The assignment for today’s 30 Day Blog Challenge is to post a photo of yourself from two years ago.  I decided to share a few photos of an amazing experience I had back in 2010 with a group of absolutely a.maz.ing women!  We called ourselves Team Shrinking Jeans.  I’m the one with the yellow finger pointing at my head.

Most of us are members of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, but there were a few additional friends and relatives in the mix, too.  Oh yeah, and our awesome coach, Joe English.  We came together and, between the 13 of us, raised $44,007 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their Team in Training program.   We all met up in San Diego for the 2010 Rock ‘n Roll San Diego half marathon.  The entire experience was just amazing from start to finish.

As you can see, we were all pretty amped at the starting line.  I blame this on a combination of too much coffee on too little sleep.

This whole experience was extremely personal to me because my dad is a 20+ year lymphoma survivor.  During the course of training, one of my coaches (who was also a survivor) found out his lymphoma had returned.  I walked in their honor and wore their names on my back.

We all ran and walked at different paces, so everyone was finishing at different times.  Thankfully, most of us were able to reconnect outside the beer tent at the end of the race to get a group shot with our race bling.

If you’ve ever considered signing up for Team in Training, DO IT!  It one of the most rewarding and amazing experiences you’ll ever have, I promise.

Looking at all of these photos again has been kind of bittersweet and left me a bit melancholy.  Several months ago, I registered for the inaugural Rock ‘n Roll Pasadena half marathon taking place on my birthday weekend next month.  Just about the time I needed to start training, I started having all of the issues with my knee (osteoarthritis and possible torn ligaments).  So, no half marathon for me.   My friend Nick also registered and is flying out from Detroit to run the race, so I’ll just have to be content being there cheering him on instead.  They just unveiled the race bling yesterday, check out what he’ll be getting when he finishes!  Pretty cool, huh?!

Until next time …

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Ok, ok, so I know it’s been a week and a half since the half marathon down in San Diego. I had all sorts of good intentions of getting my race report posted as soon as I was back from San Diego, but it just didn’t happen. Better late than never, right …. RIGHT?

First and foremost, I was to thank each of you who so generously supported my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). For those who weren’t able to help financially, I still want to say thank you for your moral support and tremendous encouragement during my training. I just simply can’t thank you all enough!

Now, on to the report … My race training plan didn’t go exactly as planned. I battled a couple of minor injuries early on in the training, but the real kicker came when I developed a pinched nerve in my back about a month ago which dramatically affected my ability to train. Despite the injury, I decided I still wanted to go ahead and attempt the race since I’d put in all the months of training and fundraising.

Things started off pretty well. I was feeling strong and was maintaining a decent pace. Unfortunately, I started having back spasms about 2.25 miles into the course. I finally had to call Uncle and stop at the medical tent at mile 3.5, but said they weren’t really equipped to do much at that point in the race. It seemed like they were pretty much handling smaller things like people who forget sunscreen or were having allergy issues, etc.

The next stop for me was at the medical tent at mile 7 where I was checked over by the sports medicine guy there. At that point, he told me I was pretty done for the day and put me on a shuttle that took me to the main medical facility at the finish line area. Once there, I was given some Tylenol and hooked up with a massage therapist who gave me a sports massage to loosen up my back which helped tremendously. Even though I didn’t “officially” finish the race, I still got a medal which was really nice. (Thank you, and you know who you are. )

Even though I wasn’t able to finish the full 13.1 miles, I was still pleased that I got out there and gave it a try despite my back issues. The Team in Training experience was absolutely amazing, and I’m so thankful that I did this. I really can’t say enough wonderful things about this organization. If you have ever thought about participating, just do it!!! It’s worth every bit of training and fundraising effort.

Speaking of fundraising, between the 13 of us on Team Shrinking Jeans, we raised $43,695 for LLS. Overall, the approximate 4000 Team in Training participants at the San Diego race raised over $12 million for LLS!

Here are a few of my favorite pics from race day that I thought you might enjoy seeing:

At the Inspiration Dinner with Coach Joe

At the starting line yelling “Goooooooo TEAM!”

