Sr. Elite Jazz Team - Adrian, MI

The Senior Elite Jazz Team practicing a dance routinue Wednesday to Rihanna's "Disturbia".

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
John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth, Michael Munn
Robert Kennedy: His Life, Evan Thomas
Grace of Monaco, Steven Englund
Nemesis, Peter Evans
A Royal Duty, Paul Burrell
The Search for Amelia Earhart, Fred Goerner
Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon, Jerry Oppenheimer
The Day John Died, Christopher Andersen
As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman, Laurence Leamer
Diana's Boys, Christopher Andersen
The Family, Kitty Kelley
Jackie after Jack, Christopher Andersen
Truman, David McCullough
Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia, Stephen Fried
Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp, Stephanie Klein
Tallulah!: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady, Joel Lobenthal
All Too Human, Edward Kline
Princess Grace, Gwen Robyns

Currently Reading: Audrey Hepburn, Barry Paris
Up Next: Postmortem: How Medical Examiners Explain Suspicious Deaths, Stefan Timmermans

Random things

This past weekend's 5K run at the cemetery went OK. The course was basically the same from last year, except for the new hill they threw in. The weather conditions were on the chilly side but that didn't stop the 100 plus runners. My time was OK. Nothing too spectacular, 33:50:92. By the way I was running, I thought my time would have been faster then it was. I guess the many rolling hills of the cemetery got me.

Sunday was the season finale of Mad Men. I can't believe we have already watched 13 episodes. I'm greedy and I want more. Words cannot explain how much I love this show. The show has been renewed by AMC, but the stars of the show haven't renegotiated their contracts. I hope they do. What is Mad Men without Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Roger Sterling (John Slattery)?

More TV news, Bravo is planning a copycat of Project Runway. I read that season 6 in Los Angeles just rapped up. I wonder how long it will take before we see it aired on a new station? Also, another Bravo favorite of mine, Top Chef returns November 12.

This coming Saturday is one of my favorite days of the year. It is the cross country state finals in Michigan held at Michigan International Speedway. It is the day where I get to see some of the finest runners in the state. Also, the media van that the photographers ride in gets up to 80 mph on the banks of the race track. It is necessary to drive on the track, we need to get to the finish quickly to catch the runners at the finish line. Awesome! The weather is going to be partly cloudy and 51 degrees. Should be a great day to watch some runners.

My last race of the year is Sunday. It has been a great 2008 season and I can't wait until 2009. I will be able to enter in more 5/10K races that I couldn't before due to photographing weddings and run the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon again.

The lovely Marilyn - New York City, NY

Marilyn Monroe at Madame Tussauds in New York City.

Books read in 2008

It took almost a month for me to read the book, Tallulah!: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady by Joel Lobenthal. That is too long. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up four books at the library that I think I'll have no trouble getting through fast.


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
John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth, Michael Munn
Robert Kennedy: His Life, Evan Thomas
Grace of Monaco, Steven Englund
Nemesis, Peter Evans
A Royal Duty, Paul Burrell
The Search for Amelia Earhart, Fred Goerner
Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon, Jerry Oppenheimer
The Day John Died, Christopher Andersen
As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman, Laurence Leamer
Diana's Boys, Christopher Andersen
The Family, Kitty Kelley
Jackie after Jack, Christopher Andersen
Truman, David McCullough
Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia, Stephen Fried
Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp, Stephanie Klein
Tallulah!: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady, Joel Lobenthal

Currently Reading: All Too Human, Edward Kline
Up Next: Princess Grace, Gwen Robyns

Leap - Adrian, MI

Jr. Elite Jazz - Adrian, MI

One of my favorites from the Jr. Elite Jazz class at Encore Dance Studio in Adrian, Michigan.

Miles run in 2008

I read that after running a half marathon, you want to get back into training slowly. I couldn't stand the thought of letting another day go by without running, so I ran Tuesday. Granted it was an easy two miles. But hey, its still running.

Tuesday marked something else as well. It was the first time in a month that I ran without my ankle brace. My ankle felt good. Now my right foot didn't. I had a pain on the outside of my right foot. It wasn't too bad to force me not to run. I plan to run three miles today, two miles Thursday and rest Friday. On Saturday I will be running in a 5K through a cemetery in the evening. I know I will be wearing my ankle brace. The paths are big enough for one car. With a bunch of runners it would be easy to roll an ankle running off the side of the asphalt. Maybe there won't be too many runners, it is supposed to be rain.

