San Diego Trip

Our balcony

A view of the San Diego Bay

Another one

Enjoying the California sun air

Being silly at breakfast on Saturday.

I was very anxious all day Saturday.

You can probably tell, we spent a lot of time just hanging out with each other!

My jersey! I wrote my favorite cancer kid warriors on the border.
(You can click on the picture to make it bigger.)

My feet before the race. 6 band-aids and 1 ankle brace!

Me before the race. Yes, it was still dark outside. Our team met in the hotel lobby at 4:15 am!

Me after the race. Suprisingly, ready to take in the sights of the Finisher's Village!

The oldest Mexican restaurant in San Diego. And the site of my victory dinner!

Being serenaded!

My unbelievably delicious victory dinner! That's a bean burrito on the left and on the right, introducing...verde chicken enchilada! I'll be adding this to my Mexican meals from now on!
(Oh and yes, I. Ate. It. All!)

Me after many yummy top-shelf margaritas! Jim had the balloon man make me a crown out of balloons!

And finally after a long day on the road in the air. We came home to a sleeping Mr. T and this sign! How sweet!

I was on the news...kind of!

This is the local news report of the marathon. You can see me at about the 17-18 second mark. I'm in a purple shirt (of course!) with a pink jacket tied around my waist and green ribbon in my hair.

I have been sleeping all day! I am busy with PTA early tomorrow so hopefully I can get a post and some pictures up soon.

Marathon Day!

It's finally here!
Click above to see the course

24 hours until...

we're headed out to Cali, Cali, Cali...

I'm resting.

I'm hydrating.

I'm organizing.

I'm packing.

I'm thinking positive thoughts.

I'm NERVOUS! I don't know why. I never get nervous. I'm not scared to travel so it has to be the race that is causing these loop-de-loops in my stomach!

Oh...

Wish me luck, friends!

Bracelets

So I have a lot of the bracelets for causes. You know what I mean. Like the LIVESTRONG bracelets.

I have purple for TNT, green for Team Larson, a glow in the dark for LLS Light the Night and red for DARE.

I love to support the causes, I just don't like to wear the bracelets. I'm not being snobby, but, like gag me with a spoon!

Ha! Ha! Just kidding!

Kind of.

Anyway...

I've been wearing my TNT bracelet this week because I want to make sure I remember it for the trip, but then...at Wal-mart this afternoon a ray of light...

led me to the "fine jewelry" section and I found these!

Just my style AND the perfect colors. Purple for Team in Training and Green for my inspiration, Coleman!

And just in time for the big race weekend. I've said it before and I'll say it again sometimes the Cman just takes care of everything! And you thought I was just kidding about the ray of light!

Two posts in one day!

You can thank Kat for that! She put up a link to my blog on her blog today! She is so nice...and funny...and pretty. Hey Kat, if you ever come to Kentucky, stop by my house and I'll brush your hair!

Anyway...

Since the link referred to my Team in Training experience, I thought this would be a good time recap the past few months!

Early January...I started this whole thing with an information meeting about Team in Training. I had been to one of these meetings before, so I knew exactly what to expect. I had my checkbook so I could register that very morning. What I did not expect was to sign up for the Marathon in San Diego. I went to the meeting with all intentions of training for the local mini-Marathon (13.1 miles) but after the excitement drummed up at the meeting, I was in all the way!

1/31/09...The fist training run. 4 miles. Yikes. 4 miles right from the start? I had a rough time. It was cold, very cold! If I recall correctly, the temperature was 9 degrees. There was still ice from the storm the previous week and many people on the team were still without power. It was an true introduction to the commitment of the Team I was joining!

February...During the month February, fundraising kicked into full gear. I worked a road block and started my letter campaign. Of course, training continued as we worked our way toward the 10 mile mark!

March...The month started off with my first injury and the first leg of the Triple Crown of Running! I finished the Anthem 5k in 31:40. I was very happy! Training stepped up and I ran my first full 10 mile run mid-month. I also started seeing Dr. Fortes at the SCORE clinic on a regular basis for my ankle/foot pain. I took it easy on the second leg of the Triple Crown and finished the 10k in 1 hour and 26 minutes.

