Team 'Ohana--No One Left Behind: The Continuing Adventures

[FFigawi]

Congrats Maria! That's great. You should be quite proud of him.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Congrats Maria! That's great. You should be quite proud of him.

Thanks! We are so excited --- I can barely contain myself! I don't think I've been this over the moon since he was born

And here's the funny part -- we have a "family" appointment at the dentist for our 6 mos checkup this evening. I always book them back to back so I know everyone has been. Anyway, my ds said he's celebrating by going to the dentist, what's wrong with this picture?

I'm going to start planning something fabulous as a real celebration -- It's going to be our summer vacation, so I'm going to start thinking this weekend!

Maria

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Congrats on that great news, Maria!!!

 

[MouseDogMom]

Congratulations Maria! You have every reason to be proud!

Jackie

 

[laughinplace199]

A quick post this AM -- I realize Julie is the only one who may get this -- Our family is absolutely ecstatic this morning! Yesterday afternoon we received notification ds has been accepted into Boston Latin School! It is highly competitive, and we feel like we've been working for 9 months to get him in -- it's like a pregnancy! Less than 25% of applicants were accepted, we are so proud of ds! He spent 3 months studying for the exam, and he also maintained an A+ average the entire time (which you kind of have to do to get in).

Right now, I can do the happy dance without any guilt -- none of the other 6th graders in his school were eligible since they are not residents of the City. Once we start to hear about his other friends and whether they made it or not, I'll probably have a bit of "survivor's guilt". Anyway, just sending out very happy vibes this morning!

Maria

Maria - I haven't been around here much lately, so I just saw this. I am sooooooooo happy for you (and your DS)! That is fantastic! You must be so proud. I hope to be in your shoes next year when DD takes the test. She's taking a test prep course this summer and another one in the fall, so hopefully that will help.

Congrats to your DS, you, & Dennis!

 

[laughinplace199]

Oh man, it is late and it's quite a week, but I wanted to check in. There's a lot of stuff on my plate already this week and then I get a couple of text messages from my dad:

My grandfather is in the hospital tonight with what seems to be congestive heart failure. It's apparently not a huge crisis and the doctors say they think they're going to be able to get him straightened out, but any prayers you can spare would still certainly be appreciated. He had his first heart attack when I was a little girl, but he's a great old guy. It's a miracle he's lived this long and the reason he has is because of his dedication to his post-heart-surgery diet and regular activity.

I'm also coaching (trying to coach) over at the BL thread. It's not as crazy as it was, but I'm still struggling to keep up. I hope you'll forgive me for not catching up better over here tonight. I think I need to get some sleep.

Corinna - and prayers being sent to you for your grandfather. i hope everything turns out ok.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Maria - I haven't been around here much lately, so I just saw this. I am sooooooooo happy for you (and your DS)! That is fantastic! You must be so proud. I hope to be in your shoes next year when DD takes the test. She's taking a test prep course this summer and another one in the fall, so hopefully that will help.

Congrats to your DS, you, & Dennis!

Thanks, Julie! DS went to the Boston Tutoring Center, and I really think it made all the difference. Another one I've heard of with incredible success is Patricia Bench -- I'm sure your DD will do great, whatever test prep you do!

Maria

 

[tiberius]

Anyway, my ds said he's celebrating by going to the dentist, what's wrong with this picture?

Maybe you can celebrate his acceptance to Harvard one day with a wisdom tooth extraction.
In any case, congrats and enjoy the good times!!!

 

[laughinplace199]

Thanks, Julie! DS went to the Boston Tutoring Center, and I really think it made all the difference. Another one I've heard of with incredible success is Patricia Bench -- I'm sure your DD will do great, whatever test prep you do!

Maria

There's a Boston Tutoring Center a stone's throw from my house. Do they have more than one location? DD's school offers summer and fall programs for test prep. I have been trying to decide if that's the best route for her. Maybe I will check out Boston Tutoring Center as well. Were you happy with it? I've heard good things about Pat Bench also, but I think I've missed the boat there. I've heard that her spaces fill up fast. Such stress for getting into 7th grade! When I was that age, there was nothing like this. My mom just told me on the day of the test that I was taking the Latin exam.

 

[chimera]

Congratulations, Maria!

