Happy Thanksgiving

"See, here's the thing..."
Actually, it's about 3 days after Thanksgiving, but Christmas doesn't officially begin until December 1st...even though the tree is up and there are wrapped presents underneath.

So, I thought that I would list all of the things that I am thankful for, as cliche as it may seem. Oh, and these are in no particular order...

1.) My family - I have a wonderful husband who always seems to take care of me and two happy, healthy (well, most of the time) children. I am also thankful for my mom, dad, sister, and brother...who despite what I thought when I was little, really did end up being my best friends.

2.) My friends - Especially Karen and Michelle. They are my best school friends. Without them, who would I vent to?

3.) My karate family - Sensei, Teresa, Stella, Edie, Shirley.

4.) I have money to pay my bills - this has not always been the case.

5.) My body - it is strong enough to complete 2 black belt tests and a marathon. OK - so I cried through most of all three, but I did finish them all!

6.) My camera so I can take cute pics of my kids.

7.) My Thanksgiving morning run (and my morning runs in general). They are when I can think the most and allow me to clear my head. I just don't get that running on the treadmill in the gym.

8.) The beach - it is the one place where I am truly relaxed and feel completely at ease. As they say on the islands..."No worries."

9.) My many hoodies- because I am always cold.

10.) My "technology buddies" - they have bailed me out more than once. :-)

11.) My computer - how did I EVER live without it???

12.) My iPod - how did I EVER workout without it??? It has accompanied me on countless runs and kept me from going insane many a time.

13.) Captain Underpants and Junie B. Jones - they have both given me precious bedtime memories with my children.

14.) My Mizuno running shoes - they are the first running shoes that kept my feet from hurting.

15.) My new Levi jeans - they actually fit me perfectly. (515's and 545's for those of you who might need some new jeans)

16.) Dirk Pitt - I live vicariously through him.

17.) My car - so I can run because I want to...not because I HAVE to.

18.) Sticky notes...enough said.

19.) Sonic - everything is better when you have a Sonic coke.

20.) IMing - so I can talk to my husband even when I don't particularly feel like actually talking.

So, my list is pretty superficial...and I could say that I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health, the roof over my head, and the food on my plate, but I think that those are givens. I am very thankful for all of those things, I just thought it would be interesting to post all of the "little things" that go unnoticed each and every day.

Now, here are just a few pics from the past few days that I am thankful for. The first is of my kids outside on Thanksgiving day before heading to my Mom's house for lunch. The pic shows two of the surprises that I received on Thanksgiving day - the yellow leaves and the snow. When I walked outside to start my morning run, I was greeted by a yardful of yellow leaves. Since I had had green leaves on the tree the night before, I was surprised to find yellow leaves on the ground the next morning. My second surprise was the snow. Fortunately, this didn't start until after my "turkey trot," but it snowed on Thanskgiving nonetheless (take a look at the crooks of the tree).

The second picture is of my son decorating our tree. It's just a typical picture of him - in his boxers, tank top, and a santa hat...with his extra high butt crack sticking out. :-)

Major Dilemma

"See, here's the thing..."
I have a major dilemma. OK, so it's not MAJOR...but it is a major decision that I must make. Maybe not important in the grand scheme of things either, but again, a pretty big decision.

Here's my dilemma:
Do I purchase an iPhone or go with a smartphone?

Here's the scoop behind the dilemma:
My plan ends next month...this also means that I am eligible for a new phone. I have been thinking about a smart phone for about the past year, but because I wasn't eligible for an upgrade, I just put it off. A smartphone would be great with my c-tech position, and would also work well with my general lifestyle. There are two smartphones that I would like - both made by Palm. I am a big fan of the Palm OS, thus the preference for a Palm smartphone over a Blackberry. Both of the smartphones that I want are only available through Sprint - my current cell phone provider.

But have you seen the iPhone??? I mean, have you really gone to the store and played with an iPhone? TOO COOL! I was able to play with one at the Apple store in San Francisco and it totally blew me away! If I had had $400 in my pocket at that time (OK, so I had that much with me, but we still had to eat, so I withheld my impulse) I would have forked it over right then and there. The problem? iPhones are only available through Cingular (AT&T). This might not be so bad because everyone that I really talk to on the cell phone is on the Cingular plan anyway. So my free Sprint to Sprint calls really aren't saving me any money at this point.

