Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black

Currently Reading: Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly

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.

Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships

uwbadgers.com

The Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships took place at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio on February 22 and 23.

Wisconsin Badgers won the men's indoor track and field title win 90 points over Illinois (87.5), Penn State (87), Nebraska (86.6666) and Minnesota (86). On the women's side Illinois won the team title with 115 points over Nebraska (112), Michigan (89), Penn State (73) and Ohio State (66).

A few of the highlights of the meet for me was Wisconsin's Maverick Darling winning the 3000m Friday in a Big Ten meet record in 7:50.97. Michigan runners Bobby Aprill (7:53.02) and Dan Lowry (7:54.05) placed fourth and fifth behind Darling. Darling ran the 5000m on Saturday and finished third behind his Wisconsin teammate Mohammed Ahmed who finished second in the 5000m in 13:46.56. Indiana's Zachery Mayhew won in 13:46.04. Michigan's Aprill also ran the 5000m, he placed fourth in 13:49.18.

Amanda Eccelston from Michigan won the women's 1 mile run in 4:40.66. Eccelston lead the charge for Michigan as they finished 1-4-5-6 in the mile run. Brook Handler was fourth in 4:43.24, Shannon Osika fifth in 4:43.67 and Megan Weschler sixth in 4:47.28. Eccelston also finished second in the 3000m with a time of 9:21.23. Nebraska's Jessica Furlan won in 9:19.66.

mgoblue.com

Michigan's women's Distance Medley Relay won in 11:11.41. Michigan has won 10 straight DMR titles. Shannon Osika, Meg Bellino, Jillian Smith and Rebecca Addison were the members of the winning DMR team.

Big Ten Network will air the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, March 2 at noon EST.

Galen Rupp

Lars Baron/Getty Images

Galen Rupp set an American indoor record in the 3000 meters in 7:30.16. Thursday at the IAAF XL Galan Indoor Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.

The previous record was set by Bernard Lagat in 2007 with a time of 7:32.43. Lagat broke Rupp's American indoor record for the 2 mile Saturday at the Millrose Games.

Coming in behind Rupp was Caleb Ndiku of Kenya in 7:31.66, 2012 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist Abdelaati Iguider of Morocco  finished third in 7:34.92 and Kenya's Paul Koech was fourth in 7:38.35.

Rupp's time of 7:30.16 in the 3000m is the fastest in the world this year.

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie NichollPrince 
Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan

Currently Reading: The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black

Toledo Museum of Art VII - Toledo, Ohio

Millrose Games

Kirby Lee

The Millrose Games took place Saturday at the Armory in New York City.

A few records were broken on Saturday. Bernard Lagat broke the American indoor track record for the 2-mile in 8:09.49. Both 600m women's and men's records were broken. Aylsia Montano broke the American indoor record of the 600m. Montano finished the race in 1:23.59.Erik Sowinski won the men's race in 1:15.61.Sowinski defeated a strong field that included two Olympians Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds.

In the Wanamaker Mile, Canadian Shelia Reid won in 4:27.02 and set a national record. Coming in second was Mary Cain in 4:28.25. Cain set a new national high school record. In third place was my Oiselle teammate Kate Grace, aka K8, in 4:28.79. For the men's Wanamaker Mile, Lopez Lomong won the race in 3:51.21 over Matthew Centrowitz who finished in 3:51.34.

English Gardner of the University of Oregon won the NYH & RC Women's 60m in 7.19. Finishing in second was Jeneba Tarmoh in 7.22 and Lauryn Williams in third, 7.24. Doc Patton was the winner in the men's 60m in 6.50. Gerald Phiro was second in 6.64.

Peter Carr/The Journal News

Olympian Jeff Porter defeated Andrew Riley in the Fred Schmertz Men's 60m Hurdles in 7.59 to Riley's 7.60. Yvette Lewis crossed the line first in the women's 60m Hurdles in 7.84 winning over Ginnie Crawford in 7.97.

In the AT&T Women's 400m, Mary Wineberg won in 52.19 defeating Francena McCorory in 52.20.

