a little ART CAN'T HURT

finish line

So many people have been contacting me wondering: HOW DID THE RACE GO?! 
I did it!

Finished in a better time than I expected and felt great during the race! The course was beautiful and the people I have met along this journey are remarkable. 

With your help I have raised $5,385 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! I accomplished the goal that I set out to do and it was AWESOME!

My hubby strategically planned where-he-was-going-to-be-when so he could document this experience with the camera. You can thank him for these pics:

(5 a.m. in the transition area near Washington Monument)

(chatting with a racer from NYC before our wave entered the water at 7:45 a.m. - note the H we drew on my swim cap so hubby could hopefully find me as he stood on Memorial Bridge under which we would swim)

(air horn goes off and the splashing begins! i'm in the center with the long black sleeves with orange logo on the right arm)

(the H worked and he spotted me in the water!)

(i'm the front cyclist in this pic - returning after biking the Clara Barton Pkwy. into Maryland. that's Memorial Bridge in the background)

(running out of the transition area and ready to finish the race with only 6.2 miles to go!)

For anyone curious I finished in 3:25:10.
My knees held up (barely) and the weather that day couldn't have been more ideal!
We called the kids and our parents right away to let them know I'd finished and was fine - it was an emotional day but it was all GOOD emotions!
I would not have signed up for this race had it not been for mom's diagnosis last year so I guess you could say that this is a way I've taken the lemons life has handed me and made lemonade.

This was truly something I could not have done alone. Thank you all so much for supporting me through your donations, your words, your notes (I kept them all - there's a mountain of cards and letters in my TNT notebook!) and your prayers! The words 'thank you' don't seem like enough. You really don't know how each one of you have impacted a cancer patient's life by supporting research and patient care!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This journey has been a blessing to me in so many ways and I love how my family has been able to participate in it with me! My heart is full!

God is Good - All the Time!

more than just the race

Going into race weekend I told myself that this was something I wanted to really experience and not just push through and finish - I'm so glad I relaxed and was able to take it all in!
The entire weekend was amazing!

There was so much more to our weekend than just the swim, bike and run.
As a racer there was preparation and afterwards was recovery.

(wearing my participant shirt the day before the race to rack my bike & attend pre-race safety meetings)

(riding the shuttle to the race venue we passed the Washington Monument. it was September 11th and every flag was at half-staff. it was humbling)

(our bikes were shipped to D.C. without the pedals on so we had to make sure everything was secure and properly tightened before racking our bikes - Doug took care of checking my bike)

(getting 'marked' with my race number & age while taking my bike into the transition area)

(we were the first group in to rack our bikes - the transition area was 240,000 square feet! it was HUGE! a total of 4,700 racers eventually filled all of these racks with their bikes and gear!)

(we attended mandatory safety briefings regarding the swim portion and directions then there was a practice swim opportunity. that is Memorial Bridge in the background that we had to swim beneath and beyond - thankfully the current isn't very strong)

I've been training as a member of Team In Training: Indiana Chapter, but am not a part of a local team that includes other triathletes. The closest team member I have had to train with is Carl, who lives in LaPorte. We've gotten together a few times to swim the lake and bike but really have done our training on our own.
It's a completely different experience than training with a team day-in-and-day-out.
The Indianapolis team was so accepting of us and whole weekend, even though it was the first time we were meeting them.

(Carl did this race in memory of his son Carl Para III, who lost his battle to leukemia in May 2009. He was only 16 years old.)

(the night before the race the Indy tri coach presented every racer with an "award" and here are Carl & I accepting our Rockstar drinks for 'being such Rockstars for doing our training solo')

Each team has an Honored Hero that they race for in addition to someone they may already know personally who has had a blood-cancer. Meet Lauryn - she is the Honored Hero for the Indianapolis team. Her whole family came to D.C. and she had gotten to know all the other racers really well during the last four months of training. It was so sweet to see her smile and play with everyone!
I wanted my own mother there so badly to share this with me but finances just didn't allow it.
I knew she was with me in spirit and I kept reminding myself how blessed I was that she is still with us and continuing to fight the cancer. Moms hugs are the best no matter how old you are!

(here is Lauryn with her birthday cupcake as we sing Happy Birthday to her - she celebrated her sixth birthday a few days after our race. her dad completed the race carrying Lauryn across the finish line with her older sister running beside him! Lauryn is in chemo right now continuing to battle leukemia and just this past week is beginning to lose her hair again)

The night before the race The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society held a Team In Training pasta dinner that we all attended. There were inspirational speakers, fundraising totals & awards and great food!
All the coaches and trainers from across the country lined the stairs and hallway leading into the enormous banquet hall - they were cheering and shouting with cowbells, whistles and horns! It was the best pep-rally ever!

(the banquet hall with 585 Team In Training racers plus countless spouses, coaches, children and trainers! team Indiana raised over $85,000!)

