Last Run...

This morning I head out for my last run as a non-marathoner. It's a five mile tempo run, same as last Thursday, but I'm not going to go quite as hard as I did last week. I'm in taper and you're not supposed to run a lot, far or hard during this week. My body needs to REST for Saturday.

Here's the deal with a marathon. It's 26.2 miles. It's 42 kilometers. We aren't made to run that distance. Ok, there are a few people that are, Dean Karnazes and Suzy Holt Goodwin being two of them, but not most humans. Did you watch the Boston marathon? The woman that came in second collapsed at the finish. She is clearly one of the best runners in the world and COLLAPSED at the finish. If you've been reading my blog, you know that the farthest I've run is 20 miles. And I only did that once. Before you get worried, that is normal. In fact, I have friends that only run 18 miles in their training for a marathon. If you run more than 20 in the time leading up to the marathon, it's likely that you'll get hurt. But you still work your body hard during training. Tempo runs (running at a faster pace for several miles), speed work (even faster paced intervals on a track with slower recovery jogs in between), hill work (sprinting up hills over and over and over), and long runs (16-20 miles) take a serious toll on your body. And then you go and run the full distance. Go watch a marathon if you've never been to one. They are actually really fun spectator events (if you want to start this weekend, I think there's one being held in High Point ;) ) You'll see the athletes, toned and lean, collapsing, convulsing, crawling across the finish.

WHY?

Because, well, just because. Because we can? well, maybe. Even runners that have finished marathons in the past have to drop out of races sometimes. so "because we can" isn't a good reason why, because maybe we can't. BUT (and this is the appropriate answer) BECAUSE we can TRY. EVERYONE can at least TRY to accomplish such a daunting task.

I used to say I would never run a marathon. Actually, I used to say I'd never run past three miles. But it hooks you somehow. And I'm hooked. So this Saturday, I will try. I won't be trying quickly, but I'll be trying.

I'm scared, nervous and anxious. Some of those feelings are alleviated because my friends Amanda and Ben are going to come out and pace me for several miles each. My parents are volunteering and then going to set up somewhere on the course to watch me run past. If you are going to be bored early saturday morning, and feel like going for a slow job, come out to High Point and hop on the course with me for a mile or two :) If you don't feel like running, come out and volunteer with registration or packet pick up or aid stations OR you can even come see me at the finish...I hope to finish around 12:30. The website with info about all that is ncmarathon.org

If you come out just to watch be sure to look for Holmes on the half marathon course! This is his first. He has rocked his training schedule and this should be a really great race for him!

So back to the taper thing...this week is boring. I ran three miles on Monday, have five today and that's it. I went to the gym yesterday and dawlded on the elliptical for a while before my abs class. Tomorrow, I'll probably do some walking speed elliptical work just to stay loose, then maybe take Riley for a long walk on the greenway on Friday. But no more running. The body must heal and rest. SO HEAL AND REST GOOD BODY. I hope I'm prepared!

Non running note : I received an A Plus in my Phonetics class! I finished my anatomy final and I think I should be getting an A in that class as well! I have a three week break until summer session starts...when I'll be taking FOUR classes and logging observation hours. EEK! But if you know me, you know I hate being un-busy, so I'm pretty psyched about it.

Ye of Little Faith

oops, typo, that should read ME of little faith. I'm not here to call you out!

such a powerful blessing of a verse this morning. just a good reminder.

Jesus Calms the Storm

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" 26 He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

If people ask what my "religion" is, I usually answer Christ Follower of Disciple of Christ and that's a pretty heavy term, but it helps when trying to relate to bible verses such as these.

side note: I DON'T call myself a christian. For many reasons, one being that it had a negative connotation in biblical times and another being that the members of churches that protest memorials of the elderly senselessly killed by a maniac call THEMSELVES christians. HA. I will NOT associate myself with them.

Boston...and dreams...

Today was the 113th running of the Boston Marathon...it has a rich history, and I'm not really into blogging about such things because you can find that info EVERYWHERE on the internet ;) I care about it because my friend Suzy (run51.blogspot.com) ran it today after qualifying with a PR in Arizona in 2007. She's an amazing runner and an inspiration to ALOT of people! Suzy finished in 3:42 and THAT'S amazing!

