Day 66: June 2, 2013- Day of Hope and Blondes vs. Brunettes

 

Day 66: 1:01 miles logged, 493.01 to go… What a day! Six hour drive home from LaPorte, home for a few minutes to grab my football gear, exhibited at the Chemo Buddies Day of Hope for two hours, and then off to Harrison High School for the 2013 Blondes vs. Brunettes match-up.

The power of the human spirit never ceases to amaze me. The Day of Hope was beautifully organized by Jill Kincaid and friends, and I feel honored to have been a part of the event. I know how devastating cancer can be to families, and I came away from the event appreciating the sense of hope that those afflicted have the opportunity to feel. Hope can be looked at in two ways… you’ll either get better, or if you don’t, going home to Heaven isn’t too bad of a consolation. The day was filled with survivors, care givers, medical professionals, and more, and the strength in numbers as well as the faith that some of these people had and shared was a touching experience.

 

Then when I got done with that, I had the privilege of packing up and heading over the football field to once again represent Team Blonde at the Blondes vs. Brunettes match-up for the Alzheimer’s Association. And did my teammates ever come through?!?! Oh my goodness, these women are amazing! Out of the 25k total raised, Team Blonde raised over 15k!!! We also came away with this year’s game trophy after a hard fought 37-33 victory. My new friend Heidi was a rock star, but all of the women who went out on that field deserve to be congratulated for their hard work and perseverance. The Brunettes played hard, and both teams should be proud of the effort put forth.

               

So, anyway, it was fun, literally “marathon” of a weekend. I survived it, and actually feel pretty great. The overwhelming excitement of the accomplishment of Saturday, the experience of being a part of Day of Hope, and the camaraderie of my teammates and coaches make me appreciative of good health and amazing family and friends. I am tremendously blessed! #1000MileMom2013

Day 59: May 26, 2013- Cold morning, but warmer afternoon football practice

Day 59: 4.20 miles logged, 558.64 to go… Chilly SUN 6am challenge with Debbie. We opted for only 4 miles (vs. 6) due to the weather and my photography schedule for the rest of the day. Productive and fun Team Blonde football practice… ready for WED’s practice scrimmage, and think we are almost ready for next SUN’s big Blondes vs. Brunettes (Alzheimer’s Association charity footb…all) game. I had to stop myself from squeezing in more evening miles. No sense in pushing myself too hard between now and SAT if I plan to go all out on SAT. Planning on around 4 miles a day between now and then. My legs were definitely a bit tight, but totally manageable. I was concerned that next SUN would involve minimal involvement for the game based on the marathon the day before, but after seeing what I still had in me at practice, I think I’ll be OK!

Day 55: May 22, 2013 Gearing up for game day

Day 55: 10.04 miles logged, 577.81 miles to go- A bit bruised up from practice, but getting really excited for game day!

 Double rainbows = double the fun at practice!!!

Day 45: May 12, 2013- Happy Mothers’ Day

Day 45, 10.27 miles today, Miles to go: 663.39- SUN 6am challenge walk with Debbie and Cate, scouted photo locations around New Harmony, and ended my physical activity for the day at football practice tonight. Glad to see the New Harmony trails are no longer under water. They were completely submerged a few weeks ago. 

Blessed to be a mom and have the privilege of celebrating this wonderful day with my amazing kiddos. Was also lucky to get to spend a part of the day with my fellow Team Blonde teammates who are role models as mothers, volunteers, and friends! I hope everyone also had an enjoyable day, and I wish you the best for this upcoming week… Next up for me, Cardinal game in STL tomorrow night!

  

Day 31: April 28, 2013- 20+ mile day

Day 31: 20.29 miles today, Miles to go: 764.72… Yep… that really says over 20 miles today : ) 8 miles this morning with Debbie for my SUN 6am Challenge out at USI/Burdette, then did over 11 miles in New Harmony between four photography sessions. Wrapped up the night with just shy of a mile after football practice to make it an even 20 miles for the day!!! I joke that my SUN Challenge is rain or shine, and I am super proud of Debbie for not only braving the rain this morning, but getting 8 miles at a fantastic pace for us. We even had a fun animal spotting along the way…

My New Harmony walks were also super enjoyable because I used the time to work on my stock photography for my art rep in London. Love this quick phone pic from the Labyrinth…

Looking forward to wrapping up my night working on those photos as well as the four wonderful families that I had the privilege to photograph. Hope you all had an awesome weekend, and I wish you the best as you ramp up for your coming week!

