Finish What You Start

Yesterday was a beautiful day. A perfect day for a marathon. Mom and I left for Akron at 5am and made one short stop before arriving at our final destination. Upon arrival in Akron we found the exit that we were to take was closed. Uh oh. So we continued on and got off at the next exit. Since we knew the race started near the University of Akron we followed the signs and surprisingly found it within minutes. In addition, free parking was easy to acquire. We got out of the car, got organized, walked out of the parking garage and were at the start of the race. Our arrival couldn't have been more perfect. As the National Athem was being sung we searched the corrals for Erika, with no luck. But considering it was still dark outside that wasn't a surprise. After the National Anthem finished, all of the sudden you hear, "Clang! Clang! Clang!" You feel the energy of the crowd rise, the huge bell continues to ring as the runners shuffle to the start, and take off. Oooh, goosebumps. After seeing everyone leave it was time to head to our destination at mile 3.

We staked out our position and readied our signs. It was then that I realized, "It's kind of cool out." With it being in the lower 50's my hands were quite chilly. Mom offered her earwarmer to keep my head warm, which definitely helped. Not long after we got to our first destination you could see lights in the distance. Then a high school band started up with "Eye Of The Tiger". You could then see the leaders of the pack coming into view. We had fun dancing around with our signs, hollering at the runners. Every so often we'd get some smiles and even a "thank you!" or thumbs up. At one point we even received and "O! H!" Of course we replied with a hearty "I! O!" We kept our eye out for the pacesetters with their signs. Knowing that Erika was more than likely around the 4:30 sign we kept our eye out for her. She unexpectedly came into view as the 4:15 sign passed and all I could do was quickly click a picture (which ended up blurry), yell, and give her a hug. I more than likely messed up her momentum but I didn't know what to do. I was so ecstatic to see her! We stayed in our location for a bit longer then it was time to move to our next destination, which meant it was our "possible first position" on KD's map.

While we were heading to the next destination at mile 9.5 I received a call from KD. I gave him an update and he said that they were on their way. Since the course looped back and forth at the beginning we ended up walking the opposite direction of the runners. While walking to our next place the leaders once again came into view. Goodness, they're fast! We staked out our area and readied our signs again. Not too much later KD called to notify us that they (KD, Erika's parents, and the kids) arrived and they immediately came into view as we were still talking on the phone. We kept our eyes open. This time I was able to see Erika from a distance and her cheering section broke out into our shenanigans. (Oh what fun that is!) She continued on and it was once again time to get moving. At this point we split up. KD and his crew had to head up to mile 19 and 24. Since mom and I were unsure of the area and didn't want to get stuck in traffic and run the risk of missing everything, we decided to go to the Canal Park Stadium, where the finish line was located.

By the time we got to the stadium the sun was shining down making a comfortable and beautiful day. The half-marathoners were steadily arriving. The runners entered from the outfield, continued around, down the 1st baseline, and finished near homeplate. After 2 hours and 27 minutes the men's leader in the marathon entered the stadium. He effortlessly finished the race. A few minutes later the men's second place entered the stadium. They continued to roll in. Then it was the women's turn. The woman's runner arrived at 2 hours 52 minutes. At that point we enjoyed everyone's arrival. There were signs with inspirational quotes leading the runners down to the stadium. One of the runners grabbed a sign and carried it into the stadium. It said, "Finish what you start." You had people high-fiving the crowd as they entered the stadium. A woman acted as though she was a plane and was coming in for a landing. There was also a wheelchair racer who had entered the race. You could tell he was trying with everyone ounce of his body to get to that finish line. Shoot! Arms aren't made for that. So amazing. Then a couple who was pushing their mentally handicapped son in a wheelchair. They had walked the entire half-marathon. The entire crowd would erupt in cheers now and again. And you'd have moments where sections would cheer for their specific person they were there to cheer on. So many emotions. Time continued on and we knew we were on the countdown for Erika's arrival. I didn't know what to expect from myself. My adrenaline was so high. All I could do was send positive thoughts and energy her way. I finally received a call from KD notifying me that they made it to the stadium and she's running on time. At that point they stayed where they were and we moved down to a new position so that we'd be right on the rail to encourage her. My camera was ready. Mom had the sign ready. Keep looking for the turquoise shirt....There she is! Erika! Oh my gosh. She's here. The moment was a blur. I don't even know what I was doing or saying. I just kept yelling and taking pictures. She finished. Just amazing. What an experience it was. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. You go through so many emotions throughout the day that it's something you can't even put into words.

