Running For a Paws

It's been a long time

2011-09-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

I feel like I could actually be writing to someone but I don't think anyone reads this. I'm going to start blogging again, less about cat rescue, more about life and funny stuff. I've often wanted to write about things that are silly and funny to me, quirky or something like that but thought people might think I'm nuts. Well, the people that I care about KNOW that I'm nuts so why worry about the rest of the crowd? Oh well, here goes on some funny stuff. And there will be swear words.

Why?

2011-01-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

I think there are a lot of people who wonder why I am going to run another marathon. And I don't plan to just finish. I plan to finish fast. As I sit here in a daze after running 11 miles fairly fast in unfavorable conditions, I wonder why I am doing this too! I mean, I am totally wiped out. Why am I putting myself through this exhaustion, pain, soreness, frustration? And today was "only" 11 miles! I figured that I should provide an answer, so here goes!
One reason is that I purely don't know. I guess I love to run, I love to be competitive, and I love challenges. That usually doesn't spell out "run a marathon fast" after you add up those pieces, for normal people anyhow. But for me, I am competing against myself. I set a goal and I'm going to do what I need to do to make it happen. God only knows if it will come to fruition, but I'm going to at least give myself the chance and do it right.
When I was a year out of college, I had a lot of changes come pretty fast and I decided that New Year's Eve that my new theme would be "why not?". If I wanted to do something and there wasn't a really good reason why I shouldn't do it, then I did it. That theme led me in some really neat places, a lot of fun, and eventually to my husband. This is another thing that I feel like there's no really good (or any at all) reason why I shouldn't take this goal on. It would be a different story if I didn't have a supportive husband, but I do. That's the key (thanks yet again Andy!). Support, drive, some natural athletic ability, and a little craziness all equal a lofty goal! Hey, why not????
The other reason that I'm attempting this goal is to show others what they can do by seeing someone else do something. If there's one person who sees me attempt this marathon goal (whether I meet my goal or not), and decides that she wants to set a goal for herself and do what she needs to do to accomplish it, then I have met the secondary goal of the first goal. (Still following me?)
So if there's someone (anyone? Bueller? Bueller?) reading this who things there's something she wants to do but may think that it's silly, too hard, out of reach, selfish, think again my friends. You have one life to live, so go live it!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

I'm excited for the new year! What is in store for us all in 2011? I certainly don't know but I look forward to finding out. As my computer cat and I think toward January, I know that he is very happy to be here at all! You see, in July, Daytona was hit by a car and left in a driveway in Sgt. Bluff, IA. Paw Prints got a call about an injured cat and of course, Beth (my Paw Prints partner) said to take him to the vet. Several hundred dollars and a surgery later, Daytona was nicely recovering. I was in Yellowstone on vacation with my family at the time, but was aware of the situation. When I got back, I went to the vet to take him home for recovery instead of leaving him there. He stayed in a kennel for a few days, then was very timid and wouldn't even come upstairs for weeks. Slowly and surely, his leg gained strength and he was soon bounding around with my other three cats. He's currently "up for adoption", but I like to think that he's already my cat. He follows me around the house, loves to purr on my lap as we do computer tasks, and he plays well with the others.

Daytona

I appreciate the person calling Beth about him. I appreciate the vet who repaired his broken leg. I appreciate my husband for letting me bring him home and letting him still be here. He's basically part of the family and I really do love him! One little blessing for me, one huge blessing for Daytona. That leads me to my next venture of the winter/spring.....RUNNING FOR A PAWS.

I'm on Week 1 of my marathon training program. I started on Monday the 27th and have 18 weeks ahead of me. It will all come to a head on May 1st in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm hoping to run the marathon of a lifetime and also raise money for Paw Prints along the way. It's a lot to take on, but Sioux City is so much better off having Paw Prints here. It's the ONLY place in the area in in most of the entire tri-states where you can bring a cat or call about a stray cat and know that if we can help with it, it will never be euthanized. It's a safe haven for cats where they can just be cats~ no kennels (unless in time out or behavior training). We can only take in so many cats and we have to have funds to do so. So my passions come together and I will do my best at raising my goal and running my goal time. While I hesitate to disclose my goal running time, I will be happy to disclose my fundraising goal.... $5,000. It's really not that much considering that $100,000 was raised in December alone for toys for kids. Anyway, if you're reading this, I hope you can be a part of this goal. Join me in making Sioux City a standout for the way they treat cats.... join me in Running for a Paws!

Running for a Paws II coming in January!

2010-11-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

I will be back in January. I've got a new fundraiser, new goals, and another marathon to train for. This time it's serious.
I ran the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon in October. I trained relatively hard and was very happy with my race results. I found my zone and beat my goal time by just over 30 seconds. Boy, was I happy. As you can see from my picture, I was hurting at the end, but I had the goal in mind and didn't want to look back and be disappointed or regret not trying harder. My time was 1 hr 44 min 27 sec. That's about an 8 minute mile pace. I was very happy about it!
So I'm taking the next few weeks off blogging, not as if I've really been doing a great job at that anyway. I need some down time. I'm jogging about 5 miles max so I can heal and run for fun again. I got very burned out at the end of this training session. Right after Christmas, I'll be back at it. I have lots of ideas, lots of goals, lots of ambition and drive. We'll see if we can make this Running for a Paws the best ever!

Near the finish at the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Race for Hope...and other things

2010-09-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

I really have missed blogging. I am in the middle of so many projects now that I seem to let the blog time slip by. Ok, really, I've been reading lots of books lately. I used to be an avid reader, but with kids and projects that are never fully completed, it always seemed easier to pick up a magazine. Now that we bought another car to replace the old one that needed a lot of work, the magazines (or mazagine as Ryan calls them) are no longer. I will have to find a way to NOT get sucked into buying them off the shelf though...maybe bring a strip of leather and bite on it during checkout time?
Today is my son's 8th birthday. I'm so proud to be his mom and I love the person he is and will become. What a lucky person I am to have him in my life!
I ran the Race for Hope, a fundraiser for specific things for the June E Nylen Cancer Center here in Sioux City. The race started at 8:30 and because of the nice rain on the roof, I stayed in bed until 7:30. I got up and checked the radar to see if it should be ending and it looked like it would be relatively clear by race time. Wrong. Right before the thing started, and it starts late EVERY year, it poured on us poor souls. It was cold, puddley (not sure if that's a word but it's appropriate right here) and a mess. The trail is a really nice fine gravel and perfect when it's dry. It had a lot of puddles in areas, especially the beginning. I dodged the puddles as much as I could and my feet stayed dry until the last two miles of the 9.3 mile course. I felt great throughout the entire run, and was very proud of my 1 hr, 15 minute finish. And in those conditions! I assume I ran better due to the cold 43 degrees than anything, but speedwork that I've been doing sure didn't hurt.

Dirty Shoes after the Race for Hope

I took this picture because I felt very humbled by the race experience. As I was driving there, in the pouring rain, I thought that I could just turn back home if it was raining at start time. Then, as I was walking towards the start line and bathrooms, this thought came to my head "This has GOT to be easier than chemo". It was decided. I was going to run this race regardless. So I did.

We got our countertops tiled last week. Andy took the sink out on Wednesday and he put it back in Sunday. This has to be one of the reasons why paper products were invented: home improvement projects that take a lot longer than what you though. Granted, the tile guy worked his rear off, but it's still not the way we think it should look. Andy has to finish the backsplash too. The reason I mentioned this is because of the paper that my shoes are sitting on in the above picture. He put protective paper on the wood floors, thank goodness.

That brings me to our new car. It was a hard decision to spend too much on a car. But with the current one being 12 years old, we knew we could be in for a boatload of repair costs. Plus, we don't trust the thing, nor do we trust most repair shops. Yes, there are a few we trust, but when one tells us that there's no leak when we can clearly see the remnants of it on our driveway, we have a good reason not to trust them. So we went to the Billion Auto thing at the event center and ended up doing something we said we wouldn't. For the first time ever though, we think we actually got a good deal. One of the best parts is that the new car gets 20 mpg in city driving. I about flipped when I filled up this morning and it took just under 10 gallons. WHAT???!!! Granted, it wasn't empty, but still. I'm used to a Ford Explorer V8 that is doing well at 17 mpg, and that's a lot of highway miles, and I can't fill up for less than $40. The second best thing is that we got a free trip to Vegas. Here we go again! And no shows, no tours, no nothing this time, only fun!

Ok, I guess that's it for the catching up. The 1/2 marathon is coming closer so I will be putting in 2 hour long runs on the weekends. It's really too much to handle at 5am, actually 4:45am. By 1pm, I'm totally beat.

Off to play legos with the birthday boy and have some fun with their friends after school (mine got out early today).

A new race to train for

2010-08-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

After taking several months to heal my leg injury and to not worry about training for any running event, I am now "in training" for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon. It came about rather strangely and I have to give my friend Rachel all the credit. She has been running this spring and summer and entered her first race in early August. I went to run the race so she had someone to be there in the beginning since she hadn't done it before. Although I've run in dozens of races, it can be nerveracking for me, so I totally understood why she wanted someone there.
Honestly, I dreaded going to that race. I didn't want to get up early, I didn't want to be tired, I didn't want to compete and see all these other really fast runners in great shape, I didn't want to at all.....until I got there. My competitiveness returned from vacation that I never realized it took. When I got home, I was all energized about racing again, which is the last thing I expected myself to feel like! It didn't hurt that I got first in my age group and 8th overall (ok there were only 50 runners!!). I decided (with Andy's help of course) to train for and run the race in Des Moines. Talk about a change of attitude. The 5k I ran with Rachel went well and I felt good about it. It's a pretty boring course, but it's flat and there's not very many competitors. If you want to feel good about your times, I always suggest running in the Pioneer Days 5k! And speaking of running well, I have to give kudos to Rachel for beating her time goal by 3 minutes! She rocked it!
I'm still in good shape from torturing myself with the marathon at the end of May, so I picked up the training pretty easily. I've already had two 90 minute runs and have impressed myself with the speedwork. I ran hills last week (if anyone here in town is familiar with 33rd St, that's my hill) and before that, I went to the track to run 400's. I did 8 of them that morning and averaged 1.5 minutes per lap. Not too shabby. The goal of this 1/2 marathon is to prove to myself that I can run it in the time I would need to qualify for the Boston full marathon which is 1 hr 52 minutes. Considering the bad races I've had this year, I certainly expect this to be a challenge, but I'm up for it. I realized that I have to push myself past the uncomfortable zone and get over the discomfort. Quit being a pansy and just DO IT! As usual, we shall see! And I don't know why I have to have a goal for this. Why can't I just go out and run and have fun like I used to do?
As for any other news, I believe Paw Prints is still going to close. It's really hard to see it happen, but I honestly don't know how we can continue....it's heartbreaking really.
My foster cat, Daytona, is such a sweetheart and I would LOVE to keep him. It can't happen but I guess I'll just have to keep him until we find the perfect new owner for him!
Well, I'm sure it won't be weeks upon weeks before I write again. I hope not anyway. Enjoy the 700 mph wind and heat today!

Daytona thinking about his life...

Paw Prints closing

2010-08-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

Noodle- currently available for adoption!

Isn't it interesting that it's been EXACTLY a month since my last post? Complete coincidence for sure!

Changes. Sometimes change is good, sometimes it’s even better. But when this change will come, it’s going to be a sad ending to a great thing. Paw Prints is going to close their cat adoption center. There are a lot of reasons why, but I just don’t feel it necessary to explain the main one, mainly because it isn’t about me. Let’s just say that we suffer from a lack of funding and volunteers….good, reliable volunteers. We need dozens of them and we just don’t have them. We do have some great ones though: Leah, Rachael, Mary, Sharon to name just a few. But it’s not enough. Same as the funding. We do have funds, but it just isn’t enough. So we are going to now concentrate on getting grants to continue our population control issue.

Did you know that a female cat can produce over 4,000 kittens in her lifetime? No, that doesn’t mean she will give birth to that many, but would include her kittens, her kitten’s kitten’s, and so on and so forth. So spaying and neutering is our goal to prevent the thousands of euthanasias per year in Siouxland.

Paw Prints has been the subject of very negative and bad talk from other agencies in the area. These other places go so far as to bash what we do to vets that we use. I just don’t understand. Since when is it bad that we’re taking in homeless cats, getting them vaccinated and fixed a bad thing? We certainly don’t understand where the negativity comes from and we just carry on with it. But it could be so different. Wouldn’t it be nice if when the Humane Society is low on cats, they call Animal Control, who always has a surplus of cats, and take some from them to prevent them from being euthanized? Currently, they ship cats in from Sioux Falls instead of getting them from their own city. Isn’t it called Siouxland Humane Society???? I guess Sioux Falls is close enough. I guess.....

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could send people to each other’s adoption centers if they had a certain cat that we didn’t offer? It will never happen. Ever. And it doesn’t make any sense. These other agencies work so hard to keep to themselves and to put everyone else down. They don’t get the main focus, which really should be the health and welfare of the animals. The cats of Sioux City will pay the ultimate price for the things that go on and I hate that. I hate that I can’t change people, knock some sense into them.

I wish I could win the lottery. A huge portion of the winnings would be put into a fund and we could provide a very nice adoption center with cleaning staff. We could spay and neuter any cat that we could and we could make a bigger difference faster. I wish a lot of things, but I really wish we could find a way to get people to care more. More people to put in a few hundred bucks, more people to come in once a week to clean. But they aren’t there regularly. So we face turning cats away, which has been done the last few weeks. We face knowing that they may face the ultimate when they get sent somewhere…animal control, humane society, a ditch. It’s a hard decision, but I know that some decisions have to be made.

So if anyone reading this would like to adopt a cat or kitten, now is the time to do it. Once we run out of cats, we will close our doors and concentrate on spaying and neutering and getting more grant money to work with.

Oh, I have more I could bluther on and on about, so I shall save that for another day. I guess I'll start a-singing. CH-CH-CH-CHANGES....

We're home!

2010-07-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Yellowstone Lake with smoke and fog

We left Western Yellowstone on Tuesday morning around 7:30 after packing up our tent. We thought we would end up and camp one more night in Rapid City, but after consideration, we decided to go for it and try to get home. At 1:30 am, we drove into Bell Ct. Ryan had fallen asleep about an hour before we got home and Tyler was still awake since he had been watching a movie, Short Circuit. When we got them back into their beds, they fell fast asleep and stayed asleep until 9:45 this morning, a record for both. Since we hadn't told anyone we were going to drive all the way back so as not to worry family, I tricked my mom into coming down and "checking on something" for me. She called me a little shit and then we spent the next hour chatting about the trip. She needed to head to Omaha to pick up my sister, so we figured we'd have plenty of time to catch up and view the 500+ pictures we took!
I am so thankful for the great weather we had and the good fortune of a safe, loving driver, a well built Ford Explorer, and an all-round great family week. I think my favorite part was the experience of camping in different places and experiencing these beautiful places as an adult.
Andy's favorite part was the beauty of the mountains and views of lakes, mountains, valleys, and different terrain.
Tyler loved the cave and Ryan loved being with family. That was an "awwww" moment. Really, I am very blessed to be able to do these things and I'm honestly grateful that we didn't have enough money to stay in a hotel. Well, we have enough money but that's not what we can spend it on anyway. We would have never thought to camp, especially in Yellowstone. And the fact that we went to Vegas in June prompted me to think of taking the boys all the way to the Rockies. Strange how one event leads to another!
Today has been filled with laundry, organizing, uploading pictures to make an album, and the boys playing with their friends FINALLY!
Tomorrow will be back to work, back to getting up early to jog, humidity (there's relatively no humidity where we were), and housework. The best thing about living in a tent is that it's very easy to clean!
That's all for now. I'll have more this weekend!

Day 6 - Sunday and Monday morning...

2010-07-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

The answer to the last question of my senses overwhelmed by campfires, pine trees, and starts is YES. What a great night we had! We weren’t able to get Monday night at the same park so we’re now off to the west side of the park, where we’ll hopefully be able to get on wifi and upload my last five days.

Yesterday’s adventures were only beginning when we entered the park. Just as we got into the park, we saw tons of cars parked along a non-pullover area, which means there’s an animal to see and photograph. It was a moose and her baby!! Of course, I got as many pics as possible and thought it was as neat as can be. Yeah, we finally saw AND took pictures of all the animals we wanted to! We went immediately to our campground to set up our tent and what do you know, Bismark the Buffalo was right by our tent site. We knew he was close since when we checked in, they told us there was a buffalo roaming around the camp area. I was surprised, to say the least, that they would be roaming around the people and tents. When we talked to the lady at checkin, I asked about how often they see bears and she was very nonchalant when she said, “Oh we haven’t seen one in a week or so” like it had been FOREVER. I just said OK and we went on our merry way, making sure we followed the bear rules. We dumped the firewood out and went ahead and set up our tent, which was difficult since it was very windy. I was already questioning our decision to camp there. The boys ate their lunch in the truck while Andy and I set the tent up, watching Bismark get closer and closer. He just grazed, then took time for a dust bath, and had a good ole’ Bismark time.

Then we were on our way to the mud volcano. That was actually pretty unimpressive, because we ended up seeing the Dragon’s Mouth Spring first. It sounded like what you would imagine a dragon sounding like when he was blowing fire. I got a video, which unfortunately only sounds like the water lapping at the sides of the little pond. The concept of the Dragon’s Mouth Spring is a cave where gas is bubbling up and causing the waves and as the waves go back into the cave, it traps the gas and then the gas escapes when the waves to back out, sounding like dragon’s breath. Very cool. The mud volcano was similar to mud pots, just an area of bubbling mud. Neat, but again, after the other thing, pretty uneventful.

Around this time, we saw that there was a HUGE plume of smoke coming from the forest. Ok, NOT a good thing. It was quite impressive how it grew so fast and high into the atmosphere. It looked fairly close to our camping area but we thought that we would hear something if it got dangerous.

After about an hour walking around the dragon and mud volcano area, we headed to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. There were several pretty points along the way to the main one, so we stopped several times and got some amazing pictures of the canyon. The Yellowstone River goes through the canyon and it’s an amazing emerald color. The falls are about 310 feet and you can hear the roar of them from several thousand feet away. I thought it was neat that Andy and I got to see two Grand Canyon’s in a matter of months!

We ended up at the Canyon Village and had a yummy root beer float made with Old Faithful Root Beer. It didn’t stand a chance between the four of us!

We started our way back to the campsite, thinking it wouldn’t take long. Wrong. There was a huge traffic backup, so I’m thinking an accident, bear, or something like that. It took a good 30 minutes to get to where Bismark’s friends were meandering along the road like they owned it. It was pretty funny to see. What are we going to do, honk? I think not. I think they wanted us to be sure that THEY were in charge! It’s funny that when we first got into the park, we were sooo excited to see buffalo and by the second day, it’s no big deal. Oh, another buffalo, whupdeedo.

We saw helicopters taking water and dumping it on the forest fire, one of which filled up it’s bucket very near us in the Yellowstone Lake. It was neat to see, but sad to think about the beautiful forest being burned, especially since so much of it has already been burned in the last 22 years. The worse fire got over 50% of the park in 1988 and can see the regrowth of the trees. Some areas look like they aren’t growing anything at this point. Very sad to see, especially since a lot of it was caused by people being careless with fire.

We went through another storm, no hail this time, and got back to a damp tent. Only a few small areas on two sleeping bags got wet, so we got them out to dry. The sun came out and the wind was gone, so we were pretty happy about that. We all walked to the little store close to our camp area and to the lake where we could play in the sand a little and get our hands wet. Boy, was it cold!!!

We got a good campfire going after dusk and asked the neighboring campers if they wanted to join us for roasted marshmallows since they didn’t have a fire going. They came over when the fire died down and we had a very nice visit with them. They are from Wisconsin and had been traveling from the Tetons and through both loops of Yellowstone. They were going to head back home, which takes them a LOT longer than it takes us! They had two teenage boys and one 3 year old boy and were fun to talk to. I just don’t have any idea how they packed all their stuff into a minivan with a small luggage carrier.

Oh, we just passed a tiny little pond with lilly pads and frogs, cute!

The night went well, wasn’t windy nor did it seem exceptionally cold. I got warm so took off my extra socks and gloves. The boys slept well too. The only problem is that Andy and I both had our ears wide open and kept thinking that we heard wild animals. Who knows if we actually heard anything, but we both thought there was a wild dog in there somewhere! You can hear EVERYTHING in a campsite so that’s been an interesting adjustment when you’re used to a very quiet house.

