I feel like I am repeating history a lot over the last couple weeks. Some of these things are good things...some are not so good. Let's start with the good news first.
           Almost exactly four years ago tomorrow, I ran my very first half marathon at Disneyland. I weighed over 190 pounds, and I worked my tail off just to be able to finish that half marathon in under three hours (some of the pictures at the top of my blog show me four years ago at Disney). Tomorrow I will be repeating this race for the first time since 2010, and although I'm not doing it for time, I am hoping that my time will be better, and that it will be much easier than it was that first year. I worked hard to get across that finish line, but it wasn't pretty. I made it in just seconds under three hours with a finish time of something like 2:59:58. And while I was so proud of my accomplishment, everything hurt during the race, and I could hardly walk for two weeks after that race. My thighs were so tight that I actually had to walk backwards down stairs.
           Fast forward to today, and I am running most of my races in under 2:20, and after my half marathons now, I am a little sore, but I am fine after a couple of days.  I am looking forward to really being able to enjoy this race tomorrow, and not feeling like I am going to be gasping for air, and not so sore that just about every muscle and joint in my body aches. 
            Another thing I will be repeating, and I'm stretching this a little to stay with the theme, is that usually I run one race and then take a couple days off.  Well today I actually completed the first half of the Disney Dumbo Dare.  This morning at 5:30 a.m. I was taking off from the start line to complete a 10K around California Adventure and Disneyland.  My time was actually pretty good (1:02:08--47/569 in my age division) considering I had my very first fall ever during a race.  We were running up the first hill and there were people who should have started farther back in the race pack that were strolling (no joke) three-people deep.  I went to go around them and caught my toe on the curb and went down hard on all fours.  Now it did hurt a little (mostly only my pride was injured), but it did slow me up a bit at the start.  So tomorrow, I will once again be at the start well before the sun is even thinking about rising, only this time I will be doing a 13.1 mile run through the two parks and through Angel Stadium as well.
           Now I need to confess the not so good things that I am repeating.  While my exercise continues to be very consistent, my eating has been off since our trip to Hawaii. Not to make excuses from myself, but getting my daughter off to her first year of college in Montana, starting a new job full of all kinds of new things to learn, and just trying to keep my household going have been tough for me to balance lately.  I am not eating out of stress, but I am not being very careful with what I am eating.  I am not planning my meals, I am not tracking my food, and we rarely have dinner at home these days.  All those things together have brought a little of the fluff back to my body.
           One way I have grown is that I am not stressing out, I am not beating myself up about it, and I am making mostly good choices for breakfast and lunches.  While sometimes my life in regards to food feels a little like I am on a roller coaster ride that seems to never let me off, I am learning to enjoy the ride and realize that it is not worth worrying about.  Instead of worrying I just need to reevaluate what isn't working, remember what has worked in the past, and then work to get myself back on the road to the more flabulous me!

          
           In the years since those cadaver lab days, Sean and I have both personally known people who have contracted and died due to the affects of ALS.  I have had two colleagues who have lost their husbands to this horrendous disease, and about five years ago Sean's cousin lost her husband Cal to this disease.
           When Cal was first diagnosed, they had just built their dream retirement home on a lake in Canada.  The irony was that this house had several steep sets of stairs leading from their driveway down to the house and lake below.  It wasn't long before his muscles began to fail and there was no way he could sit up and feed himself let alone climb those stairs in their dream home.  He passed away not long after his diagnosis, and that short fight was honestly a blessing considering what he went through in that short time.
           As this ALS ice bucket challenge goes viral, I inevitably got challenged, and I have to say I had mixed feelings.  I love the attention that this challenge has brought to this disease that tends to get little notice, but I wonder too if the challenge has become more of fun thing to do and that some are forgetting what is behind the challenge.  And then my daughter showed me a video of Anthony Carbajal who puts a face to the ALS challenge.  She and her lifetime best friend actually watched some of this videotaping because Anthony lives next door to her friend. His perspective on the challenge is that any kind of attention is good attention, because it brings awareness to a disease that does not get as much research focus because it afflicts so few people. 
Anthony Carbajal Murrieta ALS video
           So yesterday I was challenged to participate, but being in Montana dropping my daughter off for her first year of college made finding a bucket and ice a little more difficult.  Today as I ran along the river that runs through her college I decided to take my own twist and instead of bringing the bucket to me, I decided to bring myself to the "bucket" and dunk myself in the river itself.  At the end of our run I walked, clothes-and-all, into the icy Clark Fork River.  Sean and I will be donating to ALS (link to the ALS Association), but this is where I have to challenge others.  Instead of picking three people, I challenge all of my readers to donate to ALS research. I honestly don't care if you douse yourself with the icy water, but I would love for the outcome of this viral challenge to be that they finally find a cure for ALS in the near future.  No one should have to face such suffering, and I hope that as you get out there and play this weekend that you remember to be thankful for the fact that you are healthy enough to continue to do what you love and what makes you happy.

