13.1 Miles & Still Standing

The last time I had attempted a half-marathon on March 8th, I had run exactly .8 miles since October. This time I was by no means ready, but I had run a lot more. I even ran one 5 mile run. I can give a list of 1,001 excuses - but to be honest - I just didn't run. That is the reason I wasn't ready. So instead again - this would be another "training run." We met up with Robert and Heather (part of the Ohio contingency of the 7:11 running club.)

We woke up early on Saturday - caught the bus to the start. It was beautiful, high 50's and slightly overcast. I started running and felt great. We did the run a mile - walk a minute strategy that works well for me. Most of the miles were around 11 minutes. But again, this was training. Bruce is a great partner, but I always feel that I am holding him back. I made a deal with myself - I would at least get to 8 miles - that is what I got to in the Disney Princess half-marathon. But once we got to 8 and I was still feeling good we made it to 10. Then we walked two and ran the last 1.1 mile in. It was fun, at the end, I did not feel like death and the scenery was awesome. I would definitely run this 1/2 marathon again.

After the run - we took a short nap - then we headed to lunch at Sledders (a not so crowded bar close to downtown.) Then we did some shopping - I was a big fan of the shoe stores, because there was ample seating - though I did not die, I was still tired. We tried to find a decent cup of coffee in Traverse City - but we had no such luck. So entrepreneurs - here's a call - start a coffee place in TC - serve a decent cup of Joe and you will make a killing.

So what do tired runners do when they are well tired. See a movie off course at the local cinemas. What hot summer hit movie did we see? Drum Roll...... The Hannah Montana Movie. Oh that is right - we did surprise the ticket salesman - when he asked what we wanted to see and how many tickets and we said "Hannah Montana & two adults." But due to the fact that the 7:11 club - loves Hannah & Miley (playing many of the songs on repeat on our car rides to Interlaken.) It just made perfect sense. The theater consisted of 8 people - a father/daughter, a mother/daughter and well us. We sang, we clapped, we cried and we had a lot of fun, but now we are trying to learn the line dance - this quickly reveals that we are way above the target audience, because well I can do the first part slow - very slow - but once you get the music going at tempo - well that is were I faulter.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a trip to the Mission Point Lighthouse, a winer, dinner at Boone's (No not Boones farm - however, - "I hear that the snow peak peach flavor is the best flavor of Boones." - Juno) - Go Karting and then the pool. Frankly I am exhausted just thinking about it.

Today we were up early and on the road - because we stopped for lunch at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth. Robert had never been and thought that today would be the perfect time. Then I came home and quickly took a long well deserved nap.

The start!

America Girl Weekend

Mother's Day weekend - I headed to Chicago with my mom for a girl's weekend out. My mom had promised Sophie a trip to the American Girl Store - to much of my sister's shigrin. See growing up, I had been the one in our family that had loved barbies and dolls. Krista preferred legos and games. Well she was blessed with the girliest girl ever. Sophie loves barbies, dolls, cries that the notion of wearing jeans and of course her favorite colors are pink followed closely by purple.

So when she at five years-old started to devour the American Girl books - my mom knew that she must go to mecca (aka the gates of hell for my sister) the American Girl Store in Chicago. Now this was supposed to be a trip that included my cousin Olivia and my Aunt Elena, but then there was a conflict - so instead Krista and I filled in. Now this was not an awful trip for me because despite the fact that I am 30 - I have an American Girl doll that is living in mint condition in my basement that I bought when I was about 10 years-old.


So we headed to the store - Sophie had narrowed down the list to three or four dolls she was interested in. But we all knew that she would end up with the depression era doll - Kit because well Kit and Sophie have the same hair cut, same coloring - well everything except the eyes. Sophie will quickly let you know that Kit has blue eyes and her eyes are hazel.


It was so much fun watching Sophie jump around the store with pure joy. Krista was a little more reserved. We looked at each doll and all her accessories (pronounced by my niece Asorceries - she is an avid reader and she knows alot of words - but some only because she has read them, so they have a unique pronounciation. She is smart as a whip though - that unlike the girliness she gets from my sister.)

Finally she decided on Kit. And Aunt Jennie - well I had to do my part - so my mom bought the doll and I bought the matching outfit for Sophie. Sophie put the outfit on immediately and everyone in the store was like - that little girl looks just like Kit. She felt like a movie star.



Then we headed up stairs for lunch. Of course Kit got her own chair next to Sophie. And Sophie made sure she had enough tea. I think my sister hit her American Girl Quota before lunch was even over, however, Sophie told us during lunch that this was her best childhood memory. I know that made her Grandmother's mother's day.

Do you think metallic sprinkles are toxic?

