Proverbs from Produce

Thirteen years ago, I was graduating high school, discovering conditioner, and working as a waitress at the Pizza Hut down the street from my house.  Don't be too jealous.  One day, I waited on a couple and their sweet little boy.  The kid, like most kids his age, was really excited to show off all the random stuff he had hauled into the restaurant with him.  He pulled out a stack of 3-D Veggie Tales collectable message cards and read them to me slowly while his parents smiled apologetically.  When he finished, he held out one of his cards and said, "Here.  You can have this one."  I looked at his parents, not really sure if I should take it or not, but they didn't seem to care one way or the other so I thanked my tiny dark-haired customer and tucked the card into the center pocket of my little black apron.  The $2.00 his parents left me was most certainly gone by the end of the week, but that little Veggie Tales card has survived one cat, two kids, five jobs, six years of college, and like a dozen moves.  I don't keep it up on display or anything, but I always know where it is and I recite its message whenever I'm feeling particularly angry with someone: We need to forgive others because God always forgives us.

This little mantra works wonders.  I think I'm almost overly forgiving sometimes.  I guess it's better than walking around stewing in a venomous hatred, right?  I'm a pretty happy person.

Recent events have caused me to call on the Guidance of the Gourds increasingly frequently, however. I'm not going to publicly bash the person who is causing me all of this grief, and I'm not going to elaborate on the details...mostly because I'm not a sixteen-year-old girl, and partially because I can't allow myself to be too wicked...but I *will* rant a little about how much it sucks to be called on to forgive the same person for the same poor decisions week after week, month after month, year after year.

What I really want to know is where to draw the line between being forgiving and blatant idiocy.  Do you continue to forgive a person for repeat transgressions, or does there come a time when you can say "enough is enough"?  In my opinion, being forgiven all the time for the same thing isn't much motivation to modify a person's behavior.  No long-term repercussions?  No serious consequences?  No lessons learned whatsoever.

Sometimes it seems like "forgiving" becomes synonymous "enabling".  When I see these cyclic trends developing, I often think I should stop relying on vegetables for advice and rely a little more on my own intuition.  How many forgiving victims of domestic violence go crawling back to the person who abuses them?  How many trashy, ungrateful pricks take advantage of the forgiving, hard-working person who lends them money time and time again without ever being paid back?  How many forgiving people are hurt emotionally, physically, and financially every day by those who they have forgiven a few too many times?  Do they ever recoup their losses?  Do they ever rid themselves of the disease?

I'd like to think there's a middle ground.  I'd like to think you can forgive someone for their bad choices without forgetting the ways that those choices personally affected you.  I know they say "forgive and forget" but I think that if we remembered a little bit more, we could learn from the past and ensure that if it repeats itself, we can mitigate our damages.  I have two amazing kids to look out for.  They have stability in the life that I've worked so hard to give them, and I never want to sacrifice that just to be the good guy - I think all I'm really being is an accommodating pushover.

It's easy to remember all the ways I've been screwed and taken advantage of.  It's equally easy for me to take action so that it doesn't happen again.  It's that darn forgiveness that's hard to dole out, especially when it seems so undeserved!  Thanks to that darling little kid in the booth at A3 though, I have a Veggie Tales 3-D Pass It On Message Card (#2) - something so simple and so true that reminds me who I am and the kind of person I want my children to be.

Buying My First Home: A Rhyming Tribute to the Strife Thus Far

I worked really hard and my salary grew

I thought to myself, "I should buy something new!"

I like shooting skeet and I wanted a gun

But I learned they quit making my favorite one.

I said to myself, "Hey, I'm 30 years old,

And my job is secure, from the things I've been told.

I'm planning to stay here; I don't want to roam.

It might be a good time to buy my first home!"

I searched for three days and I found one online.

When I saw it, I knew that it had to be mine.

Sprinklers and hardwood, a fireplace too,

A fenced-in backyard with green grass and a view.

Stainless appliances, natural light

A beautiful back splash - it all felt so right!

Music room, storage, alarm on the door,

Playroom and game closet, accents galore!

It fit in my budget and met all my needs

I figured that now was the time to proceed.

When sellers aren't selling, the list prices dive

And it's crazy that rates are, like, three point two five!

I ran to the bank and said, "Give me a loan!"

"I want to purchase a home of my own!"

The lender said, "What do you make? Any debt?

You'll get pre-approved, I'd be willing to bet.

Financing's tricky, but I'll help you through.

We'll figure out which kind will be best for you.

Five percent down for conventional loans

And the money for that, well, it must be your own.

Three-and-a-half if you go FHA

With that, there are options; pay one of two ways:

A gift from your family or pay it yourself

Whichever you choose will require some wealth."

I called up my family, but too soon I found

That none of them had 4 Gs lying around.

Disheartened, I thought that my new dream was dead

But a brilliant idea popped into my head.

If somebody else wrote a check to my dad

He could gift it to me and I'd quit being sad.

