Tuscany

We arrived in Rome before 7 am on Thursday. My aunt and uncle had to pick up a car near Rome and so they picked us up at the airport.  We were very grateful we didn't have to navigate getting to Tuscany after little/no sleep the night before.  It was a three hour drive to Gaiole in Chianti where we were staying.  I got a nap in and then we had lunch at a friend of Jeannie and Jerry's.

Jerry and Jeannie

View from where we are staying

I was a little groggy on Saturday morning and didn't really feel like running but hoped it would make me feel better.  The weather was supposed to be rainy but it held out until later in the day and temps were great.  I quickly realized that the beautiful hills of Tuscany are not so fun to run on, it was straight up hill for 1.25 miles.  The run did make me feel better.

This is up hill I swear

View from the run

After the run we got ready and headed out for a big day of sightseeing and eat.  The first stop was the Saturday market in Greve in Chianti.  The highlight for Nick was the famous butcher shop Falorni

I prefer the cheeses

This is like heaven for Nick

Next we headed off to lunch at Lamole, which was delicious, followed by a trip to Volpaia for an after lunch coffee.  Volpaia is a 12th century village in which most of the buildings have been converted to a winery.

After a few hour break from eating we then headed to Osteria del Castello.  This is a restaurant that is located on the same property as the Brolio Castle. This was yet another amazing meal lasting several hours.








P.S. I am 2/3 of the way to my fundraising goal for PAWS Chicago.  If you would like to donate to my fundraising page you can do so here.



Today is not too shabby

I am officially registered for the Chicago Marathon!  I am also on the leaderboard for Team PAWS fundraising:

Thanks you everyone for all of your donations, you are going to help save a lot of animals.  If you are interested in donating you can do so here.

And if that isn't enough to be happy about, I leave for Italy tomorrow!  I will try and update the blog with all of my travel adventures when possible.

Sponsor me for a mile of the marathon

You can now sponsor me for a mile of the Chicago Marathon.  As the mileage increases so does the difficulty and the cost!  Here is the mileage breakdown:

1 sold
2 sold
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9 sold
10 sold
11 sold
12 sold
13 sold
14 sold
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25 sold
26.2 sold

During the mile that you sponsor I will be blaming you for the pain that I am in and I may send you photos of how miserable I look.  If you would like a specific mile (and it is available), please let me know.  Updates on what miles are taken can be seen on the right column of this blog or on my Team PAWS fundraising page.

I look forward to running every mile for you!

First physical therapy appointment!

I went in for my first physical therapy appointment yesterday.  I have never been to a PT so I had no idea what to expect.  My therapist, Kim, measured all kinds of angles and whatnot to determine how well my joints were bending and where my issues might be.  I was informed that my hamstrings, quads, and feet are very tight and that I pronate too much when I run.  I already knew my hamstrings and quads are tight, I am one of the least flexible females you will meet. I cannot touch my toes without cheating and if I tried to do the splits, this is about the best I can do (but my head wouldn't get that close to the ground with my back that flat):

I had no idea about my feet being "tight", although it makes sense from since I have been cramming my feet in climbing shoes that are too small for years.  So now I have been given exercises to work on to stretch my IT band, strengthen my hips and other muscles that will help with the pronation issue.  I also have to work on my foot tightness using "foot yoga."

In case it is not obvious, those are not my feet.  I have tried so hard to make my big toe lift without lifting the rest of my toes and I absolutely cannot do it.  So not only are my feet tight, they are also not very coordinated.

So my goal is to work on these exercises every day, even on my upcoming trip to Europe (which I will be posting about).  I am very exciting about this trip which includes Italy with Nick (the husband) and my aunt and uncle, Paris with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Amanda, and Belgium with my awesome friend Amy.  It is going to be a great trip!  I will make sure to take photos of the great things I see when I am out sightseeing and running.

I want to thank all my great coworkers, friends, and family that have been so generous in donating to Team PAWS on my behalf.  Because of you I have raised $850 in only 4 days!  Only $400 more until I meet the minimum fundraising amount!  If I get to $3000 I can be part of the 9 lives club, which would make me happy.  If you are interested in donating her is my Team PAWS page.

I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon for charity!

After the experience of training for months and suffering through 26.2 miles at Disney World in 2012 with Ruth Napier and Mary Moerlins, I said I would never do it again.

But as the saying goes: "never say never."  Looking back at those pictures from Disney, we don't look that miserable do we?  We might even look like we are having fun!  After forgetting the pain that was Disney, I began to contemplate doing one of the big U.S. marathons, Chicago or New York.  One of my coworkers (I blame you Chung) raves about how great Chicago is and so I really started thinking 2014 was the year I would do it.  I was training to get a PR at the New Orleans Rock and Roll Half Marathon and my hip started hurting when I ran 3 days in a row.  I cut back to only 2 weekday runs and decided I should go see a sports medicine doctor before I really committed to running Chicago.  A couple of months went by and I didn't go, but then I got an email from the Chicago Marathon saying registration was coming up and so I had to go find out if I could do another marathon.  I went on Thursday and found out the issues I was having were with my IT band, but the doctor did say I looked like there were some minor changes to my right hip joint and for the long term health of my hip I should only do one more marathon.

So then I know, 2014 had to be the year for the Chicago Marathon!  Well, it isn't that simple, because of the popularity of these races Chicago is now in a lottery system so you are not guaranteed entry and I really don't want to wait another or do some other race.  I was reading on the Chicago Marathon website about the entry process and realized there was another way, I could get a guaranteed spot if I did fundraising for one of the associated charities.  Although I have never really been big into getting other people to donate to charity, I did unofficially raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for the Disney Marathon. I did this in memory of my friend, Amy McMinn's mother who had passed away from Leukemia not long before I ran Disney and I did feel like it added to my overall marathon experience.

So why not do it again for the Chicago Marathon, but in an official capacity?  I researched through the many options and there was one that seemed the most fitting, Team PAWS.  Team PAWS raises money for PAWS Chicago, a shelter that rescues thousands of animals every year.  Kind of a no brainer for me to pick it.  It also seems like a good time for me to be doing this after losing Sierra two weeks ago.  Sierra was MY first dog and she was rescued from a shelter.  This would be a great way to honor her memory.

So I have officially joined Team PAWS and have to raise a minimum of $1250, although it would be great to raise more.  If you would like to support me in this effort you can donate at:

My Team PAWS Page

If you do donate please confirm that you are donating on my page and that my name is listed when you donate.  Also, make sure you receive an email confirmation, I have had some issues with donations not counting toward my fundraising.  If there is an issue PAWS needs to know.

I really wished I would have blogged about my experience of training for and running the Disney Marathon.  It would have been great to have something to look back at to remember my experience.  Although it won't be quite the same the second time around I decided I would blog about my journey to Chicago and all the things that happen along the way.