FINITO!!!

Hello everyone!

As most of you have heard...I finished my marathon! 5:33:39. Not bad for my first time. I had hoped for a bit faster but I am in no way disappointed!

There are so many people that need to be thanked for all that WE AS A TEAM accomplished for Rescue!

I'd like to thank Ms. Sanya for being her usual bombilicious self for making the blog look so great and for keeping the running total (like the pun?) of all of our donations. I hope she knows how much her efforts to make our site look fantastic are appreciated!

I'd like to thank all of the folks who either offered up their time to volunteer to work for the marathon so that we satisfied our obligation to them and to those who hung out at the Finish Line Festival with all of the beautiful Golden babies! It was wonderful to finish and be around people I like and respect so much and to be around the dogs who just loved giving me kisses! (I think it had something to do with sweat...)

Thank you to everyone who joined the GRCGLA Rescue team. We ended up with 40 participants! Hopefully we will get a lot more for next year (yes...I am planning on a next year!!!)

I would like to thank Barbara Davis and Denise Buczek for their tireless efforts to get this fundraiser out to everyone. WE ROCKED THIS THING!

I would like to thank everyone who generously contributed to the thermometer. Every little cent is appreciated and added to our PHENOMENAL total of $28,200.00!!!

I would like to thank my beautiful Baby Sums for flying next to me during my run. She brought many of her new friends and they gave me the boost I needed. All I had to do was think about them and I didn't feel quite so tired (well I did but it got my mind off of it). I love you, Pretty Girl.

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Mr. Marty Friedman, aka, The Marathon Guru, for all of his help and wisdom. He took a lot of time giving me tips and advice and I could not have finished without him. A couple of times during the race I heard his voice in my head saying: "come on, lead legs!!"... Of course he told me many times to think of him saying more positive things like "Go Golden runner girl" or "you are the most amazing, wonderful, super duper runner of all time" but all I could think of was "Lead Legs"...which they were! Thank you Guru, so very much, for everything! (Guru is the guy I'm hugging...getting him all sweaty!)

And last I would like to thank everyone who sent me good luck wishes and words of encouragement. I want you all to know how much those words meant and mean to me. And thanks to all who have read this blog and to all who've said they enjoyed it. It was fun.

Things I have learned from running a marathon:

• I can't run and drink water from a cup at the same time
• I can't run and have a coughing fit at the same time (I ran the marathon with a cold)
• I can't run, chew gum, eat GU, and hold water at the same time (are you noticing a pattern here???)
• GU is my friend. I love GU. I am going to carry a GU with me at all times. Bury me with a GU (They had run out of GU (energy gel) at the first station that it was offered. So I had to wait until mile 16.5 to get a darned GU! I thought I was gonna die! I was literally thinking of who I would have to kill, maim or bribe to get one. Good thing I was so weak I couldn't have squished a bug!)
• My nose runs faster than I do.
• Doggies think I am the yummiest after a run.
• Toenails ARE for sissies!! (One of my toenails is falling off.)
• Blisters are BAD!
• Cupcakes are GOOD! 

And, all kidding aside, I am one of the luckiest people to be surrounded by folks like you. It is my honor and privilege to be a member of this organization. I am so proud to be a part of the GRCGLA Rescue.

Be well everyone!
Peace out!

CONGRATULATIONS BETHANY!

She completed her very first marathon in 5:33:39!

IT'S HERE!

I can't believe that the marathon is tomorrow!

When I started this, I had 22 weeks to train. It seemed so far away. It went REALLY fast.

I am excited and nervous.

I am also VERY excited that my Chicago Bears have a bye this week. I asked them to not play on the day that I run my first marathon. So nice of them to not play on a day that I wouldn't be able to watch them. My people are so good!

My bib # is 958. You can see how I'm doing by going to this link: http://www.liveraceresults.com/liverc2/Default.aspx

Enter in my bib # and you will see how slowly I am getting along ;)

If any of you have nothing to do tomorrow...come on down to Long Beach with your beautiful doggies! This is a wonderful opportunity for the GRCGLA Rescue. We can use all the help and all the Golden Babies possible to make us the most popular area of the Finish Line Festival!!!

Be well everyone...and I will see you on the flip side!!!

SCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS!!!!

Hello everyone!

It is October 1st. The day the ice cream challenge comes to an end. I hope that you have all eaten so much ice cream that you never want to see ice cream AGAIN....or at least until next weekend!

If you would like to project how much more ice cream you will eat this year and include it in the total...that is completely acceptable!!!

So dump that kitty and Count D' Money!!!!

If you will be attending Dogtoberfest this Saturday, please write a check for the number of scoops and bring it to the festivities!! I will be there with a HUGE envelope to take all those checks!!!

If you won't be attending Dogtoberfest, please write a check and send it to the PO Box ASAP (PO BOX 491209 Los Angeles, CA 90049). Please write "SCOOPS" in the memo. Send it soon as we would really like to add it to the total and make that thermometer go up, uP, UP!!!

Thank you all in advance for accepting this HORRIBLE challenge!!! I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I have missed the lusciousness of all that yummy, yummy chocolatey goodness!!

Be well everyone...YOU ROCK!!!!!!!

