Mission Completion!

The last couple of weeks, I've been in "re-coup" mode. Aside from giving birth, running 13.1 miles and the journey it took to get to the start line, was most likely the hardest thing I've physically had to do. Not only was my body tired, but I had a lot of catching up to do. Reconnecting with my husband, bedtime stories with my children, spending the weekend as a family rather than scheduling things around my training- I was ready to cross the finish line and so was my family. I haven't had much time for blogging since I finished the race, as any time not spent sleeping has been spent reconnecting with my loved ones and catching up on house work neglected for 12 weeks.

The week of the marathon started out kind of crummy. My right knee was in considerable amount of pain. Jonah brought home a bad cold, which everyone in the house caught. Reluctantly, I took the entire week off from training. I ran 7 miles the sunday before the race, and then not again until race day.

On Friday, the day before the race, I went to see a sports medicine specialist. I had a gait analysis run. Basically I ran on the treadmill for about five minutes while being video taped. The doctor reviewed the tape for about 20 minutes. I got to watch it in slow motion with her while she explained to me how I could be injuring myself with the strides I was taking. She told me that everything about my form looks perfect, good posture, good stride length, nice and relaxed, but the problem seemed to be that I come down too hard into the ground. She examined my knee briefly and said that the kind of pain and popping I am experiencing is commonly referred to as "runner's knee" and can be fixed simply by correcting my heavy stride. "Think propel forward, not drive into the ground." She told me "spring off your toes." You would think that after years of training for my black belt in karate, and even more years spent "propelling from my toes" as a dancer, that I would have that down by now. She also gave me a ton of handouts for various core exercises, and told me that a lot of times coming down too hard is indicative of a poor core. Which I believe, I've been feeling a major need to do corework the last few months!

On race morning, we all had to wake up much earlier than we liked. We were running late. Daryl dropped me off as close to the road closures as he could get, as traffic was really bad and not a parking spot was to be found. He and the kids did not make it to the start until after I had already crossed. The tail end of the group was just heading out. The yellow arch at the end of the road is the start line.

Within the first mile, I came to the Y bridge. It's a bridge that's shaped like a Y. I've driven over this bridge a million times, but running across it, I just felt like everything was so much clearer and beautiful about it. The trees in the valley below the bridge were just beginning to change their color. The sun was rising, and I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day for running. Cool, but not cold. Cloudy, but no rain. Then the winner of the marathon came running the opposite direction on the bridge. Now he was a site to see! I had run 1/2 a mile in the same time that he had run nearly 3. It was incredible. I wish I had taken a camera with me to get a picture of this moment in the race- all of the runners crossing the y bridge, the forerunners meeting us on the opposite side. It was beautiful.

After being routed back around to the opposite side of the bridge and going back into downtown Akron, I finally caught the first glimpse of my cheering squad. My "team" as I called them.

I'm in the middle waving, wearing a pink top. Although wouldn't it be great to tell everyone that I'm the girl closest to the camera!? I knew Daryl was going to get her into a picture at some point...

It was really refreshing to see them. I had expected Daryl to take them to the children's area. He was recieving text messages to update him on when I was crossing check points in the race. I had only asked him to be at the ten mile mark and the finish line, so seeing him at three miles with the kids was nice.

Between mile three and eight was not notable. There were great spectators, wonderful people there supporting the runners. I ran into a couple of my running friends. Not literally, thank goodness, but it was nice to see familiar faces in the sea of 1700 runners.

Then came mile eight. Well, it was actually just before mile nine. I really wish I had a camera coming into this site! One of my high school besties, "B" was standing there waiting for me with her wife. With a marvelous gift of ibuprofen and water. Coming around the curve to their house, I see her standing there, with her belly pregnant with twins. She had tied her shirt up around her waist so that I could see her beautiful baby bump, And she had drawn a smiley face. Her belly was SMILING at me. As soon as I saw her I couldn't stop laughing and smiling. I came in to give her a hug. What a wonderful friend. I don't think any one else would have done that for me. She waddled/ran with me for about a block, giving me words of encouragement, and finally letting me rub the smiling belly for good luck and strength. B, I love you!

