Registration

I'm so excited.

I just registered for the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Half Marathon. I will be running across bridges, underwater and in Canada on October 19, 2008. That will be many firsts for me because I have never run underwater or been to Canada.

Besides training for the half marathon, the only thing left to do is book my hotel room. Which I hope to be doing soon.

**Update** I booked my hotel room this afternoon. My husband and I will be staying overnight at the Detorit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. Now everything is taken care of.

Miles run in 2008

I wanted to run 9 miles on Sunday, but I fell short. I finished with 7 miles. My reason for falling short was side cramps. Other then the side cramps, it was a nice run. I finished the week with 23 miles.

On Saturday, April 12, it is my first race of the year. I will be running the Acres of Fun 5K in Tecumseh, MI. Compared to what I have been running recently, it should be an easy 3.1 miles. I hope the weather is nice.

2004: 74.1
2005: 105.1
2006: 125
2007: 119.4
2008: 255.5

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Final Disclosure, David W. Belin
John Wayne: My Life with the Duke, Pilar Wayne
Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn
The Lost Life of Eva Braun, Angela Lambert
Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Irving Shulman
His Way, Kitty Kelley
Natalie, Lana Wood
Rita Hayworth, John Kobal
The Fatal Friendship: Marie Antoinette, Count Fersen and the Flight to Varennes, Stanley Loomis
The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory

Currently Reading: Atonement, Ian McEwan
Up Next:

Random things

I hope last night's snow was it for the season. Early Thursday the local weatherman was talking about 6 inches of snow. Thankfully the area only received 2 or 3 inches. My husband was very nice this morning to shovel the snow on the deck, around my car and clean off my car. After work, I had to shovel the sidewalks. The snow was wet, heavy and my back and hands hurt when I was completed. I could have just waited a couple of hours, maybe the sun would have melted the snow.

The registration opens Monday for the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon. I will be online after work registering for the half marathon. I don't think I have ever been this excited to register for a race.

This week every game I was scheduled to go was postponed or canceled due to snow. I hope next week the weather will cooperate so I can actually photograph some spring sports. Monday it is supposed to be over 60 degrees but there is a chance of rain. All I can say is I hope the rain stays away so some college games can be played.

Last year I was considering running a half marathon. The problem was I didn't have enough time to train for one. This year I will be running the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Half Marathon, as I mentioned above. I found another half marathon close to my home during the summer and I really wanted to run that. The problem was I couldn't because I was booked for a wedding. I had booked two couples on consecutive weekends in August. In December, one of the couples canceled their wedding. I just realized today that I'm not booked for a wedding on the day of the half marathon. I'm booked for a wedding the week before the race. I will be running this half marathon in late August. Wow. I'm running two half marathons this year. Awesome.

Close up - Jackosn, MI

Missing fingers - Jackson, MI

Inclement weather

The snow storm from last weekend is screwing things up. The spring sports season has started in the county, but the weather isn't playing along.

I was supposed to photograph a softball game today and tomorrow, but those have been postponed. The softball diamonds are hidden under layers of snow. Other sports have postponed as well like lacrosse and soccer. Usually those two sports play in anything. I guess not this time.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny. The key words here are "supposed to". I hope it is sunny so the snow melts. The spring sports season needs to get underway because I need the hours.

Mary, Full of Grace - Jackson, MI

Saturday's run

I knew that I wouldn't have the time to run on Easter Sunday, so I ran Saturday.

I only got in three runs during the week. That disappointed me. I usually like to run four times between Monday and Friday and once on the weekends, but my quad pain sidelined me on Friday. Instead of running, I spent time with my husband, resting and icing my quad. I felt guilty missing my Friday run.

Saturday I was determined to run at least 7 miles to make up for the lost day. If I ran 7 miles that would put me at 20 miles run for the week. After missing Friday, I didn't want to finish the week with anything thing lower then 20 miles.

Once I started running, I kept thinking about running longer. After the first two miles my quad felt fine and it made my decision easier. I decided I was going to run 9 miles. The first two times I attempted 9 miles, I failed. The first time my legs were really tired, poor excuse, and the second time my left quad was in pain and I really had to stop short. With the TV on the Duke/West Virgina basketball game, the run went by rather quickly. It took me 93:08 to run 9 miles. After the run, I was really happy. That was the longest I have ever run. With that run, my week's mileage was at 22 miles.

The whole run felt really good. I didn't have any quad pain, which helped the run go smoothly. I hope this weekend I can log another 9 miles pain free.