But Boston was also exciting to watch today because Kara Goucher was attempting to become the first American woman to win Boston since 1985. This is her second marathon ever. Her first was the New York Marathon and she placed THIRD. HER FIRST MARATHON. Amazing to me. We were streaming the coverage online of today's race and it was really quite exciting, people pulling ahead and then dropping back. Kara really held strong throughout, but the other two runners in the lead pack just pulled out strong with about 800 meters to go. She didn't give up and you could see that she was running as hard as she could despite the probable pain. She has a really interesting running gait, very leaned back compared to most runners, but apparently her coach has tried to "fix" it to no avail. I vote it doesn't need "fixing". She finished third. As did Ryan Hall, another American runner. It's an amazing accomplishment to see two Americans on the risers in the field of such other elite athletes from Africa and other countries.

But back to personal... All this also makes me want to start running for a living. Kara Goucher won $40,000 for her third place finish. That's $40,000 more than I'm making right now and she did that in one day. I really love running. and I think it would be amazing to try and do it for a living. Too bad I'm already 28. :) There's something in me that thinks I could be successful. But that's way wishful thinking. The part that appeals to me the most is Kara's schedule. She gets up at 8am, runs, eats and goes back to sleep. Then she gets up at 5pm and does that again. I could be so totally happy doing that every day :) But oh well. I'll settle for finishing this marathon and then maybe attempting to really "race" a 5k or 8k in late May.

Not Complaining

I'm continuing to be patient. Of five job opportunities, I haven't heard any real response about any of them. But this is me being patient and not complaining. I'm thankful to have the opportunities at all (says the loser of the big award).

I filled out an online application today. I am quite irritated to discover that I have to send transcripts in as part of my application packet. I have teaching licenses in two states. Does that not suffice? Transcripts cost money, and last I checked, I HAVE NO JOB.

Sigh. I'm NOT complaining.

I have become quite good at filling my free time. I am really appreciating the extra time to study. I've found a great abs class at the gym. And I got to go to the Ginter Gardens today with Grammy. That's a lot of G's. I love tulips and they were beautiful today.

This picture does not do the color of these flowers justice. They were incredible. And the dark purple ones behind them were really awesome too.
These are pinwheels next the lake, not blue flowers, but they looked really cool.

The invitations are finally out! I've heard from folks that have received them already and I'm officially in full panic mode. I'm so worried about people who weren't invited getting their feelings hurt. Creating a guest list is such a harrowing ordeal. I truly hope that no one is upset. We are planning the Saturday night party in an effort to celebrate with ALL of our friends. And we are REALLY looking forward to it all!!!

Tonight we were supposed to be traveling out to Williamsburg to have dinner with my family who is visiting from California, but my stepmom is having some medical issues so they didn't make the trip. Please pray for them, her doctors and that they can find an answer to her pain.

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Training-almost taper!

This is my last week of running before the taper... Holmes gets no taper for this race! His first 10 miler is next weekend, one week before the Half!

He was out near Portsmouth/Suffolk area yesterday for work and went on his two mile run while there...a) He calls it "just two miles" now, which is so awesome. b) this is a funny story. So he went running in his old neighborhood. When they lived there, his grandfather used to get tired of them being underfoot and in the house and tell them "go run around the block!" After his run last night, he called his mom to have her tell his grandfather that he finally did just that :)

Perspective Re-gained

I started to struggle again a little bit over the weekend with our "struggle" (I'll explain the quotation in a minute)
I was feeling anxious and angry and frustrated...Thank God for His Word...
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+8:1-17
God "remembers" me and this "struggle" and He knows whats next, etc etc.