Starting line madness – it was over an hour before my corral started

A sea of purple Team in Training shirts

My motivation – my dad & coach John, one of the local TNT coaches

Everyone’s motivation – the Mission Mile of honor boards

At the finish line showing off our bling

Thanks again so much for your support! Until next time …

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Ok, ok, so I know it’s been a week and a half since the half marathon down in San Diego. I had all sorts of good intentions of getting my race report posted as soon as I was back from San Diego, but it just didn’t happen. Better late than never, right …. RIGHT?

First and foremost, I was to thank each of you who so generously supported my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). For those who weren’t able to help financially, I still want to say thank you for your moral support and tremendous encouragement during my training. I just simply can’t thank you all enough!

Now, on to the report … My race training plan didn’t go exactly as planned. I battled a couple of minor injuries early on in the training, but the real kicker came when I developed a pinched nerve in my back about a month ago which dramatically affected my ability to train. Despite the injury, I decided I still wanted to go ahead and attempt the race since I’d put in all the months of training and fundraising.

Things started off pretty well. I was feeling strong and was maintaining a decent pace. Unfortunately, I started having back spasms about 2.25 miles into the course. I finally had to call Uncle and stop at the medical tent at mile 3.5, but said they weren’t really equipped to do much at that point in the race. It seemed like they were pretty much handling smaller things like people who forget sunscreen or were having allergy issues, etc.

The next stop for me was at the medical tent at mile 7 where I was checked over by the sports medicine guy there. At that point, he told me I was pretty done for the day and put me on a shuttle that took me to the main medical facility at the finish line area. Once there, I was given some Tylenol and hooked up with a massage therapist who gave me a sports massage to loosen up my back which helped tremendously. Even though I didn’t “officially” finish the race, I still got a medal which was really nice. (Thank you, and you know who you are. )

Even though I wasn’t able to finish the full 13.1 miles, I was still pleased that I got out there and gave it a try despite my back issues. The Team in Training experience was absolutely amazing, and I’m so thankful that I did this. I really can’t say enough wonderful things about this organization. If you have ever thought about participating, just do it!!! It’s worth every bit of training and fundraising effort.

Speaking of fundraising, between the 13 of us on Team Shrinking Jeans, we raised $43,695 for LLS. Overall, the approximate 4000 Team in Training participants at the San Diego race raised over $12 million for LLS!

Here are a few of my favorite pics from race day that I thought you might enjoy seeing:

At the Inspiration Dinner with Coach Joe

At the starting line yelling “Goooooooo TEAM!”

Starting line madness – it was over an hour before my corral started

A sea of purple Team in Training shirts

My motivation – my dad & coach John, one of the local TNT coaches

Everyone’s motivation – the Mission Mile of honor boards

At the finish line showing off our bling

Thanks again so much for your support! Until next time …

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I am participating this year in a seasonal exchange with a few other stitching friends. It’s time for our summer exchange, and I received my package from Joan today. There are so many beautiful things that I hardly know where to begin, so I’ll just start with a photo.

For the stitched piece, she made me one of the gorgeous Blackbird Designs stockings. I love these little stockings so much, but the finishing on them completely intimidates me. Joan’s finishing is absolutely impeccable though! It’s stunning.

She also sent along several goodies for me, including another gorgeous project bag she made. The fabric strip is a country style sewing theme and is absolutely adorable. I love it! Given how many WIPs I have, new project bags are always a welcome sight.

She also included a beaded scissor fob kit. I’ve only attempted to make one fob in the past, so having a kit is great since I don’t have a lot of necessary supplies for fob making. It’s great having some written instructions, too! I can’t wait to give it a try.

Next was a beautiful little pincushion chart called “Ole Pincushion” from Theresa at Shakespeare’s Peddler. It’s designed to fit into an old zinc Ball jar lid, which Joan also included! I was over the moon when I saw the lid. It immediately took me back to wonderful childhood memories of my Gran doing her summer canning using old Ball jars.

