My First Mammogram - I should've gotten a cake...

Last February (2012), at my annual gynecologist appointment, Dr. B offhandedly mentioned that she wanted to schedule a mammogram for me next year.  I missed my February 2013 appointment, but was able to get an appointment in September. I’d been having other girl issues too, but that’s another post.

Dr. B got me set up with referrals for dermatology (another post), a repeat bone scan (to check the progress of my osteopenia), and a mammogram.

My breasts are large as you’ve seen in photos, and very dense. Dense breasts make it much harder to feel or see problems and those women with dense breasts are six times more likely to get a breast cancer than our tiny-boob friends. The plan was to get a “baseline” mammogram so that we’ll have something to compare to as I get older.

Tuesday morning, I headed to Shands UF at Springhill.  About halfway there, I realized that “OMG, I’m getting a mammogram!” which turned into “OMG, what if they find something????” I tried to push the thoughts away, but they stayed in the back of my mind the entire time.

So, for those of you who have never had one done, or have one coming up and you are worried or curious about what happens – here is what happened:

I signed in – the receptionist was very friendly – and filled out a quick Family History form. 

You may not know you have cancer when you go IN, but you know if you do when you come OUT

After about 5 minutes, I was called back to a change room, where I was told to strip from the waist up and put on one of those super-comfy hospital gowns.  Once changed, I put my clothes and belongings into a locker, locked it and kept the key. Then I had a seat in the interior waiting room. 

Mammogram Selfie! 

Quickly, I was called back and a tech took me into a Mammogram room. I sat down and she reviewed my family history then had me come to the machine.

She took my left breast and put it on the plate very gently, moving it until it was lined up in just the right way. Then the top plate came down, sandwiching my breast between the top and bottom plate. I won’t lie – it wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t painful either.  I think it pressed for about 10 seconds, and I had to hold my breath, before it released and I could step back. We repeated with the right side.

After the two horizontal (sandwich) scans, she rotated the plates so that she could do vertical (bookend) scans.  Again with the squishing and breath-holding. These were less uncomfortable than the horizontal ones, but not by much.

Finally, she said that she wanted a “Cleopatra” scan, kind of a lopsided angle view of my left breast.  It’s hard to explain how I stood in relation to the machine; it was kind of from up under my armpit.

Anyway, once I was done the tech said that she was 99% sure that I’d be getting a call back, but not to worry too much. I asked if I could see the scans, and she showed me that I had a lot of spots that she assumed were cysts, because the edges were smooth and the spots were round.  Again, she said that that radiologist would want a closer look and to not worry. Cysts are normal.

I was taken back to the lockers and allowed to change and leave. I didn’t have to formally check out or pay a co-pay (thanks, Blue Cross!), and I headed upstairs for my bone scan.

So that’s it – that is what happened with my first mammogram!

By the time I finished my scan, picked up lunch at Sonic and got back to mty office, there was an email waiting from Dr. B. She stated that she saw my scans and wanted to schedule an ultrasound. She thought that maybe “all the moles” were affecting the scans.

Within an hour of that email, I got a call from Shands to schedule that ultrasound. Since I already had a Dermatology appointment for the 28^th, I scheduled the mammogram and ultrasound for the same day.

So, next week, I go back to get (hopefully) good news.

When I got home, I told Hubby and the Kiddo what happened, but didn’t tell them that I was already starting to worry.

On Saturday (the 19^th), I got a follow up letter in the mail saying that there was an area that needed “further evaluation”.

dun Dun DUN

That phrase really threw me. It seemed different than “To be safe…” or “To be sure…” NEEDS more evaluation. Like, they think there IS something there. 

I started thinking about what would happen to me when I found out that I have cancer, as in a Pro and Con list.

Pro – I’ll lose weight.                                                     

Con – I’ll be sick a lot and puke.

Pro – When my hair comes back, I can have short hair!    

Con – Cancer costs a lot.

Pro – I can have small boobies.                                      

Con – No energy to run or do WDW.

I let those ideas roll around for a while, then pushed them away. I’m fine and this is such a non-issue that there is no reason to freak out.

On Sunday, while chilling on the couch, I came across this bit of info:  Not only do we Dense Gals have 6x the chance to get cancer, but the doctors and scientists don’t know WHY.  Also, because of the denseness, mammograms only detect HALF of the cancers because the mammograms are harder to read.

