Running in the rain

I had two options yesterday - run in the pouring down rain, or hop on my trainer for a little while.  All day I went back and forth.  I had a funeral in the morning that had my mind racing, then a day consisting of a sick husband and a ton of orders for work.  By 3:30, I knew the rain would wash away the stress.

But it was literally pouring.  And cold.  And getting dark fast.  I got dressed, laced up the shoes, put on some reflective gear, came downstairs, stood in front of Tom and said "I'm going to run to your mom's.  Pick me up in an hour and fifteen minutes".  He thought I was nuts.  He has to drag me out to run some days and beg me to run in the rain.  But not yesterday.

I opened the door and walked outside.  I immediately smiled.  Yep, the puddles were calling me.

I had 8.15 glorious miles to myself.  My mind wandered through the obstacles of my life right now - the impending move, the holidays, the Goofy Challenge, some new opportunities that I've yet to make public.  I sang along to Lady Gaga, Sugarland, Aerosmith and thought about all the songs that need to be added to my MP3 before my next long run.  I made sure I hit as many puddles as I could.  I smiled the entire way.

You see, running in the rain was just what I needed yesterday to escape.  It didn't matter that I was soaking wet.  It didn't matter that I was alone.  It didn't matter that it was dark and probably a bit dumb of me to be running alone on country roads.  I felt invincible, like I could run forever.  I just opened up and ran.  And the usual hour and fifteen minute run only took me an hour and ten minutes.  I ended up with the biggest smile on my face, and my the obstacles in my head figured out.

Today, I'll jump on the bike trainer.  But yesterday, I loved every minute of my run in the rain.



**Don't forget to get me questions for Tom's guest post about Run Across America.  They are coming in and some good ones!!!**

Questions for Tom

Hey all - many of you have said that you'd like a guest blog from Tom about Run Across America (how are you not sick of hearing about this from me yet??? :)  You are all too kind).  And I kind of nominated him to do that and then told him the format last night - questions from my readers that YOU would like to know.  I warned him that some might include questions about bodily functions while on the run (yes, Jason, I have yours saved), but list your questions here and we'll get Tom answering them!  He'll answer anything (yikes, are we opening up a can of worms with that one???) - training, race logistics, diabetes questions, nutrition, why's, how's, etc. - the sky's the limit.

I'm not sure how long it will take for the guest blog to be written - guess that depends on the number of questions.

So, 10 runners, 3000 miles, 1 goal - what do you want to know??? 

GO!

All over the place...

This blog will be all over the place... just the way I like it.

• How come every time I try to take a picture of my dog, he has his tongue out?  Or he looks possessed?  Or like this picture, both?  Seriously, how am I supposed to get a good picture?  Maybe I need to invest in an SLR camera just to capture him.  For those of you with kids, I don't know how you do it.

• Sunday, we cooked the big bird.  Yes, there are two of us and according to the Butterball website, with 2 adults and 2 kids (well... we do have two, see the picture above), wanting left overs (the best part) and being big eaters (see... proof again that the scrawny little twerp at the local restaurant was maybe right) we needed a 6 pound turkey.  HA.  I laugh at 6 pound turkeys.  We made a 21 pounder.  Go big or go home people.  And these pictures prove that Tom's much more mature than I am...

• I love great products.  I love winning products even more.  I recently won an Endorphin Warrior Training Bracelet from a giveaway on the Women's Endurance Gear Blog.  Endorphin Warrior has some super great items (hint hint... Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are all coming up).  From their website, each bracelet features a positive and powerful keyword or phrase to help you train, perform and live with greater strength of body and mind.  I had so many to choose from.  I decided to pick "BELIEVE".  Something you might not know about me is that I had a hard time believing in myself.  I'm full of self doubt.  But I'm working on it.  This bracelet was perfect.  I got it in the mail a few days ago and I love it.  They would be great for men or women (mine's the smallest they come and fits perfect).  Thank you Laima and thank you Endorphin Warrior!!!

• Do you visit Etsy?  I forget it's there, but have recently found some great things there.  Check it out!  So I bought two "no-slip" headbands (very similar to sweaty bands) but for a fraction of the cost and tons of super cute designs.  The lady custom made me two of them in the ribbon of my choice.  I got my hair did a few weeks ago and my bangs are just a teeeeeeeny bit too short so the bands work great.  No moving or slipping when I run and bike!  And I scored two, shipped to my house for $14!  NICE! 