It wasn't long after when I was at the point where Daryl was supposed to be waiting for me with the kids. I was a little disappointed that there were gates all along the road at this point, crowded with people. I caught sight of Daryl and the kids, but could not give them five or a hug. All I could do was tell Daryl that Jonah looked like he needed a tissue. I heard a woman behind me chuckle and say "a mother's job pauses for NOTHING." I had really wanted to give the kids a high five, I was disappointed. But I only had three miles left and I was feeling GREAT. No knee pain, very little fatigue, fairly comfortable. Not bad for taking a week off.

It was then that I found myself in a large group, running right along side a man holding the 10:20 pacer sign. Basically he was there to run with individuals wanting to finish the marathon at an average pace of 10 minutes, 20 seconds per mile. I was surprised to find myself in this group and stayed with them for quite a while. He handed me the sign. I said "I have no clue what I'm doing!" He said "Just run, there's nothing to it!" So I did. I carried the sign until it was almost time to break from the marathoners to follow the half marathon course back to the finish. He told me that I ought to consider being in his pace group next year for the full. I laughed and said "no thanks" but I can't deny that he didn't plant some seeds of ambition.

Jonah Cheering Mama in his "Don't Give Up" shirt

I then met a mom who was running her second half marathon. She also has two children and like me, never dreamed of finding herself in this place. We chatted for a bit about the challenges of training with two young ones. Then we came to the hardest part of the course. A very long and steep uphill run. We were so close, we didn't talk to eachother, but we were there with each other, pushing. I kept repeating something I had heard one of the spectators singing to cheer runners on. He had a guitar and a small microphone. He sang "manifest yourself in exquisiteness." I repeated it. Over and over. Those last two miles, my mind was filled with nothing else. Exquisiteness. I will not quit. I will not walk up this hill. I am made for exquisitness.

And we made it.

Running down the street, into canal park where the finish line was. I can't describe what it was like. I was tired. I wanted to quit but knew that I couldn't. One last push- the winner of the marathon then came past. He ran alongside all of us half marathoners. We moved to the side to let him through. I ran with him for less than a fraction of a second. He was moving so quickly, so elegantly. He had run twice the distance I had just run. This *is* possible.

 Coming into the finish was exhilarating. I could not have stopped running if I wanted to. I felt myself speed up. I saw the mom I had met cross the finish line. I felt my legs propelling forward faster and faster. I could have collapsed in a frenzy of emotions as my sneakers hit the red and black rubber check in point. I had always wondered how someone could cry after doing such a thing. But I did, I cried. I cried and laughed at the same time as I was handed food, water, and a medal hung around my neck.

crossing the finish

My phone started ringing in my armband. I fumbled to get it out of the sleeve as I saw it was B. B and her smiling belly. My phone was too dead from clocking me during the race. It would not pick up the call. I later heard her message, a celebratory B and wife, cheering about my time. Way under what I had projected for myself. She had also been receiving text alerts about my progress in the race.

This was more than an achievement for me. This was a realization that I can do big things if I really want to and if I have the support of those who love me. This wasn't just a trial for me, but this journey required sacrifices and support from many, many people in my family. Yes, I ran 13.1 miles in 16 minutes under my projected time. I lost 15 lbs and dropped several pants sizes. *I* did that. But my family helped me in ways that were crucial.

Running is something I recommend to many of my mom friends who want to get fit. I know it is not everyone's "style" but it fits most moms' schedules and our budget. It is something your kids and family can see you do, so you can be a great example to them. You certainly don't have to run a marathon or half marathon, or even a 5k race to see the benefits of this exercise. I really do urge other mothers who are thinking about running to give it a try. Check out the couch to 5k plan or something similar. I don't recommend their half marathon or marathon program for Moms. It was too intense and took too much away from my family. I ended up dropping the program halfway through and using it as a mere guide along with other more "family friendly" training programs. I do, however, HIGHLY recommend the 5k program. It is great because most of the first couple of weeks is walking and building up to running. Everyone I know who has used the program has had success. The workouts only require 45 minutes of your Mommy time. I love it.

A year ago, I ran my first 5k under the program. This year, I was wearing a half marathon finisher's medal around my neck.

Will I continue on to do a full marathon next year? That I don't know. I am content with the half marathon for now. I am content with the idea of doing a few more years of half marathons. But a mom at Jonah's Little Gym class, who has two children the same ages as my kids, ran this as her first marathon this year. Several of my running friends are also urging me. Time will see. I will most likely get back to that in May. For now, don't be surprised if you don't see a running post most of the winter. It's the off season!

