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

[jeanneg]

LORD HAVE MERCY......it's not completely official yet, but I just found out that before the year is over another one of my children will be either married or almost married. (I really need a fainting smilie!) Someone please pick me up off the floor.
And please, not a word of this on Facebook.....My future daughter-in-law is one of my FB friends and I'm not sure at this point how much of a surprise it's supposed to be.

 

[laughinplace199]

LORD HAVE MERCY......it's not completely official yet, but I just found out that before the year is over another one of my children will be either married or almost married. (I really need a fainting smilie!) Someone please pick me up off the floor.
And please, not a word of this on Facebook.....My future daughter-in-law is one of my FB friends and I'm not sure at this point how much of a surprise it's supposed to be.

Wow! You are going to be a busy woman (not that you weren't already with two weddings in the works)! Here is my unofficial congratulations to your unofficial news. How exciting!

 

[MouseDogMom]

LORD HAVE MERCY......it's not completely official yet, but I just found out that before the year is over another one of my children will be either married or almost married. (I really need a fainting smilie!) Someone please pick me up off the floor.
And please, not a word of this on Facebook.....My future daughter-in-law is one of my FB friends and I'm not sure at this point how much of a surprise it's supposed to be.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!

Look at it this way... you could get them all done in a year and then relax....

Congratulations, again!

Jackie

 

[laughinplace199]

Maria - Are there any good 5K's around here in spring or summer? Will you do the Honan race in Sept? I always intend to do that one and then something always gets in the way. How's the painting coming along?

Jackie - I totally get where you're coming from with spring cleaning leading to remodeling. I do things like that all the time, but always stopped short of any major work - until now. We've been dreaming about adding a family room and bathroom for a few years now, and I'm so happy it's finally almost done. Our house only had 1 bathroom, which just doesn't work for 5 people! Good luck with the 10 miler with your DD. I hope it goes well.

Richard - I can't even begin to imagine doing all of the training you've done. You certainly sound ready for your half ironman.

Corinna - Glad to hear that you survived opening weekend!

I did my 7 miler on Sat (sadly, the longest run I've had since the marathon). My old runner's knee kicked in at mile 5, but the pain wasn't too bad and I was able to just run through it. Now my right heel is bothering me for some reason. I am starting to feel really old with all of these aches and pains!

 

[corinnak]

Hi Cousins! How's it going?

Things are finally feeling more like normal where I am. I'm enjoying the week off from the show and finally feel like I have things back to sort of normal. There's food in the fridge. The kids are where they need to be and I get to read to them at night again, too.

So has anyone else ever heard of or done Active Metabolic Testing? They have it available at my YMCA - a machine called New Leaf. I had the test done yesterday - they use it to find where a person's own "training zones" are, among other things. The don't push it to VO2 Max, since there is no medical supvervision, but you do get to the VO2 "Peak." Whatever that means.

I was so intrigued, though. I have always kind of dismissed Heart Rate Zone training and this is why - Zone 1 and 2 seem totally useless. And they say you should spend more time in them, but then it's like...why??? There's no sweat!!! Wellllllllllll.....it turns out that my zone 1 and 2 are in a completely different place than I thought they were!

For instance, the trainer who was running our "fit club" figured out my heart rate zone estimates last month. Zone 1 is 92-110 - warm-up/recovery aerobic. Zone 2 - 110-128 more intense aerobic. According to the test yesterday, my personal Zone 1 is actually......142-152, zone 2 is 152-162. No wonder I felt like I was wasting my time in "Zone 1 and 2" before. I was!

Here's another: By the trainer's computation chart, 147-166 is zone 4 -high intesnity, anaerobic. For me, 166 is not even out of zone 3. I need to hit 174 to get to zone 4. It's no wonder I felt like I was better off not paying attention to the heart rate charts!!!

It was so interesting having this information in Spin class today. I have always felt that my legs have been the limiting factor in spin class. I push it as fast as I can during the sprints and I never get really out of breath. Today's results confirm this - I really couldn't have worked my legs any harder, but I spent most of the time in zone 1 and 2, with a few brief forays into zone 3. The instructor seemed to think we should be getting into zone 4 - and by the HR chart on the wall, I was, but by my own numbers, sorry nope. Maybe someday my legs will catch up.

Anyhow, if you ever have a chance to get one of these tests, in spite of the having to run on a TM with a freakish mask on, I can already say that I have found it to be a very useful bunch of information to have. I won't scoff at Zone 1 and 2 anymore!