So, I have SOMETHING going on in there, they want to do an ultrasound and because of these Dense Gals, there is 6x the chance that it could be cancerous.

No worries? Are you kidding?

So, as of the day I write this, I have one more week to try to think positively. The more I think about it, the harder it is to stay positive. All I can do over the next week is live my life as I always have and let it happen.  On Wednesday morning (or whenever I get results) – I’ll re-evaluate then.

Between now and then, I’m gonna do my job at work, then run a 10k, go to Disney and have a great dinner at Epcot on Saturday!

Next week is a long time away. 

Girl Time with Amy

Today was my annual GYN appointment and while I won't go into all that much detail with you (because, eww, right?) I do want to point out a few things that will be happening.

It's time for me to get my very first mammogram!  See, I'm not 40 yet, but I got big girls, so to be safe, we're going to get a 'baseline' mammogram from which to base all other mammograms on in the future.

Also, I will be getting another bone scan to see how my osteopenia is regressing.

Lastly, I will be heading to the dermatologist.  It's been way too long since I've had a skin-check, and there are a few moles I need to get rid of.

Oh, and we modified my birth control so that I won't bloat to the size of a hot-air balloon every month.

That's it. Nothing major happened here.

102 Minutes that Changed America

On September 11, 2001, our world changed.  Our generation suddenly had our "Where were you when...?" moment, like our parents did with Kennedy, and our grandparents did with Pearl Harbor.

At 8:46 AM, Flight 11 flew into the North Tower.
At 9:03 AM, Flight 175 flew into the South Tower.
At 9:37 AM, Flight 77 flew into the Pentagon.
At 9:59 AM, the North Tower collapsed.
At 10:07 AM, Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.
At 10:28 AM, the South Tower collapsed.

Where was I?  I was at work, at a local hospital.  We had a room that was full of comfy chairs for our patients to get IV fluids or blood, and each chair had a TV.  I was doing rounds, delivering mail and such, when I walked by the IV room and saw everyone staring blankly at a tiny TV. Curiosity brought me inside the room and I saw that the North Tower had been hit.  At this point, we all were thinking "Accident" or "Pilot Error", but then another plane flew into the South Tower. We looked at each other with hollow eyes, knowing that this was something completely different, and I ran to my office and called my husband, who was at home with our toddler daughter. I told him to turn on the news, that something was happening and it was like Pearl Harbor all over again.

Flight 175 headed towards the South Tower

I sat in my office, riveted to my chair, as I watched CNN and ABC on my computer, seeing people fleeing the buildings, seeing people cry for loved ones. Seeing people jump from the buildings because there was no other way for them to escape, and they chose to choose how they died, rather than let some gutless terrorist take their lives on their terms.

The explosion, seen from the Brooklyn Bridge

After a while, I went back to the IV room, to be near colleagues, near other humans, to suffer this inhuman tragedy in the company of others, when we realized that our head doctor, Dr. Wingard, was on his way to a conference. To this day, I remember looking at one of our nurses and saying "Wingard is in the air" - I didn't know what plane he was on, but I knew that he was in NY that morning. (We found out later, he was diverted to Canada, and landed safe and sound - he had no idea what had happened!)

At 9:35, we were told that another plane had hit the west wall of the Pentagon, and all of us knew that war was coming. This wasn't a little attack. This was huge, it was well-planned and it was HATRED towards America.  By 9:57, the part of the Pentagon that was hit collapsed as well.

The impact at the Pentagon

At 10:07, Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, PA, and at the time, no one knew why.  It wasn't until later that reports started coming in from friends and family members who had spoken to their loved ones that we learned why.  After the crew and passengers of Flight 93 learn about the terrorist attacks in NYC and the Pentagon, they decide to fight back, attempting to take control of the plane, rather than let the terrorists continue their plan (which was to fly to the Capitol). Many of the crew and passengers call their loved ones, including Todd Beamer, without a doubt one of the most heroic men I have ever heard of.  Beamer was on the phone with a GTE supervisor when the plane made it's southeasterly turn.  According to accounts of cell phone converstions, Todd, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett and Jeremy Glick formed a plan to take the plane back and let other passengers in this effort. He told the GTE operator that they were going to "jump on" the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground before the hijackers' plan could be followed through.  He recited the 23rd Psalm with the operator, and his final words were "Are you guys ready?  Okay, let's roll."

