Earth and wind are happy!

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran is one of my favorite authors/poets. His work is so inspirational, if you've never read The Prophet, do it. Yo won't be dissapointed.

So I'm thinking the earth is quite pleased with everyone who completed the 4 miles today!!! WOW. My knees were a bit achy, but not enough to keep me from walking.
Thanks Magda for walking with me. I couldn't believe we finished all 4 miles, I know I could have kept on talking (and walking, of course) for another 2!!! Having someone to talk to while walking makes it so much easier, doesn't it?

The alumni were so inspirational, thank you so much for sharing your story. I am amazed at all of you, at your determination, and your courage to do it, not once, but twice (or three times!!) You are amazing!!!

I cannot believe I walked 4 miles and I'm still standing. Just a few months ago, the thought of walking 1 mile was a distance dream. So I'm closer to those 26.2 miles. The analogy Mark used last week, about finding a way to get to your kids if they needed you and you were X miles away is a good one. I know I would walk 100 miles if they needed me.

Lisa made an excellent point this morning. Find someone in your life who can't walk/run a marathon, and when your motivation is low, do it for them. That hit home. I'm doing this for my niece Lillian, who has struggled so much in her short life, and all other kids who have CFC and may never be able to walk, much less finish a marathon. They are my inspiration.

I love meeting new people every meeting, and seeing those I've met already. Thanks for your support and inspiration.

Mark and Robin, you guys are superheros in my book! When they were talking this morning about Robin on the 26 mile cheering them on, I was about to cry and I wasn't even there!! I'm sure she was a welcome sight for those who had made it that far.
We couldn't do this without you, you are so supportive and you always know exactly what we need to hear.

Almost there...

Almost Friday!!!

Well, by the time I got home, my knees were hurting again. So I cancelled my XT. I put icy-hot cream on them, took some advil and called it a night, not before getting everyone ready for today.

I'm exhausted from today. another full day of steel toe boots. ouch. took some advil and didn't feel any pain most of the time I was outside. But now that I'm back in the office, the advil is wearing off. ouch, ouch, ouch.

It is not unbearable pain, but I don't want to push my luck, so I've been sitting out this week, hoping it will not turn into anything bigger.

I guess I should mention what I do exactly? I work in environmental remediation, so when a company is sampling the groundwater to determine if there is contamination, we go out to the site to make sure they are doing it by the book.
Some of the sites required hard hats and steel toe boots (I have a quite glamourous job, don't I?). Others don't but we usually end up in the middle of a field (like today) and I'm afraid of snakes. So I figured if I'm wearing my boots and one tries to bite me, it'll get the steel on the boots. LOL

So one day I may be in the office, nicely dressed, heels, makeup, and the next I'm out in the field, hard hat on, and steel toe boots. But I am not sure I would trade it for anything else. I've had other jobs that required me to be in the office all the time and I did not like it.

The importance of XT

I have learned my lesson. XT is very important. Had I been doing weights, my knee would have probably been in better shape.

It feels much better today. I iced last night, put sports cream on it, and took some Advil. I think it is almost back to normal. I'm going to the gym tonight and do the weights. Definitely need to do them at least twice per week to make sure I strengthen muscles/ligaments/tendons.

Mandy, Christa, Magda, and Cheryl, you made me cry this morning. (and I don't cry easily). You are AWESOME, and I'm so glad we are in this journey together.

You know, every now and then I have one of those "oh my" moments, when I realize I am the mother of 3 kids! Not that I don't know that, but it's like WOW, I have 3 kids. LOL
tidbit of useless info about me: when I was younger, I did NOT want to get married or have kids. I never dreamt of my wedding day, or had names picked out for my kids. I just didn't think marriage was for me, and I was ok with that.
I dated, was in "love" (at least I thought it was love) a few times, but just didn't see marriage in my future.
Then I met my husband, and 6 months later, we were engaged. When I called my friends (who had heard me repeatedly say I was never getting married), they didn't believe me!! They actually laughed at me, because they thought it was a joke. They said until they saw this man who had actually made me "eat my words" they wouldn't believe me. Same thing when I got pregnant with my daughter.

I guess the moral of the story is never say never. LOL

I never thought I would be training for a marathon, with 3 kids at home, and a husband. But here I am, and I'm happy to be a mom, a wife, and a marathoner!!!

Pain, Pain, go away...

Trying to update this blog before I forget what I've done. LOL Sunday, my XT consisted of grocery shopping, and laundry. Why is it I can never finish the laundry?

