Making a Garden Grow

I recently spent a few days with my dad and lots of dirt and wood and built some raised beds for my backyard. They look awesome! And already have some great plants growing in them. Check out the photos below.

I am going to be gone for a month in Alaska biking but my roommate and upstairs neighbor are going to be taking care of the plants and most likely already be able to starting eating what they produce. It's quite exciting. I have always wanted a garden and here it is happening.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100460788717711.1073741828.20008861&type=1&l=b168701d93

Beauty

I just listened to this radio story today. It ended and I had tears in my eyes. It is just beautiful. It is an hour and well worth your time. Makes me want to get on my bike and just ride somewhere...

http://transom.org/?p=33988

Listen to this

This was on NPR this morning...part of their Story Corps project.

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/08/171382156/a-life-defined-not-by-disability-but-love

Steve Inskeep, who was introducing the news, got chocked up at the end. I definitely had tears in my eyes driving down the road.

Moved!

I just moved! If you want my new address, send me and email and I will send it your way. I don't post such things on the internet. And if you follow this blog, I am just going to assume you have my email address as well.

More updates to come soon....but one to wet your appetite:

I am going to Alaska for 3-4 weeks in May/June to bike from Fairbanks to Anchorage and around the surrounding area. I am biking with my friend Deanna who has lived there for 6 or 7 years. I have always promised I would visit and I am making good on that promise before it is too late...she is leaving this summer. I have a voucher from an Air France flight I was bumped from....which makes the flight to Alaska free...so I can't complain. More info to come soon.

It's Been Awhile

Well life has been busy at times and totally uneventful at other times. I thought I would give a little update on how I have been spending my time and some new developments...or at least some things in the works. Mind you....everything listed has happened over a 3-4 month period...not all at once. And this is pretty much the random thoughts in my head right now.

I have a meeting with Rashida Tlaib next week. She is my state representative for where I live in Detroit. I am super pumped to sit down with her. I will let you know how the conversation goes.

REI was incredibly busy during the holiday season. There was a never ending line of people. I believe consumerism is alive and well. I couldn't believe how much money people were spending on gifts. Blew my mind. In practicing my anti-spending ideas around Christmas, I settled for making some nice sets of cards for my family (if you would like a set...I could probably get one together for you for a small price...I mostly need to pay for the paper, clue and a little labor). I make the cards and envelopes (from magazines). I have to say they are pretty creative. Collin thinks I should sell them on Etsy but that might take the fun out of making them.

One day while working at REI, I was headed to the bathroom and I got to the door at the same time as this little boy and his mother. He was probably 6...maybe a little older. Anyway, as we both put our hands on the door to open it, he looked up at me and said, "You're pretty." I could barely stop myself from laughing and managed just to say thank you. Mind you I had been working all day...probably hadn't washed my hair in about 4 days...but you gotta love those unsolicited compliments from the mouths of babes. The only awkward part of this was going to the bathroom at the same time. The kid was in the stall right next to me. I hurried right out of there.

Yesterday I posted on facebook that if life were a contest I would be winning. Why you might ask? Well I managed to make all of the doctor's appointments I have been avoiding for years, a dentist appointment, a haircut appointment, set a date to get my car fixed with an autoshop and set up my meeting with Rashida. I am pumped.

As for work/school...I am thinking about going back to school or maybe getting an internship exploring some things I am interested in. Hopefully this experience will help clarify if I need more schooling or if my skills are transferable to a new field. I am doing a bunch of information interviews right now and hoping they will lead to some new options. I will keep you posted on this one...it is still in development.

I have definitely spent a lot of time reading. My only wish was to have more people to talk with about the books I have been reading. Here is a small sampling:

• The Oath by Jeffrey Toobin
• Cover the current supreme court and their controversial rulings
• The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin
• Covers the court of Sandra Day O'Connor and the lead up to Bush v. Gore. 
• So Rich So Poor by Peter Edelmann
• This book is all about why it is so hard to end poverty in America...excellent read. And depressing. I strongly recommend it.
• It's Even Worse Than it Looks by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein
• If you aren't into politics, I would avoid this book. They do an excellent job outlining many of our current problems with deadlock in Washington. I should point out one is a liberal and the other a conservative so it is written from both perspectives.
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Fiction...murder mystery...I will leave it at that
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• Most have probably heard of the movie...this is the book it is based on. Excellent read...the stories all overlap.
• How Children Learn by Paul Tough
• This one is really a must read for any educator or actually anyone with children. There is also an excellent chapter about teaching chess to middle school students (Ruth please share that with Mr. B. I thought of him the entire time I was reading that chapter). Here is an interesting review of th book...I agree with much of what the reviewer has to say: http://dianeravitch.net/2012/10/23/paul-toughs-how-children-succeed/
• People Who Eat Darkness By Richard Lloyd Parry
• Nonfiction about a rapist in Japan who preys on young women from mostly western countries who come to work in the hostess culture in Tokyo and around Japan. Disturbing to say the least but very eye opening.