The Shanksville Flight 93 Impact Site

Todd Beamer Memorial from "Grateful Colorado Citizens"

There was no way any of us could get any work done that day.  We were all glued to our computers or the little TVs in the IV room or the TV in the waiting room lobby. We saw planes crash, the towers fall, and how men and women, dressed in typical Tuesday businesswear ran through the streets of New York in terror. We saw the look on George Bush's face when, in an elementary classroom in Sarasota FL, he was told of what was happening.

President Bush being told of the attack in Sarasota, FL

By noon, the evacuation of Lower Manhattan had begun, causing over a million people to walk the streets of NYC in search of a place to go. People who worked in Manhattan, but lived in Brooklyn, or New Jersey, or even Connecticut, all trying to figure out how to get home to their loved ones.

I saw thousands of policemen, firemen and other first responders, frantically trying to dig out their own, and finding more dead than alive.

By the time I got home that night, I was emotionally drained. All I wanted was my husband and my daughter. I wanted to hold them tight and not let go, ever.

Parents should never outlive their children - at the WTC Memorial

On every anniversary of 9-11, I will never forget.

This man will always be my biggest hero

In a single day, 19 men changed my America.  And I will never forgive.

If you would like a simple timeline of what horrible things happened that day, click HERE.

Run for Haven 5k Race Report

Today was my first “away game,” so to speak. It was in Orange Park, about 100 miles from where I live.  I woke up around 6 and picked out my clothes, then plopped onto the couch to eat Multigrain Cheerios and drink some OJ. I was out of the house by 6:30 and decided to let the Garmin navigate me.

If you live in or around Gainesville, you KNOW about the town of Waldo. Hell, if you live anywhere in Florida, you know about Waldo. Waldo is a huge speed-trap. The speed drops from 65 to 55 to 45 to 35 to 25 (I think) within a mile. Cops are stationed pretty much every day to catch speeders. If you go over the speed limit by 1mph, they bust you. It’s how the city pays their bills. They are pretty much proud of it. So, needless to say, I hate having to drive through Waldo.

Luckily, my Garmin found a way to circumnavigate Waldo road. It sent me down County Road 235 which goes pretty much all the way to Starke!  I didn't realize where I was until I was driving down 301, keeping a wary eye out for the signs, when I realized that I’d already passed Waldo and was coming up on Starke. It was very confusing.  It was also a VERY relaxing drive. I don’t think there is anything more peaceful and beautiful than a 2-lane rural road at sunrise.

It was cool, misty and smelled like cows - how rural areas SHOULD be!

I got to the Orange Park Kennel Club by 8:15 (who know they had a dog track? Not me!) and picked up my packet then headed back to the car for the swag photos. 

Cotton tee, nothing fancy

$22 "Cash" at Complete Nutrition and a pencil - I think I'll get more use out of the pencil.

$2 off coupon for TCBY - I really wanted to use it, but forgot that I had it!

As it got closer to the start time, I double-puffed, loaded my SparklePockets and headed toward the start line. There was a local Zumba instructor getting everyone warmed up, and I almost jumped in (even though I’ve never Zumba’ed before in my life), but my self-consciousness got the better of me. WTH, Me?!? – none of these people know you and will never see you again. You are already in a freakin’ sparkly skirt, just Zumba already!  Ugh…

Vibrams Gal there was REALLY into it!

Anyway, we all soon lined up at the start line and took off towards the St. John’s River (I think it was that). Basically, we were going to do 1.55 miles up and 1.55 miles back along River Road, which parallels the beautiful waterway. With the sun just up, spangling on the water, it was beautiful! 

On the way to the start line

Gorgeous! There were boat docks across the street from each house!

I fell to the back quite quickly, as usual, but I was fine. There were lots of other walkers. The road was all ours. We walked past nice homes and what looked to be a retirement home as well, by Mile 1. 

Mile 1 already?

 By Mile 2, I was sweating and I was glad to see a water stop – I grabbed a cup and dumped it on me! Felt so good!

This photo shows how we could either run on the road or the little trail - both had great view of the water

As I got to Mile 3, I realized that I was cutting REALLY close to PRing!  I gave it everything I had and crossed the finish line at 48:08 (official time).  

Mile 3 - so close!

Was this a PR????  Sadly, no – I did the Fallen Heroes at 47:11.  But SO CLOSE!!! 

I put on my medal and got my Finish Line photo taken, then headed out. 