• Also from Etsy was this cute sign that my committee got me as a thank you for chairing the fundraiser.  You can barely see the holes in the bottom, but those are for 9 hooks that came with it (I haven't put them in yet).  I love it.  And Nicole who ordered it for me knows me all too well - she requesting Malibu Barbie Pink as the color!  Love it!

• I haven't been writing much about my training.  That's because I'm not training, my training is boring, it's off-season, I've been kind of blah about it.  I'm running.  I spin occasionally.  That's the recap. :)  Anyway, a while back, Zensah sent me one of their new racerback tank to try out.  I actually wore it during the Chicago Marathon for the first time - you know, because it's always smart to try new things on race day.  Anyway, it was a super smart choice because I LOVED it right away.  It's long, not clingy, deep arm holes, seamless and super comfy.  I've been wearing it a lot when I ride inside because I sweat like a pig at a luau, and this thing just sucks up the sweat.  Super big fan and I've added another to my Christmas list.  You should too.  

So hope you followed along with my crazy all over the place post! :)

 

Return to normalcy

"Normal" is all relative.  I feel like my life is easing back into normalcy, but really, who can say that my life is normal?  Heck, who can say that I'm normal?! :)  Tom's home, our family of 4 is back together, I eat dinner at night with my best friend, I wake up next to him each morning.  I guess that's our "normal".   Thank you all so much for your emails, calls, facebook messages and blog comments about Tom and the Run Across America.  It'll take months for him to process the enormity of everything that he and those other 9 guys experienced in the last 18 days.  I'm thinking of having him do a guest post on here (if you'd be interested) and if you have any questions for him to answer, let me know.  Then, I promise I'll stop talking about it.

Coming home was such a joy because one of my favorite holidays is right around the corner.  I absolutely love Thanksgiving.  I don't know why.  There's something about going for a run that morning and then totally gorging yourself with food so that you feel like total crap the rest of the day that we just love. :)  I'm a little sad that I won't be hosting dinner at our house... I love to cook a bird (again, define "normal").  But we're heading to my sisters and I'm excited to be with the family.  We're running the Columbus Turkey Trot which is 5 miles and hopefully will score me a pie!  I might even have a crazy hair and run the course twice (10 miles means double the food right?)

Since I'm not cooking a meal at home which means that I don't get any left overs, I decided to pick up a small 21 pound bird to cook this weekend for Tom and I.  If you saw my post on Facebook yesterday, you'll know why I got such a big bird.  According to the guy at the restaurant that we ate at, I eat a lot and set records.  We don't do things small in the Kingery house!  So this weekend I am going to make our version of Thanksgiving so that we can have the leftovers and make all the fun stuff that comes with extra turkey.

And I will leave you all with a recipe that I just found in our local coupon section of the weekly Sunday paper.  I will not be making this for our meal this weekend or to bring to my sister's on Thanksgiving.  I'm sure you'll understand why.

White Castle Holiday Stuffing
10 White Castle Hamburgers, no pickles (sorry EMZ)
1.5 cups celery, diced
1.25 tsp. ground thyme
1.5 tsp. ground sage
.75 tsp. ground black pepper
.25 cups chicken broth

In a large mixing bowl, tear the burgers into pieces and add celery and seasonings.  Toss and add chicken broth.  Toss well.  Stuff cavity of turkey just before roasting.  Makes about 9 cups (enough for a 10-12 pound turkey). Note: allow 1 hamburger for each pound of turkey, which will be the equivalent to .75 cups of stuffing per pound.

Yep, awesome.  They need to add one more line that says "if you didn't already feel like shit from eating the Thanksgiving meal, then we're going to absolutely ensure that you will after eating this stuffing".

I love America...

Cherished Time

You know the saying "you don't know how much something means until it's gone"?  Holy heck is that statement so true.

I'll be honest - I've been missing my hubby something fierce.  You have to understand that I spend 99% of my day in the same room with him.  We wake up next to each other, eat breakfast together, hit the office together, have lunch together, work some more together, workout together, cook dinner together, eat and relax at night together and then go to bed together.  I know, I know... how do we do it?  Most people who hear about our lifestyle respond with "there's no way I could spend that much time with my spouse" to which I respond "yeah, it works for us" (while I'm secretly sad that they don't share that bond that Tom and I have, but I digress).  In any event, so to go from that to possibly getting to talk to a sleep deprived version of him maybe 6-10 minutes TOTAL in a day, on a good day, is really really tough.