Yesterday, I went out to the track at the high school. The track is not padded, it's an old track and did a number on my left knee. It is hurting, I can still walk but it's a bit stiff. It hurts in the back of the knee, the joint maybe? I don't know the technical terms, I just know where it hurts. I put some ice on it last night, and it was ok today. I felt the pain when I stopped wogging. I walked on the track, and tried to run on it but it was so hard. So I ran in the field, on the grass. that was wonderful!

I spent all day out in the field, somewhere in the middle of Marion county. it was HOT. I began to wonder how I am going to train in the heat because I HATE the heat. Then decided to get a long sleeve coolmax shirt to wear when I have to go sampling. I need something to keep me cool out there.

I think wearing my steel toe boots didn't help my knee either. It feels a lot better since I took the boots off. So I'm going to take today off, ice the knee, put some sport cream or something like that on it and hope it'll be ok tomorrow. Should I take some advil too? I took some last night, probably will take some tonight too.

I need to keep reminding myself that I can make it to Chicago. I went back and read my post from Saturday, and thought I sounded a bit cocky. did I?
I hate writing stuff like that because I always think I sound conceited. I've just made lemonade out of the lemons life has thrown my way. Not superwoman, just human.

I think I can, I think I can...

The Little Engine that could is one of my favorite kids' book. I think I need to read it again to be reminded that I CAN do anything I set my mind to.

Saturday was great! I had missed the last meeting we had in Clinton, so getting out on the streets was great. Thanks Christa for walking with me. I wasn't feeling up to the challenge, but Christa and I talked the entire distance and before we knew it, we were done! We didn't run, I hope I wasn't holding you up Christa.
Amy, I didn't know where I was going, so I just went in the same direction Christa did. LOL

Met some more people, finally met Kim (hey!), Chuck and Cheryl. It is amazing how Mark always knows what we need to hear. I've been doubting myself, wondering if I can really do this. I know I am in good physical shape but time to train is hard to come by. Really hard to come by.

So, going along with Mark's advice, I figured I should self examined my reasons for doing this marathon and give myself a pep talk. So here it goes.

I've been wanting to sign up for this marathon for a couple of years. The first year I was trying to get pregnant, the next year I was pregnant with the twins. So when it was time to do it again, I figured why not. I'm the type of person who needs to have something to work towards, a goal of some sort. I figured a marathon was as good as any.

So after I signed up, I was reading about the people who use their marathons for charity; and after talking to my sister Glenda, decided to do this for Lillian. CFC syndrome is very rare, so most doctors don't know what they are dealing with when they first see a CFC child. Glenda & Kevin (her husband) went thru so much, trying to find out what was affecting their kid. There was no name for this, no one knew what to do, or how to proceed. In the meantime, their daughter could not eat, would stop breathing for no reason, and was failing to grow as other kids. They were afraid any moment she would die and no one would know why.

Through research, scientists have discovered which genes mutate and cause CFC. Hopefully soon they'll be able to develop a test that will tell the parents and doctors if the child has CFC. I want to help raise money to develop that test. So that's my reason #2 for doing this marathon.

My biggest struggle isn't training or eating right. My biggest struggle is feeling guilty for leaving my kids at home while I go out to train. The time we spent together is precious to me, and limited since I work a very demanding job. So it makes it very hard for me to leave them and go do something for myself.

But the fact is I will be a better person and a better mother after I finish this marathon. I will be healthier and hopefully a good role model for my kids after I finish this. They may be too young to remember my 1st marathon, but who said this is going to be the last one? ;)

This marathon isn't the hardest thing I've done in my life. I have overcome several obstacles along the way and made it. I went to college with a dream and a handful of change. I didn't have the luck to have parents who could pay for my school, so I had to put myself thru school. And I made it. It wasn't easy but when I left Ole Miss 4 yrs later, I was an engineer and I had a job. I had come a long way from that immigrant girl who first set foot on campus.

I delivered a healthy baby girl after struggling with preeclampsia. I made it thru postpartum complications that almost took my life, and came out on the other side with a deeper appreciation for my life and my family.

I made it thru 2 months of bedrest, one week in the hospital with pre term labor, and two weeks with my preemie babies in NICU. They are both healthy, rambunctious litte boys, and I am blessed.

There are so many other challenges I've faced and I always found a way to make it thru them. So I need to continue to remind myself that I CAN do this, that I WILL finish this marathon.

I'm sure we have all faced challenges, and have overcome those challenges. So I'm pretty sure we will make it to Chicago!

It's finally FRIDAY!