Janay DeLoach won the women's long jump over Brittney Reese with a jump of 22-7.75. Reese's mark was 22-5.75. The United Airlines women's pole vault winner was Jenn Suhr with a height of 15-3. Inika McPherson was the winner of the John Thomas high jump with a leap of 6-1.5 over Brigetta Barrett who almost cleared the same height, but with more attempts.

 Top: Bernard Lagat leading the field during the NYRR Men's Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games at the Armory, Saturday, February 16, 2013.


Bottom : Mary Cain finished second in the NYRR Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games at the Armory Saturday, February 16, 2013. Oiselle runner Kate Grace is behind Cain on the left. Grace finished third in 4:28.79.

Valentine's Day

My husband and I will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Saturday. My husband had to work and I am still dealing with a cold. It is probably best because I can't smell or taste food.

We decided Saturday would be better instead of going out for dinner tonight. I abstain from eating meat on Friday's during Lent and Lent just started on Wednesday. That means our restaurant choices are severely limited on Fridays. I am not a fish or seafood fan. The only fish I will eat is tuna from a can. I have never seen tuna from a can on a sit-down restaurant menu. Subway on the other hand, has an excellent tuna sub. The plans for our Valentine's Day dinner have been set and we settled on a steakhouse. Dinner tonight will be casual and maybe a trip to the mall.

Even though we didn't celebrate Valentine's with dinner on Thursday, we did exchange cards and gifts. I was given gift cards to two clothing stores at the mall. I gave my husband a money gift card.I wasn't so sure he would like his gift. He asked me what I wanted for Valentine's Day and I said gift cards. He responded with 'that's not original'. I did have a other ideas for gifts, but I couldn't make it work.

I hope you and your loved one had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Toledo Museum of Art VI - Toledo, Ohio

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is also the start of Lent.

I always seem to have busy days on Lent. This year is no different. Besides working in the office in the morning, I photograph Pets of the Week at the Humane Society right after my office shift. I hope to run a few miles after work. Don't know how far I will go since I'm still recovering from the stomach issues on Sunday.

I missed Ash Wednesday services last year and I thought I would miss them again this year. I actually won't. My church plans to be open all day. I was asked to volunteer to sit in the church for a half hour. At this time, I can bless myself with ashes, read scripture or sit quietly in a pew. I will probably do a combination of all three.

After leaving the church, I will go home to relax for a while. Then it is off to photograph a regional team wrestling match.

Being very busy, I hope that will distract me from thinking about food.We are supposed to fast on Ash Wednesday and only eat one meal for the day. That one meal of the day will be lunch. My husband and I will be having tomato soup and grilled cheese. I hope that will keep me filled up for the rest of the day.

Stomach issues

I woke up at 3 am Sunday morning from an upset stomach. I took some medicine and went back to bed. I was hoping when I woke up, my upset stomach would be gone and I would go running.

When I woke up after 5 am, my stomach was still upset. It also seemed to be getting worse. I was so weak and walking around the house made me nauseous. The best spot for me was on the couch. I took more medicine and hoped that the stomach ache would go away.

I was in and out of sleep mostly all morning. I decided to eat some crackers around 11 am because I needed food. I ate about 10-15 crackers and decided that was enough. Shortly after eating the crackers, my stomach got worse. I hate throwing up, but that usually makes me feel better. I went to the bathroom to try and nothing happened. I was disappointed.

After sleeping some more during the afternoon, I got up to put away the laundry. By the time I made it upstairs with the basket, I was wiped out. Also, my stomach wasn't happy. Hanging up a couple of shirts, I had a terrible feeling. I headed toward the bathroom to throw up. Nothing happened again. I went back into the bedroom to finish putting the laundry away.

Heading downstairs, I felt awful. I walked to the basement to fold clothes. Bending over and grabbing clothes out of the dryer didn't make me feel too good. I stopped and sat down hoping the feeling would pass. It did. I went back over to the dryer and continued folding. My stomach was hurting so bad, I went back over to sit down. As soon as I sat down, I knew I was going to throw up. I knew I wouldn't make it up two floors in time, so I threw up in the basement trash. I had been drinking Powerade throughout the day and that is what came up.

