Small Town Awesomeness

Last night Ted and I spent the day visiting my family in smalltown Kentucky. We ended the evening with a date to the Wingfield Volunteer Fire Department's Hayride and Haunted House. We've been to a few of the haunted venues around here in Nashville, but this one has quite a reputation in my hometown, so we decided to give it a shot, and support the VFD in the process.

Well, let me tell you, they did not disappoint. Let me preface my review with the explanation that I won't call any haunted house attractions "scary," because to me there is a big difference between being scared and being startled and entertained. But having lots of good startles and entertainment is what makes a good haunted house, in my opinion.

There were not only lots of awesome startles in Wingfield VFD's haunted house, they were also beautifully executed! Their haunted house is considerably lower budget than the big Nashville attractions (it's small town, and a fundraiser, so yeah; they need to be frugal), but what they lacked in special effects and construction, they made up for in enthusiasm and strategy. For example, in one room there were several mannequin heads, made up to look like severed people-heads, but they were obviously plastic. So, no real scare there, right? Just a cheap setup. Until the one on the end, that TOTALLY LOOKED LIKE A MANNEQUIN HEAD, jumps out and screams at you. Dude, that was the coolest lull-you-into-a-false-comfort startle EVER. The live girl's makeup was flawless, and unless you were expecting her, you honestly would have overlooked her as another plastic head. It was a thing of beauty.

There were a lot of other great misdirection startles as well. You walk into a room, see an obvious person ready to jump out to scare you, and POW! Someone comes from a completely different area and startles the living bejesus out of you. I can't say enough about how strategic and well executed this haunted house is.

And even with the limited budget, the special effects were awesome. There was a spinning vortex room that was every bit as dizzying as the one at the high-budget Devil's Dungeon in Nashville. There were lots of loud power tools and sparkly things and unexpected booms; it really was a fun time!

And all this is on top of a fun and whimsical old-fashioned tractor pulled hayride to and from the site. The hayride itself isn't spooked; it's just an opportunity to chat with your fellow haunted house fans as you get to and from the attraction. I haven't been to anything like this in Nashville. It's truly a smalltown charm that is worth the 1 1/2 hour drive to experience.

The Wingfield VFD's Hayride and Haunted House is only $10 for adults, and $5 for kids 12 and under. There is food available for purchase at the firehouse, so get there early and have a chili dog with homemade chili and home-canned hot relish. You should also bring extra cash for tee shirts. I didn't, but I wish I had.

It's a good cause to support and a great attraction. Make the trip and see it. Just be sure to pee before you climb onto the hay. You don't want to pee yourself the first time a misdirection takes you by surprise.

So Many Ways to Help

Yes, today's post is ultimately about boot camp; but I want to start with something more important.

I make a lot of jokes here about pain, sobbing, misery, and how hard this is. But in reality I am a very fortunate person who is in a safe place, with a dry home, and not under immediate threat of a nuclear power plant meltdown. The people of Japan can't say that right now. The situation far east of us is very serious, and there are many very real people in very real danger. I know that times are difficult for many of us financially right now, but if you can, please make a donation to the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, or another reputible charity that is working to help.

One of the easiest ways to donate is to text the word REDCROSS to 90999, and your $10 donation will just show up on your cell phone bill, which probably has so many mystery charges on it every month anyway that you won't even notice.

Okay, now back to boot camp.

Today we had new recruits, which is awesome and exciting! I love our team and I love seeing familiar faces every day, but I also really love seeing the team grow. This has been one of the best things I've ever done for myself; I want to see it be one of the best things lots of other people do for themselves, too!

Talking to today's first-timers, I heard many of the same fears and concerns I had. These other people look so in shape...can I do this? How sore am I going to be? Is Sgt. Ken going to be really mean?

The class vetrans were awesome about gathering around the newbies and reassuring them, motivating them, and sharing their enthusiasm about the class. I think they were relaxed and ready to go when the clock struck 5:30...

...and it ran through my head, Oh, God, somebody needs to WARN THEM!!

We started our warm-up, which is a workout in itself. I recognized the look in the eyes of the new recruits behind me. This is a warm-up??

As I walked back to get a drink of water, I assured them that every single person in the class had that exact thought on their first day. And pretty much every day after that, too.

Today's workout was fast and exhausting. It was one of those that gave me that false sense of relief as we changed exercises, only to have that relief dashed when my brain caught up with my body and realized that the next exercise was going to be just as painful...

We all made it through. Missi, one of our newbies, asked me at the end, "Did you do as badly on your first day as I did today?"

First of all, I want to say to Missi and both of our other first-timers, do not sell yourself short for what you did today. You all did awesome. This is hard; it is supposed to be hard. It is designed to push you further than you think you can go, and as you get stronger, you will be able to do more and more every time. You were rockstars today, and don't you forget that.

Second, hell yes, I did as badly on my first day as you. Worse, in fact. I know how you felt today. I was very weak, very out of shape, and not prepared for this at all. No one's first day has ever been as ugly as mine. But I did the only thing that would fix that: I came back.