There is only one book on that list I did not love....or at least enjoy quite a bit while I was reading it. I will let you try and figure it out. It was recommended to me by a friend. The two of us have very different tastes in books but I read it because she recommended it. 

I have also been able to see quite a few good movies recently. I would recommend all of these if you haven't seen them yet. I am sure I have seen more but I just can't remember right now.

• Lincoln
• Promised Land
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Pitch Perfect
• Les Miserables

I also caught up on Downton Abbey and by that I mean I found season three online and watched it. Pretty good over all. I definitely cried...actual tears falling down my face on one episode. You will know the exact episode when you get there. I almost stopped watching the show after that episode. The Christmas episode this season was also pretty sad. I have no idea where they are headed with this plot. I will leave it at that so I don't give out any spoilers.

I finally started watching The West Wing as well. How I let that show go unwatched for so many years is a mystery to me. I loved it so much...I had no control. Seriously it was like crack. I would watch one episode and then another and then another. I finished season one in something like three days. That is definitely not healthy. It was at that point I gave most of the seasons back to my dad since I couldn't manage self control on my own. 

Do you have any good reading recommendations for me? Or movies? I am always looking for thoughtful and inspiring books, movies, shows. 

Marathon Wrap Up

The Detroit Marathon was this past weekend and I have to say it is some of the most fun I have had around running in a long time. Four of my LV friends and a Christian Brother I know came in for the weekend. Myself and Br. Paul ran the marathon and my friend Janet ran the half. Melissa, Mary and Denis all came to cheer and see Detroit. 

I spent most of Friday and Saturday taking my friends around the city and going to the Expo to pick up our running numbers. We got all over the city and the weather was amazing. We had a big pasta dinner on Saturday night and I attempted to get some sleep before the race....this is really never a success. We got up around 5:30am and headed out the door a little after 6am. Evelyn was kind enough to give Paul, Janet and I a ride to the starting line. We had time to go to the bathroom, drop of our gear and gear check and hit the starting line. Paul was in a much higher starting corral than me and Janet so he started the race much sooner than us. We got across the starting line around 7:20am and hit the streets. 

A few facts about the Detroit Marathon. We run across two bridges and through one tunnel. One of the bridges and the tunnel bring us back and forth to Canada. There was over 18,000 runners but only about 3,700 did the marathon. They have an international half marathon that obviously goes to Canada and a Michigan Half which stays in Detroit. I expected the race course to be pretty empty on the back side but with the variation of runners doing different races it was never really empty. 

Anyway around mile 2 we start to head up the Ambassador Bridge and to Canada. Mary, Melissa and Denis were waiting here to cheer which was great. They had planned out multiple locations on the race course to see us throughout the day. Around mile 3 I lost track of Janet on the bridge. It was pretty packed and you had to keep moving. We knew I would probably be running a faster race than her so I just kept going. The view from the top of the bridge was amazing. The sun was just beginning to rise and the city looked great with the morning light hitting it. You had to remind yourself it was okay to slow down and take a look. 

I had trained with the hopes of running at my best a 4:15 marathon but I knew this might be a long shot...my fastest time thus far in marathons is around 4:29 so that is a significant time drop. Early on in the race, I was keep pace and feeling pretty good. We ran about 3 miles in Canada and headed to the Windsor Tunnel which would take us back to Michigan. I was warned that the tunnel gets really hot but I wasn't ready for this. It is underground for about 1 mile and there is even an underground marker at the exact border between the two countries. I was sweating so much at this point. Outside the tunnel it was perfect running weather. Inside the tunnel felt like an oven. I was also warned to make sure my running number was clearly visible because customs officers would stop you upon returning to the US if they couldn't see your number. Honestly after running the race, this seemed like a customs nightmare but they obviously make it work. I asked Janet (who is from Los Angeles) if they would ever do a race like this between California and Tijuana. She just laughed.

Anyway, we emerged from the tunnel to a blast of fresh cold air which felt great...as we turned the corner onto Jefferson, I heard MC Hammer "You Can't Touch This" and they had a big banner saying "Welcome back to the United States." I have to say it was a little exhilarating especially with all the people watching looking for their friends and family. 

I kept my pace and started looking for my family around mile 10.5 where they said they would be waiting. Right on cue I saw them and stopped to say a little hello. It is always great to see people you know around the course. It gives you that little blast of energy you need. My stomach was also feeling a little upset at this point and I found some porta potty's with no lines and hit one up. As I got close to the half marathon mark, my legs were already starting to feel it. I had gone out a little faster than I intended and was worried about the second half of the race. My friend Mary intended to join me at mile 15 and run to the end of the race. Right on cue she was there with Melissa and Denis at mile 15. I was so grateful to have a running partner at this point. I could tell I was starting to struggle and the next 10 miles were going to be brutal.

