The Rose Stank

Sunday, October 7, I ran my 5th half marathon, the Tyler Rose. It was being held at the Tyler, Texas Rose Garden as part of the annual rose festival. Myself and two of my running buddies drove to Tyler late Saturday afternoon, in time to attend the race expo. The race expo turned out to be a showcase of 3 vendors. We were a little disappointed, but received some samples to try. We all tried the Rehydrate which was pretty tasty. They also kindly pointed out we were the other group from Dallas. Black Girls Run, have running shoes, will travel.

After we left the expo, we headed for our hotel room. Several BGR members had booked rooms at the Fairfield Inn, which made it easier to communicate with one another. We got checked-in, dropped our bags off, then headed out to find something to eat. The desk clerk gave us the directions to the Olive Garden. The wait list at Olive Garden was 45 minutes to 1 hour, which gave us time to do a little window shopping.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. After showering, we all relaxed to watch some TV. Chris was our "chaperon", she made sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. She kept telling us to go to sleep. 5 am alarm, I wasn't ready to get up. We slowly moved around, got dressed and headed for a quick breakfast.

All the BGR members met up at the Rose Garden Convention Center. BGR East Texas showed us so much hospitality. They greeted us with signs of pinkness. The Collin County Cuties were sporting their new t-shirts. They were also celebrating Ami being a breast cancer survivor. So the color pink fitted perfectly with the day’s theme.

After taking several pre-race pictures and posing for the video, it was time to start the half. 8 am, the start clock went off. It was kind of slow getting started because the start chute was very narrow.

We all started off together until it was time to break off into our different paces. I was trying to keep up with Annie, but with a sore shin, I had drop back. Since Cheryl and Ve were doing this race as a training run for their marathon, they were keeping their pace between 12-13. I could hang with them.

Within the first mile, we had already encountered 3 hills. That's when I decided to start counting the hills. I knew we had a hilly course, I wasn't expecting what was a head of us. Before we reached the 6 mile mark, we were up to the teens in the hill count. Number 19 was a beast, it had to be over a mile long, by the time I reached the top, I was cussing.

Hill 20something, we started to notice the distance markers were not accurate. I had forgot to restart my watch after one of our potty breaks, but my distance was ahead of the markers. Ve's watch was also ahead of the markers. When my watch said 11 and the marker said 10, I was ready to quit. I had hit my wall. Cheryl quickly said get your mind focused.

At hill 34, I was pissed and extremely worn out. From my lower back to the soles of my feet, I was in pain. The raggedy roads on this course had taken their toll. This police officer must have noticed because he got on his loud speaker and said, this is the last steep hill, one more then you’re done, don't give up. Whew, I needed that boost.

As we rounded the last corner, there stood Annie and Chris. When I say a blessing to my eyes, it's just what my sore body needed. Annie said I'm going to run you through and she did. Chris stayed back to encourage the other BGR members behind us.

After a couple of seconds of rest, we headed back to the course to cheer the other ladies in. The policeman that encouraged us, was driving beside the Collin County Cuties encouraging them. This was Kimberly’s first half and she was in tears, so I ran with her even though my legs were killing me, she needed to finish strong. At the finish line, we had a BGR celebration. Even with the 35 hills of hell, some of the ladies PRed. Double celebration.

After the Injury

I really got into running to my surprise, fell in love with it. Then the injury occurred in September. Running in the incorrect shoes, on the wrong type of surface and not stretching properly. Shin splints, painful shin splints. The doctor told me I would have to rest, not quit, but rest. Did I listen, nope, I had two already paid for races in October, The Tyler Rose and the Allstate 13.1. I wanted those medals and I got them plus more pain.

After the Tyler Rose, the worse race course thus far in my running career, caused more damage. I had to revert to flat shoes, unfortunately, I only had one pair that I could wear to work. Then there was the Allstate 13.1; I promised my running buddy Chris I would run with her, this would be her first half marathon. Another big mistake for me. So after October 27, I sat my butt still. I have to admit, I had planned to sneak a race in on my visit to Atlanta, but commonsense stepped in.