I felt so much better after that. I was able to finish folding the clothes and put them away without any issues. I also was able to eat some food. That I had no issues keeping down. Even though I felt better, my stomach still hurt. But it wasn't as bad as before.

Being wiped out and having no energy, I went to bed around 7 pm. When I woke up at 3 am Monday morning I felt better. My stomach didn't hurt, but I still didn't have any energy. Since my energy was still sapped, I decided to take Monday off from running.

My stomach feels better today. But now it is my back that is sore. I slept at a funky angle last night to prop my head up. I did that because I have a stuffy nose and I needed to breathe. I plan on trying to run a couple of miles today. I don't know how it will go because of my back and my legs feel rubbery. But I know I just have to try.

Favorite photos from February 4-8, 2013

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie NichollPrince 
Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly

Currently Reading: The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan

TV shows

farmgroup.tv

Listed below are a few new TV programs that I have been enjoying recently. 

I have been tweeting about this show since December: Made In Chelsea.

www.wb.com

I saw a commercial for it on Style Network last year and I thought it was a scripted show. Well, it kind of is. Made In Chelsea is a reality show, but the people on the show play scripted versions of themselves. The show takes place in Chelsea, which is a district of London. It follows the lives of  a group of Chelsea socialites, who go on holiday a lot and have tons of drama. It has been compared to The Hills. I never watched The Hills, so I don't know if it is or isn't.

micromkv.com

I was watched the show on Style Network, but halfway through December, the network stopped showing episodes. On the first weekend of January, Style Network ran a marathon of half of season two. After the marathon, it hasn't been seen on the network since.

Through twitter, I have been given links to places online where I can watch the series. I'm thankful for those links, I would have been missing out on all of the drama. I'm halfway through Season 4 and the cast has changed quite a bit from Season 1. Season 1 has been my favorite so far. It had the drama between Spencer and Caggie. Every episode was are they (Spencer and Caggie) going to get together or not? Besides Spencer and Caggie, Hugo and Millie are my favorite characters. As of Season 4, Spencer and Millie are still on the show. Hugo and Caggie are not. I'm disappointed that it was never mentioned where they are or why they left the show. Since they are gone, new characters have been added to the show. I'm not to fond of them. They seem out of place.

Once I'm done with Season 4, I will have to wait along with everyone in the UK to watch Season 5. The new season is supposed to broadcast this spring.

I watch Bunheads on ABCFamily. After every show, I read online forums about the episode. In every post of the forum, Gilmore Girls is mentioned. It is mentioned because Amy Sherman-Palladino created Gilmore Girls and Bunheads. I asked on twitter if Gilmore Girls was good. Everyone that responded told me to watch it. So I added Season 1 on my Netflix queue.

Gilmore Girls is about a single mother, Lorelai, and her daughter, Rory, living in a small town. I have seen about three discs worth of episodes. I like the show. It is different and quirky. And they do talk fast.

The characters that I'm liking are Rory and her frenemy Paris. They both go to a private school and Paris has bitter feelings towards Rory. Their relationship went to icy to frosty. It seems like Paris is starting to warm up to Rory. I want to know why Paris acts the way she does. Why does she act mean all the time?

This season on Bunheads, the girl that played Paris in Gilmore Girls, Liza Weil, has appeared on the show a couple of times. Weil's character on Bunheads is kind of like Paris on Gilmore Girls. She gets what she wants, when she wants it. Her character is kind of a frenemy to the lead's on Bunheads too. Weil plays that character well.

House of Cards is a new show that can only be seen on Netflix. The show stars Kevin Spacey as a ruthless politician in Washington, D.C.

I remember reading something about this show last year, but I saw an article on USA Today about it last Friday. The article was a preview to the show and Netflix was putting it online that day. Netflix added the whole season (13 episodes) online. Since Sunday morning, I have watched all of the episodes already. It is very addicting. I binge-watched the entire season in four days. If I didn't have to work or sleep, I probably would have finished the series earlier. Now that I finished the season, I'm having withdrawals. I need more HOC stat. Maybe I will have to watch the original version of House of Cards to fill that need.