Thank you Erika for your inspiration. It's because of you that I now run.

You finished what you started.

Ziggy, The New TV

Good morning! It's 4:30am and I'm up and ready to go. I'll be picking mom up here shortly then we'll be going on our little roadtrip down to Akron. It looks like it's going to be a a perfect day. High of 71 but Erika will get to run in the 50's-60's. And no rain forecasted. Beautiful.

Our weekend started off interesting. I got home and David says, "I've got some bad news...." Oh, what now? Our tv went. He was watching tv and "pop!" no picture. He messed with it a little and still nothing. And of course I said awhile back. "Well, when it goes then it will be time for a flat screen." I don't mind getting the flat screen, I just wasn't planning on it this soon! And you know David's going to hold me to it. He brought our little 12 inch tv from our bedroom downstairs so he had something for the afternoon. It looked quite funny I must say. So anyway, we've been pricing them here and there and basically knew what we wanted so mom and dad met us at Sam's club and we made our big purchase. It's a 37 inch Vizio. Not huge but bigger than our previous 32 inch. And MUCH lighter. I couldn't believe how light the box was. And after getting it into the house it was even bigger than I expected. So I guess I'm "happy" with what we got. I'm still sad to see our old one go for obvious reasons, but also because that was our wedding gift from Justin and Cass. Ah well. Of course David loves it. He couldn't wipe the smile from his face. As we drove home he said, "It's like Christmas." He'll love watching sports on it, especially now that we have the HDTV ability. He already played some Madden on it and was thrilled. I did notice a difference, but as for me, eh, I could honestly careless. I could probably even go without tv since I'm not that huge of a fan, but at the same time I understand David's thinking. I'll try to post some pics later, when I get home from the marathon.

Oooh, you know I'm taking my camera today, and will hopefully take lots of pictures. It's time to head out. Hey Erika! I'm sending positive thoughts your way. And don't forget....

The Forest Gump Mindset

David had another call for work at 2:30am this morning. That's two days in a row. I guess that's just something you deal with when you're on call. Yesterday morning he didn't leave immediately but today he left soon after receiving the call. I guess he couldn't sleep since it was on his mind, even though it wasn't an "emergency" call. He got back just as our alarm went off, so I rolled over to him and said, "Well? Are we running?" He said, "I'm real tired but I know I won't be able to sleep." So it was decided that we'd run but it would be our shortest route due to him having to leave early for work today...Thursdays he has to make an early morning deilivery to a factory so we get up early and have to run a shorter route.

We took off and since I had such a rough run on this route this past weekend I decided to try a different mindset. Instead of thinking, "This is the short route, it will be done before I know it." I thought, "Steady. This is such a long route. It's so far." I don't know if today was just a better running day or what, but it worked. When we were about halfway on our short route I thought to myself, "I think I'll go a little longer route to home." So I passed the information on to David and handed him the key to the house. I told him I should be home before he was out of the shower and that I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I knew I was going to atleast extend the route by another block. Well, I got to that point and thought to myself, "I've gone this far, how about another block?" Then it just kept happening and happening again. All the way until I ran another whole route. So instead of just running the 1.2 miles that was planned, I ran 2 of our shorter routes that totalled 3.3 miles. Not bad. I guess I had a bit of Forest Gump in me today...I'd hit one goal and figured if I made it that far I might as well keep going. All the while singing "bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon." (think 1 little, 2 little, 3 little indians melody. Great song by the way. A children's singer/songwriter named Raffi. Always listened to him as a kid. Recently I was downloading some songs for a friend's child and it brought back fond memories). Ah, a great run that was unexpected.