On December 15, the training began again. I’m a little nervous of getting reinjured and I’ve gotten lazy on Saturday morning. I no longer have the desire to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to run, especially in the cold. My bed just swallows me up. While everyone else in BGR is finishing up their runs, I’m starting mine.

I’m sticking to the training plan, running at my pace. I was never really big on speed drills, but this time around, I’ll do them properly. I’ve done some reading on my own instead of just listening to the advice of more seasoned runners. When I run my two half marathons in February, I will not try to keep up with anyone, nor will I try to slow down for anyone. 2013 races will be about me slowly decreasing the amount of time to it takes me to complete a half.

This Too Shall Pass, Just Hold On

This too shall pass, just hold on, those are the words I received from the Lord, March 2006. I was in the middle of Lent, saying a prayer, when the Lord told me He was about to take me through several storms. During these storms, He said I would lose everything but my home. The Lord said I would struggle with my home because I willfully disobeyed His instructions. I thought I heard Him incorrectly, but as time passed and things started to fall apart in my life, I knew I heard His words correctly.

My relationship started having some serious issues, but I fought to save it until I finally couldn’t take the drama any longer. I fell behind on my car note and voluntarily surrendered my 2003 Nissan Altima back to the dealer. So from March 2006 to now, I have had 4 cars. Then there was the employment situation, I was terminated. Thankfully I obtained a temporary job 3 days later. By the end of the year I was working 3 jobs and going to school. My house has flooded and has been hit by lightening. Every utility was turned off at one time or another. We had to piece together meals.

Those were just some of the things that were occurring in my life. But the biggest was my mortgage, each month I got further and further behind. Thanks to Countrywide for racking up all the miscellaneous fees and applying majority of my payments towards the fees. Each modification put me further behind instead of helping me to get caught up. I spent one year paying double payments and I still remained behind.

Then President Obama started initiating several Making Homes Affordable programs. One particular program, I read about on the DC Sistagirls group page. So I called Bank of America, which bought out Countrywide, and inquired about the possibility of me being eligible. That call was last year, but on Monday, July 30, my acceptance package arrived by FedEx. I was only able to pull the paperwork halfway out of the envelope when I noticed the new monthly payment amount. I dropped the envelope and started jumping up and down screaming thank you, thank you. I screamed and jumped until I broke out in tears of thankfulness. Tiger came barking into my room because he thought I was being attacked. I called my best friend Jo, I was crying so hard she had to help me get the words out. Every time I tried to tell someone about my blessing, I would start crying.

Not everyone knows what all I have experienced these last couple of years. I’ve had one lady that insisted that I walk away from my home like she and her husband did. I’ve watch several of my neighbors, married couples lose their homes. I’ve had someone say I hope you lose your house for not sharing your money. But the biggest question, how are you able to maintain your home and still do all those activities. My answer, ask God why He has allowed me to keep my home. Because that was one of the questions I asked myself. Why me? I got my answer last year while sitting in church. Bishop TD Jakes answered it, because you are a tither. A tither. That name alone put my mind and heart to rest. I knew at that moment somehow, God was about to turn things around for me. I continually wondered how, tried to figure out how, guessed how it would happen. But never in my wildest imagination did I think He would wipe the past due amount away all at once, not small increments, but all at once. Past due amount gone, monthly payments dropped, and interest rate dropped by 2.25%. Effective August 1, 2012, my mortgage storm came to an end all because I trusted God and believed Him when He said “this too shall pass, just hold on".

The Cholesterol Moved

Have you ever run so hard you could feel something moving on the inside? Well, that’s what it felt like yesterday, I could feel the cholesterol moving out of my heart valves. I completed my 3^rd half marathon, the Hot Mama Virtual Half Marathon held by Moms Run This Town Online Running Group. July 28 was its usual hot day, the morning temperature at 6 am was 79 and the heat index was predicted to be 105-108. My running group set a plan to start running at 6 am, our normal start time on Saturdays, but of course I was running late. When I finally made it to River Legacy Park in Arlington, a 30 minute, non-traffic drive from my house, everyone had already started. I started 10:45 after everyone; I could see the other runners approach the other side of the 1.9 mile loop as I started. I thought to myself, I’ll catch up with someone; someone is going to run out of gas.