A Lesson In Manners

One thing that I absolutely do not want to have is rude kids. I have tried to make manners a priority in things that I teach my children. Table manners, in particular. Every day, three times a day, my three year old learns how to properly use a napkin, how to ask politely for items to be passed, how to politely sit quietly (we are working especially on how to properly handle bodily functions such as-dare I say it- farting and burping at the table) and most importantly, how to ask to be excused from the table. Evelyn is introduced to these things but obviously not expected to follow social rules at age one.

Over the weekend, we were visiting the in-laws. We had a nice dinner in the dining room. Jonah announced he was "all done." I said to him "What do you need to ask me when you are done with your dinner?" This is our moment to shine, I thought. I am going to look like such a great mom, with such a well mannered young man!

His response: "MAAAAY I PWEASE BE SCOOOOOOOOSED??? BUUUUUUUUUURP!" It was the biggest most atrocious burp I have ever heard come out of such a tiny person.

We'll keep working on it....

Under the Sea Literature

I found a lot of books with an under the sea or ocean theme, that I was able to tie into other activities. I love it when I am able to do this because it really gets Jonah excited about a book and a theme. Here are the "Under the Sea" books that we enjoyed!

Wiggle Like an Octopus by Harriet Ziefert and Simms Taback:

 I think Eve picked this book because of the neat holographic cover. But once we got it home and read it, the kids were hooked on what was inside! This book has simple colorful illustrations of many sea creatures, along with descriptions of how they move. We had a lot of fun getting out of our reading chair and moving around like the creatures in the book! This book is great if you're looking for some gross motor ideas.

The Whale's Song by Dyan Sheldon and Gary Blythe:

 This book is a beautiful tale that sparked a lot of discussion between me and Jonah. The story is very simple, yet has a magical tone to it. Lilly's grandmother tells her tales of when the whales would sing to her. Lilly follows her heart and her grandmother's dreams, to experience something magical and mysterious. Jonah enjoyed the story, but I am not sure if he understood a lot of it. We might be waiting to revisit this book until he is older.

A House for Hermit crab and Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle:

 
Jonah loved these books. Once again, Eric Carle has captured my kids' attention with his brightly colored pictures and his ability to tell a story portraying the ways in which the world works.

Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert:

My kids really enjoy counting books. Lois Ehlert took them on a colorful adventure, counting fish along the way. Beautiful patterns, shapes, and colors really captivated both kids on every page. We integrated a cooking activity with this book, making sugar cookies and decorating them to look like the fish in the book!

Sea Shapes by Suse Macdonald:

This book is very simple, and points out what different shapes you might see in the ocean. As I discussed earlier, we used this book as an inspiration to use shape stamps to create an underwater scene. It would also be nice to pair this with a shape collage activity. We also used foam shape blocks to build an underwater world right in our living room!

Little Turtle and the Song of the Sea by Sheridan Cain:

Jonah really enjoyed learning about what a sea turtle is through this book. He enjoyed the activities about sea turtles that stemmed from us reading the book. But again, I don't know if he fully understood the plot of the book. He did enjoy it and the topic that it presented!



 

Under the Sea Art

One of the things that I enjoyed about this theme is that it is so easy to get creative with art projects. It was hard to pick just a few ideas, but the projects I chose gave us a chance to practice skills and concepts that I would like to work on with Jonah.


Sea Shapes, a lesson in geometry:

This idea came from a "take home bag" that I borrowed from the lending library at the preschool where Jonah has speech therapy. The bag came with the book "Sea Shapes" by Suse Macdonald, several foam stamps that corresponded to the book, and an ink pad. The book named several shapes, and then gave an example of how you would see that shape in the sea. For example, the crescent shape can be seen in a dolphin's body, and some fish are shaped like hearts! After we looked at the book and discussed the creatures and shapes that we had seen, I let the kids use the stamps to make their own ocean pictures. At first we used a light blue paper, but we weren't happy with how the blue ink looked on it, so we used plain white printer paper to make the shapes really stand out!

Evelyn was delighted that she could participate as well. Make sure you have WASHABLE and NONTOXIC ink pads while doing this project with little ones! And also, keep a wet wash cloth near by to clean wandering inked up hands (and feet.)