Day 20: April 17, 2013- damn that quad!!!

Day 20: 13.25  miles today, Miles to go: 868.85… A lot of smaller walks yielded a big distance for the day. Started out walking two miles with Dante and Maggie (well… Maggie only did a fraction of that, and I had to carry her most of the way) while we waited up at the vet office to open. Another almost two miles from the office in the a.m., and then a hot 4 mile walk mid-day. Nice that the weather has finally made a turn for the warm. I actually broke a sweat. Then ran 1+ miles before football practice, and finished out the night with a 3 mile walk, one mile of that with Bobby.

Football practice is always such a fun time, but I tweaked my left quad again… grr!  Natalie, who is our unofficial trainer person, gave me a great analogy to describe what I have done to my quad when I injured it on SUN and again tonight. I started out the practice well, but midway through a play, the sprint motion quick burst basically pulled apart what is like the equivalent of an internal scab on the inside of my leg that has been trying to heal the last few days. Disappointing that I can’t get in more practice of the plays, but this injury will dictate how fast I can get back into actually practicing. In the meantime, the goal is more stretching, more bananas for the potassium, and more water to stay hydrated.

Aside from that, I am really looking forward to the Junior League of Evansville/Evansville Morning Rotary Rockin River City Ride on SAT (www.RockinRiverCityRide.org). Need to get the bike out and dusted off, but think that the change of pace will be nice for my muscles, and the change of scenery will be good for the soul as well. The event has a variety of run/walk and biking options along Evansville’s beautiful Greenway, so the kids and I are going to try the 25K with a fellow Team Blonde teammate. I have some other people who joined my “team,” but they are doing different distances walking. The event is a Lets Move! event. Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. The event is also a great way to make an Upgrade commitment to yourself. For more information on the Upgrade campaign, visit: http://upgradenow.org/ For additional information on Lets Move! visit: http://www.letsmove.gov/

Now if ya’ll will excuse me. I need to ice my quad, then take a rolling pin to it (it was recommended?!?! I will be the first to admit that it looks really funny!), then shower and head to bed. Early day with BNI tomorrow!!! Later folks!

Day 18: April 15, 2013- Back on the saddle- part 2

Day 18: 10.53 miles today, Miles to go: 886.41… So apparently my quad isn’t near as angry with me today as it was last evening- thank goodness!!! I would totally cry if I had a repeat of last night’s football practice tightness and pain. Thankfully, instead, I was able to do a 4+ mile walk this afternoon, a 3+ mile walk with the wonderful Dr. Christine Verbeck out at the USI/Burdette trails, AND a three mile run tonight. The running is what I feel like is the biggest accomplishment of the day. I was going to be disappointed if my quad “tweak” as Bob called it (he said if it was a pull, there would be bruising) hindered my running. I can cut my times considerably and rack up more miles when I am able to run vs. walk, and tonight’s run actually had 11’27” pace that is a good early season time for me. But aside from all of that, today I have quite a bit more to talk about other than myself…

First off, I am super excited that Facebook friend and old high school colleague Beth has decided to try my 1000 mile challenge! I wish her the best of luck as she begins this journey!!! For anyone else interested, I encourage you to read my earlier blog posts for more details about the highs and lows of trying to walk/run 1000 miles in a given time frame (for me, as mentioned in previous posts, I am shooting for 6 months in what is my second time at this milestone goal- the first time I did it back in ’07, it was a goal time of 1 year, and I did it in a little over 8 months). Any questions or if you need any additional information, just let me know via email at: nikki@davisdigitalphotography.com!!!