I made the first loop at a pace of 11:39, I’m doing good, I thought to myself. My instructions were to enter the path at the second entrance, I did but I didn't see anyone. So I ran back off the trail and ran to the third entrance, I still didn’t see anyone, but decided to proceed anyway. A little about River Legacy Park, it’s heavily wooded area where wildlife like to hangout. The trails are color marked by distance. I was on the blue trail, all alone and I realized I left my mace in my car, dang it. I thought it might be a good idea to pick up my pace. Then a biker passed me, so I thought I need to keep sight of him. Did the best I could but who was I kidding, he was going over 20 mph, I was only averaging in the single digits. But thanks to him, I was able to complete mile 2 and 3 at 11:39 and 11:01 pace.

Usually after mile 3, I walk to regain my energy, but I heard my running buddy Marilyn, saying Lenora you can do 4 miles nonstop, so I kept moving. I decided I would start my run/walk intervals at mile 5, but the Black Eyed Peas song “Let’s Get It Started” came on, so I decided to run through this song. The song took me straight into mile 6. I stopped running to take a drink break and adjust my hydration belt; I looked up to see Sarah aka Speed Angel (pace 7-8) heading back. That’s when I decided I needed to hurry to the turnaround point because I would definitely catch up with the slower pace runners. When I made it to the turnaround, I didn’t see anyone but since I took the wrong path in the beginning, I was ahead of the mile markers, so I turned around to head back. My goal was to slowly run miles 7-9. I heard and saw something moving in the bushes and got scared, then I heard “Hey Girlie” from behind me on the trail, it was Awesome Alice, so I decided to keep up with her. She had me moving faster than I have ever ran and further than I planned to run nonstop, I could actually feel the cholesterol moving out of my heart valves. Alice got me to the end of trail with only 1.5 miles to go. Now I could walk, that’s when the confusion set in, I look at my watch incorrectly and read that I needed to complete 2 miles, so I jumped back on the blue trail, twice before hitting the final loop. Confusion still working because I couldn’t tell which direction to run. There was also another race, so since I kept running in circles, I was confusing their race monitors.

Finally, I told myself to get off the trail and just run to the finish line, but I still was reading my watch incorrectly, so I ran past the finish line to loop around and come back after I reached 13 miles. That’s when it dawned on me to stop and check my watch; it read 12.95, well I’ll be darned. I turned around and headed back, finish line in sight; but no silly me trying to turn off my music, I hit the stop button. I had to re-start my watch to get the remaining .06 to have an official distance. I finished with an official time of 2:32:44, my best time to date. I really am a Hot Mama that runs.

The Invasion of My Body - Part 2

On May 14, I had my follow-up appointment. What I thought was going to be a biopsy, turned into another mammogram. This one was going to be centered on the spots only. Wait spots, what the heck do you mean spots. The rad tech informed me the first mammogram indicated 3 spots, 1 on the right and 2 in the left breast. Now I'm concerned because I'm looking at the X-ray film and I can see the spots before she points them out. That film made them look extra large. All I could think of is do I really want to be a C cup and buy new bras or stay a B cup, just get my girls more firm. I know, a strange thing to think about while staring at lumps in my breast.

This mammogram was a lot more painful because two of the spots were located near the wall of my chest. It took a lot of maneuvering to get my breast in the correct position. Needless to say I was irritated during the whole process. The tech kept saying she was sorry. By the way, if you know you will be talking directly in patients' faces, and you drink coffee, it should be mandatory to use breath mints. Finally, after an hour, it was over. She said stay here while I make sure the film is correct. It had better be correct and it was. The doctor comes in about 15 minutes later and said everything was fine. Cool I thought, I just need to cut back on the caffeine in take.

Well cool until I talked to my sister Crystal. She strongly suggested to me that I needed biopsies because of our family history of breast cancer. My sister, 2 cousins and an aunt. Not to discount my dad had prostate cancer that spreaded through his whole body. So I made my third breast appointment, but this time with a breast surgeon. I'm really getting tired of them playing with my girls.