We went to see Old Faithful again (that’s THREE times for me and Tyler) while we waited for the only building in the area with wifi to be cleared from the fire alarm.

We’re looking forward to our next adventure tonite. We have plenty of fire wood and marshmallows, so I think we’re set!

More pictures to come soon.....after we find the cord to upload them....

Day 4 (Saturday)

2010-07-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today’s drive started with Ryan digging for gold in his nose. I don’t think he’s struck actual gold, but he sure is trying. We’ve offered to give him my dad’s little shovel from the professional group “The Shovelers”, which is an real looking tiny metal shovel. I think he’d use it and damage himself, so it’s remained a joke, although he has seen the actual tiny little shovel. We started out from Cody around 8:30am and headed to Yellowstone. It was a beautiful drive. Ryan and Tyler were taking pictures of each other and me. We didn’t stop along the way since we were eager to get there. We had originally planned to camp at Bridge Bay in Yellowstone but didn’t cancel nor bring our stuff to camp, so we stopped there first. Because I really wanted to camp for “real” and the smell of pine was intoxicating for me and reminded me of all the Minnesota fun times I had as a kid and all the camping trips I had, I had really wanted to camp where it was real, not in the middle of town as it was in Cody and Rapid City. I don’t know if it was Andy’s idea or mine, but we were both game for giving camping in Yellowstone a whirl. Our tent doesn’t insulate well against breezes or rain and the temps will get down in the 40’s, but we brought enough stuff that I think we’ll be ok. The worst thing that can happen is that we sleep in our Explorer. Which brings me to bears. After we changed our camping reservations for Sunday night, we went on towards Old Faithful. A bunch of cars were pulled over on a non-pullover area so I asked the guy with a camera what was out there. BEARS! I saw a real, wild bear! Andy saw two of them and we both thought that one was pretty young, maybe even a cub. We saw bears! That was cool.

Once we got to Old Faithful after a very long drive, we made some sandwiches for lunch and got some Diet Coke, and enjoyed our lunch while we watched the geyser steam. In the distance, we saw another one, Grand Geyser, spew. It was pretty far away, but made quite the show. Old Faithful started sputtering about 15 minutes before it actually started We loved watching the eruption! The boys both took pictures and I got some good ones. It’s interesting how quiet geysers are. Ryan thought it was going to explode, but really, it’s just water erupting, nothing much more. I was disappointed that many people started to leave as soon as the highest parts were done, but it went on for another few minutes. People! You came all this way, it’s not like it takes all day for the thing to erupt! Wait a few minutes and just enjoy the view!! So we sure did!

One thing I have to note is that a huge portion of the park was burned in a forest fire in 1988. You could still see the burned trees, but in many areas, the pines were filling in nicely. It’s very sad to see acres upon hundreds of acres of burned trees.

We then walked on the boardwalks around the area of Old Faithful, which is part of the Upper Geyser Basin. There are geysers and hot springs all over the place! It’s so neat, fascinating how you can just be walking along in the forest and all of a sudden, there’s a pool of bubbling water! All over the area, you can see the most beautiful blue pools of steaming water and mini volcanoes where you get hit with a pocket of warm, humid, sulfur air. We learned that there are things called “bacteria mats” that go along with the springs. Of course I wanted to touch everything there, but I knew better. Once we were done with that walk and got our souvenirs at the gift shop, it was just at the time where Old Faithful was going to erupt again. Tyler and I ran to see it while Andy and little hot Ryan went back to the car. It was great timing since it started erupting just as we walked up. Old Faithful twice in one day!!! It was awesome. Thanks for being such a trooper and running with me, Tyler.

While driving along towards the paint pots, which are cooler than cool, you can see areas where it’s steaming. I guess it’s because we never EVER see that at home, so it’s more interesting, but I certainly don’t remember this as a kid. Driving along in a meadow basically in the forest and you see areas of steaming ground. Cool, very cool.

The paint pots look like boiling mud, which I think is one of the neatest geothermal activities past geysers and hot springs. It’s really air being released in a mud made by the lack of water, but I could have watched those things for a few hours. It’s like the tiny pools of hot springs that appear to be boiling but is really air being released into the water. It looks like boiling water, so I just sort of want to believe that it is boiling water.

I think I got about a hundred pictures of these things too. Maybe 150…I think that’ll do.

Now we are driving back to Canyon Village and get some grub (see, I’m a camper, I say “grub”…does it count when we buy it???). Speaking of campers, I’ve never seen so many RV’s and campers, EVER. That’d be a nice way to travel. We’ve been very lucky with our nice weather and friendly people.

I have been telling Andy for a very long time, probably five or so years, that I would love to get in a shallow river and just play. I did this so many times as a kid and thought the boys would have the best time. So, while I was spacing out, Andy found a spot and pulled over on the Firehole River in Yellowstone. It was PERFECT, the best stop along the way. We got out and I put my foot in, expecting it to be absolutely freezing since there’s still a little snow on the higher areas. It was at first, but probably because my feet were so hot. It was warm! So we got in and walked around scoping out rocks, throwing some, and had a good time. Ryan ended up getting completely wet and Tyler got mostly wet. We skipped rocks, dug with our feet, and splashed. Thanks for that stop, Andy! Now if we could just find somewhere like that on our side of the park where we will be staying. Ahhh, it couldn’t get a whole lot better.

After our very fun and spontaneous stop to play in the river, we were stopped in road construction. Boy, THAT’s fun when the worker guy comes and says that it’s going to be another 20 minutes and your kid says, “Man, I REALLY have to pee”. He waited, thank goodness but he sure did make a beeline to the bathroom when we got to our destination, almost 40 minutes later! We drove along in a meadowy area and ended up seeing tons of buffalo. They are so neat! One group of not-so-intelligent people were walking up to the group of three buffalo while two of the buffalo were just munching on grass and the other was walking towards the morons. What don’t you understand about the sign “WILDLIFE DANGEROUS! DO NOT APPROACH” and the bright yellow paper you get when you enter the part that clearly states “WARNING, MANY VISITORS HAVE BEEN GORED BY BUFFALO. These animals may appear tame but are wild, unpredictable, and dangerous.” DUH! I was watching like I was going to see a horrible car accident, but the buffalo decided the string bean people would be no match so he went along and started munching on the grass with his friends. Along that stretch of road, we saw buffalo just lounging and some in groups, but there weren’t more than just a few together at a time. It reminded us of a book the boys have, called “Underwear”. A grumpy buffalo, Bismarck, was just grumpy and wouldn’t laugh and have fun like his friends, Orpho the Orangutan, Egor the Egret, and Zachary the Zebra, who really enjoyed going to underwear festivals and even wore ALL their underwear at once. Bismarck was SO grumpy, the bugs even left, so he was left all alone. They challenged Bismarck to say “underwear” ten times without laughing. Bismarck tried but ended up in a pile of laughs, began to enjoy life, and even, GASP!, wore underwear. The bugs came back and all was good. It’s a cute book, really.

After we drove through the buffalo, we stopped at Canyon Village when it began to POUR. We saw extremely heavy rain, hail, and lightning. Thankfully, we didn’t have a tent put up in the area and we could sit and be dry in the truck. Ryan was NOT happy at the storm for sure.

We picked up some dinner and headed back to Cody. Along the way we saw some park rangers and people stopped at a really pretty point along Yellowstone Lake. Then Tyler yelled, “BEAR!”. What??!!! So I told Andy to stop so I could see another one. I got out with my camera and watched the park ranger push people away from a certain area and back to the parking lot. I couldn’t see the bear at that point, but after talking to a girl there who was excited to get an Iowa plate on her list, the bear emerged a little closer than what I thought it was. So I got some good pictures, let Ryan see it, and we went on our way. BEARS!! When you have a vehicle at your disposal and are fairly far away from them, it’s all good. I do enjoy a good thrill though and that’s about all the thrill I want when it comes to bears.

We got back to a dry campsite and a nice cool night. One other camper who looked like a very nice gentleman (I really mean redneck) was light off fireworks. One tipped and blew up close to another camper so at least the “Hey, knock it off!” worked. No more fireworks. I can’t imagine that lighting them in a very dry area filled with people was the best thing to do, hence, the rule of “No fireworks in city limits.” Seemed like a no brainer to me. The boys finally got their s’mores and we all crashed around 10-10:30. What a day!! And so much more coming our way, too. I love this trip.

Day 3, Part 2 (Friday)

2010-07-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Day 3, part 2 started out with driving through Sturgis and Sundance, just to say we did. Sturgis is a neat little town and there sure weren’t many bikers there yet. We’ve seen so many bikers along the way and in the Rapid City area, dressed in many different things, many with a lot of leather. And tattoos.

We then headed to Devil’s Tower. About 13 miles away from it, it emerged on the horizon as a smokestack looking thing. The boys thought it was cool already. It’s funny how these huge things look so tiny from a distance. Once we got into Devil’s Tower Monument Park, we wound around and ended up just below it. I told Tyler to turn around and take a look and once he did, he again said, “WHOA, that’s cool.” We walked around a little bit and could have walked around the entire monument, but little Ryan couldn’t take the warmth and kept asking when we were going back. That was our cue to not go any further and just head back to the car and get going. We had several more hours of driving to go. I did learn from a park ranger there that Ponderosa Pines smell like candy. And boy do they! I had to give it a sniff.

After several potty stops and one gas stop right before we started climbing to just be sure, we finally made it to the Bighorn Mountains. Again, we saw them emerge from about 30 miles away and the kids thought it was really cool to see snow on top! Then they went back to their movie watching.

I did a little white knuckling it and pushed the imaginary passenger brake several times as we were taking the switchbacks to get up the first mountain. Andy did such a great job driving through the areas he’d never driven before and I’m very thankful he’s a calm driver. I did accidentally say “Hey, look at that!” then immediately took it back so he wouldn’t look and we would plummet to our fiery deaths on the cliffs below. We did see a moose on our way through and I REALLY wanted a picture, but it wasn’t in a good place to stop (i.e. going downhill at about 50 with someone on our tail and no pullover). We didn’t go on the scenic pullovers until I saw one with something different. I didn’t know what it was until we got in, but it looked interesting. It was Shell Falls. Wow. It was absolutely beautiful. We walked around it a little bit, which was a nice break from the long ride. The falls had actually been in a different location and had moved due to erosion, which I think is fascinating.

I do have to note that the boys have not been behaving on this trip. They were fighting pretty badly at home and after threatening them with taking all their toys away and actually taking some, they have been a little better. They are best buds, then worst enemies, best buds, enemies all day long. My patience wore thin on the sudden bursts of anger and the taunting they do to each other to get the other one either mad or in trouble, or both. Their mother doesn’t have any tolerance for this and we both get so tired of them getting angry and either stomping off or just saying “Well, then I’m not playing” then having the other one say “He just said he would NEVER play with me”. It could go on for centuries all the stories I’ve heard them complain to me about. So because of their rotten behavior in the car, they’ve had their s’mores taken away this entire trip so far. Each day they start fresh and each day they’ve been threatened to knock it off or there’d be a consequence. Well, it’s obviously not working since there’s been no s’mores. Maybe tonight….but by the looks of Ryan’s sleepy eyes already this morning, I don’t think it’s a huge possibility. We did give them both cameras so they could take their own pictures, thanks for the idea from Beth. That’s another consequence if the fighting gets out of control. It’s a mystery to me but others with grown boys of their own tell me it could go on forever. What?!

When we got to our campsite, we found out how false advertising works. The campsite really looked nothing like the pictures on the website. I’ve never seen so many campers crammed so close together and the huge “gift shop” wasn’t exactly what I was expecting either. Our bathrooms were port-a-jons, which I do have to say is better than 1) an outhouse or 2) finding my own “bathroom”. The teepee that we reserved was right next to about 200 teens in tents and a highway, so we picked out a tent site that was close to the river and NOT near the highway, down a VERY steep slope in a valley. It’s very quiet and you can see so many stars. Camping isn’t camping when you hear semi’s driving by….We are lucky enough to get real showers in the mornings, so I guess our version of camping is a little softer than what others do. But that’s fine with me! The guy running the campsite said that at dusk, we’d see deer coming down near our spot. When we came back from getting Ryan his camera and more tent stakes, guess what we saw? A very pretty deer with fuzzy antlers. Nature!!!

We went to Kmart to get Ryan a camera since Tyler had one and sharing was an issue. No biggie, Ryan can have one! We also needed some metal tent stakes since the ones we had were bigger plastic ones and the soil at Ponderosa Campground was as hard as a rock. The metal ones worked great. Thanks to civilized camping!

We’re off to Yellowstone today to see Old Faithful and maybe some mud pots. We’ll see what the day holds for us, but I know we won’t be driving 400+ miles! Yippee!!!! I’ll be free to drink Diet Coke without worrying we’d have to stop 563 times in 100 miles so I can go.

The sunset in Cody was amazing. Purples and pinks with white…very pretty.

Goodness, here come the cameras. It will be interesting to see the trip from their perspective!

Day 3, Part 1

2010-07-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

This is a sign we saw in the Badlands.....

We are heading to Cody, WY, this morning. We loved Lake Park Campground! Great shaded campsites, a bathroom RIGHT next door, quiet, an owner who comes and talks to us. I do appologize for my son clogging the toilet though.... We'll see you on our way back through towards home.

We made a few adjustments to our plans, but that's what we wanted...no concrete plans, just wing it. We're very excited to see what nature has to offer...see something new, have an adventure.

It's funny, we woke up this morning and it had been sunny for a while. We waited and waiting, then looked at the clocks...WHAT???! It's 5:55??? Strange. It's a good feeling. Much better than finding that it's 9 am and you have a huge drive ahead and need to pack up a house worth of things into an SUV. Ahhhh, Andy the engineer at his best! I am so happy that he's driving too. I am wary of the hills and curves and other people flying by us (going the other way) and he just drives. I can navigate and he gets us where we need to go....a good partnership!

Well, boys are playing in the car already. They're "driving" and catching bad guys. We just took the trash out and I guess a bunch of the bad guys were thrown out with the trash. At least the good guys are with us!

Ryan did have a funny comment this morning. "Steamin' hot chips are really hot, and so am I". not sure where he was going with that one, but we chuckled. Steamin' hot chips are jalepeno potato chips. His friend got some without knowing what kind they were and came running up to me "These chips are steamin' hot!!!". Now jalepeno chips are called steamin' hot chips.

Well, hope to have an update tonite on the Bighorn Mtns and our travels across Wyoming! And that bird from yeseterday is sure singin' me a tune this morning! Love it!

Day 2

2010-07-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

Pictures are in reverse order of course, but the first one is of us going off to see the Wizard at Storybook Island. The next is the inside of the train car. I love the windows!!! It was built in 1913 and looks what I assume is about the same, except paint and seat covers. The next is during the train ride. You can see the steam engine. And the last is the broken column at the cave. It broke recently then the bottom part sank because it was so heavy. Cool.

Day two of our advenure began with me waking up to a beautiful sunny morning and an unidentified bird singing a pretty song. What a great way to wake up!! I woke up to this bird and the feeling that I need to go for a jog and enjoy the pretty morning, which doubles as therapy. I got ready without waking the boys up and jogged for about 45 minutes around the lake here and next to a very nice golf course. My legs were tired from walking yesterday and the hill jogging the past few days. It was so pretty and I didn't want to stop, but thought I needed to get back to camp.

We got cold last night and we all woke up several times, but after getting more blankets, we were fine. It got me really concerned about sleeping in Yellowstone, so Andy and I have figured that we will probably NOT do that, and just keep camping outside the park where it's not as high of elevation so not as cold. I am enjoying the camping so far although I do realize that it's day TWO of seven. We have a long way to go!! I just wish I could bring this weather with us to Cody and Yellowstone...a dry 80-85 during the day, clear, and nicely cooled off at night. And I guess if pigs flew they wouldn't land on their butts every time they tried to fly either.

Today's events began with of course, the nice run, and we took off to Rushmore Caves outside a little town called Keystone. It was pretty much all tourist attractions there but was a cute town. None of us have been in a cave before, so it was a neat experience for all of us. Ryan was done about 3/4 the way through but remained patient the rest of the way. Tyler loved looking at all the rocks and crevices the water had made. Seeing the stalagtites was so neat...many were broken off from all the non-guided touring done in the 1960's time where people felt it necessary to break them off and take home. We went into a "Big Room" (which is what they called it, how imaginitive), where there was the biggest stalatite pretty much anywhere. It was a broken column actually, but was amazing. I guess it was about 10 tons but was the size of my two little boys put together. It made me wonder about all the people who had discovered these caves and the gumption it took to dig into the ground and explore INTO the mountain. It's just not my style, but I admire and appreciate the people who do that for the rest of us to enjoy.

Right after the cave experience, we went to get tickets for the 1880 Train. It's a steam engine that takes us from the town of Hill City to Keystone and back. I've never ridden a train before and have always wanted to, so this was a great time. The sound of a steam engine whistle is so romantic to me, so the fact that we had to cross the highway about 17 times EACH WAY was perfectly fine! We did meet up with the same truck several times and I realized that people do like to wave to trains. Of course we waved back. The train about rocked me to sleep and the boys fought their sleep very hard but they livened up after we were done. We got a really cool train car that was built in 1913. I loved the stain glass on the top part of the windows. It creaked and creaked as we clicked along and it made me wonder who had ridded the car before and more importantly, what were they wearing? How do they survive in those wool outfits and hoop skirts? Or was this the time of the shorter wear of the 20's? The whole entire concept of a steam engine amazes me...I don't understand how burning coal and boiling water to create steam can pull this huge engine up a 6% grade. It's like physics, you can explain it all you want, but I'm never gonna really get it!

The last event of the day was taking the kids to Storybook Park. Oh goodness, this place was amazing...AND FREE! They had little houses, slides, swings, sets for about any kids book you could imagine. They ran and ran for about an hour. My favorite thing was seeing Pooh Bear's tree. Well, I liked the Cat in the Hat's house too, with the kids (Sally and I) peeping out the window for their mom.

After that, it was just after 5 pm and was time to get the grill started for dinner. The boys decided to argue and pick at each other for the next hour, so we took their s'mores away AGAIN for the night. They weren't happy about that and Tyler sang a sad song (cried in the tent) for ten minutes after I made the decision that yes, consequences do apply during vacation, especially when they tease/hit each other right in front of us. It's obvious that we ARE spending enough time with them, so who knows why they are doing this so badly right now. All I know is that it'd better not last forever or I'm gonna...we'll, I don't know what I'll do, but I sure won't like it!

As for the people that we've seen here, we've seen plates from 38 states and four provinces of Canada. Pretty cool! And we're not even to Yellowstone yet! I think we may drive through Sturgis just to say we did and have "been" there, and we are thinking of going to Devil's Tower. Because of the adjusted plans of NOT camping in Yellowstone, I think we should just drive and see it.

Well, it's time to get some very dirty kids cleaned off and to bed. I never knew that pea gravel on our tent site could be the main entertainment for them, but they're having a ball with it. It's making them very dirty, but who cares???!!!

I would like to mention that as most of you know, I am a partner of Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue. Vacation never stops the cat rescue business so yes, I'm checking my emails and checking in with Beth as to the adoptions and things going on. She told me that we saved yet another victim of a car and he had surgery on his leg today. I am asking anyone and everyone that if you feel inclined, Paw Prints would love to have assistance with the $350 vet bill with this cat. We have already received some donations for him, but this is a heafty, although discounted price to pay for one cat. His name is Daytona (after a car who hit him) and he's already neutered and declawed. He is a pretty tuxedo color and just hit the lottery when the person who found him injured in their driveway called us at Paw Prints. Donations are tax deductible and can be made to us at Siouxland Animal Hospital or sent to Beth or me (made out to Paw Prints of course) and sent to 2025 Bell Ct, Sioux City, IA 51104. We appreciate every single cent we get.

Thanks for the plug...we are not able to get things published in the Journal for things like this so I'm using my blog....

Anyway, I look forward to our Bighorn adventures tomorrow. What will the kids say when they see BIG mountains???? What will they do when they see the teepee we will be sleeping in?? We shall see, we shall see!

Day 1

2010-07-14T19:36:00.001-07:00

7:30 am today, we left Sioux City. On Time!!! We packed up our entire house, minus our cats, and went on our way towards Rapid City, SD. We observed some interesting things along the way while enjoying each other and the fact that this is really our first "real" family vacation. Andy lost his voice in the night, although it sounded rough last night. This morning it sounded like he tried to smoke about a thousand stogies. So not a whole lot of conversation with him, but we could still talk some. It was 80 degrees when we left and the windows in the house were dripping with humidity. We were happy to head out of town for sure! By 8:30, it was already 85, but cooled down once we hit the cold front coming through.