You'll notice - no leg sleeves this time. I regretted that decision badly.

Not a bad medal for a small, local race. It matches my skirt!

First stop was a local mall so that I could change clothes. JCPenney always has restrooms close to outside doors, so I snuck in, changed, returned my sweaty clothes to the car, then headed back in to shop a bit. I didn't find anything I wanted…mostly because I REALLY had to potty. I decided to head to the restroom at the Food Court so I could see if there was anything I wanted to eat, or if I wanted to go to a different location (like The Loop, or something local).  I could’ve sworn that the mall’s website had listed Chik-fil-a as an option, but after leaving the restroom and walking around the food court, I couldn't find it and I ended up at Sbarro’s (I haven’t been to a Sbarro’s in decades!)  I got a slice with breadsticks for way too much money (seriously, like EIGHT bucks!) and sat to eat it. It was good. It wasn't as good as I was hoping. I should’ve gone to The Loop. Hell, I should’ve gone anywhere else. Oh well. It’s carbs, it filled me up and gave me energy to make the drive home.

Of course, after throwing my trash away and leaving the food court, turning to finish walking the mall, I found the damn Chik-fil-a…. Grrrr.

Other than stopping at the Post Office IN THE MALL (how cool and helpful!), there was nothing else I wanted to check out, so I ended up heading home.

God Bless the USA and God Bless my Soldiers!

I like “away games” – it gives me a reason to go somewhere that doesn’t involve shopping or eating. I definitely want to do this one again next year. It’s cheap, you get cute bling, and it’s a pretty peaceful run. 

And they have redneck briefcases...

The photo doesn't do it justice - these were like XXXL or something. Eww.

Finally! My roof is done!

Today is the day! The roofers are here! The roofers are here! (Well, technically, July 31^st was the day, since I’m covering a few days here)…

Here are some "Before" photos, to show you my horrendous roof....

Right side of House/Roof

Left Side of House (Front Porch)

I went to work this morning (still at The Other Office), but the roofers hadn't shown up yet.  All day long, I was ‘expectant’ – you know how when you are waiting for a phone call or an email, you can’t focus? I was like that all day.

I think I called home around lunch time to check in with The Kiddo to see if they showed up, and she said that they showed up shortly after I left that morning. She said that the pounding and noise was kind of freaking her out. I told her to call me if she needed me.

Around 2ish, as it does in Florida, it started to rain.

And rain.

And rain.

Harder.

I’m talking crazy torrents of rain.  

West University Avenue & 13th Street - Look how deep the water is on that truck!

Puddles in the street were being splashed onto my office window from 20 feet away when cars hit it. Crazy, crazy rain. (Later, I read that we got 3.47 inches in only 2 hours!)  All I could envision was my house flooding. No roof + rain = swimming pool!

Five o’clock couldn't come soon enough (of course, the rain had stopped by then), and I hurried home, parking the car in the yard, in case the rain came back in the morning.  My neighbor was outside and he said that the roofers tarped the house just minutes before it started! 

So, tonight I have a plywood base layer and tarps all over my roof.

Left Front of House (Above porch)

Right side of house, from teh front

We woke up the next day, and got in the car to take Hubby to work.  As soon as we got on the road, I hear a “whump whump” from my front left tire. Oh, hell. Flat? Nail? Oh, man, did I run over a nail?!?  We pulled over, but I didn't see anything, so we kept driving. Still ‘whumping’, and wobbly.  When I dropped Hubby off at work, I had him look at the tire while I drove slowly (so he could see the entire tire), and sure enough, there was a roofing tack, stuck through roofing paper, in my tire…

It looked like this, but with a piece of roofing paper stuck over the nail

I drove home slowly, and looked at it again, and then, assuming that I’d need to change the tire anyway, I pulled the tack out. Luckily – it wasn't actually IN the tire (it wasn't long enough) – the paper was stuck to the treads with the tack IN the tread, but not long enough to penetrate!  I made a mental note to NOT park on the grass again until the roof was done - these things were all over the place!

All that gravel and wood came from the roof, plus lots of tacks mixed in there

While I was at work today, the roofers came back and put the actual roof on.  They were gone when I got home, but I could tell that they weren't done because the roll-down was still hanging over the sides. I figured that they’d be back tomorrow.

