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What a Week

What a week!  Our Angel Tree events were an absolutely success!  I cannot get over how amazing it is to witness these precious children receiving their gifts.  Moreover, I beyond excited to grow our partnership with ARC through various volunteer opportunities.  Admittedly, I was proud of the team’s efforts and how they pulled together the drive, but I think we’re all exhausted.

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In the holiday season being able to help others even if it is in meager amounts is a gift.  It’s funny how as we get older Christmas morphs from a holiday about receiving gifts to a holiday about giving gifts.  They’re is truly more joy in giving than receiving. However, I do think its important to give ourselves gifts from time to time.

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For example, the last time I received a raise, I wanted to buy a nice pair of red bottomed shoes.  I think you know the shoes I’m talking about, but instead I bought a membership to the local fitness studio.  First, it was significantly cheaper than the red-bottomed shoes.  Secondly, there’s nothing better than little yoga or barre to get oneself re-centered.  I don’t do many things for myself – I drink my DD and I go to the gym, the rest is for my boys (all four of them.)  Seriously, I haven’t had pedicure since SAHOF (state hockey tournament), which happened in March.

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Of course, the hockey mom life entails acceptance of the fact all of your money, and I do mean all, goes to hockey  My boys, again all four, would have it no other way and truthfully nor would I.  Tonight my boys headed to practice as the Piggie and I headed out for a run. As I embarked on my run, one phrase kept running through my head “I’ll remember this.” There’s no need for a backstory here only the reminder that words can cut like a knife.

Tonight’s song performed by Michael Buble is “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”

 

 

 

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Black Friday

Unlike many Americans, we spent our Black Friday morning at the hockey rink at not the mall.  Quite frankly, I can’t stand the malls down here in season let alone on Black Friday.   Unquestionably, the normal rudeness and ineptitude ramps up a couple of notches when season kicks in.  If there is anywhere someone would get shot over a cheap TV, it would be here.  Needless to say, I’ll be avoiding Best Buy and the mall for the next month.

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I think that’s probably why Cyber Monday is more my thing.  No crazy people or horrible drivers to contend with as I surf the web, what could be better?  Nonetheless, the younger two and I did venture out to Dick’s and PetSmart.  Neither store was incredibly packed and both were well staff to handle all the shoppers. My boys left the stores empty handed much to their chagrin.  To stores was all I could handle, however, so it’s back to shopping online.

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We started out morning at the rink.  If you ask me, a 9:45 am game is way too early for bantams.  I thought the scheduling Gods would be smiling on us by bantam and we’d get later games.  Honestly, I prefer the later games as I am not a morning person.  This morning, Goalielocks was excited and relieved to have been dropped off at the right rink at the right time.

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Their first game was against the Florida Bulldogs, who Goalielocks played for 2 seasons ago.  Our squad went up handily in the first period notching 3 goals and only allowing one sort of shot on their net.   The rest of the game was much more even although we continued to out shoot them 2-1.   Moreover, our goalie came up with some clutch saves down the stretch.  As the final buzzer rang, the boys rushed the Goalie to celebrate their 4-1 victory.  We’ll be heading back to the rink shortly for their second game of the day against the Everblades, which should be a much tighter contest.

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After eating my weight in Thanksgiving goodies yesterday,  I was committed to getting in a run.  Consequently, the Piggie and I headed out for a 3.25 mile run around the neighborhood.  As with my last run, it was a bit laborious and a tough go of it.  Certainly, today’s run wasn’t fast! Hopefully, these runs will start to get a little bit easier and a little faster.

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Today’s song is “Walk on Water” by Thirty Seconds to Mars.  I love this song! Who remembers Jared Leto from MY So Called Life?  Leto still acts, but has also found success with his band Thirty Second to Mars. 

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Today We Waged Hope

Today we waged hope for better outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients and their families.  After months of anticipation, the Purple Stride 5k was upon us.  It was a tough, heartfelt morning full of love for Debbie and her family that left me in tears a couple times.  Team Deb Force five won an award for raising the most funds as a team for the second year in a row.  Unquestionably, Debbie was the key our success.  Our collective love and the respect we hold for Debbie continues to inspire us to wage hope.  She was a tour de force, who inspired so many of us.  