The quotations around the word "struggle" are there because of any "struggle" Holmes and I could be taking on in the beginning of our second year together, this one is cake. It's the family and friends around us who are really struggling and I try to focus my prayers on them and not myself. Pain with unknown sources (two instances in our family), infections after surgeries (four instances in our family), open heart surgery and mega recovery, surgeries planned, new babies, job losses in families with new babies, the list goes on. As I was typing that I thought to myself, "where are you going with this, Acey, this is just depressing", well, my point is this. My "struggle" is not one. Their struggles are, but regardless of what it is that you're going through, let it bring you closer to Christ

Just Saturday

If any of us reflected on what happened so many years ago at the cruxifiction of Christ, I think today should be even more powerful. Put yourself there. You saw your Christ being sacrificed, you heard the promises. And then what? A whole day of...nothing... The good stuff doesn't come until tomorrow and no one knew it was going to be tomorrow when it would come. In reference to my blog post from yesterday, I don't think I would've handled it well. But what a lesson in patience (I didn't plan yesterday and today's posts in advance, this is God working!) That's why being in the Word is so great. We can be reminded of what He DID do for His followers. Awesome.

20 miles this morning. I've had my smallish cup of coffee, bowl of kashi oatmeal and banana. Wait an hour and I'll be headed out the door. In Greensboro, I'm tempting my fate by running on trails for part of it. But the trails here are so awesome, I can't convince myself not to. I'll be mad enough later if I twist an ankle or screw up my hips by falling in slippery mud.

I'm so glad we came. Holmes finally convinced me it would be better than just being around the house in Richmond. I am bummed for him though because he could've played his first tennis match today (yesterday we thought it was supposed to rain)

But we're here with long runs ahead of us, a lot of relaxing, maybe a little shopping, wedding invitation addressing (Mom doesn't know that yet) and Easter dinner with family. And Mom's taking me for a manicure later :) (pedi's out, I need my calluses for the race).

Happy almost Resurrection Day!

lessons in patience

For anyone that knows me, they know I'm far from patient. Sitting and waiting in any situation is not my favorite thing to do. But it's a virtue. Ohhhhhh, patience is a virtue.

UGH. SO WHAT. I WANT IT NOW. (read "it" : anything)

But I'm trying. Praying for patience is God's little joke. Because if you pray for it, then you have to be given a situation where you can show it. And here I am. BEING PATIENT. sigh.
Here's the prayer I really wanna say "Hi God, so, sure I promise to be patient IF a situation arises, really I do, so why don't you just go ahead and give me [everything] and we'll just pretend that I was patient while waiting for it. Cool? Thanks God"

Five job leads friends. FIVE. Promising too. But I have to WAIT about every single one of them.

This is backwards, but I'm currently WAITing for the anatomy quiz to be posted. It was scheduled to be available at 8am yesterday (due by 11pm Sat). It wasn't there. I texted the professor, she finally posted a note saying "technical difficulties" last night, but it's still not there. It's very frustrating. a) I want to get it over with 2) I'm going to forget everything I studied!

Because I'm a flake and didn't know you could file for unemployment online, I didn't file until Weds and of course there is a WAITING period. So I don't find out anything until next week.

Ok, enough ranting. Some exciting stuff happened yesterday. Aside from two other jobs opportunities being brought to my attention, I spoke with one of my kiddos' moms and she said I could come with them to see his second CI get activated next week. I am THRILLED. It's so touching to me that this family thinks enough of me to have any desire to ever see me again. And this kid is a rockstar with his CI so I can't WAIT (dangit, there it is again) to see him get his second ear juiced!!!

Good Friday

ignore the video part, it's just a concert and the footage is pretty bad. but this song. is SO powerful. based on one of my favorite verses.



if you just think that all Jesus did was hear this man, this criminal, and respond so immediately with
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise." (NIV Luke 23:43)

there's a lot of discussion to be had about a verse like this, so I'll leave it to you. you don't need to know what it means to me. (unless you really want to know and of course I'll tell you, ha)

friends and the stages of the cross

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15:9-17

Each of you I was referring to earlier has shown me God's love through your actions. Miranda, Ben, Krick, Ginny, April, Neena, Val, Erik, Anne-Walker, Jeremy, Matt, Karla, Julie, Cara, Rachel, 2 Lauras, 2 Emilys, Morenike, Sarah, Paula, Cindy, Alice, Josh, Kristina, 2 Christines, Alison, three Amandas, Kathryn, Lisa, 2 Beths, Susan, Samantha, Erika, Beverly, Carolyn, Kim, Liz and Elizabeth.