*On our way to Sioux Falls, we encountered the worst UHaul driver EVER. She was driving in the fast lane and would consistantly go into the right/slow lane. Andy was not positive that passing her on the right would be safe for us, so we stayed behind her and watched her almost crash into several other vehicles, of course while making fun of her. Thank goodness we turned onto I90 and she didn't!

*Another strange thing we saw was, gasp!, an open weigh station! You just don't see that very often.

*Is the corn palace in Mitchell worth all the hubbub? We didn't feel any need to stop and see it.

*When we turned onto I90 in Sioux Falls, the signs for Wall Drug, 200 miles away, began. Was that worth the hubbub? It began to be very clear to me that they had absolutely everything so we must just check it out. So we were reminded of the different things they had about every mile from Sioux Falls on. Yes, Wall Drug did have everything you could imagine we found out after going through the Badlands Loop. It was interesting. I enjoy those touristy things once in a while, but they really all do sell the same thing.

*We saw a lot of bikers on their way to Sturgis. It's neat to see and the kids really enjoy motorcycles. We think we're going to swing through Sturgis just to see it when we leave here on our way to Cody.

*A funny sign that we saw, too late for a picture but would have been worth the stop for a picture, was for Dick's auto service near Mitchell, SD. "We can toe 24 hours a day". Really? You can "toe".

*Ryan mentioned that his leg was sore. "It's a dino-sore, Mom" he said. Classic Ryan.

*He also had me take a picture of him on a tiny little mound of dirt in the Badlands. He said it was the ant's badlands. Pretty clever again, isn't he?

*A funny sign we saw right before the Badlands was "Gas now or gas can later." I guess that means to fill up. So we did!

We got into Rapid City in very good time, even after spending a good 90 minutes in the Badlands, so we decided to head to "The Big Heads", or as adults call it, Mt. Rushmore. I think the boys were pretty worn out, but they enjoyed taking the small hiking trail around the park area. I enjoyed seeing this as an adult, since the last time I'd been there was probably when I was about 13. I do remember it clearly, but it's different as an adult. Also, I saw the Badlands when I was on the same trip as a 13 year old. I remember them being VAST. When I saw them this time, they were beautiful, but it wasn't as huge as I remember. I could see plains and the hills/valleys/crevices didn't seem so all-encompassing. Tyler's reaction when we walked over the hill to see the Badlands was "WHOA". But I think that they just wanted to throw rocks over the hill. Andy's reaction was that it was very different: you come over the edge to a completely new world. Nice way to put it, my very-good-driver-of-the-day-although-you-don't-have-a-voice.

So tomorrow, we're going to ride the 1880 Train and hang around the campsite, see Storybook Island, visit the Dinosaur Park, or do absolutely nothing except grill some food and have s'mores. That's all we're out for, a good time. We've been successful so far! I've had people tell me to put the stupid computer away, but this is a good way for me to record things as I see them when they're fresh. I could write on and on, but I do know that SOME people are going to read it, which I appreciate! I have a feeling that the "good" part of our trip hasn't even begun. It's going to get more and more interesting. The boys are running around having a blast together tonite, Andy and I are going over the possible tour things to do tomorrow, OH, visiting a cave may be one....that intrigues me to no end....but we're going to just hang out and be together. No agenda except get to the train on time.

Ok, here's a few of the top ten cowboy commandments:

1) Just one God

2) Honor yer ma and pa

3) No foolin around with another fellow's gal

4) Don't take what ain't yers

5) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

Are we CraZy????

2010-07-12T13:14:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Las Vegas spurred an idea to drive past our original destination of Rapid City and head to Yellowstone.

One of my favorite things to do in Las Vegas is to walk around and be a part of the crowd. This picture was taken in the original heart of Vegas, close to the Golden Nugget. It's called Fremont Street. Looking forward to going back...may have to be an every two year thing!

Well, this next week should be an interesting one! On Wednesday, my two kids and husband and I are leaving our four cats alone at home and driving to Rapid City. By the following Wednesday, we will have hopefully made it to Yellowstone National Park and then back home safely via Cody and Rapid City again.

My kids, who are 7 and 4, do not always get along well. Some days, I can get five minutes out of them and some days they can be best buds the entire day. Lately, it's been closer to the five minute one. So how do I solve that???? Put them in a car together for eight days in a row! We'll see how THAT works. We do have a DVD player in the SUV and lots and lots of movies to play.

We have books, toys, coloring books, crayons, markers, and games. Then after a while, we'll have scenery. We may be crazy, but I think we'll be ok in that department. We'd better be anyway.

Andy can't read in the car without getting nauseated, so he will be doing most of the driving. Which leads me to my next concern....Andy driving in the mountains. Ok, given his great track record we should be fine. But just yesterday, on our way to drop something off at our friend's house, he missed the turn to their neighborhood because we were talking about something. What happens when there's MOUNTAINS to look at and curvy roads with no room for error? Should the boys and I refrain from saying "look at that!" or I just sit with the boys in back and whisper to them so he doesn't get distracted, drive off the curve, and we plummet into a gorge twelve billion feet below? What do we do? No, really, I trust Andy and his driving, but just think that maybe I need to pay attention to what HE is doing and be a very good passenger: NO pointing across his face, NO sudden outbursts "WATCH OUT!!!!", "OMG, LOOK AT THAT STEEP SLOPE WE'RE 12 INCHES FROM!", "STEP ON IT, THERE'S A BEAR FOLLOWING US", or things like that. I should probably also not offer him a snack during the mountain switchbacks either. And if I drive, which I plan to some, I should probaby not drive in the mountains because, knowing my "love" of heights, I would use the lane closest to the mountain and furthest from the drop whether it's the correct lane or not. That could lead us into another notebook of issues, so I think I'll just let Andy drive most of the time. I also wouldn't want to have to pull over and let him barf from reading the map in a moving vehicle. And I don't want to be reading the map WHILE driving either.

Besides being a little nervous about the cold nights while camping, yes CAMPING in Yellowstone, I am very confident we will figure this trip out. We had originally planned to take the kids to see the "big heads" at Mt. Rushmore only. Then as Andy and I flew over the mountains on our way to Las Vegas, I got the crazy idea (Andy can now verify that the five scariest words that I can say are: "Honey, I have an idea!") to just keep driving and take them to Yellowstone and the REAL mountains. So he took a few extra days off, we figured out our agenda, and figured the only way we could make it happen is to camp because of the high price of hotels. One night in a hotel is about as much as the seven days of camping, so we're pretty happy about that. We don't really have an agenda except for where we are going to spend each night. We are bringing plenty of bedding, clothes, and some food. We'll have to get some while we're there to grill and I know we'll eat at restaurants while there. We plan to be very laid back, see the sights, and just be together.

We've had a lot of feedback from others and have been told how fun it will be and that we'll create some wonderful and priceless memories. I hope it will be good! That is why I am going to blog every day with our adventures or misadventures, however the chips may play out. If I can't get wifi, I will post two or three days in one day.

Anyway, just check it out Wednesday night, probably late, or Thursday morning. I'm hoping to provide some entertainment, and maybe even spur ideas of your own for vacation fun!

Yeeeee Haaawwwww!

Lots of little things

2010-07-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

1) I obviously took some time off blogging. Needed a rest and really didn't have that much interesting stuff to talk about.
2) Keeping busy with the kids, going to Vegas with hubby last week, summer's going too fast.
3) Excited that our summer is turning into an adventure. Next week, we are leaving Sioux City and heading out west. I am hoping to blog every day and will post when I can. Some of our campsites have Wifi, so can post when we get to those.
4) I'm afraid of bears.

**Event at Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue on Saturday, July 10th, 10am to 3pm. There's going to be cars, bikes, food, stuff to buy, and a lot of fun. Come join us, see our available kitties and our adoption center.

One more marathon down!

2010-06-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

I decided to keep my marathoning sort of quiet this time, thankfully. I did tell a few people, but this time I didn't have any expectations because of the forecast. It was supposed to be hot, and boy, the forecast was right! It was just under 70 when the Stillwater Marathon started on May 30th and it quickly got up to over 80. It didn't get much over 80, but when you're running in the sun, it's humid, and it's over 70, it's extremely difficult for me to run, let alone run well.

Stillwater is a beautiful town so I thought the marathon would be scenic as they advertised, with lots of crowd support. If you count running on country roads, black aspault most of the time to be exact, in the middle of nowhere, as scenic, then this is the marathon for you. But it was a far cry from the fun that Lincoln was. Sioux City was more interesting than this one. There's only so long I want to look at a vacant road or trail along a golf course with people telling me that it's all downhill for the next few miles, only to find a nice big hill coming as I turn the corner. JERK!

Anyway, the heat got to me as soon as I turned at mile 6 and we started running with the small breeze. As I said before, I do not appreciate running in warm weather, I don't like it, and I don't feel well when I do it. So after mile 7, I ended up walking some, mostly to prevent me from barfing up the Powerade I had just drank. Considering I was keeping a good pace, about 8:15 per mile for the first 7 miles, I was satisfied, but I knew I couldn't keep up any pace near that. Little did I know that I would end up running a 11 minute mile pace marathon, which did seem like a marathon to me! Almost five hours after starting the race, I crossed the finish line along the St. Croix River in Stillwater, not far from where we started. I belive my time was 4 hours 47 minutes from crossing the start line. It was a hard effort, probably the most difficult run I've ever completed as I walked and drank and walked more and drank more and jogged in between. I've never seen so many other runners walking so I didn't feel so wimpy! Anyway, I am considering another marathon, but think I'm going to hang up my long distance shoes for now (that being anything over 14 miles!) and work on some speed races. Maybe I'll see how fast I can run a 5k without throwing up~can I get it to 22 minutes???? We'll see! It's all fun and I do look forward to the next race...maybe I'll even drag my wonderful supporting hubby along with me!

Summer's getting closer!

2010-05-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

After spending so many hours at Paw Prints this week, much to the sacrifice of the cleanliness of my house, I appreciate what goes into keeping the adoption center so well organized and clean. Thanks to Beth and Leah plus the others who come in on their days. You both amaze me at your passion and ability to put them above yourself!
I spent several hours there today and got to meet the new family for Puma. She's a great little cat who came to us just about a week ago. She's so social and playful so I'm glad that this family picked her. There's been some things going on with the kittens at the adoption center. We don't know what is happening to them, but we've lost a lot of them recently. It's so hard to come to terms with it, so the best way that I can deal with it is to pray for them and then forget that it happens. I do break down into tears to relieve the pressure, plus it makes me feel better to mourn for these little babies who deserved so much more.
As for running, I'm very bitter about it now. I need to get over this and just get back to running. I haven't actually been running that much as I've done the bike and elliptical to help my shin splint or whatever it is to heal. It seems to be working and plan to run every day this week. I just hope and pray that it's going to stay better!
I've got so much personally going on that I need the running for my therapy. It makes me feel better for the most part, although when I ran on Friday morning, I was so mad about having to run at the track, I cut my workout short. I just couldn't run 12 more times around the track or I'd have to admit myself into the looney bin. I decided that going home was a better option. I did work out some stuff while running so glad I went, plus I got to watch the sun rise.
Well, more later!

Here we go again

2010-05-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided that the next marathon would be four weeks or after, so I took the last so many weeks from my original training program and started there. So I ran 20 miles at the gym yesterday. Yes, 200 microlaps at the gym. It was too cold and windy for me to go outside as the cold makes my lungs mad at me. I hate wind too. So I got energized up on Friday night and got up early Saturday. I finished the 20 miles with a little walking, gatorade, and a lot of off and on leg pain. I finished though and have been icing it and will take a week off from running. That is not to say I won't be doing other exercise. It's totally amazing that I could basically easily complete this 20 miles while struggling last weekend. No, I wasn't running at near the pace, but still. Feeding the body is so important.
Anyway, it was a good run, my legs are NOT sore today at all minus the injury area, so I'm very confident that I can at least finish the next marathon quest in a good time. I have no desires to kill myself to qualify for Boston, as my balloon is deflated. Maybe I will get the urge to try really hard again, but at this point, I want to, have to finish my next marathon. It's amazing what this training has done. I am a very strong runner now more than ever, again, minus the injury. I would love to get my short race speed up after I'm done with this, sleep in a little more, and enjoy the running instead of worrying about the next training run. Yes, it's all self inflicted, but it's rather fun to watch yourself transform. Not on the outside mind you as I think I look exactly the same, no weight loss, nothing, but underneath, my muscles are runnin' strong!
Well, my living room looks like a movie theater, so my boys and I are going to enjoy an afternoon of Monsters vs. Aliens with our bowls of popcorn and Sierra Mist.
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there, whether you have living or non-living children, or furry children, or naughty children, or even if you don't like children. If you are a caretaker, you are a mother. Thank you to all the moms out there for all you do.

The aftermath

2010-05-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

It has been an emotional week. I have all sorts of feelings from the letdown of the "marathon" weekend. So many people knew what I was going to attempt to do, so I had to explain to a lot of people that just because you have a mustang in the garage doesn't mean it can run without fuel. That's the way I felt about the supposed marathon I was to run last Sunday. I'm getting over it, I have a plan of action, but I'm just not going to share it with many people so I don't have to explain what happened if something else happens this time. I have gotten all support from people that I did the right thing. I don't question that as I have run before when I didn't have the energy and it totally soaked me and I ended up throwing up, and that was ONLY 17 miles. So I knew better. But as one friend said, the problem that I had was an easily fixed one. Something that I can remedy easily for the next time. That's both the good news and the bad news. It was as dumb and simple as not eating correctly the day before while all along, I thought that I was doing the right thing. Big ole' buzzer comin' my way! Anyway, I realize what I did wrong and will try, try again. I do have a plan, just not willing to share the exact details. I hope to come back and tell everyone that I did it... I either qualified for Boston or I at least ran a good race ALL THE WAY THROUGH. As another put it, you have good days, you have bad days, go with the flow, learn from them and move on. And as I've said in a few other posts, I'm going to keep on keepin' on. I'm pissy that I have another 20 miler to do on Saturday. I thought I was done with these. Nope. Need to get these muscles back into distance. With the injury and everything else, I need to suck it up and go for it.

Today

2010-05-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Lincoln Marathon, 8,000 strong; it's an AWESOME atmosphere, one of the best races I've been to for crowd support and drink stations.

Well, today is not how I wanted it to be. Instead of finishing the Lincoln Marathon in 3 hrs and 45 minutes, I finished the 1/2 marathon in 1 hour and 58 minutes. I don't know nor understand what happened. I have trained for 18 weeks and am strong enough to successfully complete my goal. The stars aligned and the conditions were right, although it was a little warm for me. I knew at about mile 4 that something was just wrong. My injury was feeling good, my legs were strong, breathing was just as it should except for a cough every few hundred feet. I could deal with it. BUT when your body runs out of gas that early, there's no way you can replenish what you have lost nor what you are about to expend. I did my carb loading, I rested, I did was I was supposed to do. I got up at 2:30 the night before and ate more carbs. I drank enough then didn't drink much two hours before (so I wouldn't be running to the port-a-potties during the race). It was all good. But even before I started running, I told my husband that I just didn't feel full. I felt hungry. I ate more than a linebacker should, I ate constantly the past day, plus lots of carbs the two days before that. I got lots of sleep. But my body didn't show up. I simply couldn't finish the full marathon without compromising my health, let alone qualify for Boston. I decided that I needed to finish the 1/2 marathon and get home. I didn't want to end up passed out because I had no fuel left, which is how I thought it could very well end up. I didn't want to hurt my leg further (I'm icing it as I type this~yes, it hurts but was fine while running). I didn't want to get to mile 22 and not qualify AND hurt something. So I stopped at 13.1 miles . I NEVER thought I would do that. Never in a zillion years. But my body told me that I needed to stop. Rarely do I ever listen to anyone (just ask my husband), but I had a feeling that today wasn't going to be it. I knew around mile 4 that I wasn't going to be able to keep it up. I did until about mile 9 and then decided to just finish the frickin' 1/2 and be done.

I'm mad, sad, depressed, ANGRY, and lots of other feelings. Disappointed is probably the biggest one, mostly in myself, but some for myself. I was really hoping to celebrate today, or to at least finish the full marathon in good accord. I knew at the time, stopping half way was the right thing to do. Rarely do I ever "give up" or take the short way, but something told me to just stop. So I listened. I wonder now if I could have just walked it out for a mile, finished in good 4 1/2 hours or something. I need to stop that, but I am a very competitive person, so I have to wonder. But my motherly voice to myself tells me I did the right thing. It's just a marathon, there's lots more. Boston has been there for a billion years, it will be there in two more.

So my question is: What do I do now? I have my Storm Lake, Marathon to Marathon all planned out. With the wonderful crowds and atmosphere at Lincoln, do I want to compete on a road through corn fields virtually by myself in June when it's even warmer? I know that I can finish in the time I want, the question is if I can finish in that time ON A RACE DAY. That's a big question. I guess I don't know if I want to be this disappointed right now, plus the conditions will not even be close to today's. It really doesn't matter, as I tried. I tried today, I failed to perform today. I'm upset, sad, disappointed, weepy. The funny thing is that I ran 13.1 miles today and I feel like I walked around the block. I'm not really tired. Besides the injury, I'm not even sore! I didn't even need a nap. It's like a sick joke. I was ready to run 26.2. Sigh, one can never tell, nor control what happens with everything in your life. Some of us are slow learners.

I have a dream, a passion that burns inside me. I am a runner. I am proud that I tried, I'm proud that I could make the decision to stop. I'm just proud that I could attach to a dream and come pretty darned close to making it come true. I did the work, it didn't pan out. Deep breath. Life will go on, I will keep running. Who knows, some day I may get there. Maybe not. But as for me, I'm just going to keep on, keepin' on.

Some people have told me that they have wanted to comment on my posts. This thing is picky and doesn't like getting comments without getting a hair sample, or so it seems, so please just email me at: kellikerk@cableone.net and I will post them here.

I can't forget to thank my mom and dad for watching my kids while I went to Lincoln. I thank my sister and friends who have given me so many words of love and support. But most of all, thank you to my wonderful husband, who has inspired me to be a better person. Thank you for taking care of the boys so many times when I was running, napping, eating. Thank you for your confidence and kindness. Thank you for supporting me trying again, whether it be in Marathon or this fall. I love that you love your crazy wife. I love you. Thank you.

One more day

2010-04-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Nerves. I cannot believe that the marathon is almost here. It's been 18 weeks and here we go. My goal is to finish within 3 hrs 45 min. I'm actually almost hoping to just finish, considering the shin splint I have. I haven't run much at all the past two weeks so here's to rest, stretching, icing, and shin compression sleeves! I'm looking forward to the atmosphere of a running event, especially one this large. I know there are 8000 marathon runners and who knows how many 1/2 marathon runners. That's an awesome number! Then we will finish on the 50 yard line at the Nebraska Cornhuskers football stadium. I told everyone I would convert to a Nebraska fan if I qualify. I got "the eye" from a few Hawk fans and my hubby, but if I do qualify, I would have good feelings from that field. I couldn't NOT convert! It's not like I would choose Nebraska over Iowa or anything, or even Iowa State, I would just choose Nebraska over the likes of Oklahoma and all those other Big 12 teams (except for State). Anyway, here's also to barfing on the big "N" at the end, to converting to the Big Red, and having fun while at it. WIsh me luck. I will post sometime on Sunday. I think. :)

Roller coaster ride

2010-04-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster ride. I would prefer a real one to this, but I get what I get! I have three days until the Lincoln Marathon. I really honestly have no idea if I will be able to complete this race. When I was feeling leg pain a few weeks ago, I had no idea it would turn out to be a very severe shin splint. It's one of those that's absolutely terrible when running, but you can walk around just fine. It's like a sick joke that my leg was pulling on me. I took all last week off from running. I went to the gym on Friday and did the elliptical with no problems. I was in a good mood until about noon, when I got a really bad sore throat. Two days later, I could still barely breathe and didn't care about the leg! Anyway, my cold is better, lots better, and I ran two miles fast this morning. It felt great! It's a few hours later, and it's a tad sore, so I'm taking very good care. I have two more days off, then another slow two miler. Then we head to Lincoln Saturday afternoon!
Anyway, it's been interesting to say the least. I have been very depressed about not being able to run, and now I'm so nervous about actually being able to do it, my stomach is already going crazy!
As for the kitties, I have a foster kitty who will head to a farm in a few weeks. She is soo sweet, so if anyone is reading this and wants a spayed and vaccinated inside cat at little or no cost, PLEASE EMAIL ME!! Her name is Kim and she's a doll.
My kittens went to the adoption center on Monday. They have settled in well and one was preadopted on Monday afternoon by a new Morningside College Graduate. Four more!
We have so many more available there, so come check them out!
More later....of course, by Sunday evening. I could be celebrating or rehabilitating...we shall see! I do thank all my friends and family who have prayed for my leg to heal fast. I still need those prayers of support, so keep 'em coming! I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon and put this 18 week training chapter behind me, once and for all. (At leat I think it will be behind me.) I want to take the summer off and just have fun with my friends and the kids. I want to camp at Mt. Rushmore and along the Missouri. Please, dear Lord, let me qualify!