 

[jeanneg]

I have a secret......I want the rest of my family to think that I have been so busy with the weddings that I have absolutely no time at all to train for the Wine & Dine. Afterall, I am ranked second from the bottom. Little do they know I have been secretly training and today I reached a new milestone: I ran (no walking at all) a 5K for the very first time! I had gotten up to 2.5 miles recently, but inspired by last night's episode of BL, I decided to go for the whole 5K distance. Piece of cake! Ssssshhhh.....I don't want anyone in my family to know....GAME ON!

Jackie: My daughter is also doing the MCM, but she is doing the full. We may decide to go cheer her on and hopefully catch you as well. What other WISHers are doing it? How is Bill doing....any bites?

Mel: awesome about your daughter performing at the new WDW parade!

Maria: don't worry....before you know it, your kids will be old enough to race with you and the Disney events are a great way to get them started.....shorter events....fabulous medals....they'll be hooked in no time!

OMG, my life is crazy. I just got my plane ticket for my daughter's bachelorette party which my other daughter is hosting in NYC! I was told it is not going to be raunchy....but we'll see about that!

 

[corinnak]

Jeanne - you are so tricky! You are going to surprise everyone!

I am thoroughly in shock over here right now. My kids have been attending a small private school since my now 5th grader was in Kindergarten. I just got a letter this afternoon that due to irreparable financial and enrollment issues, they can not even finish THIS school year. The last day of school will be Friday. THIS Friday. It's such a wonderful little school, it breaks my heart. And the fact that my youngest won't get a Kindergarten graduation, my oldest won't have his science fair or trip to Wolf Ridge...its disappointing. I don't even know what to do with them for the rest of the spring. If I should try to send them to another school, homeschool or start vacation early. The state requirements for instructional hours are fulfilled as of this Friday, but....that's a month and a half of school. Closer to 2 months, actually. <sigh>

 

[jeanneg]

Wow, Corinna, I am so sorry. That is truly a bummer....especially with the short notice. I wonder if it had something to do with taxes being due and they just didn't have the money to pay them. It sounds like a bad situation all around. I wonder if the faculty and support staff were also blindsided. Just terrible. So your kids have attended enough days to meet the requirements for the entire year? But have they completed the course outline? Probably not crucial in the elementary grades but still something to think about. Perhaps you could make sure they covered all the required material in their text-/work-books by homeschooling them unofficially. Wow, nothing like a little advance notice......

 

[MouseDogMom]

Corinna - I am so sorry! It is so stressful to have school issues, and I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to have it abruptly come to an end in the middle (or late-middle) of the year. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you and your family can find some solution that works for all of you.

Jeanne - You go girl! I've run the 5K distance exactly once without stopping, and am hoping for a miracle on the 24th when I run the Run for Our Heroes downtown. I'd love to be there in October to see your family's face when you rock your leg of the relay! I'm so excited that you may be in DC for MCM. There's a whole group from the BOT thread who are signed up, but most of them are faster than I expect to be. Matt's brewing a special batch of his home brewed beer to have at the finish line, but I have a feeling it will all be gone when I get there! Brenda and I are hoping for a 5:30, but Anita wants a 5:15... we'll see. Bill has no bites as of yet. He's gone to his mom's for the rest of the week to do odd jobs for her, and she'll pay cold hard cash, so I'm a single woman until Annie gets home on Friday.

Jackie

 

[corinnak]

I'm sure they did not finish the outline. We were going to transition my older son to another school next year regardless. I am going to see if they can take both boys for the remainder of the school year, and if not, we will consider other options. My younger son would be a real challenge to homeschool. He works well with his teachers, but me....it's all power struggles all the time.

The faculty and staff did not seem to know of this last week - they were talking about end of school year things like they were counting on them. End of year activities, trips, Kindergarten graduation. They are an amazing faculty and are reportedly finishing out the week without compensation so the kids will have enough instructional hours. Seems like the school just ran out of money. We knew they were struggling with the mortgage, cash flow and enrollment, and I thought there was a chance they'd close for next year, even after they said they were proceeding, given the pre-enrollment. But I never expected they would cut short THIS year.

 

[jeanneg]

Jackie: so you ARE doing the full....GREAT! First I thought I read you were doing the full and then someone commented it was just a half so I was all confused. You will rock it for sure!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Wow, Corrina...that is unbelievable. I know it must be stressful, but it sounds as though you have a good handle on the situation. and

Jeanne that is awesome about your secret training and the 5K Way to go!!! When is the Wine and Dine?