House of Cards is a fantastic show. The acting and the writing are superb. Kevin Spacey's character, Frank Underwood reminds me of his character Lester Burnham in American Beauty. The way he acts and talks. I'm just drawing similarities. Maybe it is because they show Kevin Spacey working out. Underwood's wife, Claire, is played by Robin Wright. Wright is a strong actress and I love her haircut in this show.

I, along with everyone else who watched or still watching House of Cards, will be waiting patiently for Season 2. I know that will probably be sometime next year. But that is ok. I can wait. I waited a long time for my other favorite shows to come back to the air: The Sopranos, The Shield, Dexter, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie and Community. So this will be no different.

Toledo Musuem of Art V - Toledo, Ohio

Hot Chocolate Hustle 5K

At the start of the Hot Chocolate Hustle 5K it was around 14°, but felt like 1°. I wore a hat, gloves, Oiselle singlet, long sleeved shirt, Oiselle knickers, compression socks and trail shoes. I didn't feel warm at all standing outside, but I knew I would warm up once the race started.

Before the horn went off, I positioned myself near the front of the pack. The only people in front of me were guys. I knew they would create a gap as soon as the race started. Once that gap was made, I ran off to the side of the street to stay out of faster runners way.

It was snowing during the race. The snow was falling fast and hitting me in the face and going into my eyes. With the snow falling, the streets were not plowed. They were covered with a inch of two of fresh powder. Most of us ran on tire tracks on the street. Even running in those tire tracks and with trail shoes, I couldn't get a good grip on the snow. It felt like my feet were sliding all over. But with all of the sliding, I stayed on my feet.

Around a half of mile, three guys passed me. Then around the mile marker a lady ended up going around me. Besides the runners already ahead of me and the four that passed me before the mile marker, no one else passed me during the race.

Over the last mile, the course had a bunch of turns. What I like about the turns is that I get to see who is behind me without turning around. About a mile mile from the finish, I saw a guy getting close to me. I wanted to keep my pace even to stay ahead of him. With .2 miles to go, I could hear the guy coughing behind me. The coughing was getting closer to me. My goal from there was to keep him behind me. I kept thinking that he was going to pass me on the final straight to the finish line. I picked up my pace and held him off. According to the final results, I beat that guy by five seconds.

I finished the Hot Chocolate Hustle 5K in 28:25. Which I think is great when running in slippery, fresh snow. I placed first in my age group of 30-34, was the fifth overall woman and finished 20th out of 70 runners.

Favorite photos from January 28 - February 1, 2013

Toledo Museum of Art IV - Toledo, Ohio

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie NichollPrince 
Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade

Currently Reading: The Black Box, Michael Connelly

At the moment

 I saw this on another blog. I thought it was a neat idea. So I borrowed it.

At the moment
January 30, 2013

Inside I feel like I: I should be doing something else.

A goal I’m working on right now: Refocusing on weight loss.

The last gift I bought for someone: Christmas gifts for my husband

The last CD I bought: The Pretty Reckless, Light Me Up

My current favorite song: Touch Me from the TV show Smash

The last movie I saw in a theater: Jack Reacher

The last book I read: Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II by Philip Eade

The last DVD’s I watched: Gilmore Girls Season 2

The last person I talked to on the phone: My mom

What I’m wearing right now: V-neck sweater, white t-shirt and khaki pants.

What I ate for breakfast: A Kellogg's fiber bar and a Fiber One bar.

What I thought I’d be doing at this age: When I was younger, I wanted to be a art teacher or commercial artist.

Something I’m saving up for right now:  My trip to Wisconsin. I will be running a 100K.

Someone I think about a lot: My Dad who passed away in 1998.


The last person I helped: My husband. Helped him carry in groceries.

The last thing I apologized for: I apologized to my dog when I stepped on his foot.

Something I’m worried about: A new opportunity.

What my plans are for the rest of this day: Run, read and photograph a wrestling match.