Hailey in an Alex's Lemondade Stand Commercial

Here is a commercial that has been posted on YouTube of one of my Honored Patients, Hailey, with Alex Gordon (from the Kansas City Royals) for Alex's Lemonade Stand. She is the little one to our left of Alex Gordon. What a cutie!

Hospital Hill Half Marathon Race Report

What a morning! Woke up bright and early for the third weekend in a row. Okay...maybe it's not bright at 4:30 am-but it's early...way early. At least this time it was in our own bed. I met up with Kym at 5:30 am to head downtown for the Hospital Hill Half Marathon. After getting to Crown Center, we met up with Karen, her brother and his girlfriend as well as with Carrie and Joel. I ran into a lot of people that I know. It's fun to run a local race to see faces and catch up with people you haven't seen in a while. It was a warm, humid morning and only got warmer as the day and race continued.

ONE HILLY COURSE! I ran it 2 years ago, so I knew what I was getting myself into. The run was great. It runs you through a nice course around Kansas City. This year, they even took out one hill (at the end due to construction) but it will be back next year...can't wait! Hot and humid-oh...I already said that? There were people dropping like flies. People didn't prepare themselves and/or went out way too fast and in return, got bit in the butt. I finished in around 2:43ish...slow and steady. Our race shirts on the back say, "I conqured the hill". Hill? There was not just one hill. There were too many to count! They SHOULD say I conqured the whole damn city of hillsssss. And Kansas City is not flat. I promise you that.

The race went well, the water stops were okay. Some seemed a little disorganized but I never had to wait for water and they never ran out (which I have experienced way too often). I actually ran into a couple friends at water stops that were volunteering today. They were not racing today as they are competing in Ironman Kansas next weekend (a Half Ironman). It was very nice of them to come out and volunteer while they are in taper mode. I'll try to make it out next week to see you guys and return the favor! As for the spectators, they were nice, cheering us on. The volunteers and officers watching the intersections were priceless. Many were cheering us on and offering kind words.

What I do have an issue with is the general Kansas City driving public. They stink. Out of all the races I have done and all the cities I have been to, I have never experienced the rudeness I have seen from Kansas City drivers. There is a race going on here people-get over yourself and find a way around it. People honking and not paying attention to the volunteers trying to assist them-uggg. When I ran this course last time, there was a driver that was driving right through an intersection with runners coming through and an officer had clearly signaled for him to stop. You could hear the officer yelling and then...'crunch'. The officer was pissed and kick boxed the side of this guys car. This year, I didn't see that, but did see several officers yelling at drivers not paying attention and/or not doing what they were instructed to do. You suck people! You suck!

Now to the schwag...the schwag was Whoo! Whoo! My packet contained a dri-fit short sleeved t-shirt, a very cool nylon bag and a visor. At the finish, the medals were very neat...really neat...very fun and we received blue flip flops that have the HH logo and says Hospital Hill Finisher on them. I was super duper happy with everything we received. We used to get really cool shorts. It was nice to get something different then a shirt, but there's a new race director and even though we didn't get shorts, I love what we got and I think she did a great job.

And finisher's photos
Joel and Carrie...

Kim and Kym...

So...that's it for full and half marathons for a while...til October. Now it's time for some trial running fun! I'm very excited about the trail runs I have coming up. It'll mix things up a bit and I honestly think it gives me a tougher workout then road running. Stay tuned for the excitement...can we say bug bites, poison ivy and snakes?!

Alex's Lemonade Stand This Weekend

For the locals: when you're out and about Kansas City this weekend, don't forget to grab a cup of nice, cool, refreshing lemonade at Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Kansas City Lemonade Stands for National Lemonade Days will be held on Friday, June 6th and Saturday, June 7th from 10 am to 6 pm at all 25 metro area HyVee Grocery Stores (Missouri: Belton, Blue Springs, Gladstone, Independence (2), Kansas City (2), Lee’s Summit (2), Liberty, Raytown, and St. Joseph; Kansas: Lawrence (2), Leawood, Lenexa, Mission, Olathe (2), Overland Park (3), Prairie Village, Shawnee, and Topeka) and on the Country Club Plaza at Boar Fountain on 47th Street. Check out the link for specific store locations.

Stop by and help fight childhood cancer!

Fall Team In Training Events-New Honored Patient

Last night was our Team In Training Kick-Off for fall events. Our fall events include Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco, Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon and the Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon. I'll be running in the San Fran and San Antionio Marathons. I will not be participating in KC as it's the same weekend as San Fran, unfortunately.

With a new event, comes a new honored patient. This season our honored patient is Ashely Anderson. She is 12 and is currently in remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was diagnosed in May 2006 and went into remission in December 2006. She then relapsed the next year and her doctors think she may be relapsing again. Please visit her Caring Bridge Site and say 'hey'. I have her listed under the 'Blogs I Stalk'. It's always nice to meet a new face-I just wish it wasn't under these circumstances.

With that said, last night was our BIGGEST Kick-Off EVER! I would love to give a shout out to our Team In Training Staff and, OF COURSE, to Doug-the best coach ever! They have worked their tails off on recruitment and have done a FABULOUS job! Great job guys!

Am I Normal?