They've been gone since 10/28.  And while I'm making it through each day just fine (I think it's a little harder for the spouse sitting at home waiting for the calls that the spouse busy with stuff away from home), I was super excited to get to meet the RV's last night just southeast of Columbus to bring them dinner and get a much needed hug from the hubster.

It was fabulous!

I asked all week what they would want to eat and I got a resounding "salad".  Weird, right?  So I made a big salad, but I also made pulled pork, homemade mac and cheese and two pans of brownies (I know the way to a man's heart is through their stomachs - hello.. that's how I keep Tom happy.  I'm no dummy!)

When I got there, the three overnight guys were just waking up.  I caught up with Dave, Karen and Michael (the amazing crew), and a few Sanofi reps had come out so we caught up with them.  We got the overnight guys fed and waited patiently for the day crew of 7 to come in.

I was like a kid at Christmas waiting for my present, a hug from Tom, to arrive.

They got in around 6:30 and when I saw him, I just held on.  We both needed that.  I know that he's really struggled out on the road and well, I have struggled with him out on the road.


The guys quickly got their stuff transitioned, put some warm clothes on and piled in the RV.  You would have thought that I brought them piles of $100 bills the way they smiled when they saw the food.  I know that Karen is feeding them well, but maybe this was a nice treat (momma got a night off and the boys got a full belly!).  They are all so skinny... and scruffy... and a tad slappy, but morale is high and they are pushing toward NYC at a blazing pace.  It's been a tough journey, but they are tough guys.  Amazing guys really.

When they loaded the RV's up to get on the road, I asked Crew Chief Dave if I could drive Tom to the next stop. He said as long as I didn't kidnap him and bring him home!!  I wanted those extra minutes with him (which turned out to be nearly two more hours).  We just sat in the car and talked.  We smiled.  It was like we had a lifetime of catching up to do.

And really, we did.  Two weeks apart leaves a lot to be discussed. :)

I didn't take Tom home last night - I brought him to the RV's where he got another broken night's sleep I'm sure. Selfishly I would have loved to, but I know how far they have some as a team and they will finish this journey as a team.  Plus, I only have three more full days until I see him again.  And I'll cherish that time with him even more.

PCB and RAA

Before I get to my trip to PCB, a quick update on the guys with Run Across America. They are booking it. Right now they are in Illinois and I just got word from Tom that they are going to be in Indiana by dinner time! That's awesome - especially since that means I get to see them either tomorrow or Thursday for dinner!!! They seem to be in good spirits and excited to be moving forward to rapidly.

Tom hit 100 miles on the 3rd - that's 7 days into his journey, but said that now they are averaging more like 25 miles a shift since their shifts run from 6am - 6pm. They are doing 1 mile intervals and covering a lot of miles! Then three guys take over and run over night. Last night they covered 70 miles in about 9 hours. They are amazing. I asked if he's sick of running and he was very quick to respond with "yep"!  I've been loving the pictures (which Tom is posting on the side of the Team Type 1 webpage if you haven't noticed). This one just cracked me up..

At least I know that they are having fun.  It's interesting because there is so much to this journey that you don't get to hear about (and I, of course do, being the wife of the team manager!)  They make this seem like it's been an easy going, super fun journey of 10 guys, just running across the country with no worries.  Let me tell you... it's so much more than running and recovering.  They have had some serious low spots, times when they missed home, were annoyed with each other (how can you not be... you are with the same people 24/7 in close corners), have been injured both physically and mentally, wanted to quit and have questioned why they are doing this.  But they have always come together, hugged it out, and remembered the goal - to show that they, everyday people with Type 1 Diabetes, can do anything.  And they will finish strong, as a unified group, having done something that just the 10 of them (and the 3 crew members) will never forget, and never really be able to explain to us watching from afar. What a journey!!!

So, what's a girl to do when her hubby leaves for 3 weeks - go on a girls trip, of course.  To summarize my weekend:

• I got to see one of my besties Kristin and got to meet the infamous Mandy

•  I ended up meeting Laura, KC, John, Andy, and Wes, as well as getting to spend time with Matty-O, Heather, Frank and Sophie

 

•  I ate a lot of peanut butter M&M's, rice krispie treats, and doritos

•  Learned that Mellow Mushroom has the most fantastic pizza ever (and yeah, I kind of already knew that but sharing it with new people was too much fun!)

•  We got to introduce Mandy to the Wally World of PCB... yep, they have airbrusing there!!!

•  I made signs for the racers, many of which included "that's what she said" phrases and bought a race spectating necessity... a cooler on wheels.