I'd pay back the money as quick as I could

And I'd get my house and my life would be good.

I humbled myself and I asked for the loan,

Wishing I had some more saved on my own.

Since Miah is moving here soon, his dad said

That he'd just "gift" him the four thousand instead.

We were happy with this and excited to move

But the lender just said, "Well, you won't get approved.

You have the down payment to do FHA

But your mortgage insurance is too much to pay."

He said, "You could get a conventional loan,

But you have to come up with the cash on your own.

Since neither of these seems to work, guess you're stuck."

I said, "I will find a way." He said, "Good luck."

Matt's friends Josh and Lisa's home lender was great.

She got them a loan with a really good rate.

I went to her office but she wasn't there.

(This process is stressful and making me swear!)

When she phoned me back, it was love at first call.

She told me that I shouldn't worry at all.

"A USDA loan is what we will do.

You get a low interest rate; zero down, too!"

I emailed the realtor, filled with good cheer

She replied, "USDA is broke for the year."

Bummed and dejected and sad once again

I'd just have to wait for the weekend to end.

Monday came slowly and bad turned to worse

Post Falls isn't "rural" from October first.

Since it *was* the first and the USDA loan

Only works in a place where "rural" is home,

My dreams had been crushed once again 'til the call:

Deb said that there's plenty of money for all

And that rural deadline was moved to the Spring

So I shouldn't worry about anything.

But come Monday night, a *new* pain in my neck:

I can't get approved all because of my check!

My company gave me a check with my raise

A little too early - a whole thirty days!

It was too late to fix it this month, so they said

They would pay me my old rate the next month instead.

I guess to the lenders, this looks kind of odd

They throw around bad terms like "fishy" and "fraud."

I went to my manager, begged on my knees,

"Wait 'til November to 'fix' this mess, please?!

Give me my big check in October, too

So my home loan will *finally* be pre-approved!"

My manager smiled and said, "Ain't no thang."

(Well, sort of like that, but without all the slang.)

My lender was happy with all that I did

So she told my realtor, "Put in that bid!"

I met up with Pam to initial and sign

(I can't wait for this house to finally be mine!)

The offer is ten thousand under list price

If they'd just accept it, that sure would be nice.

They'll probably counter or tell me, "Heck no!"

'Cause I'm not sure how low they're willing to go.

We also want closing costs paid, plus some more

To put in new carpet - no more "dog smell" floor!

They have to decide by tomorrow at five.

Until then, I just don't know how I'll survive!

I'll try to stay busy and fill up my time

(Which is mostly the reason you got this sweet rhyme).

The stress and the drama, the ups and the downs

The butteflies, sleepless nights, smiles, and frowns

The pit in my stomach, the effort, the time

Will surely be worth it when that place is mine...

...right?  Because I seriously don't know how many more times I can survive the good news/bad news cycle...

Spokane to Sandpoint Relay: Team ALK 2012

We were twelve coworkers on a mission:

Run from the top of Mt. Spokane to Trinity at City Beach in Sandpoint, Idaho.

We trained hard.  We sweated a lot.  We held meetings, gathered supplies, rented SUVs, and hydrated like no one's business.  We were excited.  We were ready to have some fun.  We were...

Team ALK

Back-to-Front, Left-to-Right:

Support Volunteers Trena and Liz, Mike, Me, Courtney, Tim, Thomas, Ginger, Brent, Jacob, Pam, Andy M., Andy L., and Heather.

Day 1:

We got to Mt. Spokane just before our start time of 09:00.  We had some time before the line-up, so Ginger got to work decorating our vehicles while Brent stretched out and got ready to start us off.  Leg 1 was the Wild Wig Contest, so Brent threw on a wig and showed his team spirit.

Brent (in his wig) getting ready for Leg 1.

Van 2 had illustrations.

"Team ALK"
"It's NOT Sweat, It's Liquid AWESOME"

"Unless you faint, puke, or die...KEEP MOVING"

When the race officials started calling off the team names (we were referred to as "Alk" Abello instead of "A.L.K." Abello, but we sort of had to make our peace with that) and announcing the runners, we headed to the big arch for our grand appearance and a few pictures.

They had like 10-15 teams start at the same time, so Brent and the other first runners lined up...

...and they were off!

Since I was Runner 8, I climbed into Van 2 with my colleagues (Runners 7-12) and we took off to go eat and relax until our race legs started.  (Only one van at a time per team is allowed to be along the race route and parked at the checkpoints, so Van 2 needed to stay out of the way until Leg 7.) We did stop for a minute along Leg 1 to cheer on Brent since he was our first runner though.  :)

Our team was asked to be a "Water Amabassador", so we were given a spray tank full of water and hosed down as many overheated runners along the route as we could.

Spraying our runner!

Andy L. showing off our ALK jerseys

At the beginning of Leg 2, we gave a shout out to Jacob.  He wasn't very interested in conversation though - he was focused on a steady pace.

Go Jacob!