(Team in Training: Indiana Chapter along with family & friends that came with them to D.C.)

The morning of the race had the most beautiful sunrise!

(the spectators view of the swimmers from on top of Memorial Bridge as we begin rounding the buoy and heading back beneath the bridge toward the exit to transition)

After the race it was crazy trying to find people. There were long lines to get gear out from the transition area but we were in no hurry to go anywhere. It was great to catch up with Carl and a few others from team Indiana before heading back to the hotel & heading out to see D.C. with my hubby.

seattle trip PART FOUR: waving farewell

...before we left to go home we took Nana & Poppie to the port of Seattle.
They were off on the second half of their vacation - an Alaskan cruise!

It was exciting to see the ship up close and personal! It was huge!
We watched as forklifts moved big cages full off luggage into the bottom of the ship while we waited for Nana & Poppie to make their way through security.
A couple of us had a hard time saying goodbye but we knew it wouldn't be long before we saw them again and we were all excited that they were taking this special trip.

Finally they came out of the big building and walked across the bridge that took them to their ship. They waved and we waved - what an exciting trip they had!
They saw whales and seals and glaciers!
They learned about the eskimos and lumberjacks and even met an author who wrote a book about growing up in the Arctic. We're planning on that being our next 'family book' that we read.
After we said farewell there was just one more stop before home....

it's race day

....it was the first day of vacation and all day we'd been busy visiting the aquarium and Market, then to the Space Needle. We'd walked and climbed stairs non-stop. 

As I tucked the kids into the hotel bed Heidi said "Can you believe all the stairs we climbed today?!" and Mamie chimed in "Yeah! And Nana climbed them all by herself!" 

Last year at this time Nana was in the middle of chemo and was so weak after each of her 5-day-long treatments that she couldn't make the one step from their garage to the house when she got home without help from Poppie. In her usual candid style she had dubbed this weakness "chemo legs".

I said to the girls "She sure did. You should tell her how proud you are of her". I felt a huge feeling of coming-full-circle in that moment. Almost indescribable. A year ago we didn't know how much time we had with Nana. We still don't. Taking this trip as an entire family almost didn't happen due to circumstances outside of our control and being there in that moment was such a blessing....

The money I have raised while preparing for this day is going to help others with cancer. The process has helped me come to some sort of terms with what cancer has done to my family. It doesn't make it right or ok but I feel as though I've been able to help tangibly in a way I wasn't doing before.

To everyone who has donated money or supported our family these past 16 months I say THANK YOU!

My wave goes in to the water at 7:45 a.m.

Today is for you Mom! I'm so proud of you! I love you! xoxoxo

seattle trip PART THREE: city art

I couldn't leave out all the amazing art we saw while in Seattle! 
On our food tour our guide explained that a few years ago the city passed a law stating that all new construction and/or facade renovations may be done with one condition: that a minimum of 1% of the projects total budget go to outdoor art.
It is paying off big-time! The city is awash in art!

 

Here's Rachel the Pig. She's the world's largest piggy bank.
You can see brass hoof-prints in the cement around her - each of them has the name of someone who donated money to cast the original Rachel.
Did I mention she's a life-size replica of a famous local pig? She is!

The famous Public Market sign with flowers growing on the roof of the Market - it was beautiful!

No where near the Market, but this sign is a piece of Seattle history. It is the original automated drive-thru car wash in the city AND it is the only drive-thru car wash that can truthfully claim it has washed the President's limo. I just loved the vintage style of the sign!
Look closely by the feet of the pink elephant and you'll see her little gray babies!
 
Last but not least is the most unbelievable street food vendor you've ever seen!
Meet Maximus Minimus! We didn't stop and eat anything because we were zooming by on our food tour, but this thing is over-the-top!
 
I wish I'd gotten a photo of the back end of it - there's a piggy tail!
Everything in Seattle seemed artsy and everywhere we went was pristine - cars weren't clunkers with black smoke coming out their pipes, dogs didn't bark and yip like usual - the homeless we met on the streets were even clean and polite! Maybe it was all the wonderful food I ate while there and my head was in a carbed-out fog but Seattle just took my breath away!
It's my new favorite city! I can't wait to visit again soon!
Out trip to Seattle was over too soon and before we knew it we were on a plane leaving Washington.
(can you see Mt. Rainier in the distance?)

The memories (and hundreds of pictures we took) will last a lifetime, but the trip wasn't quite over yet. One more post will sum it all up.
Guess where we spent a three hour layover before we flew home to Chicago???

today

You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair. -Chinese proverb

We're flying into Baltimore, Maryland today. I can't help but think what today is like for so many families who are missing loved ones. A nation remembering your loss cannot be easy to bear. Reminders everywhere you turn and a constant awareness that must be impossible to escape.

