YOUSE GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

FYI - any funds over the $2,400 go 100% to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So if you still want to donate, please do so.

On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), I want to congratulate you for reaching your event fundraising goal. Our records indicate that to date, you have raised $2,453.00 for your event, Walt Disney World Marathon & Half Marathon which will be held on Jan 11, 2009.

Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in blood cancer research. We fund more blood cancer research than all other voluntary agencies combined.
An LLS-funded researcher developed Gleevec?, a pill for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). Now, more than 95 percent of newly diagnosed CML patients survive more than five years with a good quality of life. LLS was also instrumental in the development of Velcade?, the first new treatment in more than a decade to be approved for patients with multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma.
While much has been achieved, there is so much more that can and needs to be done. Will you consider setting your sights even higher by establishing a personal goal, on your fundraising Web page, to raise additional funds?
Thank you again. Your support is helping blood cancer patients live longer, better lives.

Sincerely,

John Walter
President & CEO
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

You all deserve that email, too!

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I set out to do thirteen miles this morning. At the beginning, I felt great! My legs were happy to be running after taking the long holiday weekend off, and I just felt great. But then, I don’t know who the heck built that frakking brick wall around mile four, but I did not appreciate running head on into it. Shortly thereafter, I realized thirteen was really unlikely today. My legs and mind were good to go, but my farookin bladder was quite disgruntled.

At that park, there’s a bathroom near where I parked, so that would be at mile 0, 4, 8, etc. Then, there’s a bathroom at the dog park I run past. That bathroom is about 1.5 miles from the other bathroom, if you go left around the lake, or something like 3.5 miles if you go right around the lake.

I’m sure you want to know this, that’s why I’m blogging it! I stopped at mile 4 to use the potty. Then, I stopped at my car to grab a handful of pretzels and a new bottle of water. I tend to go through one bottle every five miles or so, because it’s important to stay hydrated. And, usually I sweat most of that liquid out and don’t have to pee every two seconds. For my second lap, I decided to go left around the lake because I had to freakin pee again, just a mile and a half away from the first potty break. Ugh. That meant going into the doggy park, and I am so not a dog person. But, curiously, the potty in the doggy park is nicer than the other bathroom, so it’s almost worth entering the doggy park for a nicer bathroom.

Of course, anytime you use a public potty, if you’re me and an insane germ freak, you are super careful not to touch much of anything, not to let your belongings touch anything. Using a public potty while running, for me, is a nightmare. I had on a jacket, and I cannot pee in a jacket. Can’t do it. So that had to come off and hang on the hook. Then, there’s the water bottle. That gets hung on the hook. The pepper spray, worn via a belt clip at my waist, has to come off so it doesn’t fall into the potty (ugh, can you imagine?). I have it on a lanyard, so I can also wear it around my neck. Then, there’s the iPod. It can’t go into my pocket, as that’s full with much-needed Kleenex and my cell phone. It can’t go into my miracle pouch that I clasp around my waist as that has my food in it (and don’t even get me started about how I feel about carrying food into a bathroom) and the food cannot be contaminated by whatever germs are on my iPod, which is often set onto the ground so I can tie my shoes. So, that goes onto the toilet paper dispenser, a veritable germ buffet. It’s gross and I am appalled.

Naturally, while I was washing my hands, I dropped my freaking headphones onto the nasty, disgusting floor. Fortunately, the doggy park bathroom has hot water (the other does not) so I could somewhat disinfect. Verily, I was grossed out.

There, so now you have a tiny glimpse into my likely irrational fear of public potties. And maybe you can understand why I gave in to my irritated body at ten miles, so I could go home and use my own potty. Don’t judge me. Ten is still very decent. It’s so hard to get into a groove when you’re stopping constantly to use a bathroom. And even though I felt my pace was ridiculously slow, my overall time ended up being not too bad:

Distance: 10.00 mi
Duration: 2:30′15″
Pace: 15′01″/mi
Calories: 1,737

While I was out, more donations came in! I am currently only $147 away from my goal! Youse guys rawk! THANK YOU!

Oh, I stopped at Sports Authority on my way home because I saw my shoes on sale there yesterday. Yeah, they didn’t have my size. I’ll call around to the others today to see if they carry my size. Otherwise, I’ll find them at Track Shack.

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I’m up, dressed, had breakfast, and am almost out the door to tackle 13. So, of course, my stomach is angry this morning. I’m going to give it ten more minutes to scream at me, and then it’ll have to cope with the public restroom.

Meanwhile, my fellow bloggers have awesome friends, too. My remaining amount that I have to raise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is only $197! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll exhaust another pack of thank you cards today! And since it’s December, that means I can finally break into the Christmasy cards, right?

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The plan for today was to get up early, I’d take sherlock to work, and then I’d go to my favorite park and run 13 miles. When I was done running, I was going to go pick sherlock up from work, and we’d relax the rest of the day.

Instead, I was awake most of last night, so when the alarm sounded, even though I had been awake an hour before the alarm sounded, I rolled over, and pronounced it a vacation day. We then caught a couple hours sleep instead of the above plan.