Two Weeks

2010-04-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Two weeks. It's been sixteen weeks since I started my 18 week advanced marathon training program. It was the week between Christmas and New Years. A lot has changed in those 16 weeks. Some of it has been good, some of it not so good, but that's life. But....two weeks. Within two weeks, fourteen days, I will know if one of my dreams that I never knew I had will come true. In fourteen days I will know if I can accomplish something that I never thought I could. In fourteen days I will be running my heart out for 26.2 miles. I truly believe that I can accomplish my time goal. The questions remaining are things out of my control. I have done the training, the rest is up to nature. God only knows, God only knows.
One thing that has me unnerved and I hesitate to bring it up is that my leg hurts. It started hurting during my "hell" week last week and it hasn't really gotten better with reduced mileage. I took a few more days off this week as to hopefully help whatever it was to heal. It's not really working, so I'm going to just keep on keepin' on. We'll see what happens. I've read the books and I am doing the right thing. I won't risk my entire running life for this event. But it hasn't gotten to that point yet and I hope I won't have to make that decision. I am prepared to make it if it gets there.
I have had a lot of people tell me that I'm crazy. I take it that it's a good crazy. I hope that my boys will someday understand what it is that their mom is doing. Right now, they just know that I'm gone a lot in the morning and tired a lot in the afternoons because of running. They know that I talk a lot about it. I think they like to watch me finish, and maybe some day, I can watch them finish, probably from wwwaaaaayyyyy behind them. I hope they will learn from me. I hope they will see me persevere and work hard and try and try and try. I hope they will see me succeed. And I hope they are filled with a sense that they can do anything as long as they set their minds and do the work, however hard, sweaty, and tiring. Whatever that thing is they want, whether it's a career, a sport, a girl, a nice yard, I just hope they can look at their parents and see us work to get what we want, stop when we have or need to, but see themselves as "doers" and not just "dreamers". I say they can do their dream...live it...be it.
I hope my friends and family can see what I have done and maybe look at themselves differently. Maybe they can try something unusual or extreme. Well, it's not like what I'm doing is really that unusual.....I just don't personally know many people who run marathons. I would like to, but I just don't. I hope other moms can step outside of their families and do something for themselves, whatever it may be, if there's something they want to do. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a volunteer. I am also I runner. It's a huge part of my life, it's my out, my therapy. I wouldn't be me if I couldn't run. I don't view it as being selfish to run. I view it as a necessity for my well-being, my health, my sanity. So if there's something that YOU want to accomplish.....I say, GO FOR IT. Of course, be sure it's the right time, but GO FOR IT. Well, it's probably never the right time, but be sure it's an ok time. Then do it. Just do it.
As for me, I just want to run fast in two weeks. I don't know if it will happen this time, but I sure hope it will. I will give it my all, for my family, my friends, and mostly, for myself.
A good friend wrote me today, "Heaven bound but I'd love to run through Boston on the way!". I shall revise that to be, "Heaven bound but I'd really really really really really love to run through Boston on the way!". That pretty much sums up how I feel. And I appreciate friends like her who have supported me along the way, whether it's the marathon or as a mom. It's friends like her that make life so much more interesting and lovely. Thank you!

A long week!

2010-04-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

After 55 miles of running from Monday through Saturday, my dogs are tired. Dog tired! I did a brisk run on Friday, a 10 miler in 1 hour 21 minutes. Saturday was my last 20 mile prep run and was very happy with completing it in 2 hours and 55 minutes. That's an average of 8:48 per mile. Not too shabby when my goal is 8:29. We'll see in three weeks if I'll be weeping or shouting for joy!
The kittens I'm fostering are growing and changing every day! They are so cute and I suspect are trying to use the litter box. One was drinking from the water dish. He or she was not having the easiest time as I think some of the water was going up it's nose. They are very social and I will be posting pictures of them this week. They are a unique color, black with white thrown in. Two look like they dipped their tails in white paint. I really enjoy having them but I know they will have to go to the adoption center soon. I'll love on them while they're here, for sure!
I think there were a few adoptions over the weekend. Sammi, the very vocal and loving kitty wasn't there when I dropped off some stuff for Beth. All she wanted was for someone to pet her, so hopefully that someone came and found her.
Well, time to get some steak grilled. I was hoping to have some last night, but pasta was it, so steak is it tonite!

The cats.....

2010-04-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

I have so many stories to tell about the cats. One is that three weeks ago, Lady and her three kittens went to another foster and I got Jazzmine and her five kittens, all of which are black. I have watched them grow (at some points, they were gaining 1 ounce per day!) and change. They are social since I go in their room all the time and talk to them, but their mother has other plans with me. I think if I didn't feed her, she would rather shred me and make bedding out of me. We'll see what happens after the kittens go to the store for adoption. She's a beautiful cat and a great mother so I hope she'll be able to be indoors.

The kittens I had before are at the adoption center. They are so big! Their personalities haven't changed much. The gray one and black one with white feet are very playful and social. The little black one who got sick while she was here is a quiet one who likes to observe. My little boy is a cat person, and he made her a little bed out of a cat toy and his coat. Two little sweethearts!

So many cats have been adopted and surrendered then adopted and more surrenders and adoptions. I can't tell you how many sob stories that Beth hears, some of which are true, some are not. Some people tell you that the cats are vetted and "I'll run and get the records for you", never to be seen again. Mysterious that they no longer answer phone calls either. We are here to help the cats so we can put up with this, but unfortunately, rules come about when people abuse trust. No more surrenders of "vetted cats" unless the records come with. No more lying!

The biggest story that I have is of Wonder- pictured above. He is on our website (http://www.siouxlandpawprints.com/) under "Cat Tails". He came on Friday, March 26th. He was a 1 year old pure white male kitty who had a congenital defect which made his eyes very small so he was blind. The woman who found him said she was driving to work one day in January, so there was a lot of snow on the ground. The lump of snow she saw didn't look quite right, so she stopped and saw this kitty laying on the ground. She took him in, took him in for a vet check and rabies shot, and kept him for two months in an extra room. She said he would come and lay on her and purrrr up a storm. I got to witness the purring, but I didn't have a place to let him come out and get comfortable since I have the loud kids and other curious cats. I didn't want to upset him. I contacted Animal Lifeline of Iowa in Des Moines, a no-kill shelter for special needs cats and dogs. They accepted him and had room for him! I made a trip for me and my two kids to drop off Wonder, see my friend Sonia, and visit my 95 year old grandmother. It was just meant to happen! I had such high hopes for this guy and knew that this shelter was the perfect place for him!

I went on Thursday, April 1st and dropped him off at their vet for a once-over. Come to find out when I checked on him Monday, he had an upper respiratory infection, which is pretty normal for cats under stress and exposed to the elements, so they medicated him to get him better. No biggie, right? Well, I just got word today that he had an uncommon form of demedex/mite which is on the skin, plus he injested it. He also had roundworms, which are treatable. Because of the type of lime/sulfer dip used for mite treatment that may not even work, coupled with the fact that he had the respiratory infection that could get very bad with the dip treatment, they decided the most humane thing to do was to let him go to the Rainbow Bridge. Let me just say that this shelter goes above and beyond anyone else I've ever known to save an animal, so when they decide to do that, it's absolute last resort. Check out their website and look at the stories and you will be amazed! (http://www.animal-lifeline.com/) Some cats have been there for years. I am confident that I did the right thing, they did the right thing, but my heart hurts for this guy because he should have never been out in the elements in the first place. He should have been indoors and cared for in a special way. He was a special cat to me the six days I had him here. I don't know if I've felt that way about a cat that fast so today is a sad day for me. I had a very different outcome worked out in my head. Animal Lifeline is having him cremated and will be returned to the shelter. This isn't what anyone expected or wanted, but it's best for him. That last thing anyone wanted was for him to have to suffer with the treatments.

I give a shout out to them and all they do.

As for my other cats, I have three personal cats left besides the foster mom with babies. I took Sunkist and Oliver to the adoption center. I feel like I am betraying them since they felt that my home was their home. I know they will find a good and loving home together. They are coming out more and are socializing well with the other cats.

Well, when you raise your glass of water, milk, pop, whatever at dinner tonight, please say a little thanks to God for bringing Wonder home. He finally got peace.

This is about the running....

2010-04-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

There are going to be two new blogs, one about running, and one about the cats! This is about running....
The Lincoln Marathon is quickly closing in. Almost two weeks ago, I had my 2nd 20 mile long run. I ran it outside on my hilly course so I could get my leg muscles used to doing hills again. I knew it would be a good workout. I guess I underestimated how your body gets used to running without hills as it had been since November when I had been out on my normal course. The gym and treadmill are obviously flat. I was supposed to run this 20 miler in about 9.5 minutes per mile and I just couldn't keep that pace. I totally blame the hills, but as I'm learning, it's a lot about what you put in the tank that keeps you going! I wasn't worried about it because it sure was a good workout and my legs are getting their "hill" memory back!
I have had a problem with my attitude in the past few weeks too. I would say that in running, whether it be speed or distance, a large portion of it is mental. You can't have a good race if you're not mentally fit or physically fit. Let's say that I was pretty burned out last week, so I used the excuse of going out of town to take a few days off! The week was pretty slow as far as running was concerned so I felt it really wouldn't effect my total marathon preparedness. I also decided to run the Spring Thaw 10 mile race this past Saturday, and it just didn't go well. I would say that I was mentally there until my gas tank went on "E" after about mile 3. I knew I was in trouble but felt ok so kept going. I was going at about 8 minute miles or slightly less on average since the first mile was 7.5 min mile pace. After mile 5, I had to actually stop since it felt like someone was stabbing my gut with a very sharp knife. I had not eaten enough the night before (sorry portobello, you're not cutting the mustard as a pre-race dinner) and the morning of. I didn't think it would be a big deal...boy, was I wrong! And by the way, stir fry isn't a good choice either unless at least half is noodles or rice. Yup, learned the hard way on that one too. I was hoping to run the 10 miles in just over 80 minutes but I trucked in at just under 90 minutes. Not shabby at all, although there were SO MANY fast runners out that day! Wow! I gotta hand it to the one who ran at 6-7 min mile pace. I saw her pass when I wasn't even at mile 6...way to go and I wish I could run like that! I was just so upset that day because I knew what I COULD do, which was a lot better than what I actually did do. I even cried.

I am a very competitive person, so I decided on Monday afternoon that I couldn't let a bad run spoil the marathon prep. Tuesday's running schedule had a 10 miler on it, but there was rain in the forecast, so I ran my 10 miler Monday outside on the hills and lo and behold, ran it in less than 9 minute mile. I was so happy and came in to tell my hubby "THAT's how a 10 mile run should go!". The past two days have been 4 and 5 miles on the treadmill and tomorrow starts back with the speedwork that I haven't done in two weeks. I will go to the track so I can get accurate distance times. They're sort of fun when it's light out....run 800 meters at 3.5 minutes, then walk 200 meters. Yes, I said fun. Then Friday will be a 10 mile run at race pace so I will do that at the track too to get accurate mile splits. Saturday is my last 20 mile prep run before the marathon. Nerves are starting.
I'm working on my iPod playlist for the marathon too. I get in such a grumpy mood when it comes to music so I'm shortening my normal running playlist and repeating several of my kick butt songs. I got a good one from a commercial and some from the Genius thing on iTunes. I'll report back after Saturday's run.....just no injuries is all I can really ask for!

Lots and lots and lots

2010-04-01T08:07:00.001-07:00

There has been so much going on and I haven't had time to write. I promise that I will write over the weekend and update you on some really fun and interesting events!

Fun with kids

2010-03-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Tyler had a swimming party yesterday. I wish I could have observed, but I headed to Paw Prints to give Beth a relief for a few hours. While I was there, a nice couple with two little boys that reminded me of mine came in looking for a cat. They were there a while to try and find the perfect one for their family. Unfortunately, I had to leave before they made their decision, so I'm really excited to find out who they chose. Prince, the beautiful all white cat, was acting so much more friendly and social, so I really hope they chose him. They may have chose a younger and more playful one like Milo or Katy. Beth dropped her phone in the cleaning bucket so I couldn't get a hold of her....darn phones! That's what happened to mine a few months back. Big expensive mistake since I had only gotten it about six months prior. Verizon wasn't very forgiving on that one.
We went to a friend's house for dinner and let all the kids play. Theirs and ours are about the same ages, so they have a good time together. Their two older boys came home with us (with our kids too) and stayed overnight. They're now watching Andy play Wii Star Wars. I just have absolutely no interest in these sort of games so don't understand the draw to boys. Must be testosterone.
The mom cat in the basement with the five kittens is about to be named. I found lots of cute names for black, names of gems, and just cute names, some from Disney. The kittens are growing like weeds. I weighed one on Friday night and he was 6 ounces. There are three boys and two girls if I looked right....the boys are a bit bigger. Mom cat still hisses and growls at me when I come in, but she's never been aggressive or anything toward me. She was an outdoor cat and lived under a deck, so she was probably always in defense mode. I hope she warms up and realized what a posh life she could have if she just quit hissing! Once she settles, after a hiss or two, she lays down with her kittens and lets me pet her, hold her, and rub her chin.
Well, better get going on my day!

We're full, very full

2010-03-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have told Beth several times that when you say that we're down cats, something will happen and our seams will be busting within days. I was right. She said we were down cats and could handle more and it's now Thursday, and we're busting. We have ten or more additional cats that we didn't plan on. Some were returns, some were expected to test positive, but nonetheless, we have many many adoptable cats. I hope it's a big adoption weekend for sure!
I am burned out on running this week, probably from such a high mileage past two weeks. It's been well over 100 miles in under three weeks. I'm tired from the running itself, tired from going outside and being on the hills for the first time in months (although I don't mind this one as it means it's nice enough to be outside), tired of getting up at 5am to do all the running, tired of being tired! It's all worth it and I hope my mental strength can hold out for a little longer. I'm working on my marathon playlist to keep me motivated while running. Some songs will be repeated and I'll have to figure out how to do this.
The NCAA tourney is going on, my hubby is missing in the house at the moment and I have 30 minutes to play Wii Sorry. I have to go, NOW!
More later, a lot more later!
Oh, and the momma and babies here are doing great. The little ones are already 5 or so ounces. I'm going to weigh them every day if I can to just see how fast they grow. They did hiss at me this morning, which is about the cutest thing to ever hear and see! It's like seeing baby chicks and bunnies.....ahh, babies. And I think my olive branch is growing leaves.

Politics and Olive Branches

2010-03-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

New Momma with her five babies! Need names for all of them.

We will see if my olive branch was long enough to repair a relationship that was damaged by someone else. Doesn't matter who did it or why, but this is something I feel strongly about and we will see. For the sake of privacy and POLITICS, this other person/entity shall remain nameless although I'm sure some people who know what is going on could easily figure it out! We will see, we will see. At least I can rest knowing that I did my part and did what I thought would be the best thing, to make ammends and go from here.

I do not have my foster kitties any more. Monday was a really emotional yet a day filled with a ray of sunshine. There were some storm clouds, but there was that ray that shined down on my newest foster mom and her babies that were born on Sunday night. We thought they were going to test positive for feline leukemia or aids, which are deadly diseases. They were negative. Yes, some cats can live a while with aids but Paw Prints cannot handle the influx of healthy cats, so there's no way we can place cats with contagious diseases. It's a catch 22.

So anyway, we have our new mom and her five kittens. They are doing well and I think I'm gaining the mom's trust more every time I go and see her, which is several times per day. All the kittens seem to be doing well too, so that's just a good day. I have gotten used to being hissed at but then she smells my hand, purrs, and turns over so I can see her babies.

There's so much more to talk about, but I just don't have time right now. I will probably go to lecture mode in my next blog...so be prepared!

What a good week

2010-03-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

Misti

Chocolate

Snickers

Miss Lady

Pictured from top: Misti, Chocolate, Snickers, Lady: my newest rescues and entertainment, probably the cutest kittens ever!

Before volunteering at Paw Prints, I had no idea what kind of people owned pets. Well, unfortunately I quickly learned that people adopt/buy pets who do not deserve them. Beth called me on Monday and said that the South Sioux City Animal Control had a mom cat and babies and could we help with them. Of course we could. I met Beth at AC in South Sioux. The ladies there were very nice and seemed like they really wanted to help the cats. The mom cat, now named Lady, because of the way she acts...like a true Lady, had been left in a house after the resident moved out. I assume it was a rental property and the people (I have another name for them, but can't use that sort of language on this- let's just say it's spelled like this: &*^%#!@#) left the cat and kittens there. Evidently, she was left for a few weeks. She had been at Animal Control for a week or so and wasn't doing very well.

We drove her and another little 4 1/2 month old tabby named Milo, to our vet for a check and emergency care. Milo checked out great and is looking forward to being adopted!

Lady and her three kittens, on the other hand, were not so great. She was tested for feline leukemia/AIDS and came up negative, thankfully, but was severely undernourished and dehydrated. Lady was so tired or hungry or dehydrated or sick that she just laid on the exam table and didn't seem to give two hoots about anything. Very strange for a mom cat for sure. The vet gave her fluids and we got a few cans of the super vitamin rich soft canned food for all of them. I took them home and got them all set up in my "momma/baby" room, which is the small half bathroom in my basement. It's perfect for kittens since it's warm, small, and easy to clean. Lady seemed brighter later that evening. It was such a rewarding feeling. She ate quite a bit too, which wasn't that great after I had to clean up her barf the next morning. Too much too soon for her, but that was the end of the barf thankfully. She started purring immediately and even meowed the next day. She loves to be hugged and petted. I'm so glad she's here and safe.

They all seemed to be doing better, especially Lady, until Thursday.

I was playing and cleaning with my son and noticed that one of the babies, named Snickers by my son who always wants to name kittens Snickers, was just not acting right. He seemed like he was just scooting instead of bounding around like the other two were. My radar went up since I recently had a foster baby who seemed ok except for a limp and come to find out, he was extremely sick with fever and dehydration! Anyway, I took Snickers to the vet Thursday afternoon. I almost cancelled the appointment because when I went to get him for his appointment an hour later, he seemed fine. I decided to take him anyway.

The vet determined that Snickers had a LOW temperature and was borderline dehydrated. Kittens are so suseptible to anything at this age and since they had already been compromised, they were more at risk than normal. He got some fluids and sent him home with me with instructions to make the room very warm and be sure to give them more liquids. He seems to be doing fine today, thankfully, so I am glad I paid attention to my instincts and took him to be checked out. Thank you Dr. Merritt!

I am truly enjoying these kittens. They are so adorable, it's just such a pleasure to be a part of their lives. They are so little and innocent, yet they bound around and act like they are going to show YOU who's boss! Unfortunately, they are VERY hard to photograph. I'm working on it though. I've heard them purr a few times, but most of the time, they are trying to climb my jeans. The black one is Snickers, the black one with white is Chocolate- named by my oldest son, and the grey one is named Misti, who was my horse when I grew up. She was a grey quarter horse and I could do anything with her and loved her so much, so I decided to name a kitten after her.

The Paw Prints website is really coming along too. It's been hard to find the time to take care of the baby kitties, my human babies, do all my running this week (30 miles in 4 days), paperwork for myself and Paw Prints, and maintain my sanity. Yet here I am on Friday night, sitting here with my sanity~maybe not the full tank, but at least it's not empty. It can all be done, just not all at once. Patience.