April...The month started off rough on my foot. I took about 10 days off from running and ordered my custom made shoe inserts. Once I was well rested and my feet were completely supported, I was back on a roll. I finished the Papa John's 10 miler in under 2 hours and followed that up with a 3 hour finish in the mini-Marathon! I also hosted a Texas Hold'em tournament and raised another $300.

May...That brings us to the current month. Last weekend, we ran 22 miles. Wow! Was that hard! I was indescribably tired. I don't think that the fatigue is anything you can even imagine! I am so looking forward to our "short" 12 mile run Saturday. It's funny though. In January, I couldn't even run 4 miles without stopping. Now I can look at a 10-12 mile run as easy!

Unfortunately, fundraising has slowed down tremendously. I set a goal of crossing the finish line in San Diego having raised $4000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As of today, I have raised $2,058.13! I'm so excited about what I have done so far, but I MUST reach that goal! I am just over half way there.

The team leaves for San Diego on May 29. I hope to meet my goal by then. And you know what? You can help! It's never too late to donate. You can do so quick and easy by going to my secure LLS website at

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ky/rnr09/jdistler

Please consider donating to this great cause!

The LLS has made great strides thanks to donations from people like me and you! In the past 45 years, the five year survivor rate for patients with Leukemia has more than tripled! The LLS not only supports patients suffering from blood diseases, but they are a major source of funding for research into the cures of ALL cancers. Even if you haven't been touched but a blood cancer in your life, it's likely you have been touched by some sort of cancer. Think of those loved ones before you say no.

And just in case you need any more reasons to consider donating...take a look at this Angel!

Coleman

And his twin brother...

Caden

Team Larson
Brothers for Life

And realize that because of CANCER, the birthday below is the last one these brothers had together!

22 miles....

Oh. My. God.

Um...I'm going to go die now.

I'm tired...

...and I guess I should be. I ran a half-marathon yesterday! That's 13.1 miles! It was hot and very hard, but so worth it. My brother also ran. I saw him about a mile or so into the race. We chatted for a minute and then he went ahead of me. He finished the race in 2 hours and 16 minutes! That is a great time...especially considering he just started running early this year. I came in just under 3 hours. Considering the heat, I was very happy! Michelle came out and watched us as we came out of one of the parks. She got some pretty good pics.

The start line

There's our baby bro!

And there's me! I actually stopped for a minute and talked to Michelle. She was so nice to come out so early in the morning, I couldn't just run past waving. Plus, it was time for me to take an energy gel, so it was a welcome break. This was about the 6 mile mark, I think.

So, in all it was a pretty good day. I have now completed 1/2 my goal of running a marathon!

This is going to be another busy week for us. I'm sure you've all heard of the Kentucky Derby. Well, we live just outside of Louisville where the Derby is, so the week will be filled with lots of fun family events (most are even free!) I plan on taking the kids to several events during the week. We also have the day off on Friday (yep, that's how huge the Derby is here!) I'm going to take the kids to the zoo. Hopefully the rain they are predicting will hold off until next week.

Have a great week everybody!

Give til it hurts!

Isn't that what they say? Well, that's what I'm doing!

My Team in Training experience has had it's share of bumps and bruises. You all saw the lovely picture of my scabby knee. You've heard about my bum ankle and my lack of motivation. Of course, my knee has healed and my motivation is back. I got my custom orthopedics last week and my ankle feels great! I ran in the Papa John's 10-miler on Saturday and finished just under 2 hours. I was very happy!

After a great race on Saturday, I was more than ready to train this week. I ran 8 miles on Tuesday and 7.5 yesterday. As I was finishing my run yesterday afternoon, I felt like my right eye was running. When I walked in the door, Big Daddy gasped! I looked in the mirror and my eye was extremely swollen. I rinsed it with some cold water and went to the kitchen to get some Gatorade. As I stood there drinking and chatting with BD, he said my eye was getting worse and now my left eye was swelling as well! I'm pretty sure it was an allergic reaction of some sort. The pollen levels here in KY are out of control. Not only that, I brushed the top of my head on a flowering tree just as I finished my run. BD walked me upstairs to take a shower to make sure there was no pollen or irritants in my eyes or hair.