"Van 2" was a really fun group.  We had Mike, me, Courtney, Tim, Thomas, and Ginger.

* Fun Race Moment *

 As we leave the pull-out where we stopped to cheer on Brent and hose him down with water, our driver, Ginger, eases out onto the road and we start driving down Mt. Spokane.  It's a fairly twisty road, and she appears to be having a hard time turning the steering wheel.  She really starts cranking the thing, and as we pick up a little speed, she's also having difficulty depressing the brake pedal.  Tim tries to tell her how to down-shift, but then he stops and says, "Is the van even running?!"

It was not.

Ginger started the engine, and the steering and braking got infinitely easier from there on out.

 So what did Van 2 do while waiting for Van 1 runners to finish?  We ate some Jimmy Johns and then hung out at the fish hatchery.  I don't know why.  I think Tim knew the guy in charge there or something.  At any rate, we lounged around in the shade, looked at the fish, and tried to psych ourselves up for running in 96-degree weather.  The fish hatchery was a good place to wait since it was right along the route of Leg 6, the last leg run by our teammates in Van 1.  We could wait there until we saw Heather pass and then drive up ahead of them to the checkpoint for the hand-off.








Sadly, not all of our teammates were feeling their best - the Pepto was passed to help battle gluten intolerance and Parvo.

Cooling off in the river near the hatchery.

We saw Heather coming and ran out to spray her.  Leg 6 was the Brightest Running Outfit contest leg, so Heather and the other runners were decked out in neon.  When we met up with our Van 1 teammates, we found out that the heat had nearly taken out one of our earlier runners, and that Heather had rolled her ankle.  She kept right on running though - she's one tough chick!

Go Heather!!

We drove up to the checkpoint, but we had to go back and give Heather an ankle brace so that she could continue her leg.  When she came running in, Mike was ready!  Leg 7 was the Fleet Feet Time Trial contest leg, so he was prepared to run like the wind!

 I was getting pretty nervous by the time Mike started...that meant I was next up!  We drove to the beginning of my first leg.  I was so afraid.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to run the whole 3.66 miles without walking part of it.  I was afraid that I'd faint or throw up from the nerves and the heat.  I was afraid I'd take the wrong path and go way off course.  I was seriously panicked.  I quadruple-checked my race route.  I planned to run with just a bottle of water in my hand, but the others convinced me to try Mike's extra water belt.  It was just a Velcro belt that held four little refillable bottles.  I loaded two with Gatorade and two with water.  I didn't think the bottles looked very secure in the belt, so I jumped all around to see if they'd fall out.  They stayed.

I'm *so* ready for this!  Oh man...maybe not.

Mike came running in.  I was stretched out.  I was ready to go.  He slapped the bracelet on my wrist and I took off.  Five steps later, all of my bottles had fallen into the dust at my feet.  I ripped off the belt, grabbed the two that were closest to me, yelled for someone to pick up the others, and ran.

**Side Note**

Alright, so I know a lot of people run with GPS watches and whatnot to track their mileage and pace, but I've decided this is a terrible idea.  Well, for me anyway.  Thomas strapped a GPS watch on me at the start of my first leg, and I thought it would be really cool to know exactly how far I'd gone and whether or not my pace was constant.  Two things: One, you have to remember to start the thing if it's going to do you any good, and Two, if you check it every 50 strides or so, all it does is remind you that you've barely moved and you still have a horribly long way to go.  Not cool.

Anyway, it was a little cumbersome carrying two bottles, but I managed, and I had fortunately grabbed both of the waters.  My run started out very nice.  It was on an asphalt road in the state park, there were lots of trees for shade, and my pace was where I thought it would be.  Things turned fairly quickly.  Something very big jumped out of a tree about five feet to the right of me and I flipped out.  All I could hear was the thud, the crashing brush, and then silence.  In my head, I was going to be stalked and attacked by a cougar during this leg.  I still have no clue what it was, but it was no falling pinecone, that's for sure.  Also, the course was *much* steeper than it had appeared on paper.  I found myself going uphill a lot more than I wanted to.  The trees disappeared about a mile into the leg, too.  I was running in the very hot sun.  I honestly thought I might vomit, or cry, or both.  I was angry at myself when I finally succumbed to walking for a stretch.

When I merged onto the dirt trail that would take me to the Bowl and Pitcher bridge, I was disheartened to see how rocky and sloped it was.  I was sure I was going to roll my ankle like Heather, but unlike her, I didn't see myself toughing it out.  I had to place my feet carefully.  I was running again, but my pace was pretty slow.  I found a lovely shady stretch and decided to walk that to regain my balance, slow my heart rate, and recover from the dizziness that hit me in the sun.  Right after I started walking, two runners came up behind me.  I didn't want to let them pass me, but I couldn't find the energy to throw myself back into a run.  The man said, "It sure didn't look like this much of a climb on paper, did it?"  I wanted to respond but all I could do was smile and nod.

