this was girls weekend a couple of weeks ago, as we are leaving a fancy Italian restaurant. this is our 15th annual weekend get-together. how cool is that? back row, from left: jen, shelly, kim, susan; front row from left: heather, deann, nancy, jill and me. we missed you karen and chris!

ok, ok. the rest of the story. sorry about the previous post. i was planning to tell the story, but my oldest son was pretty sure his webkin would DIE if he didn't feed it RIGHT NOW. so once the photos downloaded (took forever) i told him to write Polar Plunge and send it off. i figured ya'll could just fill in the blanks. he he.

the story was: jamie was asked by his work to do the polar plunge for the special oOlympics. he was asked to get $100 in donations for jumping. his co-worker, jennifer, told jamie she'd jump too if he could collect $200 in donations.

so, jennifer is the woman jumping with him, but she's supposed to be wonder woman. they were super heroes. and yes, it was only about 15 degrees that day...in april. with snow. but i digress.

and for all you suspicious minds, jennifer is married with three kids. karen, shame on you.

Polar plunge 2008

while the husband was away fishing, this conversation took place with little j:

me: so, do you miss your buddy?

little j: yes, i do. but at least i have a back-up buddy.

me: who's your back-up buddy?

little j: you. 

i guess it's always good to have a back-up buddy. 

remember the woman i met at the swimming pool who was training for the olympic trials? well, this is what happened...i kind of read this with a lump in my throat. running is such a tough sport. it's funny, when i saw her at the pool she was icing this very ankle but told me she was sure it was not a big deal...

Despite having a painful injury, Marshall’s Marie Sample still finished the 2008 U.S. Olympic Women’s Marathon Team Trials Sunday in Boston.

Sample finished in 116th place with a time of 2:59.01. 

Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., won with a time of 2:29.35. Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet (Oakland, Calif.) and Blake Russell (Pacific Grove, Calif.) all qualified for the Olympic team with their top-three finishes. Lewy Boulet finished with a 2:30.19 and Russell came in with a 2:32.40. 

There were 124 runners that finished the race and 22 that did not finish. 

Sample qualified with a time of 2:45.58 at the California International Marathon in Sacramento, Calif., in December.

Sample, 31, battled a pain Achilles tendon injury in her left leg leading up to Sunday’s race. After more than four weeks of treatment on the injury, which is inflammation on the sheeth around the tendon, Sample said she felt good going into the race.

“Two weeks ago I didn’t even know if I’d make the starting line,” Sample said. “I was just hoping I could finish the race. There were more than 100,000 people around the course. It was awesome. That kind of helped me along.

“I broke three hours on a bum foot. That’s not too bad. I have to deal with it, I guess. It could’ve been worse. The last four miles or so I got a little gimpy and wasn’t sure if I was going to make it.” 

Sample said she could barely walk after the race. Sunday night she was sitting by a hotel pool watching her kids swim while having her leg elevated trying to get the swelling down.

Without the help of some special orthotic shoe inserts, Sample didn’t know whether she could’ve finished the race. She didn’t receive those until four weeks ago. Sunday was the first time she ran with them in her racing flats.

“Thank goodness I put them in there. They kept pressure off my Achilles,” she said. 

Sample said she injured herself about nine weeks ago while doing indoor training on a treadmill. Since then, she had been seeing laser therapist Dave Hoganson and massage therapist Pam Snell to help her get ready for the trials.

“I went to Pam every day the past four weeks. She and Dave really helped me finish (today),” Sample said. “This was just bad timing with the injury. But at the same time, everybody has been really good about helping me out. The orthotics helped me go faster (today). I broke them in and I’m going to continue to wear them.” 

Sample said she’ll rest for the foreseeable future before beginning training again. She’ll start by cross training on a bike. 

Sample will also most likely hire a coach to prepare for qualifying for the Olympics in 2012. By then, she’ll be 35. 

“I’ll be just approaching my prime there,” Sample said. “When you’re in your upper 30s, that’s when you get really tough.

just re-read my post from yesterday. sheesh. what a whiner. all it took was waking up to a blue sky and no wind, and i couldn't be happier. can't wait to get outside and play. 

after trying to avoid this whole webkinz thing, my kids finally caught on and we now own one. this is a virtual pet that you have to take care of on the computer. apparently you have to buy it toys and clean it and feed it and make it happy or it dies and you have to buy a new one. 

nice scheme, hallmark.

the husband had an awesome idea--seriously. we need to invent spousekinz, where you get your virtual spouse and you have to cook it dinner, buy it presents, do chores, be nice to it or it divorces you. but, if you take good care of it, you earn points you can redeem for um...well, this was the husband's idea so you can use your imagination. anyway, it's a million dollar idea. smooth of me to put it out there on the world wide web, isn't it? 

beware. this post is going to be crabby. 

for one, the wind has been blowing HARD and cold for weeks. maybe months. the sky is always kind of murky gray. my hair is always sticking to my lip gloss. my rollerblades have cobwebs on the wheels. my red hot toes are stuck in socks.  i have been running on the treadmill instead of outside. it's still winter in south dakota, and i'm looking at relocating. wonder what the husband would think if he came back from his fishing trip and the house was for sale? :) 

for two, i think my running days are numbered. i've been fighting a sore hip/lower back since last fall, and just when i think i'm over it, it comes back worse than ever. i've been trying to think of something that could replace running...but really, nothing clears up my brain quite like a big sweaty run. so. i'm bummed. and still gimping along, hopeful that it will somehow get better in time for a half-marathon in june. i haven't officially signed up yet...sigh. i just don't know what will happen when my long runs start getting seriously long. 