Ok - so now that you've heard that part of the dilemma, here's the rest. I need a new iPod...I think. While training for my marathon, my iPod kept doing weird things. For example, I would charge it and then it wouldn't turn back off. Or, it would suddenly turn off and then back on - which totally screwed up my mileage on my runs. I kept thinking it was because it was just getting old and overused and prayed that it would last through the marathon without incidence. It did and I was happy. But then, I was reading up on the iPhone and found a little article about iPods freezing and locking, etc. with vigorous excercise. Well, what do you know, since I've quit running quite as much and not so often, my iPod is fine.

So, part of my reasoning for the iPhone was to get a phone and iPod all in one. But, who am I kidding? I am NOT going to strap an iPhone to my arm and take off on a 10 miler. That's just craziness. Not only is it too big, but it's too expensive. So, I thought that maybe I should just get the smartphone and a new iPod Nano. However, if my iPod is now working ok, then I really don't need a new iPod (at least for now) and I could technically get the iPhone because I can still use my old iPod.

Is all of this making sense? I know it's a stupid dilemma to have, but it's my world. :-) So, I need your opinions. iPhone or smartphone?

Running, Babies, and Veteran's Day

"See, here's the thing..."
I went for a run this morning. It was foggy. So much so that I could barely see ahead of me. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies. It's a movie that my mom, my sister, my kids, and I like to watch...especially when we're at the beach. It's called The Fog. I'm not talking about the new remake of The Fog that was done recently, but the original version (aren't the originals always better?). Anyway, the fog comes into a town in order to kill all of the settlers in order to get revenge for something that happened decades earlier. The DJ on the radio is the only one that can see it and where it is going until it gets there because she is up in this lighthouse on this mountain. She stays on the radio and gives warnings to the citizens of the town. She keeps saying, "Whatever you do, don't go into the fog." Well, I went into the fog...and I came out alive! :-)

The fog created some pretty high humidity during my run. I was getting pretty wet even though it wasn't raining. The other thing I noticed was that the marathon sucked every bit of running strength that I had left. I felt like I had lead legs today. I kept having to stop and walk - in fact, I walked across every street that I came too. However, when I got home and checked my stats on my iPod, I found that I was right at my normal pace. That was a pleasant surprise.

In other news, I'm so excited for my sister. She had her home study today with the adoption agency. This is one of the last steps before they officially put her on the waiting list for a baby. It also makes me think about just how selfless she is. She is going to make the best mom to a lucky little baby, and if anyone can adopt a child and love it unconditionally, it is Kam. I found a quote by the great Oprah. She says, "Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother." I think that's true. And I think that any child that enters our family is going to be greeted by so much love that it will be overwhelmed.

Since today is Veteran's Day, I also thought that I would write a little about that. I didn't realize that World War I ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. However, it makes me think about all of the soldier's that have paid a price for our country. Peter Marshall, the Chaplain of the US Senate said, "May they remember how bitterly our freedom was won, the down payment that was made for it, the intstallments that have been made since the Republic was born, and the price tha tmust yet be paid for our liberty." I will forever be thankful to the soldiers, God included, who have paid for my freedom.

Nice Leisurely Run

"See, here's the thing..."
I haven't run since the marathon....until yesterday when I took my first nice, leisurely run. Really, that's exactly what it was. I only ran 3.5 miles....at a really SLOW pace. I walked when I wanted to walk, ran when I wanted to run, and stopped to smell the roses when I wanted to smell...something other than my stinky, running self. :-) It felt good not to have a set amount of miles that I had to run, or a set pace I had to go. It felt good to run without my huge fuel belt and my watch. It felt good to just turn on my ipod and run....just for me.

I also went to the gym today and actually lifted weights. I have been in an "I hate the gym" phase since about last Christmas. And even though I went to karate and kickboxing, I went through I phase where I just couldn't stomach the thought of going to lift weights, or do any sort of cardio machine. This is also what led me to my lapse in judgement when I decided it would be a great idea to run a marathon. This is also the point where I began running outdoors just to get my workouts in.

Anyway, back to the gym...Mom and I went today. We just did a short circuit....a few leg machines, a few arm machines, some ab work. You know, nothing major. Then I did about 30 minutes on the treadmill. I had forgotten how much different it is to run on the treadmill than it is to run on the street. Major difference! The treadmill is smooshy whereas on the street I get more traction. You can kind of compare this to the difference between training for a fight on your hard dojo floor and actually getting in the ring. The ring is always much smooshier because of the plywood underneath. Just FYI for those of you who have never fought in a ring before. :-)

The other thing that I realized when I ran on the treadmill was how much more relaxed I am on the street. Even though I have to watch out for cars, dogs, other people, and such, I am more relaxed. My body is just more relaxed. I guess because I am not confined to the little space that the treadmill takes up. I also tend to run right up against the bar so it's harder for me to relax my arms like I do when I run outside. Finally, it's usually just me and the road...no one else around to "spy on my stats." I hate that...I wanted to just scream, "You might be faster than me, but I just ran a marathon!!!"

