Thanksgiving Day 5K Race Report

First of all..this race started at 9:00 a.m. ALL races should start at 9:00. It was like race day heaven getting to sleep in like that.

I was a little nervous driving to the race (with my sister Amanda), but not like I have been for other races. Mostly I was afraid we wouldn't find my sister, Crystal. Even though she is much faster than I am, she said she would run with me and pace me at my 8:30 mile goal pace.

When we got to the packet pickup area, it was cold! Really though, once we started running it was fine. I think the temperature was in the upper 30s. Amanda and I found Eric (my brother) and Crystal, and we went to the start area.

Eric, Crystal, Amanda and I found the 8:00 start group and found spots about halfway back in the group thinking those people would be running about an 8:30 mile. WRONG! When we got to the starting line, they were pacing about 10:00. So much for my plan to run an 8:15 first mile.

My brother is a pretty tall dude, so he started weaving in and out of people and I just followed him. He got us all to where we needed to be pretty quick, but it was exhausting having to start and stop and weave in and out like that.

From there, Crystal ran with me and encouraged me the whole way.

"Pick it up!"

"Ok, run fast to the next light pole."

"Push it to the stop sign."

"Let's make up some time going down this hill!"

I don't have my usual mile splits because my battery was dead. Crystal said that was a good thing because we were running 7 something minute miles at one point and I would have wanted to slow down. She was right. I would have. I felt like I was going to barf up a lung for most of the race. It's a good thing I didn't because I only made my goal time by 3 seconds. Finish time was 26:21! A new 5K PR! And my hamstrings are still sore.

Thanks again, Crystal!!!

Guess what the finish line food was!?! Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Ya, that's what I said...Krispy Kremes. I was in heaven. Oh, they had the regular bananas and healthy stuff. But I was all over those doughnuts.

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures from our visit to KC. We all had a blast seeing everyone. My whole family was there and it's not that often that we can all get together.
Will, Crystal, and Noah: Crystal and Aunt Carol:

Will and Kenny:

Eric, Suzanne, Kenny, and Luke:

Rachel and Amanda:

Eric and Luke:

Amanda's boyfriend AJ, Amanda, Eric, and I (after all of us except Eric had had, um, a few drinks.)

Noah and my Mom:

All the way home, Noah kept saying, Are we going back to GG's house now???

Noah and Kylie:

Noah and Will:

I have tons more pics to post, but the computer is moving really slowly right now, so I'll have to post them later.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving to everyone! And happy new 5K PR to me. 26:21! Race report to come. Have lots of turkey everyone! And thanks to Malcolm for the training advice and Crystal for running with me and pacing me for the race.

5K Training Update

The Thanksgiving 5K is 5 days away and I think I am ready. My 9 mile long run is done and my 800 times have improved significantly. My goal time is 26:30, but anything under 28:01 will be a PR. Of course, I woke up sick today, but if I'm lucky that will play itself out by Thursday. I swear I get sick before every race I run. Why is that???

CU Game

Grandma and Grandpa took Noah and Dan and I to the CU game last Saturday. It was really fun! Here are some pictures!

The Girl With the Black Hair

So I met one of the most beautiful little girls I've ever seen in my life yesterday at work. I'll call her Yesenia. She walks into a meeting at which my colleague and I are supposed to tell her she is kicked out of school for non-attendance (which isn't even really part of our job, but that's a whole 'nother story). She is 18 years old and she walks in with her 8 month old baby. The baby has no coat and looks seriously pale and listless. She says she hasn't been attending school because her baby has been sick and she has no money to take him to the doctor because her Medicaid has been cut off. She has WIC but she says they don't give her enough formula so she is out for the month and does not have enough money to buy her baby a winter coat.

Even though the meeting was supposed to be about Yesenia, all I could think was, "What the hell is going to happen to this little baby?" The general education teacher who attended this meeting was literally crying.

It was awful.

To me, this was the culmination of the Bush years. His administration cut Medicaid and pretty much every social program there is. I took a coat and gloves to Yesenia's teacher so that her baby will have a coat and I called social services so that hopefully that baby will get formula and medical care. But I know that coat is only a short term help and there is no guarantee that social services will have the resources to help her.

What else can we do? The educational system has completely failed Yesenia and again, what is going to happen to that baby? It's been driving me nuts and I don't know what else to do. I have seen so many similar situations in my last 10 years of working with children from families who don't have money or education.

It's starting to get to me.

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Kangley are in town and Noah is having a blast with them!!! Here are some pictures and I will be back in the next couple of days with more.

Snowboarding Season is Finally Here

The View Up Here: Keystone
Originally uploaded by simcah

Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain open tomorrow. Yippee! Oh, and Amanda...I can't wait for you to come out! I hope it works out!!! Look how much fun we will have.

Douglas County Voters Suck

My county voted against an initiative for schools last night. The district will be making cuts now. I have been told my job is safe because the money for my position comes from a different source, but others will lose theirs. My county also voted for McCain and is heavy on the registered republicans. It's just another example for me of how Republicans care so much about unborn children but don't care about the live ones.

Oh, yeah...

And YAY for Colorado going blue!!! I knew this was where I was meant to live!

Congratulations President-elect Obama

I am so proud of my country tonight. We just restored our standing in the world with one fell swoop. We ended hundreds of years of racial oppression. Whether you agree with Obama ideologically or not, I heard one TV commentator say that you'd have to be a pretty sore loser not to recognize the historical nature of tonight and congratulate him for that. I agree. Let it go, McCain supporters. McCain was beyond gracious in his speech. Why can't you be?

8 Years Later

I have waited 8 years for tonight. After a heartbreaking election in 2000, this country has unquestionably gone down the wrong path. The Republicans have had 8 years and have completely jacked it up. It's time to let the Democrats try to fix it. Iraq, the economy, education, the environment, the national debt, Katrina, CEOs and market regulation...the government has failed us in these areas over the last 8 years. It's a big mess to walk into but I think Obama is up for it. Four years ago, I heard Obama's speech from the 2004 DNC. Oddly, because I had never heard of him at that point, my first thought was: "Hey, that guy should be president." Four years (and lots of research) later, I was mailing in my ballot voting for the guy for president. OK, actually, I didn't mail it in. Dan hand delivered our ballots because we live in a fairly Republican county and we didn't trust that it would get counted unless we took them in. Anyway, here's to Obama! Here's to the end of the war! Here's to a better education for our children! Here's to a better economy! Here's to renewable energy! Here's to health care for all! And here's to a future I am much happier sending Noah into! Good luck, Barack. I'll be praying for you!!!

Barack the Vote!

Happy election day!!! Gobama!

Happy Birthday Amanda (late)

I hope you had a great one! I miss you!

Halloween

Noah had a big day yesterday. He had a party and costume parade at school and then we went trick-or-treating last night. Here are some pics of all the fun!