The Stages of the Cross
My Dad's side of the family is Episcopalian and Holmes was raised that way too. But I've never known much about the rites and formality of the Episcopal and Catholic faiths. I happened upon this podcast (not knowing at the time what a British Jesuit was) and it is REALLY interesting.
This is the link. I just subscribed to the podcast through iTunes. There is some classical music and then the readings of the stations, but then a man kind of talks through how he might be feeling if he were there. Its kind of powerful once you get into it. Each one is short, 8 minutes I think...

www.pray-as-you-go.org/stations.htm

Day Three

This morning is much better than yesterday afternoon. And in all reality, yesterday afternoon wasn't that bad, it was just very very emotional. And I'm normally a pretty level person so it got to me pretty quickly.

Moving on...
Today...I woke up to an email informing me of yet another possibility. That's three job opportunities now...THREE...in that many days! Every day I see more and more the hand of God in my life. And I'm so thankful.

To acknowledge that the rest of my life is, in fact, going on despite all this...I got a 99 on my latest Phonetics quiz! The module was on diacritics and it was harder than the others, so I'm thrilled with my grade. Haven't gotten any Anatomy grades back in over a month. We've also had two review sessions cancelled. I'm honestly a little worried about our professor, saying some generic prayers for her. Today, those two classes are the main things on my to do list.

Marathon training is going well. Quads are feeling much better. Some days I wonder if I'm getting bored with it. It's a LOT of time. I sort of miss my four and six milers. But then at the end of my 8 and 10 milers, I love it again. We'll see what I'm saying this weekend at the end of my 20 miler. After that, it's taper time! Holmes is doing awesome with his training too. We both have speedwork tonight.

Wedding planning. Did I tell the 2cent stamp story? In case I didn't, stamps go up 2cents on May 11th. THANKS POST OFFICE. Now I have to stick two stamps on each already teeny rsvp envelope. Oh well! Right now, we're just addressing and stuffing.

My uncle is still on a roller coaster in the SICU up in Pennsylvania, but no matter the number of downs, God always leaves them on an "up" at the end of each day. My aunt blogs on facebook which I post to my profile each day.

Yesterday was a wild day for me. Like I said, for a usually level person, I was hitting high and low peaks with a quickness. The families of the children I worked with have said and offered some of the most amazing encouraging things. I'm glad to be able to keep in touch with them. My personal friends have been amazing offering prayers and saying the NICEST things. To be such a depressing thing, it has really brought a lot of uplifting thing into my life. Thank you all and thank you Lord

Day Two Part Two

I was only going to blog once a day.

But today has been so overwhelming, but for very different reasons than Monday and Tuesday...

I don't even know how to begin to express my thanks and gratitude towards those of you who have shared kind words of encouragement and sympathy.

But currently, I'm overwhelmed with grief. I don't know how to express it to those of you who aren't in a field like this. But this is literally heartbreaking to me. To be forced away from the children that I worked with...is a feeling I can't describe. The words of the parents of those kids are bittersweet. I think I've actually rendered myself speechless...for now (we all know that won't last long).

Day Two of, well, nothing

Still got up at 7:30 (well, according to my clock...Holmes will point out it was actually 7:15). A friend suggested keeping a routine. And yes, I'm open to tips, ideas, advice, WHATEVER. Yesterday, three friends, not just fb friends, but three close friends, shared the news that they can sympathize because they were also laid off within the last three months. To the three of you, and others, don't hide the news. Blogs and facebook at our fingertips, the connections are endless! In this economy, NO ONE will consider this a reflection of your ability or professionalism. To prove my point, I will share a tiny snippet of news. I have two job leads already. TWO. They were a direct result of me being obnoxiously open with my plight. No details yet, we'll see how they play out first. But when I do share, be ready for a quite amusing story of my embarrassment.

So I applied for unemployment online this morning. I'm pretty sure I don't understand it at all. As far as I can tell, I just have to report to them weekly and let them know of at least two jobs for which I attempted to apply. I think I can just fax my resume to places I would like to work, tell them that, and that counts? I hope so. I have no qualms with doing that. I already have a list of five places. Cover letter writing is next on the list.

Today, I'll also study anatomy and phonetics, ace my quizzes for this week, try to finish the larynx project, and address some wedding invitations. Got the new Volta Voices and Real Simple in the mail. Haven't finished April's Runners World either. Big day here. Ha.