Speaking of my marathon, my body is still trying to heal and adjust to my new (well, actually it's my old routine that I did before I began my marathon training) routine. I have been going to kickboxing on Saturdays again. Sensei thinks it's hilariously funny to give me more leg work or make me do double what everyone else is doing. But I can tell how sluggish they still are...or how much speed and flexibility I have lost during my marathon training. However, the grossest thing that has happened was the "surgery" that I had to perform on my feet during class this week. My blisters started to peel off...YUCK! So, I had to get the scissors and begin to cut the dead skin away so it wouldn't continue to peel. Nasty as it may sound, it was better than letting it peel and then rip skin that wasn't ready to come off yet. It has also been nice to feel soreness in parts of my body that I had forgotten about in recent months.

On to other news....
Ry played in the "Tiger Bowl" yesterday for his flag football league. They lost, but he still played a very good game. He normally plays offense only, but yesterday he had to sub for a few boys that had gotten hurt on defense as well. He did a good job - he actually knew where to go and what to do - which impressed me since he never plays that position. After the game, there was an awards ceremony. Each child on his team received a nice little plaque. Then he got to take a picture with New England Patriot David Thomas (which really isn't quite a big deal considering he's our superintendent's son and all of us have kind of followed him since he was in high school)...but it was a big deal to the kids to get their pic taken with a professional football player.

The other good news that I have to share is that I am going to be an aunt! Finally!!!! Hopefully by this time next year, I'll have TWO babies to spoil! We found out this weekend that my brother and his wife are expecting in early July. My sister is also "expecting from Russia" sometime within the next 12 months. They are in the process of adopting. I am so excited to actually get to shop for baby clothes and "little stuff" again. I can't wait to hold and love and play and spoil my two new babies (Ok, so they aren't MY babies, but it looked weird to say "two new neices/nephews"). My kids are now so much older that I can't remember how sweet babies smell or how infectious their giggles are. I'm looking forward to that...and of course, being able to hand them back to mom or dad when they don't smell so sweet anymore. :-)

Marathon Pics!

"See, here's the thing..."

I am officially a marathon finisher! Woohoo! However, I have been in excrutiating pain since Sunday night. I didn't really sleep Sunday night because I couldn't get comfortable. When I did try to roll over to find a comfortable spot, it hurt so bad I wanted to cry! Not to mention the blisters on my feet in between my toes and the raw spots on both arms. Trying to get up and walk anywhere on Monday was horrific. Tuesday wasn't much better. But, I kept moving in order to work everything out.

So, was it worth it? You bet! I am so proud of myself. I can't believe that I actually FINISHED 26.2 miles! In addition, I raised over $4500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and was a part of an amazing team. In addition, Keith and the kids were there to cheer me on and be a part of the experience. I couldn't have done it without them.

Thank you to everyone for all of your love and support throughout my marathon experience!!

Here are just a few marathon quotes that you may or may not appreciate:

*"To describe the agony of a marthon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind." ~Jerome Drayton

*"Marathoning is like cutting yourself unexpectedly. You dip into the pain so gradually that the damage is done before you are aware of it. Unfortunately, when awarenss comes, it is excruciating." ~John Farrington, Austrailian marathoner *Marti's note: Tell me about it!

*"There is the truth about the marathon and very few of you have written the truth. Even if I explain it to you, you'll never understand it, you're outside of it." ~Douglas Wakiihuri speaking to journalists *Marti's note: This is sort of like earning your black belt for those of you who earned one before the year 1995!

Enjoy the pics...I'll post some more of our sight seeing this weekend!

I'm a FINISHER!!!

"See, here's the thing..."
I'm going to start this one a little differently than I normally do. I'm going to start with another quote from yet another movie.

"Run Forest Run!"

I just ran a freakin' marathon! Yes, me..."Miss I Hate Running...." "Miss Slower Than a Turtle..." just finished a marthon! That's 26.2 miles for all of you non-runners out there.

So let me give you the play by play of my marathon.
**CAUTION: It's not alway funny, it's not always pretty, but it's the truth. So, for those of you who want to hear a happy story about how it was all "La Di Da" and "Do Re Mi" for 26 miles can just stop reading now....it's not too late for you turn back...although it is for me.

