Just post some damn photos will you?

Yes Yes I know!

I hear you. (Greta)

Huge Huge work event = 2 solid weeks of work, days & nights, plus 1, 15 hour work day.

Tomorrow = 3 days of drill

Becca = 1 busy mama

Simply some photos:

Finn and Wallace are becoming better buddies :-)

Awwwwww. Sisters...

Still got some mad playground skillz....

Fun in the leaves...

Books!

Hello fellow lovers of books!

I am behind on my reviews of the latest reads. So here you go, in order from most recently finished:

After reading the longer and heftier titles below, I chose this book because it was nonfiction and interesting to me...it is about a young woman who choses to throw caution to the wind, leave her career and become a cab driver in New York. For the most part I thought the book was interesting. I felt like I learned a lot about how the business of driving a cab works and have more respect for cabbies after reading it. I also learned interested facts like, in New York City, there are 31 water crossings, 138 landmarks, 6,400 miles of streets, and 11,107 street names. And out of the THOUSANDS of drivers only a few hundred are women. I liked the book...but it got a little repetitive and disorganized towards the end. You might just be better served checking out the blog, that inspired the book, rather than reading it. Doesn't look like she posts to it too often any more but you'll get the idea :-)




This book was proudly chosen by me as the 2nd pick of our Books over Brooms book club, comprising of members, Greta and Mom. As of late, they are still working on finishing, so I will not include any spoiler material! This book was really good and am looking to a great discussion. It is a "historical fiction" novel of sorts and is about the life of Mamah Cheney, a woman who had an affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. The book goes back and forth between Oak Park, IL, Chicago, Spring Green WI, and abroad. It raises a lot of questions about women's "roles" as wives, mothers, etc in the early feminist movement. It is a must read I think. If you do, let me know :) I would LOVE to talk about it.




AND last but not least, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. NOW, I am happy to say.....that I read this book before Oprah picked it, and I would strongly suggest just reading it, and then reviewing it with others, or read other people's opinions. This is a MUST read. Along with the Road by Cormac McCarthy, I would put this at the top of my list for best books fo the year. It is a long one, nearly 700 pages, but SO worth it. It is just beautifully written, you savor every page. NOW: I must preface that it is a tragedy.....often compared to Hamlet it does not have a warm and fuzzy, rainbow draped, unicorn frolicking ending. But that should not keep you from reading it, in my opinion. Sometimes life is hard, and it sucks, and that is just one part of this book. But all of the other parts, the relationships between the main character, his family, their dogs.....it is so well written, it helps you see beauty in all things....good and bad. I LOVED THIS BOOK.

The 5 Senses of Running a Marathon

I think one part of actully running and being "in" a marathon that I didn't expect, was how overwhelmingly stimulating it was. There was just so much more to take in, experience and process so...at about mile 13 I got the idea for this blog post!

My first marathon experience in lists based on the 5 senses.

SIGHTS

• people people people everywhere
• amazing signs, my favorites ..The Stupid Sign, and You are a better running mate then Sarah Palin
• great running shirt slogans
• the 30 or so men pissing on the wall of the first bridge at the start of the race
• 29 different Chicago neighborhoods
• people struggling and walking
• Boystown water station - men in swimsuits and afros
• The male rifle squad in cammo pants
• checking out everyone's running gear
• amazing inspirational Nike billboards
• the Dragons in Chinatown
• Endless patterns of Gatorade logos, BOA logos, Hinckley water logos
• A woman with a sign that said, Mitch will you marry me?
• lots of iPods, banned my ass
• A man running in a banana costume
• Two little girls handing out Oreos and milk on one corner
• the FINISH line

SOUNDS

• many foreign languages, "no speak english"
• all of the runners screaming and cheering under the first bridge
• whistles, cowbells, horns, megaphones, cheers, shouts, air horns
• shoes hitting the pavement
• "there are water stations at EVERY mile"
• strangers yelling my name, cheering me on
• my heart pounding in my ears
• my family and friends rooting for me
• Coming across the finish line! Shanna Roman...shyn and Becca Keaty!

