Labor Day

Happy Labor Day! I'm sure most people have today off, but I do not. I am working today. Sure, I would love to be at home with my dog or spending time with my family. The holiday fell on a normal workday for me. I could've asked for it off, but if I don't work, I don't get paid. I do not get paid holidays off, which is unfortunate. The good thing about working today is the holiday pay, which is double time. My paycheck in a few weeks is going to be very nice.

Segment

The college I work at was featured on a news segment yesterday evening. The college has been upgrading the security system all summer. It will come in handy when the fall semester starts next week.

The reporter/videographer talked to my boss and the president of the college on camera. The reporter came back into our office and asked if I would be on camera with my boss for secondary footage. I did. I was shown on the news segment for three seconds. Neat. 

Click the link to view the video: http://www.toledonewsnow.com/clip/10490717/adrian-college-spends-500000-on-security-upgrades

CPR Class

I took a CPR/First Aid class last Friday because it was required for my job.

The week before the class, we were given books to take home and read. I read four chapters a day until I finished it. About a month ago, one of my bosses asked the employees if they needed to take the full course or just a refresher. I took a CPR class back in 2012, so I said I just needed the refresher course. After I sent that email, I was taking to my boss. He mentioned First Aid. I told him that my CPR class didn't go over First Aid. I decided just to take the full course.

I did find out that in taking the full course, that it was good for two years. Now I'm good until 2016. The full class went over CPR, how to help a chocking victim and a bunch of first aid techniques. Since there weren't too many of us in the full course, we all got to practice CPR on our own mannequins. All of our mannequins had a face shield that had a bag in the chest area. When we would give rescue breaths, the bag in the chest area would inflate. We also learned how to use the AED (automated external defibrillator). It was pretty easy to use and it actually told you what to do.

The gain certification, we had to demonstrate CPR. The nurse leading the class gave all of us students a scenario and we had to react. She watched us all, said we did a good job and we passed. Now I'm CPR certified for two more years. It is a good skill to have. You never know if and when you'll have to use it.

Cross Country Preview

I will be photographing my first sporting event of the fall 2013 season tomorrow. It is also one of my favorite events: the county Cross Country Preview.

The Cross Country Preview meet is four different races instead of the usual two. The races are split up into Freshmen and Sophomores and Juniors and Seniors. The day always begins with the freshman-sophomore races followed by the junior-senior races.

After all of the races are final, the scores are added up. Whoever has the lowest total for both gender races will win the title.

Even though it is the first race of the season, it is always competitive. You can always tell who ran miles during the summer and who didn't. I can't wait to see how well the county runners do this season.

Winter sports

The long winter sports season will be coming to an end soon.

This week is the girls basketball district tournament. The district finals take place on Friday. If any county teams win the district championship, they advance to the regional tournament next week. Besides the girls basketball regional tournament next week, it is the start of the boys basketball district tournament. The process repeats itself. If any of the boys teams win a district championship, they will play again the following week in the regional tournament.

I was in Battle Creek last weekend photographing the wrestling teams state championships. This weekend is the individual wrestling state championships. I am very happy that another photographer is covering that event. The wrestling season is over for me until next winter.

The college sports winter season is almost complete too. Only one team should advance to post season play. They have two home playoff games this weekend, then if they win the rest of their games will be away.

The college spring season has already begun and I am looking forward to the new season. The weather will be warming up and I will be able to be outside more.

Fall sports

The summer hiatus is over.

The fall sports season is back. It actually returned last Saturday, but I didn't photograph a game. I photographed my first game of the season yesterday. It was a boys soccer game. My life will now be filled with games and events about three to four times a week.

The fall sports season has events that are earlier in the afternoon. Cross country and tennis matches start around 4:30 p.m. Soccer games start about an hour later at 5:30 p.m. Volleyball and football games have late starts at 7 p.m. When I'm schedule to photograph early events, that means I will either have to cut my run short and/or just skip the Jillian Michaels DVD workout. I don't like cutting a run short or skipping a DVD workout. Sometimes that has to be done to fit everything in before going to a sporting event.

My exercise life becomes a jigsaw puzzle. Somehow I manage to put all of the pieces together.

Snow and stuff

I drove out of town Friday morning for work. It had snowed overnight and I don't enjoy driving in the snow. I was excited to see that the roads were mostly clear. About an hour into my drive, it started snowing again. It was coming down fast and the flakes were sticking to the road. Some of the drivers around me continued going fast. I did in some spots. When the roads were starting to get covered, I slowed down. I don't trust my tires on snow covered roads. Or maybe I don't trust myself. I made it to my destination, slowly without any problems.