I know I'm not in the non-running world but in the running world, am I? Is it normal to run 4 Marathons and 3 Half Marathons the first 6 months of the year-with my 4th Half Marathon this weekend?

I hope I'm not becoming one of those crazy runners-like some of those crusty* 50 staters you see sometimes. I guess I really shouldn't care if I'm having fun, right?!

(*Disclaimer: Not ALL 50 staters are crusty-just most!)

Is it wrong to have quantity over quality? I'm not particularly even going for quantity, but it's so hard to pass up a race if a friend wants to do one or if we're traveling and Doug is running. I can't just sit on the sidelines and watch. Should I only be training for 2 marathons a year and working on my technique and/or speed? I guess that's an individual decision. And I guess for me and where I'm at, I like what I'm doing-so I'm going to stick with it for now. I guess that's a good thing considering I have a few more races to tackle this year.

I haven't been out to run since the race Sunday. I'll get a run in tomorrow with our Thursday Night Run Group. I love them. I have started my weight training class. This could become VERY interesting. I went Monday night IMMEDIATELY after we got back from the airport. There's nothing like hopping up and down stairs, doing sprints, doing barbell squats-all sorts of fun the day after a marathon...and that was just an introduction for our two hour class! Some poor girl fainted, fell, busted her head open and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. And this all happened during our WARM-UP! I think I'm really going to enjoy it (evil laugh). I need something to mix it up a bit. If I don't blog for a while, start searching the hospitals for me, my friends!

Yeah Baby!

Another One Bites the Dust

We're back and had an outstanding time! As some of you know, Doug is the head marathon coach for our Mid-America Team In Training chapter. Doug took around 27 participants to the Rock 'n Roll San Diego Marathon. It was a great group that gelled well together. Everyone had a great time and all finished with smiles on their faces!

We arrived in San Diego early Friday morning and checked into our hotel. It was the same hotel we stayed at last year. Our hotel was great. They have a spa, 4 pools, flowers-everywhere-all kinds-it was beautiful, a convention center that held the pasta party (for TNT-so we didn't have to travel), over 1000 rooms, the trolley system picks up right behind our hotel as well as having a huge mall with great stores back behind the hotel. Doug and I roomed in one of their bungalows. It was too cute. Our room opened to a courtyard abundant with flowers...

Doug and I didn't do anything too crazy while we were out in SD this time. Last year we took 4 extra days after the marathon to gallivant around SD and the surrounding area so this year we took it pretty easy. We did head into Old Town to eat at our favorite Mexican Restaurant a couple times-once for dinner and once for breakfast. We also took a trip to visit the San Diego Mission. It is beautiful!
After that, we headed to the expo with a couple of people from our team, and in the process, picked up this older lady who was trying to find her way to the expo. We kept an eye on her, assisting her while we hopped from trolley to trolley. I would say she was probably in her 60's. Doug asked her if she was with TNT and she was. She was from North Carolina and after some conversation, we found out she was doing the full marathon. We thought-very impressive. Come to find out, we were at the pasta party that very evening and they were handing out an award to this 84 year old woman who had completed all 10 RNR Marathons and all with Team In Training (completing her 11th the next day) and it was our lady! She wasn't in her 60's...she was 84! She didn't start running until she was in her 60's! Here she is (partly in a picture I was taking of the boys). I'm not sure what they are looking at...

Marathon morning started before the butt crack of dawn Sunday as all the TNT events do trying to herd a whole team to the starting line and making sure everyone has what they need. We met as a group at 4:00 am and shuffled our way onto a bus headed for Balboa Park. We waited around for the marathon to start in the dark-half asleep. It was a warmer morning then usual that turned into a little warmer then usual afternoon. Once the sun came out, it heated up fast. Most of us fried our booties. Okay...maybe not our booties-but pretty much any and all exposed skin. All went well during the marathon. Nothing too exciting happened while I was on the course. San Diego is a great destination and probably my favorite destination marathon, but the marathon route itself is something to be desired-at least I think. There is a portion of the marathon where you run up a highway that is slanted (so water doesn't pool when it rains) so it's like running with one leg shorter then the other and this goes on for several miles. Then there are several other points where the roads slope again. Not so much fun as it really jacks with the knees. However, there is a beautiful section when you head into and around the Mission Bay area-absolutely gorgeous!

I finished around 5:45 (haven't actually looked at official times yet). All in all-the whole marathon day went well and I had a great time. The most fun for me is listening to stories of the marathon virgins! Their stories, their experience, what they learned from covering the distance, hearing the excitement in their voice, to hear someone say that is the neatest thing they have ever done-now that is fun. A couple of the girls had so much fun, they went out and got 26.2 tattoos! Doug also saw our lady out on the course and said she was moving right along-probably not too far behind me!

All in all-another fun weekend! Two travel weekends in a row. This weekend we are staying home, but that doesn't mean I'm not running in a race. Saturday is the Hospital Hill Half Marathon. One hilly race. I can promise you-this is going to be a slow go...but fun nonetheless!

Here are some random pictures from over the weekend...

I'm Alive!

We're back and well! We didn't take the computer with us on this trip so no blogging. It was a great weekend and a crazy day today so I'll try to get pictures up (with a race report) tomorrow after work. Back to the grindstone...