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While we were highly successful fundraising, my training and preparation for the race was poor.  Sadly, the results showed this as I finished with a time of over 30 minutes.  Excitedly, Jake and The Mayor had awesome showings with the Mayor getting 3rd place in his age group with a time of 28:11.  Albeit Jake didn’t place in the top 3, but still finished with a time of 25:13.  Of course, he was disappointed with his time feeling that he could have done significantly better.  Nonetheless, it was still over a minute faster than his time at the event last year.

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At the start of the race, The Mayor and his teammates, Jake and my co-worker Imani were at the front.  The Mayor and his teammates were super excited and nervous to embark on their run.  They were the cutest.  It was a sea of purple as we lined up at the start.   This was my first run at FAU and this particular course was absolutely beautiful.  Undoubtedly, I wish I had been better prepared for the run, but now I know what I need to do before the next event.

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After the event, my stomach was churning -thanks to chili I ate yesterday, but we waited for our team to finish. As the team members finished as we enjoyed the free food and we waited for the Mayor to get his medal.  A big congratulations to the Mayor and fellow Deb Force Five member HB who placed 3rd and 2nd respectively in the under 13 age group.  I now owe the Mayor $50 as he finished under 30 minutes and he beat me handily! 

Lastly, while the event may be over our work is still unfinished.  There is a long way to go in the war against pancreatic cancer and doubling survival rates by 2020.  In fact,  it isn’t too late to donate to Team Deb Force Five.  If you’d like to donate, please click here. To our Deb Force Five family, thank you for your participation, your donation and your continued love and support of this beautiful family.  

Today’s song is “The Sky is a Neighborhood” by the Foo Fighters.  I was jamming to this song as I finished my third mile today.  It’s a great one!

 

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Saturday with the Mayor

While hubby and Goalielocks headed to Orlando for hockey, I️ spent my Saturday with the Mayor. After a long week of activities at work, I️ needed a low key day. What better way to spend it than with my Mayor.

I️ started my day at Burn with the Circuit Burn class with Amanda and a traditional yoga class with Kelly. I️ was bummed aerial was cancelled today, but it’s always good to hit my mat. Not surprisingly, the combination of circuit training and yoga is a great pairing that works your entire body in a variety of ways.

I had to run to Dick’s today to exchange my shoes.  I had purchased a new pair of running shoes a couple of weeks ago.  Since I had been experiencing some shin pain followed by a cold, I didn’t open the box until this week.  Apparently, a size 7 in the UK is not equitable to a size 7 in the US.  Whoops! You can imagine my surprise as I went to lace up my new kicks and they were way too big.  Lesson learned! 

Thankfully, Dick’s had the Kayano 24’s in stock in my actual size.  I should also say they make exchanging or returning items very easy.  I really enjoy shopping there.  Admittedly, I’m completely addicted to Carrie Underwood’s line of active wear, but I digress.   Finally, after finishing my errands with the Mayor, I️ logged a 2.5 mile run. Undoubtedly the Purple Stride event is going to kick my butt next week. I️ am so not ready for it! Nonetheless, I️’ll be logging miles all week in preparation for next Sunday.

Presently, I’m relaxing at Sports Clips while the Mayor enjoys a shampoo, cut and massage. It’s good to be the Mayor! Thankfully, mom isn’t a neophyte when it comes to boys’ haircuts, so he didn’t get too closely shaven. A nice number 3 in back and a cut on top has him looking quite dapper!

Tonight’s song comes courtesy of REM.  Lil’ D and Chuckles inspired tonight’s song “Shiny Happy People.”

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Run Free

Run free, run wild and embrace the runner’s high.  If you had asked me two and a half years ago if I was a runner, I would tell you that you’re the craziest person I had ever met.  Don’t get me wrong, I love cardio and thoroughly enjoy teaching Zumba.  Running, however, is an entirely different animal.  By all means, running to me was an instrument of torture. And then came Debbie, an avid runner and health nut, who inspired me to become a runner.

