My Girl, Dusty--keeper of secrets!

My adopted son, Chandler, who we expect amazing things from!! Watch for him!!

Matt taking a quick rest in Lisa's home.

Dusty and Steve, who hasn't done anything crazy like this since he's 50.

So Steve is training for the Grand Tetons Marathon - way to let go of your fears, Stevie! ;) I'll be right behind you!

M on the trails!

Ready to Run!!

George Carlin

To me, he was the "Hippy, Dippy, Weather Man" from the Flip Wilson Show. I loved his sense of humor, and followed him all these years.

Thanks for all the laughs, George. I hope you're telling jokes to my parents now.

She's Got Sole 8K

Well, I made it!!

It was iffy, though. It was pouring and thundering just before we started and the air was pretty thick. But the RD said we'd still start at 8 am, and, sure enough we did.

Coach Lisa had my plan set out for me: Warm up for 15 minutes, Run the first 2 miles at a talking pace, then 4:1 run:walk until the 5K mark. Then hit it!!

The humidity really hit me--my asthma kicked in,and then under one of the underpasses, someone was expressing his right to smoke, so that really set me back.

But, I followed the program and pushed through.

55:25--25 seconds longer than my PR. I'm happy!!!!

Wednesday I'm off to the Grand Tetons to train with Coach Lisa and 9 other folks. She said we won't have much free time, so I'm expecting that she'll be kicking my butt.

I can't wait!!!

Sign

Bayley

I picked up my puppy's ashes yesterday. Bayley was almost 9 years old when he died from cancer. It's been a rough year of losses, but I'm determined to put all that grief into my running...especially while training others.

This will all culminate at Marathon des Sables 09....back to the desert wandering as my people did so many years ago. I hope it will cleanse me of all this pain.

Rest in peace my precious puppy....I miss you mucho!

New Member of Family

Say hi to "Johnson", my son's new pup!

So just guess who gets a new running partner next year??!! :)

Moeben Sleeves

Have you tried them yet??? I'm in love with them. Perfect for running on the lakefront in the morning. As the sun gets stronger, I can roll them down to my wrist. And then, when the wind picks up again, they're back up as sleeves!!

Can you see my pup peeking through???

Will does Ice Age

Imagine this--Willie had NO clue what the terrain was like! But that smile stayed on his face the whole way!

I wasn't able to pace him....had hip pain that needed time to heal. Good news though--it's all better now and I'm back on track.

Damn proud of ya, Will!!!!

Heading to Ice Age 50

My friend, Willie (the one with the Cubs hat), is running the 50-miler up at the Ice Age course this Saturday. I'll be running him in the last 10-miles. (How clever am I to pick the time when he's the most exhausted!!)

I'll take pics--so stay tuned!!

The ladies I'm training for an 8K

Howl at the Moon -- Again!!

Howl at the Moon 8-Hour Race will be on August 9th this year. I'm hoping I'll be able to do more than 8 laps. And if you really think I'm there just for the beautiful scenery while running...check out the showers we have afterwards!!

Then that night we all hang out in our tents!! It's like Woodstock...well...kinda....sorta.

Anne and Lora

My crazy girlfriend who wants to run MdS with me (we're at her daughter's wedding this past Saturday night)!!

Marathon Des Sables

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4714647&affil=wls

I'm on the list!!

Hopefully, Jay and Lisa will have room for me!! If so, this year I will be training heavy--and it's all about Mom. She was so proud of me when I did Rocky Raccoon, one of my cousins from Israel emailed us her answering machine message, which we read at the funeral, where she talked about it (and my brother transferred it over to a file that I now have on my computer). So this is for you Mom! I know you'll be watching me the whole way!!

I"ve finally started to lose weight. My head just wasn't in it. I have been watching my weight since I hit puberty and it's so damn tiring! I have a real sugar addiction, especially chocolate, so it's really a life-long thing. But when I started getting close to hitting 50, I felt like enough is enough. At this age I should eat whatever I want, whenever I want it! Right??!! Wrong!!

This extra 20 lbs I gained (and most of it from my old office job--geeze, the crap everyone keeps around by their desks is evil! I'm back in the field seeing patients, so bye-bye office and all your sugar-shit!!) just has to go.

I've been running outside again. The weather in Chicago has finally broken, so I'm running during the week by Northwestern University, and on Saturdays I'm back with my running group on the lake in Chicago.

It's been a bit of an adjustment being outside due to my asthma, but I'm working on it. Slowly but surely I'll get it all back.

I'll be leading the Chicago Half Marathon training program again this year. We had 200 sign up for it last year, and they are predicting more this year. Unreal how many are getting into running. The Chicago Marathon just closed -- hitting 45,000 already!! So I guess it'll continue to take me 25 minutes to get to that starting line!!

I've also signed up for a Women's Only Running Camp in June led by Coach Lisa. It'll be in Wyoming in a beautiful resort Grand Targhee Resort so I'm really looking forward to all I'll learn there. And Lisa told me there'll be someone there that walked the MDS this year, which is my plan next year. I'll be pulling lots of stuff from her brain!!

and so, life does goes on...........

New Goals

After a long walk with my pup on Sunday, I realized I need a big goal to keep me occupied. So I called Coach Lisa and told her my idea. She told me to wait a week or two before I make a decision. So I'll wait to tell you all.

Some hints:

It's in the desert,

This year's just finished,

my Coach has lots of info about it on her blog.

Can you guess??????

Back Home

I came home this evening, a very rough week it was.

I am still in shock, and anger is now breaking through.

The last time I saw my Mother was at Rocky Raccoon.
I just might have to get back there next year and beat that baby.

Spring seems to have broken through - hopefully, I'll get outside tomorrow morning for a well-deserved run.

Thank you all for your wishes and prayers. It helped.