TASTE

• Fear (at the beginning)
• Gatorade
• Water
• Vanilla GU
• Chocolate GU
• Repeat x 50
• Fear (in the middle)
• Jolly Rancher (this was key!) thank you random stranger that gave it to me.
• stick of peppermint gum (same as above)
• victory (at the end)

FEELING

• my feet hitting the ground one after another
• slick elbows nudging, jabbing by
• holding hands with Shanna or Megan in the hard parts
• hugging my family and friends quick as I passed them
• the slickness of running over wet waxy paper cups
• my throat closing off as I tried to stop crying and keep breathing
• the scooshiness of running over hundreds of wet green sponges
• the amazing sense of relief as I rubbed communal vaseline on my lips
• the cramping in the arches of my feet
• the cold and wonderful spray of an opened fire hydrant
• the tightness along my hip flexers, knees and ankles
• salty sweat on my tongue
• the hot hot hot sun taking more and more of my energy away
• nausea
• burning sensation in my legs as I climbed that last hill
• holding hands with Shanna as we crossed the finish line

SMELL

• mexican food in pilsen
• pizza in little italy
• gyros in greektown
• the group of Indian men we just couldn't seem to get past

The Chicago Marathon!

Well Everyone! I successfully completed my first marathon. I finished in 5 hours and 3 minutes! It was very warm day nearing the mid 80s, not a cloud in the sky, which made it very difficult. My leg held in there, but all in all it was a pretty arduous feat, I was in quite a bit of pain for the entire second half.There were MANY times I thought I would have to give up, but with the support of the people there cheering me on not only at the race, but from afar, I just knew I had to do it.

I will share with you tonight the weekend in pictures, and then I will blog more about the details soon. I want to write it all down here before I forget anything about it. It was TRULY an incredible experience. Enjoy the photos.

FRIDAY NIGHT
Shanna, Megan and I met for pizza to start carbo loading and coming up with our race day strategy. We waited FOR EVER for our dinner, but ended up getting it for free! So that was pretty awesome.

SATURDAY

Nick, Finn and I headed to McCormick Place for the Health and Fitness Expo to pick up my race packet. It was BIG, and really cool. Finn loved running down the long marble hallways. They had a super cool video that they taped by strapping a camera to the hood of a car and then drove the course. It was neat to watch the route fast forwarded. As promised I did purchase some well deserved but over priced marathon gear.

I signed the big banner to show our family's support for the Chicago Olympic Host Bid!


Some hilarious t-shirts at the Expo :-)

Finn's FAVORITE part was riding the CHOO CHOO back to Hyde Park. He's such a big boy now, he even got to hold the ticket.

Saturday night brought Mom, Greta and Nate after the LONGEST epic journey from two states away. We headed out for pizza AGAIN at a Chicago Classic and FORGOT the camera...boo hiss. We had another great meal and we turned it in early to prepare for race day.

SUNDAY MORNING! RACE DAY!!!

This is my nervous "quick take my picture in case I die doing this" picture

And I was off!

The first half of the race went pretty effortlessly, but then our team suffered a major blow when around mile 14, Megan had to drop out due to her knee injury. It just crushed Shanna and I. We knew how hard Megan had trained, how badly she wanted it...she hurt her knee at the VERY last moment of her 20 miler. Losing her at that moment was the worst part of the race.

I was SO lucky to have a very lively, travel savvy and motivating crew of fans to cheer me on. My cousins Meghan and Emily who are new Chicago residents came out with skull apparel, signs and smiles. They were awesome!

Greta and Nate put their Urban Dare Champion skills to use and made it around the city like pros. Nick was always close behind on his bike, he also made it to quite a few spots to cheer. Their support, awesome cheers, and Greta's miracle motivational speech, when I was ready to give up really made me go on. I also had some awesome helpers who ran with me towards the end. Colleen, Bob and Matt....you got me through those last 6!! I owe you one :-)

And then their was the FINISH. They call the end of the Chicago Marathon tough because of the Marathon Mountain...which is really just a smallish incline up Roosevelt. but at the very end of 26 miles it DOES feel like a mountain. I can't even describe how it felt when I saw that finish line around the corner. All I know is I started crying when the woman put the medal around my neck and said, 'Congratulations."

A big shout out to my awesome sister and brother in law Nate. I know you guys did a ridiculous amount of driving to come cheer me on. It meant the world to me. Really seeing you both throughout the course kept me going. And Greta! That one moment...when only a sister, who knows me SO well, knew what I needed, which WAS a verbal "bitch slap" to knock me out of my self doubt so I could keep going. THANK you for that :-) I love you both.

My Mom also gets a very special shout out. My poor mother didn't even get to SEE me on the race course because she took the train downtown with Finn to the finish and got caught up in the mobs of people. Mom - just know you had the MOST important role and you were amazing at it....bringing my shining light, FINN to the finish! Thank you for braving the train and for taking care of him Sunday night and on Monday as I was barely MOVING and not up for chasing the little man around. It meant a lot that you made the trip too and thank you for taking such good care of all of us.