Front Porch - roof hanging over the edge 

Seams not rolled down, edges not trimmed at all

Overhang along the length of the roof edge

For the next few days, no roofers showed up. Still got floppy roof hanging over the sides of the eaves…. No communication from the roofer, either, as to what was going on.

On August 5^th, when I pulled into the driveway, I noticed that the Permit Sign was facing a different way. I figured at first the wind just blew it around, but as I walked by it, I saw that the final inspection had been signed off on, so duh… that’s why it took so long!

Good thing it's in a baggie! 

The next morning, bright and early, a different roofing crew was here before I headed to work – up on the roof, trimming the overages and doing the final work on the roof.

They were up there before 8am this morning!

The best company you'll ever hire to do your roof

I am so happy to finally have this done.  I have a lot of repair work to do, both inside and out. I need to paint all the fascia, then I need to patch and/or replace some drywall on both the kitchen and my office ceilings. 

I'm not so happy to pay for it though, yeesh!

The check is dated so late because, no really, the bill got lost in the mail!

Lesson learned from this: 1) Ignoring things doesn't make those things go away. 2) Emergency funds are important for a reason!

Workpocalypse - The Resolution

After I was sent back to The Other Office (OO) “until further notice,” I sent an email to John in regards to his best guess on how long I might be down here. 

His response?  “No less than a month with the possibility of permanency.” Oh, hell no. I did my time as a secretary; I don’t want to do it again.   He also asked that, if I had to choose between 2 jobs – this or something else I despise – which would I choose. This question made me think that he was going to “Re-Org” (yes, I made that a verb) my job into a totally new position.  Either way, I was getting screwed. 

I sat at my desk and came up with a bulleted list of about 12 points that I wanted him to think about, and to discuss when he went into a meeting about this.  The hours of this job do not work for me. I don’t want to be a secretary. How do I still do my job. Stuff like this.  I reviewed it, edited, edited and edited it some more (the first version was REALLY angry…) before I finally sent it to him. He said that his meeting was that afternoon, and I wanted to make sure that he had time to read it before hand.

I felt better after sending it, but the next day, one of the Assistant Directors (who used to be one of the 5 Managers I assisted), pulled me aside and talked to me, not as an Assistant Director, but as a friend.  She acknowledged my feelings, and suggested that I try to roll with the changes. She was not able to give me anything definite, but she made it seem like if I sit down and shut up, things would work out how I wanted them to.  She also apologized for how horrible the whole Management Team handled this with me.  It wasn't “She’s got nothing to do so send her over there”, but it was “When we thought about who was awesome enough to be dropped into a new job with no training, there was no doubt that you were the only choice”  Okay, so that stroking felt good.

If John, or Gertie or anyone else had just SAID that in the first damn place, I think this whole thing would have been so much more palatable. But from the beginning, I felt like I had been forced over a desk and screwed hard.

After that discussion, I relaxed and just ‘went with it,’ which I don’t like to do, but had to do.  I decided that worrying isn't going to change the outcome, so I’ll just ride the 10 hours of overtime per paycheck (it pays for races! Or roof…. But that is a different post).

This afternoon, I headed to a meeting with John, Gertie, my office’s receptionist and another coworker whom I work with a lot doing Orientations.  In this meeting, our new jobs were laid out.  I would return to my office on August 12 to resume my job of Staff Assistant.  In the afternoon, I will take over for the rest of the day and handle the Orientations so that that coworker can do what she was *originally* hired to do and be a Records Clerk. Before I leave the OO, I will train a Temp to fill in until (no later than) September 30 (the end of the fiscal year). 

Now, here’s where it gets ironic. In all that chillin’ and relaxin’ I did, I kind of started liking working at OO!  So, in that meeting, I was almost upset that I didn't get to stay. I’m such a fickle bitch, I guess…

So, I ended up with a nice amount of overtime, a ‘vacation’ from the stress of working at the main office, and plenty of time to work on personal stuff (like this blog!) Now I have to move a bunch of stuff BACK to my old office by Monday!  I can’t wait to have my walls and door and peace and quiet back! I’ll miss the overtime and close parking, but I’m not a secretary and I never wanted to be one.

We finally have a date!

Oh, hallelujah, there is a date for our roof!!!

We're finally on the schedule and the crew should be working on the roof by July 31st!  Just a little ways past July 2nd, right?

Where is my roof?

So, remember way back when, when I said that I was getting a new roof and that it should be done around the 2nd of July?

