Swine Flu Reaches Utah!

Hee Hee!

R.I.P. Frankie Manning

I am heartbroken to announce the passing of my teacher, mentor and friend Frankie Manning. He was less than a month away of celebrating his 95th birthday.

I had the honor of knowing, learning, performing and teaching with him for 13 years. He was a humble and talented man with a heart of gold, an infectious laugh, he gave great hugs, and had (what seemed to me) endless energy for a man of his age. I will miss him greatly!

Here is a sample of Frankie in 1941. The greatest Lindy Hop of all time! Frankie is in the overalls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTg5V2oA_hY

Happy Birthday David!!!

Yesterday David turned 37 (I didn't have time to blog yesterday)!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

Zoe's Summer Haircut, Oh! The Cuteness!!!

Sweet!!!

I Finished!!!

Well I did it! I finished my first full marathon yesterday! My sister and I got up at 4:00am, ate breakfast, got dressed and were out the door. There was a lot of traffic downtown so by the time we got parked, on the train to the start and checked out gear we had 30 seconds to get to the start.



My sister was doing the 1/2 so when the gun went off, we hugged and said good bye. I started off with my friends Teresa and Jim, both experienced marathoners. I stayed with them for the first couple of miles and decided to back off as the pace was too fast for me and my bum knees.


I felt great for the first 9 miles, then like clockwork, the right knee started to hurt at mile 10. I tried to stay positive. I found a grassy spot on the side of the road sat down and stretched it out. I don't know if it was the stretching or the little girl who told me that I was to pretty to be in the race, but the pain was relieved for a while.
I made it through the first 1/2 and thought it's all downhill from here. I started hitting the wall at mile 18, but got over it pretty quick. Then came mile 20. My legs started cramping so bad, I had to stop a guy standing in front of his house if he had any salt. He brought out a salt shaker and I thanked him and poured salt into my Gatorade. I had read in Runner's World that salt helps in cramping, and it did.


The last 6 miles were really hard. My longest training run to that point was 18 miles (due to my knee trouble). I struggled with leg cramps and sore knees the entire 6 miles. When I would stop and walk, my legs got stiffer and the pain got worse, go I had to keep moving as much as possible. Once I saw the Gateway (where the finish was) I prayed for strength. When I got to the corner, I saw Jim, Jen, Teresa and Bob cheering for me. Once I turned the corner, David and my sister were there cheering. When I got to the chute, David and my sister ran the last 100 yards with me through the finish! It was great!

After crying for about a minute I went right to the aid stations for ice packs!

David and I at the Finish!

Me and my sister sportin' our new "Bling"!

Tomorrow I Run My First Marathon!!!

Yikes!! I decided (after talking with the race staff) not to do the early start. Since my sister is doing the 1/2, she and I will start and run the first 6-7 miles together with my group before the course splits off.

Today I am trying to keep healing/positive thoughts in my head. I came across this and could not get anymore inspired.

READ THIS BRIEF STORY BEFORE WATCHING THE SHORT VIDEO: A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?' The father who, despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'. They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.' To which, his father said 'Yes' too. For those who don't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86kilometer)ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island, Hawaii. Father and son went on to complete the race together.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8cf08faca5dd9ea45513

26.2 It Is (I Think)!

Well after Saturday's run, I have decided to go ahead and attempt to run the Salt Lake City Marathon on Saturday. My knees felt great on Saturday and I have been good about keeping up with my icing and exercises.

My came to my decision like this:

1) I already paid for the full.

2) I must get a 20+ mile run in before San Diego and I would rather do it with 12,000 people than alone.

3) SLC offers the option of an early start so I can slow down, walk or stop and stretch if I need to without the pressure of exceeding the 6 hour time limit (I hope to finish in 5 hours if everything is OK, but if my knees act up, I might have to crawl in and the extra hour will be helpful).

4) My sister is flying all the way from Atlanta to see me do my first marathon.

5) Pride

Pray for me!!

Marathon Training Week 24!

Well, because of my ITBS this last month of training has been a wash. I have not logged any mileage over 18 miles and had to take a whole week off after the cortisone shots. The weather here has not helped either.

Saturday, I got up for my early run with the group, but was feeling a little under the weather. I looked out and saw the rain/snow mix and decided to bag it and try to run the next day. Sunday, I still felt sick but it was such a nice day, I decided to go for it anyway. I got to the parkway at 8:00am and the sun was shining. I started out slow as this was the first run since the shots.

I was tired and winded earlier in the run than normal, but I attribute that to not running in a week and being sick. I went 5 miles out and decided to turn back, that would make 10 miles when I got back to my car (my knees usually start hurting around 10 miles so I would rather be close to where I started just in case). My right knee started to get a little sore, so I decided not to push it and stop at 10 miles. That is until I went to get in my car and realized my car key had fallen out of my spibelt when I took my phone out to check the time!

I started back up the path asking every person I saw coming towards me if they had seen a car key. Once I got about a 1/2 mile up the path, people I asked had actually seen it further back. That was a relief, but I wasn't sure how far back I was going to have to go. 2 miles back up the path I found it attached to a stick laying on the center yellow line of the path (runners really look out for each other I'm finding out)! Then it was another 2 miles back to my car. I was ready to stop at that point and I felt really sore and tired. So, I ended up doing 14 miles.

The best part was when I got home our friend Jody (a GREAT massage therapist) was in town for the weekend and was at our house playing Guitar Hero with David. He set up his table, put the hot stones on, and gave me the best massage ever! It was 90 minutes of heaven!

The marathon is a week from Saturday. I still don't know if I will do the full or bump down to the 1/2. I will decide the day before.