I'm also getting pumped about this weekend. This weekend is the Akron Marathon, which Erika will be participating in. Will I be there? You bet I'll be there! Even if it takes leaving at 4:30am, I'm going to be there. This will be my first marathon experience so I can't wait to stand on the sidelines and cheer her on. I've got my sign ready and all. I've got a sign? Heck yeah I got a sign. Actually, I've got 2 signs. If I'm going to do this, I'm doing it right. Don't forget to holler at her before Saturday. Go Erika Go!

We've Got Grass

The little area in our backyard that I seeded last week is already producing some grass. Cool. I have't really ever grown grass or paid attention when my parents had, so I didn't expect it to produce that fast. It will be full and lush before we know it. Just one more little thing to beautify what's around us.

Ah, today is already Wednesday. David had an unexpected call this morning for work so he was unable to run. And instead of getting up as early as we usual do, I slept in a bit and then headed out on my own. It's amazing how your mind and body work. After learning that David had to go into work early I just thought to myself, "I'll just take the day off running." But would I let myself do that? Heck no. You almost guilt yourself into doing it. But I guess it's a good guilt trip in the scheme of things, eh? David's also having the same "problem" as me, so at least I know I'm not the only one guilting myself into running. It's so stupid if you think about it though. Because as you wake you have this, "ugggh" feeling but once you get out moving and afterwards you feel great. I guess if I look at the situation closer it's not so much tough to get out running, as it is to actually wake up at 5am and move. Okay, enough analyzing.

Our break in weather has come but it's real overcast today. I'm just waiting for it to start raining. As of yet I believe we've been in the pockets of no rain. We shall see as the day goes on. But it looks as though the cooler weather is here to stay for a couple days. A few degrees cooler would be even better.

Time to get ready for work. Have a wacky Wednesday!

Poor Sloopy

I woke up this morning to an email from mom saying Sloopy wasn't acting right. I headed over there to find that she was right. Poor guy. He ran to me when I entered then let out several yelps. So he'll be taking a trip to work with me today. Wish him the best!

Monday's Thought For The Day

Happy Fall

First things first....Go Tribe!! This is the first year in a long time that we've (especially me) been following the Indians closely. Can't wait to see what is yet to come.

It was a great weekend. Saturday started with a round 3.0 mile run. Oy. I don't know if it was because it was later than usual...with the sun up, the change in route, added hills, or what, but I felt like I was struggling big time. But with that behind me, I continued on with the day. First edging the yard and then school work almost all day long. We went to the 'rents for the OSU game and visited with J and Cass, as they came in town for the day. During the game I got some more school work out of the way. By the time the game was done my mind had decided that it was done with schoolwork too. We headed to CP for a couple hours. I don't know if that was such a good idea though. It was PACKED. Looking for a parking space I even tooted my horn at someone. I never do that but I couldn't help but do it considering there were people everywhere, including the middle the the drive. Of course I received a couple obscenities but that's okay. After deciding there were no spots up front we traveled to the back to find an abundance. We didn't ride any rides, but it was a great night to enjoy the weather and get a tasty treat. Hopefully we'll be able to get over there one of these Friday nights to actually enjoy a ride or two without a million people.