2004: 237.4
2005: 245.3
2006: 389.9
2007: 458.2
2008: 806.7

A snack

After work this morning I was hungry. I did eat my Special K bar and fruit snacks for breakfast, but I was still very hungry. I wanted to snack on something before lunch other then the chips sitting on top of my refrigerator. I was in the mood for broccoli, carrots and vegetable dip. I went to the store and found the veggie trays. The smallest tray contained carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, celery and veggie dip. The cost of the small tray was $9. I really didn't want to pay that much for a tray of two veggies that I don't even like. I'm not a fan of celery and cauliflower. I didn't want to buy the tray and waste the other veggies.

I started looking around for a small bag of broccoli and something caught me eye. It was a salad called broccoli delight. It had broccoli, shredded carrots, sunflower kernels and light ranch dressing inside a plastic package. I bought that along with a tub of light veggie dip and a bag of carrots and broccoli for later.

When I got home I peeled back the plastic and mixed my broccoli delight. I was surprised how very good it was. Who knew I would come to love broccoli and carrots as a snack? Growing up, I didn't like broccoli and I only liked carrots in coleslaw. I was so happy with myself that I chose to eat veggies instead of potato chips. What I really like is how it is a very basic salad, that can be made very easily. I see it as something I will eat quite frequently in the future.

Half Marathon

My first half marathon experience was a tough one. It is something I'll never forget.

The race started off well. I didn't go out fast and didn't pay attention to any other runner around me. I wanted to save my energy because I knew I would need it later in the race. Until mile 4, I was doing great. The run up to and on the Ambassador Bridge killed me. The incline was steep. I continued running, but if you saw me it probably looked like walking. I knew I had to keep my legs moving.

After getting off the bridge and stepping on Canadian soil, I felt pain in left foot. My ankle brace was too tight and it was killing my foot. The half marathon had time limits for certain miles. If you didn't make it past the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (underwater mile) at a certain time, your race was over. So it was definitely not a time to stop and loosen my ankle brace. I continued running with the pain. Before entering the tunnel, someone announced the time. I was fifteen minutes ahead of the tunnel cut off time. So I made a deal with myself. If I could run through mile 8, I would stop and walk to help my foot. And that is what I did. After I passed 8 miles, I started walking. At this point between the pain of my left foot and my legs, I didn't know which was worst.

Exiting the tunnel on the US side, I started running again. I made it another mile or mile and a half before I stopped. I couldn't take the pain anymore. I unlaced my shoe and unlaced my ankle brace. I tied it looser to see if that would work. I put back on my shoe and started again. I quickly stopped again because the top of the ankle brace didn't feel right. I re-tied it and continued running. I didn't get too far without stopping to walk. My legs were dead. I walked the rest of the way.

I feel no shame by walking. I did train for this race for over a year. I did put in the time. I think if I didn't twist my ankle a month ago, I wouldn't stopped after 8 miles. My foot wouldn't have killed from an ankle brace. I probably would have walked at some point, but I don't think it would have been after 8 miles.

I did run to the finish line. Of course in a lot of pain. Once I crossed the finish line I was so happy to finally be done with the race. In all of the races I have run in, I have never been so happy to finish this one. My goal was to finish the half marathon in three hours. I missed the mark slightly, 3:01:05. If I didn't have to adjust my ankle brace twice, I would have made it under three hours.

My husband met me at the finish line and I told him that I would never do this race again. I said that I can scratch that off of my list of accomplishments. I think I said that because my whole body was in pain.

A day after the race, I'm still sore. But that will eventually go away. I know that I said I would never do a half marathon again, I don't think that is true. I want to run the half marathon again next year in Detroit and improve my time. I would like to do a race like this without ankle problems and see how long it takes. I've got a year to train for it.

The Chrysler Building - New York City, NY

It's almost time

A special Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon tab was inserted to the Detroit Free Press today. I went and bought my copy after work. The tab listed every runner/walker/wheelchair applicant's name, age, residence and bib number for Sunday's races. It was thilling to see my name listed in a huge paper like the Free Press. I shouldn't be too excited to see my name in print. I see it printed five times a week.

Women's Half Marathon entries:
Clark-Osborne, Deloris, 29, Adrian, 10058

Flatiron Building - New York City, NY

Manhattan Bridge - New York City, NY

Miles to go

I ran 10 miles on Sunday. It doesn't sound as good as it does.

Around 9 am, I went out for a run. I wanted to run 10 miles in one shot. It didn't happen. Around mile 3, my legs were dead. I had no energy and it disappointed me. I think it was mostly due to the fact I didn't eat before I ran. I wanted to continue, but my legs said no. I walked the rest of the way home. I think my walk was faster then my run anyway. When I got home I completed 5.1 miles by running and walking.