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When someone you love gets a horrible diagnosis, nothing you do to support them seems adequate.  It just never seems like its enough.  Nevertheless, Goalielocks, Jake and I started running 5ks for Debbie after our first Purple Stride.  At each of these 5ks, we did 12 in 2016, we wore purple to support Debbie.  Moreover, as a novice runner the purple was a reminder that many people are facing much harder obstacles than mile 3 of a 5K.  She was and still is my inspiration when I run.

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Consequently, Jake and I both ended up becoming accidental runners.   If I’m being honest,  I can’t say that I love running when mid-run.  I can, however, say that I love the runner’s high .  Moreover, I love that I have become something I never though was in my wheelhouse.  Debbie inspired me to run.  As a consequence, I found a new love while pushing myself to achieve something I didn’t think was possible.

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Undoubtedly, Debbie was a good egg – the best.  I miss her everyday although I’m positive she’s always on my run with me.  Without fail I see a beautiful yellow swallowtail on  every run as I get to Debbie’s neighborhood.  Each time, this beautiful butterfly greets me and Athena as we push on from mile one and onto mile two.  I know what you’re thinking and if it was at mile 4 or 5, then I’d probably agree that it was an apparition driven by exhaustion.

I ran tonight for the first time in weeks due to injuries and a cold.  Overall, I’d say it went well given I’ve been battling a cold that’s been trying to work its way into my chest.  Nonetheless, Athena and I hit the pavement tonight.  There’s only two weeks left to the Purple Stride event and I need to be ready.   As it stands right now, there’s no way I’ll be able to repeat last year’s somewhat respectable performance.   Importantly, you can join our team or support us by clicking here.  My goal is to have both the largest team and be the first place fundraising team.

Tonight’s song (hopefully will inspire you to donate or join our team) comes to us from Joe Cocker performing The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friend.”

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Sunday Funday

Sunday funday my ass….  Unless your idea of fun is household chores and laundry.  If it is, my Sunday was the epitome of Sunday funday.  Nevertheless, I got a lot accomplished and we’re well set up for the week.   The floors have been mopped and all of our laundry is done and put away.  Thanks to Irma and a delayed start to hockey season this is quite the accomplishment for mid-September in our house.

While yesterday was a rest day, today Athena and I were back on the trail running again.  Thankfully, the brush and fallen trees  have been removed from our running trials.  For the first time in months, we were able to run our favorite route.  We ran just over 3.5 miles.  I wish my time was as hot as the heat, but my time sucked and clearly I’m off my game.  The Piggie and I had a great time running the trail despite the heat and my poor time.  There’s nothing better than running outside while listening to great music with my Athena.  It soothes the soul and clears the head.

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Today’s writing prompt is the word sting, so here’s what  I came up with on my run:

  1. Jellyfish – they’re no bueno.  Who wants someone peeing on them to make the stinging sensation to go away?  Not this girl!
  2. Stinging nettle – Goalielocks learned this lesson while feeding the sheep in Flam.  Just say no to stinging nettle.
  3. Sweat in your eyes – Yes, it equates to hard work, but sweat getting in your eyes as your run definitely stings.
  4. Bees and wasps:  I am fortunate that none of us are allergic, but this can be a major problem for those with allergies to bee stings.  In South Florida, Africanized honey bees can present a real danger.
  5. Fire Ants:  These insidious little beasts sting and it feels like their sting is the size of an elephant.  The sting of the red ant is horribly painful.  Unfortunately, I’m speaking from personal experience on this one.
  6. Hurricane Jose, Tropical Storm Lee and now Hurricane Maria: from all of us in the Atlantic Basin – F#$K You!
  7. Betrayal: Stings worse than fire ants, bees, and jellyfish together.
  8. Misogyny, racism or any other kind of discrimination:  A sting worse than a bullet ant and a tarantula hawk wasp sting combined.  Yeah, it’s that bad.

