Goals are Achievable

Saturday, September 18th
I snuck out of the house on Saturday to run a local 5K race(3.1 miles). I didn’t have to go far.. in fact it took only about 5 minutes to get there… and that’s because I drove slow….. YAWN…

I have gotten really lazy lately... my pre-race routine used to be.. warm up, stretch, then some sprints... heck I will be lucky if I actually raise my heart rate while napping in the truck..

I check out my competition (while napping)... lots of 40 somethings ...W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R... no big plans, just go out and run …. but I better get outta this truck.. i line up...and sorry fat chick.. instinctively… my body does lunge forward on take off..

Around the first turn, I pass two young gals and I am now leading the race.. um.. excuse me... ? LEADING THE RACE!?… WHERE IS EVERYONE!!?? ..finally a guy passes me.. I am now in 2nd place overall with 65 or so people behind me… BUT NO PRESSURE... At mile 1.. two more guys pass me and I am now in 4th… I am lead female.. I am not sure how to handle this new found “pressure”… especially when someone yells out.. YOU ARE FIRST FEMALE!!!… um.. sheetah..gulp

This was supposed to be a semi "easy" training run.. not an all out and die run.. but um .. at turnaround, I notice there is a gal behind me.. not too close but still there… I am not sure I even breathed that last mile... and felt no sort of sadness when I passed the guy who passed me previously... I am now in third place overall..uphill finish, crossing the line at 23 mins.. (a 7:26 pace)… and I am FIRST FEMALE!!! YAHOOOO!!! Jump up..jump up.. jump up and down .. So perhaps my time was not earth shattering… BUT YAHOOO!!!! Even the most impossible goals are achievable!!!!

2010 Goals:
Run a half marathon in 1.45 or less
Run the 8K in Shamrock at 37 minutes or less
Qualify for Boston and eventually run a marathon in 3.45
Run a 5K WITHIN 22-23 minutes COMPLETE
Run a sub 6 min mile
Improve Bike Time.. keeping a 18-19 mph pace for 30-50 miles
Improve Swim Time.. 1 mile to 1.2 mile swim under 45 minutes
Improving time on the Full Ironman hope to be under 13 hours
Be first woman finisher in any race (even if only 10 people run!) COMPLETE

(PS: won $75 for being first female!!) Here is the link to the results: 5K RACE

Philadelphia Half Marathon 2010

I can't seem to get a grasp on how to actually write all that’s been happening because all the stuff keeps happening!!!… one day… our life will slow.. and when it does…

Sunday, September 19th
Joe really doesn’t function well prior to say… 8am…

TIME TO GET UP! 4AM... RACE DAY!

Today was the ING Philly Half Marathon (13.1 miles) and somehow I convinced Joe that it was fun.. and that he should do it with me… (SUCKER)..

We arrived in Philly around 6am, parked and started our trek to the start… thankfully only 8 blocks away and we got there early enough to christen the port-o-pots, and oh yeah.. watch the sunrise from the art museum steps…

Life was in fact …Good..!

OK...time to line up… 20,000 people in 22 or so corrals.. thankfully we are near the front!.. Joe in corral 4… I corral 5… then off we go… yeahhhh.... running free... free...FREE.. and strong.. strong.. STRONG!... ain't no one stopping me....I ... AM...

....... Freaking tired as shit!... by mile 5… I was done.. toast.. finis... my legs felt like someone had beaten them and were just hollow shells attached to my dead carcass... and then D-mn .. "Hey"... um.. "Hello".. (my friend Denise had just caught up to me)...

[Denise is my running buddy… she and I are great competitive friends..in fact best friends... we sometimes train together, race together, work together and well I beat her last year at this race by like 11 seconds..and well HOW DID SHE CATCH ME!!?]....

I am thinking... calculating... she was suppose to be in the corral behind me..which by the way should have gone off 3 minutes later than me....thus I SHOULD HAVE HAD A 3 min lead!...Calculating that I just ran a 38 min 5 miler.. what did she just run a 35 min 5 miler!!!??? HMPH!!

