Happy Holidays

To all of you who have been joining me on this journey, I wanted to wish you a very happy holiday season. As you gather with all your friends and loved ones, give them all a big hug and be thankful for all the joy and love that they have given you. Never forget that you can live your whole life without a new car, big TV, or expensive vacation, but you could not live a single day without love in your life.

Happy Holidays!

Winter running

Winter has definitely arrived in Madison, and with it all the complications that come with running in less than ideal conditions. For those of you who may have been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, Madison got slammed with about 18 inches of snow in one night, making all the sidewalks and roads an icy, snow covered mess. My husband and I spent 2 and a half hours shoveling out the next morning (after he had done a round with the snowblower the night before while it was still snowing) and our yard has officially become a 'winter wonderland'. They actually closed the UW for the day to allow for unobstructed snow removal. All of this snow threw a wrench in my normal running routine that I'm starting to adjust to.

First off, I determined the first long weekend run after the big snow storm that even with my YakTraks on my shoes running in snow and slush is still many times harder than running on nice clean sidewalks. Have you ever gone for a fun on the beach? You know how for every step you take you slide back and/or sink into the sand? You know how tiring that gets on your legs? Imagine doing that for 6 miles. That's what I ended up doing the Sunday after the snowstorm, and I spent the next 2 days feeling muscles I didn't even know I had ache. I decided that I'd give the crews a couple more days to clear the streets and walks before I did that again... Consequently, I've been running a lot more on the treadmill. Not that I dislike the treadmill, but it is a bit of an adjustment compared to long runs in the sunshine and fresh air.

Luckily while school was in session it was easy for me to get to the Nat (one of the fitness centers on campus) and it's free for students. Although the treadmills there seem to be a bit hit or miss on their stability. I swear that the one in the back left corner runs faster than the speedometer says it's going, but since I'd like to increase my speed a bit anyway I figure it's just forced speed training. I was concerned about finding a way to continue my training when classes ended for the semester, but I've gotten some help with that. The Anytime Fitness gym down the street agreed to let me come in and use their treadmills for training without charging me a fee as long as I agreed to come in during their non-peak hours. They said they like to help people who are participating in charity events, and I really appreciate their help. I only needed to cover a couple of weeks, we leave for Florida in January for 10 days (where hopefully the weather will be less arctic) and then I'm back on campus for the semester.

As far as fundraising goes, slow and steady will hopefully win the race in the end. I'm working on trying to secure a florist to do a fundraiser floral arrangement for January, we're gift wrapping at Barnes and Nobel this coming Monday, and my husband has offered up his comic book collection for sale with half the proceeds going to me. Of course, that means that I have to organize them, figure out the worth, and determine the best way to sell them. I'm leaning toward the ever popular Ebay, but I've never sold anything on there before so I've gotta do a little research. I'll keep you posted, and if you know anyone who's interested in early 1990s comic books feel free to send them my way.

Well, on that note, back to evaluating over 1300 comic books. Does that count as a workout?

Berbee Derby and Coffee Sales

Ahhh Thanksgiving... A day to eat too much food, watch too much football, hang out with family, and run 3.1 miles in the cold and wind,... wait, what????

Yep, I started Thanksgiving morning out running the 2009 Madison Berbee Derby at 9:10 am. It was cold and windy, but lots of great people made it much more tolerable. We had 20 or so TNT alum, participants, and family there to represent TNT. Although many of our marathoners ran the 10K, we also had family and friends (and yours truly) who ran/walked the 5K. I dragged my dearly beloved husband out of his nice warm bed to be at the starting area by 8 am in an attempt to get some photos of me crossing the finish line of my first TNT race. He's a good sport with things like that.

We were lucky that the rain that had been in the area for several days decided to give us a break for the run, but the morning still broke fairly cold with a brisk wind. That didn't stop a large group of people from starting their Turkey Day with a bit of exercise and comraderie. There were the hard-core runners (like the 1st place finisher of the 5K that ran it in a bit over 15 minutes), there were also families with baby joggers, groups of walking friends, and at least 1 person in a full-body turkey costume. Although I do not have a total count on how many people overall were at the Berbee Derby, it was over 1000. The 10K started 10 minutes before the 5K (9:00 and 9:10 respectively), which was really nice because you could see all the 10K runners starting out and in many cases you could see them finish as well. Although they were running twice the distance, it wasn't uncommon for the 10Kers to finish at approximately the same time as some of the 5K runners and joggers. Case in point, I ran my 5K in 33:05 and many of the 10Kers ran in about 40 minutes.