Trying out pandora for the first time. I used Carbon Leaf as my anchor band. It's pretty great so far.

Resume

Excuse the formatting...Word doesn't transfer very well.
(address and phone number removed for privacy purposes)

Acey Ossman
aceyossman@aol.com

Objective

To serve families of those who are deaf or hard of hearing learning to listen and speak.

Education

Longwood University
Jan 09 - in progress
Graduate Degree Program in Speech Language Pathology

University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Fall 04 -“A” in CHFD 6102 Learning and Development (Non-Degree Seeking)

University of North Carolina at Greensboro Aug 99-May 03
-Bachelor’s of Science for the Education of the Deaf -3.71 (magna cum laude); (4.0 Fall 2000)


Appalachian State University Aug 98-May 99
-3.84 Communication Disorders

Experience

Chattering Children/Speak Up School July 08-Apr 09
Richmond, VA

-co-teacher of kindergarten auditory oral classroom (language primary focus, math and science secondary)
-Aural (re)Habilitation sessions ages birth to 8 yrs
-teacher of toddler auditory oral classroom (audition and language primary focus-theme based)
-professional community outreach
-collaboration in curriculum development


Cochlear Americas July 07-July 08
Carolinas Territory Denver, CO (based in Charlotte, NC)

-Outreach Specialist in Carolinas Territory

-provided educational initiatives to professionals in the field of hearing
loss about implantable hearing technologies
-cold calls and office drop ins to secure meetings
-created and managed individual daily/weekly/monthly schedule
balancing paperwork, travel between three states, hearing aid
channel professionals meetings, educational professionals meetings, trainings and team meetings

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Mar 04-July 07 Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, NC

-itinerant teacher of children who are deaf and hard of hearing learning
to listen and speak using cochlear implants and hearing aids(ages
3yrs – 7th grade)
-created and managed personal daily/weekly/monthly schedule balancing direct service, consultative service, planning, meetings, professional development and professional collaboration
-prepared and led IEP meetings including a wide scope of school personnel, community professionals and parents
-inserviced parents, teachers and other school staff/professionals (FM systems, accommodations/modifications for mainstreamed children who are deaf and hard of hearing using cochlear implants or hearing aids)
-served as part-time co-teacher of self contained preschool classroom for children who are deaf and hard of hearing learning to listen and speak


Clarke-Jacksonville Auditory Oral Center Aug 03-Feb 04 Jacksonville, Duval County, FL -co-teacher of toddler group (ages 2 ½ - 3)
-early intervention (ages 9-26 months)
-lead teacher of extended school day (ages 4-8)
-created and implemented group and individual lesson plans based on individual language and audition goals

Licensure
North Carolina-Standard Professional II Dual Teaching License Effective through June 2012
Birth through Kindergarten
Hearing Impaired K-12

Virginia-Collegiate Professional Teaching License Effective through June 2013
Hearing Impairment PreK-12


Community Involvement
Involvement in Virginia and North Carolina AGBell

Computer Skills
EasyIEP, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PC and Mac

Professional Affiliations
Member of AGBell
Member of several Honor Fraternities

Busy Schmusy

Well, that title looks like it should sound like Busy Schmoozy, but you get the point :)

This week is Spring Break for the students at Chattering Children. So the executive director came down from DC for a full staff meeting Monday morning. And informed us that our site in Richmond, VA would be closed down effective June 12th. There were numerous reasons, the main one being the economy and the lack of students in the area needing our services. It is true that the surrounding counties have done a wonderful job with their growing auditory oral programs. We were each given some time to absorb the information and then the Exec Dir started meeting with us individually. I was third. And promptly laid off. Effective yesterday.

Yep, I'm unemployed. To keep the school open even until June 12th, they had to cut three of us immediately. Yesterday was emotional. But not life ending. I'm blessed to have Holmes and a second income in our home. I'm blessed to have FOUR supportive parents that were upbeat and encouraging about the whole situation.