Later in the afternoon, I ran five miles on my treadmill to reach the goal of 10 miles for the day. I have to admit the second five miles that I ran were 100% better then the first five. My legs weren't dead and I actually had some energy. The five miles went back pretty quickly and that made me happy.

I really wanted to get through these 10 miles without any problems. But I didn't. I know when I line up Sunday up in Detroit, I will be fine. A week and a half ago, I ran eight miles around Mackinac Island without any problems. Once I get on the course, I know things will work out fine. I will have the energy of the runners and crowd around me. I get to run across the Ambassador Bridge, underwater for a mile and run into Canada. My first time out of the United States, granted its only for a couple of miles.

Five days to go.

Below is a link to the map of my Half Marathon in Detroit Sunday.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/mi/detroit/910892860

Rooftop graffiti - New York City, NY

I really wanted to stop and get a closer look at this graffiti. But I couldn't. It was taken when my husband and I were on a tour bus driving on the Manhattan Bridge. There is some motion blur to the photo because the bus was going 45 miles per hour and it was close to sunset. The tour guide said that this graffiti has been on the buildings in Chinatown since the 1980s. Awesome.

Graffiti door - New York City, NY

While riding a tour bus through Soho I saw this door. I really wanted to yell at the driver to let me off. I'm sure I mentioned it before, I love graffiti. I can't get enough of it. And New York City is filled with it. The only time I really saw loads of graffiti is when my husband and I were riding tour buses that didn't make stops. Out of all of the places that we walked in the city, there wasn't any graffiti to be found. I told my husband that next time we go to NYC, we are not going to do the tourist thing. We will be walking the streets of the different neighborhoods. I really want to see the city when we go back.

Extension - Adrian, MI

Bike - Mackinac Island, MI

Miles run in 2008

According to my half marathon first time training program, I'm supposed to be tapering my runs next week. This week will be a tough one. My plan is to run 10 miles on Sunday. I need to do that run. I need to get it in my head that I can and will be able to run 13.1 miles. For next week, I'm scheduled to run three times and then rest before the big day. I'm looking forward to the race since my 8 mile run around Mackinac Island.

Eleven days and counting.

2004: 228
2005: 268.2
2006: 372.6
2007: 434.2
2008: 767.5

Mackinac trip

My husband and I got back from Mackinac Island Saturday afternoon. We had a nice and relaxing trip. During our trip, my husband attending conference meetings at the Grand Hotel. While he was doing that, I was doing other things.

After eating breakfast Thursday morning, I went out and pounded the pavement. I went out for an 8 mile run around the island on M-185. The run started out nice. Once I got to the back side of the island, the wind coming off the Great Lakes really hit me. To avoid injury by running off the side of the road, I ran down the middle of the road. If I happened to fall and twist an ankle, there wouldn't been help for a while. It was a chilly morning and not too many people out on the back side of the island. I made it through my run alright. Except for my back hurting and injuries on my right foot. My third toenail sliced into my neighboring toe, the second one, and created a nice cut. I also got a cut on the top of my third toe and it was bleeding.

On Thursday morning, I waited a while to go running. At 8 a.m., the temperature outside was 37 degrees and that was with the wind chill. I only had shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Those items wouldn't have kept me too warm. I ran around 11 a.m. and it was a bit warmer. I only went for a 3 mile run. My legs were a tired from the run a day before.

Besides running, I did do a little shopping. All of the stores had huge sales because it is the end of tourist season. Most of the items were between 40-70% off. I bought two sweatshirts. It was really hard just finding those two. Most of the ones that I liked, they didn't have my size. Or if they did have my size, they were really ugly. I also read in my room and enjoyed sleeping in and taking naps. Only on Friday, did I take my camera outside. And I didn't really take that many photos. I know. I'm a bad photographer. This trip was mainly about training for my half-marathon and actually relaxing. Unlike our trip to New York/New Jersey. We were so busy doing stuff everyday. It was nice to not do so much this trip.

When I was running on the back side of the island, I saw so many things that I wanted to take photos of. But I wasn't about to carry an extra ten pounds of camera equipment on run. I wished we would have taken our bikes on the trip. I could have rode my bike out and taken some photos. Since we didn't bring our bikes, I didn't have the money to rent one and I really didn't want to walk four or five miles to take photos. If and when my husband return to Mackinac Island, I will photograph the back of the island. And we will bring our bikes.

The photo was taken on the shoreline of Main Street (M-185). In the background is the Mackinac Bridge.