Wow, what a week! It seems that lately, all my weeeks are hectic. I'm usually running around from one thing to the next. I really need a vacation.

Had to stay home yesterday because Braden had a fever. Around 2 AM he woke up crying. I took his temp, it was 101. So ended up staying home with both of them. He didn't have fever during the day, and it's fine today. I'm thinking it may be a combination of his teething and the pollen in the air. He has been congested, but other than that, he is acting like his normal self.

Since I was home, I ended up cleaning. Didn't get it all done but at least I made progress. I hate housechores.

I took the boys out for a stroll around the neighborhood. Walked only 20 min but I was exhausted by the time we got back. I guess pushing 2- 20 lbs kids around will do a number on you.
I did notice more pain on my legs, even though I was just strolling around and I stretched. I think it's because I haven't been drinking enough water lately. So I'm going to drink lots today so hopefully I won't be hurting as bad tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to Great Harvest Bread, I missed last time they brought some. I love bread.

Bad hair day

These days, EVERY day is a bad hair day. I decided to let my hair grow and donate it to the American Cancer Society. Those of you who watch Channel 3 news have heard Barbie Bassett talking about it. Anyway, I'm doing it in honor of my cousin who is a breast cancer survivor (cancer free for a year!).

What I forgot was the reason I don't like my hair long. I have natural wavey/curly hair that "puffs" when the humidity starts to go up. So I'm walking around looking like a poodle in need of a trimming. Not nice at all. Thankfully May is just around the corner and I'll be able to go back to short hair. That's the reason for the Ole Miss hat I'll be sporting from now until I get the haircut.

Instead of XT today, I went to the track and got 20 min of wogging. Wasn't feeling it though, I guess the planets have been messing with all of us this week. But 20 min is better than none, right?

Kim mentioned her father in law teaching at JSU. One day, when I grow up, I would like to teach. Yes, I said when I grow up. I'm not sure I'm grown yet, there are still so many things I want to do. Teaching is one of those. I'm not sure what ages I want to teach, I guess I want to teach at a level where I can make a difference. Maybe after I get thru with this marathon, I'll enroll in school and get another Master's, this time in Education or something related. (Yes, I love school, I would have stayed in school if someone had offered to pay for it). I guess 2 degrees in engineering weren't enough. LOL

I DID IT!!!

I registered for the Marathon!!! Watch out Chicago, here I come!!

I had been "procrastinating", I guess I just wasn't sure if I was going to do it. Life keeps getting in the way and sometimes I start to doubt myself.

But I am going to do this. By this time next year, I'll be telling everyone, "a year ago, I was training for my first marathon..."

So it is done!

Ready for bed, this is going to be a crazy week. Spent the day in Collins, got back in the office and got a call that Braden had a fever. Not exactly a fever if it's 99 F and he has been outside. Besides he is teething. I did managed to get some things done before I picked them up. Husband called that he had to work late. So I didn't get my walk done. Mad about that, but what can you do ? I knew the boys weren't up to being outside (mom can tell), the pollen is giving them a hard time.

So I guess I'll do my run tomorrow instead of XT. I have 2 meetings, and then Thursday and Friday mornings, I'm judging the MS Science and Engineering Fair at Jackson State. That should be fun, I'm looking forward to it

The clock is ticking...

I have a countdown clock in my Google homepage for the marathon. Today is says there are 201 days left!!! It seems like a long time, but before we know it, we'll be in Chicago. wow.

Yesterday was my day off. I work a schedule that allows me 2 Mondays off per month. Except lately, I haven't been able to take the time off. It seems every time one of my days off comes around I'm either going out of town, or having to come in the office.
Yesterday was the later, I stayed for a few hrs and then ran some errands.

After I got home, my husband and kids went with me to the track at the HS. I got 33 min (used my handy dandy timex watch) of wogging before the boys started to get restless. It was getting dark too so we headed home. But I did run half of that time!!! I figured out a few things too, I need to do more stretching. My legs started to hurt, so I stopped and stretched, and voila, the pain was gone! Apparently the stretching I've been doing was not enough.

Most importantly, I figured out that I'm not as slow as I thought I was!

Voices in my head

Remember those commercials where the woman is trying to decide if she wants a chocolate chip cookie and there is a little angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, both arguing their cases?