Resurrected - Jackson, MI

Books read in 2008

With me being sick most of this week, I really didn't get a chance to read. Over my vacation last week, I finished a long Marie Antoinette book. When I finished that book I didn't realize The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown had a two week due date. That book is still considered "new" at my library even though in was released June 2007. I got as far as page 170 and I had to return it Friday to the library. It couldn't be renewed because the book is in demand. Or so the card said in the front of the book. Next time I go to the library, I will probably check it back out and continue reading it. But for now I'm reading a book that I bought: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.

I thinking of buying Atonement by Ian McEwan. Has anyone read it? Is it good? I would like to read the book before seeing the movie. The movie is currently in my Netflix queue.

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Final Disclosure, David W. Belin
John Wayne: My Life with the Duke, Pilar Wayne
Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn
The Lost Life of Eva Braun, Angela Lambert
Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Irving Shulman
His Way, Kitty Kelley
Natalie, Lana Wood
Rita Hayworth, John Kobal
The Fatal Friendship: Marie Antoinette, Count Fersen and the Flight to Varennes, Stanley Loomis

Currently Reading: The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory

Good Friday - Jackson, MI

Random things

Today is the first day of spring. Right now it is sunny and 44 degrees. Tomorrow winter will return to the area. The forecast calls for 4 to 7 inches of snow starting Friday night and ending Saturday morning. This winter I noticed a pattern, it seemed like after all of the snow had melted from one storm another storm came by and dumped more snow. I will not be looking forward to shoveling the sidewalks Saturday morning.

My three mile run was terrible today. My legs were tired. They felt like they weighed a ton and my left quad hurt again. I don't know why I had such a horrible run. Yesterday my 6 mile run went well and I actually ran without quad pain. During the run I kept waiting for the pain to start, but it never did.

The cold I have right now is starting to get better. After two days, I starting to regain my sense of smell but my ears are still plugged. I've been using tissues so much that my nose is very raw and has cracked and bled. When I'm using tissues, it feels like sandpaper. Very painful.

I'm one of the few people that didn't fill out a bracket for the men's NCAA basketball tournament pool in my office. To enter the office pool it required money. I need to hold on to my money as much as possible. I did fill out a bracket, but not for the pool. My fake bracket is hanging on my bulletin board in my office. Mine is just for fun.

I went to a high school this afternoon to photograph sports teams. I asked all of the spring sports athletes to write their first and last names on a piece of paper and hold it in front of them while I took a head shot. After I take the picture the kids always ask me what they need to do with the piece of paper that they wrote their name on. I always tell them to throw it away. After I finished with the boys and girls track teams, I looked at the floor of the gym and it is littered with paper. I grabbed all of the paper around me and put it in a pile because there wasn't a trash can around. I told one of the coaches that the kids threw the paper on the floor. She grabbed a trash can, picked up all of the paper and said to me that they would be running extra today for all of the garbage that they left. At every school that I photograph head shots at, paper ends up on the floor. Why are they so lazy?

A Top Chef Season One marathon was on Bravo TV yesterday. I spent most of the afternoon on the couch watching it. I could have watched more of it if I didn't have to go to work for a couple of hours. I think I could watch an entire 13 episode run without leaving the couch. I have no shame. I love that show.

Green face - Jackson, MI

Handles - Jackson, MI

Ladybug eye - Tecumseh, MI

The nose knows

Not a good weekend. On the last day of my vacation I caught a cold from my husband.

Two restless nights. Constantly battling a stuffy nose and trying to breathe. To help, I've been opening my mouth to breathe. Now I have the worst chapped lips. I can't sleep normally. I have to prop my pillows against the headboard and sleep with my head up. Last night that wasn't working too well, so I tried to sleep sitting up. It is something that I wouldn't suggest. It wasn't comfortable.

My stuffed nose has gotten worst today. I have been taking medicine but it doesn't seem to help. I probably have used almost a box of tissues in the last two days. And you can tell. I have the red irritation marks under my nose.

I should stop complaining. Many others have had it worst then me. Besides this is only the second cold I have had all winter. I'll keep taking my medicine and hope that it will be gone soon.

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Final Disclosure, David W. Belin
John Wayne: My Life with the Duke, Pilar Wayne
Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn
The Lost Life of Eva Braun, Angela Lambert
Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Irving Shulman
His Way, Kitty Kelley
Natalie, Lana Wood
Rita Hayworth, John Kobal
The Fatal Friendship: Marie Antoinette, Count Fersen and the Flight to Varennes, Stanley Loomis

Currently Reading: The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown
Up Next: Deciding between two books

Pray - Tecumseh, MI

So much to do, so little time

Friday was my last paid day of vacation. I have today and Sunday off but Monday it is back to work. BOO!!