           Food is at the center of my life, and I do not just mean that I need food to fuel my daily activities and my exercise.  I mean that I love the way food tastes, I love the way food smells, and this deep love makes it difficult at times to be reasonable with what I put into my mouth.  And while I love to eat healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats and fish, I also have some not so healthy habits as well. When I go to the movies, I used to love to mix M&M's in my butter and salt laden theatre popcorn.  I also dip my In-N-Out fries in a thick chocolate shake when I am not being careful with what I eat.  I can eat ice cream straight out of the carton--my slightly bent spoons are testament to late night ice cream raids.  
           Now if I occasionally indulge, this is not usually an issue with me, because I swim, bike, and run so much, this can usually counteract my obsession with all things edible.  Unfortunately, I have been nursing a little hip injury that has kept me from getting out and doing my typical miles.  I can usually swim when I can't run, but this particular injury makes swimming off limits as well.  A couple weeks ago I hardly did anything beyond walking at amusement parks for an entire week.  Being laid up for even this small amount of time means that I needed to be very careful with what I ate until I could get back to my old routine. The problem was that we had company non-stop for about four weeks, which means that we have eaten out more times than I can count--restaurant food means less control over the extra fat, salt, and calories that I can control at home.
           The funny thing is that since summer started I have been having difficulty controlling my eating, and I almost can't wait to get back to work in mid-August so I can get back to a regular routine and healthy eating.  Back to eating my three healthy main meals and small snacks, back to my consistent early morning training, and back to eating at home or packing my balanced lunches and snacks to go with me.  I love food more than any person should, but I hope that I can continue to find a balance between the food I love and the new more improved body I refuse to part with.  I love food, no, really, but I love me and my new healthier lifestyle more than any decadent treat, and that should keep me on my continued path to the most flabulous me ever!

           Sometimes life just deals us a rotten hand, but at times life throws so much our way that it feels like you just want to throw your hands in the air and scream, "Really?!"  I am at a point that I am not only shaking my hands in the air but I am also jumping up and down screaming, "Enough already!"  I am at a loss for words to articulate how incredibly frustrated and angry I am with cancer and its random hits against people I love.
           I am coming to you once again to request that you send my friend Kay's family some positive energy.  First, I want to share how amazingly thankful I am for all your prayers, good wishes, and support for Kay as she fought and defeated rectal cancer, but now cancer is attacking the love of her life, her husband Jim.  
           So Kay is on a new journey with Jim, and they will need all the support we can all muster and send their way.  I am calling all my friends, all my family, and all my blog readers to please send love, support, and prayers Kay and Jim's way that they stay strong through this new, terrible hand they have been dealt.  I know that they will tackle this in the same way they confront everything else that has come their way--with grace, full attention, humor, and a single-minded determination that they will win the fight.  Cancer, you do not have a chance with warrior Kay at Jim's side and all the prayers that are coming their way!