I was just thrilled that I was able to run the whole thing, quite an accomplishment for me as I've been mostly doing a 8 minute run/2 minute walk combination on my runs. Although my pace could have been a little quicker (10:37/mile), it was steady enough that I felt like I could have kept going when I crossed the finish line. That's an important piece of information when I'm intending to run 13.1 miles. This pace will let me finish my half-marathon in about 2 hours 30 minutes. I'll admit that I did run for about 15-20 feet at the halfway point, but it wasn't because I was tired. They handed me a small cup of water at that point and I quickly determined that I couldn't run and drink at the same time (and I was thirsty). Wearing your beverage on a chilly day is not a good idea, so I walked and chugged my refreshment.

After the traditional family Thanksgiving meal with my in-laws we returned home where I grabbed a 2 hour nap to prepare for my fundraising that evening. How many of you went shopping on Black Friday? Were you those people that got up really early, or the ones that pitch a tent outside your chosen store in an attempt to secure the best deal for that ideal purchase? If you happened to do that on Madison's East Side Old Navy and Best Buy on this past shopping day, you may very well have seen me and my mom out and about. We were shopping, but not for a big screen TV or a new outfit; we were shopping for donations.

At 2am on Black Friday my mother and I loaded up my car with hot coffee, hot water, cocoa, and my father-in-laws little wagon and headed out to try to fill the shoppers with Christmas cheer and caffeine while raising money for cancer research. Stores in this area started opening around 3 am, so we carted our wares along the lines waiting to get in and offered hot beverages for donations. I typically avoid stores on Black Friday, I'm not that fond of crowds or shopping and this day combines those two things in the pressure cooker of holiday shopping stress. However, I found that the people waiting to shop were not only generous, but were very appreciative of hot beverages on a cold morning.

I was really surprised that few people wanted coffee, almost exclusively people wanted hot cocoa. That wouldn't have been a problem had the stores had well-lit parking lots and such, but we were not that lucky. Have you ever tried to fill a foam cup with hot water in the dark? It's about as easy as you would guess. My poor mom had to keep trying to stir hot cocoa mix in glasses that were near to overflowing. Made a bit of a mess. But I got lots of thanks for the cocoa and the cause, along with raising almost $200 in donations! I think it was worth a little chocolate on my clothes.

Overall the cocoa activity was fun and paid off, but if any of you know someone who needs several hundred foam cups and 300 coffee creamers, let me know. My brother-in-law works for Sysco, so he got me my supplies, but in a bit larger quantity than I ended up needing...

Why we run

I told you previously that the reasons that I signed up for this event are many and varied. I'll admit I think I've tried to downplay my reasoning, but over the past couple of week, I've found myself getting very emotional when I think about my run and the reasons and people behind the formation of Team in Training. Maybe it's the holidays making me sentimental, but I feel that maybe it is time to let you a little deeper into the soul of my participation.

Most of the family: Back row l-r; Jacob, Juli, Jerrica, Jason. Front row l-r; Jade, me, Mom, and Jess.

I have a very large family. I am the oldest of 8 kids. I grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm. I adore all of my siblings, even when they drive me to distraction or make choices in their lives that I don't agree with. Being the oldest child, I grew up worrying about everybody, wanting to be sure that they were safe, happy, and healthy. To say that I can be overprotective is probably the understatement of the century. I've been known to refer to my brothers and sisters as my 'kids', which may seem odd to some people but I'm guessing most of the big brothers/big sisters out there understand where I'm coming from. We're the ones that blaze the trail, even if we never conciously think that we are trying to set a good example and ensure they have an easier time of things than we did. No matter how old they get, they are always going to be my little brother/sister, and I'm sure that my habit of calling even my 20-something siblings 'kiddo' is a source of never-ending frustration to them. But I love them, and so I worry.

I worry that someday our family luck will run out, and that illness will overtake one of my 'kids'. Cancer would be something that I could not make easier for them, it's not something that I can protect them from, and it scares me to death. For years I have donated to cancer research through places like St. Judes Children's Research Hospital, hoping that karma would smile on my family because of that and figuring that I was doing my small part to help if the unthinkable would ever happen. So far, the fates have continued to smile on my family, but I know that others are not so lucky. Every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, and every 10 minutes someone succumbs to the disease (http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=12486), which means that in the 30 minutes or so that it takes me to write this blog, 3 people will die of blood cancer. Donating a small amount every month was no longer enough for me.