for three, work is falling out of the sky. this is not a bad thing, it's actually quite good...but it's ALL falling at the same time. i can see it coming, like a big storm that's going to get me really, really wet. my partner bobbi has the same problem and she's been drowning for weeks. i thought the economy was bad? where are all these people getting their money? sheesh. 

for four, i miss my friends. seeing my college buddies last weekend was like giving a starving man a piece of a cookie. i wish i was closer to you all, and i really wish i could see chris and karen and i REALLY wish making friends like you guys was as easy as it was back in school. can't we all just move back into the dorms? 

ok, that's my rant. i really do think it's this blasted weather.  give me a shot of sunshine, will ya? 

so the husband is on a fly-fishing trip with his brothers. they go every spring, and from what i can tell, they spend about 10 hours a day standing in ice cold water catching trout. 

and then they let them go. 

the whole "fun" part of the adventure baffles me, but i suppose shopping for longer than 15 minutes probably baffles him too. at any rate, he's going to come back sunburned and happy and missing his family. which is good. 

while he's gone, i plan to throw a few things away in his closet (he he), throw a few things away in the garage and get rid of all the leftovers in the refrigerator. i may even wash his hockey jerseys (gasp!) if i have the guts to open his hockey bag.  see, my spring cleaning can't start until the pack rat leaves town. he'll never even miss a thing...so don't tell :) 

well, the weatherman was WAY wrong and i got my fix. the girls and i did our part to stimulate the economy. i think we had well over fifty shopping bags, and some of them were quite large...you're welcome president bush. it was great, as soon as somebody sends me some pictures i'll post 'em...hint hint.  

here are all the things that will happen if a blizzard keeps me from going to minneapolis for my annual girls' weekend:

i won't get to chat for 8 hours up and back with deann, a highlight of my trip
i won't get to hear all the bob-john-sally-clark-bill-barb stories jen loves to tell
i won't get to laugh so hard my stomach hurts
i won't get to eat great food, drink good wine and close down a restaurant with 8 of my favorite females
i won't get to hear how nancy is surviving as a mother of toddler twins and the wife of a stay-at-home dad
my pathetic winter toes won't get their pedicure, and i'll have nasty talons all summer long
i won't get to shop, and if you look at my closet, you'll see this is a very bad thing
i won't get to see susan hit someone over the head with a giant bag of gobstoppers
i won't get that big group hug (ok so that was for jamie, who loves to imagine the big group hug)
i won't get to hear heather tell the Buffy Underwear story
i will miss my first year EVER of the annual gathering
i won't get to enjoy a weekend of activities fully planned by the Activities Committee--shelly and jill, you guys rock
i will be really hard to live with all weekend
i won't get to live vicariously in the black hills through kim and jen
i won't get to come feeling so lucky to have friends like these
i won't accidentally blow pop out of my nose from laughing too hard
i won't have another chance to do this again until next year


so. here's to hoping the weatherman is way off base, and this little blizzard is nothing more than a nice spring rain.

yesterday i was running on the bike trail when i came across a problem i've never come across before. a train was parked right across the path. a big one. there was no way to go around it, and i didn't want to just turn around and cut my run short. i stood there for a minute or two... and then got down on my hands and knees and crawled under the train.

an old guy was on the other side watching me from his bike. he said, "were you thinking more about what would happen if the train MOVED or what would happen if it DIDN'T?"

i said, "i just figured it wouldn't."

he said, "and i was over here holding my breath, just sure that it would..."

last night we are playing the "are you smarter than a fifth grader" board game.

husband asks little j to correct this first grade grammar question: "we was going to a soccer game."

he gets all excited and shouts, "i know what it should be! it should be we WASN'T going to a soccer game!"


another question for big j was "what is ground up to make tortillas?"

he says, "soil!"

mmm-mmm good. i just love those dirt tortillas, don't you?

this is a fun game, whether you have kids or not....

by some happy stroke of luck, both of my boys are at a sleep-over tonite. yep, just me and the husband for a whole night. the big sleepover started about an hour ago. and here i am.

waiting.

the husband doesn't feel so hot, but i am convinced that once he wakes up from his nap, he will be a great date.

just as soon as he wakes up.

doo doo doo.

waiting.

i'm sure this is going to be a great night.

really.

i hope he wakes up in time for dinner.

hmmm.

this isn't looking so good.

i'll tell myself not to be disappointed or crabby if he DOESN'T wake up.

you really think he might not wake up?

oh, you know what will happen? he'll sleep all night and then wake up when i'm ready for bed.
that's what'll happen. and then i WILL be crabby.

darn it.

maybe i should go wake him up?

accidentally poke him?

in the eyes?

hmmm. this is no good.

i need a better diversion than you guys. no offense.

i think i will go bake something.

loudly.

wish me luck.

the other day my ipod needed recharging, so i plugged it into my computer and waited for the light to turn green. then i took the ipod for a run in sioux falls--a run i was really looking forward to, thanks to nice weather, a great bike trail AND some new third day songs i had recently downloaded.

so i pop the ipod on my head and begin the run. and then i stop dead in my tracks.

bob segar.

every song in my ipod was by bob segar. i'm not sure how it happened. but for those of you who know my ongoing saga with bob segar, you know this wasn't exactly a good thing.

i couldn't do anything about it, and so bob and i went for a run together. we actually had a pretty good time. but whatever you do, don't tell my husband i said that.