Julie You better listen to that pain and make sure it doesn't stick around. Congrats on the 7 miler!! I have not been doing much distance since the marathon either...and I have my walk to Columbus in 8 days!

Jackie I wish I had the time to sign up for all of the events you are doing! Good luck with your decisions. Hope your calves are better this week.

Corinna Congrats on your theater accomplishments. Your sets look awesome! Glad you have had time to get back into training! Hopefully the new schedule with your boys won't upset that.

Maria Cheeseburgers on the grill sound delicious! Hope you get to cook out again this weekend.

Richard I hope you enjoy your taper. Can you explain to me what a brick is?

Debra I hope things are on the upswing for you this week!!

 

[deekaypee]

Richard: Of course you're ready for your 70.3! You're a training machine. And I have to say, you blow the doors off every race you do IMO. I'm so impressed by you!

Maria: I do love a little light-hearted Merlin. There's not an Arthurian legend I won't consume. Plus Anthony Head--do wonder about the missing middle name--that's just good fantasy/sci-fi cross promotion. Okay, weird moment. My MIL emails me the other day, talking about Castle, saying the mannerisms/looks of one of the characters reminds her of me. Odd coinky-dink?

Corinna: Yay for surviving (and enjoying) your latest theatrical run! Woo hoo. You deserve your own light on off-off Broadway. They're lucky to have you. And I'm sure your Challenge Obesity 5K will go well and hope you break 27. If not, though, I know that milestone will come soon. Active Metabolic Testing sounds very useful for the hard-core athlete...like yourself! I'd love to get something like that done sometime and will look around & see if our local universities need guinea pigs. (No spare $ for extras right now, I'm afraid.).

I'm so sorry to hear about the closing of your DS' school. That's hard on everyone, and all the more heartbreaking when it's such a good school. I can't imagine being blindsided like that--even knowing about the financial troubles, who could have expected the school would have closed before the end of the year? Have you decided what to do yet?

Jackie: It certainly sounds as if your running group enables one another. A very good thing, IMO! I say that a "true" half fanatic would add another race--taunt, taunt. Of course, that may depend a lot on your schedule, your 5K goals, and all the other things on your plate. All of which I know you can handle! Tell Bill that I'm sending positive thoughts his way! (Oh, and what does a single woman do besides run??)

Jeanne: Holy SchaMOLEY! What great news, but a little dizzying! Congratulations. And DOUBLE congratulations on your secret 5K. You're going to knock everyone's running socks off! Now I'm off to FB....

Julie: WTG with powering through on your 7 miles. Yes, my body & I often have disagreements these days. It needs a good talking to, and unfortunately, like an adolescent, it's not listening to reason. I'm grounding it until it decides to behave & not giving me any problems.

Christine: Great to see you. The Wine & Dine is the first weekend of October, and will overlap with MNSSHP and the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Very clever, they are!

AFM: Food poisoning this week--I think. I seem to have a lot of symptoms that I don't associate with food poisoning, and not others that I do. But the upshot is, the bathroom is a close friend, food isn't, and I've lost 3 1/2 pounds since Monday. And no exercise. *sigh* I'm still not 100% but today is the first day that I feel a little bit hungry.

You know it's sad when DOOD asks me if I want him to go out & buy me ice cream and I just glare at him. (But really? Ice cream?? Did I just get my tonsils out? )

Anyway, I'm gonna catch a break here with the WO front soon. I just gotta. Right? Now, off to eye some potential breakfast-y foods & another nap.

 

[tiberius]

Hi all! I hope everyone is having a productive, if not also enjoyable, week! I'm very busy this week at work, but have definitely been productive. I'm going to try to get in a lunchtime swim for the first time in my wetsuit today...yeah, I should not have waited this long to try it out for the first time, but too late for that now.

Christine - A brick workout is a back to back workout of different activities, generally for triathlon training, such as swimming and then biking right after, or biking and then running, etc... This helps your tri training better simulate the real race you are training for. I have often heard the name comes from the way your feet feel like bricks when you start to run after a long bike ride.

Corinna - I love the Active Metabolic Testing experience you wrote of, it makes me want to look into it for myself. As for your school issues, I am so sorry I don't even know what to say, I know that is a big blow when you are trying hard to do the best for those kids. I remember when our local school district closed down a year round school program that our family used and loved and how that felt to us (and that was not even close to losing the whole school!!). I hope it works out for you guys and wish I knew something better to say..