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There is good news about things that sting.  You can squash them, exterminate them or wipe them away or leave them  on the beach to dry out.  They’re not big bad monsters that you cannot defeat.  Lastly,  you can treat your sting, should you experience one, with benadryl cream,  hydro-cortisone cream, ibuprofen, benadryl, an epi-pen for severe allergies and vodka and/or tequila for number 6 and 7 respectively.

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Fabulous Friday

TGIF!  Today is fabulous Friday!  This week has felt incredibly long despite being a short week due to the hurricane.  Irmageddon put a lot of strain on all of us with the planning and preparing we had to do for our families and for work.  Perhaps this is why we all felt so utterly exhausted today.

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I’ve been quite productive this week even though it  has been a short an painful week.  Each and every day we have a choice how we respond to our circumstances..  I choose to say F*#C you to those who seek to marginalize others.  As beaten up as I felt physically, the choice has become clear.  Leaders have an obligation, through good and especially through bad, to find the light at the end of the tunnel.  Leaders have the obligation to be both the beacon of hope and the agent of change.  Bound together by a common passion and drive to be the best we can, the group of leaders I have surrounded myself with is amazing.  We will change the world for the better, so you best be ready.

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The downside in all of this productivity is that I completely missed lunch.  A complete and total travesty since I had actually remembered to pack my yummy, vegan protein shake.  No, its not an oxymoron. Its actually quite flavorful, low calorie and does not contain soy or other allergens.  I love my Zumba Shake Shake Shake (Lorbach10 is my affiliate code if you’re interested.)  By the time I realized I had missed lunch, it was 5:00 pm.  I headed home and grabbed some provolone cheese to fuel my run.

 

FullSizeR (11)Piggie and I ran 3 miles, which felt fantastic.  Nothing clears your head better than a nice run with your bestie.  The sky was amazing tonight with nary a cloud in the sky and a big, full setting sun.  Florida’s skies are thing of beauty.   Its been a rough week getting back into running outdoors.  The heat makes it tough to run, but it feels remarkable to be back on the trail outside.  There’s nothing better than running with my puppys’, to remove the stress of the work day.  Since I had such an amazing lunch, I’m treating myself to some Sushi Yama tonight.  Talk about flavorful!

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Side Effects of a Hurricane

The side effects of a hurricane are real and they’re sad.  With a storm the size of Irma, you end up spending almost 48 hours caged inside.  If you were unfortunate enough to have lost power, your stuck eating processed food that just isn’t healthy.  Even if you kept power, like we did, the caramel roll and mimosa brunch does nothing for your fitlife goals.

I’ve had a penchant for running for the past two years since my first Purple Stride event in 2015, but fell of the wagon after our Norway trip.  My sister in law took a picture of us post brunch Saturday before the storm hit.  It was sad to see, but I looked like I swallowed a small child.  I swear I didn’t actually eat a small child, but if you saw the picture you would have thought differently.

When my work announced we were reopening the office with a relaxed dress code on Tuesday, a collective sigh of relief went out across South Florida.   Sadly, post hurricane the dolphins on our yoga pants have morphed into whales.  What’s more the dolphins no look like whales.  Oh it was a humbling Tuesday.  If there’s ever a way to reignite your running habit, this hurricane weekend was the it.

Since it has been so hot, I’ve been running on the treadmill.  Unfortunately, the power had been cutting in and out Monday, so I had to run outside.  It would be my luck that I would injure myself post-storm in an unfortunate treadmill accident.  Consequently, the Piggie and I hit the running path and ran 2.65 miles.  I thought I was going to die.  It was as humid as it was hot.  I definitely should have brought my inhaler.  Nevertheless, it felt amazing to be out on the trail my loving running partner.   Tonight marked three notes in a row of running.  We’re back on track!

