Olympics highs & lows

   The best thing about the Olympics is that I've spent a lot of quality time at home on the couch with my pets over the last couple of weeks.

   The worst thing about the Olympics is the repeated and gratuitous use of the words "twizzle" and "Ligety".

Animal Olympics

   Taylor gold medalled in inverted stiff-legged couch surfing:

   Kismet is thinking of becoming a diver. Maybe. Maybe not. But perhaps. She's not sure really. Definitely curious though.

   For sure she's top of the podium for beauty and sweetness, in her extra-long winter-fur finery:

   Aki keeps bringing me the little plush moose that Sawako brought. It's her favorite.

   When I take it away and tease her, she makes it known that she is tops in the "awful demon face" race!

   Who will win the gold for maximum hibernation? It's going to be a close race... perhaps a four-way tie between us!

Premiere 10k

   Here I am with Big Jay, the KU Jayhawks' mascot. For some stupid reason I have loved those goofy costumes ever since my parents took us to Disneyland as little kids. Probably influenced me towards becoming an artist. Characters come to life? Awesome!!! But, I digress. This post is about a race.

   Today was my very first 10k, in an actual race with timing. Most I'd done before was the 8k for the Amy Thompson Memorial Day run a few years back. I ran the Electric Run course twice just last month, so I knew I could go the distance. But my training has wavered from work, vacation, and other busyness. I'm glad Britten & Rich ran with me--I probably would have slowed down or even walked some if I weren't trying to be strong for them. Yay, teamwork!

   This was the third year for the Plaza 10k, and they do it right: great shirts, and slick finishers' medals. Great atmosphere, full house: the race sold out! 

Rich was kind enough to pose with both of us.

   Can you tell by the size of my smile, how glad I am that it's over?

Rich & I crossed the finish line together, and Britten was just a bit behind us. Nice race, guys!!!

Aaaand...

   I did well, hitting my goal time of "under 1 hour", landing at about 58 minutes. That will give me something to beat, as I'm registered for the Groundhog Run 10k (underground, at the end of January). I'm still wondering if I have a half marathon in me. Certainly not at this pace. And certainly not without thorough preparation. I'm chronically undertrained for races. But without losing 1 or 2 or 20 of my hobbies, I give all the time I can.

   Just got an email with more detailed results (KC Running Company = AWESOME): There were 418 finishers in the Female 35 to 39 age group and 3139 finishers in the race. Your overall finish place was  1232 and your age group finish place was 124.  Your overall finish percentile was 39 while your age group percentile was 30.  Your time of 59:03.8 gave you a 9:31 pace per mile.

Color Run After-Color-Party

Here is what color runners look as they begin the race:

 Here is what most color runners look like after the Color Run:

And here's me: HARDLY ANY COLOR!!!

   I cannot figure out how I finished this run so clean! (Relatively speaking.) I had volunteers hit me directly with the powder all over. I slowed down. I went right up to them and spun around to get all sides coated. I even put my face in it! Most of the powder seemed to blow off while I ran... and it's certainly NOT because I was fast! I haven't run since Dog-n-Jog on June 10, and that was only a mile. Guess I need to sweat more to get the colors to stick. (How would that be possible, given that it was over 90 degrees for this race?!) It's a mystery.

with Deb's son and his best friend

At least I managed to get a lil' in my hair:

Nothing like my Meetup friends, though:

   There were more opportunities to get coated with color, in the mosh pit in front of the DJ booth. Every few minutes, the DJ instructed everyone coming in from the finish line to throw their color packets into the air.

Coloriffic ride, after picking up the dogs from home

   This "fake" tat lasted 2 weeks—I was beginning to worry that it wasn't fake!!! And the green spots on my scalp lasted several days as well, despite several showers. It may not be corporate-appropriate manager attire, but it was hidden by my hair. So I was none too worse for wear.

   Photos & video are from my iPhone (well-protected by the Otter Box... that thing has paid for itself!), as well as the KC Star's Mingle page, the Color Run Facebook page, Zazoosh, my Meetup friends, and my friend Deb Huffine.

Random Hallmark moments: The Chief

 

   I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a talk with Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley yesterday; he came to Hallmark to share stories from his career and talk about leadership. What a treat! He offered some great principles and reminders. Namely, that you should expect a lot from people and push hard. And how important it is for the people you lead to know how much you care about them.

   It made me reflect on how fortunate I am to work for such a caring company full of truly unique and talented people. Caring for those around me is easy: everyone is so fun and interesting, with great senses of humor, cool families, interesting hobbies and great stories.

   This week was one of the most challenging I can remember in quite a while. (And not just because I had 2 flat tires, Taylor hurt his paw, and Gypsy peed all over me and made me late to work.) We were in jeopardy of losing the opportunity to have our product placed for Christmas with a major retailer. And in part due to mistakes I had made. I had to consciously move past my fears about potential consequences for myself and figure out how to rally the whole team to overcome the situation. And as I'm sitting here at work tonight with my core team, adding support where I can and making sure the work gets done, I'm reflecting on the experience.

   I am very proud of the work at the end of the week. I'm even more proud of how everyone banded together and pitched in, and had fun together despite working so hard. We won't know for a few days what the retailer's response will be, but in one sense, we've already won.

   Today was actually a very fun day (despite being at work for 14+ hours). I asked the other managers to help me bring breakfast treats for the whole crowd, and then I ran out to Costco at lunchtime to renew my membership and pick up pizzas. Little did I know what a great idea THAT was... I didn't expect to be at work until 10 pm, and the leftover pizza made a pretty good dinner.