And today, I am rocking a brand new pair of size 12 jeans. That's down a size from when I started. And they fit great.

Non-boot camp related: I got to play music yesterday with my friend Arwen. We have a couple of gigs coming up in the next few months so we got together to read through some stuff. It was my first time playing with a harp player, and it was so much fun!

Three Miles Forward, One Mile Back...

My new friend from Boot Camp, Jimmy Olander (What? Me, name drop? Noooo...) invited me to run today with his running group, Team Rio. They are training for the Country Music Marathon and raising money for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. They were doing 8 (half-marathoners) and 14 (full-marathoners) miles, but since I'm not doing any distance training right now, Jimmy offered to put out a turn-around marker for me for whatever distance I wanted to go. I said I thought I could do four miles, so a two-mile turn-around marker was set.

Ted came with me, and it's a good thing, because I was just at the right speed that I would have been totally alone after about mile one. I'm faster than the walkers, but slower than the runners. Ted and I adjust pretty well to each other's abilities, so we stuck together. He is much stronger for the first mile and a half or so, and I tend to struggle in the beginning and get my second wind later in the run. I was having some pain in my right calf, but it was tolerable and felt like something that could be taken care of with ice and rest, so I pushed through it for a while.

We were doing really great up until about the beginning of mile four (that's my estimate, didn't have my Garmin on), when my right calf started to really hurt; by this time, it was starting to feel more like a something-is-wrong hurt rather than a push-through-it-you're-just-tired hurt. So we walked (I alternated between walking and limping) the rest of the way back.

What really sucks about it is that everything else on my body felt great; my lungs felt good, my legs weren't heavy, I felt like I could have run a lot of that last mile, if not for that damn right calf. I was wearing my fivies, and I hate to say it, but I'm afraid they are the culprit. I may not be able to wear them for running at all.

So, ice tonight, rest tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to make it through boot camp Monday.

Oh, one more thing. When we got back from the run, Ted and I used The Stick on each other to roll the lactic acid out so we won't be so sore tomorrow. I swear, I'm going to have an audio recorder on in the room next time we do that. I'm not sure whether it will sound like a sex tape or a murder scene, but either way, it should be very entertaining.

If This Was One of You Wonderful Readers, THANK YOU!!

I just got a very generous donation today on my Team in Training page, but I don't recognize the name.

If it was one of you peeps who read me here, THANK YOU!!

I'd love to know who you are. If you want to remain anonymous here, you can email me at pinkvelvetribbon@gmail.com.

I really appreciate it, whoever you are.

Oh, and if I should recognize the name, please forgive me - I'm terrible with names until they are beaten into me.

*sniffle* I needed an act of kindness today. That was a wonderful surprise. You totally, totally rock.

:-)

Asking For Help

Many of you already know that I am training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training to run the Country Music Half Marathon. What you may not know is that I need some serious help with my fundraising.

I am raising funds to help fund research to find a cure for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. The victims of blood cancers are too often children; these children can become survivors rather than victims when we find a cure.

One of my honored teammates is Jillian. Jillian was first diagnosed at age one with myelodysplasia in 1999. Six months later, it became AML. She and her twin sister, Jade, had the same cancer. Jade died in 2000 after relapsing after her bone marrow transplant. Jillian relapsed in 2002 and again in 2004.

In 2007 Jillian was diagnosed with a cancer called osteosarcoma; the tumor is right above her left knee. None of Jillian's treatment options offer a guarantee, but if anyone can fight this battle, it's Jillian. She is a special little 9 year old superstar and the family comedian. She is the force that keeps her family focused and hopeful; but more research is needed to find a cure and secure Jillian a chance to grow up and realize her dreams.

Please help me meet my fundraising goals by making a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission. Seventy five cents of every dollar donated goes directly to support blood cancer research and patients. My fundraising goal is $1800; if all of my blog readers donate just $10 each, I will be well on my way to reaching that goal.

My fundraising page is here. Please visit it now and make a donation of any amount you can.

Thank you so much for supporting me! This cause is very important to me, and your donation is truly appreciated.

Six. Miles.

Today I ran six miles.

That felt really good to type. I'm going to type it again.

Today. I. ran. six. miles.

That's almost 10 K for those who use the metric system.

It was not long ago that six miles would have exploded my internal organs.

The most amazing thing about the six miles that I did today is that I had a perfect opportunity to skip the run out of frustration. I was supposed to do six miles in a group run with Team in Training; but I had deleted the directions for how to get there from my email. It was a route that we had done once before, so I thought that maybe I could find it from memory; but I couldn't. I drove aimlessly until 7:00, when the run actually started, then headed back toward home.

My intention was to stop at the gym on the way home to do a six-mile hill program on the treadmill. When I got to the gym, the parking lot was empty. They didn't open for another hour.

Damn.

The old Nena would have gone home and made a mimosa.