That's what happens inside my head on Saturday mornings. I get out to the levee, excited, ready to go. Then I start walking, and it goes like this:
EVIL: you have got to be crazy to be doing this. ok, you are not even a runner! at this pace, you'll be walking for days in Chicago before you finish.
GOOD: Pay no attention. You are on your way. Just think about it, you got out of bed this morning, and instead of sitting on the couch, eating Fruit Loops, you had oatmeal, water, and came out here to train. You are a marathoner in training!
EVIL: blah, blah, blah. Do you really want to be in pain like this? Look around you! Everyone is faster than you, and you can't even jog!!! Go ahead and quit now.

and so it goes, until I finish the required distance. Is anyone else hearing voices? or should I put the number for the psychiatric ward in my speed dial? LOL

I met Vickie, Kelvin, and Phil, slowly meeting more people, which is great. I wish I could have waited for you Christa, but I had made plans for the zoo and had to get home and get everyone ready.

The zoo was full of people, I guess the great weather inspired everyone. My niece Stephanie and her boyfriend came with us, and thank God bc they were a lot of help with the kids. The boys were good, they LOVE being outside, so I'm sure we are going to spending lots of times outdoors with these 2.

Haven't XT yet today. Braden is teething, and not happy, so I was awake quite a bit last night. My husband let me sleep until 10, and then it was time to get up and get ready to go to his mother's for lunch. When we got home, everyone (including me) took a nap. So when the boys go to bed, I'll get my XT.

Doing better on the eating dept too. I was NOT good while in Orlando and it shows. But I'm back on track and I can tell the difference. I feel much more energized when I eat right.

We are trying to decide what we are doing regarding Chicago. I wanted my husband and daughter to go, but that means someone has to keep the twins. My mom is out of the country, and I'm not sure if she'll be back by then.

So Claude said I should go. I'm not sure if my sisters are going (originally they said they were). Better get on the phone and get an idea. Otherwise, I think I'll be going with the quadruple choice, so I'll be searching for roommates.

No pain, no gain, right?

I surely hope that's true. I walked for 45 minutes today around my neighborhood. A big dog came out and I thought for a moment I would be bitten by a dog. Ha! Thankfully he left me alone and I managed to get home in one piece.

But boy, was I hurting!! First it was my shins, so I walked backwards. Then it was my left leg/hip, right where they connect. Then my knees started to hurt. Finally, about 25 min into the walk, the pains went away. It was so nice outside too.

I'm looking forward to Saturday. Aside from the meeting, I have a "cleaning" marathon planned for my house. LOL And Sunday we are taking the kids to the zoo. Speaking of kids, the twins had a regular check up today. I can't believe how much they have grown and how quickly!! I brought home 2 babies who barely weighed 5 lbs each. They are now 18.5 and 20 lbs!!!

Tin Woman

I don't like daylight savings time. At least not right now. I've been trying to "catch" up since I got back from FL and have failed. I need my extra hr of sleep for sure!!!

I did nothing yesterday. By the time I got home, cooked dinner, bathed everyone, it was 9 PM! The gym closes at 9, so that was that.

So today, I left shortly after I got everyone cleaned up and ready for bed. Got on the treadmill for 30 min, and did about 5 on the elliptical to warm up the muscles.

I felt like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. Since I did so poorly with my exercise last week, my joints were killing me! But it got better after a while. Tomorrow is cross training and I am going to do some weights, now that I have a better idea which exercises work best.

I've been telling more people about my marathon endeavor. Told my priest, who thought it was fantastic and told me he knows I can do it. Also told an old boss (he used to be my boss ages ago) and he said he wasn't surprised, that it's very much "like me". I guess he thinks I'm a bit crazy? LOL

Still dealing with teething babies. It's getting better though. I think part of the problem is that grandma stayed here during the night while I was in Florida, and we all know grandmas love to spoil their grandkids. So they are being 're-trained' and are resisting it.
But I'm glad she was here because I know they enjoyed having her around, and I was more calm knowing there was someone here to help my husband.

Another week and a fresh start

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement. This last week was really hard for me. Not only was I away from home, but it seems all the "stuff" sort of piled up on me at once.

But this is a brand new week and I get a new start. I didn't XT yesterday, my niece turned 16 this weekend and she had her party yesterday. She is so much fun, most teenagers wouldn't want a party with family and friends. She wanted one with a space jump (inflatable jumping thingie)!!! It was so much fun to watch everyone, young and old, jumping in there.
I was good and ate moderately, but I twisted my ankle/leg walking to the car and today, my leg is sore. It feels more like soreness from exercise, nothing major.

I did, however, fixed my lunch for today since I ate out all of last week. The scale is showing a bigger number, which normally doesn't bother me. Except I feel sluggish and I know it's because of the choices I made last week. So I went to the grocery store and bought stuff that's good and healthy for this week.

