what's in you wednesday

I took the names of all the people who left me a comment on the iPod post that made a donation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and plugged their names in to an excel spreadsheet.

Since the minimum donation to participate in this giveaway was $5.00, if someone made a $25.00 donation, they were entered five times. I then used a random integer generator program to select a winner based on the total number of cells.

And the winner of the iPod shuffle is DENISE.

Congratulations, Denise!!

Please send me an e-mail at TheAmazingTrips (at) gmail.com with your mailing address and I will have the iPod shipped out post haste.

(Unlike the scarf for Karen that is sitting in a package waiting to be mailed ... and the scarf for Stephanie that I had made, but upon learning that she is in NORTH DAKOTA, decided to make over again using a warmer wool.)

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed thus far. In just under four weeks, between the three of us, we have raised almost $4,000.00 for cancer research. At the rate we are going, I am really hopeful that we will not only meet our goals but exceed them.

Margaret has been concerned that since she was flying in to San Diego, some people might think that she was fundraising for a vacation. But in regards to why her fundraising goals are higher than ours, we reached out to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and this is the response we received:

"We maintain a ratio of 25% expenses and 75% towards the mission for our fundraising goals. Therefore, for every dollar expense we incur for you, we ask that you raise $4 to make up for it. This is a good ratio that other nonprofits and we are proud of. Every fundraiser (balls, walks, mail campaigns) have some expenses, but we make sure ours are always less than 25%. So adding a $500 flight to your expenses will add $2000 to your fundraising goal. (San Diego Team doesn't have to buy that flight). They still have all of our other expenses. (Probably a hotel, dinners in San Diego, race entry, coaches fees, powerade, shirts, etc)."

I hope to have the next contest up by this Friday.

Now. On to other important matters.

This past Saturday I ran seven (7) miles.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

OK. So I didn't run all of the seven miles. But as Charlie said, I successfully propelled myself in one direction for a total of seven miles without stopping. I don't know what surprised me more. The fact that I was able to propel myself in one direction for seven miles without stopping, or seeing the look of disbelief when I told my husband that I had successfully completed the seven-mile course.

He was stunned. He thought that I'd only make it three or four miles, at most.

And I in turn was stunned that he was stunned.

Why wouldn't I make it seven miles?

Did I not give birth to triplets? Did I not breastfeed triplets? Did I not get triplets to sleep through the night when they were three-months-old? Did I not successfully potty train triplets?

Yes, so maybe that last one took me a year longer than it should have, but if there is one thing I possess it's stamina. I'm sure this marathon will be the same way. I very well may be among the last to finish, but I will get there.

Sunday, while Charlie went for his seven-mile run pushing the boys in a stroller, I stretched my legs out by going for a five-mile walk while pushing the girls in a stroller. And after taking off a day on Monday, yesterday, I ran on a treadmill at the YMCA.

I like running on a treadmill because I like knowing the exact distance I cover. But I don't like running on a treadmill because it is terribly boring and my feet fall asleep even faster then when I'm on the road. Still, it was getting late by the time I was able to run yesterday and I felt safer running inside than outdoors in the dark.

I had only run on a treadmill two times, previously. The first time, I stumbled and inadvertently disconnected the magnetic safety piece that shuts the treadmill off. In doing so, the track came to an almost instant stop and I pitched forward and landed on my knees. The second time, I disconnected the magnetic safety piece five times and had to restart my run, losing all record of the total time, distance covered and calories burned.

Yesterday when I was running, I decided to not affix the leash for the magnetic safety piece to my body and instead, left it dangling over the back of the treadmill. Surely I wouldn't fall on the treadmill. And besides, I didn't want to run the risk of losing all my data should it become accidentally disconnected.

At some point around three miles, I could feel my feet start to go completely numb. And it seems that when your feet go numb on a treadmill you become a little unstable. I was about to slow my pace from 5.5 to 2.5 and step on to the side rails, when suddenly my numb feet which weren't being picked up high enough to take a step, snagged on the track.

If my magnetic safety piece had been intact, I would have just tripped and stopped.

But because the track was still moving at 5.5, I pitched forward before falling backwards and then was whipped off the treadmill. The rest is kind of a blur although I do remember seeing my feet at eye level as I flew through the air.

I landed on the ground with a THUD a solid seven feet behind the treadmill I had been on and the woman who was on the treadmill next to me, looked back with her mouth wide open and asked, "OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OK?!" The gym staff who were working in the glass enclosed office came running out and tried to help me up.

But I jumped up off the ground and feeling only slightly embarrassed quickly shot out, "OH YES! I'm sure I'm fine! I ... I ... I have a little problem with my feet. They like to take a nap whenever I run. But oh yeah, I'm totally good! I'm actually training for a marathon. And look at that, I made it three whole miles before getting hurled in to space!! WOO-HOO!!"

Now that I've almost broken body parts twice while running on a treadmill, I've decided to stick with running on surface streets. I much prefer running outside while pushing the children in their stroller. Especially if my run involves a stop at Target where I can pick up a fun-pack of M&Ms.

As you can see, I am so hard core. (And just as I wrote that sentence, I suddenly understand why my husband was amazed that I was able to complete seven miles.) What?! Eating candy isn't something you should do while you run? But why not?!

So what's in you and how are you doing with your goals?