I am running my first of three 20 milers tomorrow. Hopefully it will be the last one at the gym as the snow has shrunk a ton this week. There's a lot more to go, but thankfully the temps weren't ten degrees colder this week. What a mess it could have been!

Well, I think I shall go eat a little more. Ocean's 13 is on so will probably catch a little of that before going to bed.

What a weekend

2010-03-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

There were three cat adoptions for Paw Prints on Friday and Saturday! The new arrival, Sparrow, and two others from the store got new homes. I had the pleasure of removing them from the web page for available cats today. (www.siouxlandpawprints.com) I really want to remove Velvet, who we have had since August, when she came to us from Animal Control, starving and with a litter of kittens. What a wonderful mom she was to them and to two others she took in as her own, one of which I kept. Wait a minute, I have one of her actual kittens too so I guess that makes it two!
I did my 19 mile run yesterday morning. 190 times around that tiny little track. Maybe I can get outside next week. The warmer weather is shrinking the mountains of snow, thankfully.
I did the run in a 9 minute mile pace. I'm slightly sore today, but after figuring out that I ran 47 miles between Tuesday and Saturday, I'm surprised that I'm not more tired and sore. I did "reward" myself (or almost punish myself?) by having 3 of my favorite martinis at Luciano's with this wonderful man. It's hard to believe that I could meet and then keep such a person in my life for 12 years-we met almost exactly 12 years ago, March 14 1998. I don't feel worthy most of the time of all he is and does, but I'm so lucky and happy, truly satisfied, that he picked me and loves me every day and isn't afraid to tell me. I am going to dedicate a blog to him shortly...in the next few weeks. It's funny how he is the steady one, the one who maintains his cool, when I am the roller coaster of emotions pretty much all time. That's the way I am though, the way I was made. My highs are high, and my lows are low, lots of passion. I'm up, I'm down, I'm a one-woman circus sometimes, but he's always there loving me. Sigh, I love you, Andy!

I wasn't planning to write about that, but it's interesting how the words come and a subject creates itself. It all started with me having a sense of gratitude towards myself. I'm very hard on myself, I have extremely high expectations, higher for myself than I do anyone else. But after this week and the entire marathon training, I feel so lucky...lucky doesn't seem like the best word....probably blessed is the best word to describe how I feel. Maybe grace is more like it. I have something that is given to me without me deserving it. I have a very strong healthy body and I did nothing special to get it. I do take care of it for the most part in spite of my addiction to jalepeno kettle chips and an ice cold beer. I feel so thankful that I have the body that can carry me, injury free, for 19 miles in one morning at the gym. AND I am able to walk after and enjoy my life with my family. The only "one" I can thank for this is God. So thank you God for all you have given me without me deserving it, but I am taking care of it and appreciate all you have truly blessed me with.

Now I'm going to make an apple pie for my dad. Today is his 62nd birthday so we are going to their house for a pork roast dinner. Yum! Happy Birthday, Dad. We love you!

What a week!

2010-03-05T14:52:00.000-08:00

What a busy week! I have to give kudo's here before I write anything else.

I am so proud of Beth for
1) Being a founder of Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue
2) Blogging for the past several days!
Way to go and it's very interesting reading.
Check this blog out at www.diaryofacatrescuer.blogspot.com I am a follower on this blog, so become a follower if possible!

I am going to have it available on the new website of Paw Prints too! Check that site our at www.siouxlandpawprints.com The site will have more information on it in the coming weeks, but photos of the available kitties are on it as well as our current address and such. Steph Storm is the one who has done most of the work on this, so thank you to her! I'm sure there will be many adoptions this weekend, so check them out whether or not you plan to adopt! What a bunch of sweethearts.

In Paw Prints news, we were in the news twice this week. Once was on Sunday for a short blip of a story and once on Tuesday. It was a 2 minute story and covered our goals. Thank you Zach from KTIV! We appreciate your attention to the importance of what Paw Prints is trying to accomplish.
I can't blog here without mentioning my running.....today was my 9 mile race pace run. I ran the 9 miles in 73.5 minutes, exactly the same as I did last week. That's just over an 8 minute mile pace. Can I handle that for 26.2 miles? I sure hope so! I have a 19 mile run (yes, nineteen) in the morning. I got a 24 hour pass to the gym so I can go before 8. I hope to have many many miles done by then!
Well, I must play with my boys now, all three of them. I have been working with cat stuff, birthday parties, and other things this week so it's time to take a work break and focus on what is the most important in my life, family.
I will report back after the weekend.

Paw Prints in the news

2010-03-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

There was a small story about Paw Prints on KCAU last night. Another story should be running on KTIV this week as well. Yeah! Good thing about press releases. We'll see what happens with it.

I've been sick again this week so have taken THREE days off from running. Back to it tomorrow for a 9 miler. I did have a fast 9 miler last week at 73 minutes. I was happy with that!

Lots more adoptions and lots of new cats coming in. I'm going to start working on the web page this week so hope to have it up and running in the next two weeks. I have no idea how hard it's going to be, but I at least hope to get some basic info out and donation opportunities.

Well, more later!

Adoptions!

2010-02-21T12:55:00.000-08:00

First, I have to say that I deleted my last post. I was very angry and was venting on this, so if you read it, I'm sorry. More things have happened that make me feel like everything that I am doing is worth the effort.

Good news though!

Lots of adoptions have happened this week! Check out just a few pictures of some of the little ones who got new homes this week! Yeah for Garcia, Marble, Spaz, Ella, and Peace!!! Peace, who was in my house for 6 weeks and I dearly love, got her new home yesterday.

As for running, I did a quick 8 miler on Friday afternoon and 17 miles on Saturday morning. My legs are exhausted today so thank goodness for my day off! I was happy about the times too, so that's good. I have a step down week for the long run, but the regular miles during the week step up a few this week. It will be interesting!

Another Friday, another long run

2010-02-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

Sideways picture of Tony, who was adopted and will be going home today. Thank you, Paw Prints!

This has been an interesting week. First, I couldn't sleep very well for some unknown reason. Had I known the reason, I would have fixed it, pronto. I ran 10 miles on the treadmill last Sunday and got a friction rash on my left thigh. Irritating and makes me feel fat. Took Monday off because I was just tired in my legs. I honestly think the treadmill is harder.

Anyway, had great running efforts the rest of the week, and today, I went to the gym for a fast 8 miler, and got a friction rash on the other thigh. What the ???&%# Anyway, got some biker shorts so I wouldn't bleed to death during my 16 mile jog tomorrow. I figured out it was my shorts because I've gotten smaller since I started this and the other shorts have never bothered me before. Grrrr.

I am looking forward to some good food and a great jog in the morning though. I am NOT looking forward to 160 times around the tiny little microscopic track at the gym. Better than slipping on the ice outside....

On a very good note, Paw Prints has received some donations this week, unfortunately not due to the article in the paper. But they are donations anyway. There have been a few adoptions too. Tony, one of my favorite cats, is going home today. He's a hugger and a love bug so his new family will love him to pieces. Velvet, the cat I fostered last year, is at the store, and she looks great. She's running around and acting frisky and happy. She was such a good mom to her babies and to two other kittens. Funny, I have two of those still!

Well, my kids are in shorts and tank tops with their shin guards on ready to play soccer in the basement, so that's my cue to log off here and supervise!

Be the change you want to see

2010-02-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

I stole this title line just now from the title of another blog that I follow. But it's a common saying and is such a true one. Some people have vision, some people don't. I think I do. Some used say that I was a negative person, but I just said that I'm "realistic". Then I became a little more optimistic about things and was brought down a little by being disappointed. At this point, I think I'd rather be optimistic and possibly disappointed, then just pessimistic about everything. I think I honestly have an endorphin high from running a lot of the time, which is totally a good thing. I get ideas all the time, and I truly believe they are good ideas. It's just the implementing. It's like when you think of an invention, do nothing about it, and two years later, you see that someone has made bundles from YOUR idea. All you had to do was act on your idea, and see the change you wanted. I am in the middle of trying to make some changes that will improve the lives of Sioux City's abandoned and lost dogs and cats. Not sure if I will succeed as much as I hope that I do, but the main point is that I am trying. I got out there, did research, got facts, and had meetings with people who can help me implement change. Baby steps.
It's hard to NOT be pushy with some of these things. Why can't they see it from MY point of view and see how simple the changes are yet how important they can be? I know that just because something is important to me, doesn't mean that it's important to someone else. BUT I shall keep on plugging away and see if the vision that someone else saw, one that I took hold of and can now see for myself, is a possibility.
I'm also trying to change myself. Beyond being a more patient person that I am now, which part of it is good, part of it not so good, I would like to see some personal goals accomplished this year. Some are to have more fun with my kids. I do have a lot of fun with them, but I was truly overwhelmed with Running for a Paws and the foster cats, cake decorating, and Mary Kay. So I dropped the things that I didn't feel were as important. I like the optimistic person I've become so hope to carry that on when I'm tired and grumpy. Things can be worse, so be happy with what you have. I do carry around a feeling of thankfulness for all that I have, the friends, family, kids, cats, house, car, job, living in the US, just everything. I really CAN'T complain about anything and what I do complain about, I can either change, or it's more venting those little things, which everyone needs to do.
Recently I have felt like the little engine that could. I am running 5 days a week, doing some sort of cardio/weights/yogo on the 6th day and then get one day of rest per week. I never thought in a billion years that I would be able to do this, both physically and mentally, for weeks at a time. Now my legs are changing and responding. Today I went to the gym and ran 7 miles in 57 minutes. I was planning to go slower, but found my pace and stuck with it. I wasn't breathing hard and wasn't sore from yesterday's speed workout. This Hal Higdon (the master marathoner and one who developed the program I'm following) knows his stuff and I really look forward to telling him my success story in May.
I feel tired from lack of sleep all the time, but my legs have strengthened enough that I can still do my normal everyday thing without "feeling it" when I have my longer or faster workouts. It's neat to see and feel and to be a part of. See, I told you I had an endorphin rush! I think a thing that is really neat is that I attached myself to someone else's vision, and someone else has attached to my vision of being a walker/runner. I am humbled by this person who is doing something that I personally couldn't be happy without, and making it her own and a part of her life. I'm not going to go all "George Bailey" on you readers, but try and take account of how you affect people around you. See how you can make a little difference in someone's life by smiling, paying for their coffee, asking how they're doing and actually wanting to hear the answer.
Give it a try as you never know what can happen.
As for me, I'm going to keep on keepin' on! Chug, chug, the little engine that could.

Cat and Kitten Adoption Center NOW OPEN!

2010-02-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

Pictures are: Cuddly kittens. There are 4 little babies looking for forever homes along with some older kittens-ones less than a year. There are also some that are a few years old, some are declawed. All but the kittens are spayed or neutered and ALL have microchips and current vaccinations. Fees are $75 for all and include a $30 credit for kittens when they are spayed/neutered.

*Picture of Toby hugging Beth. He is the sweetest kitty. Adult neutered male, not declawed. He is a hugger and a lover!

*Dark tabby is of Max, OUR FIRST ADOPTION OF 2010 AND FROM THE ADOPTION CENTER!

I am so proud to announce that Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue now has a "rescue center" now open at 3221 Gordon Plaza, just west of the Hy Vee on Gordon. Hours are 11am - 7pm Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and by appointment during other times by calling 253-4099. I am so proud to be a part of this organization!

As for the rest of "things", I am still getting over this nasty cold but it's pretty much gone. My wonderful hubby has spent a lot of time at the Paw Prints store to build shelves for the kitties to climb on. I had a 14 mile run on Sunday and a 7 miler today. I did this cardio sculpting thing on Monday, so my legs are pretty tired. I am so impressed with the way that I am physically able to do what I am asking of my body. I feel so blessed to have a healthy body to run with, and I am so hopeful for the future of Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue! It's a great day!

Stop in and see the place! Cats are running and jumping all over and are socializing. We will soon have pet beds and toys to sell to supplement the cost of taking care of the wonderful kitties that come our way. There's still some work to be done, but we're up and running!

Feeling bad...

2010-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

It's been another week since I've written. I'm sitting here, watching it snow AGAIN, and assume that we will have a late start for Monday morning. I have a terrible cold and actually thought it could be the flu, but I feel too good for the flu. I did try and do my 3 mile run instead of a 13 that I was supposed to do, but I just couldn't even muster enough to do the 3 mile. I walked most of it. My lungs hurt, so just need to take it relatively easy and let my body heal. At this stage of the training, missing one long run won't harm me.
Everything else has been pretty much the same. Still have the 3 foster cats. A funny moment happend when I was doing my hill workout on my treadmill on Thursday. Let's say that I have confirmed that I have the most playful cats of all. He's not the only one who does this, but I personally have never seen this. Just imagine doing your workout and hearing this strange noise, turning around, then your cat exercising behind you! What a funny guy. I had a great workout for the remainder of the week, especially my 6 miles in 49 minutes on Friday. It's supposed to be "race pace", which is closer to 8.5 minute miles, but I was happy with my faster workout and wasn't too tuckered out after I was done. I just hope I feel better soon and can get my 7 milers in on Tuesday and Friday. I have a tempo workout on Thursday, which isn't a big deal. I am enjoying going to the gym, just not the people who walk in front of me when I am clearly running. Just watch where you are going, people, that's all I ask!
This link will direct you to Youtube where the video is posted.
Have a good one and stay healthy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiwQv4NakUM

What Paw Prints is all about...

2010-01-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

I just blogged yesterday, but this story is worth telling right now. Just where to start! Some background is that the roof on Petsmart here in Sioux City collapsed last week. Animal Control took in some of their small animals, and a rumor started that they were going to euthanize cats to make room for the Petsmart animals. Who knows if this would have been true, but AC says it is not. Paw Prints was given the goahead to take 7 of Animal Control's cats anyway. They were vetted and have been recovering from that place and from colds, which most cats get after being there because of the conditions and stress. I remember when this was going on that one of the cats had a pink glittery collar and was declawed and spayed. The cat had been there since November as well. This screams that this is a cat with a home, it screams loudly.
Kris from Paw Prints did a little research on the cat this week. On the collar was the city license tag, which is a direct line to the owner. The owner was never contacted that her cat was at Animal Control-they had her since NOVEMBER. On the information card at Animal Control (you know, I have a lot of disrespect for this place so I am not going to capitalize it for the rest of this article-my little act of rebellion), the cat was listed as a neutered male, so when the owner DID call animal control to see if her cat was there, of course they couldn't tell her that she was, because SHE was listed as a HE. It would have been easy to tell since the cat had a collar, but that would require someone actually getting up out of their chair and looking in the cat room to see. What they stress is that owners come down to animal control to see if their animal is there. Yes, for a lot of animals, you do need to go see in person, I get it. BUT this cat had a pink shiney collar with TAGS on it. Animal control needs to understand that some of these cats have owners who love them, so DO YOUR FRIGGIN JOB!
Anyway, this cat was reunited with her owner today. The owner, a nice lady who works very hard at two jobs, was beside herself with joy that her cat came back to her alive. After coming to a dead end at animal control, she assumed the cat had been hit by a car or stolen or just lost.
THIS is what Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue is all about. Thank you to Kris for this one as she is the one who got the cat from animal control and did the legwork to find the owner and then reunited the cat with her person.
This is not the first story like this, by any means. There are many cats who are microchipped who are not checked for microchips when they come to animal control. I know this for a fact, and it's pretty discusting to me. Checking the ID on dogs is an issue as well. This will be on my agenda at the next committee meeting.
On another note, I am putting out a request for a computer and/or printer that Paw Prints can use. If you would consider donating file cabinets or other things like that, it is tax deductible.
I also bought new running shoes today. My pledge: I WILL NOT LOSE ANY MORE RUNNING SHOES. Who does that anyway? Besides me.
Thanks for reading today, I love these heartwarming stories!

So much for more frequent blogging

2010-01-14T07:07:00.000-08:00

Oops, not sure what happened, but I have completely forgotten to blog! What's up with that? Maybe the weather has frozen my brain or something! At least it's actually above freezing and melting some of the snow and ice from the roads. I've never seen this much snow before, or at least that I can remember, and I'm dreading to see how long it takes to melt! Then I will finally be able to run outside....
I am almost done with my third week of my 18 week training program. It is going very well, although I have to assume that in two weeks, I'll be pretty tired out. On Sunday, I ran an 11 miler at the gym so it was 110 times around. THAT's fun. NOT. But it's better than the treadmill, and I did go faster than the 10 minute mile that I'm supposed to and expected to do. I did a fast 6 miles on Tuesday and today did speed work that went surprisingly fast. I have to pace myself but it's really difficult for me to do that at the gym. I know where I should be on a per-lap basis, but it's just hard when there's a lot of distraction and I have to be sure to not blast into someone on my fast laps, which I almost did. To anyone who does run at the gym, DO NOT change lanes right in front of someone thinking that you're getting out of their way. We will go around you!
On another almost humorous note, I lost my running shoes. I never thought this could happen, but I have been looking high and low for them since Saturday to no avail. I have checked the gym three times, my car, the closet, all over the house and even the trash can. THAT was fun. So I'm using my old ones and thank goodness this weekend is a short run of "only" 8 miles or my feet would be hurting! I have to get some new ones since the old ones have over 500 miles on them. Grrrrr! Pay attention, Kelli!!!!! Lesson learned.
Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue is going to have some big news next week so be sure to check back. As the Sioux City people have heard, the roof caved in at Petsmart, which was a pretty big outlet for Paw Prints' cats. It's also been hard on the foster parents of these cats so let's say an alternative has been found, at least for now. Hopefully I can announce this officially early next week. We do have tons of available cats, declawed, spayed/neutered, some kittens, everything and they are wonderful cats.
Last night was my first meeting as part of the Animal Control Advisory Committee. It was educational and I need to get a little more information before I start to try and get some of my goals accomplished. Let's just say that I am aware, not firsthand though, that there are many wrongs going on there, but I can't just go in and start blasting and expect anyone to listen. There's a time and a place for everything, so hopefully I will be able to succeed at my goal, which is to make a life difference for the animals there. I became aware that most of the adoptable dogs from Animal Control are being taken to no-kill rescues in Minnesota. I wasn't aware of this until last night, and it made me sigh a breath of relief. Now for the cats.....
My biggest dream which I assume is pretty much impossible unless people can get over their high school-ish he said, she said crap, is that all the rescues, Animal Control, and The Humane Society can just get along and work together to irradicate the pet overpopulation problem. I was told "fat chance" by someone last night, but I guess I'll have to claim Pollyanna on this one. Maybe dreams can come true. Let's hope anyway!

Week 1 of 18

2010-01-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

Well, today was the end of my first week of my 18 week training plan, counting down to May 2nd for the Lincoln Marathon. I entered the race and got a hotel reservation for the night before. I found a suite so I won't have to worry about waking the kids early and vice versa. Looks like a nice place. Today was a "long run" day, which was 10 miles. Next week will be 11 miles, then it backs down...or is it another long, then short? Whatever, but I am following Hal Higdon's training program for Advanced I runners. I am not sore today, nor that tired, but this is week ONE, so I fully expect to be more and more tired yet more in shape. Tomorrow is relatively "easy", with 45 minutes of yoga.
I ate like a garbage can these past few weeks. I know I gained a few, so need to work those off, plus a few more to get into perfect marathon condition. I have a little flab that can be removed and who knows, maybe help my run. A few minutes can make a big difference when it comes to time goals! Now I have 17 weeks to be paranoid about the weather condtions and what other marathon I can do. There's one near Minneapolis but it's only 4 weeks after the Lincoln one, so not sure if that's the best move when I have time in consideration. There's a cool one that starts near Storm Lake, but that's in July, so could be 80 in the morning. I'm not a good hot weather runner, but I guess that's the one I will probably do, plus have some fun with the boys on the lake after the run. I've never been to Storm Lake, so it's about time!
Well, on just another note, I have never seen so much snow in my life! We played in the back yard and we had to dig a path so we could get the fence gate open. It's fun to play in and it was quite a beautiful snow from last night and this morning. It's so cold that it fell in perfect typical "snowflake" pattern. You could pick it up and blow it. Anyway, it appears that we will have snow on the ground until next Christmas since there's so much of it, so I guess we will be out a lot and have a lot of fun. It's hard to picure us wearing tank tops and the sun heating us up as we play, but it's hard to picture snowsuits in July too.
Enjoy your weather, whereever you are!

Back in the saddle again...