As soon as they overtook me, I saw Ginger and Tim waiting with the sprayer up ahead of me.  According to the GPS watch, I had at least a half mile to go, but they were there, cheering me on and convincing me that the end was just around the corner.  I kicked it in gear somehow, passed off my empty water container, and ran for the bridge.  It was a little farther than "around the corner", but I made it...only to discover awkwardly deep stairs leading down to the bridge. My knees have been tolerating this running thing pretty well, but those stairs nearly killed me.  I couldn't just run them with single steps either - they were like a stride-and-a-half long, so I kind of just had to walk/gallop down them with everyone watching me from the other side of the bridge.  I ran across, passed Courtney the bracelet, and nearly collapsed.  I saw Miah and Kaden and Khloe there, cheering as I ran in.  I wanted to go to them, but when Thomas suggested that I run down to the river to cool off, I knew that was the smart thing to do.  He helped me down to the water and I sat there until I was almost numb.  Finally, I mustered the strength to stand, hugged Miah and the kids, and then rendezvoused with the rest of my team.  We had to get going to support Courtney, so I said my goodbyes and climbed into the van.

My average pace on Leg 8: 13-minute miles  <-- That sucks.

Yeah, Courtney!

Courtney's leg was mostly uphill.  We hung around near him off and on to spray him down and give him water, but he seemed totally in control.  He ended on Doomsday Hill, where he admitted having to walk for a bit (which made me feel a little better, even though his leg was infinitely more difficult than mine had been), but he made great time.

Tim was up next.  His leg was the Awesome Costume contest leg.  He had purchased a Zorro costume, but the 96-degree day sort of dampened his spirit and he chose not to run in it.  Probably a very smart decision.  He put on the mask and posed for a picture though, and the whip hung around the rearview mirror of our van for the remainder of the trip.  Ginger and I took turns running around in the cape for a while, too.

Thomas and Tim, a.k.a. Zorro

Ginger wanted to start preparing for her contest leg, so Mike and I helped her with some tattoos.  We quit because they were all just going to sweat off before she even made it to her leg.  More to come on this later.

At the exchange, Tim ran in and handed off to Thomas - Tim made much better time than he would've with the costume on.

The spray-down after running a leg in that heat was so refreshing!
I'm glad we were "Water Ambassadors" so that the sprayer was always with us!

 Ginger finished getting ready for the Tattoo and Mustache contest leg while Thomas was battling the heat on his run.  We were parked at the exchange since he was running a trail and we couldn't get to him from the road.  Mike heroically jumped on the bike and went to bring him water though - we didn't dare make him go the rest of that stretch without any!

Sadly, many of the tattoos had disappeared by this time.

The hand-off...I'm glad we used a slap bracelet and not a baton.

Ginger was the last runner from our van - Van 1 was going to be up again soon and maybe we'd get some time to sleep!

A few of us walked down the path to cheer her on and bring her in to the exchange where Brent was waiting.  This was the checkpoint with our ALK Volunteers, Liz and Trena.  Thanks, Ladies!  Lexi was waiting there with them, too!

 Mike's wife, Marcy, was ready and waiting for us when our van finished up the first legs.  She made a great dinner and opened her home to a bunch of sweaty, exhausted runners.  We all got rejuvenating showers, a delicious meal, and some much-needed down-time.  I'm not sure any of us slept, but Courtney and I were productive nonetheless.

** Backstory **

I ordered a bunch of really fun LED stuff for my night run (a contest leg) from RaveReady.com.  I found out they are not a very good company to do business with, and none of my stuff arrived in time to actually be useful.  Thankfully, I ordered the Dreadlights from a different company.  It was the one thing I had.  I borrowed LED shoelaces from the kids, but it wasn't enough.  The night before the race, I had to run to the mall and scour Hot Topic and Spencer's for anything glowing and wearable.  The best I could get was a case of 100 glow bracelets with random connectors.  I decided my costume was doomed to suck.

Anyway, Courtney and I stood out on Mike's patio and fashioned a crazy outfit from the glow bracelets.  It was actually pretty awesome.

Day 2:

I'm going to call this the start of Day 2...I'm pretty sure we left Mike's just before midnight.

When Van 1 was almost finished, we drove down to McEuen park in Coeur d'Alene to wait for Heather.  Again, there was bad news from Van 1 - there had been one instance of vomiting, and one runner fell and cut her hand pretty badly.  Everyone was still in pretty good spirits though - go team!

While Mike was on his run, Courtney helped me get back into the outfit we had constructed.  We cracked the rest of the glow bracelets, pulled out the connectors, and just started fashioning things until we ran out of supplies.  I checked in with the race officials for the Best Light Show contest leg. They loved me.  :)

 When Mike tagged me in, I took off at a pretty quick pace (for me, anyway).  Tim caught up to me on the bike (we were allowed to have bike shadowers at night when we were running on trails away from the road and van support) and told me that I was keeping a pretty quick pace.  I told him I couldn't guarantee it for the whole run, but I found out that I love night running and the cool air made things easy.  I ran much faster than I had on my previous leg.