I felt better after the shower, but my eyes/face were still swollen. Here is the UGLY evidence...

This is what I looked like at 8:00 last night!

I took thinks very easy today. BD got up with the kids and drove them to school. I pretty much stayed in bed/on the couch all day. I took some Benadryl, but the only thing that seems to be helping is good old time.

24 hours later...just looks like I have some makeup smeared under my eyes. I'm hoping it's all better tomorrow. As much as I love staying in bed all day, I do have some things to do!

Oh and yes, that's the same sweatshirt I had on last night. Well, it can't get dirty laying in bed all day, right?

A Reminder for myself...

I was planning a totally different post today, but my heart told me THIS is what needed to be here...

I'm still training with Team in Training (don't forget to check out my website!) But, I'm gonna be honest...I just haven't really been into it these past couple of weeks.

I ran the 10k on March 21. My foot was hurting terribly and I was not happy with my finish time. From there I proceeded to slack off on all training. I even skipped the group run on March 28! I NEVER intended to skip a group run, but like I said, I just wasn't feeling it. Of course, I didn't run at all on vacation. That meant I got home on Friday night with the task of a 14 mile run on Saturday morning. I chose to go to the group run, but I did not run the full 14 miles. I ran 11 miles. That was probably the safest way to come back physically.

Mentally, I still wasn't there. Until, last night.

Peggy (Coleman's mom) posted an update on CarePages. She talked about going back to working, leaving Caden at daycare alone, etc. etc. How she does it, I'll never know. Then she posted a video from this time last year. The first 37 seconds of that video touched me in a way I cannot explain. My heart raced, my eyes filled with tears, there was (still is) a lump in my throat. There was that sweet baby boy, my dear Coleman, Running, Skipping, Riding around. So happy! So Alive!

OH MY GOD!!! THIS IS SO NOT FAIR!!!

And guess what...my mind is back in it! Oh that boy, my dear Coleman, he sure knows what he's doing! He keeps me on track and helps me through this journey in ways I never, ever expected! I love Coleman and I love Team Larson and they (and families like them) are why I'm doing this. I don't want anyone to have to go through again.

So...just a little reminder to myself.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Yankee Candles for Sale!

Support Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team In Training and buy quality, name-brand products that you already know and love. You can view the Spring 2009 Fund-Raising brochure on line at www.yankeefundraising.com

Please leave a comment if you would like to order and I will contact you with my personal email address to place your order. These are the same great name brand products you can buy in stores, except 40% of the proceeds goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! If you were already planning to buy some new Spring scented candles, please consider ordering them through me.

I will need all orders by Saturday, March 21. The candles should be delivered to me on or before May 4. I will then get your order to you!

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you know who might be interested. Print it out and ask at work!

Thank you!!!

Have you seen my Team In Training blog?

Why don't you go check it out?

Just click here...

Jennifer Runs A Marathon!

Spring is in the Air!

I hope you all remembered to set your clocks ahead last night! Ahh, Spring!

Yesterday was a wonderful day! The weather here was Amazing! It was sunny and warm, a perfect Spring day. For those of you who don't know, I am not a cold weather girl! I am all about the sun and being able to be outside.

I ran the first leg of the Triple Crown of Running, the Anthem 5k. I finished with a time of 31:40! I was very proud of that time considering I had not run since Tuesday because of my ankle pain. There were over 7,800 runners in the race and I placed at about 4200! That is the top 54% if you do the math!

Like I said, the weather here was beautiful so I changed my menu plan for the night and we had a cook-out! I used the grill for the first time ever by myself! Big Daddy had to go out for a meeting and I was on my own! I'll admit, it wasn't the best grilling experience and I had to put the burgers under the broiler to make sure there were cooked through, but they ended up tasting great!

Now it looks like we might get some rain here today, so I am going to try to get some mileage in before the sky opens up. I have a lot of catching up to do on my training!

Sick, sick, sick

The boys have the flu! All of them! JJ was home from school Monday and Tuesday. Big Daddy didn't work Tuesday and Wednesday and Mr T came home from school yesterday and is still in bed. They ran high fevers, had aches and pains and just slept for days!

The girls and I have not (KNOCK ON WOOD) picked it up yet, so hopefully we will be able to enjoy the weekend.