2009-12-29T06:45:00.000-08:00

Boy, did we get a lot of snow over Christmas! I don't remember this much as a kid, but considering I wasn't the one scooping/shoveling it out of the way, we could have very well had this much before. We have had a lot of fun playing in it though! Thank God for our safe travels and for my sister and her husband's surprise visit here and back. What blessings we all have in each other.

Now it's back to work. My new running plan started yesterday. I get one day off per week scheduled and I will take another if I get too tired or just need a break. I have a goal in mind but am not willing to share quite yet. I will say that I am going to run the marathon in Lincoln on May 3rd. It is 18 weeks away, so I am doing Hal Higdon's 18 week training plan for Advanced runners. We'll see if it kills me! I did make one change in that on Mondays, the day after long runs, I am going to do yoga instead of a short jog. I feel that I need to work on my flexibility, balance, and strength and that should be the perfect tool. I got a DVD so can just do that in my basement. I've found that I'm extremely "board-like" so hopefully this will help me!

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that ten years ago, we were so paranoid about the Y2K thing. I was at Myrtle Beach for New Year's Eve and had a good time. This year I will be at Mannheim Steamroller with my 7 year old. Ten years ago, I couldn't imagine living in Iowa again and having two little boys. Strange how your life turns out, but I sure love it!

Well, better get on with my day. Cats to clean up after, but at least there's only 6 of them!

Merry Christmas to All!

2009-12-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

As the three Kings addressed the crowds in Bethlehem, all at once the dark clouds parted and the sky was bathed in a radiant light. The people were filled with wonder as they gazed into the heavens. In the hills nearby, some shepherds saw the same light. They had been tending their sheep, but when the heavenly light broke through the clouds, they fell to the ground in fear. People in towns and villages for miles around and all the shepherds in the fields covered their eyes to shield them from the blinding rays. When they looked up, the glory of the Lord shone around them, and the sky was filled with singing angels. One voice could be heard above all others: "Fear not," said an angel of the Lord, "for I bring tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign: you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
And then the sweet voices of the angels rang out like bells: "Glory to God in the Highest; peace on earth and good will toward men." And the hearts of the people were filled with gladness.

So it is that at Christmas we celebrate the birth of a blessed baby who was born one starry night in a peaceful stable in Bethlehem.

From me to you, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

Running for a Paws

2009-12-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I wanted to let you know that I presented Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue a big check for $3000 for my fundraising efforts. This could not have been done without your help and I sincerely appreciate the thoughtfulness of everyone who donated, whether it was a quarter or $100. One year ago, I had no idea where my life would lead, and I am so happy with the way it has turned. I never thought I would run another marathon, then plan to do yet another at an even faster pace. Crazy cat lady I am!

Some of the money has been used for pet food for people who were going to surrender their dogs because they had no money for food. The husband had lost his job a few months ago and they were down to nothing. They have pet food now and can keep their wonderful dogs who they love. I have also had three cats neutered and immunized with the funds. Beth has had two cats spayed with the money.

I tell you people, it IS making a difference in the lives of these animals and the people who need our help. We are always taking tax deductible donations, so if you want to give for the first time or again, just contact me for the mailing address.

There's so many things to talk about but I have to do some other things in holiday preparations, so will have to wait until the next blog. I do have to update that Sunkist, the cat from my back yard, is doing great. He was neutered and immunized, and he is currently running around my house. He's still a little shy, but he's coming around and is fun to play with. If he only knew how COLD it would have been for him outside! I'm so thankful that I was able to bring him in and take care of him.

The winner of our Christmas tree raffle does not want her name published. So if you haven't heard that you are the winner of our raffle, we're sorry that you didn't win. I can't thank those of you who helped sell tickets enough. The tree was beautiful and the new owner loves it. Thanks to all!

The cats

2009-11-30T19:28:00.000-08:00

Chandler is doing much better. His little friend, Peace, got a version of his sickness, but she seems to be doing a whole lot better this evening. She got very sick when she was a tiny little kitten and ended up having a fever so high, she has neurological damage; meaning, she is a little unbalanced. Otherwise, she's a great and fun kitten. Chandler is still so tiny but he's plugging away and seems to be doing well.
Sunkist is amazing. He seemed to be wanting out of his large kennel and going nose to nose to several of the other cats, so I let him out today. He is playing and getting along with them wonderfully! I couldn't believe it. I kenneled him for the night, but he is just doing great and learning what it's like to be a house cat. He had to have been one before...I can't imagine a feral cat behaving so friendly in the first place, but I'm so glad that I was able to get him inside before these frigid temps this week.
Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue will be at Petsmart again this weekend. We have lots of cats available for adoption and will be taking pictures of your pets and you as a fundraiser. Come and check it out!
I do want to let you followers know that I will be on and off for the month of December. I have so much going on for the new year that I will be blogging more regularly after 2010, but for this December, I will be on when I can. Keep on checking as I know there will be things going on this month!

Sunkist

2009-11-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

Sunkist is back home from the vet, getting all his shots and having "the" surgery. He's pretty wiped out though which is to be expected. The right is a picture of Renegade. I love this cat! He's about the most fun, prettiest and sweetest cat I've been around.
My little baby foster kitten Chandler, is at the vet with a mysterious ailment. He was favoring his left front leg, but now he has a fever and was just acting difficult to get around. He just has to be ok, so say a little prayer for him! He didn't have a mother from the start so he's had a rough start to life.

I am tring to attach a video that I made over the weekend for Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue. I'm not completely done but wanted to get it out before Thanksgiving. People need to know that even though you are "only" saving a cat's life, it is important. People are important if they only make someone smile. Every person in the world matters.

it is too big.....i just can't figure out a way to share this video.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!

I am thankful to God, my life, my friends, my family, my animals.....

A great week for Paw Prints

2009-11-18T16:43:00.001-08:00

Left is picture of Sunkist, my new addition.

Right is picture of Lyssa and Beth with the loot that Lyssa and Allied Solutions collected for Paw Prints.

Next picture is just 2 of 8 pallets of the dog food that was donated to Paw Prints.

Greats things happened for Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue this week. First, there was a delivery of dog food to the Siouxland Food Bank. It was about 8 pallets of food....Beth and Kris took 2 pallets to exchange for cat food. People have been calling to surrender their cats because they can no longer afford to feed them. This food donation will prevent the surrender of many cats and dogs, mostly to Animal Control. And again, if a dog or cat goes into Animal Control, it most likely will not come out alive. Thank you to Dawn and Country Vet.....it makes such a huge difference to the animals of Siouxland!

I have a HUGE thank you to Lyssa and Allied Solutions here in Sioux City. Lyssa knew Paw Prints from last year and is an avid animal lover. She took it upon herself to organize a fundraiser at Allied in November. Today I had the priviledge to meet her and some of the employees of Allied and was so taken aback by their generosity. It brings me to tears as I write this, and it usually takes me a tiny bit longer to get to tears about this kind of thing. As I said before, it's been an overwhelming week! Lyssa and Allied had a "Dogs for Dogs" (hot dogs for fundraising for dogs) and they handed over $344 to Beth today. They also collected several boxes of toys and food for dogs and cats. Thank you doesn't seem like a big enough gesture to show our gratitude for you, Lyssa. I tell you, not many people would go out of their way as you have and put your time/money where your mouth is, but you did it. THANK YOU!!!!

Also, because Mary Ann from S. Sioux City sent a donation earlier in my "Running for a Paws" campaign, I sent her an update of the marathon and fundraising efforts. I received a check from her for $100. Yet another WOW moment.

And for the icing on the cake, I "captured" the cat that has been eating in my back yard. I tried almost 2 weeks ago to catch him after knowing him for about 10 minutes. Of course he bit me. Stupid move, but he has been coming back and eating lots and lots of canned food every day and night, so today I put the canned food (warmed up) in the kennel, he walked in, and I shut the door. He is in a huge kennel in my basement (it's finished so it's not like a scary one filled with spiders and things...it's filled with toys and computer stuff). He lets me pet him and he wants to trust me sooooo much. So I'm giving him lots of time to adjust but I just needed him to be warm at night and to know that he didn't have to worry about where his next meal was coming from. I hope that he knows that he is loved and will be taken care of....he's a beautiful yellow tabby with an even more beautiful white bib and boots...so he's named Sunkist.

Thank you to everyone who has made a difference in an animal's life...to Paw Prints....to me.... I am so blessed to be able to do what I do because of the support I have and the God given love of animals and the need to help.

Be sure to check out the great things Paw Prints has to sell at the Sioux City Craft Fair this weekend at the Convention Center. It's 9-5 on Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday. Be sure to introduce yourself...I will be there almost all day on Sunday too. Come and say hi!!

If anyone notices, I deleted the blog about my cats, Tigger, Bailey, and Cooney (Grandpa). I just needed it to be a part of the past and move on to the great things that are going on! I still cry about what happened but just can't think about all of it anymore, especially the short time I knew Cooney. He's the hardest to get over and I miss him more than the cats I had for 9 years. Cheers again to you, Grandpa cat!

More kittens

2009-11-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

I got four beautiful kittens today. They are black/white/tabby. They're a little timid but I assume that they will come around very soon. Hopefully, they will be at Petsmart on Saturday all ready to be adopted. Now just for some names!
It has been an extremely difficult week because of the events of the past blog. I am struggling with the morality of the entire situation. I've talked to a lot of people about it and they are all very supportive and understanding, but I still can't shake the idea that it was wrong. I just don't know what else I could have done. In order to try and make some repentance, I tried to catch a stray in my back yard. He bit me, but I just should have waited a few days until he was more comfortable with me. He comes every day for food and is a very pretty orange and white. Due to the way my kids name things, he is now called Orangey.
Well, that's all for now. More pictures soon. I finally found my good camera so I have pictures on three different cameras that I need to consolidate!

More info from marathon

2009-10-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

It has been a week and I am ready to start getting ready for another marathon. Luckily for my knees, there's none close to here until May...so I shall be patient, rest up, then begin my training just as the holiday season arrives. That will keep me out of the eggnog!
There were a few things from the marathon that I had wanted to write about but had forgotten, plus I didn't want to make the thing about 25 pages too long. So here goes...
During the first few miles while running in South Sioux, a man ran past me on the right side. He was running in the grass, which I found to be easier on the body, but slower than the pavement. Then I caught a glimpse of...what? TOES? Could that be?? No..... so after the half point, after Stone Park, I saw a bare foot print in the mud. Goodness, it IS someone running with bare feet! Mark Mechaley was inspired by "Born to Run" that talks about the Tarahumara people of northern Mexico. He said that shoes can give people a false sense of stability, so he ran without. For 26.2 miles....in 30-some degree weather. I prefer shoes any day! But I give him a ton of credit for this. He finished in 50th place by the way, which was a time of 3 hrs and 42 min. Wow.
Another point of interest is that after I was done running and trying to figure out why my time wasn't registering, my mom and I saw a man finish who was dressed exactly like Forrest Gump. With the beard, sweatshirt, 80's shorts, tennies, and the hat, he looked the part and I really wish I could have gotten a picture of him. Now I want to enter a marathon where there's a theme and I can act as KraZy as I want without looking strange. During this run, when I was at mile 1, I wanted to yell very loudly "WE ONLY HAVE 25.2 TO GO!!!!!". There were some crickets and maybe a runner who would have heard me, so I will save this outburst for when others can hear. Hopefully they don't try and trip me.
So I started back to running this morning and it was good. Going for a 10 miler in the morning so better get some sleep, which I've just had way too little of over the weekend.
Oh, and I got six kittens last week...three boys, three girls. So Cindy, Greg, Bobbey, Marsha, and Peter were adopted. Poor little Jan is left. She's great so we expect her to be adopted by the weekend as well.

Ready, Set, RUN!

2009-10-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Picture: Beth and me and some random kids :)

MARATHON DAY.

Preparation: Mentally and physically preparing to run a marathon. Step one, be sure to be hydrated. I quit drinking caffeinated coffee a few weeks ago and started drinking more water and milk. The day before the race, I was sure to drink several bottles of water, but I didn’t force myself to drink. My nerves kicked in Thursday and were bothering me so much on Friday I had to force myself to eat. Not unusual for me, but was annoying.
Step two: Be sure to have good music for the run. There’s nothing worse than running by yourself on a boring course. Sorry Siouxland Marathon, it’s pretty, but not interesting. Large crowds are fun to run in and there's just not a lot of people around. I need tunes. Because my MP3 player beeps between each song every few weeks and I could NOT figure out how to get it stopped, I was given a very generous gift from a friend of mine…a pink iPod. We spent a few hours downloading (or is it uploading?) music to it for the run. If I had to run with the thing beeping between each song for 4 ½ hours, it would have been smashed to bits on Highway 12. There’s only so much I can handle.
Step three: Get up early before the race to eat and stretch. I was up at 4:45 Saturday morning and had a banana with peanut butter, water and some granola bar. I felt very good and was optimistic for the outcome of the run. My mom picked me up at 6 and I sat in her warm truck until about 10 minutes before the race started. Thanks, mom, it was great to chat with you and be distracted from what I was about to do!

THE RACE:
We gathered to hear a very nice prayer and National Anthem. I thought there was construction in the distance, but it was just the chattering of everyone’s teeth. Boy was it cold!! It started at 7am with a beep (they didn’t use a gun for this one). There were two waves of starters, one at 7 and one at 8. The “over 5 hour” finishers were to start at 7. I went ahead with this group because I like to run early and I wanted to get it over with! There weren’t too many people who started at 7 and it was extremely peaceful. We wound around South Sioux City and along the river. A bike was in the front of the tiny pack, thank goodness, since it was very dark! After the first mile, I checked the time and found that it was at 8 min 50 sec. I thought to myself, “Whoa Nelly, you gotta slow the heck down, you can't keep up at this pace!” So I tried. After the 2nd mile, I checked again and found myself at 18 minutes. Well ok, SLOW DOWN. After four miles of “trying” to slow down, I decided that I had found my pace and was going to keep it. I am used to running on hills, so I figured that because this course was flat, just take advantage of it, stay at a comfortable pace, and GO FOR IT! During this time, I was thinking silly thoughts and decided to write a poem in my head (of course it would be in my head as who brings paper on a marathon?). It would be made from the titles on my iPod and others that fit. I won't share it here because it's long and strange but here's a line or two: "It's a beatiful day but I need a new drug because I got bad medicine for this cat scratch fever. I won't ever say that I'm not running anymore because it's like a river of love and it only makes me stronger. I did it!" At the time, it was really funny and entertained me for a few miles.

I digress. Before we crossed the bridge into Sioux City, I saw the port-a-jons and decided to utilize one while I could. When we ran over the bridge, the sun was coming up and it was so beautiful. I took a video with my iPod and will post this week. We ran on the riverfront trail from mile 6 for about three miles. There were people with water and fruit and power ade. One stop by Riverside ballfields had signs urging us to keep going and had a Maragaritaville theme. It was fun to see although thinking of drinking anything but water or power ade was nauseating. I do remember them having cut up bananas for the runners, which was unexpected and very generous.

I was counting down until the half way since Andy and the boys were going to meet me. Before the half way, we wound around the riverside neighborhood and met one very steep yet short hill. Then we were thanked with a very long downhill stretch. I like to lengthen my strides going downhill to use gravity for my advantage.
At mile 13 and 13.1 I looked and looked for Andy and/or our truck. Nope, wasn’t there. I was hoping that the boys weren’t sick (Tyler had flu last week and Ryan was on the verge) or they didn’t get lost or something. I was upset as I wanted to see their faces and needed some food-gu (basically discusting but much needed carbs for energy), some granola, and new gum! After I topped the hill after the exact half point, I saw them and was so relieved! I got some medicine for my silly headache (silly wasn’t what I was thinking but that’s what I’ll say here) and took off my ear things and gloves, which I found out later was a huge mistake, and had some food. I got energized and told Andy that my strategy was to tackle the hills and try to keep at my 9 minute mile pace. I thought that after the race, if I looked back and thought I could have done better, I would be upset. So my thing was to do the absolute best I could instead of taking it slow at the beginning and go faster, if I could, at the end.

Kudos to Great West for a really fun water stop. Music was blaring and they were cheering loudly although I was the only one near at the time. It helps and is appreciated! We ran along Highway 12 for about 3 miles (this is where my patience would have run out and I would have smashed my beeping MP3 player into bits) and at mile 16, we headed into Stone State Park. Yikes. There was a water and gu stop before “the hill” and someone handing out water said “Have fun on the hills!”. Grrrrrr. I saw the first stretch and tackled it with all my energy. I went to a 10 minute mile pace for the next mile, which had a few steep hills and some flat parts. Then one more steep climb met us with the top, probably around mile 17.5. Whew! Not as bad as what I thought it would be. It wasn't easy by any means though. We were then rewarded with a very nice loooong downhill run for a few miles. I went for it and picked up the pace. Why not, I knew I had less than 10 miles left!? Go for it became my mantra. I had to retie my shoes along here and since I took my gloves off earlier, my fingers were like ice cubes. It doesn’t work well when you need to tie shoes quickly. Just put your hands under freezing water for about 10 minutes, try and tie your shoes and you’ll understand what I mean. They did soon warm up though. I zoned into running so don’t have any fun or quirky thoughts to write about for pretty much the rest of the run. I was hurting a little, of course, was tired, and was wondering where all the walkers came from. Was I was going the right way (of course I was, it was well marked) or miss something? I couldn’t do the math and figure out that the half marathon started 30 minutes before I got to that point so they were just that far ahead of me. I didn’t pick that up until after we were done. It did give me something to think about though.

Around Mile 21, it got really confusing. I was running on the sidewalk going one way, others were on the road, going the other way. Did I miss something again? There weren’t other runners there so I was just wondering if I had gone the wrong way. Nope, saw the 21 mile marker, so kept going. It was confusing at one point and I know one runner took the wrong way. He ran the same distance but just went the opposite direction on the circle part of the route.
Andy and the boys were there again at the 21 mile marker and between 22 and 23 along with my friend Anne and her 3 kids. It was so energizing to see them there cheering me on. One of them even yelled “Good luck Kelli!” to me. So sweet and appreciated so much!

Thankfully, I never hit the “wall” that is most dreaded in marathon running. Let’s just say that at mile 23, I knew I couldn’t go faster, but I wasn’t going to slow down either. My legs hurt and I was just plain tired, but I knew we were almost there. This part of the route was on the Perry Creek Trail, which is actually very nice! There was a water stop along this way decorated in pink, which I totally loved. (I had pink finernails, toenails, hair thingy, shirt, and gloves. I love pink. It was for the Race for Life next year. They were handing out pink beads, which I declined, then regretted that I declined. BUT another mile down the way I found two sets of beads by the trail, so I picked them up and wrapped them in my hands. I will keep at least one set forever, just to remember that moment and for all the women who couldn't run. Connie Prince Houlihan, the best female runner I have ever seen, ran by somewhere along this trail. She won the entire race in 3 hours 4 minutes! WOW! Remember that I had been running an hour longer than she had. And she's 52.
When I saw the mile 25 marker, I turned to my favorite inspirational song, Stronger, by Kanye West. I don’t think it really has anything to do with sports, but the words are true “N-n-not that that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger…” I love running hard to this song and it really helped me think about what I was accomplishing and what I was blessed enough to be able to do. So went for it, picked it up a little, and ran to the finish. The 26 mile marker was right before a turn, so at that point, I was exhausted and couldn’t “KICK IT” like I usually do. I ran for the finish, heard my friends and family cheering for me, and crossed the line in 4 hours, 12 minutes 39 seconds.
Mission: Accomplished.

Thank you to Andy, Tyler, Ryan, Mom, Beth and Larry, and Anne, Paul, Drew, and Kia. You gave me inspiration and I thank you so much for being there for me at a very important time in my life!

I got a cool medal, 93rd of 170 overall, 26th of 67 women, and 9th of 14 in my age group. Not too shabby!

How do I feel the day after? Ouch. My 2nd toe hurts and I expect I will lose my nail. My legs are tired but especially on the side joint and knees. Other wise I'm doing well. I got lots of sleep and hydration yesterday, thank you mom!
I am very proud and lucky to be able to do this and to have the support of my friends and family, especially you, Andy. I am amazed at the limits that I can push my body and how well it responds. I am thankful to Beth and Paw Prints for giving me the inspiration to set this goal of Running for a Paws and for supporting me in it. Thanks to my sister for her words of encouragement on Friday as well. You'll blog about your marathon some day too!
It doesn’t stop here. There’s so much more I can do. And I will!

The Day after Tomorrow; Lovie was adopted!