Joan, Sara, Jerry & I head to the parking garage; the last ones in the building, other than the cleaning staff!

   Although we devoured almost all of the food, there were some choice items left. Olivia just MMS'd these photos of her adorable boys enjoying the last of the cream cheese/wild blueberry danish. Looks like it was a good end to the day for everyone!

SHRED OP!

    I broke in my new gear tonight: the doggies and I took it out for a spin. The sidewalks were ungroomed, but the street had been traveled just enough and has a bit of an angle on it, so we jumped in the tread marks and got some decent momentum going. So if you look out your window and see a girl in a puffy red coat and a crash helmet on a snowboard being pulled by a couple of mini-husky-looking-dogs, just stay out of our way. I haven't learned how to steer yet.

Go Browns!

   I have no idea how the Browns are doing this year since I'm not much of a sports fan, but when the Browns do well, my aunt Martha is happy, and when Martha's happy, everyone's happy! As evidenced by the ginormous smiles.

KCCC night five: the mile

Tonight's event was the mile run & the 1600m relay, rescheduled due to the torrential rain last Tuesday night. After my race, I took a few more photos, including these from the closely-contested rematch between Danielle & Kate. The old guy with the starting gun was a real hoot!

   Kate managed to edge out Danielle this time, probably because she was still so frustrated that Danielle beat her last week. Danielle gave her a good run for her money, though. Here's a shot using my camera's "sweep panorama" mode:

Lining up for the next relay:

   After each event, the results were eventually posted on the wall outside the snack bar. Since Tom suspected that I placed in the top 10, I was pretty excited to see the outcome. I tend to get into a zone during a run; I hardly notice who is ahead of me, who is cheering for me, and what the clock says as I cross the finish. It's kind of bizarre. Usually when I run I listen to my iPod shuffle, but since that isn't allowed in KCCC, my mind goes all zen.

   According to the final results, I was 5th place in the mile—overall—in my age group with a time of 7:15.660—which is easily the best I've ever done in competition. I had earned another 8 pts for Hallmark. In the mile relay, however, we were second to last in our heat and 32nd of 51 teams overall—with almost 50 seconds separating us from the first place finishers. All four of us in the relay ran the mile tonight shortly before the relay, in which we each had to run a 400 (once around the track). We did our best but didn't have much gas left in our tanks. But now I had two relays under my belt, and only one way to go but up!
   By the time I got home (after 10 pm) I was prepared to eat everything that wasn't nailed down. I can't eat before a run, so I had to wait. And speaking of waiting, the medals eluded me, so I guess I'll have to try again next year!

   On my way out to the parking lot I stopped to take a photo of the stadium. Makes me wish I had been aware enough to try out for track when I was in high school. I just didn't know anything about it, and didn't have any friends that ran, so I had no idea what I was missing. Cross country was a lot of fun; I'm thankful to Amanda & Keri for getting me involved. If I could go back & do it over again, I'd run a lot harder. At the time, I was happy to enjoy the bus ride with the team to all the meets, when one of the guys would bring a boom box & we'd pop in a Violent Femmes or Led Zeppelin cassette. We knew all the words. Keri & I even ran in the meets together, singing "Add it Up." Our coach yelled at us that if we could sing, we should be pushing ourselves much harder. At the time, that wasn't the point. Now, though, I'm curious about what I might have accomplished. Because for the second year in a row, I've surprised myself. AND I've enjoyed myself. I'm an athlete!

   The parking lot was lined with school buses, idle for the summer. I remembered the days when I would stay after school for Spanish Club, or National Honor Society, and would ride home on the bus with the elementary kids. I would sit way in the back, in relative solitude, and would draw the whole way home. Once the kids saw me my cover was blown. Every bus ride turned into a session in which I drew as fast as I could, to satisfy as many of the clamoring kids as possible. My only rule was that if they wanted a drawing, they had to provide their own paper. I loved it! I could go on & on about my experiences on the bus. Like when we were all especially wild toward the end of the school year, and Mrs. Hess pulled the bus over, stood up, and yelled, "You all are a bunch of horse's patoots!" Or when I caught a garter snake, tucked it into a pillowcase and brought it with me so that I could share it for show & tell. Ms. Hess wasn't such a fan of snakes, it turned out, and she kind of freaked out on me. But we made it to school & my teacher had a spare aquarium handy, so the snake was well-cared-for. Isn't it funny how one image can make all those memories flood back to you?

   And just like that, it was time to retire this year's track singlet, and I had wrapped up my first season of coordinator's duties without too much trouble. While I am very much looking forward to a few nights of sitting on my butt with my feet up on the couch, I am already excited about next year's possibilities!

   At the meet, one of the guys was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Sports don't build character—they reveal it." I agree. Any challenge can bring out a person's best or worst side. What I love about corporate challenge is that it's always the best side. We try hard, but we have fun. We cheer each other on. We bond. And so, a shout-out to Debbie Talboy at BRR Architecture: I'll see you at our weekly boot camp class at the gym! And to Kerri Powell of Perceptive Software, and Kimberly Harlan of North Kansas City Hospital: it was fun to meet you at the start lines for the 100m and the 400m. Kim, I hope your wedding in Mexico was everything you dreamed of! And I hope to see you all again next year.