Hey!!

I'm getting better at writing in my blog!!!

On Wednesday, I did run with Sherrie. We ran inside on the treadmill. But my cold was acting up. I only ran two miles using the hill category on level 1. Did you know that it gave me an incline of 1.5!!! And I did not realized that I was on the incline running at 5.1 mph!!! No wonder I was huffing and puffing at mile 2. But of course, I got the sinuses drip going and I was trying to run. What was I thinking......Ok I was not thinking, but I know that I have to run!!!


Today, (Saturday) I ran with Bridget, Sherrie, Sherry, Kris and Shannon at the Park. We did 4 miles. Shannon is a great pacer!!!! She was worried that she was slowing me down, but she helped me in so many ways. I was able to finish at least 4 miles. Everybody else ran an extra .25 miles across the bridge. At that time is was coughing up a lung. The whole time that I ran I did not cough. I did push myself the last .5 miles that could have done it, but I don't think so. I also forgot my mp3 player!!!! I realized that I did not have it until I was half way to the park (mile 10 of 20 in the car). So when things got tough, I started singing Polka's. Yes I said Polkas!!!! Growing up Polish, every kid had to learn the Polka and the 1-2-3, 1-2-3 to the beat of the song. So today, instead of going 1-2-3 to help me with the run - I started to sing Polkas. Bridget thinks that I'm weird, but it got me through 4 miles!!!

tomorrow Rob, Ron and my Dad put the treadmill in my computer room. That way we have music and we can watch DVD's while we are running!!! I'm thinking of getting a DVD that you can run to so you are thinking you are running in Hawaii. Ok that might be weird!!!

This weeks progress report

Well, we made it through another week......Including Christmas. I only did two workouts this week with all the festivities that were happening.

Monday - I ran with Trac, Sherrie, Bridget, Shannon and Kris. We did three hills again, but this time we did, what I'm now calling the "Devil" hill, two times in a row. Of course, that was my doing!!! Hey, if we are going to do Tip Hill, we might as well be prepared!! I can't remember the time that we did it in, I'm just trying to remember "HILLS ARE OUR FRIENDS". And I think I did a lot better this time, after reading the articles that Trac sent us, then I did the last time. Also Trac was there every step of the way, giving me encouragement!!!

Ok I was bad.....I skipped the whole rest of the week. Just trying to get ready for Christmas with two small kids is like running right? Trying to get things ready for this party......Trying to get things ready for that party. Just one merry-go-round after another!!!

Saturday - I did it!!! I ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill at the Y!!! I never thought that I would be able to do it by myself on a Saturday. I pushed my self, I think maybe a little to hard, but I did it.

After that I have not been able to run, even after We got the Treadmill for Christmas. Yes, my Mom bought a Treadmill for Andy and me!!!! Andy likes going on it at his Aunt Teresa's house so my Mom bought it. Then she says, "Oh by the way, you can use it to" Thanks mom, it is only in my house!!

I caught the dreaded cold again. But this time, we (Andy and I) are stopping it in its tracks. We are not going to let it get us down!!!

I'm hoping to to run tomorrow with Sherrie and hopefully Trac and the others!! Will write about the run after that!!!

This week......

Well this week has been a very strange week for me, so thank god for running.

On Monday, I ran 3 hills with Trac, Sherry, Sherry, Shannon, Kris and of course Cosmo!!! It was a good run....I would have been a lot better if I did not have my GD glasses on!!! If you read my last blog, you already know that I have something wrong with my cornea. I'm taking steroids for this (only drops for the eyes) and I can not put in my contacts. I hate wearing my glasses when I exercise......And I am blind as a bat if I don't have them. So most of the time I was running I was worried about my glasses. They would fog up.....So I would take them off and then listen to Sherrie's wind pants to make sure that I'm going in the right direction if Trac and Cos was not near me. Then when they were off, I would put them in my pocket. But then I would worry about losing or dropping my glasses. They are my only pair and if they were gone, some one would be driving me to the boonies that night. But Trac was right, Hills are our friends. The articles that were on her blog are totally correct. Tonight I'm going to read them again just to make sure that I'm understanding them right. But on Monday, the hills weren't so bad at all.