I checked the weather for the city I was traveling to before I left home. It said that it wasn't supposed to snow for the rest of the day after the morning snow ended. When I went out to my car later that night, I was sad to see how wrong the weather forecast was. It was snowing. The roads were covered again. I wasn't too thrilled about it. When the roads are clear, it takes 1.5 hours to get back home. I was wondering how long it would take me to get back home Friday night with snow covered roads.

The drive went alright. I drove about 60 mph on the interstate, less in some areas. I was thankful that one of the lanes was just wet. I drove mostly in that lane. I passed slower cars and merged back as soon as I could. A couple of times I was passing cars, I could feel my car slide ever so slightly when crossing the slick center line. When that happened, I would put a death grip on the steering wheel. Like I said, I'm not a fan of driving in the snow.

When I reached the county, the snow was coming down fast. It was piling up everywhere. The roads were not plowed. Since the roads weren't plowed, I had no idea if I was even in my lane. I only knew I wasn't when my tires ran over the rumble strips on the middle of the road. The rumble strips and the few cars in front of me directed me home.

I looked out the window when I woke up Saturday morning. More snow fell when I was asleep. I called my husband to find out how the roads were. He said some of them were just wet, but a majority of them were slick and snow covered. Great. I knew it would be another long drive when I left town for work.

The roads were covered in snow. I went as fast as I could for the conditions, which wasn't too fast. I was thrilled when I reached the interstate to see wet covered roads. The rest of the drive went fine. A couple of areas were snow covered, but nothing like the night before. When I was finished with work, I was happy to see the roads were just wet. Once I got on the interstate, the roads were actually dry. With dry roads I was able to travel at normal interstate speeds. I was home earlier then expected which was a bonus. Two long days of work and drives were over. My weekend could start.

I was unable to run either Friday or Saturday because I was working. Earlier in the week, I planned on running Sunday. I woke up around 5 a.m. Sunday morning and still felt tired. I decided not to drive to the local hotel to run on the treadmill. I would wait a couple hours and run outside. When my husband came home I told him I planned to run outside later. He suggested I take the day off. I thought I would go outside and just run a couple of miles at first. Then I thought maybe I should just take the day off. And that is what I did. I couldn't remember the last time I only ran four times in a week. Instead of running, I watched TV shows recorded on my DVR, read, put away the laundry, made lunch and did a few core exercises. It was nice to have a day off from everything.

My running routine will get back to normal this week. My run will be outside today. My run tomorrow will be done on my treadmill. The repair guy will be fixing it later today. The last time I ran on my treadmill was January 24. It has been over a month and I have missed it. With my treadmill working again, I will be able to run as many miles as I want for as long as I want. Those two things alone make me really happy. Besides making me happy, it is something that I need to do. I need do it because I have an upcoming 50 mile race. It is time to get focused on that race.

Days off

This will never get old.

After working three days this week, I get five days off.

The reason for all of the days off is because I had a bunch of vacation days to use. Back in November, I had two weeks of vacation left to use. If you don't use them, you lose them. And I don't want to lose them. The first day I used was Black Friday. I took it off with the purpose of sleeping in, not shopping. I don't think I even slept in that day. With one day down and seven vacation days to go, I took the first Friday of December off. After that day, I took off every Thursday and Friday for the rest of December. That meant I only had to work a total of 12 days for the month of December.

Today is my last day of work for this week. I wouldn't have worked anyway, but the office is closed this weekend for Christmas Eve and Christmas. The management also decided to close the office on Monday to recognize Christmas. Since the office is closed on Monday, that gives me five days off. Next week's schedule will be the same with New Year's.

I'm thankful for the time off. It gives me time to relax and slow down. After the new year, my schedule will be back to normal and busy with the winter sports season.

Short December

The month of December is just going to fly by.

Heading into November, I still had two weeks of vacation to use before the end of year. If we don't use our vacation by the end of the year, we lose it. These vacation days are so important. It is nice to unwind and take a break from my busy schedule of photographing sports.

The first vacation day I used was for the day after Thanksgiving. Taking that day off created a five day weekend for myself because I had Wednesday and Thursday off. I have a three day weekend this week as I will be off Friday. But I saved the best for last. For the rest of December, I have every Thursday and Friday off. I have four day weekends for the next three weeks. I'd say that is a wonderful Christmas present.