Textured Star Fish, a sensory activity:

Jonah won't touch certain textures, and a lot of times if he gets something such as paint on his hands, he wants it cleaned off right away. So I am always looking for sensory integrated activities that will entice him to touch different textures. We used nontoxic washable poster paint, cereal boxes that I had cut into starfish shapes, and bubble wrap.

I let the kids pick out what colors of paint to use and spread a thin layer of each color onto a plate. I showed them how to dip the bubble wrap into the paint and then use it to "stamp" a textured pattern onto the starfish. Jonah did not want to touch the bubble wrap at first, especially once it got paint on it. But as soon as he saw how much fun Evie was having, he (reluctantly) jumped in. I liked this one in particular because it required him to hold a large portion of the bubble wrap. He wanted to just barely hang onto a corner, but quickly found out that didn't work. Once he got started, he began having fun mixing the colors of paint to get colorful patterns on his starfish.

Paper Bag Octopus, cutting skills and fine motor activity:

Sadly, I have no pictures of Jonah doing this activity as the battery in my camera died. However, here is the original site where I got the idea (and adapted it to fit our needs.)

I had Jonah crumple up bits of newspaper and stuff it into the bottom of a paper lunch sack. Then I helped him put a rubber band around the middle of the sack so that it created a "head" for the octopus.

I let him pick out a color to paint the octopus and we used our texture brushes to paint him. The octopus dried during nap time, and was ready for a face and legs after snack!

I used a sharpie to help Jonah draw a face onto the octopus. Jonah only wanted to put eyes on him, because he didn't see a mouth in the picture of the octopus in his book. Then I let him use safety scissors to cut the bottom of the paper bag vertically up to the rubber band. This was a slow going process, but with patience and time, our octopus acquired legs!

What Do We See, Under the Sea?

The last couple of weeks, we have been exploring ocean life. I got thIe idea to do this "unit" because Jonah really had a lot of fun at a recent trip to the aquarium. He sat at each exhibit, wide eyed and taking in all of the colors and combination of shapes and textures, as I kept a very simple conversation with him about the names of the creatures and what he thought they were doing.

We started the theme by discussing what animals swim in the ocean. We had this conversation a couple of times: At breakfast, in the car while driving to speech therapy, while we were shopping and he was sitting in the grocery cart. I simply asked him "What do you think swims in the ocean?" He could come up with a pretty impressive list on his own- fish, seahorses, whales, sharks. Then I asked him about various specific animals "Do cows swim in the ocean??" or "Do jellyfish live in the ocean??" He thought this was a hilarious game!

Later in the week, we added to our conversation: "Where is the ocean?" We looked at a map and various pictures of coastal beaches, boats, and harbors. We talked about how we would get to the ocean if we wanted to go (plane, car), and looked at pictures of a vacation we took to the ocean.  We also talked about what to bring to the ocean/beach on a trip! If only it were possible to follow this particular lesson up with an actual trip to the ocean.

I wasn't sure how much Jonah would be interested in a whole lesson plan geared toward an Under the Sea theme, so I had originally planned for it to only last a week. He was so interested, and Eve was also having so much fun, that I extended it and we are just now wrapping it up after two and a half weeks! This might be something that we will visit again if we have time later in the year.

Reflections

Ten years ago, I was at Ft. Hood Texas. It was an absolutely beautiful day, I remember that with great clarity. But it felt odd, no one was outside, the streets were empty, there was a heavy silence in the air, even on the bus I rode to work which is normally buzzing with morning gossip. I went to work and had to open the music store alone because no one else had come in yet, which was also really odd. An hour after opening, my boss walked in the door with a small portable TV. He looked at me after I greeted him with a cheery "Good morning!" and said "Oh.. you don't know yet..." and put the TV in front of me right as the second tower fell.  "We're under attack. Someone attacked the Pentagon. And the twin towers, that's what you just watched." We're being attacked? What does that mean? We're under attack, I was really disoriented. I remember sitting down on a small step, and staying there most of the day. We had no customers, so that was just fine. My boss asked if I wanted to go home, I didn't want to, I didn't want to think about what it meant. My (now ex) husband was locked on base and me and my neighbor were locked off base away from our husbands. We bunkered down together in her apartment, ate dinner, and then came the hardest part of my day.