It was also really nice to get to spend that time chatting with Tim.  He's the manager of our entire facility, and a VP in the company.  Of course, his job keeps him very busy and very hidden-away at work, so it was cool to get to know him a little better and have some one-on-one conversation.

When I came running in, Courtney took off with Mike shadowing him on the bike.  While I stretched out, my cheering squad arrived - Matt, Karen, Jeff, and Sophia had come to support me!  Karen made the coolest sign ever:

Karen, you ROCK!

My average pace on Leg 20: 10.6-minute miles  <--- Much more respectable.

By the wee hours of the morning, my brain was a little mushy from sleep deprivation.  I know that when Courtney finished his leg, we both tried to get some sleep in the van, but it didn't work out well for me.  It was hard to get Thomas up and going for his leg.  The sky was clear and beautiful that night, and the stars were shining really brightly.  It was very pretty.  Thomas and Tim finished, and we questioned whether Ginger was going to be able to do her leg since she was ill, but she mustered the strength and did the entire thing.  It was a very impressive turn-around.  I think night running is therapeutic.  We stopped at Athol Elementary for the night, where we were told we could sleep in the gym.  There were cots and air mattresses set up, so I fell right asleep at about 05:20.  I was roused at about 05:50 because we were told we had to vacate the gym by 06:00.  Maybe they could've mentioned that *before* we went in.  I stumbled outside to see some of my van-mates asleep under a tree.  I didn't have a sleeping bag so I crawled into the back seat of the van and crashed.  At some point, we had to wake up and drive down the road to a high school, where Van 1 would end and we would begin our final legs.  (We were a little irked to find people still sleeping peacefully in *that* gym...if we would've just driven there earlier, we would've still been curled up, sleeping soundly...)

We weren't looking forward to running in the heat of the day again, and then out of nowhere, a woman in the van next to us told us that "leap-frogging" was now an option.  We were allowed to let our first runner start the leg, then we could go drop off the second runner and let him/her start the leg, so that two runners would be on the road at the same time, just in different places.  If we recorded start/finish times, the race officials could still calculate our total run time for the relay, but it would keep people from running during the hottest part of the day and hopefully prevent more heatstroke (several people had already received treatment for heat-related illness, and the ambulance had come and picked up at least two).  In exchange for this luxury, we had to forfeit any shot at a division title, but we knew we weren't winning our division anyway at that point, so we leap-frogged the rest of the way to the finish line.

We all struggled a little bit on our last legs, I think.  Mine started out on a big uphill climb and didn't get much better from there.  I had to walk about ten steps toward the top of that first huge hill, but I ran the rest of the 3.5 miles.  That same Good Charlotte song (The Anthem) that helped me to push through on the treadmill a couple weeks ago came on my iPod just after I cleared the first hill.  It had the right tempo and it got me psyched up.  I repeated that same song for over three miles and it kept me going strong, even with all the hills.  I employed Thomas's anti-fatigue tricks, avoided all of the speeding, oncoming traffic, and ran into the checkpoint tired but strong.  My knee started swelling after that one, but I was done and I didn't care.








My average pace on Leg 32: 11.something-minute miles











We finished our legs, caught up with Ginger at the finish line, and all ran across together.  It was so amazing.  We did it!  We ran 185 miles in 28 hours, 24 minutes, and 31 seconds.  Of course, we forfeited any Division standings by leap-frogging, but had we not, we would've been second in the Corporate Teams Division (out of five).  We were 39th out of 70 teams.

Waiting for our shirts and medals

Everyone put on their finisher's shirts and medals at the finish line - it got really hard to pick out your own teammates!  Everyone looked very similar - red shirt, huge smile, overall look of triumph and satisfaction.

Red shirts everywhere!

We ran down to the beach for a cool-down in the lake, and then headed out as a team to get shakes and burgers before driving back home.

The cool-down

S2S is over now.  I'm so glad I got to be a part of it - the sense of personal accomplishment and the camaraderie gained with my coworkers is priceless.  I saw people at their worst and teamwork at its best.  This relay was so much work, but the payoff was incredible, and I'm totally going to sign up again next year.

Oh!  I was one of the four Best Light Show contest winners, too!  Heck yeah!

Ready to Run

"Lindsey doesn't run."

That's probably the only phrase I've ever uttered in which I refer to myself in the third person.  I'm not sure when it originated, and I'm not sure why it always comes out as if I'm talking about someone other than myself, but it's a fact.  Or at least it was...

Some forgotten number of months ago, I heard that my company was going to sponsor a team for the Spokane to Sandpoint Relay.  Twelve runners, three legs each, 185 miles.  Volunteers?

I think my thought process was something like: "Yeeeeeeah, no.  Hope you can find twelve crazy people to run to Sandpoint, ALK, but I'm certainly not going to be one of them.  Have fun."

