Thanksgiving Weekend- What A Treat!

I finally got a little breather from work to write my Thanksgiving Weekend Recap. I don't know about you, but I have had a few friends on Facebook who have been posting things that they were thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving and the holidays. I wanted to start off with what I'm thankful for this holiday season:

• I am of course thankful for the Le-Strom families-Travis especially; and our household of four-legged "kids." I can always count on Trav to support me in everything I do. I'm also thankful for my parents and their continued determination. Poppa Le had a rough third quarter this year after experiencing a stroke, so we are blessed that he recovered from it with no major physical disabilities. Again, many thanks to everyone who sent their thoughts and prayers. My mom is so strong and I admire her for her unselfishness and kind heart to all those around her. Now, if only we had the funds to build our dream "Le-Strom" compound out here, we could get all of our  folks to Cali!
• This year was filled with continuous love and support from our FRIENDS, many of whom are our extended family, which includes our Team In Training crew. I also had the pleasure of joining Team Victorious, a unique group that I got to communicate with virtually, then got to meet some of the members in person at various races.
• Thanksgiving was a very important day for me. A group of us ran the Nitro Turkey Trot 10K at Point Pinole. The last time I ran a race on Thanksgiving, I had a seizure. This Thanksgiving race, I got to celebrate 2 years of being seizure free! We celebrated back home with a champagne toast. Special THANKS to Travis, Ernie, Charlene, Dom, Nikki and Jen for being a part of this special run and day.
• Of course I'm thankful for what we are blessed to have (think Maslow's Hierarchy of needs) but truly appreciate our health and physical fitness from the ability to run to the cool people we work out with at Your Body Works, the physical and mental health overall, has been very positive this year.
• With that, I say to all those reading: CHEERS! Here's to nothing but good things for the rest of the year; and here's to health, love, successes and great happiness for 2013 and beyond!

As I wrap this up, I want to send out a congratulations to my friends Ali & Matt Timmers on the birth of their daughter Avery. We missed each other this past Turkey Day, but shared experiences together nonetheless. I successfully cooked my first Thanksgiving turkey this year, as Travis and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend full of festivities with lovely friends: Ernie, Nikki and Jen here at the Strom house. We started with a winter hat dance party on Wednesday, then the Nitro Turkey Race Thursday, followed by an awesome T-Day dinner with all the fixings. Nikki and I battled Black Friday and then that Saturday, Ernie, Trav and I ventured all the way out to Fremont to do the Quarry Lakes Turkey race -- all so that we could earn our "double down" medals. Yes, I'm addicted to the bling! I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was a spectacular one! Of course, I have a few photos to share below. Until next time!

 Nitro Turkey Race- E-dog, Trav, Dom, Jen, Myself & Charlene

Our Thanksgiving Crew- E-dog, Trav, Jen, Nikki & I

On the menu: Turkey, 2 Stuffings, Homemade Mash Potatoes w/Gravy, Cheesy Potatoes, Candied Yams, Seasoned Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts. In addition, there was Cranberry Sauce, Olives & Dinner Rolls! Wine, Bloody Mary Bar, Chocolates, Pecan & Pumpkin Pie, not pictured! :)

Quarry Lakes Turkey Race

20 Miler (Including The Santa Barbara Half) Recap

So this past Saturday, November 10th, Travis, E-dog and I completed the Santa Barbara Half. We seem to have this theme going this year, which I don't necessarily recommend, where we tend to not look at the course map ahead of time (you'll read about that later).

The morning was brisk! Very windy and chilly. Due to a little lack of planning by the organizers, there was about a 15 minute start delay due to the abundance of runners needing to take shuttle buses to the start. That's cool though because they acknowledged it. I guess by Travis parking near the start, that helped us out, BUT we really decided to do that so that we could get an extra 7 miles in after the race to complete a long 20 mile training run. I must say, people looked confused and it was kind of weird to be running "home" to the car in the opposite direction, on the other side of the road as the full marathoners were still out there! One spectator asked why I was coming from another direction and I quickly explained what I was doing so I didn't look "cray" LOL.