Another big thank you to all of the people that cheered me on, at the course or far far away! I could feel all or your good wishes and positive energy and it really kept me going.

More details about being "in" the race coming soon.

It's GO TIME

I'm TWO DAYS out people!

Tonight begins a whole slew of weekend plans leading up to the Marathon.

For dinner this evening I will be feeding my face with my training buddies Megan and Shanna....getting coordinated and psyched up.


Tomorrow morning I am off to the Fitness Expo to pick up my BIB, race packet, and some overpriced yet highly coveted Marathon apparel.
Mom, Gert and Nate roll into town tomorrow afternoon! SO glad they are coming :-)


Sunday morning its GAME ON. RACE DAY!!!!!!


I am REALLY truly excited. Running a marathon has been a goal of mine for a VERY very long time. It's a big deal to me! The training has been a tremendous amount of work....and I am ready to have some fun and hopefully have a great race. I don't want to let myself down or anyone else for that matter. I know I have a ton of people cheering me on which is HUGE. Thank you so much to everyone for all of their well wishes and support. I will think of all of you on the long 4 + hour (give or take) spin around my fine city of Chicago.

I am never quick to forget how important it is to push your limits. It has felt really great to push myself physically in this way. I have lost all my "baby" weight and then some....have enjoyed the time to de-stress by pounding the endless miles of pavement. I spent a few minutes today going back and looking at all of my Nike Plus miles and goals...to remind myself how far I've come since I started back in January...when running just 4 miles was tough.


What is that quote? Something about the journey being more important than the destination?
Well...here's to hoping the destination is also pretty damn awesome!

It's Heating Up!

So until I can figure out how to transfer my sister's pictures of Finn's first hair cut...

I thought I would turn your attention to this pretty cool web site.

Perspctv
This is about as up to date as it gets....I have become mildly obsessed with tracking the election, and this wraps it up quite nicely for the time starved.

I found myself (no lie) having a conversation, in a vineyard, with COMPLETE strangers about S. Palin this weekend.

Here is a photo...if you'd like a visual.

It's kind of a long story to share here....the condensed version is that I questioned a young couple, "Do you support Palin?" and they said Yes, and I think I was just so shocked with disbelief that I just wanted to keep asking them more questions, because clearly they couldn't be serious? And then the guy answered back with, " But she's just so cute! She has such a nice large family....and she is shakin' things up! I don't want another white old man in office. Didn't you see her winking during the debate, and that Joe Six Pack line, I loved that!"

No lie. This is what this guy said! And I was like...ummmmmm, pretty sure McCain is an old white man....but uh......and NO the whole folksy, dumb speak does NOT do it for me. I don't appreciate or find it PROFESSIONAL to wink, flirt or smile your way through an official electoral DEBATE.

It was so awkward. I am still going to say they were pulling my leg... PLEASE let them be pulling my leg?

Jesus....fingers and toes crossed here. If any of my blog readers out there like Palin...lay it on me! I wanna hear more. But if you get a lot of "seriously?" or "really?" comments back, don't say I didn't warn you.

This girl is Obama/Biden all the way.

Hayward 2008

A tradition reaching back to the tender ages of youth...my family heads up to the Northwoods, just outside of Hayward, WI and enjoys a long lazy week at Deerfoot Lodge

The week started off with some awesome fishing excitement, when Good Old' Dad thought he would show the "crappie rookies" ie. Greta and I, just how it's done when he somehow hooked a 50 in. MUSKIE on a teeny tiny hook...on four lb. test line.
It was HIGH drama on the open waters...because! the big net was missing from the boat.
After yelling and getting some help from shore, an SOS net was brought to the boat, Nate jumped in and after a few attempts at netting the monster fish....it broke the line. It was a pretty big bummer. These photos capture the moment pretty well!


Here you can see the top line of the Muskies back on the top of the water.

Look at the size of that splash!


Greta and I were pretty fired up!


There was also a lot of lounging, snoozing and snuggling with Finny.


Lots and LOTS of fishing, and boat rides

Here is a CLASSIC picture of Greta. Always eager to pose for a candid photo :-)

Dad was an awesome guide, fighting the @#(*%$Q! WIND and sore tore up hands.


And, it was just so wonderful to have an entire week to spend with Finn.
He's changing so much. He got his first haircut (more pictures to come soon of the event), he's running everywhere, talking up a storm and is QUITE a little ham, busy mimicking everyone. Here are some super sweet photos of him.



Thanks Mom and Dad for a GREAT WEEK! I love you!

More fun Hayward moments and photos here :-)