Short week

This week has been a pleasure so far.

I say it is a pleasure because I only had to work two days this week. I only worked on Monday and Tuesday. My department worked a double shift Tuesday. With us working a double, that allowed most of us to have Wednesday completely off. Some of my co-workers will have to work a few hours Wednesday, but nothing too major. Everyone in the building has Thanksgiving off. Normally I would be back at work Friday. But not this year. I have plenty of vacation time left, so I took the day off. I hope to sleep in that morning, but I know that won't happen. I will be up early running, not shopping.

What really makes this week pretty cool is, that I don't go back to work until Monday. I have five days off and I only had to use one vacation day. This time off will be a nice break. The busy fall sports season worn me down. It will give me time to relax before starting the winter sports season next week.

Weekend plans

I will be doing a little bit of work and having fun this weekend. I really don't consider this work, but on Saturday morning I will be photographing the County Cross Country Championships. I have been photographing this event for years and I love it. This race includes all of the county runners. In separate races, the boys and girls run against each other to see who is the best. It doesn't matter if you run for a big or small school, it is about running fast.

Once I'm finished my photo assignment, my husband and I will be heading to Detroit. I will be running the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon for the third time Sunday morning. I would love to go under two hours. I was so close last year. I missed it by three minutes because of coming to a standstill on the Ambassador Bridge a couple of times. I'm not sure if I will go sub-two hours this time around. I ran a personal best in the half back in September, 1:55:18. But I did just run a 50K Saturday. During my runs this week, my legs felt really good. So there is always a chance. If it happens, it happens. If not, I'm not going to be upset about it.

I'm looking forward to the weekend of running. First, photographing high school runners at their best and then me running the streets of Detroit.

125.4

I just had the best running week of my life. For the first time ever I ran 125.4 miles in one week. Wow. It is something I really didn't plan. It just happened.

I had a great week with runs of 22, 26.2, 20.1, 12, 13 and 32 miles. I loaded up my mileage earlier in the week because I was unsure of how much free time I would have. Monday night, I photographed a boys regional semifinal basketball game. Tuesday night, I photographed a girls quarterfinal basketball game and Thursday, I photographed a girls semifinal basketball game. All of the basketball games were out of the county. That meant I had longer drive times to all the games. I was really disappointed on Thursday. The local running group held an impromptu St. Patrick's Day 5 mile run. I really wanted to run that. I couldn't. Like I said, I had to photograph a basketball game. The game was in East Lansing at Michigan State's Breslin Center. On Friday, I kept my run shorter because I knew on Sunday I would really be running long.

I started my long run Sunday around 5 a.m. My goal at the start of the run was 32 miles. The week before I ran 31.1 miles, so I knew I would be able to run 32 without any issues. And I did. The only issues I had during the run was I had to stop twice. Both stops in the run were for a bathroom break. Other then that, my legs felt really good. I probably could have run for a couple more miles. I plan to keep increasing my mileage on Sundays. My ultimate goal is to run in 50 and 100 mile races. I think I'm on the right path to reach those goals.

Random things

I watched the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Wednesday on ESPN 2. During the women's mile run, a certain runner caught my eye. Besides my favorite runner from Oregon, Jordan Hasay, it was Duke's Kate Van Buskirk. Van Buskirk finished second in the mile behind Hasay. She was back in sixth place during the race. With two laps to go, she started to move towards the front. With 100 meters to go, Van Buskirk charged toward the front and finished behind Hasay by seven tenths with the time of 4:33.71. I thought she ran a wonderful race and her blue streak in her hair reminded me of Anna (Willard) Pierce. I liked it and her colorful socks.

It has been a very busy week at work. I traveled to a nearby college in the next county over on Monday to photograph a boys regional semifinal basketball game. I traveled out of county to photograph a girls quarterfinal basketball game Tuesday. And on Thursday, I traveled to Michigan State's Breslin Center in East Lansing to photograph a girls semifinal basketball game. So much travel in one week, late nights and not enough time sleeping. I'm really looking forward to the end of the winter sports season. It ends next week. There is one boys basketball team still alive in the state tournament. They will be playing in a state quarterfinal game Tuesday evening.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Random things

Today is a short work day for me. I only need to work five hours and I'm done. It is really nice because I need a break. I spent most of the day and evening at The Palace of Auburn Hills photographing state individual wrestling finals last Saturday. The finals themselves took a long time and the drive home also took a long time. It rained all day then switched over to snow. Driving conditions weren't the greatest. But some drivers thought so. Passed a few of them stuck in ditches. Besides that long day, this week I traveled to two out of county girls basketball games. Both evenings I got to bed later then normal. But like the trooper I am, I got up the next morning at the same time for work: 4 a.m. I'm looking forward to relaxing and getting more sleep. Since I don't have any games to shoot this weekend, I can do exactly that.