Hope your grandfather heals up soon, Corinna!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

There's a Boston Tutoring Center a stone's throw from my house. Do they have more than one location? DD's school offers summer and fall programs for test prep. I have been trying to decide if that's the best route for her. Maybe I will check out Boston Tutoring Center as well. Were you happy with it? I've heard good things about Pat Bench also, but I think I've missed the boat there. I've heard that her spaces fill up fast. Such stress for getting into 7th grade! When I was that age, there was nothing like this. My mom just told me on the day of the test that I was taking the Latin exam.

There's only one location -- and yes, we drove to W. Roxbury two nights a week from July until November -- but we knew it would be well worth it! We are happy, and consider it money well-spent. There wasn't anything in our part of the city that we thought was even comparable, so we were willing to make the trek. Your school program might be fantastic -- if a lot of kids from the school get in, then it obviously works. Neither dh nor I are from Boston, when we were going into 7th grade we just got on the bus and showed up at the junior high. That was stressful enough! I'm from the midwest, and I really didn't even get the concept of the ACT (we take that instead of the SAT) being crucial to my future. I got lucky and did well enough to be a Pershing Scholar (it's like the John and Abigail Adams scholarship, but for Missouri and it also includes room and board). There is just an entire different mindset out here, and I agree, much more pressure on the kids!

Anyway, the BTC is run by Anne Yount, who has a BL graduate this year! Her classes fill fairly quickly, too, so you might want to look into it sooner rather than later. The classes were pretty small (I think there were 5 kids total in ds's math class). She'll do a pretest where they see if she needs math or reading or both. DS needed math and was borderline for reading. We decided to just do both, and we're glad we did. His vocabulary has increased tremendously, and he was floating through 6th grade math this year because he'd already had the concepts.

I think BTC was the difference in him getting into Latin School as opposed to Latin Academy -- which does have the same curriculum, but I would not be wild about sending my ds to Dudley every day (I'm not sure I could have done it)...so again, for us, well worth it! On the bright side, the Catholic school kids just tend to do better on the test -- 58% of last year's entering class came from outside of Boston Public Schools, and that's with all the programs they provide to get their kids in...

Also, Anne will tell you their grades in math and English are really important. If she isn't already getting A+s, you need to try to get her to that point for the final grades from 5th grade and 1st semester for 6th. These are the only grades that count for the GPA which is also part of the rank calculation. That's everything I know!

Maria

 

[momoftwogirls]

Nicole – Good luck with the shoe dilemma. Good advice about going to get fitted by a different person this time. Buy your first pair at the store so that you can utilize the 30 day return policy. The last two pairs that I have found that work for me have both been discontinued. I need to start the process all over again.

Corinna – You are one busy girl. Your theatre adventures always sound like so much fun. Sending lots of prayers and good wishes to your grandfather and family. He sounds like a very strong man.

Mandy – This is a great group of WISHers here!

Jackie – I hope you enjoy Tobacco Road. Wish I could have joined you for dinner tonight. Mike said that he enjoyed seeing everyone. Thanks for organizing it!

John – Puppy class??? Do you have a new pup?

JenB – I hope you had fun at the “Get Your Rear in Gear” race. I’m looking into the Rutgers race. I can’t tell from the website if it close to closing out or not. Do you have any recommendations on hotels? I need to estimate the total cost before I make a commitment.

JenL – Sorry that you’ve had a crazy week. I hate computer problems. At least you and Paul are knowledgeable in the area…when something happens here I’m at a complete loss. Technology is not my friend.

Richard – Sorry work and home life have been hectic for you. Hope that you have still been able to get some runs in. Do you have upcoming races?

Kerry – I’m glad your running plan is working out for you. Interesting about the no run week 3. Enjoy that ski trip!

Mel – where is your race at this weekend? I’m jealous of the Irish feast you had. It sounds yummy. I wish we would have celebrated Pi day. My DD13 always celebrates it at school but since it was on a Sunday this year she said they “rescheduled” it for March 26.

Maria – that super relaxation yoga sound interesting. I’ve never taken a yoga class before but never imagined that there would be classes where you got under a blanket and napped.
Congrats to your son on getting accepted into the Boston Latin School. You should be very proud. Honestly, I didn’t know what it was but when I googled it I was very impressed. What a great school! I was surprised to read that it is part of the public school system in Boston. It sounds like a very challenging program for the students.

Christine – I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to Italy! I would love to see pictures. Someday I will go there…

I’m a little disappointed because I’m at home tonight instead of in NC. I was suppose to do the Tobacco Road half marathon tomorrow but had to stay home with a sick child. Actually it’s probably for the best, my legs are still a little bit sore from the Princess. Mike was reluctant to go without me but I didn’t see any sense in both of us missing the race. He’s doing the full marathon tomorrow as a training run for his 50-mile race next month.