I wish everyone peace today.

seattle trip PART TWO: sites in the city

The train trip to Seattle was AMAZING! As we pulled in to the train station in the city early in the morning we instantly spotted the city's most famous landmark - the Space Needle.

 
The Needle is in the center of a park with a small-town-county-fair type of atmosphere. There's a carousel and food vendors and plenty of street musicians and performers. I think this photo best represents the weather during our stay in Seattle - blue skies and warm sun with not a drop of rain!

 
Walking is the best way to see Seattle. We marveled at how CLEAN everything was, with recycling bins and trash cans everywhere and people USED THEM! We walked everywhere - only took the city metro when it was absolutely necessary but their public transport system is awesome too. I can't stress enough how great this city is!

 
The building in the background is the EMP (Experience Music Project). It houses the largest collection of Jimmy Hendrix memorabilia, since he was from Seattle, and the building was designed to look like one of his smashed guitars.
 
We spent hours in the Seattle Aquarium! Right on the water - literally, it is built on Pier 59 - the exhibits are so interactive and colorful. Live demonstrations with harbor seals and a fish hatchery made it a truly Seattle experience!
 

One of our favorite stops was Pike Place Market. Just a few flights of stairs from the piers it borders the water and is full of incredible food, flowers, seafood and little shops - bliss! Hubby & I took a food tour and this held a few of our stops including a Swedish bakery, Ethiopian restaurant and an English tea house that sold fresh baked crumpets. We found a way to stop by the Market every day we were in Seattle - THAT'S how great it is!

 
Another MUST was to take the Duck tour of the city. Poppie bought everyone 'quacker' whistles...just imagine the most obnoxious duck call you've ever heard and THAT is what these sounded like!

I would recommend the Duck tour to anyone visiting the city! The vehicle alone is cool to ride in by the behind-the-scenes things that you learn about the city and get to see are amazing. The tour was over an hour long and YES, we got to drive right into the water!

 
Seattle is like the San Francisco of the northwest! The steep roads and sidewalks and all the stairs going to and from the piers...it's a workout! The picture above shows us leaving the Market to head to one of the piers and the kids counted the steps one day - over 65 stairs!
 
Take a close look at the photo above.
Look closer - see anything interesting?
The wall is covered in gum! It's the Gum Wall!
It's in a small alley at the entrance to a small live theatre. Story goes that while people would wait in line for tickets they would stick their gum to the wall - it became a theatre tradition and people started pressing pennies into their gum and sticking it to the wall for "good luck". 
 
Our guide encouraged us to add to the wall if we wanted to (here is Doug contributing to the wall). The city passed an ordinance a few years ago actually allowing and protecting this off-the-beaten-path landmark.
Kinda gross - kinda cool. The kids couldn't believe it and we're glad we took the time to find it!

 
At the EMP they had a Muppets display going on! We got to see (in glass cases of course) the original puppets of Bert & Ernie, Fraggle Rock, the original Kermit. Did you know his eyes were really made from a ping pong ball cut in half? True.
In the exhibit there was a hands-on part where you could work a puppet for a live camera and experience puppeteering just like they do on the Muppets and Sesame Street. Trevor and Mamie tried it a couple of times and said it was much harder than it looked! If you want to find out if this traveling exhibit is coming to a venue near you click here!

 
Ever seen a fish hatchery or a salmon ladder? We did!
Who would have guessed that you have to go to Seattle to order the biggest meatball ever?!
Such great restaurants - so much variety and obviously the freshest seafood ever!

 
This pig was a sculpture in our hotel lobby. Seattle has pigs everywhere.
It's all because of one pig named Rachel - she's the world's largest piggy bank and she sits at the Pike Place Market. Each year she collects more than $11,000 in change and it all goes to fund a local health care clinic for the homeless in the city. 

   
Who knew that men in orange slickers throwing smelly dead fish around could be so interesting! 

The flowers in the Market were breathtaking! Everywhere you turned there was another flower vendor with MORE amazing flowers and even LOWER prices! If I lived in Seattle I'd come here every day for fresh flowers!
  

On our Duck tour we splashed into Lake Union (a nice sized lake in the center of the city) right near our hotel. While we were floating around our driver pointed this house out to us...do you recognize it?
It's THE house used in the movie 'Sleepless In Seattle'!
And guess what? I'd been running by it every morning and didn't even know it! 

My morning run every day took me over this neat little drawbridge. Two different days I actually had to stop and wait for the bridge to go back down - it's a busy boat area.
My run always lead me to this statue.
On the same block as the headquarters of Getty Images (for all you digital art geeks out here - like my husband) this statue stands and is outfitted daily by the residents of Seattle. You never know what they people will be wearing from one day to the next. And the dog in the middle....well, he has the face of a local politician that the sculptor didn't like.
Don't get me started on the sculpture and art found in this great city.....

seattle trip PART ONE: the train ride

One of our best vacations EVER began in the little waiting area pictured above - South Bend's Amtrak station. Nana & Poppy along with the 5 of us H's boarded a train bound for Chicago where we would board the train the Empire Builder which took us to Seattle: 48 hours on a train!  
  Waiting for the train was the hardest part.  