My sister told me last night that I'm too skinny. I don't think that I am. Over the last few months people have commented on how I look. They always ask how much weight I have lost, which is 80 pounds. The next question is do you want to lose any more? I do want to lose another 10 pounds. When I tell them that they usually ask why? Most people tell me that I look great and that I don't need to lose anymore. I would like to be another 10 pounds lighter because I know it will help with my running. If I weigh less, I hope I can run a little faster and lower my PRs again. I just want to run as fast as I can.

I will be watching so much college basketball today. I mentioned that I like the conference tournaments last week. Starting at noon, I'm be watching the Baylor vs Kansas State women's game. At 2 p.m., Michigan vs Illinois men's basketball and tonight at 7 p.m. Duke vs Maryland.

Decision

With gas prices climbing higher over the weekend, my decision was made.

On Friday, I drove 175 miles round trip for work. I filled up my car later that evening for $41. I couldn't believe it cost that much. I wasn't too pleased. This week, I will be driving to two out of county sporting events. Since I'm driving out of the county to some far destinations this week, I will not be participating in the AATC workout Tuesday. I'm bummed about it, but gas is so expensive. I cannot afford extra trips anywhere.

Messed up week

It has been crazy here this week.

On Sunday night/Monday morning, the area received freezing rain. The power at my house went off around 1:30 a.m. When my battery alarm clock went off at 4 a.m., I thought it was interesting that I had to get ready for work by candlelight.

While driving to work, I was unsure if the office would even have power. I was surprised when I saw the streetlights near the office, which is about a half mile or so down the street from me, still had power. I was happy that I would be in a building with heat. Around 8 a.m. that morning, the power went off at the office. All of the employees sat in a dark and cold building for another 2.5 hours before the decision was made to move the office elsewhere.

We were allowed to go home. I was hoping that when I returned home that my power would be on. I was excited when I opened my backdoor and felt heat. I didn't start running right away because I thought I had to go back to work. Instead I went out with a shovel and started to chip away the inch of ice on the sidewalk. It was difficult. I did that for an hour and cleared most of the ice away. I still hadn't received a call and it was getting late, so I decided it was time to run. Since I had plenty of time, I ran 14 miles on my treadmill.

I found out later that night about my work situation. We were to report to a local hotel meeting room and we would lay out the newspaper there. Since the storm knocked out power to many and the roads were still awful, it was decided our deadline would be moved up a couple of hours. I set my alarm clock for 3 a.m. and went to bed around 8:30 p.m. I did that for two days in a row.

Tuesday and Wednesday were very early days for me. The two 3 a.m. wake up calls really wore me out. I was reading a book on my couch Wednesday in the afternoon and I could barely keep my eyes open. I ended up taking a nap. The nap turned out to be two hours. I had no intention of sleeping that long, but I guess I needed to.

I'm really looking forward to things getting back to normal. Some people in the county are still without power. Hopefully everything will be turned on today. In the weather department, we have some bad news. On Friday a storm will bring another 3-6 inches of snow. I'm hoping we get hardly any. Snow is something that we don't need right now. We are still battle ice everywhere. I know I said this before, but I am really looking forward to spring and warmer weather.

Sick

I was having a great week until Tuesday night of last week. As of Tuesday, I had already run 37.1 miles. My plan for Sunday's long run was 31 miles. All of that changed Tuesday night.

After I ran my workout with the AATC, drove home, took a shower and got ready for bed, my stomach started hurting bad. I took some medicine, but that didn't seem to help. I went to bed hoping whatever it was, it would be gone by morning. Waking up Wednesday morning, my stomach still hurt. I got ready for work and headed it. I brought breakfast with me as usual. I thought maybe if I ate, the pain would go away. I ate a protein bar first. My stomach handled the bar, but it still hurt. Later in my shift, I ate a cereal bar. It was the same as when I ate earlier.