I tried to ignore her… perhaps she would just go away.. but she would NOT.... I couldn’t shake her.. ...I couldn’t … and well... so it began... we ran together to the finish....

[BTW I come to find out later.. conveniently ...she failed to mention the fact she changed corrals.. so she was NOT 3 minutes behind me and thus when she caught up to me... she didn't have a 3 min lead... she started in my corral and only had a 30 seconds lead... DUDE... !! ]

Good tactical maneuver on her part!..hmmm...had I known... would I have tried to take her out? ..hmmm.. She swears she did tell me...when we were running.. that she had changed corrals... the fact I had ear phones in.. well... today was not about the win but about the friendship... she could have easily taken me out .. but didn't.. in fact she slowed at times to stay with me when she saw I was hurting...and I with her...

She was hurting from her previous day’s flag football with "the Amazons" and I from Saturday's overall female 5K win… so between us …pulling each other… and stubborn persistence (in not letting the other get ahead)… we managed to bring in the last 8 miles of the race…..together… finishing in 1 hour and 52 minutes… (around an 8.30 pace).. not too shabby for two 40 somethings…

Joe ran a blistering 1 hour and 44 minutes (around an 8 min pace)..which just goes to prove that he should have taken this up years ago… this running stuff… he is a natural. With no speed work and on tired legs to pull that... I have to admit that he showed really great restraint in not punching the punk who pushed passed him during the race and then later when Joe got ahead of him, the punk spit on his back.. I tell you… Joe is SOO much the better man… because I would have been arrested… for sure…

Joe waited for me at the finish… I tell you… nothing is better than that.. seeing him at the finish... unless of course it's me waiting for him..

Dad - An Inspiration

THE RUNNER.....
Everyone has goals....some more than others...others more than some... but everyone has something they want to achieve.... then again...

Some of us achieve more...this is his story....about a man.... who had the strength and willpower to overcome two heart attacks, quit a smoking habit of 45 years and rebuild his life.

For anyone who has overcome an addiction, you understand the utter determination, dedication and strength it takes to win. To start from scratch and to rebuild your body from the utter core up... to take years of excess and shave it away...

5 years ago... my father had a heart attack...then another....

...the family core unit was disabled...and we didn’t know what we would do... without our dad...

Life never asked him what he wanted... but he told it ..his goal was to live...and so he did..... a stint or two later, a new lease on life, and months and months of rebuilding......of frustration, disappointments and setbacks.... of progress, success, and enlightenment.....it started with a walk... and then one day ...a run.

He ran through the cold, wet, and snowy winters......he ran through the hot, humid summers.... he ran through rain and wind storms...He ran after falling, bruised and bloody ....and he ran while his soul hurt when the love of his life was diagnosed with lung cancer. My dad ran to LIVE!

My dad the RUNNER!

PS: Dad just completed his first EVER 5K race (3.1 miles) at age 65, five years after two heart attacks, and just learning how to run....CONGRATULATIONS DAD!

Furnace 666

DREAM RIDE 2010?

So really... you can’t take responsibility for people who willfully sign up to do something.. of their own free will.. right?

The Dream Ride Lancaster Century.... a spectacular 100 miles of elevationious changes, in 100 degree heat..was truly one of the most entertaining, scenic and challenging courses in the area....

And with this year’s inferno temperatures, even Satan himself watched from his shaded stoop shaking his head at the handful of knuckleheads attempting this ride.

Sometimes.. just sometimes....you meet people in your life that make you realize that...if you were to go to war... you would want them on your side....three of those people were with me today...

Joe, Denise, and Jim.

The day started off at 4am and it’s already 80 degrees.. the expected high was around 100 with heat indexes well above that. At 100 does it really matter what the heat index is?? !

We arrived at the start and started loading my bike at the amazement of people who asked if we or excuse me I... was going on a coast to coast tour.. so yes ok..I pack enough so that if I were perhaps to get lost for a couple of days.. I would be SELF SUFFICIENT..BUT HECK...I was a Girl Scout you know.. prepared!!!

We were on the road by 6:25am.. with a few banters back and forth of who was leading and which way we were going and then laughter and giggles and joyful abounds, sprints and smiles.. and happiness... for the first 30 miles..

