Categories
Household Mothering Parenting

The Mom Equipment Bag

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When I was a new mom, one of the biggest changes was how much stuff I always had to take with me.  My purses that previously held all I needed in life were not bigger than a piece of paper.  After having a baby, I couldn’t leave the house to go five minutes away to the grocery store without taking a bag that made it look like I was going on an overnight trip.  Packing the diaper bag became a part-time job in itself. 

And if you did not pack the diaper bag every time, than the baby God’s knew this.  If you didn’t pack a clean outfit- baby spit up over everything.  If you forgot the binky- baby needed to suck.  If you didn’t have enough diapers- well, you can imagine that.  Probably every new mom does this once, and only once.  Then the diaper bag becomes your reassurance.  When it is you and baby out, and against the world, the one thing that can save you from every potential disaster is your properly packed, 25 pound diaper bag.  (Yes, the diaper bag weighs more than the baby for several months.) 

So three and a half-years after having my last baby, why am I still lugging stuff around? I don’t have a “diaper bag” any more- now I have reusable Envirosaxs, which can hold even more stuff than a diaper bag, and weighs more than my youngest child.  Instead of diapers and clean little baby outfits, I am transporting books, toys, sports shirts, water bottles, soccer balls, jackets, boots, gym shoes, hats, snacks, and the list goes on.

I figured out something the other day.  This never stops.  I had it easy with the diaper bag.  From here on out, the “diaper bag” only gets bigger and changes names.  When the boys start playing sports regularly, then it will be a duffel, or sports bag.  As they get bigger, the equipment gets bigger, and the “diaper bag” gets less and less fashionable.  Last time I checked, Kate Spade doesn’t have a soccer duffel bag line. 

I realized the diaper bag’s job is to train you that you can never, and I mean never, leave your house without some sort of equipment bag.  I think the diaper bag should be renamed The Mom Equipment Bag.  Because diapers are only the beginning.  Your real job as a mom, is the equipment manager.

Categories
ACS Blogger Advisory Council Cancer

Bloggers for More Birthdays

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One of the first things I’ve been asked to do as a member of the American Cancer Society Blogger Advisory Council is to dedicate a blog post to someone I love with cancer.  The first “person” who came into my mind was all of my blog readers who have thyroid cancer and have written to me with their stories. 

I could write about Holly who is 37, and a mom of three, who after having a thyroidectomy in September, and radioactive iodine last month, is facing the possibility her cancer has spread into her lymph nodes.  Holly had been told her lymph nodes were fine, but they discovered an area of high iodine intake.  If this spot turns out to be lymph nodes, Holly could be facing another surgery to remove them. 

Or I could write about Patricia who is also 37, and a mom of two.  During the past year, Patricia had a huge lump in her neck and with the urging of her children’s father, she decided to follow up on it. It turned out to be a 6.5 inch goiter.  She had a biopsy done on October 15th, and found out early this month it is cancer.  Patricia is facing a thyroidectomy surgery within the next two months. 

There is Nicholas, who is a physician with three small children, who had a thyroidectomy and a neck dissection in June.  He is still having drainage and medication issues. 

These are just three people out of the many who write me about their experiences with thyroid cancer.  A common theme in many of their letters, is they are looking for support and someone who understands what they are going through.  Despite their cancer, and challenges, these cancer patients and survivors continue on in with their lives.  They are there for their children and spouses.  They are there for their parents who have medical issues themselves, and for the others that rely on them.  Most importantly, they continue on for themselves. 

I have never met Holly, Patricia, or Nicholas, or many of the other people who have written me.  But I admire and love their spirits of determination and knowledge that they will beat their cancer and will be healthy to be around for countless birthdays.  Just the fact that they are sharing their stories, shows that they have taken control of their cancer, so they can fight it. 

Anyone can join the American Cancer Society in the effort to celebrate More Birthdays.  Just dedicate a blog post to someone you love who has been affected by cancer and celebrate them.  You can check out other posts on the American Cancer Society’s Birthday Blog for inspiration. 

Birthdays are good!  Let’s have as many of them as we can!