After my shift, I went home and ran. Not good. My stomach felt awful, so I decided to run slower. The slow run felt really good. I made it through 10 miles without any problems. For lunch, I ate toast to help calm my stomach. It seemed to work.

Later that evening, I had to photograph a college basketball game. My stomach was hurting again. While I was photographing the game, it felt like my camera weighed 100 pounds. It took so much energy to even hold it up to my face. It was tiring. With less then 10 minutes to go in the first half, I started to feel awful. I was getting warm, my legs were dead and it felt like I was going to throw up. I knew I had enough game photos, so I grabbed my coat and walked quickly towards the women's restroom.

On the way to the restroom, one of the college's athletic trainers wanted to talk to me about my weight loss. Any other day, I would have. But not tonight. I said to her, "Sorry, I can't talk. I'm going to throw up." With that I continued to the restroom. I got into a stall, prepared myself and of course nothing happens. I ended up sitting down on the toilet with my head leaning against the cool wall of the stall. I hung around in a stall for 10 minutes in case anything happened. It didn't.

After I finished editing, I went to bed. My stomach started to feel worse. It hurt more then it ever hurt before. At one point, I thought I should drive myself to the ER. But I decided against it. With having to work the next morning, I wasn't sure how long I would have been sitting there. The next morning at work, my stomach felt a little bit better. It was a struggle to work. I was tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. When I finished work, I went home and went to bed for 1.5 hours.

My lunch again for the day was toast and I napped again during the afternoon. I was scheduled to photograph a men's volleyball game that night. I really didn't want a repeat of Wednesday night, so I gave my game away. I was thankful someone was available and I got to lay on the couch and relax for the evening.

I ate crackers for breakfast Friday at work because my stomach still hurt. The crackers did make it feel better. I had an appointment Friday morning, so that delayed my run until later in the afternoon. I ran another 10 miles slow because the first couple of miles and the last mile, I was dealing with horrible stomach cramps. I made it through the run and was happy to be running again.

I had dinner with my husband later that night. He said that his back started hurting at work. He knew he was getting sick. My husband was right. When I woke him up Saturday morning, he sounded awful. He was stuffy, his throat was sore and his back hurt. He was sick.

Later that day, we went to Toledo, Ohio to celebrate Valentine's Day. Both of us were tired and sick. We probably should have skipped it. But we made it through the day and evening. Not a good week for us. I'm over what I had and I'm getting better. My husband is coughing and plugged up. I'm ready for the cold season to be gone and spring to arrive.

Random things

My work week is coming to an end, as is 2010. I'm working a double shift again today. I already worked my five hour morning shift and will be heading back into the office tonight. I'm not a big fan of the double shift, but if it let's me have the next day off, I'm all for it.

I will post my final mileage for the year Friday. It is high this year. With Monday's 17 mile run, I passed 2700 miles run for the year. That is awesome! My final count for 2009 was 1257.9. At the time, I thought that was a lot. Looking back at that now, it was a lot for me then. I was still overweight and didn't run 70-80 mile weeks.

My New Year Eve plans are set with my husband. We aren't doing anything too special, but it will still be fun. Our plans are to go to the Westfield Franklin Park Mall down in Toledo, Ohio. I received a bunch of gift cards for Christmas and I want to use them. After I shop, we will be going to a see a movie at the mall. My husband and I won't be seeing the same movie. I will be seeing Black Swan, while he watches Tron. Then after the movie, we will be having dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ. I could eat there everyday because it is so good. I love their cornbread.

I know our plans don't involve a wild party, but that is OK. It will be a nice and quiet evening, just how we like it.

Double shift

I'm looking forward to another four day weekend, but I have to get through today before I can enjoy it. Today will be a long day of work. My co-workers and myself have to work a double shift.

I don't mind working a double shift if it means I have the next day off. I do find it is harder for me to stay awake later at night. The days when I have to work double shifts, I try to take a nap. I don't know if I will be taking one today because I want to clean my house. I could try and do it Friday, but I have many things yet still to do. Besides running in the morning, I have to bake two pies, make cheddar biscuits and get the house ready for the dinner that my husband and I are hosting.

I will not complain about the long hours I will be working today. I will take everything in stride and know I have a nice, long weekend waiting for me.

Short week

This week is a very short work week for me. I'm only working today and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I start my vacation. Besides running, packing and dropping the dogs off at the kennel, I really won't be doing much. I'm very happy to say that. Vacations are a time to relax.