So, as you all know, I was involved with Team in Training for my first marathon. Team in Training is a group of individuals who train for marathons, triathlons, or century rides. In the process of training, they raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I personally raised a little over $4500! My virtual team of 22 people raised over $100,000! And get this, all of the chapters in the nation that participated in the Nike Women's Marathon this weekend raised $18.5 MILLION...yes, I said MILLION...for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To be a part of that number is simply amazing!

The marathon began for me this morning when I awoke at 4:20 am. I ate my usual oatmeal, banana, and peanut butter...but I added an extra packet of oatmeal since it wouldbe around 7:00 am before my official start. I then proceeded to "assemble" myself...I put on all of my running gear. My running gear consisted of: shorts, bra, shirt, TNT purple singlet over the shirt, socks, shoes (my shoes had my timing chip, my TNT emergency info tag, and my Nike+ sensor on them), sunglasses, ipod armband (although I didn't attach my ipod until start time because it's on it's very last leg...in fact as of my finish time, it is officially retired), and my fuel belt (which holds four 8 oz. water bottles, and also has a pouch for GU...put I also attached my red washcloth, phone, and two other "pockets" to the fuel belt that held more GU, my granola bars, and various other items). I also had my gear bag that I had to put my stuff in for after the race - we checked these at all these buses before the start. They stuck a sticker on your bib with the corresponding bus number and window so that I could pick up my stuff after the race at the finish line.

So, after we did that, Coach Maureen led us around to the start line. Because I run SOOOOO slow, I was in the 12:00-14:00 minute per mile pace group. Luckily, I was at the beginning of that group, but it was still the slow group. In fact, we were so slow that it actually took me 23 minutes from the starting gun to the time that I crossed the START line!!!! However, considering there were almost 20,000 participants, 23 minutes isn't bad.

Once we crossed the start line, I started my run. I was going along pretty good there for quite a while. HOWEVER, I quickly learned that my ipod and the actual mileage do not MATCH!!!! So, whatever number my ipod gave me, I quickly subtracted ONE WHOLE MILE! Talk about a huge bummer! On the plus side, I was running strong and felt good there at the beginning...even though I did have to pee! I opted to wait on the bathroom since the lines in the portapotty was extremely looooonnnnnnggggg! You want to hear something even more incredible? I opted to wait on the portapotty throughout the entire course! That, my friends, is a feat that I hope to NEVER have to do again!

Okay, so back to the race. I felt strong up until about mile 4 when we reached a huge hill. Remember when I said, "Oh no, no big hills."? Well, evidently I lied. I knew there were hills, but I guess I did not realize how monstrous the hills really were. Or maybe it was because I was attempting to go up them on a course that was supposed to last 22 more miles. Either way, it doesn't matter. I made it up...I walked it...but I made it up. I continued this way until the next huge hill...that I also walked up. But you know the great thing about hills? Once you go up, you MUST come back down. And I just let that hill carry me right on down to the very bottom.

At mile 10 I was thinking, "Man, I would run a marathon in San Francisco any day over 10 miles in Lubbock." The views were absolutely breathtaking, especially from the tops of those hills. Even at mile 24, I kept thinking how gorgeous it was.

I was doing really good until about mile 13 when I started having these negative thoughts. "If I was only doing the half marathon, I'd be almost finished right now. What was I thinking?" But, I made it until about mile 16 when I was joined by my virtual friend Shirley. Yeah, yeah, I know...if she was virtual, was she really there? YES SHE WAS THERE YOU IDIOT! Sorry...we got that all day.

Anyway, Shirley kept me going for a while. We were doing super and were able to hit the 18 mile mark way before the cut off time (at which point, they would have turned us around to do a 22 mile course if were going too slow). In fact, Shirley and I kept going until about mile 19 together, but I was feeling way crappy at that point and just couldn't continue to run.

BUT, I will have you know that I did NOT GIVE UP! Even though I couldn't keep running, I decided to speed walk. I was going along at a pretty good pace and was actually passing runners in this manner. That was cool! I was still able to keep up even though I wasn't running and was feeling a whole lot better by walking. I was still exerting an amazing amount of energy doing so, and could really feel it in my legs, but it wasn't upsetting my stomach nearly as much and I was able to keep the same pace from that point on.