Many of the people in TNT that I am training with have personal stories about being touched by cancer. We have people who have lost loved ones, people who have loved ones fighting, and cancer survivors themselves. While the stories of loss break my heart, the stories of survival keep me going. I may not be able to save everyone, but I know that in doing this event I am helping to get the world one mile closer to a time when these losses no longer occur. I dream of a time when families do not have to fear cancer, when children don't have to go through chemo, when hope is realized.

I run toward a time when we can all run together.

Dreaming of the big one

We all have those dreams of the 'big one'.  You know what I'm talking about, the biggest bass, the biggest buck, scoring the winning shot in the big game, or in my case the big donation that finally lets me reach my goal and relax.  I think anyone who does a charity event dreams about something like that, opening that envelope left in your mailbox and seeing a check with more 0's than you have ever seen before on anything other than your mortgage bill.  But that is not the way that most fundraising goes, and I think that is what I am starting to come to grips with.  I am now at $455 in donations and am gaining on my goal literally a dollar at a time.  On the plus side, after my 'trial by fire' in fundraising this past week, I think I am literally capable of anything now.

To explain my 'trial by fire'.  You know those people in the mall that you avoid?  The ones who you can tell are just waiting to ask you something/hand you something/sell you something?  The ones you learn from an early shopping age to not make eye contact with, to quickly change direction, or to pretend you suddenly REALLY need something out of your purse when you're near?  You all know the people I'm talking about, right?  Well, this past Friday, I was one of those people as I attempted to sell Boston Store coupon books to people for $5 apiece to go toward my fundraising goal.  Let me tell you, for someone with mild agoraphobia and a twisted version of an outgoing personality that was a challenge.  

On the plus side, besides making $55 in donations I learned alot about body language and added some new weapons to my arsenal of ways to avoid 'those people' in the future.  I also learned that even if you are wearing a t-shirt with "Team in Training" in huge letters on the front and back, if you stand in a store long enough everyone assumes you work there.  Really entertaining when the shoplifting alarm near you keeps going off randomly.  The people who didn't try to avoid me then spent a moment looking to see if I was going to tackle them for shoplifting  :)  Hmmm, maybe I could have used that as a blackmail option (makes notes for next time...)

I've got a variety of options in my fundraising arsenal now.  Besides the letters/e-mails/blog/facebook posts that I have been doing asking for donations, I also have quite a portfolio of products available.  I'm still selling the Boston Store coupon books (until the sale on Nov 14th).  I'm selling BuckyBooks until Dec 1st, which is a Madison Wisconsin area entertainment coupon book for those not familiar with it.  Several companies (www.simplifiedscrip.com and www.city-scrip.com) that sell gift cards on-line have joined with TNT and a portion of the proceeds from the gift cards go toward my donation goal.  See the note to the right if you are interested in these products.  We're going to be selling concessions at local concerts, wrapping gifts at local stores, and who knows what other group projects we will do.  I'll keep everybody posted on where I'll be and when in case you want to stop by and say 'hi'.  

My biggest donation thus far came from my friends Rob and Amy, who gave a $200 donation.  Of course, in true ultra-competitive Bradley fashion Rob had to make it a challenge/contest.  He basically gave me the donation as a bet, I have to give him $150 back if I don't complete the half-marathon.  He determined after we made the bet that maybe he should have asked how far I could run before he said that, because when he found out I could already run a 5K he said 'I've lost that bet', lol.  Of course, now I REALLY have to meet my fundraising goal, it would suck to have to pay him back not because I didn't complete the race but because I didn't raise the funds to go.  So that's my battle cry for the week, people.  Donate so I can do a victory lap around the Bradley gaming table in March!  I'll post pictures...

Running, fundraising, and insecurity issues.

I finally got to meet some of my team mates this past weekend. We had our first team training run on Saturday. I'll admit, I started out feeling pretty embarrassed and kind of pathetic, but by the end they had all put me at ease that I was on the right track. I realized as excited as I am about this event and opportunity, it has the unique side-affect of bringing out some of my less than stellar self-confidence issues.

When I signed up for this event I was all confidence on the outside. I've raised over $2500 for charity events before, $3800 shouldn't be a problem. Then I had my first official week of fundraising, sent out a bunch of e-mails and such, and as of the morning of my first team run I had a measly $25 in donations. When other people there started talking about their fundraising and one had over $900 and another $1250, I started to panic. And to be honest, I haven't really stopped panicking yet. But what kind of surprised me is the mental conversations that I go through trying to figure out what I'm doing 'wrong'. You'd think the fact that I've only been fundraising for a week, I'd be a little easier on myself. Goodness knows, the other team members were understanding and the coaches and mentors keep telling me not to panic, but it's hard. The questions come up in the dark of night. What could I do differently, does the fact that I don't share a personal story of cancer hurt my fundraising, did I word my e-mail badly, and my personal favorite of 'doesn't anybody like me enough to donate'. How's that for a crisis of confidence for ya, huh? In my mind I know that things will pick up and that this goal is achievable, but that doesn't stop the fear in my heart that I will be waving good-by to the rest of the team as they head to New Orleans and I'm stuck in Madison because I couldn't meet my goal. (I told you this wouldn't be an all 'warm and fuzzy' blog, didn't I :) )