FYI...to those who don't know, according to Sita and Alpa, CP is doing a new thing with passes next year. Surprise, surprise. I swear they keep making huge changes on a yearly basis. This year was the thing where you don't receive a parking pass on your vehicle but it goes on your pass. I wasn't really against it, however whoever has the parking pass must be in the vehicle in order to use it. In all honesty I'm not sure how strict they are on this policy, as we've always gone over there together and David's never needed it by himself. But the idea I'm sure has messed up other individuals. Okay, so for the 2008 season passes, this is the deal. You can purchase the regular pass at a certain amount as normal. However, the only way you have the ability to purchase a parking pass is to purchase the Cedar Point/Soak City pass. In other words if you purchase a regular pass you cannot purchase a parking pass, meaning you have to pay $10 (probably $10.50 next year...just a guess) for parking. Geez oh petes. Bite that hand that feeds you. So all this talk about how Cedar Point is struggling so bad I find hard to believe. If that's the case I don't think they'd be doing this, because some may not want to invest that much more money into the pass. As for us, they are our Christmas gifts from Sita and Alpa, and we are very thankful for their generosity. We will be getting the Cedar Point/Soak City pass for obvious reasons, however in our case we had pushed around the idea of getting that pass this year but decided to wait on it. Once again, I know there are others out there that are not as fortunate as us, which may mean no passes at all and no money in CP's pocket...just my thinking of course. Just wanted to pass that info onto you.

So where was I....Sunday. Sunday we woke up and went for a short run. Once again, for the second day in a row I felt like I was struggling. What's the deal? I think one thing was that David and I didn't communicate before leaving. Instead of going for a longer run, we went shorter and he decided to go a tad faster than usually. Of course as we're running I'm telling him that I need to slow down and he's yelling back, "I'm not going fast." Then I yell, "We're going 9:45 according to the Garmin." And then he says, "You can't lean on that thing like it's a crutch." Oh, it wasn't very pretty. Ah well. It's the first time that we had a slight disagreement about running but after 2 minutes of discussion upon arriving home (after catching my breath) we were cool and continued on with the rest of our day. I got to continue pushing myself through the discomfort but he has to still understand that I have limitations. We went to Panera for lunch with the 'rents and then I bummed around with mom while David went home to hang with his dad and listen/watch all the sports. Tonight we had our first dinner night of the season. Last fall we started dinner night up in the fall and continued on for a couple months...it's the best time to start that type of thing, so why not do it again? It's decently cheap and you can't complain about the company either.

It's about that time to head to bed. I can't believe we're in our last week of the month. That's just crazy talk.

New Shorts....Again.

Today is my day to sleep in. Do you think I could?? Of course not. About 2 days ago my throat started having "that weird feeling". Yesterday I noticed it more and then last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a definite throat that was swollen and a slightly stuffy nose. Great. It's too early to get a cold. So at 7:30am my body couldn't sleep any longer and I came downstairs...took my vitamins and added Zicam, Vitamin C, and a glass of orange juice to the mix. I can only attribute getting a funk to over doing it. This week my body has been telling me to slow down but I don't listen. When I get off work I feel like I could literally fall down but by the time I get home it's as though I get my second wind and I'm ready to go. I've been struggling with some anxiety this week but can't pinpoint the source. In all honesty I think it has multiple sources including school and work. But along with my anxiety comes the need to clean the house. I never knew until recently that cleaning the house is a sign of my anxiety. I'm not talking just cleaning normal things, I'm talking about turning things upside down. Because I feel I don't have a sense of control over things around me, I clean because it's something I have control of. Weird, I know.