2009-10-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

No, it's not a movie title, just a very important day in my life. Yes, I keep going on and on about it, but it's consuming almost all of my thoughts. I guess it's a good thing to get mentally prepared, yet another to get mental about it! I just need to calm a little and focus. It's hard to when I'm running my arsk around doing other things, but tomrrow will have to be the day to really get down to mentally preparing myself for this race. It's more of a run than a race.

Great news is that Lovie was adopted today. Beth took her to Petsmart and a few hours later, she went home with her new family with a playmate, Murphy.

I'm so happy that she has a loving home!! What a darling and my family and I will sure miss her so much!

I also learned something today that will change Paw Prints and the animals of Siouxland forever, for the good. I can't say anything, but good things are coming. Keep posted.

Welcome to any new readers!

2009-10-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to detail my experiences being an active volunteer for Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue in Sioux City, Iowa. I was introduced to this organization, run by Beth Storm and Kris Kava, just about a year ago and began fostering a pregnant cat, then a dog with 9 newborn puppies. I wanted to do something "bigger" this spring and since I love to run, I decided to start my "Running for a Paws" campaign. I have asked all my friends and family for donations along with those I have done business with. I haven't gotten the best response from those that I don't know, but I am not done yet! I have run over 50 miles in races, trained for 700 miles since March 1st, and have fostered over 50 cats since I started this thing. And I love it. The purpose is to raise awareness along with the funds. I was very hesitant about getting involved since I knew I would learn things that happened to animals that I didn't really want to know. But it has been good for me and has "fired me up" to keep making a difference and to try to make a bigger one next year.

On Saturday, October 17th, I will complete the 2009 campaign by running the Siouxland Lewis & Clark Marathon.....26.2 miles. I have run two marathons before, but they were before my two children were born, so it's a different ballgame now! My goal is to finish around 4.5 hours, but with me being sick the past few weeks and my son having the flu currently, I'm just shooting for less than 5 hours!

I have received almost $2000 in donations and have pledges, most being $1 per mile run in races, totaling about $1000. I just cannot wait to present this pledge money to Beth and Kris, hopefully the very beginning of November!

I am a foster to 10 cats/kittens now, one being more permanent than the others. He is Tycoony, or Grandpa, that I blogged about the other day. He is 14 so I assume that there's not a lot of people who would want to take him on, given that he could have medical issues any day. Then again, I have an 18 month old cat with health issues now too, so you just never know!

I have a lot of stories to tell in the coming months. I am sure I will have a lot of complaining to do with running outside in the ccccold too! I get sooo tired of the treadmill so I make a go of it outside as long as it's safe. My youngest is now in preschool a few times a week so I'm hoping to get outside in the real winter months since I can get out when it's light out. Then I won't have to worry about sliding on my backside down a hill!

Enjoy the blog and please do email me with any comments or really, anything! If you are looking to adopt or want to volunteer or donate, again, please email me! I check my email every day now that I missed a month and missed some really important issues.

Thanks for reading!

~Kelli

Running for a Paws

2009-10-12T19:33:00.003-07:00

This is what Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue is all about. These cats would most likely not be alive today if they hadn't cared enough to start Paw Prints and to take in these cats when they have so many to take care of already. Two were left in a cardboard box at Petsmart. Can't remember where the others were from, but it sure wasn't a nice home with lots of food and love! It's expensive, stressful, but oh so rewarding. My marathon is in just a few days and I'm hoping to bring more awareness to what Paw Prints is all about. If you happen to be at the race this Saturday in downtown Sioux City, look for my tired face and body with my Running for a Paws shirt on!

Tycoony & Freaking...a little

2009-10-11T19:27:00.001-07:00

Picture: Lovey loving on Tycoon Kitty, Cooney wondering why I'm flashing this thing at him and won't let him go back to sleep.

This is the final week of prep for the marathon. I have my menu all planned out and groceries purchased, except for fresh fruit of course. I'm starting to freak a little...will it rain, SNOW? How will my legs be since I have been sick the past few weeks? Will I hit the wall at 20? 21? At all? Will the whole race be like the wall? Will I meet my goal time? Will I throw up at the end? Will anyone be there to see me finish? How steep are the hills? Will I need to walk up them? What if I trip? What if I need a short sleeved shirt part way through? What if my shoes get wet? See what I mean? Yup, I'm freakin.

Anyway, I've been doing some things for Paw Prints to prepare for the craft fair in November. It's going to be really cool...we have some neat things so come down...it's all for the cats we have- nothing is taken for overhead.

I wanted to write the story of Tycoon Kitty, Tycoony, or Grandpa as we call him. My friend, a high school classmate, works for a dog rescue in Des Moines, so she totally gets the animal loving thing. Her brother is going through a divorce and took his 14 year old cat to live in an insulated shed at his parent's house. My friend saw him looking out the shed window meowing to himself, so she called me. That's no way for a cat to live. No matter what. I couldn't really do anything at the time, but just couldn't stop thinking about him and how he must have been thinking "what did I do wrong?". A few weeks ago, we brought him HOME. He lives with the other fosters in our basement (it's finished) and seems to be pretty happy. I did mistake his emotions and thought he was playing and found out the painful way that no, he wasn't, and he didn't appreciate my hand on his head. He walks around a lot but when I come downstairs several times a day, he comes walking over. He also needed some help with the litter box situation. After I put it where he was going, he decided to just go in it. Hopefully that continues when I move the thing back. I pick him up a lot and he curls up in my arms and he purrrs and kneeds his clawless paws. That reminds me, Goldie is now declawed. I couldn't take the shredded carpet....I digress.

So our new family member is getting along just ok. That's a LOT of adjustment for an old cat to make...home to shed to other home to other home to other home with tons of kittens wanting to play with tail. He's relatively grumpy if he gets upstairs, but I think it's almost just desserts for Goldie, who spent months chasing other cats.

My lecture of the day is...if you take the responsibility to adopt a pet, you don't try and fit them into you life...you do it. It's like having children. Your new landlord doesn't take pets? Find a new landlord. What would you do if they said no kids, just let Grandma take the kids for your convenience? It's not right, not fair, and extremely selfish. So here is Paw Prints, taking care of the animals that YOU committed to but just decided that something else came along. And by the way, Grandpa cat hadn't been to the vet in 10 years, and had ear mites so bad that his ears were full and all misshapen, as you can see in the picture. End of lecture.

Tycoony is happy, healthy, well fed, loved, and warm. Thanks Paw Prints, I couldn't have done this without you! (My friend wouldn't have known I was into rescue so he would still be living in a glorified shed.) Thanks Court, for loving him enough to know what's best for him and for asking for help!

2009-10-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

In one week from right now, I will have completed something that I never thought I would...another marathon. At least that's the way it's supposed to be! I am getting nervous about it, especially with this horrible cough I have had for the past week. I was up for about 3 hours last night coughing. I'm guessing that my abs are getting a nice workout! My back hurts from it though.
I have the entire week's meals planned out. They are mild yet rich in carbs and protein. I won't be having much caffeine at all and absolutely no wine or beer. I am hoping beyond all hopes that it will not be rainy next Saturday morning. It can be cold and windy (preferably not) but just not rainy! I'm getting all the songs I want downloaded to my MP3 player for running entertainment, and I will be doing several short runs this week, plus stretching. After the run, I'm very excited to start taking up yoga. I tried it once this summer and am looking forward to strengthening my muscles and getting more flexible.
I am still taking pledges for my run....I'm asking for $35 donations, all tax deductible. And I have a sneaking feeling that my "Running for a Paws" cause will continue into 2010.....

Some of My Kittens to Petsmart

2009-10-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Kitties: Lovey- Orange Tabby

Flower (we renamed him T-Bone)- Black with white

Edith- Calico

I admit today that it is extremely hard to be a kitty foster parent. They come to you so scared and hungry and tired. You take care of them and they learn to trust you and love you. They are happy. Then you take them to Petsmart in good faith so they can find a loving forever home so you can help more kitties like them. They don't understand.

Edith and Flower came from a pretty bad situation. They were literally shaking like leaves on an Iowa October day. Now they wag their tails like puppies and purr so loudly and just love to be hugged and loved on. I need to take them to Petsmart so they can find new homes....it's just very hard for these babies I grow to love so much.

In some instances, life would be so much easier if I didn't care....but it sure would be empty.

11 Days and Counting

2009-10-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

Eleven days until the Siouxland Marathon. I'm getting nervous...will the weather be ok, will I feel ok, what do I wear, will my stomach hurt, will I lose the route and end up in LeMars, will my legs fall off in bits as I finish the last 10k? All these things run through my mind. I'm getting into mental race mode though...nothing that I know of can stop me. Pains, aches, all those are arriving this week with my cold, but I am determined to finish this race, hopefully running across the finish line!
I got a nasty cold last week. Ryan had pink eye on Wednesday, then was up practially all night Friday night with croup cough and high fever. Then Friday I started to feel bad, but felt better Saturday, thank goodness, as it was my 36th birthday. Then of all things, after flapping my yapper all day Saturday, I lost my voice on Saturday night and am still trying to find it. It's Tuesdsay. I did run 10 miles, 6 in the rain, on Monday. It felt good, although I could tell it had been a week since my last run. With the weather and sick kids, I just couldn't get one in! Ok, I could on the treadmill, but I'm not going there yet. No.
So I plan to run 10 again in the morning. The coughing hasn't affected the running, although I do lose about 90 minutes of really important sleep every night because of it. It's a dry hacking gagging cough that I can't control. I am really hoping that it doesn't come back tonite. I really dislike those zombie days when all I want to do is sleep. Pretty much nothing has been done in my house except for the litter boxes being cleaned out and my kids getting cared for and fed. Grrr. I don't like being so tired all the time.
I was so proud of my hubby, Andy, for running the Broken Toe run at Stone State Park on Saturday morning in the cold wet weather. He ran about 8 minute miles in the hills, and he hasn't run since JUNE. We are an athletic family, but JUNE? I don't understand that man's leg power. Anyway, we went to cheer him on and I will post pictures when I can figure out how to do it from that silly camera.
That is all for now. Kittens are to Petsmart this weekend, which hurts my heart, but I know I can't keep them all. I just have to trust that they will find loving forever homes.
Think of them today and wish them the best!

Sweet morning and a loooong run

2009-09-30T20:08:00.001-07:00

I went downstairs to check on the kitties this morning and to also start the weekly family laundry task. I was quickly surrounded by sweet kittens and cats wanting my love and so ready to give me their love. What a good way to start off the day! Lovey and Velvet were spayed on Monday. Lovey is acting like nothing ever happened. Velvet is taking it slow for now. I hope to goodness she doesn't get sick after going through so much. She was walking around and stretching earlier, so that's a good sign. If only I could get her kittens off of her...they are old enough to leave her alone!
To back up a little, I started out Monday morning by running 20 miles. I didn't know when else I could do it. Boy was it windy! I think at that time it was blowing at about 20 miles per hour with some higher gusts. I detest running, walking, being in the wind. Maybe it stems from one of my Ragbrai experiences when we had to petal down steep hills to keep going when we should have been able to coast. I strongly disliked it then and I sure do now!
ANYWAY, I felt good for the entire run and finished the 20 miles in 3 hours 17 minutes. I was sore that day and Tuesday. I felt pretty strong through the whole thing, even with all the steep hills that I run along the route. All I want to do since then is EAT, which is a good problem to have, but sometimes I run out of things that I actually want to consume. I'm not doing well with vegetables (could have something to do with finding a baby worm on a piece of broccoli on my plate-my stomach gets sick when I even think of it!) this week but doing good on fruit. Gotta love those fruit and yogurt smoothies! I love to eat egg whites and turkey bacon too.
We are working on several fundraisers, so keep posted.
Also, thank you to Dawna for your donation to my Paws cause! I love you, girl!
More pics later and a nice story about a big old yellow cat!

Need donations for Merry

2009-09-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

A day in the life of an animal rescue....

Last week, a woman called Beth with Paw Prints about a cat that had gotten hit by a car the previous day. This cat, a 3 year old calico, drug herself off the road and tried to get under a fence. The lady had given her food and water, but the cat was too injured to eat or drink. When Beth got to the cat, she was in shock and very hurt. Beth took her to the vet and because Paw Prints wasn't the actual owner, the vet could only stabilize her. Then, Beth went back to where the cat was hit, and knocked on doors for several blocks in each direction to try and find the cat's rightful owner. No one claimed the cat, although Beth thinks she found the owner, but never heard from them after leaving detailed messages on their door. On Wednesday, the cat was deemed abandoned and became the property of Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue. She had surgery to repair her broken leg. She also had scratches and broken toes. I went to see her on Thursday and got a picture of her. What a feisty thing, to require this collar around her, but she had already eaten the prior bandage off her leg. She was doing well and was released on Friday afternoon to her new foster parents, who live in a quiet home where she can recover.

I am asking for donations to cover the expense of the surgery for the cat, now named Merry Christmas. Kris named her that since she will be recovered in time to have a very Merry Christmas. How sweet!

Please email me at Runningforapaws@cableone.net or call Beth at 253-4099 to make a donation. They can also be made at Pioneer Bank. All are tax deductible and so very much appreciated and needed!

Donation from Missouri River Runners

2009-09-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

I am so proud that Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue was one of the two non-profits chosen by the directors of Missouri River Runners to receive a donation. MRR was generous enough to donate a portion of the proceeds from the Spring Thaw (or FREEZE as we all did that day!). I got word last week and met with Patty Considine and Beth Storm on Monday to receive the check. Patty also made a personal donation, which we appreciate more than we can say! So THANK YOU so much from Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue!

Here's some pictures from the Race for Hope as well. Enjoy! Be sure to check out my beefy legs in the picture of me running toward the finish line. Just click on it and it will enlarge. Makes me feel like my hard work is actually making me look like I'm in better shape!

I have so much to blog about and have run out of time for the day. Please keep checking back as there is a lot going on! Paw Prints is in full swing with rescuing all sorts of cats. They go above and beyond all the time and just don't get the recognition that they deserve (by "they" I mean Beth Storm and Kris Kava). I don't understand why the Sioux City Journal does not publish press releases from them and no one else really seems to care. Hopefully with my next blog, we can let others know what really goes into an animal rescue group.

Error in Timing

2009-09-23T04:30:00.000-07:00

The error in the timing system for the Race for Hope was ME. I went about 2 minutes too slow for my group. What a great fast age group! Oh well, doesn't matter anyway. Just thought I would make sure you knew that I wasn't expecting something I didn't deserve. Maybe next year.

The Race for Hope

2009-09-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

The Race for Hope was this morning. For anyone who doesn't know, this race raises money for the June E. Nylen Cancer Center in Sioux City. The funds they raise will purchase things for the patients and family/friends, such as TVs for them to watch while getting chemo. What an amazing and inspiring group of people! I haven't stayed for the awards until today. I sincerely thought I would get one, but didn't. I chalk it up to an error in the timing system...but we'll see!
I finished the 15k (9.3 miles) in 1 hour 16 1/2 minutes. I felt great! I ran the first mile in 8 minutes and tried to keep the pace. A lot of the time, I was running alone, so I tended to slow down. It is on gravel as well, so I felt even better with my time. Last year, I felt absolutely terrible, so was pleased overall with my performance! When I got home, I decided to mow the yard too, so we're laying low watching football probably for the rest of the day today! So much to accomplish tomorrow....
I do have pics but they're not downloaded so will update when I can with those.

Pics of Kitties!

2009-09-16T10:12:00.001-07:00

Here's pictures of the latest group that I am really attached too. We also have Squiffy and two more from yesterday, one is a beautiful medium calico and one black and white. I don't think Squiffy will be put up for adoption any time soon....or ever.
Enjoy the pics of my babies!

A great run yesterday and kittens galore!

2009-09-15T17:42:00.001-07:00

After last week's disaster run, I was hesitant about being optimistic for my long run this past Monday. I was very careful about what I ate and drank on Sunday, and I am happy to report that my 18 mile run yesterday morning was a great success. If that doesn't speak volumes to take better care of myself before running, I don't know what does! It was nice and cool that morning and I ate a piece of bread before starting out at 4:48 am. I finished in time to take a shower and drink a smoothie on the way taking Tyler to school at 8:05 am. I think the actual finish time was 2 hours and 50 minutes, which I am very happy about. No barfing, cramping but just good ole' running! What a good feeling that my "bad" run didn't repeat itself.
I will not be doing a long run next week as the Race for Hope, a wonderful fundraiser for the June E. Nylen Cancer Center here in Sioux City, is this Saturday. I will not be wearing my Running for a Paws shirt.... This is a 9-something mile run on rocks and with the long runs this week, I am not going for time, I am going to enjoy myself. Yes, I always say that, but this time, I hope it is true! It is at the Adams Nature Preserve at McCook Lake, SD, and it is a beautiful place to be.
As for kittens, I had 4.5 as of this afternoon. Lovie is sort of a kitten, sort of an adult, so that is the reason for the ".5". She will be spayed next week as she will be 5 months old and we want to have her spayed before she gets adopted to absolutely prevent her from getting preggo and adding more kittens to the already overpopulated kitten world. She's such a darling and I hope she finds a wonderful home this time...she deserves it. She has the loudest purr ever and she curls up in Andy's lap when he studies at night.
I got two more bigger kittens this afternoon. I don't quite understand the circumstances, but they are going to be vaccinated tomorrow and will go to Petsmart this weekend and will hopefully find great homes. They're scared, but we'll give them a day and hope they realize that we are just trying to help them!
I made a mistake and let my boys watch the last part of Homeward Bound today before supper. We watched the first part last night and I thought I needed to get some consignment sale things done, so let them finish it today. I told the boys that it would end up ok, since my oldest tends to get a little emotional and cry over things that end up ok. So who was the one blubbering at the end???? ME! That's right, as the old dog crosses over the top of the hill and wags his tail all happy-like when he finally finds his boy, I just lost it! It makes me think of all the dogs waiting for their people to return but never do...they just wonder what they did wrong. Grrrr, now I feel like I need to own several acres and have all the dogs come and live with us.
Meltdown central at home so need to finish. Pictures tomorrow.

A Pretty Terrible Long Run Today

2009-09-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

I have never thrown up after running....until today. I don't know if it was a factor of not having the best habits over the weekend or because it was later in the day and a lot warmer than usual or what. I am not a good "warm weather" runner. Never have been and don't plan to try. I didn't think it was too warm when I left and actually, not when I got back either. I struggled to finish 17 miles in 3 hours-I walked quite a bit in the last three miles. Ugh, and after such a great feeling last week! I just assume that it was everything all in one...not preparing enough, warm weather, and afternoon running. I won't do that again. I drank some PowerAde when I got home. For some crazy reason, I got the kind that doesn't have sugar in it. I got a ball in my stomach after I downed some and then had to go barf. I did again about 15 minutes later and then was done. My wonderful hubby was nice enough to get me some real Gatorade so I drank about half of that and started eating some carbs. I feel fine now and hope that I don't go through that again! Advice is welcome.....very very welcome!
On the cat notes, all the cats are feeling better. We got Lovie back from her "owner". Evidently, she was going poo where she wasn't supposed to. We will see the state of our basement in the morning to see if she gets it here. I have five litter boxes for the cats to use. I want to be sure they know where to go and that they can't get lazy and use the floor if they're too busy playing and need to go. I hope she is fine here so we can take her back to Petsmart this weekend for our adoption fair. She is playing with the kittens that we have here so it is good for her to be in a good environment.
Well, better get some sleep. This girl is tired!

A Labor-free Labor Day!

2009-09-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

It was difficult to lose Sunshine. I know these things happen. Now Squiffy is pretty sick with a nasty eye which is probably related to his very bad cold. I never knew cats could be congested and get runny noses. We were gone for almost two days and had a friend check on them and give Renegade medicine for his bad eye, but sometimes they come on in a matter of hours. There's nothing more I could have done for crying out loud. I just hope he comes through it because he is a very special kitten to me and my youngest son. He says, "Mom, Squiffy is my cat and I am his boy." What could be more precious than that?

All the other kittens are doing well except for this bad eye things that is rotating. I thought we had conquered it, but evidently not with the inspection today. Ugh.

I have gotten another pledge and now I only need three more people to pledge $35 to benefit Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue. Because I want to show my dedication to SPPR, I am running the Race for Hope at the Adams Nature Preserve and the FULL Siouxland Lewis & Clark Marathon on October 17th. I will not be wearing my "Running for a Paws" shirt for the Race for Hope as this is the run for cancer and I refuse to take one tiny ounce away from what they are doing and saying for cancer for my own cause. Thank the Lord I haven't had to personally deal with cancer. Hopefully forever but you never know.