It was apparently very easy to find those twelve people, and they began training at once.  I pretended it didn't exist and went on working as though nothing was different.  There was some buzz from time to time, but I didn't hear much about it after the initial email.

Two weeks ago, there was another email.

"Spokane to Sandpoint Relay *Needed Runner*"

Greetings fellow colleagues! As you know, ALK is sponsoring a team for the 2012 Spokane To Sandpoint Relay on August 17-18.  We have a last minute opening on our team and I am opening the position up to anyone that is interested. This position is a total of only 9.99 miles. It breaks down into three runs: 3.66miles, 2.83 miles, and 3.5miles. I need a 100% commitment as we are getting down to the wire. For everyone who may be interested, please let me know by the end of the day on Tuesday the 31st If you have ANY questions about ANYTHING, please ask me!! Ginger

My former self would have scoffed at this again and deleted the email, but then again, my former self wasn't turning 30 in a month.  I was suddenly stricken with the urge to participate.  Some crazy-ass voice deep inside was screaming at me.  Prepare for inner monologue:

"Lindsey!  You should run!  It's fate!"

"How is this 'fate'?"

"Um, how 'bout the race could have been scheduled on the 18th and 19th (Saturday and Sunday), making it so you couldn't participate because you're leaving for Vegas on Sunday, but it wasn't.  It is scheduled for the 17th and 18th - Friday and Saturday."

"So?  I don't run."

"Maybe you should run."

"Maybe I should."

"These three legs are short (in comparison to everyone else's).  They're mostly flat."

"..."

"Wouldn't it be nice to know you participated in something you never thought you'd do in a million years...before you turn 30?"

"Maybe.  Yes.  Yeah!  I could totally freaking run to Sandpoint the day before I turn 30!"

"Yeah!  You could!"

"Wait...I only have three weeks to train."

"Three weeks is plenty of time."

"I've never run before in my life.  As a matter of fact, I have spent a great portion of my existence avoiding that very activity."

"That was the old You.  Look how much you've accomplished this past year.  This is *your* year.  This is the new You."

"And I'm running to Sandpoint."

Okay, so it wasn't *exactly* like that, but it was very similar.  I walked two cubicles over to Courtney's desk.  I never took Courtney for a runner.  Hipster, fellow science geek, and bookworm, maybe, but not a runner.  Apparently he does run though, and I knew he was in the relay.  I told him about my sudden aspiration to become a member of Team ALK.

He shrugged and said, "Anyone can run three miles."

I looked at him skeptically and reiterated the fact that I have never run before, ever.

"Okay, it's Friday.  Ginger is giving everyone until Tuesday to get back to her.  Go run this weekend and see if you think you can do it."

Courtney is so wise.

By some stroke of luck, I do own running shoes.  I took the kids to the pool at Mom and Tim's on Saturday (Race = 20 days away).  I had delusions of grandeur, and thought I'd run the whole road before heading home that evening while Mom watched the kids.  Then I pulled myself back into the Realm of All Things Possible and decided that the railroad tracks were really a more reasonable goal.

I did it.  I ran to the tracks and back, then to the short end of the road and back to the driveway.  I didn't die.  I *did* cramp up like no one's business though.  My inner thighs where my hips and pelvis meet were killing me.  I stretched and drank water and vowed to do both of those things in greater quantity *before* I run next time - if there would even *be* a "next time".

I was kind of fired up though.  I already felt like the spot on the team was mine, and I wanted to prove to myself that I am capable of this.  This personal goal that I didn't even have two days ago was sort of consuming my every thought.  Maybe it sounds lame to those of you who run on a regular basis, but even this ridiculous jog of 3/4 of a mile (train tracks-to-end of road loop) was a huge personal achievement.  Think of how awesome I'd feel about myself if I could finish all three legs in the relay!

The next night, I went to my dad's house to visit with him and Dorothy for a while.  I told them about this psycho adventure I was determined to pursue, and Dorothy mentioned that it was a mile from the driveway, around the block, and back again.  My running stuff was with me for some reason.  I took off, and after pushing past the first (horrifying) half mile, I was good to go.  I did the loop, had a good cool-down, and didn't cramp up.

Monday morning, I emailed Ginger and told her I was in.  She had two other people email her, but both said they would participate if no one else would.  I was the only one who said I wanted to do it.  I hopped on the treadmill (We have a fitness center at work now.  It's okay to be a little jealous.) and ran after work - I think just over a mile.  Tuesday I waited to see if I got the spot or not.  I did.  (If I hadn't, wouldn't this have been the worst blog post ever?)

I ran Tuesday (Race = 17 days away) and Wednesday (Race = 16 days away).  I ran Thursday (Race = 15 days away).  My muscles were angry at me, and I knew I needed to rest them so they could rebuild, but the race was so close and I wasn't even up to two miles!  Friday, I took the day off and went to Art on the Green/Street Fair/Taste of Coeur d'Alene with my mom, grandma, and sister.  We walked about eight miles that day (in flip-flops), so I don't know how much of a rest my legs got, but it was fun.  Saturday I ran the road at my mom's while Kami and Mom rode the bikes, pulling the kiddos in the bike trailer.  I finished the two miles.  It was rough, but fulfilling.