So listen.. I tell you the first really big climb is around mile 43... and dude I need a really bigger set of lungs.. legs and a motor...how do they do that!?... Joe and Denise, up they go......damn light SKINNY people...heat.. heat..D-MN Its hoT... and try and BREATH.....legs... are... starting ... to ..seize.. up... up ... and up..

I am going to fall the F- OVER.... I get to the top...out.. of ... breath... gasping....Joe and Denise waiting for Jim and I....I tell them... through gasps that I think Jim was helping an ole man...

See smart Wendy kept Jim BEHIND her ....well at least on some of the hills... just in case I fell backwards.. you know so he could catch me...

So Jim.. the good Samaritan... STOPS in the middle of the GIANT hill to help a man with directions...... and then has to regain momentum just to make it back up... dude.. you deserve a medal for that one... hey and by the way... did ya notice that since Joe and Denise got up those blasted hills before us they got to rest a bit waiting for us!?.. and then didn’t let us rest.> WTF!... Jim mumbled to me that was some hill... and like YEAH!!...

You know when you are at the point in the hill when your legs seize up... you really have only two choices.. either stop and walk a bit or fall over.. I took the later... I got off my bike a few more times this year than last.. but I figured since it was now hovering over 90 degrees ... well that was acceptable.......

Then there was music... we have GOT to keep this Jim man around... I am like where the heck is that music coming from???......Jim is like our own sound man.... these droids...

So a little over the half way point ..rest stop... mileage is 66.66.... NO SHIT... told you when I said it was the Furnace 666..think I was kidding!?.. ....the ice packs they gave us ... were truly delightful.

Sometimes the reason you do something is not always the reason you end it.

Each of us had our individual reasons for doing the ride today... whether for training, time to think, for exercise, or just to say we did it, whatever the reason I know I needed to do this for my training... ..
what Joe, Denise, and Jim did it for.. I don’t know.. they would have to say... but what I do know.. this ride not only tested my mental strength it also tested Joe, Denise, and Jim’s mental strength.

At mile 80....MILE 80...Jim made mention that he could not go on..we all felt it.. Jim just vocalized it.... he was feeling extreme discomfort, pain in the legs, said he pulled something and that he was done.

I looked at him and not seeing any bones sticking out... said.. "NO you’re not"....

He said, "OH REALLY, I think I am.". .....I was a bit quiet... not sure how to motivate someone at this point who has done more than they ever have in their life... but I looked at him.. and there still was soo much fire left... I could feel it...

"Get something to drink... eat....rest a bit"...

Of course I didn’t think he would actually listen. I mean NO ONE.. really listens to me.. about the good stuff that is.. BUT...when I said to rest..I didn’t MEAN LAY DOWN AND DIE...

I marched myself over and told him in no uncertain terms that he was to get his fat lazy ass up and that if he needed me to massage his leg I would...that he had only 20 miles to go and that he could do it ...in his freaking sleep...!!

Perhaps I should feel offended that my massage offer didn’t even muster even a twitch of his finger...as Jim made NO ATTEMPT to acknowledge my existence.

NOW before you all go thinking I’m the epitome of hell..... I knew that if he dropped out now... he would regret it forever... and unless he was broken he could finish... I KNEW HE COULD... he just had to know he could.. ..


You can’t teach what he learned... how to quiet those demons..you have to be a person of utter superior strength internally and externally to make those demons STOP... those demons that say.. my legs are shot, I can’t go on.. I am tired, why am I doing this any way, I’m too old, too slow, too whatever... Jim beat those demons today.....

But let’s go back a bit.. so as Jim is laying there I tell him and Joe... that us gals (Denise and I) are going ahead... not waiting...

I was hoping I knew Jim as well as I did.. that he would see that yes its DREADFULLY hot.. UNGODLY HOT....and YES he should be in pain.. JEEZ US!!!.. its 100 miles... and that if he wasn’t in pain then he hadn’t done enough... and YES two gals are going ahead.. and he is sitting in the shade...