Then, the best thing ever happened. It was the thing that literally got me to the finish line. One of my TNT coaches picked me up (not literally, that just means he joined me). He walked me from that point all the way the 26 mile mark. He kept my pace at what I needed to be at in order to finish in under the time limit. At the 26 mile mark, he turned me lose so that he could go back to pick up another TNT virtual member. Because of Goetz, I was able to finish in 5 hours and 45 minutes...that's just 15 minutes slower than my pace would have been had I run the entire way like I had planned. In fact, I fully suspect that had I not changed my strategy from running to walking, my time would have been even slower.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about a couple of key things....so sorry.
First of all, there were people cheering throughout the entire course. I had my name on my singlet so I kept hearing "Go Marti," "You're looking strong Marti" etc. This was a huge boost. Most of these were people supporting TNT, but even the locals were out cheering everyone on. My favorite TNT cheer group was the group around mile 6...or maybe it was 7...I don't know...my brain had left me because we were on a hill. Anyway, they were all dressed in prison stripes and their sign said, "Run like you stole something!" Cracked me up!
Second, this is really gross...so if your stomach gets queasy easily, then just skip on down to the next paragraph. I started rubbing blisters in between my big toe and second toe and continued on down to the ball of my foot ...on BOTH feet! But at mile 25, I felt the right one pop! Yes, it popped! If I hadn't had my music up, I think I would have heard it. Then, not a minute later, I felt the left one pop. I was sure there would be a bloody mess awaiting me at the finished line. But, I was at mile 25 and couldn't think about that right then.

Ok, so back to the finish line. I ran the last .2 miles to the finish line. Everyone was there cheering and yelling your name and giving me lots of great energy. My legs felt like they were about to give, but I had to cross the finish line running...no matter how many times I fell before that. Luckily, I never fell, and I crossed the finish line at 6 hours 12 minutes. Don't forget to subtract the 23 minutes that it took me to actually cross the start line. So, that gave me a 5 hour 45 minute finish time. Thus, the hottie SFFD firemen hotties dressed in tuxedos handed me my Tiffany's finisher necklace that I gladly accepted, and then moved on to the finishers t-shirts that I also gladly accepted. Then I headed to the place were they removed my timing chip and almost fell trying to put my foot on the stool for the girl to cut it off.

So now here's the really crappy part. In my excitement, I kept on walking right on out of the finishers' t-shirt line and kept on going. I was looking for the TNT tent where I had to check in, but I couldn't find it. I walked all the way to the end of the booths and still didn't see it. I called Keith who was waiting at the TNT to meet me for directions. The good news? He gave me directions and stayed on the phone with me until I arrived. The bad news? It was right BEFORE the finishers' t-shirt line to the left. I should have gone out of that line and curved back around to my left...but I didn't know that. So, I had to walk all the way back....with blistered feet, and legs that wouldn't move.

Once I made it to the TNT tent, I checked in and received my 26.2 TNT finishers' pin....which I gladly accepted. Then I got my sandwich and chips. However, it was so crowded in there that I didn't even sit to eat. Plus, I was looking for Keith and the kids. What I really wanted to do was go get my feet looked at. So, I headed to the medical tent. I told the medic what happened...he looked horrified as I described it...then told me to take off my shoes so he could take a look. To my amazement, there was NO bloody mess!!! Woohoo! Yes, I did have huge blisters, and yes, they did pop. But they did not wear off and cause me any more bodily harm than that. He put some spiffy band-aids on them and sent me on my merry little way. Ok, so maybe I wasn't so merry, but I went on my way.

I had to walk quite a way to get my gear bag that I had checked on bus 17 window A some 7 hours prior to that time...which made me really unhappy. At this point, I was well into the "bite me zone." On top of that, I had to make a lengthy walk from the gear check bus to the shuttle. Then had the longest bus ride ever...with Ry Guy sitting in my lap. Can you imagine running a marathon and then having to sit with you legs cramped up with a 65 pound child on top of them? I know most of you don't get that, so let me put it into perspective...imagine sitting on your knees and feet (seiza position for you karateka out there) for hours on end, then having to get up and walk to shuttle on which you were forced to ride with a 65 pound child on your lap. That's how I felt.

So, would I do this again? I don't know...it's kind of like giving birth. At the time that you're screaming in pain from the contractions and squeezing a 8 1/2 pound baby out (yes, mine were that big), no you would not do it again. But after you forget the pain and agony you went through, all you remember are the good things. So, ask me again in about 4 1/2 years...because that's how long it took me to forget those bad things with Ty and decide I wanted a Ry! :-)

PS - Stay tuned for pics...I'll have them up soon, but I must be off to my victory party now...where I'll hopefully make it before it ends since we're walking!

"Stop Forest Stop!"

OH CRAP!!!

"See, here's the thing..."
I don't have much to say tonight...Ok - I have tons to say, I just don't think I can right now. I am SOOOO NERVOUS! I run a marathon...that's 26.2 miles...in ONE week! Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! What was I thinking?