Sunday (Race = 12 days away) I debated on whether or not to run and decided to go for it.  Beginning Runner's Tip: After a week of pushing yourself a little too far physically, don't drink two Mike's Hard Lemonades on an 80-degree evening and expect to zip out two miles like the previous day.  I made it 3/4 of a mile and threw in the towel.

Monday my left knee (the one I had surgery on in '06) got pretty swollen and achy.  I elevated it and took an anti-inflammatory, and I tried to massage it when I wasn't too busy.  By the end of the day it had gone down, so I ran on the treadmill after work.  Steven P. started using the fitness room after work, too, so he's sort of become my workout buddy.  He cruises on the elliptical and yells inspirational (sometimes super corny) things at me to keep me going when I want to give up.  It helps.  Wednesday, I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill, and tonight (Race = 7 days away), I went 3.76 miles!!  I had set my goal at three, but Good Charlotte was playing and boosting my energy, and somehow I blew right by three miles.  When I hit 3.76, I decided I could make it to 4 if I slowed down just a little bit.  I reached up to adjust the speed and whacked the emergency stop cord out of the slot.  Dead stop.  I know I would have made it to four though.  Darn safety features.

We are now one week away from the relay though, and I have officially run further than my longest leg in the race.  I can *so* do this.

So the race is from Spokane to Sandpoint.  There is a maximum of 12 runners allowed on a team, and each runner does three legs (Runner 1 would do Legs 1, 13, and 25).  We run from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon, even through the night.  There are two vans and if your van isn't the active van, you can pull off at one of the interchanges and try to sleep for a while, but I've read that you don't get much rest at all.

There are random "Contest" legs with different themes and prizes.  There is a "Wild Wig" contest leg, a "Costume" contest leg, a "Time Trial" contest leg, a "Brightest Runner" contest leg, a "Tattoo and Mustache" contest leg, and a "Best Light Show" contest leg.  "Wild Wig" (Brent) and "Costume" (Tim) are pretty self-explanatory.  The winners get an S2S canteen and an S2S apparel item, respectively.  The "Time Trial" leg (Mike) is a speed challenge - if you have the best time for that leg, you win a pair of running shoes and they name the leg after you.  "Brightest Runner" (Heather) has to wear super-bright neon colors and the winner gets a Road Noise running vest with built-in speakers.  "Tattoo and Mustache" (Ginger) is also pretty self-explanatory, and the winner gets an S2S canteen.  

The "Best Light Show" contest is MINE.  It's at night, so you have to deck yourself out in lights for your run.  I have ordered an LED Fairy Lights tutu, spiky LED wrist cuffs, LED shoelaces, and some El Wire (which is like 7 feet of LED wire you can use to wrap around you, sew into your clothes, outline fairy wings, etc.).  Sadly, the tutu is on backorder and I have to call them Monday to see if I will be getting that or a "suitable replacement".  I also have to hope I receive my whole order by race time, or my light show won't be very grand at all.  However, I also ordered Dreadlights, and they were shipped from a different company.  At the very least, I have them.  They're dreadlocks, attached to a headband with streamers.  They have LED lights inside of them and they're awesome.  I had a little trouble getting the headband to stay on, and I was saddened by the thought of it bouncing off my head after I jogged a few steps, but I quickly devised a solution to attach them using my own hair.

Dreadlights!

Anyway, I'm really excited about this.  I think it's going to be a really great way to bond with some of my coworkers that I don't get to interact with very much, and I know it's going to be a lot of fun.  I'm sure that it's going to be a lot of work for me, but I know I'll have a huge sense of personal accomplishment when it's over.  This will be referenced at ALK for years to come, and I'm so fortunate that I get to be a part of it.  Oh, and I get a medal and a shirt for finishing, in addition to the Team ALK jerseys that were made up.  I have my eyes set on a Gryffindor-colored (and more practical) shirt though - they're selling merchandise at the start and finish.  I was going to add a picture of it, but I just went to the website and it's not on there anymore.  That makes me a little sad.  Oh well.  Maybe they'll still sell it at the finish line.

If you want to check out the relay, go to spokanetosandpoint.com.  At any rate, wish me luck, and hope I don't bring shame upon my team by being the absolute slowest runner in the whole thing.  I think there are like 75 teams though, so there's gotta be someone slower on one of them, right?  Just say, "Right."  Go Team ALK!

So Tired...

"For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight hours of sleep and eight hours of work." - Doug Larson

And how true that is.

I don't even get my eight hours of sleep.  Instead, I stay up doing unimportant things like blogging to keep my sanity and sense of self...