I knew... he would get his helmet back on and he and Joe would go on.... we didn’t see him do this.. but I knew he would... I knew he would be coming for us..

Of course Denise and I did have a chuckle about 5 miles down the road when we thought of ... what if one of us gets a flat tire?.. you know damn well the guys will pass us with their middle fingers in the air... and that would make us smile...

The gals brought in the last 20 miles... and yes happy... claps when we finished.. not sure if because THANK GOD they are finally done or WOW impressive that they did it.. either case .. it was nice... even the comment.. they are...gurls..... Denise and I finished at 3:45pm.

Joe and Jim showed up about 20 minutes later.. and I had the biggest smile on my face... because I KNEW THEY COULD DO IT... no one quits on my watch...

Although, Joe didn’t speak to me for about 20 minutes.. it wasn’t because he was mad...he was just physically UNABLE to speak..... and not sure if the temps ended up being 99 or 100 degrees and the index being like 110 or something ... did it matter?....with 9 hours on the road... 5,000 calories burned...and god knows how many elevation changes..

If I had to go to war.. I’m taking Joe, Denise, and Jim with me...

Smart Devices - Mom's Radiation

SMART.......

I am ....... A SMART GAL....and can easily understand simple technology.. UM.....W-R-O-N-G....because me and the Droid X have been at WAR...

See my beloved Blackberry had done it's time and I thought how cool...I'll upgraded ...to the new Droid X.. looks like a gem...

NOT...!!!!!!!
Of course it was my mistake to change phones the night before my mother had to go in for a major radiation procedure not thinking that OMG I may not know how to use the phone...

Like I said I’M a SMART GAL. ... not only did it take me 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it on.. I am still trying to figure out how to actually answer the blasted thing!...

Tears... and more tears... not only did I somehow mistakenly turn on the Querky key board(or whatever the heck that is) ..and every time I type..jibberish..and pinging...and STOP SAYING..D-R-O-I-D!!!...

STUPID F-CKING MACHINE!!!!!!!!!

SHUT UP.......STOP With THE .......I couldn’t use the phone to tell Joe I couldn’t type.... and I couldn’t type to let him know I couldn’t type..and I was staying at the parent’s house so I could drive them into philly in the am...AND OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The morning came fast.. wake by 4 am....through puffy eyes off we go to Philly... we all held our breath a bit..wondering what the day would bring.. Would the MRI show new stuff in the brain?.. If so...how would that impact mom.?... How long would the procedure actually take?...would she remember my name!??....... so many unknowns... and so much thinking....AND.. what is that smell???

We are cruising down Route 76 at 5am in the morning and I smell peppermint... sniff sniff... I look at mom......MOM, what's you doing?

Mom says, “I’m sucking on a chicklet”...

“MOM.. you are not suppose to have anything to eat or drink!”

Dad pipes in, “SUZIE so help me god if they don’t allow you to have that procedure today because you are sucking on a chicklet.......”

Mom, “ I’ll do what I d-mn well please”

....so not going to say not one more word.......

WE made it to Philly and checked in .. now to wait.....wait for the word on what mom’s newest brain MRI would show... the wait.. is sooo utterly .. horrific... and then the nurse came...

The MRI showed no new lesions, and they would just do a clean up around removed tumor and then recovery and she can go home. I realized I was holding my breath because now I could breathe....and thank you GOD for this....

The nurse brought us to mom so we could visit briefly with her before the procedure..when we walked in the room, she had this metal cage screwed into her freaking skull.. jeez us...!!!

She looked like Darth Vader (when he removed his helmet)... GOD BLESS MOM!!!!.... so dad is like ...get her picture so she can see it... and I tell him I can’t figure out how to use the phone...let alone take a picture..

So as mom is laying there with the helmet thing on her head... dad and I are fumbling around with the phone.. .try this... no that doesn't work.. try this... ugh.. I can't get it.... mom is watching us... and finally says, “GEE...THANKS guys for coming”..

OH sorry mommy.. kiss kiss... now smile..CLICK....... (NOTE: this is NOT a picture of mom....)
http://www.pennmedicine.org/neuro/gammaknife/video.html
SO I swear I will never post her pic ... and I swear there is something really mentally wrong with our family.....