Categories
Activities Family & Friends Holidays

Wanted for Christmas: “I Don’t Want Nothing But My Sider (sister) Needs a Coat”

Last year my sister, Mara, who is a second grade teacher at a very impoverished school outside of Denver, had her students write a letter to Santa Claus.  She had never done this before, and was expecting typical requests from eight and nine year-olds.  The letters were anything but typical- they were heartbreaking.  She sent an e-mail to her family and friends with some of the requests, asking if there was any way we could help out these kids.

The letter that touched me the most last year was from a little boy who asked Santa for “socks with no holes in them.”  I posted her letter in a blog post, and asked my readers if they could help.  The response was overwhelming, and you can read about it here, if you missed it. 

Last year, Sergeant Alex from Buckley Air Force Base read about these kids on my blog, and showed up with four other officers with presents for these children.  Many readers sent gift cards and care packages- people that had never met these kids or my sister.  Family and friends in the area helped as well, with the result of every child in my sister’s class having a Christmas they never expected and will never forget.  

This year the entire second grade has written letters, and my sister has decided to try to make sure every child in her school’s second grade receives not only the items they need, like “socks with no holes,” but also a fun toy. 

Sgt. Alex, along with other Air Force officers and their families have already offered to help out, but there are 110 children in second grade, in a school that has several homeless kids, and where over 95%  of the students qualify for the reduced and free lunch program.  Some of the letters are even more desperate than they were last year.  Here are some of the requests, as the children wrote them:

“I nide food for my famli beause my dad has a boss woo doesnt want him to work anymor.”

“…a penciles and an eraser because I have none.”

“…two pair of shoos because my are ripet on the botom. I also need a bed because I never had one.”

“……I need some new sock and shoes because mine sock are riped back at home.”

“…I would please like to have some more frute and some glofs because I did not have some before.”

and the request that made me tear up:

“…I don’t want nothing but my sider needs a coat.”

I imagine my own two boys and how they love each other, and when one of them is hurt or upset, it pains the other one.  I can only imagine how sad and desperate this child feels to have to watch her sister go without a coat. 

Here is the information if you can help, as stated by my sister:

We’ll take anything EXCEPT cash/checks. Gift cards to Wal-Mart would be the most helpful because we could trade them in for gifts and the Wal-Mart here in Commerce City gives us tax-exempt status. We’d also love any chapter books, school supplies, etc. I will take care of making sure every child in the entire 2nd grade will get something new this Christmas.

Please send what you can to:

Alsup Elementary School
c/o Mara Corzine
7101 Birch Street
Commerce City, CO 80022

Again, thank you for caring about these kids. Anything you can send us will be greatly appreciated!! Let’s show these kids that people do care about them and that they matter!!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will respond.  I’ll be writing an update when we go shopping for the kids again, and this year I hope to be able to be there the day the kids receive their gifts. It was the highlight of my Christmas last year, and I want to see the look on the little’s girl face when she sees that her “sider” finally has a coat!

Categories
Activities Cancer Health

American Cancer Society Blogger Advisory Council

I am excited to announce that the American Cancer Society formed a new blogger advisory council in September.  Their purpose from the press release: 

The Council members will work with the Society to determine how best to use social media to galvanize the movement for more birthdays in the virtual world by encouraging women to take an active role in fighting cancer. The Society’s movement for more birthdays seeks to save lives from cancer by helping people stay well, helping people get well, by finding cures and fighting back against the disease. 

I am very pleased to let my readers know I am the newest member of the Council!  I am beyond thrilled for this opportunity!  I am looking forward to working with the other Council members, and providing additional ways to help all cancer patients fight their cancers.

I obviously have a keen desire in raising awareness on some of the issues around thyroid cancer, many which I have written about on my blog.  I feel working with the American Cancer Society on this new council will maximize and build awareness for thyroid cancer.  

To all my blog readers with cancer who have shared your stories, your fears, your struggles, your triumphs, and comments with me, thank you.   Hearing your stories helped me understand I wasn’t the only one experiencing many of the feelings and issues I had when fighting thyroid cancer.  These stories, and my own experience has made me realize how much more support thyroid cancer patients need. 