The sad parts: 1) I don't get to see any of my kids again to say good bye. Those of you that don't work with children may not understand this, but those of you that do will understand how devastating this really is. 2) I don't know how the other two teachers left there will be able to handle their "new" caseloads and I think some kids are going to get cut from therapy. So many of the kids we were seeing are going through really crucial times...just activated CIs, just implanted bilateral CI, just diagnosed need for hearing aids, it will be crushing for these families to lose services and I hope they don't have to. My friends are amazing therapists and teachers as well, but physically the kids and hours in the day don't match up. Fortunately, they both care immensely for those children and I know they will do the best they can to get everyone taken care of. 3) that lack of paycheck. 4) having to deal with insurance companies. 5) having to go to the unemployment office. 6) I have a deep fear that people will think I was let go because of a performance issue. Being reassured by the Executive Director and her lawyer that it was nothing personal and has nothing to do with my work was not reassuring enough. 6) the pity that is going to be directed at me over the coming months.

The not as sad parts (couldn't bring myself to write "happy"): 1) I have more time to spend with Holmes. 2) I have more time to focus on school 3) I have more time to focus on training 4) I have more time to spend with Riley 5) I have more time to get the wedding planned. 6) I'm able to search for a new job by just full on BLASTING my resume to everyone I know. (note: check back soon for a copy of my resume) 7) I might get more financial aid for school 8) I'm able to make jokes about it (I only cry every other time) 9) I have supportive parents (I mentioned that already huh?) 10) I have amazing friends

So that's here's my plan today. Resume clean up, email bonanza, unemployment office, call insurance companies, draft letter about financial aid, run 8 miles and "attend" the live review class for anatomy. Surprisingly busy for an unemployed chic.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

What a fantastic race!! (disclaimers to follow)

Saturday afternoon, Holmes and I dropped Riley off at the "pet resort" (HA!) and hopped on 95 up to DC. Met up with Sara, rode in her beautiful new convertible, and headed over to the race expo. (Ugliest race shirt I've gotten so far). As we were coming in the winding long line, we saw a guy with a cookie the size of his head. Then we walked past the booth with stacks upon stacks of head-sized cookies as we were on our way to the bib pick up room. We decided we'd definitely be getting one of those cookies. We grabbed the usual amazing deals (tech tanks for 15 bucks, gu for a buck each, etc) and made our way to the cookies. But, where did the cookies go?!?!?! They were sold out! It was the most disappointing thing to happen to us since we saw the ugly race tshirts ;)

Saturday night we took it easy, Sara hooked us up with some great italian food from a place near her house and we watched the Heels grind out Nova. Then up at five the next morning. Yep, 5 hours sleep before a 10 mile race! EEK! Great coffee and my oatmeal (that I brought from home, I don't play games when it comes to pre race food!) and we hopped in the convertible car, convertible car (hahahah), to catch the metro. 20 min later and a 10 min wait at the station, we were on the train. Easy way to get into to town. Got there with plenty of time to spare, but I had to find a porta-potty! I wish I had taken a picture of the lines, but I got in line at 7:13. It was finally my turn at 7:41. (ps...race starts at 7:40) I wasn't worried though, because the race was seeded and my wave was third or fourth to start. I actually jumped in line just as my wave was moving towards the starting line! I forgot that my garmin goes to sleep after a few minutes if you haven't started it. So, it lost satellite connection and I wasn't able to start the watch at the start line. Oh well, I caught it at the first mile and was able to watch my mile times.

It was perfect weather. 45 or 50 ish degrees. clear as a bell, breezy, just beautiful. A lot of the blossoms were in bloom, but it looked like maybe some of the trees hadn't peaked yet. It was really neat to see the monuments that way. I'm not really a tour kind of person, so this quick and dirty tour was just right for me! It was incredibly crowded. I'm not sure I dig the big races because of that. I like eventually getting some personal space around me... But it was still a really fantastic race. More crowd support than any race I've ever been to. Great course, very very flat. I'm not used to that so it was a nice surprise!