I have been resting my ankle though. Training for the marathon has been causing it's share of expected aches and pains, but my right ankle has been steadily feeling worse. I've been getting some treatment from our Sports Therapist and he told me to take it easy on training this week. I think I can do that! ;) Aside from walking up and down (and up and down!) the steps to baby my sick boys, I have just been taking it easy.

And on that note, I am going to head upstairs with the after lunch ice cream and a round of meds.

Team In Training Fundraising

If I have you real world address or you are one of my Facebook friends that you have probably already received this. My instructions for my letter writing campaign were to send a letter to anyone I have ever known and to exhaust all measures in doing so. So, just in case I haven't gotten to you yet or if you are a generous lurker, here goes!

Dear Family and Friends,

As most of you know, I turned 30 about 18 months ago (deep sigh!) When I turned the Big 3-0, I wrote my “Life List” The #1 item on that list is to “Run a Marathon.” While this is something that I want to do, I find the idea of a marathon very intimidating! In the past 18 months, I have also been introduced to the world of Childhood Cancer. I have learned so much from the kids I have come to know. Persistence, Strength and a Renewed sense of Faith are a few of the things these beautiful children have taught me! It has become so important to me to help find a cure for these diseases that cannot be explained.

Through different friends and acquaintances, I have been introduced to Team In Training. Team in Training is an organization dedicated to raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) was rated one of the top ten charities for highest percentage of funds raised to directly benefit research and patient support. 75% of funds raised by LLS supporters! What do they do with all that money? Did you know:

- An estimated 825,000 Americans have blood cancers, including the estimated 219,000 Americans living with or in remission from Leukemia.

- Every five minutes someone else is diagnosed with a blood cancer.

- Every ten minutes some dies from a blood cancer.

- Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children!

- Thanks to organizations like LLS, the five-year survivor rate has more than tripled in the past 45 years for patients with Leukemia and the five-year survival rate for Hodgkin Lymphomas has more than doubled from 40% in 1960 to 86% in 2002!

Although these horrible blood diseases have not directly affected me, I have lost family and friends to cancer. In 2001, I lost my Grandma Lega to lung cancer. My Aunt Martha lost her battle with cervical cancer in 2006. I never even met my Grandpa Lega. He lost his life to throat cancer in 1976. I also lost a sweet friend and a beautiful child, Coleman Larson, on January 5. Coleman was only 5 years and 27 days old.

I met Coleman, his twin brother, Caden and his parents through the blog world. Coleman’s mom, Peggy writes about their family’s struggles through CarePages. Coleman fought the cancer beast, Medulloblastoma, since he was 2 ½ years old. Sadly, he became an angel in January. So you see cancer research is so very important, as we have probably all been touched by cancer in some way. LLS not only supports patients suffering from blood diseases, but they are a major source of funding for research into cures of ALL cancers!

With all these loved ones in mind and a self-imposed challenge to run a marathon, I have decided to join Team In Training! I will participate in the Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego on May 31, 2009. A marathon is a 26.2 mile endurance competition. I am very excited, as this is my first endurance-type event! However, excitement won’t get me to San Diego! That’s why I need your help. My personal goal is to cross the finish line having raised $4000. 75% of that will go directly to benefit the patients and research of LLS. The other 25% will get me to San Diego and home again! I know this is possible with the support of family and friends like you! Please consider donating at least one dollar per mile. You can make a donation by visiting my Team in Training website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/ky/rnr09/jdistler. Please make checks payable to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (All donations are tax deductible.) Thank you in advance for all your support…financial and mental!

If you are able to make a donation, please contact me and we can work out the details. Thank you!

Suggested Donation Amounts:
_____ $26.20 ($1/mile)
_____ $52.40 ($2/mile)
_____ $131.00 ($5/mile)
_____ Any other donation
_____ $500 or more (Corporate sponsor level—your company name or an individual you are honoring will appear on all KY team member jerseys on race days!)

If you wish to donate by credit card, you may do so online at
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ky/rnr09/jdistler

So, I added up all the miles I will run while training over the next four months. Guess what? It's 512 miles! I created this ticker to let you keep track of my progress!

Start date = 1/31/09