This is what I accomplished on my last day of vacation:

-woke up around 8 am
-watched 3 movies
-ran 4 miles
-played with the dogs
-watched half of the Ohio/Bowling Green women's basketball game
-watched the Duke/Georgia Tech men's basketball game
-read 100+ pages in my book
-watched TV with my husband who came home for his break
-went to bed around 11 pm

I wish I could get paid for doing this everyday.

Miles run in 2008

My six mile run yesterday put me over 200 miles run for the year. I'm so excited that I accomplished that so early in the year.

On another note, I finally bought new shoes as well. I came home with Mizuno Wave Rider 11 shoes. I tried to break them in when I got home. The first mile was a bit uncomfortable. After that they felt fine. My left quad still hurt a bit when running. But I'm hoping the pain will go away because I finally bought new shoes. I have been running with the old pair of Mizuno's since last July. Yeah, not good.

Aren't my new shoes pretty?

2004: 55.6

2005: 84.1

2006: 102

2007: 96

2008: 203.5

Standing alone -Tecumseh, MI

Not locked - Tecumseh, MI

Cemetery Drive

With my vacation this week, it has given me time to get back outside with my camera. The weather has been great, high 30s/low 40s with sun. Sun! With the sun out it makes the perfect opportunity to go out and photograph at my favorite places: cemeteries.

Yesterday morning, I traveled to Tecumseh to visit Brookside Cemetery. It is one of my favorites in the county. It has a nice mausoleum and plenty of statues, which is a big draw for me. I have photographed that cemetery many times before. When I go back to ones which I have been before, I try to find new angles to photograph everything. With snow covering the ground, it limited my options some. I did get down and get my knees wet.

While at the cemetery I had my iPod with me. I did start singing, but not too loud. I was not trying to draw attention to myself with walkers and actual visitors in the cemetery. I thought it was OK to sing. But who knows there could be some cemetery etiquette that I don't know about.

I drove to Woodland Cemetery in Jackson County this morning. It was a cemetery I haven't been to before, but I have been in the area numerous times before. It was a huge cemetery. Plenty of things to look at and photograph. I found many mausoleums and statues. It was like I hit the jackpot! I was so excited.

I came upon a old mausoleum from 1897. Around the mausoleum there were signs saying " Warning. Dangerous Building". At first I didn't understand why the signs said that. Then I noticed all of the cracks and the crumbling foundation. I tried not to get too close, but I had to. There were two angels in front of it. I had to get close for my angel statues. The mausoleum had wonderful design and it was old and beautiful. When I walked closer I noticed some graffiti on the wall of the mausoleum. Some girl named Laura scratched her name on the front of the mausoleum and told everyone that she was there. I'm sure if any of the family is still living they would appreciate that fact. I guess no one taught this Laura girl to respect the dead. Vandalizing a cemetery must be her idea of a fun time.

Before leaving I drove up another path that I missed the first time around. I jammed on the brakes of my car. I saw before me a huge 10 foot bronze statue. The statue has been there since I believe the turn of the century, it was all green and awesome. The statue had great features; eyes, hair and hands. I was happy to have found it. I was focusing my camera on the face and I noticed someone scratched whiskers on the face. It saddened me that someone would climb up on this statue to draw whiskers on both side of the face. Another example of stupid people. I spent about 10 minutes on this statue alone. It was so beautiful.

I ended up taking over 100 photos at this cemetery. It was a great find and I hope to visit it again. Hopefully later today, I will get another chance to take photographs in a cemetery down in Toledo, Ohio. My husband and I are going to drive down there tonight to look for home improvement items. If the sun is still in the sky, we will be stopping for a while.

Brookside hinge - Tecumseh, MI

Thinking - Tecumseh, MI

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Final Disclosure, David W. Belin
John Wayne: My Life with the Duke, Pilar Wayne
Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn
The Lost Life of Eva Braun, Angela Lambert
Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Irving Shulman
His Way, Kitty Kelley
Natalie, Lana Wood
Rita Hayworth, John Kobal

Currently Reading: The Fatal Friendship: Marie Antoinette, Count Fersen and the Flight to Varennes, Stanley Loomis
Up Next: The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown

Pain in the head

After waking up from a nap yesterday, I had intentions of running six miles. That is where those intentions stopped.

As soon as I got up from the couch, the room was spinning because I was so dizzy. Only two seconds ago I was fine on the couch. I continued walking to the bathroom and everything was still spinning and my head was hurting.