Holmes was running the 5k portion (he just raced a 10k last weekend...what a B**A**!!) He and Sara were able to see me cross the finish line and then it took a while to find them after that. The hunt for water and bananas itself was difficult enough. I was MEGA disappointed with the post race set up. I think I was spoiled by the NC Half last year (bananas and bagels and beer and chips and lasagna and massages). Oh well, went back to find Sara and Holmes. Holmes PR'ed his 5k!! And I PR'ed my race, but the only other 10 miler I've run was a trail race (jumping trees and streams, climbing stream bed walls, etc) BUT, I did a lot better than I expected. I've been running mostly slow miles for the marathon training. I do speed work once a week, which gets some short mileage down to a low 9 min mile and some mile repeats into the mid 8's, but I had also taken a week off of that...so I wasn't sure how I'd do. My chip finish time was 1:37:51 for a 9:48 pace and I felt FANTASTIC. What a great encouragement for the marathon. I recommend to anyone training for a marathon or half marathon to race something before it and get that gauge of how you might be doing!

I got some great pictures of the monuments. Some are crooked, but I was running when I took them, so I dig 'em because they are unique ;) I don't have them saved to Holmes Mac (which I'm on right now) so here's the link to the facebook photo album. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75055&id=530494435&l=a85860cd71

AG Bell vs AFA

Wow. Quick background necessary to understand this story. Keyword: Quick. This is a complicated topic.

This is my third attempt at writing this. I'm trying my best to stay unbiased while explaining the background, but I just can't. And I don't have to. So here we go. There is a population of Deaf individuals in the country that believe cochlear implants rob a child of their birth right to be included in the Deaf culture. Deaf culture is defined by the use of ASL and the dismissal of their hearing loss as a disability. They report that they feel isolated by the "hearing world" and discriminated against due to the fact that they can't hear or can't speak. ASL is not english and the capital D Deaf community see it as the right of a baby to learn ASL and join their culture (while denying the "culture" of their parents hearing world).

Technology has come a long way. When cochlear implants first came out, they weren't awesome. There were a lot of bad ones, it wasn't what people expected and most importantly, the therapy necessary to maximize the potential of a CI wasn't understood. So it is understandable why some may be wary of a cochlear implant. But that is so very different today. CIs are changing people's lives. They are not a cure for deafness, but they can provide high level speech understanding. A lot of hard work and dedication goes into that life change. But it is possible. I see it every day. The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the deaf and hard of hearing is an organization that supports individuals with hearing loss and families of children with hearing loss that have chosen to learn (or re-learn) to listen and communicate with spoken language.

(the following is quoted from a recent AG Bell email) "AG Bell acknowledges that a chosen approach depends on culture, family interests and desired communication outcome. AG Bell believes that the language and communication approach chosen should be based on an informed decision made by the child's parents/family and based on their own unique circumstances...AG Bell does not believe that ASL should be prohibited or restricted as a choice, nor does AG Bell advocate against learning ASL as part of a child's overall development if that is what the child's parents desire."

A group called "Audism Free America" has recently begun protesting at AGBell's headquarters. Ok, this topic gets me so fired up, I can't write in a straight line anymore. This gets pretty heated and if you have any interest at all, here are links to both sides, a blog and a twitter.
AFA: http://audismfreeamerica.blogspot.com (they also printed the email update blasts from AGBell, so you can actually get both sides here)
AGBell : http://www.twitter.com/agbellassoc (you don't have to sign up for twitter, you can just read through yesterdays events associated with the rally)

What it comes down to is family choice. AG Bell does nothing to demand a child be raised oral. They don't steal babies from families who have chosen to teach them ASL. Their only purpose as an organization is to support the ones that do choose spoken language to be the communication method for their child. AFA's protest, rally and attack is misdirected. They should re-establish themselves as an organization that provides support for families that choose to raise their child to communicate by ASL. You might be wondering why I care so much. Because they also issued a call to action. For their supporters to protest and rally at local oral only schools. I work at one of those. And all it would do is scare the kids and parents. We are one of the closest oral schools to DC. I'm praying they don't show up. but if they do, I pray it's this week, when the kids are on spring break.

maybe a little wordy...

It's been a while since I blogged

i've had a lot to share, but i've been stupid busy

where to start....