It's 3 weeks past the 2nd of July, and there is still no roof.

We're not even on the schedule yet....

Due to weather in Florida, and being backed up, we are looking to be near the middle to end of July...

Sigh.

Can we just get this done, already?

FAM Fest gets changed...

The drama of the FAM Fest 5k continues!

The original FAM was cancelled due to weather.  It was rescheduled to June.  Come June, I was in the throes of a full-on lung infection or something - the Mucinex Family had been living in my lungs for two weeks and there was NO way I was ready to run again.  So I asked if I could defer to another race. The Race Director was fine with that, and told me to email her when I knew which race I wanted to change to.

I emailed her today, and I have changed to Run for Haven 5k in Orange Park, FL.  It's in September, after my birthday. You run right by the river, and you get a finisher medal! Yippee!  It's my first out-of-town 5k and I look forward to a bit of a ME day!

ScrewNado 2: Electric Boogaloo

This morning, I came back to my office, after spending a week at the Other Office, and quickly, my boss (Let’s call her Gertie) popped her head in my door, asking who was at OO. I told her that I didn't know, but that I had been under the impression, after conversations last week with different bosses, that I would be filling in for the week, and then on Monday, I would be coming back here, and the other boss would figure out what to do at OO.

Apparently, I was mistaken. An hour later, Gertie and John called me into John’s office.  I was told, after being admonished for not going back to OO, that I was going to be filling in at OO “until further notice” because there was no money in the budget to hire a temp.  

I am now required to not only do MY job (from a totally different building 4 blocks away), but to do the job of the person I’m filling in for. 

Until further notice. 

I’m thinking that means more than a week….  Because of how the re-organization has been going, there have been rumors that I would be sent down here permanently, so this shouldn't surprise me, but it does. I guess I should start packing up my old office and moving in down here.

ScrewNado!

As most of you know, I work as a staff assistant with the county.  I’m basically everybody’s bitch, and frankly, I’m really good at it. However, in the past year or so, there has been a lot of re-organization happening, and three out of the five managers that I assisted are no longer with us. This leaves a lot of free time for me. I’ve been saying to my boss that I need more job tasks, but all I would ever get was, “Oh, you’ll get some!” but I never got some… until now.

I was  sitting at my desk this morning, minding my own business, when an email popped up from my boss’ boss.  Basically, someone at another office quit, and they needed a Front Desk Assistant RIGHTNOW. My ever-helpful boss (let’s call him John), shoots out an email to the Assistant Directors that *I* can go down there for the time being. Uh, wait, WHAT?

Yeah – so for this week (and possibly into next week), I am going to be reporting to another office/department and filling in at a position that I have no idea how it works. Thanks, guys.  If I didn't feel insecure about my job and how unimportant I was to this group, I sure do feel it now!

35th Annual Melon Run - July 4th, 2013

Before I get to my race report, I have to tell you about the super awesome thing I did before the race:  I got to sing the National Anthem before the race!!  OMG! Let’s back up…

I follow Florida Track Club on Facebook (they are the local running club, plus the club putting on the Melon Run), and the day before the race, Meredith posted that she needed someone to sing.  There were a few joking posts like “if you want your ears to bleed, I’ll do it!”  I thought about it for an hour or so, checking back to see if someone had the guts to volunteer, and after seeing that no one did, I DID.  I got no response after a few hours, so I emailed Meredith to let her know that if no one else had volunteered via email, I would do it. She emailed me back about an hour before I left work saying that I got the gig.

GASP! What the hell did I just do? I haven’t sung in public in years! Not even karaoke… 

Okay, breathe…. 

First thing I did was get the lyrics and put them in my iPod as a ‘note’. That way, I would have them, JUST IN CASE.

Second thing I did, was sing it over and over on the way home. I got the timing and key down, was pretty confident on those big notes, and I felt pretty good.

Once home, I told the family, then proceeded to go into Race Prep Mode. New playlist, take a shower, paint my nails, etc, before going to bed early. J had to work at 7, so I had to take him before heading to the park.

I woke up around 6 and had a bowl of Special K Oats & Honey, then got dressed. Tried to chill, but wasn’t all that successful.

After dropping The Hubby off at work, I headed to the park and ended up getting a pretty good spot (since I was so early).  I went and picked up my packet (was in the wrong line at first), and headed back to the car for the obligatory Bling Shots.