Random Musings

First, I would like to thank all of the people I know (and those that I don't) that have registered to participate in one (or two!!) of the marathon events. They are taking time out of their busy schedules to help our baby Goldens and I can't thank them enough. I was also just informed that a great friend of Carole's and a vet that we use often, Dr. Kelpe, the owner of Santa Margarita Animal Care Center has signed up to run the marathon as well. (This is also where I picked up my Baby Sums!) Thank you Dr. Kelpe for your generous offer to help us raise funds!! I'm told he is using this as "practice." Oh the day when I run 26.2 miles for PRACTICE!!!!! He will probably finish, go home, shower and be watching football by the time I finish! Marathon as practice....sheeesh!

I have seen some cool and wacky things while running:

There was the man I saw biking with one of those kiddie trailer stroller thingys. Though instead of having a kid back there, he had his beautiful senior border collie, along for a beach ride looking quite happy and relaxed.

There was the woman I saw running with a baby stroller. The kid inside was the exact opposite of the border collie...screaming bloody murder. I was thinking to myself that it should have been the mom screaming, not the kid. Totally reinforced my decision to have dogs...not babies.

There is the woman who I see a lot who looks anorexic. She has the weirdest gait I have ever seen. It looks like she is running without bending her knees. And her arms are at a 45 degree angle with her fists angled down. They just flap in the wind. She is so skinny that I want to feed her a cheeseburger.

There was this man I saw on Saturday who was probably one of the biggest men I have ever seen. Had to be close to 7 feet tall and was just a wall of muscle. He was wearing a running get up that was easily 3 sizes too small for him. I laughed to myself that no one would ever tell him that he looked ridiculous in that outfit because he would squish them like a bug.

I have been training now for about 20 weeks. I have gone from running 2 miles to 22 miles. I have been completely upfront about my slowness. I get passed every time I run by everyone going in my direction and I am ok with this. Since I am in taper mode, I don't have to run the distances that I have had to in the past few weeks so I have been working on my speed.

I am just beside myself BaSCHIZZLED to announce that this past week I have actually passed people! (And NO! I am not talking about the woman with the cane...although I lapped her TWICE!!!) YES! People who were RUNNING!

I play the "Rocky" anthem in my head and imagined myself doing the Rocky dance at the top of the Rocky steps. I stop the image in my head when I see myself jumping up and down and then slipping, spraining my ankle and falling down those steps. You see, I didn't get the memo about the day they were handing out elegance and grace. So I got awkward and klutzy instead.

Be well everyone!

Fear

About a year ago, I went bungee jumping. I'm gonna say that it is probably one of the most terrifying things that someone can willingly do. You have all these ropes attached to you and you are standing on a maybe 10" x 12" platform on the "bad" side of a bridge. You look down and you see the rocks that you will hit if the ropes don't work (they have always worked). They count down 3-2-1 and you jump! Holy Moly!

Here is a picture of my first jump in which I jumped off backward. You can see from my face that I am one scared Mamma Jamma! As scary as that first jump was, I jumped 2 more times. What a rush and what an accomplishment to face your fears and jump off of a bridge (3 TIMES)!

I will admit that I am feeling a bit of fear as the marathon grows close (3 WEEKS!). Fear is what has gotten me off the couch some days because I knew that if I didn't run, I would never be able to finish. I feared that I would let all of the doggies down if I didn't finish. Fear can be a great motivator.

The Guru (Marty) told me that this weekend would be my last long run before the marathon and he suggested I do 21 miles. So since I knew that this was my last long run and having that continuous nagging fear that I won't finish, I pushed myself just a little. I completed 22 miles. And now I am in what the Guru calls taper mode. I'm going to be letting my legs rest from now until the marathon (if you call ONLY running 12 or 14 miles in one day "REST"!)

So if you see me between now and marathon day (October 11th), I may not LOOK as terrified as I am in this picture; but know that I am that scared on the inside! But as I did with the bungee jumping, I will overcome fear and I can only imagine the feeling of great accomplishment I will feel when I cross the finish line into the wonderful field of goldens that I envision will be waiting for me. I only wish that the marathon would be over as quickly as the jump was.

Be well everyone!

Beauty and the Beet

So I have made it clear that I look pretty when I run...pretty awful. I am a beet red, sweaty mess almost from the get go. I usually run around the country club near my apartment which conveniently has a dirt track around it's perimeter. By the time I'm finished running, my legs are covered with a thin film of dirt from having that dirt kicked up by passing runners. So to say I look a hot mess would be an understatement but I'm not supposed to look pretty...I'm running!

The other evening I was running around the CC and this woman runs past me. She is beautiful. Not a drop of sweat on her. Very stylish outfit. Her gorgeous, thick, chocolate brown hair is FLOWING behind her. I literally looked around for camera crew. I could see the commercial in my head:

(Shot of me running...)
Announcer: "Are you tired of looking terrible when you workout?"

(Shot of HER running...)
Announcer: "Now YOU can look amazing when you workout too! Just use LUSCIOUS LOCKS shampoo and conditioner. It not only makes your hair flow beautifully in the wind, it's patented formula actually STOPS you from sweating! Get LUSCIOUS LOCKS NOW and you will never look like this (camera pans back to me) EVER AGAIN!!!"

There was no camera crew. She was just one of those women that looks great no matter what. It's unnatural really. I'm not gonna say that I wanted to trip her and drip sweat onto her splayed body because that would make me sound mean and I am not mean. A bit envious maybe, but not mean. So instead I envisioned myself just HUGGING her! From the front. From the back. Mess up her perfect hair a bit. Yep...hugging her. Get her nice and sweaty...like me...the Beet.

Be well everyone.