After I came out of the bathroom I went to pick up my running shoes and I instantly felt like I had to throw up. I went and sat on the couch and breathed in and out slowly so I wouldn't hurl on the carpet. I did that a couple times and felt better. I leaned over and picked up my right shoe. Mistake. The room started spinning again. I managed to put on my left shoe and got down on the floor to stretch. Sitting on the floor didn't help me too much. I only did a couple of stretches and then I got up said to my husband "I feel like I'm going to throw up" and walked fast to the bathroom. I did what I said I was going to do.

I felt a little better afterwords. I decided that I could walk instead of run. Walking is still exercise and I needed to do something. I walked a fast paced mile on the treadmill. I pressed stop to see how I was feeling. I was feeling better, so I decided to run. I reset the treadmill and ran 3 miles. I thought 4 miles total for the day was good for me not feeling well with the throwing up, dizziness and still my left quad pain.

It wasn't the 6 miles that I wanted but I with those 4 miles, I'm only 9.5 miles away from 200 miles run for the year. I will make that easily this week.

Random things

Not much is going on today. Here are a few odds and ends.

Will winter never end? The county I live in is under a winter storm watch until Saturday night. The storm that is coming this way could drop 6 or more inches of snow. Great. I'll just shovel that additional 6 inches of snow on top of the 5 inches we received Wednesday morning.

Its official. I had my vacation slip signed by my boss today. My vacation can begin tomorrow when I leave work at 10 am. I checked the 10 day forecast on weather.com and it said that next week it is supposed to be partly cloudy and in the high 30s/upper 40s. That will be nice for when I'm outside taking photographs.

My half marathon training has been going well. I completed a run of 6 miles today and tomorrow I will be running 6 miles again. It seems when I have a run longer then 7 miles, I hit the wall. I think to myself, how am I going to finish 13.1 miles? I know I will get past it and just do it when the time comes. But running with quad pain isn't fun. I hope when I buy new shoes soon, the pain will go away. If it doesn't I might have to visit the doctor.

After this weekend, I will be less then 10 miles away from 200 miles run for the year. That is pretty awesome for me. I will be at 200 miles in just over 3 months. If I keep this running schedule up, I will totally smash my New Years resolution of 600 miles run for the year.

Vacation time

I filled out my vacation sheet this morning. All that is left is for my boss to sign it. I have my substitutes set up with their schedule for next week and everything is squared away.

Next week I won't be waking up to an alarm clock. I'll be sleeping in. Things I have on the agenda are reading, running, napping, staying up past 9 pm, going on photography trips, playing with the dogs, and spending time with my husband. That is a lot to accomplish on my week off. I'm sure they will be done.

People were asking me where I was going on vacation. My answer: My house. My last vacation was over 8 months ago, which was too long ago. This vacation is mainly to take a break and get ready for the spring sports season. The good news is that I have three more weeks of vacation left this year. And believe me, I will use all of it. One of the three weeks of vacation I have left, I will be taking a trip back to New York City with my husband. The last time we were in NYC was May 2002. It will be nice to get back there and see how the city has changed.

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Final Disclosure, David W. Belin
John Wayne: My Life with the Duke, Pilar Wayne
Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn
The Lost Life of Eva Braun, Angela Lambert
Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Irving Shulman
His Way, Kitty Kelley
Natalie, Lana Wood

Currently Reading: Rita Hayworth, John Kobal
Up Next: Library trip

Old man winter

The branches on the trees do not look like this today. Maybe later this afternoon and tonight they will. My area of Michigan is supposed to receive four to six inches of snow. Four to six inches of snow? How can we get that? Monday it was 50 degrees.

I heard that this winter has dumped the most snow on us in seven to eight years. Last year we hardly got any. Most people in town wore coats and t-shirts outside because it was that warm.

Like most people I'm looking forward to spring. I can't wait until my first run outside with the sun on my face. Unlike a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't sun on my face, it was snow flurries, wind and tears.

Books read in 2008

I swear it has taken me ten years to finish His Way by Kitty Kelley. Actually it took about a week and a half. It seems like every time I was reading before a game, someone would interrupt and start talking to me. There is a reason why I wear my iPod earphones while reading.


A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Final Disclosure, David W. Belin
John Wayne: My Life with the Duke, Pilar Wayne
Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, David Stenn
The Lost Life of Eva Braun, Angela Lambert
Harlow: An Intimate Biography, Irving Shulman
His Way, Kitty Kelley

Currently Reading:u Natalie, Lana Wood
Up Next: Rita Hayworth, John Kobal