I am honored to be able to serve on this new council, and I plan to make sure our experiences with thyroid cancer will raise awareness and provide help and support for all cancer patients and their loved ones. 

Categories
Activities Family & Friends Health Me Running

The Second Race

Last week, on Monday, I blogged that I was ready to run, and I was going to push myself in my second 5K race on Saturday to see what I could accomplish. 

On Tuesday when I started to run, felt the start of shin splints in both my shins.  The pain wasn’t bad, but it was there.  I kept running and after the first mile or so, the pain went a way.  Later, I read up on the causes of shin splints, and I believe I was developing them because I had added several sprints after my normal runs to increase my speed.  The week before most of the path  I ran on was covered in snow and ice, and running on such an imbalanced course may have increased the pressure my shins were taking. 

I asked on Facebook what to do for shin splints, and I received a lot of good advice: from evaluating my shoes, to stretching,  to using ice and heat, to looking into ChiRunning, to stop running and rest my shins.  I looked up some specific stretches for the shins and calves, and started doing those immediately. 

On Wednesday and Thursday, the pain came and went.   Normally, I would have just stopped running for the week, but I had been looking forward to this race, and  I really wanted to run in it.  However, I knew it was not worth getting a serious injury, or having to sit out for months, just for one race.  I made the decision reluctantly on Thursday night, that if I had any more pain in my shins before the race, I was not going to run in it.  I started using heat and ice on my shins. 

I woke up on Friday and they felt great.  If I touched my shin bone, there was a tiny bit of discomfort, but it wasn’t painful.  I did not run on Friday, but Friday night I did some stretches and the heat and ice again before I went to bed.  Saturday morning I woke up, and there was no pain- not even when I touched my shin bones.  I was so excited, and was ready for the race!

The weather in Denver on Saturday for the Denver Veteran’s Day 5K Race, was beautiful.  It was sunny and in the high 30’s.  The race started at 8AM, and it was a perfect morning for running.  My dad was excited to come with me again, and he is now the “official” race photographer!

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Right after I had warmed up- about 15 minutes until race time!

I discovered that I was in the age category for 35 and older, but I had no idea how many people were in my age group. The top three winners in each age group, both male and female would be awarded a medal.   Most of the runners looked young- the race was on a college campus, so the vast majority of runners were college aged.  I lined up in the 8-10 mile group, or the second group to start:

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You can see my “secret weapon” I mentioned in my Ready to Run blog post in these two pictures P.S- the black ankle bracelets everyone is wearing is the timer chip

Since I started in the second wave, we had to stand around for about a minute waiting.  I was trying to visualize running the course, but it is really hard to stay calm, when you just want to start running!  They told us the course was two laps around, and it was time to go!

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This race was so uncrowded, I was able to run right by my dad when I started.  That was nice.  There was also a barefoot running club that had several runners running in their bare feet, as you can see in the picture above.  My dad got quite a kick out of that- he didn’t think anyone should be running on a public street in their bare feet! (that is a hint to my “secret weapon” too, if you haven’t guessed, or noticed yet. 🙂  )

As I started running, I realized I started out too fast. My pacing was off.  I was mad that I had let the excitement distract me.  I also felt hot immediately.  I had been debating taking my jacket off before the race, but it was cold.  The first few minutes I was already hot, but I didn’t want to take the time to mess up my pacing anymore by taking the jacket off.  I decided to run with it and then dump it at the start of the second lap.  

I tried to make the adjustment to get my pacing back on track.   A lot of people passed me, but I wasn’t paying too much attention to them.  I was focusing on getting my stride and breathing back to where I know it needed to be.  I was very happy though, I had not felt any pain in my shins.

After about half a mile, I felt like I was back on my pacing, and started to relax and just enjoy the run.  I noticed one female runner who had passed me at the beginning, looked about my age and she was about 50 yards ahead of me.  The course was great- there was lots of room to run, and there was no one around you.  It was very easy to concentrate and focus on running.  The only issue I was having was I was hot.  I had unzipped the jacket and that helped some, but I couldn’t wait until I could shed it.

