Friday, August 10, 2012

"Running is like mouthwash; if you can feel the burn, it's working." **Brian Tackett

So…I’m sitting here partly consumed by my foot….  It’s nothing major I’ve assured myself, but the slight bit of panic that consumed me 2 days ago as I finally realized, “wow this hurts” than seeing the swelling after I took my shoe off just scared me a bit (ok I won’t lie I thought/feared the worst).  I had to do what seems so hard to do at times….take 2 days back to back off..and I’m already almost anxious out of my mind.  I’ve went through the vicious cycle in my head…Great now I won’t be ready to run this marathon; I’m going to die at mile 20 and be a failure at this.    (I know drama right…)  I’m just not certain I’ve wanted anything else more then to prove this journey.
You know they always say don’t “Google” injuries (or sicknesses for that matter), it might sound like a good idea at the time but you’ll have yourself convinced the worst in about 3 seconds.  Do they put the worst case scenario results at the top of a search engine for their own laughs?  To be honest, I think it’s a mild cause of tendentious…  I should have seen it coming just because of the mileage increases from not running for so long.  It’s probably a little reminder I need another pair of shoes too.  I should have gotten 2 pairs to alternate anyway in the beginning. 
So…I may try to run just a tiny bit tonight just to ease my mind, and then determine the best route for the long run this weekend.  Then next weekend we have the Parkersburg Half Marathon, but… don’t forget about the 2 miler.  (That’s what mom tells me every time I bring up the Half Marathon) J 
If anyone is running the half marathon be sure to drop me a note so we can do a little “notice” about it with some of the “Team Spangler” runners.  A few of you better be careful as I have my own little thing already planned up J  I hope to get a little blog spotlight done every day next week just to change it up a bit.
I’ve been a little consumed by the T-shirt orders and REALLY excited at the response.  Some may be confused so just in case, the August 8th deadline wasn’t a “DEADLINE” for orders…it was just our goal to make sure we got them before the Parkersburg Homecoming activities for those who wanted them for that.  I’ve ordered several extras and will continue to be putting orders in, so don’t fear if you were afraid you missed ordering, just let me know! 
We got a few donations this week, and mailed some in that’s helping us creep back up on the Team Fox NYC Marathon chart!  I’ve been working on getting some specifics finalized too for a coupe other fundraisers including the Happy Hours/After Hours Event to be hosted in Parkersburg, as well as the Scrapbooking crop to be held in Charleston.  I’ve already gotten some really great promising silent auction items so stayed tuned for more details J 
As far as the running earlier this week…I ran about 35 minutes on Monday….then followed by Tuesday running 33 minutes at a pretty good pace (I suppose I’ll call it my tempo run)….darkness does wanders for making you run faster J  I did however take Wednesday and last evening off to ice and try to make sure this foot thing isn’t to serious.  I’ve convinced my foot I don’t have time for this J  I still feel like I should be sneaking more miles in somehow…so I need to focus on that.
I wanted to share this with you today as my sister Kelly sent it to me.  All of us out there running for a cause, a specific reason…..this explains the “pain” so much.

Now….it’s a beautiful evening…and it’s FRIDAY…. Get out there and do something J

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Weekend at the Fair...

What a great weekend…between the Ritchie County Fair and another long run in the books it was a weekend highlights of why we’re on this journey.

It was so nice to be back “home”.  There were so many people I hadn’t seen for a long time at the fair and it was a nice opportunity to get the chance to catch up.  We hosted a ring toss game to help us raise money and highlight our project for Team Fox in running the NYC marathon.   We had many people who didn’t know about it and it was such a great chance to just spread the word about what we are doing. Everyone won a prize (don’t tell dad)…so it was fun to just interact with the kids. (Oh..and the adults of course too) J
I think mom was most popular at the tent….I kept hearing “Mrs. Spangler!” exclamations…or after she left asking where she was.  (Apparently 3rd grade teachers are popular in the summertime) J  Mom was especially touched by one younger boy (who didn’t know dad..he was too young to have ever had him in school) as he asked mom why her husband couldn’t be there when she asked him to sign the poster. Mom mentioned to him that he was really sick and had to stay at home and the little boy without hesitation told mom…”well I’m really sorry…I’m going to keep him in my prayers for you”.  Kindness goes a long way.
We had MANY people stop by to ask questions and it always turned into sharing stories of dad, and them highlighting memories they had about dad.  Hearing that from people we were even too young to remember really spoke for itself as to why we are doing this.  THANK YOU to all that dropped off donations and played the game, and know how much it means to us all.  Just hearing people share stories about dad and the awareness of making a difference for the future with this was our biggest goal for the experience.  Dad loves our community so much, and there isn’t anything else I’m sure he’d rather us be doing then pulling people together for a common goal.
When we got home on Saturday night a little after 11pm he was still a little bit awake….we surprised him with his poster to show him everyone who signed it and stopped to check up on him.  He couldn’t stop smiling and I told him I’d leave it by his side so he could look a little closer tomorrow.  Mom said he’s turned the poster around several times reading closely the notes and names…so thank you everyone!  Keeping dad’s spirits up is the most important thing we want to do. 

As far as the running goes..I was a bit aggravated at myself for not sneaking in a few runs….Friday I was at the fair till late right after work, and Saturday I was mad at myself all day for not getting up early and running before we had to leave.  Excuses….Excuses….  However I was going to run laps around the Fair if Brian Morton ran with me, but I couldn’t get him to do it with me J
As for Sunday I swapped long run days, and took to the road for my 1 hour 55 minute run.  It had looked stormy all morning, so to avoid guilt any longer I took off saying if it starts to storm come and get me.  The humidity almost seemed like it was ready to burst just waiting on the storm to hit.  Of course it never did till AFTER I was home J  I had to laugh as I had to run 2 laps around the house to add the additional minute onto the run so I didn’t cheat myself.  I suppose that’s a life of a runner J  I’ve ran many “mini circles” to finish out the clock.