Now both our phones are dead... and we didn’t bring the chargers... and.....UGH...!!!

BUT THE BEST THING OF ALL IS.....Moms procedure went really well, and with her eternal great spirit... we got her home and out of philly before rush hour...

GOD BLESS MOM!

Hate the Droid by the way............

GEARING UP

So I'm gearing up for a couple of interesting days..

Friday, July 23rd
I will be taking mom and dad into Philly so Mom can get her radiation treatment. The procedure is called the Gamma Knife.

Which is a highly advanced machine that delivers a powerful
dose of radiation to a precise target in the brain. Patients experience little or no discomfort during the procedure, usually go home the same day, and are generally able to resume normal activities almost immediately.

This treatment is suppose to eradicate any left over lung cancer cells in the brain. We have to be there by 6AM… which of course means leaving for Philly tomorrow by 4:30AM ….and then mom having to stick her head in a machine and get zapped for a few hours... .MOM, YOU ARE MY HERO!!

Saturday, July 24th
Is the DreamRide 100 Miler Bike Century.. it's now suppose to be 99 degrees.. YES I think that's just really really WRONG... I mean with the heat index.. what's that? 115? ..Did I say I was interested in doing the Furnace 666? ..

Meeting Jim and Denise in Lancaster around 6AM... which means leaving the house at 4:30AM... and UGH.. WTF!... BTW.. how much water CAN you haul... ? Perhaps I should get a camel...I figure we will be cooked by noon and anything we post.. well just be kind to us...

Sunday, July 25th
Camper leaves at 9AM… so that means all the clothes, gear, bikes, kayaks, and CAT.. has to be packed and in the truck by 9AM….Dad and Mom will be ready to leave at same time… um slight problem ... I signed up to compete in the Keystone Games in York, PA…a couple hours away... just doing a couple events… like the 3000m, 1500m, 400M, 200M, and the Javelin throw.. so Joe can handle the camper himself.. right... ???....UM yeah.. UM YEAH…!!!... I'll let you know THAT day if Joe just binds me up and throws me in the truck.

.. who likes reality...?

The Duffy Mastripolito Camping at the beach excursion starts in 3 days..................

Dream Ride Lancaster - Saturday 7/24/10

On Saturday, July 24th, Joe, Denise, Jim, and I will be riding what I consider to be one of the most fun.. and HARDEST 100 Mile Bike Rides in the area.

It’s not necessarily the distance that’s hard, I mean that's hard in itself.. 100 miles on a bike in 6-7 hours...yeah your hinny will hurt.. but it’s MORE so because of the elevation changes, and the couple of STRAIGHT UP hills… that make me want to cry.. as I PUSH (walk) my bike up them... yeah.. Joe has NEVER had to walk his bike up.. but I can honestly say... I have, on two of the hills... had to... if I didn't.. I would have fallen flat over and just laid in the street to die...

OH YEAH and the fact that this particular bike ride is usually in mid July and it's HOT doesn't help..but I just love the course... the countryside is beautiful..limited yuppies in their elitist vehicles talking on cell phones running us over..not much to worry about, except those d-mn hills... (disclaimer: oh yeah the occasional farmer in his combine - who by the way looked awfully big in the middle of the road to me as a tiny biker)... well there we go.. I just checked the weather and its suppose to be 96 degrees on Saturday… holy sh-t and a half…

This will be the third time that Joe and I will do this Bike Century (100 miler) and the second time that Denise has… and Jim being the newbie… well hopefully he can put up with us for 7 hours! I wonder if I should wear the camera sunglasses... this may make for some great video play backs..

The 15th Annual Dream Ride Lancaster - J uly 24, 2010

Our bicycle tours will take you through the rolling countryside of Western and Northwestern Lancaster County with continuous views of preserved farmland, some covered bridges and the less traveled country roads.Rides start between 6:00AM-6:30AM (depending on fog) and usually finish around 6:00PM. Day-of Registration begins at 5:15 AM.
http://www.dreamrideprojects.org/BicyclingEvents.html#Dream_Ride_Lancaster