Happy Spring everyone!

 

[FFigawi]

John – Puppy class??? Do you have a new pup?

Happy Spring everyone!

Yes, we got her at the end of January. She's growing like a weed, all legs right now. Here are some pictures from when she was cuter.

As for spring, I'm not really sure it's here. My friends in Dallas got 5" of snow last night, and it was 35 when I woke up this morning. Ugh.

 

[MouseDogMom]

Richard - Thinking of you today. Give Amanda a hug for me.

Corinna - Hope your grandfather is continuing to improve.

Kathy - We missed you at dinner. I would have liked to talk to Mike more. Seemed like it was a guys vs girls seating - Bill, Mike, Ted, and Chester were at one end; Lily, Wendy, and I were at the other end. It probably worked out well, since Bill always feels left out at WISH gatherings, and now he actually knows some of the crowd! As for Mike running the marathon as a training run for the ultra, one of the pace group leaders told us that the pace group leader for the 4:00 group was running it as a taper run for his 100 mile ultra in 3 weeks! Seems to be a trend here...

As for me... I PR'd today. My old PR was 2:49:13, and I ran Tobacco Road today in 2:29:15! I still can't believe the time, and suspect I will remain on cloud nine for a week or two. I had no expectations, but went out with one of our group leaders who was shooting for a 2:25. We decided his pace was a little ambitious, but we knew we needed to get in front of the 2:30 pace group since we were playing leapfrog with them on our run/walk breaks. So we passed them, skipped a walk break, and put some distance on them. My best running buddy and I were feeling strong, so we just kept picking up the pace on our run intervals until we realized that we were well on pace to break the 2:30 mark. I was so happy to show DH my Garmin when I crossed the finish line, although he said he wasn't surprised.
Anyway, it was a great race, minus a few organizational details that I'll overlook for an inaugural race. And it was great to see the WISH crowd both for dinner and at the race.

Jackie

 

[chimera]

WTG Jackie!! That's a fabulous time!!

Corinna...how's your grandfather?

John...Harlow is a cutie pup!

I did the inaugural FL Beaches Halfathon this morning up in St. Pete. As for a PR, I had it, I HAD it...I HAD IT...until my right calf clenched up at mile 11.5. I was totally within PR range until that happened. I have NEVER had a leg cramp during a race. And I had it...I did <sniff>. I tried to keep going, but had to pull off to the side and rub it out for a minute. I babied it the remainder of the race, even was in the parking lot at 2:44 (I need to beat 2:45:35 for PR), but couldn't run. It cramped up again going into the finish chute. The little volunteer guy was trying to cut my chip off and I was begging him to hurry because it was cramping. Pooh!

But it was a great race! If any of you are interested in a spring or fall half, flroadraces.com. The entire course is on a recreational island in Tampa Bay. We had never been there before, but it was gorgeous. The race course was along the bike/run path...no cars or traffic to deal with. Weather was fab...about 64 at the start but windy due to location and a cold front rolling in today. There was one part of the course that was open to the water (where the kiteboarders were out in the bay)...wind was so strong it blew me into the grass. Oh yeah, and it rained for about 2 or 3 miles of the course...but hey...it wasn't sleet.

My garmin time ended up about 2:46:50 and I was about 17 sec off clock time. I may have a problem with my chip time. There was an announcement when we were lining up to be sure we didn't step across the start pad because they were live...about 10 min after I'd already stepped over it to get in line.

Bad news was not enough medals. They had race-day registration so I imagine didn't plan for as many folks as signed up. And it wasn't long after I finished that they ran out. Another WISHer was about 5 min behind me and didn't get one and there were still quite a few folks out on the course.

I do have to say...it was a little weird to run a race with less than a 1000 people for a change...and not a single soul wearing a tutu or tiara.

 

[MouseDogMom]

Mel - Such a bummer! It sounds like a really great race, and I absolutely know you would have PR'd. Bad calf! There must be something going around - lots of people on the Lean Meaners thread are having calf issues, and I basically took the last couple of weeks off because I was nursing mine. But it behaved today, thankfully. I cramped at the end of City of Oaks a couple of years ago, but it was just as I crossed the finish line, and it was both calves. I don't think anything has ever hurt so much! I think you did a wonderful job making it to the finish; if only it would have let up just a little?