Mames and Doug (with coffee in hand) on the train to Chicago.
The kids could barely sleep the night before and then Nana & Poppy got to our house the morning we left (so we could drive to the station together) EARLY because they were so excited they said they had barely slept the night before! We're ALL kids at heart! 

Our station in Chicago was underground below a 30 story building!
We were getting OFF the train in the right side of the picture and eventually boarded the train on the left side of the picture which is a 'double decker' with sleeper cars! 

We had about a two hour wait in the Chicago station - just long enough to step outside and take a picture of the kids with the Sears Tower in the background!

It seemed as though immediately we started seeing different landscapes!
The trip from Chicago to Seattle is run by the train the Empire Builder. There are two identical trains with this name that run constantly - one coming and one going all the time.
We actually passed the eastbound Empire Builder somewhere in Montana and waved! It's amazing what you can see on a train - it never gets boring! 

There were over 30 stops on our trip. Most of them lasted about two minutes and we racing along again before we even knew we stopped most of the time. However, there were about 5 "smoker stops" which were at stations where more than a couple people were either boarding or disembarking. At these stops the train stopped about long enough to have a cigarette - that's how these stops got the nickname "smoker stops". We of course don't smoke, but instead jumped off the train a few times to let the kids run up and down the tracks and take pics. Here we are in South Dakota on a VERY sunny day! 

Look closely and you can see both engines of our train in the left side of this photo! 
This was a river we followed while in the foothills of the Rockies one night. 

We didn't spend much time in the cars that just held seated people. We walked through them when we needed to get to a car beyond them and that's all. Most of our time was spent in our sleeper car where our room and Nana & Poppy's room was.
Each car had an upstairs and a downstairs. 
To move from car to car you had to go UPSTAIRS and then through the narrow hallways to the other cars.
 
The stairs were so steep and narrow! The kids thought it was great - just their size!
Doug was afraid his claustrophobia might kick in but it never did and he can't wait to go on his next train trip. (we're thinking Canada & Niagara Falls next....) 
 To go from car to car you had to walk through the passage doors.
 These were two hydraulic doors you pressed large metal plates to enter. 
 Kind of like elevator doors - here is Trev holding one for me! 

One of the biggest things the kids were anxious about was EATING on the train!
They kept asking "how are you supposed to drink out of a cup?!" and "will it be REAL food or the kind they give astronauts?" - so cute!
Trains require organization so people don't get backed up in the hallways. It's hard for two adults to pass in a hallway. You have to step into someone's room or a restroom to let someone get by! So every meal each passenger has to make reservations for the next meal and then you know when to show up for your table! And each table seats exactly 4 people - so our party had 7 people which meant each meal we ate with a 'single' passenger on board. It was random but by the end of the trip we'd made some new friends and requested the same dinner times so we could eat together.
It was very good food. A full menu every meal - steak & sweet potatoes or veal with mint jelly and roasted veggies for one dinner. Breakfast was custom omelettes, pancakes or oatmeal. Lunch always offered soups & salads along with a great sandwich and pasta selection. NOTHING like airplane food!!! Thank goodness!
(dessert trays every night with multiple selections including Haagen Daz ice cream! YUM!) 

Gorgeous sunset in the Rockies!
Everything was just so beautiful - it was like looking at a postcard every time you'd look out of your window.

 
We saw bridges and barns and little towns everywhere that were so 'Norman Rockwell'!

 
The Observation Car / Lounge Car was definitely the most popular. With windows going up the sides and onto the top of the car you could see everything - even the mountain tops - clearly. There were booths and tables as well as comfy large seats you could curl up in and play games (or do summer homework) any time you wanted to. The downstairs of this car (the Lounge part) had a cafe that served everything from soda to beer and munchies like candy bars and chips.

I am most thankful that we had our own room. Those poor souls stuck sleeping upright in their seats four cars back had it rough. Funniest thing - the kids DIDN'T MIND making their beds every morning on the train!
 

Our "seats" were actually a private room in the second car back from the engines.
It's a large room with six seats, a closet and the seats convert into a full bed with three bunks that fold down from above. We had the only Family Room on the train!

 
The kids loved visiting Nana & Poppy's room just upstairs from ours. We played games, read, had plenty of time for relaxed chatting and even took some nice naps! So many memories made and we hadn't even reached our destination!
The four of us adults even got to attend a private wine and cheese tasting in the dining car the second day - all Washington state wines. So good!
I absolutely recommend taking an Amtrak train trip!
It was such a unique and special way to start off our vacation!