Next, for the sake of capturing a moment in time, I was out walking my first 4 miles of the day when I got an email on my phone from my Aunt Sandy about the tragedy today at the Boston Marathon. My cousin Anna’s two friends were doing the race today, but they are OK. So I rushed back to turn on the news. What senseless violence!!! What is this world coming to that someone would as the reporter noted today perform such an act of violence at a time of the race that would cause “maximum damage”??? These families were waiting for their loved one to cross the race finish line. The runners were experiencing a bucket list item many of us could only dream of doing…. The big question is why? Why would someone or group of someones aim to cause such violence? We may never know, but I think it goes without saying that the nation will rally around Boston, and they are all in our thoughts and prayers tonight!

For more information on today’s events, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/15/us/boston-marathon-explosions/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Lastly, I wanted to report this touching bit of news reported by the NBC Sports Network via Twitter:

“Reports of Marathon Runners that crossed finish line and continued to run to Mass General Hospital to give blood to victims #PrayforBoston”

Whether or not this is true, I think we can all agree tonight we should all #PrayforBoston!!!

Day 17: April 14, 2013- The good news and the bad news

Day 17: 9.83 miles today, Miles to go: 897.14… The good news? I logged my first 100 miles today, which equals 1/10th of my goal already done- woo hoo! I didn’t think doing it in 16 days was too shabby- Yeah!!!… The bad news? I pulled my quad at Team Blonde football practice tonight! Icing my leg now, but can’t stress how important stretching is!!! Had a great 8 mile walk this morning with Debbie (no Cate today : ( She is still up at St. Mary’s with Jacob post-surgery), but I could tell as soon as we started doing sprints at the start of practice that something wasn’t quite right in my left thigh. Apparently that muscle is called your quad, and apparently according to my husband, while I am athletic and go long distances, I am not athletic in the football sense (short bursts of speed)… So what I am taking away from all this is that it sounds like I will have to work more sprint rotations into the mix once I get a good range of motion back in this leg.

Sitting in bed icing it now (speaking of which, I used to HATE the thought of icing an injury, now I welcome it… vey ironic!!!) and posting pics from practice. Since I wasn’t much use on the field, I tried to snap some great pics from the sidelines to help share what we go through to prepare for the event.

Most of you know that I have lost now over 60lbs since last year, and I was half tempted to show you a before and after pic, but for tonight I think I will just stick to sharing a fun photograph from this evening’s practice, which for me is a place where we not only get to learn the ropes of football, but we also get to support a great cause AND make some wonderful new friends (photographed with Crystal Elliott and Rose Lansink)!!!

With that being said, I still have wedding pics to put into an album, so I need to sign off to shower and work on those. Thank you to everyone who has started following my blog, and I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!!!

Day 13: April 10, 2013- wish the dog would quit licking my leg!

Day 13: 5.36 miles today, Miles to go: 928.31… Was hoping for more distance today, but got caught up in a home quote at Bob’s office around 4:50, which had me late to football practice (we started learning plays tonight= super fun!!), which also ran over. That’s OK, though. I hit my 5 for the day after a 2 mile run once we got home, so I’m happy! Need to shower up, though, so Ozzie quits licking my leg- yuck! LOL!!! After that, going to work on the new art room till Bob gets home from umpiring. Aside from the day going by really fast, not too much new or exciting happened. Looking forward to the Alzheimer’s Association gala this SAT, but have a bunch of SMILE, school, League and other stuff to tackle in the meantime. Makes me grateful for the time to get out and exercise…. sometimes silence is not only golden, it lets you strategize how you plan to tackle your day (or in my case evening)!

Day 10- April 7, 2013- What a better day!!!! Walking + Football= YEAH!

Day 10: 5.02 miles walked, Miles to go: 946.13… SUN 6am challenge with Cate Sisco this morning out at the USI-Burdette trail. Also had football practice tonight. Wow! Are my arms sore?!?! Legs feel great, thanks to the pre-conditioning. I have to comment, though, that tonight I feel like I have come full circle. It was last year at this time that Holly Dunn Pendleton asked me to play on Team Blonde for the Blondes vs. Brunettes charity football game for the Alzheimer’s Association. That was the start of my 60lb weight loss when I started conditioning to play for the team last year. So thank you Holly for being my spark! The last year has yielded an amazing change in my life, and I look forward to this latest physical challenge and this year’s BvB game!!! GO TEAM BLONDE!!!