So to back track, in celebration of Veteran's Day, there was a flyby before the start along with a bag piper and a bugler. Even more inspirational was the fact that a little 13 year old girl who was in a wheel chair and on a breathing apparatus was going to be pushed the entire race by her parents; her first half marathon.

The race was nice, taking us down the streets, through a bike path (a little narrow with all the runners), through neighborhoods and ultimately along the beach. There were some rolling hills and pretty views. The big surprise came at mile 10 when low and behold a very long hill! As I mentioned earlier, we didn't bother with the course map. It lasted for about 3/4 of a mile. I'm proud to say I ran up every dang hill that day, held a consistent pace and drafted accordingly, looking ahead to see every turn as our coaches had taught us. Dare I say I have "mastered" the "grab a water cup and turn it into a little spout you can run with" technique that Coach Tim had taught us a long time ago. :) I had a nice strong finish and turned in the time I had wanted in order to still do 7 more miles afterwards (goal was a 2:10 or less; did about a 2:08-ish). The race volunteers provided us with mini flags to run to the finish with. The last leg had flags lined up on both sides. Soldiers were in uniform cheering us in and they were saying thanks for running, as I was thanking them for their service. What they do is above and beyond to protect our country; glad we were able to show support by running. Thanks for reading and as always, below are photos!

Thanks Brightroom for the photo "proof."

Of course Travis is looking at his watch, not the camera.

Yes, Ernie and I are still goofing around after 20 miles.

Take It Easy On The NYC Marathon Runners!

Wow, for all of those runners who were in NYC for the Marathon, I feel bad for them. It's like they were "damned if they did or damned if they didn't," when it came to the kind of help they could provide while being stranded there. People have the audacity to ridicule them for not doing enough? Something is better than nothing! Many of these individuals fundraised for different charities and came a long way for the race, having very personal reasons for why they run. Some people who projected anger towards those runners should not assume that "all runners" are selfish or have their own agenda to just "race." Seeing people post things on social media like "F@^! the runners" is disheartening. Don't let a few runners who were let down by the decision of the race organizers, the mayor, etc., who may have poorly expressed their distaste for how the race situation was handled, let that be the stereotype for who runners are. I come across a few rude runners, or some who are just in it for themselves now and then, but the runners I know on a personal level, are not like that whatsoever! We have good hearts, we run to help others, we run to overcome our fears and to inspire others. Whether we run with our own personal health issues to better ourselves so that we can pay it forward, or run because we ourselves are motivated by someone who's out their doing it despite their personal set-backs, plain and simple- We all have a personal story to share.

Whether those NYC runners were able to donate some money (keeping in mind that they already did bring revenue to the city by just coming into town) or donated their time to those affected by the Hurricane, any type of support is good support. From what I've read through articles or from individuals who were physically there posting their experiences, many runners were out there helping to pick up garbage, handing out headlamps, asking how they could help, etc. Let's be thankful, not disrespectful to them by saying they haven't done enough!

I commend some of the people who wrote back to nasty FB posts that people had about the runners pointing out that angered individuals should maybe direct their questions about getting assistance to other organizations, like the professional sports teams that continued playing, big retailers, etc. One person had a good point. If someone that lives there locally has the time to rant on Facebook by swearing and blaming runners, they themselves are not necessarily out there doing good for the greater cause...they obviously have resources to be able to access the Internet, etc. Maybe they should change their negativity and harness it into something positive by spreading the word about what is needed through their social media networks.

I know I'm not perfect, no one is, but just seeing all of the rude, nasty things that have been going on around the topic of the NYC Marathon, the runners and non-runners, tourists and local residents alike, has just been crazy.

As Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I'm thankful for so much. I send my thoughts and well wishes to all my friends, their families and those affected on the East Coast. Stay strong out there. Remember that even though people might not be able to physically or monetarily help, spiritual positivity is a very powerful thing. I recently interacted with a lady from New Jersey, who despite what happened there, took the time to want to learn more about helping the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She spoke to me over the phone as she was standing in the crazy gas lines, trying to recoup from what happened in her area. Despite the terrible things that surrounded her, she was still positive and actually signed up for Team In Training because she wanted to pay it forward. Amazing.