I'd like to give personal thanks for a very generous donation from my in-laws, my donation total is now at $125.00, which is helping to give me another wind. Dano (another team member/mentor) recommended that if I try to mail at least 50 actually fundraising letters to people, which puts me in an interesting position since I don't even typically send out holiday cards. I've gotta actually track down mailing addresses for people. Luckily my brother got married a couple weeks ago (congratulations Jason and Kim) so I figure I can hit him up for his address list for all those cousins I only see at weddings and funerals. Thank goodness for printers, I don't even want to consider having to hand-write that many letters. I'm pretty sure no-body could read my handwriting anyway...

I was also a little dismayed at first to find out that I was the only one there running a half-marathon, everybody else was doing the full 26.2 miles. So while they were all running between 6 and 8 miles that morning, I was doing a measly 3. How sad is that, right? But our coach, Art, was really supportive. How did he put it again...oh yeah...something like 'Jo, a full marathon is 3 times the distance of a half, and you'll actually be able to walk the next day, unlike the rest of us.' They were all quick to point out that a half-marathon is still a goodly distance. How many other people do you know that have ever run 13 miles in one shot? To be fair, there are all ranges of abilities on the team, and there are several other people running half-marathons, they just didn't happen to be at my first team run. We even have someone who is walking an entire marathon (that's approximately 7 hours of walking!). On the plus side, I ended up actually running 4 miles instead of 3, but that was mostly because I got a little lost and missed my turn around point. I sure hope they have people to directe us in New Orleans, or I may end up in Omaha before I know what happened! Directions are not my forte.

This week is going to be busy and full of Team in Training (TNT) activities. I've got a fundraising clinic/brainstorm session on Wednesday, selling coupon books for donations at Boston Store on Friday, volunteering at a charity run on Saturday, and running in a team 15K relay on Sunday (5K each member). Next week I'm working with several team members at the concession stand for some concerts locally and we get a portion of the profits as donations. And of course, I've gotta keep up with my schoolwork and my training schedule in all of this as well. Ah yes, and sleep and eat a decent meal once in a while as well! Speaking of which, I've got a paper to finish writing, so...


I'll 'see' you all next time!

Jo

Who I am, what I am doing, and why.

Who I am is probably the easiest question to address. My name is Josephine Horton, although I typically prefer to answer to Jo. I am a 31-year old, married, adult college student living in Madison, Wisconsin. For the sake of this event, however, it might be easier to state who I am NOT. I am not a super athlete. I am simply a person who decided that big problems require a big commitment. This site is my attempt to take you on this journey with me.


On October 10, 2009 I made a decision. I had been languishing for a while, looking for something I could do that would re-energize me, inspire me, and allow me to recapture the feeling of being a part of something bigger than myself that I had 10 years ago when I did a 500-mile charity bike ride. There were lots of small, local events that I could participate it, but they did not have the feeling of community that I longed for. I wanted to do something BIG! Team in Training was that thing. And so it began, this journey to run in the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon on Feb 28, 2010 while raising $3800 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.


I think the first question that jumps into people's minds when I tell them that I signed up for a charity half-marathon is 'why'. That is a complex question, and there really is no simple answer. The reasons that come to mind change in order and status every day. Because I have a healthy, happy group of siblings, nieces, and nephews and I am grateful every day for that gift. Because I've had friends who have lost people they love to the ravages of cancer. Because almost every life is touched in some way by this disease. Because I can. The list goes on and on. Over the course of this story I hope to not only inspire people to join me on this journey, but also to realize that the limits that we so often impose on ourselves are not real, that we are so much greater than we often give ourselves credit for.

A word of warning, this is not going to be a professional journal. It is not in my nature to sugar-coat things. This journal is going to be a running dialog of the trials and tribulations of training, the heartbreak of loss, and the struggle to reach your goals. It's going to be fairly free-form, you will get what is in my mind and heart at the time I write it. My hope is that this will help bring some of my passion for this event and this cause into your lives. There will be laughter, there will be tears, and there will be cheers of triumph.

Come run with me...

http://pages.teamintraining.org/wi/mardigra10/jhorton06n