Oh well the are delicious.

It's Kit!

I Must Be Getting OLD

So this week (after a long SkillsUSA weekend) I got sick. No not the H1N1 formerly know as the Swine Flu. I have a sinus infection - which I am now on antibiotics for. However, it has kicked my butt. I came home Monday afternoon early from work and slept until Tuesday morning. Then I came home every night just whipped. I did lose my appetite - which is excellent for weight lose - however I have no energy to show my new skinner self off. I finally got to the doctor on Thursday to be diagnosed with a sinus infection. I am feeling slightly better - but still exhausted. I am just excited that it is May and that means we are just weeks away until "schools out for SUMMER!!"

Kansas City - Here We Come
(at least 3 of us)

It's been a pretty exhausting couple of weeks, but in a good way. The last weekend in April was the annual SkillsUSA State Conference in Lansing. This was a strange year because I left St. Clair TEC in early March (so I still felt really close to the students competing from there) but I was bringing Students from Lapeer County Ed-Tech. If you know me than you know that I have said in my past that the best race would be if everybody tied.

So that being said, I told my students from St. Clair and Lapeer, that I would be proud if they did their best. And well their best was the best. Yes, the Lapeer Video Team came in first - which means they will be heading to Kansas City. And in audio - St. Clair TEC came in first and second, with Lapeer coming in third.

It was a different kind of trip being an advisor at Lapeer. First is that we can take the students in our cars - so that meant that I could leave early on Friday and plan other activities in Lansing. The first activity was visiting the campus of Lansing Community College. We toured the campus then we headed over to their Digital Media program. Were we got to see the RED camera. It's a newer digital cinema camera that was used to film movies like King Kong. The kids were really impressed.





After LCC it was on to Impressions 5 - the Science Center in downtown Lansing. That is where the video competition was going to take place. So we had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at what they would havd to face in the morning.




Then we headed over to the Banks of the Red Cedar (Michigan State University's Campus) for lunch and a chance to see what a bigger campus looked like. Needless to say there were five high school boys in the car and they had one focus - all the ladies. It was funny.

Friday night we went to the opening ceremony and then after going over some last minute strategies (with both St. Clair and Lapeer) we headed to bed. For an early rise.

This year I helped organize both the video and the audio competition. Which means I helped design the contest and run it, by helping find a location, getting judges, making sure the information gets up on the website for all the other schools. It's fun - but it can be stressful, because I do my best (with Bruce) to make it as fair as possible.

This year with audio, I got the students up and running and then left it to the judges. With video, I went over after they were set up, everything was going well until --- yes until. Well a storm poppped up half way through the day and well the museum we were at lost power. Yes, right during the editing portion. Bruce was in mid-sentence saying, "you should probably sss...." (the word was save - as the power went off. We decided to wait it out for a half hour before we figured out what to do. Well in the mean time it was really raining and we were in the basement and there was a door that you could walk out of - and well the water was all draining there on the outside and soon that water started coming in. Needless to say - we were crammed in there to begin with and now a room full of high schoolers and editing equipment (power cords etc.) was now starting to fill with water. Thankfully it subsidded quickly - but I had images of students floating away on folding chairs and tables.

After 45 minutes passed and still no power - the judges had arrived. Three of my fabulous friends from Local 4 - Olive, Angie and John. Which I then had to sweet talk into sticking around - much longer than expected. Because now we were boarding a bus and headed to the West LCC campus to start editing again. Once we got there - the students had 1 hour left to edit.

Then judging began. This year - it was an open judging. Which meant that advisors and contestants could watch while the judges judged. I think it helped make - because in the morning when there was a small snafu - everyone seemed pretty open to the fix.

What a snafu - well to be honest my team did not go to the podium for gold. No they were silver. Somehow one of the teams that was disqualified for time, made it through judging without it being caught. So they were awarded first place. Well after the awards ceremony - there advisor notified us of the mistake and it was corrected, which put Lapeer with the gold and the bronze.

Regardless of the results. It was a great weekend. On Saturday night, I had dinner with my Lapeer students and my St. Clair Students. They all got along smashingly. We had a great time.
I was really proud on Sunday to watch all my students do so well. I can hardly take credit for Lapeer - that should go to Bruce. But after the award ceremony it was great the St. Clair Students found me to give me their advisor pins. I felt really special. They said that they wouldn't have made it without my help. It made me melt.

As for Kansas City - I am now trying to raise funds to get my Lapeer Students to KC. So if you need your car washed or lawn mowed give me a call because I will be pimping myself out until June. Or better yet if you want to just donate to help the youth of America - you can let me know that to - I'll let you know where to send the check.