I noticed a lot of younger guys were passing me, but that was okay.  I passed a few people too, but I wasn’t paying too much attention to their ages.  The only person I kept my sights on was the  female runner that was still ahead of me.

As I approached the end of the first lap, I started trying to take my jacket off, and it got stuck!  Then it wouldn’t go over my gloves! I was so frustrated, but was trying not to let it break my concentration.  I passed the start line, saw my dad, and finally got the jacket off!  I was very happy to throw it in the grass.  But then my earphones got twisted up and were dangling off of me.  I had to take my gloves off to fix the earphones, and then put the gloves back on.

By the time these issues were fixed, I felt like I had lost some time.  Having been around the course once already, I started making a mental plan on when I could make some time up, or at least try not to slow down.  A female barefoot runner passed me, and that seemed to give me a shot of motivation.  I didn’t want anyone else to pass me.  Around 2.5 miles, I started to speed up slightly, trying to making up some of the time I felt I had lost. 

I focused on my breathing, and stride.  I was tired, but I told myself I was almost done, and this would show me what I could do. I started running faster.  We were coming down the last 300 yards or so, and I was right about to pass the female runner that had been ahead of me the entire run. I thought for a second if my shins could handle it, but I had been training sprinting 400 yards.  I decided to go for it!!

As soon as I started sprinting she did too. I told myself I didn’t work that hard on my sprinting for nothing.  This was the moment I could give it my all- my absolute best now, and see what would happen.  This is a picture of that moment:

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I passed her with about 100 yards left to go (she’s wearing the cap), and I crossed the finish line!  I heard the announcer say my number and name, and she added, “What a finish!”

I was elated and thrilled!  Despite all the issues I dealt with during this race, I was able to work them out, and had a strong finish.  I also knew without checking the clock or time, that it was the fastest I have ever ran!

My dad gave me a hug, and I told him I had to keep moving for a few minutes.  He walked with me, and told me had timed me for the first lap and he thought I was about 14 minutes.  He said if I had done that for my second lap, I’d be right around the 28 minute mark.  My goal for this race for time was under 30 minutes.  I had only hit this once before- the Tuesday before the race- I had run the distance in 29:53.

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Moments after I had finished the race

I ate some food and talked to my dad while we waited the results.  He was happy to tell me that the first few people that had crossed the finish line were runners that were wearing shoes!  We walked around looking at the vendor’s swag, and I got some cool whistles for Ryan and Cole.  I was going to go put my jacket in the car, when I saw they had the results posted.  I had to wait about five minutes before I could work my way in to the table to check.  It took me a few minutes to find my name, and when I did, I checked, double checked, and triple checked.  I thought I was reading the results wrong. 

My dad was a few feet away from the table, and he was dying to know my time.  I had my results memorized by now, and I left the result table to tell him.  My results were:

Time: 27:07. My personal best!   I finished at 36:35 at the Race for the Cure.  I dropped 9:28 off my time in a month!

Lap 1 Time: 13:34

Lap 2 Time: 13:33

I was in 5th place for my age group out of 32 runners. 

I finished 64th overall out of 135 runners.

I finished 16 seconds behind the 4th place finisher, 1:08 behind the third place finisher, 6:02 behind the second finisher, and 6:32 behind the first place finisher. 

I missed a medal by only two people.  I wasn’t sad, but amazed that I finished that close to runners who medaled!  I never would have thought that this was possible three months ago, when I barely had enough energy to function!

I pushed myself, and I was on cloud nine with the results! 

I had no shin pain after the race, but on Saturday night, the tendons above my right ankle hurt.  On Sunday my shins felt great, but on Sunday night I woke up in the middle of the night and they were throbbing.  On Monday, they hurt again, like they did last week. 

I am taking at least a week off from running to let my shins, and tendons rest.  I have some good news about my dad, that I’ll share in another blog post soon. 

I’m eyeing another 5K in December- the ColderBolder at the CU campus in Boulder, or the Rudolph Ramble in City Park in Denver.

To be continued…