Mary made a point of talking to me and just telling me random stories which was great. Initially I was good at chatting back with her but as we progressed on the course my ability to respond quickly diminished. By mile 18, I was just asking her one line questions. My mile 22, I was just responding to her stories with one word answers. By mile 24, I was barely able to grunt a response back to her...and at that point I remember thinking "Stop talking to me...I don't have the extra calories to listen!" This wasn't actually true...I was so grateful to have someone running with me and motivate me to keep running. I also felt my body getting tighter and screaming at me to stop. My quads hurt so bad and literally every time I closed my eyes to blink I had to work very hard to open them again. I have never felt this depleted in a race before but I also knew I was incredibly close to getting my goal time.

Mary encouraged me to keep running and even helped me switch out my shirts when I was getting too hot. Throughout the whole race, I was using a run/walk method that I had read about for years but never used. Basically you run for a predetermined amount of time and then walk for a predetermined amount of time. I was running for 9 minutes and walking for 1 minute throughout the entire race. The fellow who came up with this method is a huge believer in it...but the idea is it only works if you do it from the beginning of the race even when you are feeling great. If you start walking once you start to feel tired...you have already lost the opportunity that the 1 minute brings to your bodies. I don't know the research behind it but I know it worked for me. Towards the end of the race these walk breaks became harder and harder. I had a difficult time starting to run after each of them. Mary and I decided together that I should probably skip the last walk break and just run the last mile....that was probably the best decision ever. I am not sure I would have been able to run again if I stopped. 

Around mile 25, I saw my cousin Josh's wife, Pam, and their three year old Gina. It was literally at probably my lowest point on the race. I was so tired, felt like I couldn't keep my eyes open, and was struggling to finish. It was a huge to see them...and extra cute was to see Gina running after me with the sign her and Pam made. This little bit motivated me to keep going and push on. 

I rounded the corner and saw the 26 mile sign...at the top of a hill....I pushed up it and rounded the corner. Mary cut out at this point and I saw Melissa, Denis, and Janet all waiting along the finish line route. I crossed the finish in an official time of 4:15:56...which was my goal. I couldn't hardly believe it. I knew I trained well for the race but I wasn't incredibly optimistic about finishing in my goal time. I have trained well for marathons in the past and completely flopped in the second half of the race. I really think having Mary run with me was a huge burst and also having my friends there cheering. Here is the link to my finishing time, splits and pace:

http://resultsarchive.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=137376328&rsID=135078

I met up with my dad, Paul and Janet at the gear check. Paul finished in a great time and qualified for Boston. The first thing Janet told me was she puked three times on the Ambassador Bridge. Apparently she wasn't feeling too well! She did say after that she felt great and had a much easier time running. As a Detroiter, I thought this was great because the owner of the Ambassador Bridge is a terrible man and is currently trying to block the building of another bridge over the river...much to the chagrin of pretty much everyone in Detroit. With that said, Vote No on Proposal 6.

After the race, we gathered at my house and quite a few family members came over for chili and a potluck. It was great. The perfect ending to a great race and a beautiful race day. At this point, moving was terrible for me so I pretty much stayed sitting at the table. Paul, Denis, Mary and Melissa hit the road shortly after this because they all had to work on Monday. It was great to see all of them and show them around the city.  

Monday after the race was really difficult. Going up and down stairs and going to the bathroom was to be avoided at all costs. Janet and I took it easy...minus visiting John King bookstore...which if you are from Detroit or been there before you know this is a massive bookstore with 4 floors and tons of stairs. It might have been a mistake to go on Monday after the marathon but it was the only time we could go. I painfully moved up and down the stairs but it was worth it. 

As I right this, I feel a thousand times better. I can move with relative ease. I have been going up and down the stairs like a champ with only slight pain. I am still not ready to run but I feel great. Mostly I am just in shock I ran the time I wanted to run and don't really feel any residual injury. It was a good enough race for me to consider training for another marathon next year. 

Marathon Info

If you are interested in tracking me via your mobile phone or the internet on Sunday....you can!

There are a few ways to track. All you need to know is my name and my Bib Number which is 1458. Here are the tracking methods:

• Download the Marathon App
• If you have a phone that lets you download apps, go to this website and download the Detroit Marathon App:
• http://www.freepmarathon.com/download
• I haven't downloaded the app myself but apparently there is a section of it that will give you live updates of my progress on the course.
• Track Online
• Go to this website:
• http://fm.dmptouch.com/tracking/index.php
• Type in my runner number (1458).
• The website will find me and then you just click on my name and it will give you live updates. 

A lot of races offer an option where they will send you text messages of my progress through the race but apparently not this one. These are the only two options I can find so far. Enjoy tracking me!