I thought it might be time for an update.  The kids do awesome things every day, my job is still amazing, and life is going pretty smoothly.  I could stop there, but I'll elaborate.  :)

The Kids:

Today, Kaden was pushing around his bubble mower (without bubbles) in the living room.  The mower makes an actual mowing sound, which wouldn't be so bad except that Kaden got a crayon stuck in there over a year ago and it somehow amplifies the noise to an annoying level.  Sometimes, the crayon lodges in the gears and the wheels quit rotating abruptly, as was the case today.  Kaden started whining and getting very worked up.

I said, "Kaden, what's the matter?  Why are you whining?"

He said, very seriously, "My mower's bein' difficult!"

This wouldn't have shocked me so much if he were four or five years old, but he's two and a half.  It thrilled me that he was using a three-syllable adjective correctly in a sentence.  Oh, and later he said, "Khloe injured me!" instead of "Khloe hurt me!"  Either his daycare classes place a huge emphasis on language or my Brobdingnagian vocabulary is rubbing off on him.

Khloe is walking all over the place finally.  She loves her new motor skill.  She also loves bracelets and shoes.  I've never been much of a girly girl, so I'm assuming she gets this from her Aunt Kami somehow.  One evening, we were shopping in Toys 'R' Us.  Khloe was super tired and throwing a fit - until we walked by the baby girl shoes, that is.  She stopped screaming instantly and started cooing and pointing at the shoes.  At home, she sits down as soon as she sees me pick up her shoes in the morning. She smiles and sticks out her little foot, and it's adorable.  When we get home in the evening, she spends a lot of time bringing me various shoes, thrusting them into my hands, and sitting down so I can switch them out for the ones on her feet.  Also, anything that can be used as a bracelet goes on her wrist.  She holds it out proudly and admires it, turning her hand back and forth with her arm outstretched.

Kaden is (mostly) potty-trained.  We still have accidents in the Pull-Ups, but he's very good about going to the bathroom.  He went through a "monsters in the bedroom" period where he refused to sleep in his bed, but the promise of a swing set had him sleeping alone and using the toilet in less than a month.  They both love the swing set.  I love it too.  :)

Kaden got his first haircut and he looks so much older!!  He's such a little man now. 

On TV and in movies, kids always get their first haircuts in some cute, kid-specific place where they sit in rocket ships or something, and that's always how I envisioned Kaden's first haircut.  I took him to Kid's Zoo on Seltice because, even though I'd never been inside, I had a feeling it would suffice.  It was everything I wanted.  He got to sit on a wooden lion and watch 101 Dalmations.  He was very well-behaved and it turned out wonderfully.  Except it cost $17 plus tip...not sure all of his haircuts will be there, but it was perfect for the first one.

Job:

You know how sometimes a job seems awesome at first but then once you've worked there a while, you hate going and everything is sucky and political and monotonous?  My job is nothing like that.  I loved it on the first day and I love it now, six months later.  Sure, there are some tough days, but I never wake up and think, "I wish I didn't have to work today..."

Ragweed pollen

For those of you who only read my blog when I remember to update it and have no idea what I do, I'll try to fill you in.  When I got hired, I was under the impression that I'd be working on the dust mite side of things, but it turns out that I work in pollens.  I've been told that they both wanted me and pollen won.  I like to imagine the project coordinators fighting over me, but it probably didn't happen as dramatically as I envision it.  Anyway, I was kind of disappointed when I found out I wouldn't get to work with the mites, but I realized very quickly that pollen is the place for me and I'm super glad it worked out this way.  Pollen is way more interesting than I thought it would be, and it's given me the opportunity to branch out and try my hand at a lot of different things.  I've written reports, SOPs, batch records, and study plans.  I help plan and execute studies to refine and upscale our processes, and I've worked my way into the analytical lab so that I can run extractions and test turbidity on the material from those studies on my own.  I work with a great group of people - some are even as nerdy as me.  I cleaned and organized my lab, then girlified it a little with pretty pink macropipettes and lab tape.  Oh, and I just found out that my supervisor has been working to get me promoted even though they don't usually do that in the middle of a year.  Apparently I'm useful.  :)

Life:

The kids and I are doing pretty well.  Thanks to our amazing family, we're getting back on track after a rocky 2011.  We wouldn't be as well off as we are without you all!  I bought a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee - it's going to take me a long time to say I "love" another vehicle (oh, Chev...), but I like the Jeep a lot.

Miah and I are a couple now, but he's still living in Florida and I'm still living here, so I guess there isn't much of an update there at the moment.  :/

I'm turning 30 in August...I'm still not sure if that bothers me or not, but I decided that my birthday was so crappy last year that I was going to make up for it this time.  I'm going to Vegas!!  Or at least, I'm trying to.  So far it's just me and Miah, but we'll see if that list expands or not.  I love my babies, but I sure could use a vacation for a few days!

Okay, it's bed time.  In six hours, Khloe will be bouncing up and down in the crib, talking to her Violet puppy and waiting for me to pick her up.  It's a good thing she's so darn adorable and perky in the morning or I'd have a hard time rolling out of bed before 7:00!