Tuesday - The day from H E Double Hockey Sticks!!!!! After the whole "stealing" thing from work, I received a new position of taking care of and "clearing" credit card deposits. What this means, we "clear" what the store says they took in for that day, saying to our Computer Accounting System that we have received the money from the credit card company and there are no discrepancies. I was supposed to take a 1/2 day from work. The kids had dentist appointments around 3:30pm and I thought that maybe I could get some shopping done before hand. NADA. What should have only taken 1/2 hour took almost 2 hours. I had a mistake when the computer transferred from one spread sheet to our computer system. I was still at work at 2:15pm. I still had to pick up Andy and Brian and get them to their dentist appointment for 3:30pm. (It is at least 1/2 Hour to get to the kids school from work). During this whole time, I was interrupted several times!!! They were asking me on things that could have waited until someone came back from lunch. But of course, everyone says "Oh Sue will help" and they know that I can't say NO. I could have found the mistake much sooner, but with the interruptions and then "Why are you still here?" 3,000 times, I lost my place. So after 1 1/2 hours of looking for the mistake, I had to lose everything!!!! Our computer system will not let you finish clearing if you do not balance. So at 2:30, bye bye 2 hours worth of work!!!! And out the door I ran.

Wednesday - Still fuming over Tuesday, I sent an e-mail to my co-workers. If they see me working on credit cards, please leave me alone. I need to make sure that everything is correct. If I make a mistake and say that the store has done something wrong, I have wasted the time of my boss, the time of the Regional Distribution Manager, the time of Regional Manager of Customer Service, the Manager of Customer Service at the store, and later my time with looking into their responses. So if I do everything right the first time, I don't waste other peoples and my time. I also asked, if they see me clearing, please leave me alone. This way I can concentrate and if I have any mistakes, I can find them in a timely fashion. I asked if they had any questions while I was working on credit cards, to ask my boss. If my boss said to ask me, I will answer them. But for right now, please leave me alone when I'm working on these projects. Well some people were taken back from it and though that I was mean. Mean! I tell you mean. Mean is being so inconsiderate knowing that I should not be at work, but then talking to me about how another employee bothers you. Mean is not looking at all the options first and just asking other people for help because it is easier. Mean is asking for help, having someone help you when the directions are in the manual that was given to you, then saying "well so and so said I did not have to do it that way". Well you know what, you should have waited until so and so came back from lunch. My last paycheck had 49.75 hours last week!!! Other than the other person working on cash, NO ONE can say that I'm not working hard and pulling my weight. And if I'm asking to be left alone for part of my job, please understand. Well, some people don't.

Thursday - Still getting the cold shoulder from at least one of my other co-workers. (I'm giving them attitude. Sorry did you work an extra 4 hours this week so far? I don't think so) I went to the Eye Doctor. We my eye is not getting any better. Even though I think I'm seeing a little better in my left eye, according to the Dr, I should have had full sight in that eye with the steroids that he gave me. And I had more holes in my eye and I could lose my sight. How could that be possible? I was on medicine!!! So on that note, the Eye doctor called in a specialist and they got me in at 12:15 the next day. Ok, now I'm scared!! Thank God I was meeting Melissa at the Y to run. We saw Trac first to see if she could run, but she was subbing for Bob's cycle class and some people showed up. So it was just Melissa and I. It was a great run!!! We ran 4 miles in about 52 minutes, with at least 2 hills. Melissa was great!! She had everything planed out in the development and she kept me motivative. Also my glasses never fogged up because it was almost 60 degrees that day.....I could see...I could see with the one good eye. It did get out a lot of my stress.

Friday - I had a "normal" doctor's visit with my regular doctor. He is so proud of me running. In the last year I have lost about 55 pounds. And he says I have a better attitude about my health too. Good thing he does not know about my other attitudes!! So I get to work, and finish what need to be done before Noon for the field and banking purposes. I go to the "Special" Eye Doctor. My regular doctor, who I trust very much, said that he is a very good doctor. The "Special" Dr. does not know what had happen to my eye, but he did find an eye lash that was spinning around in the socket and that could be it. An Eye Lash, you got to be kidding!!! He then said, ok it might not be it, but take this medicine and I will see you in four week, unless your eye sight gets worst. He did said, if the eye lash was the what started it and it kept on doing it I could have gone blind. Oh that makes me a whole lot better. NOT!! He also said that my contact are what probably what saved my eye if that is the cause, because the contacts stopped whatever what making the holes. But, I can't wear my contacts until I see him again. What if it is not the eyelash? I guess I will see him sooner that 4 weeks.