I decided to run the greenway. The trail segment that was convenient to where I was is a three mile trail; out and back is six miles. Perfect. It's hilly, but I could walk when needed. It looked like rain, but heck, it might be raining on race day.

So I ran the three miles out and three miles back on the greenway. There was walking involved; but I ran a very respectable amount. I even did a little surge up some of the gentler hills to get a little spike in the heart rate.

Now I'm going to go take a much needed shower. Then I have laundry to do. w00t.

'Tis the Season for Giving!

I've decided to set individual sponsorship levels for my friends who would like to donate to my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Levels are as follows:

Nena Obviously Didn't Think Anyone Would Donate This Much Sponsor
$5000 – I will shave "Thank you [your name]" on the side of my head before race day. Or whatever you want me to shave onto my head, as long as it fits and won't get me arrested. If I get arrested because you wanted something lewd on the side of my head, you have to post bail but honestly it might be totally worth it because I mean how many people can say that they were responsible for a friend who was raising money for a charity getting thrown in jail? I will take a photo of my mutilated scalp and send it to you, in case you can't make it down to Nashville for the race to see my humiliation in person. This is for individuals only; businesses get their own set of TNT sponsored benefits for this amount of money. And no fair getting together with other people to raise the money. This is limited to one sponsor, because my head isn't big enough for any more than that. So act quickly.

I am the Bomb Because I Totally Donated a Buttload of Money to a Great Cause Sponsor
$100 – I will write "[your name] TOTALLY ROCKS" down the side of my leg in purple Sharpie on race day morning. You'll receive a photo of my defaced leg to remind you forever how awesome you are. I can do this for up to six sponsors, if I write one down the front, side, and back of each leg. And you don't get to dictate the color because purple will match my jersey and if I'm going to be defaced with permanent ink then at least I should have the dignity of being color coordinated. But if you really want a different color, throw in another twenty bucks and you've got it.

I Seriously Rock With My Giving but My Sponsorship Title is Lame and Nena Needs to be More Creative Sponsor
$50 – I'm running out of ideas here; how about I write your name in puffy paint on my jersey? I'll use the glittery kind. Glitter rocks.

Giving is Cool. I'm Cool. So I Gave.
$20 – I will be forever grateful and I'll mention you and how awesome you are to everybody I know. I'll brag about you on Facebook, MySpace, and my blog. And on the Weight Watchers Message Boards. And in comments on blogs of people who have no idea who I am. And in casual conversations with random coworkers. Everyone will be really sick of hearing about you, actually.

So, since I know that you are totally cool because you're reading my blog, go to my Team in Training homepage and make a donation. It will make you happy. It will make me happy. Everybody wins.

First Group Run

This morning I had my first group run with Team in Training. It was awesome. We did a two mile run. That's a little less than what I usually do on the treadmill, but it's a whole different world outside, because outside includes (1) hills and (2) temperatures of 25˚F (-4˚C). Now, that may not seem very cold to some folks who live up north; but I am a southern girl (reverse that concept if you're one of my Brazilian friends!). If the temperature drops below around 67˚F (19˚C), I'm putting on a jacket.

The cold air was pretty hard on my lungs at first, but it got easier as my body warmed up. In fact, abuout three-quarters of the way through, I had to take off my long-sleeved overshirt (good thing I wore layers!). The really tough thing was not being able to control the hills.

On the treadmill, if I set the incline to a hill, I can reduce it when it starts to get too tough; but Earth doesn't have an incline button. So, I had to take a walk break about halfway up most of the hills in today's run. One of the team captains said that today's run was actually really tough for a first run, so no one should feel bad about taking walk breaks.

I feel really good about my run today. I kept a good running pace during all of the flats and declines, and ran up about half of all the hills. What really surprised me was how short the run seemed. Had it been flatter, I think I could have run the entire distance with no walking, and gone another mile easily. I know that as I continue to train, the hills are going to become more manageable (they'll NEVER be easy).

The Half Marathon and Team in Training

Okay, first of all, let me just say that my cat is the cutest thing ever. I think he's comfortable here in his new home, don't you?

Anyway, I went for my registration meeting for Team in Training. I met the gentleman who will be my coach, and he has a great personality; he is a self-described "fitness nut" and has an excitement for running that is contagious. I definitely think he will be a great source of encouragement and motivation.

He advised me that since I've been running on the treadmill for a while now, to try to increase my speed just a little and to start using an incline of about 2%. This will make the outside runs easier to adjust to, and build my endurance so I'm not at square one at the first group run. Tomorrow is spinning class, so my next treadmill run will be Wednesday. I'll blog on how it goes with the new speed and incline.

A huge part of what I'm doing with Team in Training is raising funds to support research to find a cure for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma. These cancers take many innocent lives each year, many of them children. This is an incredibly important cause for me, and I hope that many of you will support me. My fundraising website is http://pages.teamintraining.org/tn/cmc09/nperson. Please visit this site and share it with those you know. Every dollar counts.