Tech Tee - Designed by a local (contest winner) - The colors are great!

This is my number! See the Posse peeking out from behind?

Soon it was about 20 minutes before the race, so I double-puffed, pinned on my bib, loaded my SparklePockets and headed back to the Start line, where I needed to find Meredith so that I could sing. Along the way, I got a drink of water and turned on the iPod to the ‘note’. Just in case.

Gettin' crowded here... And all these people are going to be staring at me soon

Dudes in skirts win every single time! 

She had ribbons all the way down her back! A lot more 'Murica than my little garland in my hair!

Meredith sent me to Scott, who asked if I wanted the mic or the bullhorn. I can’t imagine singing into a bullhorn, so I opted for the mic.

Man I forgot how heavy these were…

…..breathe…..

Scott introduced me, and I was on.

Man! Only a few notes in and I remembered how much I love to sing in public!  The National Anthem is a very hard song to sing, much less sing a capella, much less a capella AND with one days’ notice, and I have to say that I kicked ass. I cracked on “land of the free”, but I finished strong with “home of the brave”.  I want to do this again next year!!

Thanks, Race Pace Photos for capturing the Double Chin of Freedom!

I had a volunteer record me singing, and if your ears can stand it, I’ve included it at the bottom of this post.

After that, it was time to line up at the start line and take off!

The view from the back

 Luckily, I’ve raced this route before, so I am familiar with the pitfalls and I can go at my own pace. I forgot to start my Garmin (as usual), and it took longer to find satellites, and the Nike got paused somehow, so I have no real record of my time, other than my “official” finish time, which sucks. I like having that info from Garmin.  Oh well.

You go ahead and tire yourself out on that hill, I'll be back here walking!

I ran at the beginning when the gun went off, but quickly slowed to a walk since I knew that it would soon turn into a long uphill.  This of course put me in the back of the pack. As usual. I’m fine with that. I’m not trying to win. Just trying to be better than I was last year.

Mile 1 came quickly (seemingly a LOT quicker than last year), and it was soon time to turn onto the boardwalk, which was slippery from the rain. 

How did this happen so fast? And why is this jackwagon running in cargo shorts?

Blurry photo, but you can get an idea of how pretty (and wet) the boardwalk section is

I walked that section, then made up some time in the neighborhood (passing Mile 2) before turning onto 16^th Avenue. 

Blessed by the sun at Mile 2

16^th Avenue has the second Hill of Doom (the first Hill of Doom is on 8^th Avenue). I knew it was coming, so I prepared for it, and kept my pace all the way to the top. At the top of the hill is when we turned back towards the park and the finish line. 

This is NOT the 2nd Hill of Doom, but you can see how hilly the road is in general

I was able to maintain my intervals and I plowed through the finish line at 47:28 (official time).  I destroyed my previous time by over TWO minutes!  I can’t wait to demolish that next year!

The awesome Merideth handing out finisher bracelets for the kids' Mile Fun Run

BOOM! 

More Double-Chins of Freedom - and I'm airborne, too!

I wandered over to the various tents set up, to see if they had any fun swag (I grabbed a t-shirt from the UF tent) and ended up getting a chair massage. Heavenly!  I always love getting these just for the reaction of the masseuse. They are always so surprised at how tense I am and I just giggle. I’m a mess people, just rub. J

After my awesome rubdown, and a quick finish line photo, I grabbed some cookies and some Gatorade (screw bananas!) and wandered over to see the awards. 

I look like a hot neon rainbow mess! It all matched in person, I promise!

There is no bling for this race – all age-group winners get watermelons, presented to them by the Watermelon Queen.  (I think I’d rather have some sort of bling…) I ran into another Princess Posse Member, April, and we chatted for a bit. She and I are both shy introverts, so there wasn’t a lot of chatting! 

Like, I'm the Watermelon Queen, Y'all!

Finally, as I’m getting ready to get out of here, I remember that Merideth said that, for singing that morning, I too would get a watermelon! I got my gift (it’s HUGE) and began the trek back to the car. I think it was more tiring to carry the thing to the car than it was to actually run the race!

It is HUGE!

I don’t like to eat watermelon (evil funky texture), but I love the FLAVOR of watermelon, so I’m going to try to make sorbet, or just puree it until I can figure out what to do with it!

So hot and sweaty – time to go HOME!

Oh, and if you stuck with me this long, here is my rendition of the National Anthem.