Saturday - I go to the Y like normal, take Andy to swimming and Brian to Prime Time. After swimming, is Mommy Time. I go and run. I wish I could run at the park like everybody else, but Andy loves swimming and right now it is the only thing that he wants to do that is good for him. So I do it!! Running was HE double hockey sticks!!! I only got 2 miles in. It was suppose to be my long slow run!!!! I even ran at 4.9 miles per hour!!! And still only did 2 miles!!! But in defense, I did run 4 miles on Thursday!!!! I know that I can not run the long distances on the treadmill. I need someone I know next to me or to talk to me on the treadmill while I'm running. I might have to do a new strategy on this running. I'm planning on running tomorrow after church. That will be my fourth day. I need to talk to Trac and Melissa about maybe making my long run on Thursday with Melissa and do Hills on Monday with the rest of the group. Then figure out what to do the other days. I want to conquer Tip Hill!!!

I also might have someone else start joining us!!! I saw Kim at the Y on Saturday, after the run of course. She had to take sure time off for health reasons, but she wants to start running with us again. I told her the days that we all run and that I would include her in the e-mails that I send everyone about running. She says she is ready for a new challenge and might do Tip Hill with us. I'm going to send her the map that Trac has so she can see what is going on.

Good thing that I have running.....After this week, I would have to been put in the mental ward!!

One Month.......

That is all that it took to be able to write again. But that does not mean that I have not been training.......A little.

The Jingle Bell Run was great.......Tina called in sick. She is a lost cause, I tried to get her motivated, but she always had things that prevented her to run. I would change my schedule, which is very hard to do with the kids, and then she would cancel......I gave up. If she really wants to run, she will get ahold of me.

I went to the Jingle Bell with the attention, just finish. I set my personal best at 32:20 (I think). Grandma you must have been with me!!! Then things started to get out of control when it came to running.

I was able to run the next day doing the Lights on the Lake with Sherrie, Shannon, and Trac. We did a good job and it was great. After that I went swimming like I always do and that is when things started to go wrong. I lost my contact in my goggles and instead of going into the dressing room to wash it and put it back in......I put it back in. The next day my Left eye hurt....That is the one with the contact in it, but it was nothing to worry about.

Then Brian got sick.....He missed two days of school. Then it was Thanksgiving.......There was no running then until Saturday. I did ok......I ran on the treadmill at the Y because Andy has swimming lessons. (It is the only "sport" that Andy likes and with us living in the "Boonies", Saturday is the only day that I can take him) I ran 3.1 miles with my new shoes. There were no problems. No shin splints. No calves hurting. Now I know that it is the shoes that were giving me the pains. But then that was the last time I was able to run for about 1 week and a half.

I got Brian's cold......It just weared me down. On top of that, we had one of our store robbed that set off a massive clean up on how we run a part of my department....That we found that one of the store's managers were not making the deposits. It was nobody's fault that we did not catch it sooner. Our company has just gotten so big, that the "higher up" did not think that maybe we should change some things around when it comes to some of the jobs. So for a whole week, I would go into work and "work my butt off" then go home and crash, because I really should not have been at work. Even once I was better, I worked all day Saturday, just to make sure that things are up to par and try our new program to make sure that they worked.

I was finally able to run again on December 4th.......I missed running with my friends. It is like a drug now. If I don't run.......I get crabby (that is according to my co-worker). I don't know if it is the running or being with my running friends. I ran with Sherrie, after it snowed in the complex across the street from the Y. We did the outer circle twice.....Once one way, turned around and ran back the other way. The second hill was just awful......It is a long steep, but gradual hill that really start back on the street that we ran on when I took the YRun class. Thank god I did not have to do it again. But because of Andy's Birthday, I was not able to run again until Saturday. During this whole time I have not biked or swimmed.

That was not bad......But I really do like to run outside a lot better. I ran for about 35 minutes on random (level 1). So there were some "hills" and I got up to a speed of 5.6 mph. I know that I could have ran more if I just did not run at such a high mph for me. I then biked for 15 minutes in the fitness room on level 10.

But what is killing me on this is I have to run with my glasses. I can't see without contacts or my glasses. I started to get a dull pain in my left eye on Monday and each day it would just get a little bit worse. My vision was getting a little bit blurry at this time. I was able to see my eye Dr on Friday and I have a lot of little chunks taken out of my cornea. They have put me on a steroid (eye drops) for a week and then they will look at it. So I can't go swimming again on Monday. They think that it might be the chlorine, but with everything else that has been going on ( and the little sleep that I have gotten) I could have put something else in my eye. It seems to be getting better, but my left eye hurts if I try to do to much with it. I'm hoping that it is the medicine working.

But I plan on running on Monday, not swimming. But I will go and see Kate and tell her what is going on and let her know that after this is taken care of I am going to sign up for her class again.

Will try to write again soon!!!!