I had to face my second job. I was able to walk to the school, and with each step I thought about how I was going to talk to these children. What questions were they going to ask. Would I be able to answer them. I opened the door to the tutoring room where I had helped children with their homework before and after school. They needed a different kind of help today. I was greeted with tears. Children terrified that their military parents were in danger. Confused. Shaken by what to them seemed to be a very sudden and violent turn of events in their otherwise stable and routine lives. Although they were military children, the majority of them had lived at Ft. Hood or its surrounding areas for most of their memorable lives. All they had known was peace time.

And of course, the questions came. I handled them one by one and we got through them. Some of the questions were about changes in their personal lives, as children had learned that they would be very quickly going to stay with relatives, and they didn't know when or if they would be back. Some of the questions were about the individual people in the towers. What were they like, were they good people, why would someone kill them all if they were good people? Some of the questions were about what was happening on the base, the extra gaurds, the traffic, the security check points.

But to be honest, although it was hard to be open and blatantly honest (saying "I don't know" when I really didn't know,  or "that frightens me a little too" when I really was scared about something, for example) not only helped the children, but it helped me to wrap my head around the events I had seen fall into place. It helped me cope with the images we were seeing day after day in the weeks following, as the rescue mission on ground zero began to turn into a recovery mission. It helped me cope when, for days I had no word from my husband. The kids continued to ask, and I continued to answer. Little by little, we dealt with it. We dealt with the deployments. We dealt with the news that was trickling in. We dealt with the feelings of helplessness as we watched images flash across the television screen and the repercussions of those images trickle into our living rooms as we said goodbye to our loved ones each morning, not knowing if they would be coming home for dinner or sent somewhere untold.

I often think about those kids today. I wonder where they are at. For many of them, the weeks following September 11th were the last weeks we saw each other. I wonder how they continued to cope, I pray for them and their parents who I know were deployed to dangerous areas. Sometimes I wish that I could see them all just for a few minutes, just long enough to ask "Are you okay now?" and give them a hug. Those children are adults now, or the youngest of the group are very close to becoming adults.  I wonder how the experiences that we went through together have shaped their view of our country, of our world. I hope that they found compassion and strength, and learned to let go of the anger and fear.

Feel Your Boobies!

Yes, you read that title right. But you can go ahead and read it again if you're a little confused. In fact, read it over and over until the message sinks in. Feel your boobies!

Ladies, AND MEN, the best defense we have against breast cancer is early detection. A self breast exam takes only moments. You can do this when you take a shower, or before you go to bed; I promise that it won't impede on your schedule. You should examine your breasts every year, and according to the Susan G. Komen foundation, get a clinical screening every three years starting at age 20 and a mammogram every year starting at age 40. Feelyourboobies.com states that simply "feeling" your breasts, or using the pads of your fingers to press into the skin, examining the underarm and collarbone areas, may be just as effective as a formal self breast exam. The founder of Feelyourboobies.com detected a cancerous mass in just this way. Feeling her boobies saved her life.

So instead of wasting time trying to pretend that you are pregnant on Facebook, playing on everyone's sensitive emotions of joy, disappointment, and possibly even grieving, please take those few moments to feel your boobies. Then, tell someone you love to feel their boobies. If you have a teenage daughter, talk to her about the importance of self breast examination. I promise you, those few moments you take to do this will raise much more awareness about breast cancer detection than pretending that you are pregnant on online social media. (If you don't know what I am talking about, there was a game recently on facebook where women were pretending to be pregnant. The idea was, when anyone would ask about the post, the woman would say "Just kidding! Breast cancer awareness!" But most people never got that message, they simply had their feelings hurt. To add to the ineffectiveness, the message of just "This is for breast cancer awareness" doesn't really DO anything, now does it? We all know breast cancer exists, what we need to be aware of, is how to prevent it, and how to defend ourselves against it.)

And most importantly, if you feel something that concerns, tell your doctor. Don't feel silly or embarassed. March into that doctors office and say "I felt my boobies... and I'm concerned." If you don't tell your doctor what you've felt, then they may miss something important that could save your life!

This weekend, I will be running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k race at 8:00am on Saturday. I am challenging myself to make a personal record during the race. I am challenging YOU to feel your boobies, and to let someone you love know about the benefits of feeling their boobies too. Before I lace up my running shoes, I will be feeling my boobies!

I feel my boobies, do you?

For more information, please visit
feelyourboobies.com
and Susan G. Komen for the Cure (this page has instructions for formal self exams, and also what each thing that you may find means)