Speaking of antiques, she also sent me some beautiful little mother of pearl buttons that she said she picked up in her antiquing adventures. Given how many biscornus I stitch, one can never have enough buttons, and antique ones are just that much more special.

As you can see, she spoiled me quite nicely with this exchange. Thanks again so very much for everything, Joan!

I want to close this post by thanking several of my readers who have donated to my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Way back in January, I signed up with Team in Training to do a half marathon. More importantly than the race though, I signed up to raise money for LLS as a way to honor my dad who is now a 20+ year lymphoma survivor. With your help, I’ve managed to raise over $2500 for blood cancer research & support. I can’t thank you all enough!!

The half marathon will be taking place this weekend on Sunday, June 6. As I’m out on the course, I’ll definitely be thinking of my supporters, my dad, and all those still living with cancer. Hopefully the day will come soon that no one has to go through the battle of fighting these cancers.

The importance of this battle was brought home in such a personal way to those of us in the OCIE training group. During the course of this training process, one of our coaches, who was also a lymphoma survivor of several years, was diagnosed with a recurrence of his cancer. He immediately started the whole chemo process, and we hope he will be cancer-free again as quickly as possible! Coach John won’t be out there with us on the course this weekend, but he will definitely be in all of our hearts & thoughts.

Until next time …

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I almost decided to avoid weighing in today. I knew I would have to weigh in here at home because I couldn’t make it to my Weight Watchers meeting. I didn’t weigh in last Sunday either though, so I figured I might as well face the ugly truth. It was definitely ugly – up 5.6 pounds.

The reason for the big gain had nothing to do with not staying on track with my eating, fortunately. It had everything to do with medication this time. My body is notorious for retaining fluids when I’m on medications, and it certainly didn’t disappoint this time either. I knew it was going to be bad before I ever set foot on my scale because my poor fingers have looked like overstuffed sausages for the past several days.

Why am I on medication? Well, last Friday evening, May 14, I started experiencing severe lower back pain that was also shooting down my right leg. From past experience, I had a feeling my sciatica was once again rearing its ugly head. This was confirmed by my G.P. on Tuesday. He prescribed muscle relaxers, pain medication, and stretching exercises. He said if it wasn’t feeling better soon that he would refer me to a chiropractor.

Fast forward to today, I’m still in pain. I’ve been to one visit already with the chiropractor and will be seeing him again tomorrow. He wants me to come in three times per week for the next couple of weeks to get me out of crisis, and then I can drop down to once per week until things get back to normal. Of course, both my G.P. and the chiro gave me the lecture about how losing weight and strengthening my core will help alleviate most of my back issues. Recognizing how I was basically free of back issues when I was at my lowest weight six years ago, I have to admit that I know they’re right.

As if that weren’t motivation enough to keep myself on track, I read this blog post this afternoon. Talk about some motivation to get the weight off … WOW! I spent some time reading some of the other posts on the Share It Fitness blog. It’s definitely a good read, so I’ve added it to my Google Reader account.

I’m still not sure what effect my back issues are going to have on my half marathon in two weeks. At this point, I can’t even imagine trying to walk 13.1 hours (or four hours, whichever comes first) since I can’t walk more than a few feet right now without pain. I’m just trying to stay positive and hope to go out and walk however far I can that day.

Along that line, I’ve really been battling with beating myself up over the whole situation. There is a big part of me that feels like I’ll be letting down all of my friends who have donated so generously to my efforts. The competitive side of me also feels like a bit of a failure at the thought of possibly not being able to do the event. I keep trying to remind myself that this was all about raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and has NOTHING to do with me actually finishing a race, but it easy to lose focus of that at times. I’m just really thankful right now that I have friends and my fellow Team Shrinking Jeans teammates who remind me of that fact when I start feeling down on myself. You guys rock!

Oh, and speaking of Team Shrinking Jeans, with the help of all our friends, families, and generous donors, we’ve raised $41,566 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! There’s still time to help out this wonderful cause by clicking on the Team Shrinking Jeans link above and making a donation. We’ve already exceeded our goal, but every dollar goes that much farther in helping find a cure. Thanks!!

Until next time …

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