Got a comment yesterday from a family member that put me on the defensive. I was asked how far I was running now. I said right now, we had just passed the 2.5 miles on the long distance runs. The response was "that's it? you still have 24 miles to go". I didn't let it get to me though, I am building endurance, not trying to kill myself. I just said I could tell the difference already, when I started 30 minutes walking was a struggle and now 2.5 miles is very doable.

I have so much work to do (why is it everything piles up when you are out of town) and just realized on April 2, I have to go to Cincinnati. I'm dreading it, I just got back into town!!!

Happy to be Home!!!

Finally back to MS!!! So good to be back. I was in Orlando all week, in training (groundwater pollution and hydrology class). As boring as it sounds, it was a very good class. But very LONG. We were in class from 8 AM to 8:30 PM. I managed to exercise one day, shame on me!!! I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I had a hard time sleeping at night (always happens when I travel).

So although it was a good week careerwise, it was not a good week for marathon training.

My stuff started creeping out today, started to doubt whether I can really do this. Did I bite more than I can chew? My life is FULL of responsibilities, I'm not superwoman, and I'm beginning to wonder if I can truly do this.

*sigh* I will keep training though, I'm not a quitter. I'm going to give it my best until the end of the month and then decide if I'm going to make it to Chicago or not.

I missed the meeting this morning. I was not going to go since I just got home and didn't want to leave the kids. The twins decided to "welcome" me home and kept me up ALL night. They are teething and they are just not coping well with it. And to top things off, their allergies are beginning to bother them. Thankfully they have a checkup scheduled for Thurs and I may ask the dr. if they should take something like Claritin to avoid all this.

I'll do my best to catch up with everyone's blogs. I'm so happy to be back home. Did I say that already?

I jogged! I jogged!

I did it! Never been a runner, and so far had not even attempted to jog. But I did jog from the hill and back ( the last bit, was that 0.25 miles?) Anyway, finished the 2.5 miles in 40 minutes. I can definitely see improvement, and I'm so excited!

Met Christa (it was great to meet you!) , Onetta, and Clark. I know I met more people than that, but I can't remember the names!! (sorry) I kept staring at everyone's name tag looking for Vickie LOL

I love the bags, Robin and Mark, thanks so much!!! They are awesome and today's topic was exactly what I was expecting.

Way back in the day, many moons ago, before husband and kids, I was a workout freak. I went to the gym 6 days per week and worked out for at least 1.5 hrs. I did weights, and cardio every day. As a matter in fact, I met my husband at the gym. But after my daughter was born, and things got hectic, I just stopped exercising. I would do something here and there, but never like that. Until now. I actually look forward to my workouts every day.

I'll be in Orlando all week but if I get a chance, I will get online and blog. I hope to be able to get all my training this week, but the class I'm going to (work training) is quite intensive with 3 night sessions, in addition to all day training.

sidenote: Someone asked me the other day if I laugh at people when they mispronounce my name. Never. Actually I'm quite shy about correcting people. I've been called everything you can imagine LOL

So here is the deal, if you had Spanish in high school, you can probably roll your Rs and saying my name will be easy. The R in my name sounds like a D (in Spanish, R has 2 sounds).
So my name Kayra, sounds like Ki-da. But you can call me Kay for short. My friends in college actually (to this day) call me Kay. Or you can call me Panama, or hey you, or crazy woman LOL

TGIF

Hello to my visitors!

Kim- I think the rain did help a bit. I'm glad bc I was going crazy!
Amy- thanks for the compliments on the kids. They are cute, arent' they? and so sweet! Not wonder woman, just a bit crazy. oh, and someone else told me about taking zinc. I really need to do that.
Christa-find me Saturday. Thanks for the dr.'s name and number. My allergies have never been this bad before.

I managed to get to the gym last night. Walked for 40 min and then got on the elliptical for another 10. Felt great afterwards. I'm getting ready to head to Orlando Sunday. This is the first overnight trip I've taken since the boys were born. I'll be gone all week, and will return Friday afternoon. I'm sure they'll be fine, I'm a bit worried about my husband though. He's never kept all 3 of the kids for more than a few hrs!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning!

Allergies

I've spent the last 2 days dealing with allergies. it seems the older I get, the worse they get. Not fun. I got Claritin, which worked but kept me up until midnight. I also got some Sudafed but it makes me drowsy and I have to work, so right now I cannot take anything. Hopefully the rain will help.

I haven't done anything the 2 days when it comes to training. But I'm not quitting. Hopefully the rain will help my allergies and I'll feel better tonight to get something done.