Tuesday is not usually a running day, but since today was a slack off day, tomorrow I will run. I’ll go to my favorite park and do thirteen. That’s three of the 4.5 mile loops. That enables me to pass my car two times to grab a new bottle of fluids. It also keeps a bathroom in the loop. It’ll be a great run.

After I run, I’m going to the store, all sweaty and smelly, and buying my new shoes!

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I received a beautiful card and gift in the mail just now. The card reads: “Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our spirits have trouble remembering how to fly.”

The inside is hand written, and I hope I don’t upset the senders by posting this. It reads: “With love from your friends. Get yourself those new shoes! We’re all very proud of you for all your running accomplishments. Love CalTechGirl, Amanda, Claudia, Richmond, Pamibe, Helen, & Sarah.”

There’s a check. And I was looking longingly at my shoes at the sports store not an hour before getting home and finding this in my mail box. Tomorrow, I’ll be buying my new shoes. I’ll begin breaking them in this week, plenty of time to do so before my marathon in January.

Ladies, I cannot call you and thank each of you right now because I’ll cry. Truly, I am grateful. And humbled. Yet again.

Thank you.

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I am now only $372 from my fund raising goal.

Donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We’re so close, kids! We can do this! December 16th is my fund raising deadline.
My marathon is January 11th.

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Yes, I realize cyber Monday is so named because you’re supposed to shop online. But, sherlock and I headed to the stores, including Florida Mall. We found a fantastic deal in one store, and now have three more presents to put under the tree (once they’re wrapped, that is).

We also stopped at the scariest post office ever (never again, I’ll go to the farther one) to mail CAL’s birthday present and to buy Christmas stamps for our cards. But, since RTY is not here, we cannot take our family picture this afternoon. Thus, the cards will continue to be almost but not entirely ready to be mailed. I decided not to do a newsletter this year. When something you typically enjoy becomes a chore, it’s not worth doing. And, really, what’s the letter going to say: “WB is unemployed again. Merry effing Christmas.” See? That’s not very festive. So, no newsletter. Most recipients read my blog anyway. And if they don’t, then it’s their own fault for not knowing what’s up in Pereiraville.

Since RTY is not here, we’re heading back out to the store. I have $11 in free money good at Staples. Hopefully the ink cartridge is not too much more than that so I can print out our currently-non-existent family picture for our cards.

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I mentioned we cannot afford our satellite television service anymore. I don’t really miss it. At all. We have hundreds of DVDs to watch. And, really, television was mostly back ground noise for us anyway. Also, with the ability to download the shows we really want to watch and then watch them via our Apple TV, it’s not like we’re really missing out.

But, I have to be honest with you here: I do miss some of the commercials. I do! Some commercials, like for the monkey man insurance company, always amused me. Granted, the spin off television show was a great big steaming pile, but the commercials are still amusing.

Frankly, I like that we’re watching less and less tv and listening to more music (again, via iTunes on the Apple TV). It gives us more time to communicate and find moments of zen.

I certainly don’t miss the monthly bill!

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Even though the weather was super icky today, we headed out to our favorite shopping plaza to walk around. Of course, the rain started as soon as we were exiting the giant big box electronics store, so instead of walking the plaza, we drove to the other end to hit my most favorite big box store of all time.

Speaking of the big box electronics store, they now have a corner of the store devoted to instruments! I went into that area and drooled over the wall of electric guitars, the separate room of acoustic guitars, very few key boards, drum sets, and amps. I wonder if the store on Colonial has a similar room, or if being across the street from a real music store means they don’t have that cool addition. Some girls get off on car parts; I find special enjoyment from instruments.

Oh, so then we went to the giant discount members big box place. I had a coupon for $3 off my brand of shampoo or conditioner. We got lucky: there was another $3 off coupon someone had placed in the hair care display. So we checked out separately, but were able to get both shampoo and conditioner, big huge bottles, for $3.99 instead of $6.99 each! A great deal! We’re really big on coupon shopping since one of us continues to be unemployed.

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As of this moment, I only have to raise an additional $422 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Please donate.  I have to have my funds raised by the 16th or I don’t get to run the marathon in January.  Please, even $5 helps.  Four hundred bucks is so do-able.  Come on, kids!  You have been so awesome and generous; we’re so close.

If I don’t have the money raised, they’ll try to run my Visa check card through to collect the money to bring my account to the full $2,400.  They will fail in that task as I do not have $422 in my bank account, and will not have $422 in my bank account on the 16th (see: still unemployed).

I realize we are now fully engaged in the holiday season, but can’t you part with your peppermint mocha latte one day this week and drop those few bucks into the donation plate instead?  LLS is a great charity.  They fund cancer research and also provide financial aid to people living with blood-born cancers.

Please donate.  I only have seventeen more days.

(to my fellow bloggers: could you please mention my fund raiser on your blog this week to help me try to raise the final few bucks?  thanks!)

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