It seems like just yesterday I was telling you about how we had purchased David some new shorts that were a smaller size. The point was to get shorts and swim trunks before summer ended, to have them for our trip to Hawaii in December. Well, the time came once again, but finding shorts is close to impossible at this point. Everytime he goes down a size I ask him "Should you go one size smaller or atleast purchase one size smaller at the rate you're going?" And he looks at me as though I have 2 heads and says, "Heidi, I've never been that small, and never will be." Ha! But then within a couple weeks his shorts are ready to fall down even with a belt. Once again we're thrilled about this, but the cost of it hasn't been so enjoyable. As stated previously I'm glad that he doesn't require name brand shorts and will settle for the Levis at Walmart, but it still adds up considering we've been purchasing at least 2 pairs of shorts per month for the past couple months. And remember, he got one pair of jeans awhile back. We've decided he's going to settle with those until the real cool weather hits before purchasing another pair, considering he may be even smaller by then. Okay, so he needed more shorts and we were at Walmart so we looked. No go. Totally picked over and no options. I knew Old Navy wouldn't have any, as they were gone a couple months ago and that's why he had Walmart Levis. He thought that Kohls would have some but I disagreed since they had their labor day sales already and thought they'd have nothing. And he said that it was atleast worth a try. We arrive and headed toward the clearance racks. Found a pair. Oh, then another in a different wash! Then I was thinking, what about swim trunks? Just for the heck of it, I looked and found 2 decent pair. He went and tried them on. All perfect, and slightly snug, meaning he has room to loose if it happens. Whew! I was beginning to lose hope and thought we'd have to search the internet for shorts. I guess I was wrong about Kohls not going to have anything and I apologized to David. But wait, our story gets better. The swim trunks were both about $10, normally $40+ each. And one pair of shorts was $6 and the other $12, even though they were the same style, just different wash. When we checked out we thought it was worth a try to ask if they could honor the lower price for both considering those circumstances and the woman says, "Whatever makes you happy." Say what? Yep, so David got 2 pair of Levi shorts, normally $40 each for a total of $12. That's what I'm talking about. Now, of course I asked David if we should look at the size 32's and I got "the look" again. Only time will tell. I love that he's losing weight in a healthy way and that he's happy too, but I don't know if I can handle much more of this short dilemma on a monthly basis.

On a much lighter note....Go Buckeyes!

Salsa In The Mouth, Good. Salsa In The Purse, Not So Good

Do you ever have the feeling that something bad is going to happen and then it actually does. I had a moment like that yesterday. I got home from work and with it being my early night off David and I decided to go out to eat and spend some time together, instead of diving into my books. When I got home I ran upstairs and changed. As I was putting on my brand new crocs t-shirt I just had this feeling that I was going to something on this shirt. I didn't think much of it, ran back downstairs and we head out. So where to eat? Casa Real? Casa Real it is....one of our favs. It's great food for a great price. And even better, David and I can share a meal and get out of there without spending more than $12 with tip and they're super fast. On with the story...we sit down and are munching on our chips and salsa, chatting it up, and our food arrives. Trying to be nice I attempt to move the salsa bowl out of our way for the waitress to set down our dish and "splash!" there it went. All the salsa. The waitress didn't know what to say but "oh!", my husband's laughing at me, and I just smile and accept the napkins from the waitress and say, "oh well." Okay, my shirt is spared, so technically my premonition didn't come true, however my shorts and purse didn't fair so well. And we're not talking just a splash on the purse. We're talking all the salsa on and in the purse. Ha, I just wanted to take some home with me that's all. David didn't realize that it was actually in the purse until I said, "I don't appreciate you laughing at me." That's when we knew I was serious and found out that it wasn't just on the bench but all over me and the purse. I cleaned it up with the million napkins from the waitress, we ate, and then went home so I could change and salvage items from my purse. Ah, that was fun. I just tell myself, it could be worse. It could've been on my new t-shirt and I guess God was trying to tell me it was time to wash that purse and change to a new one anyway.

I must share with you one more reason why I love our kids. As most people, we have a routine in the morning. We get up, I change into my gear upstairs while David heads downstairs to change and let Lily outside. By the time I come down it's time for her to come inside. You would think that she'd go to her bed and lay down, but every morning she sits in her spot, on a rug, in the kitchen, watching us move about. When it's time to stretch out she comes over to greet us and then heads back to her spot. Viking does the same thing. He'll be in the papisan chair but when he sees us hit the ground he comes for a greeting then heads back to his spot too. As we leave, Lily watches us walk out the door. I think it's cute because it's as though she's seeing us off in the morning. And when we arrive home, as we stick the key in the door you can see her head pop around the corner, out of her pod bed, and she comes to say, "Hi mom and dad, welcome home. How was your run?" It's just cute. And then when we pull out of the driveway, 9 times out of 10 you'll see Mr. J in the window watching as we leave. Once again, seeing us off. I can't help but think of that Tidy Cats commercial, where they're having the party. I just think that Mr. J is acting as the lookout and when we're gone he says, "Alright, They're gone. Let's have a party!" So silly I know, but it brings a smile to my face everytime each of them do it, and it just gives me one more reason to appreciate their presence.