•  I made an Irondiva cup which may or may not have come in handy when cheering along the course and holding cold beverages...

• I met some totally great glowing people from the Boca Tri Club who you would have thought we'd known our own lives
• I saw a record get broken (hello sub8 hour US Ironman record) and witness my new friends have amazing days!
• I laughed until I cried and smiled nonstop
• And... I signed up for another Ironman!  

Couldn't have been a better weekend!

An update and an award

Okay people - this is where they stand...

They are in New Mexico.  They are still running.  They are still tired.

Hahaha - that's about as good of an update as I've gotten.  I went 26 or so hours without talking to him yesterday because they have had no cell signal and when they finally did get it, he was just starting a shift.  So I talked to him for about 6 minutes.  He sounded good, tired, but good and said that they were doing fine. I know he had a long shift in front of him (it was 10pm our time and they were just starting the 8 hour shift so they'd be running through the night) and he was already yawning! I have a feeling that when I get home home on the 15th, he's just going to sleep for a few days!  Here's a great little blog that one of the crew members is keeping.  And the official writer for the Run Across America is one of Tom's teammates, Marcus and his blog is here  Tom is trying to post Marcus's blogs to the Team Type 1 website, but without Internet access, that's just not always possible!  Thanks for the thoughts and well wishes... keep them coming for these crazy amazing guys!

Okay, so on to me.  I'm leaving tomorrow for Panama City Beach.

I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!

And yesterday, Melissa from Double Jogger Diaries nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thanks Melissa... so now I'm supposed to give you 7 facts about myself.

1. I was born in Queens New York.  I wasn't there long (10 months) and I haven't been back since, but I know that my life would have been very different had we stayed there and not moved to Westerville, OH.  My parents and I are going back next weekend for the finish of Run Across America and on Saturday, we're renting a car and driving through all of the old neighborhoods.  I was told that some of them will be very quick visits - guess they might not be the best parts of town! :)
2. I talk to my mom every day, at least twice a day (it's 11am and I've already talked to her 4 times today).  I can literally call her and not have anything to say, yet we can talk for 30 minutes nonstop.  The hardest time I had with this was when I went to Europe for 4 months, but I still talked to her 3-4 times a week!
3. My husband's name is Thomas Brady Kingery III, but since I've known him, I've called him Brady.  No one else does this and it often catches people by surprise when they hear me say it.  You see, my dad is Tom, my grandpa is Tom, my father-in-law is Tom... so when I first started dating him and we were with our families, it just got too confusing.  I can't remember the last time that I've called him Tom though, except for when I'm talking about him to someone else.  So if you hear me talking about Brady, that's my hubby.
4. I'm totally obsessed with reality tv.  I know that it's trash and rots my brain, but even yesterday, when talking to Tom (see... I didn't want to throw you off with the Brady thing), he asked what was new in the world since they haven't had access to the news and my responses was "Kim Kardashian is getting a divorce".  That's sad... 
5. I love making homemade sandwiches and panini's.  I worked in a sub shop (Jersey Mike's) for about 6 years (high school and college).  It was a piece of cake job, all my friends worked there, I got free subs... you know, everything was perfect (except for me slicing off part of my middle finger on the meat slicer, but that's another story). When I quit, it took me years to walk back in and order a sub because I had eaten there every day for years.  Their subs are really great, but I just couldn't eat them.  Now I can though and I can still rattle off what comes on each sub.  I use a lot of their ideas when cooking at home and Tom often says that I should open a sandwich shop at some point. Maybe...
6. I love to bake, but don't do it very often.  I do cook dinner at least 5 or 6 nights a week.  And I'm not afraid to try some new recipe.  I don't measure things though and many times make the recipe my own by adding something or taking something out of it. I would say 98% of the time it works out great. 
7. I have a rule that I must not think about future holidays until the next one is over.  I'm so not a fan of the fact that right after Halloween, Christmas season starts.  I take that back... BEFORE Halloween, Christmas season starts.  What happened to Thanksgiving (which is one of my favorite holidays) and why must we always rush to the next one? I love love love Christmas, but I honestly think it's a tad ridiculous that in October, the trees and ornaments are out.   It makes my head spin.  Bah-humbug.

So that's all... I had a hard time coming up with 7 things about me.  Hope you enjoyed them.  I'm supposed to tag people, but my mind is on my girl's vacation right now and I must go pack.  I know, not playing by the rules, but just call me lazy a rebel!