Still, you had a very respectable time, and enjoyed the race, and IT DIDN'T SLEET! Not a bad day, all in all!

Jackie

 

[FFigawi]

Great job Jackie! Way to go!

Mel, sorry you came so close and didn't get it. I know how frustrating that is. Still, and I'm sure this is hard to hear so soon after the race, you did finish and push through your discomfort. Lost of people would have given up and quit, so be proud of yourself for staying strong and finishing.

 

[tiberius]

Happy New Week Everyone!!! Ok, so I am not really excited but thought maybe if I acted like it my energy for the coming week would perk up. I'm coming off of a bummer of a training weekend where I hoped to really stretch out the bike distance, but rainstorms came in sooner than expected and I diud lees than half my hoped for distance (22 miles vs. 45-50 miles). Then Sunday I did about 3.7 miles on the elliptical instead of my 8 - 10 miles run due to a sore knee. Given all my stress last week, maybe a light weekend will work out better for me.


Jackie - Congrats on a great race and PR!! Thanks for thinking of us here. Amanda spent much of yesterday with Allison's family and seemed to me to have a good day (all things considered, anyway).

Mel - Ouch, so sorry that cramps prevented a PR. You were obviously having a good race to be that close to a PR, considering your cramping muscles. I think it's awesome that you still finished strong under those conditions. I see a new half PR coming up in your future.

John - Cute puppy photos are always a good thing.

I have a local 10K trail run coming up on 4/3 called the Muddy Trails 10K, which will also be my last hard training weekend before my 70.3 at the end of the month.

 

[momoftwogirls]

Just finished unpacking my suitcase that never went anywhere So sad


John – Love the pictures of Harlow. She looks so playful. No dogs allowed at our house…too many allergies.

Jackie – Congrats on the PR!!!!!! You had a great race. I’m disappointed I wasn’t able to come but mom duty comes first. Are you planning to do the race again next year?

Corinna – I hope your grandfather is continuing to feel better.

Mel – I’m sorry to hear about the cramping you experienced during your race. It definitely sounds like you would have had a PR if you didn’t have the calf issue. Maybe CMM will be the race for you!
I know exactly how you feel. I had a similar experience at the Richmond race in Nov. My calf cramped just after mile 11. Until this point I was having an amazing race. The last two plus miles were torture. Richmond has about a half mile downhill finish. I could not run at all. I had to walk across the finish line. Every time I tried to run I would cramp. It was very frustrating and painful.
Have you figured out what caused your cramping? I’m still unsure about mine.

Richard – Happy New Week to you too!!! I also had a disappointing weekend. I’m hoping this week brings better things for both of us!

My goals for the week:
Get to the running store to find new shoes
Eat better
Find a new spring race to add to my calendar for some motivation

Now back to cleaning and laundry

 

[jeanneg]

Jackie: WTG on that fabulous PR! To take 20 minutes off a half is totally inconceivable to me. No wonder you're on cloud nine! John and I were also so impressed with Bill and were thrilled to learn that he broke the 2-hour mark. We were not expecting him to be the first runner we saw and could not get over how FAST he was going. It's hard to believe this was the same person who struggled so hard with the marathon in '09! Please congratulate him for us.

Kathy: sorry we didn't get to see you, but totally understand about the mommy duties. Mike was another phenomenom at the race. I don't remember his exact time, but I know it was way under 4 hours!
WOW! Please congratulate him for us also.

Sorry we didn't meet up with everyone at the finish. By the time the last full marathon WISHer passed, we realized that all of the half marathoners had already crossed the line and since we were unable to park near the finish area, decided it was probably pointless to even try to hook up with you. We would have both loved to have been at the previous night's dinner, but this was unfortunately a very busy weekend for us and John was only home about 36 hours so it really ended up being a whirlwind.

Maria: congrats on your son's amazing accomplishment! You are another one who has every reason to feel proud! And celebrating by going to the dentist? He can do MY celebrating any time!

Mel: sorry you just missed getting a PR. Been there, done that and it stinks! It's even harder to take when you know it was so close, but that's also the good news......at least you know you're in the ballpark.

Corinna: sending pixie dust that your grand-dad is on the mend.

John: love the doggy! BTW, was that your house in the photos? We have the exact same wall color (bright gold) and tile floor....and also have red accents! great minds think alike.

Julie: great to hear from you!

Everyone else:

Off to work on my kids' taxes......