 

 

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Purple Stride Broward-Palm Beach

Last week I received an email announcing the Purple Stride Broward-Palm Beach Event.  I can’t believe it is that time of the year again.  We are less than a month away from the racing (running) season in South Florida.  Since the heat index has been in the triple digits since we got back, I’ve been training on the treadmill.   It is never too early to start training as the race will be here in a jiffy.

Today I setup our team for the purple stride event happening on November 19th at FAU (Florida Atlantic University) in Boca Raton.  We will be racing under the team Deb Force Five for the third year in a row.  My goal is to be the number one team in fundraising for the second year in a row.  We are shooting for $10,500.

As I updated the information and the team’s website, I got choked up.  It hit me like semi-truck that this year would be painfully different.   August 26th will make five months since we lost Debbie, but it still feels so fresh.  Grief is awful.  Like a thief in the night, it comes out of nowhere and steals your happiness.  It pops up unexpectedly, forcefully and with so much pain.

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After I collected myself a bit, I got on the treadmill to put in my thirty minutes.  The first five minutes were tearful, but as my run continued my hope and sense of purpose returned.  I made a promise to Debbie to continue advocating for pancreatic cancer awareness and fighting for a cure.  It is a promise I cannot and will not ever break.

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In the coming months, we hope to announce the launch of a pancreatic cancer immunotherapy clinical trial that Debbie, Melissa Nicholas and I had started working on last December.   It destroyed me that we were not able to launch the clinical trial, so Debbie could benefit.  In hindsight, I think Debbie knew this since she was a pharmacist.  As a neophyte to the industry, I had hopes that we could get it started right away.

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She was a second mom to my kids and they loved her to pieces.   Her memory is never far for anyone us.  My boys insisted on lighting a candle in Debbie’s memory at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.  Afterwards in the gift shop, they picked out a praying angel, for her, that watches over us from our kitchen.

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You may have seen the new shirts that were posted to the site this weekend.  My boys and I have been hard at work designing shirts and a business plan for our new store.  For all of us, the creative process and the opportunity to honor Debbie’s memory has been cathartic.   The profits from our merchandise will go towards funding the clinical trial and towards a scholarship program that helps families with the expenses for travel hockey.

For more information on Purple Stride Broward-Palm Beach or to join our team click here

For more information of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network click here

Fore more information Pennies In Action click here

Fore more information on our store click here

 

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My Running Partners

When I started running over two years ago, I didn’t know that I would love it so much.  Nor did I know that my running partners would be so important in maintaining my training or that they’d bring me so much happiness.

Most days my running partners are Jake and our dogs Maya and Athena.  The beautiful thing about running with these three is they keep a brisk pace.  Jake is particularly fast ,so running with him means I have to push myself.  The puppies like to be first, so which ever dog is in back is racing to catch up to their sister.

This can be a bit problematic when Jake and his puppy pull away from us.  Usually it’s Maya and I holding up the rear.  Jake’s got his mile below 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, I almost threw myself a party for breaking the 8 minute mile barrier.

Maya trying to keep pace with Jake means we’re pushing race pace almost every run.  Since Jake is so fast, Athena is usually super tired after two miles.  We’ll switch the puppies and walk them for awhile, so they can catch their breath and cool down a  little bit.

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By the time we start running again, the puppies’ energy is back and they’re ready to roll.  Some runs, Goalielocks or the Mayor will come with us.  For those runs, we usually cap our distance at three miles.  The best part of running with the puppies is how happy they are when we run.

While in Norway, Jake and I mixed it up a bit by hiking on the mountain trails.  It wasn’t a rigorous as our runs, but some parts of the trail were quite steep and took a lot of concentration to master.  The views were incredible and so was the weather.  No horrible heat indexes to contend with.

The unfortunate part of summer in Florida, is heat indexes in the triple digits.  As much as I love to run with my kids and my dogs, the summer heat makes it dangerous for the dogs.  Until the heat abates, I’ll be hitting the treadmill and missing my running partners.  When I run on the treadmill, there’s no sweet puppy looking back at me smiling as she enjoy the run.  Nor is there Jake, who motivates me to run faster and further every time we run.