Lifestyles of the Young and Renting

I don’t have much direction for this post, I just felt I should say hello to all of our friends and family. I will let Matt post about the race, but let me just say that I am incredibly proud of him and was so glad to have been able to be there. I would also like to say that his father and I deserve small medals of our own: we figured we completed a quarter-marathon with all the walking back and forth that we did. At one point during our trek to meet Matt at the finish line, we had to rest at a park bench. Within minutes, we stopped talking and fell into a 30-minute nap in the heart of Honolulu.

Now I am back, and have one week here before heading to Minnesota. During this week, I will have my last sessions with three of my clients, two of whom I have known for over two years and will miss deeply, and my last full week with my friend Michael, who has become like family to me. When I get on the plane Tuesday morning, I will not only have to have all of my Christmas shopping done, but I will also have to be prepared for my first internship interview on that Thursday. 

This is just an odd time…a slow-motion kaleidoscope where things aren’t moving too fast, but there is a lot of change - and who knows what the next frame is going to look like (anyone?). The only reason I am not anxious is that I am surrounded by amazing friends, deeply supportive family, and my most incredible husband. You can do anything if people go with you.

I send my love to you all.

-l 

We’re off tomorrow (Friday) for Honolulu!!! We return on Monday and will post some pics shortly after.

-m

I’ve lost someone today. Not someone I’ve gotten to know well, but someone who inspired me greatly. Melanie Fastrup was my Honored Teammate through Team in Training. She’s one I was racing for. Today, she lost her battle with Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia (a form on non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) which has no cure. Please pray for her husband, Dan, my teammate, and her daughters.

 

This next thought is wholly unrelated to what I will write after it, but I thought I would tell everyone that I have decided that after graduation, I will not give myself a busy life. I am going to engage in activities that require minimal deadlines and am going to hopefully reduce all opportunities for double-booking. I am going to have a schedule that allows me to go to the gym at times other than 5am, and one that makes me available to have lunch with my husband. I will not choose a job in which I commute oppressive distances.

That being said, I will now tell you about our trip to "The City."

On Saturday morning, Matt ran his first half-marathon in Santa Barbara! Although he was in considerable pain in mile four, he made it all the way through.

To congratulate his sweaty self, I surprised him with an early birthday present: two tickets to see the Vikings play the 49ers in San Francisco the next day. After having lunch with friends, we hopped in the car and continued up the coast. I had planned this for months…even charged things on a credit card we hardly use and pulled the statement out of the mail before he even saw it (as an aside, I have now found a fool-proof way to fund my shopping addiction, should I choose to develop one). His parents and sister were in on it, and sent cards ahead of time. I was a master of secrecy and planning.

So, off we go, past the cows, past the grapes, past the lettuce farms, and into the Bay Area. We stayed at a very charming hotel that was downtown…one of many in a row of tall, narrow historical buildings restored for urban life. We had to open the door to the elevator ourselves, pushing back the spring loaded gate long enough to squeeze both of us into the tiny box. Definitely a two-person elevator. Our room wasn’t much bigger, but it was very clean and well-decorated, and right where we wanted to be.

The game started at 1pm, so I didn’t expect we would get to see much of the city, but we didn’t do too badly for ourselves: 

The Trolleys were about four blocks from our hotel…we had enough time to see them, but unfortunately, not ride on them…

 

 

Ah, Ghiradelli Square….chocolate was eaten here…

 

 

 

 

 

Good seats, good weather, happy birthday! 

Lately when running, I’ll get about 3 miles and I’ll start to have some discomfort in my knee. Around mile 4 or 5 it gets real sharp. Today (Wednesday, Nov, 1st) I just had my first cortisone shot to take care of the inflammation and pain. My doctor said it should take 2 or 3 days to take affect. Saturday, November 4th, I’ve got a half-marathon in Santa Barbara and we’ll see how 13.1 miles feels.

I’ve always heard of athletes getting cortisone shots in shoulders, knees, etc. to ease swelling and pain so they can play. Does that make me a real athlete? Time will tell.

-m

I’VE REACHED MY $5000 GOAL!!! Thank you so much to all who have given so generously! If you were planning on making a contribution but have not yet, please still consider making a donation. Every dollar raised will benefit the Society to help fund finding a cure.

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/mvogt

Some people have asked how my fundraising is going. Well, I’m happy to report, I’m less that $900 away from my goal of $5000!!

What’s been inspiring is seeing people who I think don’t have much give so generously. Also, seeing people I’ve never met donate out of the blue - I don’t even know how they find my site!

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and to do so, I’m running a marathon. For more info as to why, visit my webiste:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/mvogt 

For more information on Team in Training (the program that’s helping me train), you can visit them here: http://www.teamintraining.org