Jeanne - We were trying to be playfully supportive of Jackie doing MCM after having claimed she was done with full marathons for the year. Sorry for the confusion.

Debra - You are indeed the flatterer, but then you would already know that flattery works well with me . (I do genuinely appreciate the support and encouragement from all my cousins!) It's a bit easier to blow the doors off a previous race when you are a few years more experienced and many pounds lighter than the previous effort.

 

[laughinplace199]

Hi Cousins.

Jeanne - WTG on running for 5K without walking! I love that you're doing this on the sly.

Corinna - I'm so sorry to hear about your kids' school closing. I can't even imagine how tough that is for everyone involved.

Christine - Good luck with your walk!

Debra - Sorry to hear about the food poisoning. Hope you're feeling better soon.

Recently, I had been much better about running (and posting ), but some lovely migraines have gotten in the way this week. I'm hoping to be back to normal (I use the term loosely ) by Saturday for my 8 miler.

 

[FFigawi]

You know it's sad when DOOD asks me if I want him to go out & buy me ice cream and I just glare at him. (But really? Ice cream?? Did I just get my tonsils out? )

You're turning down ice cream?? Isn't it a crime against humanity to turn down ice cream? I'm not sure we can tolerate you as an Ohana cousin if you're going to be engaging in this sort of behavior.

Yes, I'm back! Bigger and badder than ever. Well, no, not really, I'm just back. I survived my MIL's visit and the week from hell at work this week, and am now having a beer or three and catching up on all things WISH.

 

[jbucci]

John: Welcome back, glad you survived the MIL visit. House guests can be a bit draining, enjoy getting back to "normal".

Debra: I hope you feel better. I'm with John.... turning down ice cream is just plain wrong

Jeanne: Congrats on the soon to be third wedding/engagement. HUGE CONGRATS on the continuous running and *secret* training. That is an awesome accomplishment-- you are going to impress the *#$@ out of them in Oct. Good for you, keep it up.

Julie: Good luck with kick the headaches

Jackie: You should have a great time at MCM. I wanted to sign up too, but the fact that it falls on Halloween this year was a deal breaker.

Richard: Good luck at the 70.3. You've trained hard-- you can kick this one

Corinna: So sorry to hear about the school, makes things really tough when there is such a big life change with little warning. Great job on you awesome set work and theatrical endeavors. Have fun at your race today.

Maria: I finally caught up on some of my tivo stuff and have to say I'm starting to enjoy V, I hope they keep it around.

AFM: Life has been crazy as usual around here. We had friends come visit last weekend so it too a few days to get our house and lives back to normal, but it was great to see them and hang out a bit. Finally finished taxes and by some miracle will be getting a refund this year so of course have started planning our next few vacations now that we have "extra" money. I'm and getting ready for the Rutgers Half marathon tomorrow. We went to the expo yesterday which was a bit lame, but still excited to run through my alma mater.

 

[laughinplace199]

Hi Everyone!

John - You are so right - turning down ice cream is a crime!

Jen B - Good luck with your half marathon tomorrow!

Another headache today, plus rain, helped me decide to skip my 8 miler. But, the good news is that we're off to WDW in a few days! I'll be packing this weekend and I won't be running during our vacation, so I'll start fresh when I get back (and keep my fingers crossed that I have enough time to get ready for a half on Memorial Day weekend.)

Have a great week cousins!

 

[tiberius]

JenB - Good luck at your race tomorrow.

Julie - Enjoy the WDW trip!!

Debra - Here's hoping you're beyond the food poisoning by now.

I'm here to ask a little diet advice from my supportive cousins. Darcy has decided to try to try to live a healthier lifestyle through both diet and exercise (yay!). The trouble is that she is having trouble coming up with healthy dishes that she likes. She generally likes most vegetables but she detests the green leafy veggies that I love and have made a major part of my diet. I think her trouble is just visualizing the big picture without being overwhelmed by the details. Any suggestions on where I can help?

 

[jbucci]

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes for my race. I posted a race report on the Rutgers thread if anyone wants to read it. We had a nice weekend and I PR'd by 21 seconds. I was on pace to do even better, but by mile 11 the hills and wind caught up with me and I slowed down a lot the last 2 miles.

Corinna: Thinking of your boys today with their new school, hope all goes well. The training zone thing you mentioned is really interesting-- I'd love to do the testing and find out what my zones really are. I ran with my HR monitor yesterday but don't really know what to do with the mountain of data I have.

Happy Monday all-- I'm off to work.