Keepin' Busy

I have an hour before it's time to hit the sack so I figured I'd check in with ya'll. It's been a full past 48 hours. To put it in a nutshell, our Halloween decorations are up, I'm through week 3 assignments (and working on week 4) in all my classes, and have even done some yardwork.

I can hear everyone now...."you have your halloween decorations up?" Heck yeah! The stores definitely got to me with having all their stuff out and I figure if we put so much time into decorating, we're going to enjoy it. With that being said, in all honesty we're still in the process of decorating. The lights on the fence and garage have to be put up, but the porch, bushes, and inside of the house are done. We almost decorate all the way up to Halloween night. I must say though, considering we're decorating so early it leaves no time for "fall decorating". And I just can't get into Thanksgiving decorating too much considering Halloween is at the end of October and then right around the corner we decorate for Christmas. It just isn't worth it. And as always, by the end of the "season", no matter what holiday, I'm ready to take decorations down and sometimes even start that night. Yeah, we all know I'm crazy.

So far this semester seems to be going quite well and as always, I'm learning a ton of information. It looks as though they've scratched the video assignment for the one class I was expecting to do this semester. Whew! One less thing to do. I'm not complaining. This is my second consecutive semester of doing 3 classes and I haven't lost my mind yet. So that's good too. We're also preparing for our AAHA inspection that is in November. So everyone's busy at work getting things where they need to be, basically crossing our t's and dotting our i's. With that comes responsibility, which tends to land on me since I'm there everyday and mostly since I've gone through this before. For those who don't know, AAHA stands for American Animal Hospital Association. It's something that you have to strive to achieve and isn't easy to acquire or maintain. Once you acquire accreditation you are inspected every few years to verify that you're doing everything up to par. Basically it's jumping through the hoops for the sake of the animals we treat...from certain record keeping, safety measures, to the quality of care that we administer. And technically all we get out of it is a plaque on our wall, but it's comforting to me to know that we are doing things "right" and our clients can be assured that we are taking appropriate measures to make sure we are. There's only about 13% of veterinary hospitals in the United States that are accredited and I've been lucky enough to have 2 of my 4 hospitals that I've worked for be AAHA. Okay, enough information about AAHA.

Now, for the yardwork. We've finally decided to work on the back corner of our backyard. It's the part that was originally a square "garden". Last year we angled it off and planted some foliage in the corner, but the outline of a square was left. I wanted go an entire year, verifying that I got all the grape hyacinth and other bulbs out. I could only imagine planting grass and then having to dig it up again. That'd be a bummer. So tonight we went to The Depot and got 6 huge bags of soil and grass seed. As the sun was going down I was still spreading and watering the stuff, but it's done....atleast I think so. In all honesty I think we'll need more soil since I think it's going to settle lower than hoped, but David says it will be fine. We'll have to see. It will be great when we have grass and not a huge dirt area. I also spread some seed in a few bare spots in the lawn. We're lucky to have a great quality of lawn due to the previous owners, but of course you always dream of that beautiful carpet-like lawn. The kind you lay down and say, "ahh...." Ok, maybe that's just in my dreams and in the commercials. But that's alright.

The fall weather has diminished and it looks like we're back into summer mode for the next few days. I'll appreciate when the fall weather comes back. I like that cozy, comfy feeling. The kind that makes you want to pick apples or something. Okay, so I've never actually been apple picking, but I think you get what I'm saying. Oooh, apples means apple cider. Sounds good. Soon enough!