Uncle Mike. Thanks to everyone praying for him. Please pray also for Aunt Lisa, his four kids (worrying from FL, MS, and KS), and his doctors and nurses. You can see my amazing Aunt Lisa's notes on my facebook page. Every day is a step in the right direction. We might not understand that direction, but it's God's direction and we'll follow it. Quick update. Chest pain, ICU, tests, bad left ventricle, bumped up to Level 1a transplant, LVAD surgery, LVAD great!, lots of fluid, slight fever, ventilator, less fever, still lots of fluid, off ventilator, back on ventilator, pneumonia diagnosed, treated, fever reduced, off ventilator, down to Level 1b transplant. I think that's where we are today. Again, thanks for the prayers!

Our Daily Bread. What I've been reading each morning online. It has a short bible passage and a quick story relating to to it. So far I'm really enjoying it. Mir signed up for the emails and it's nice because sometimes we're able to discuss the passages by email during the day, makes me feel like we are in a distance bible study small group. HA. I highly recommend it for anyone who's thought about reading the bible each day, or even just once in a while.

Running. I mentioned in my last post that I was resting a bit from training. Overworked my quads like an idiot. I was trying to get back into strength training and I made bad decisions about it. Well, I'm running again, but the effects are lingering. My last full training week before all this started was a recovery week in itself. Three 8 mile runs. Then I took time off over what should have been a high mileage week (4, 8 and 20). Upon the reassurance that very few marathoners run 3 20milers in their trianing, I decided to scrap that long run. So I just ran 6, 4 and 12 following that recovery week. This week, I got back on track. And it hurt. Had 9 Tuesday that introduced some intense knee pain, but it felt like leftover ITB stuff. (I took Weds off-school work called and I needed an off day this week anyways) Thursday I went to the gym and had NEW knee pain, just walking up the stairs and again when going in reverse on the elliptical. I panicked and went in to ask the sports doc on site for a screening. Long story short, it's either patellar fem..er..uh...something or patellar ten...do..ni..something. Either one is caused by .... wait for it .... OVERUSE of the QUADS. Stupid strength training. So I'm supposed to back off. Well. No. Ha. I ran my 8 yesterday with 5 tempo miles and I have the Cherry Blossom 10 miler tomorrow. And I'm not NOT running this marathon.

Wedding. The fabric for the ties and sashes has finally arrived. Mike's ring and suit have come. Mom and I finally made a dress fitting appointment. The showers and parties are scheduled. It seems like we've done so much. And it's amazing how much left there is to do! The invitations finally came too. We love them. And spent two hours last night folding, stamping and stuffing them. Holmes wins fiancee of the year award for noticing that stamps are going up two cents in a month. Thanks Post Office. We bought stamps already. So now everyone's invitations will have a regular stamp and a 2 cent stamp. I'm thrilled to spend more money. Other than the stamp issue, everything really is exciting. Addressing is the next big task. Fortunately, I already have EVERYONE'S address in a spreadsheet ready to go!

School. BUSY. Holy cow these classes are hard. But I'm really enjoying them. Some of the stuff in Anatomy is SO fascinating to me. Like how you can have a nerve damaged that causes facial paralysis, but your face will still move in response to emotions because that's controlled by a different part of the brain. And phonetics is just fun. It's like a sunday paper word puzzle. I'm officially registered for "Neurology" and "Speech Sciences" for the summer. I find out next week if I have to take "Phonology and Language Disorders" as well. Fingers crossed that my undergrad classes will suffice to fulfill the pre-req requirement and it will only be a one hour independent study. I think I'm just a few days away from finishing that larynx project!!

Holmes. Shoot, he's awesome. As always. He is probably the most supportive and helpful guy in the world. I'd be willing to bet on that. He cooks, he cleans, he sits patiently as I have nervous breakdowns about school. :) And he is gonna kick this half marathon's rump. He's training harder than I ever have for a race. And doing a great job of keeping himself in check so he doesn't get hurt. the Big Race is only a month away and we can't wait!

Other various hospital visits of family...Alan. He's doing great! No residual effects (as far as they've reported to me! JR. A 1 centimeter kidney stone was causing some serious pain. 1 centimeter. Kidney stones are usually 2 or 3 MILLImeters. She's recovering well also. Mamaw. Continuing to recover from the new knee! Grandaddy is doing well too, I'm bummed the family isn't going to be able to make it to Charlotte this year for the GBS 5k, but I'm going to make a donation and we'll be sure to go next year!

Well, there ya go. My life updated. :) Happy Spring everyone!!