Saturday. The Reindeer Run in Lakewood, Ohio. My goals for this 5k will remain the same as the goals I had for the Turkey Dash 5k.

I had an awesome workout today and it made me believe that both of my goals for Saturday are certainly within reach. I will be making a new playlist for the 5K on Saturday. If you have any suggestions for my playlist, please share!!

Keep running and remember "you inspire me" and "you're simply the best"

Motivated by Music

Once again I must thank Deb for being such a great friend. I had a lot going on today during and after work. She took the time to stop by my house to pick up my workout clothes. I went to help with Market Day at Kaelynn's school and Deb picked up Kaelynn and Grant for me and took them to her house. Not only did she do that but she also helped Kaelynn with all of her homework. Not to mention her husband made dinner for my kids. And Deb made dinner for me. What great friends! During the homework, Deb allowed me access to her treadmill for a workout!

Now to the workout. I planned to run three miles on the treadmill today. However, when I got to the three mile mark my Ipod had some really good tunes playing. I was motivated by the music to run another mile!

The songs that motivated me to run four miles today were:

~My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson
~Life's A Dance by John Michael Montgomery
~I Run For Life by Melissa Etheridge

Today I am thankful for the generosity of friends, a great workout, and motivational music.

Looking forward to running the Turkey Dash 5k on Thanksgiving morning!

I WAS STRONG TODAY

Today was a scheduled tempo run. Around 11:00 this morning, I realized I had once again forgotten my Ipod. I sent my friend Deb an email asking her if she wanted to bring me my Ipod. My amazing friend Deb brought her Ipod to me so I could use it after work. She rocks!! Thanks again Deb.

When I walked outside today after work, it was starting to sprinkle. I called Deb's cell thinking I would ask her to borrow the treadmill. When the call went to voicemail, I decided I'm not going to be a whimp, I'm going to be strong today and I decided to run outside in the elements on a new route since I was running for a predetermined amount of time and not mileage. It was nice to run a different course. With the new course came hills and plenty of them. I warmed up and ran a nice pace for 12 minutes. After the first 12 minutes, I picked it up and did my tempo part of the workout for the next 12 minutes. At this point, I should have run a 12 minute cool down but I cut it short (7 minute cool down) because the sprinkles were starting to turn into a steady rain. Luckily, I finished right before it started pouring and I (as well as Deb's Ipod) stayed dry!!

When I picked Kaelynn up from school today her latch key teacher asked me these two questions :

• Why are you still running in this weather?
• Didn't you do your 1/2 marathon already?

My answer was yes I ran my 1/2 marathon but I'm training for the Cleveland Marathon now. I didn't hesitate or say I'm "considering" training, I said "I AM" training for the Cleveland Marathon to honor and support Deb's 10 year tumor free milestone.

In closing, to quote Melissa Etheridge, "I run for hope, I run to feel, I run for the truth, for all that is real, I run for your mother, your sister, your wife, I run for you and me my friend, I run for life".