We went away to Ponca for almost two days this weekend. We saw the biggest tree I think I have ever seen (except for the one at Boone Plantation in Charleston, SC, but not sure how old that one is). The tree was a sapling in 1644. Wow! It is pictured above. I never knew that place was so pretty so I suspect we will be returning next year ready to hike. When we got home, we found the front of our house defaced by a Florida State flag. I believe I know the perp who did it and all I have to say is: I know where you live.

I made some spinach artichoke dip when we got home as well, and I have to say that it is light on the dip, heavy on the spinach. I could have done better and expect more from my culinary skills. At least we're getting our veggies in this way! Just a random thought: what is it with boys and lasers....mine are obsessed with it and I have no idea how or why.

I am not sure if I will do a long (17 mile) run on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday this week. I will get one in, but there's a lot going on. I love taking some time off and just being with my wonderful hubby and boys, so I feel that running Tuesday or Wednesday will work fine. My 3 year old will start preschool on Tuesday and we're nervous about that, but he will probably do better than I expect. I hope anyway!

More updates after that long-awaited long run!

Sunshine

2009-09-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Rest in Peace, little girl. You are loved.

A very long run today

2009-08-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

Pictures: Fun with Goldie.....and one of Holly, the kitten who, when I fed her, would hold up her paws as if to say "Hallelujah". Sweet, such a sweet baby...

Goodness, I ran 17 miles this morning. It took me 2 hrs and 40 minutes so not too bad. I was freezing and should have worn a long sleeve shirt. Of course, because it is AUGUST, I didn't but at least I didn't have a sleeveless on. I got my new pink shoes on Saturday and because of the strange way my old shoes with new inserts in them felt, I decided to wear my new ones. Good decision since my legs still feel good today. My long run with new shoes didn't bother me either so very happy about that. Not the smartest move ever...

I don't know if it's because I know I have to get up early or what, but I just couldn't sleep last night. I couldn't last weekend either before my first longer than usual run. Now today, absolutely no food sounds good. I just choked down a HyVee blueberry bagel, which normally, you would have to beat me back with a stick, but forced myself to eat it. NOTHING sounded good except for a certain kind of Smart Ones frozen meal that I didn't have. I almost thought about getting a little hamburger from McD's, but didn't feel like driving the entire mile to go get it. Sad, huh?

I will take tomorrow off running since Andy has to be at work very early. I need to get some rest too so that will be good. I have a lot to take care of tomorrow. Ugh.

Kitty news: I took Sadie to her home with her owner Steve. It was where she came from anyway so I'm sure it didn't take her long to get used to it. I saw a beautiful mom cat that Steve is taking care of. She's got some absolutely gorgeous kittens that are clean and chunky so that was great to see. Steve is also a sucker for cats and is a really nice person that I hope can help out Paw Prints if he can.

I took the itty bitty kittens back to Beth on Sunday. After cleaning the kennel out four times Saturday (once after only 30 minutes- I swear one minute it was clean, the next was armageddon) I had a breakdown and needed to spend more time with my kids. I was actually spending more with the cats so I felt very out of balance. She is such a gracious person and took them back with no issues. Now I have Velvet and her four remaining babies. If I didn't mention before, one was an early adoption. The new owner had a lot of cat and caretaking experience so Beth thought it would be ok to let her go. She had another kitten pal to cuddle with so that was good.

Because all I wanted to do today after the long run was to lay on the couch or floor, I didn't get much cleaned up, but I'm glad that it doesn't take several hours a day to take care of older kittens with a mother. That is a case in point why kittens should never be taken from their mother. I do feel guilty for taking them back. They were growing well and they were so thankful in their kitten way when I would feed them and just hold them close to me. I just have to be patient and remember that in two very fast and short years, I will have both kids in school and will have more time to take care of itty bitties like that. I just wish that it wasn't necessary.

Well, I am trying to get pictures of my kittens, but they look mad or all you see is a blurry tail, so will keep on trying!

Sadie is leaving tomorrow

2009-08-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

I will miss Sadie. She's the tiniest full grown cat I have ever known at just over 6 pounds. She's a sweetie. I was worried because when I got her, she would hiss a lot and even when she was rubbing on my leg. She's just a darling and I will miss her. She is going to a wonderful home with her sister, Socks.
I am still bottle feeding the itty bitties (as Beth calls them). They are such an entire mess. I cleaned this morning as I do every morning and by the time I got home at 4, it was a disaster. I think Momma cat Velvet is getting worn down, but she needs to be in there with the itties in the night and she wants to be with her babies during the day as well. I'm not sure if she can overdo it, but I'm making sure she's getting lots of food and love. She is behaving normally though so I'm not concerned at this point.
One of the long haired puffball babies, Renegade, has a really bad eye infection. He's been to the vet twice so we're hoping this round of medication will work.
Besides being a pain to take care of and clean up after, those kittens are such a gift. I was feeding them last night and they start purring almost immediately after I started. I can feel their tiny hearts beating so fast and I know that because of Beth and her generosity, they are still alive. Otherwise they would have been left to die at Animal Control. It's just sad but a fact. I hope some changes are made there soon...we are hopeful.
I still need 5 pledges, so if anyone reading this would like to pledge for me running 2 races, one of which is a full marathon, please send me an email. Thank you!
As for running, I have to get new shoes so bad. My feet and lower back are hurting, especially my feet. I am going tomorrow. Don't think I will get my next long 15-16 mile run in with the new ones as I will need to break them in. Hopefully they come in pink like my current shoes.
Well, my kids are full of energy. I don't know where they get it and I wish I could bottle it for my own personal use, but of course I can't.
Time to play!

Kittens, Kittens, and more Kittens

2009-08-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here are the before and after pics of what I have mentioned below....

Boy, are kittens messy! The mom cat Velvet is taking good care of all her brood plus her foster kittens. I'm glad I (or rather, Velvet at MY house) can help Beth out as she was getting really tired from getting up to bottle feed 13 kittens! These are the ones that Animal Control picked up and didn't take the mom with them. Duh. It's not like humans...they need their mom!

I also wanted to mention that I have received some pledges for my marathon running. I thank you all so much for your generocity. I did name one kitten after someone's cat who passed. I hope it is ok, but our soft orange kitten is now named Maggie. She's a darling!!!!!

Anyway, I wanted to post pictures of what Beth and Kris did at a lady's house who befriended Beth because of the grant. She has had several of the cats in her yard have babies and needed that to stop. Because of the grant, Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue was able to have her adult cats spayed and neutered and has taken in the kittens produced from these adults. Her yard was in disrepair because she was just not able to take care of it. She is 88 years old and works to pay her property taxes. She does what she can and really does love these cats. I think this is a tremendous story of heart, which started with Beth, who decided that this lady deserves more. And when I say lady, I mean Lady, not as in, "Hey lady, get outta my way!". It's supposed to mean Lady who cares and who we care about. There's so many stories like this in Sioux City and we are doing our part to make a difference in their cats' lives as well as their lives too. These people deserve our respect and love.

If you can show someone an act of kindness, whether or not you get recognition for it, I would strongly suggest it.....it can make someone's day, week, month, year. You never know, but just try it!

A realllly loooong run today

2009-08-24T18:37:00.001-07:00

After having a pretty good day, nice and warm, kittens doing well, friends coming to play, it has turned to crap. Some of the reasons I won't say because they don't concern me, but concern a close relative. The other reasons are my wonderful boys, who decided that during a Wii bowling game, they wouldn't stop taunting and teasing and bugging and pushing and all those things that boys do but not in the same five minute time span, fell apart tonite. So now I'm hearing screaming and "no mom, I don't want to go on the porch and sit by you" or anything else. He's screaming for daddy but then says the next breath that he want to be by himself. I don't understand children. Yes, love them, but don't understand them. These are the boys who carry around little kittens and say "I love you" all the time.
Well, I just had to vent a little. They don't want me so I am leaving them alone since they
are wanting dad, and if I show up, they pitch an even larger fit. One of those "wonderful" moments that I never thought I would hear. I know they don't really mean it, but it still cuts to the core.
Today started at 4:45 am. I got up and was running down my hill at 4:49, and I ran back up the hill at 7:24. I ran 15 miles and was pretty happy with the result. I wasn't down for the count the rest of the day (I will have to update you tomorrow to see if that's still relevent) and was very busy for the amount of running. Life doesn't stop when you're training for a marathon!
I have my weird eating habits post-running that are quite annoying. If I think of something that will be good, I almost center on that and any other food is a little discusting. Today I centered on fried pickles from Ickey Nickel. They are the best ever anyway, but I wanted them so I got some for dinner tonite. No, that's not all I'm having, but are so yummy! I look forward to being able to eat more as my metabolism increases, yet it's sort of a task to find good things to eat when I am an endless pit. I can't fill up on jalapeno chips and granola bars now can I?
I wanted to just fill you all in on my running for the day. Not sure about weather tomorrow morning and don't think I will choose to run in the rain, so we'll see about the morning run. I was thinking of doing a 3-5 miler.
As for the cats, Sadie should be going to her home this week. I have tons of kittens too little to adopt out. I am hoping the mom can handle all of them as I know I will not be able to get up and bottle feed and still function with the boys during the day.
I named three more girl kittens....one is Maggie, one is Merrily, and one is Sunshine. If I had the pics on this computer I would post....probably tomorrow. I would love to re-name Squiffy "T-Bone" since he's so tiny, but I think Squiffy fits him. He's doing great.
I'm up to only needing 5 more pledges to meet my goal. If any of you pledgees are reading, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are making a difference! That's what life is all about, isn't it!?

An interesting world

2009-08-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is Gorgeous, pretending to be scary as I walk down the stairs.

I have been taking care of cats and kittens for the past week. A lot of cats and kittens, but mostly kittens. Did you realized how messy kittens are? I didn't realize the extent until I had so many of them. We have the three that came from Hazel's yard, who are the sweetest kittens and should be ready to adopt out in another week or so. Then we have the two long hair ones that are about a month old. I was bottle feeding the dark gray one, Ruffian, and her brother was pretty independent. Then we got Velvet and her five kittens. She took in Ruffian and Renegade as her own kittens and has really taken care of them. I have Sadie back from being spayed and declawed as well. Whew! I clean the litter boxes at least twice a day and boy, do they go through the food! I am still bottle feeding Squiffy once or twice a day. He is in the habit of climbing up on my shoulder and falling asleep. I thoroughly enjoy that part of it!

I have an answer to Goldie's messy problem, ie peeing on the bed. She has a huge amount of crystals in her urine, which is fairly common in cats and most likely causes them to pee where they are not supposed to pee. So $300 later and two rounds of antibiotics, plus prescription cat food (grrr, a point of contention between me and the cats), she is still peeing on beds. I'm hoping another day will help a lot. This food is supposed to prevent the crystals from forming at all, so the problem SHOULD be eliminated. We shall see. My patience with Goldie is running short, but she really did have me at "meow". I don't know why I love this grumpy, crusty cat, but I do.

Beth had a meeting with our mayor, Mike Hobart, and I found that he is a very nice guy. I hadn't met him before and didn't really have any preconceived ideas, but Beth had to brag to him about my "Running for a Paws" campaign. I told him I was looking for another 12 pledges for $1 per mile for the last two races of the year ($35 per pledge) and I would run the full Sioux City Marathon. He pledged! That motivated me and I got five more pledges that day. So now I need a few more to meet my goal and help Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue save more animals!

I will be running my arsk off starting Monday or Tuesday. I will be starting the training to be able to complete 26.2 miles without hurting myself. I will not look for a specific finish time, although the competitor in me wants to beat the time I had before. Then the realistic person in me wants to tell that competitor to shut her pie-hole and realize that she's not in her 20's anymore and that THIS marathon has HILLS, unlike the past two.

Anyway, if you are reading this and feel like you could support my efforts, it will cost you $35 at the end of October and would make me very grateful. I appreciate all the support I have received from my friends, family, and especially from my husband!

Anyway, I think I need a new pair of hot pink running shoes from Peak Performance. The last pair I got have over 500 miles on them and I know, with all the extra miles going to be put on my feet, that I need new shoes. Maybe I should get a tatoo to go with it. Hey, my b-day is before this marathon, so me thinks this is a good idea....now for that design....and where to put it!

Pics of the babies...

2009-08-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

The picture on the top is the mom cat, Velvet meeting the orphan kitten Ruffian that I wrote about the last few times. She (yes, I confirmed it is a she) is thriving with her new family, as is her brother Renegade.

The next picture shows a little runt kitten sort of climbing on Velvet. Ruffian is the dark gray one and Renegade is the light grey one. I have bottle fed the runt of the family and I have named this on Squiffy. He's doing better than when they came to my house from Animal Control via the vet. If you are new to this blog, please read the last blog I had and it will explain the terrible conditions that the cats there are, I mean WERE subject to. Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue did in fact rescue the rest of the cats from Animal Control yesterday. The only one they couldn't take is a quarantined cat, who was quarantined because it scratched someone. Ohhhh, a cat who scratches? It's like babies that cry, it's gonna happen. Anyway, I assume this cat will be rescued when it comes available.

Velvet and her brood are in a room now and are really settling in. She is happy, purring, and is very affectionate. They are quite a mess, but it's so worth seeing that they are happy and healthy and not starving anymore! Oh, such is the life of a cat rescuer...

Why I do this.

2009-08-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a roller coaster day today. I urge everyone to read this entire blog, as I have a request at the end.
I have the three kittens that were taken from a ROOF and they are thriving. Only one has eye goo left and I'm still treating it. They are very playful and fun to be around. I got two more little three week old babies on Tuesday, one of which has to be bottle fed kitten formula. They were left on someone's doorstep. They are so small, they can fit through the kennel bars. I couldn't figure out how one, Ruffian, was getting through until today when I saw the stinker pry himself through. I don't know if it's really a "him" yet but should be able to tell soon! He weighs about half a pound and has long hair (basically a puffball), plus he doesn't know how to clean himself because his mother is supposed to be doing that. He is so aware of what is going on. He watched me "disappear" a few times so when he got himself out of the kennel, he went to the bottom of the stairs and mewed. They are so strong and so smart, I think we fail to recognize how mature these THREE week old babies are. I am determined to get them to the age where they can feed themselves and get forever homes. Yes, I have connected with them.
Today, Beth called me and said that Kris (they are the co-founders of Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue) went to Animal Control to temper test a German Shepherd. Her daughter went into the cat room (or as I like to say, the room of death), and found that first of all, it was full, and second, the cats had no food or water. Some cats had litters to take care of, which is especially impossible when they are not being fed or watered. Kris found the food and fed them. Luckily, she kept her fingers as the cats were STARVING. Some of them didn't even have litter boxes.
When I was told of some of the things going on (it wasn't just about starving cats AND KITTENS, it's more about them being mistreated because "they're just going to be euthanized anyway" - WTF?????), I just was overwhelmed. I cried and cried and cried. It's so much easier to deal with life when I don't know of some of the evils, to pretend that they don't exist. But I DO know what is going on. It's NOT ok. I HAVE to do something.....I digress....

I will cut out a lot of extra detail, but I ended up with a mom kitty with a litter of five. This mom cat, Velvet, was starving. She ate and ate when she got to the vet and she is eating and drinking the kitten formula now. Velvet has even taken in the orphan kittens I just wrote about, Ruffian and Renegade. She has cleaned the one and has nursed them. What a cat. And she would have been killed ("euthanized") had Kris not been at Animal Control. Or she would have starved to death. Now she is sitting in a nice temperature controled house with food, water, litter box, and love. She just purrrred and purrrrred and I honestly believe she isn't scared anymore. Not that it matters, but she and her babies are absolutely beautiful.....gorgeous....I just don't understand.

Animal Control has these animals in their care and isn't caring for them. This is a city contracted position that was given in good faith that proper humane treatment would be implemented. THEY are the ones who get control of the animals removed from abusive and negligent owners. I wouldn't trust them with my computer mouse, let alone a living, breathing animal who requires basic care. Something needs to change. They are failing us as citizens, as taxpayers, and as a society.
I am asking anyone and everyone who wants to help me, even if by just providing your name, that you support a change, please contact me. I don't expect you to rally, or wave protest signs, but just show support as we try and make some changes to protect our innocent animals of Siouxland. I will NOT use your name for any reason without your consent either. Please email me at runningforapaws@cableone.net, post a message on this, or message me on Facebook- Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue is a member and you can send messages without being friends. Of course, I would love the friends as well, so if you do that, be sure you message me and tell me you read this blog.
We need help, support, voices. If you are outraged by just this (and trust me there's so much more that is NOT in this blog and it is NOT humane treatment), please let me know. I would appreciate it!
Tomorrow I will post pictures of our new family members.

Mrs. Park was adopted!

2009-08-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

I found out last night that Mrs. Park was adopted. So happy! I also became friends on Facebook with someone who has been nice to my "paws" cause and Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue in general and are hoping to do a story tomorrow to be broadcast on KTIV. Chili's restaurant here in Sioux City has been so generous to help us raise money and will give 10% of requested receipts to SPPR. We are allowed to put things in the store so patrons can see come cats that are up for adoption and about SPPR in general. I hope this goes well and can give them some relief on the ever increasing vet bills.
Beth got NINE kittens today....all of which are sick and have eye goo issues. I have three and the remaining are at the vet. I feel so bad for this bunch of babies. I don't understand why this happens...if it's unclean conditions they are in or what, but I will find out. The wonderful lady who asked SPPR to take these kittens is in need of help with her home. This story is not over and I will keep you updated. It will be interesting for sure...
I had better go. I'm making my famous "mushroom puffs" for appetizer/dinner for me and my hubby. Mmmmmm, good!
There's so much to comment on. Just wish these little 5-6 week old kittens well as they're in tough shape.

The Race Went Well

2009-08-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

I ran the Pioneer Days 5k in Sgt. Bluff on Saturday. What a steamer!!! It started at 9am, which was about an hour too late in my book (actually, I like to run about 6 am so it was 3 too late!). It was the hottest day of the year and was already 80 by the time the race started. The humidity was high as well, so it was tough on my non-humidity-tolerant lungs.
I had a goal in mind of 22 minutes but after the first mile, I knew that wasn't going to happen! There were 66 total runners and for the first time in my running history, I won the women's division! I finished in 23 minutes 30 seconds or thereabouts. There isn't chip timing so it's all done by hand. I knew there were two women close behind me and once I put my "kick it at the end of race" song by Kanye West on, I hauled it to the finish ahead of them. I came in about 10-12th overall, so I was happy with it. I did take my shoes and socks off immediately after and walked for about 10 minutes until I stopped pulsating since it was sooo hot and sweaty. My three boys were at the end cheering me on, so I was a very happy runner.
There was one thing I can complain about...there were no mile marker! Come on!!! I think I paced the first mile at 6.5 minutes so when I didn't see the mile marker where I expected one, I didn't slow down all that much....could have turned out to be a good thing, but I remember them there last year. I know it's a short race, but mile markers are really important to pace-dependent people like me.
Ok, there's one other thing.....there was a very nice man (he congratulated me at the end) who was running front of me when the wind was blowing past him, then into my nose. Ewww. I actually slowed down a little because I was going to gag. My goodness. I even remember him from last year. I don't quite get that level of stink, but then again, maybe he ate a head of garlic the night before or something!
Anyway, it's the best finish I've had in a race so no more complaining. My upper calves are strangely sore today. I am surprised since I run on hills and I figured I wasn't going THAT fast, so why should they hurt?
I didn't get a picture of me with my medal, but was trying to upload and it wouldn't take. Until next time! More adoption stories this week!!!!

Race on Saturday Morning

2009-08-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

Bonnie & Clyde

Lovie is the orange kitten who loves to sit and be petted and purrrrrr.

Mrs. Park is to the lpretty gray one and was the cat we found (or found us) at Stone State Park on our first camping trip as a family. I'm scared to go back since the cat hotel has no vacancy!

Tomorrow morning marks my first race in quite a while. I feel bad that I have neglected the racing, but I was making a return trip last weekend instead of running the Mighty Mo, and spending lots of time with my boys on the other weekends. Oh well, no regrets!

The humidity came today so I shall be huffing and puffing my way through the flat and boring course at 9 am, which is too late for me. I love to run first thing so I am sure I'll get those typical cramps and get all crabby at the people in front of me. Sometimes I make the best observations when I am grumpy! Hopefully though, no one will be carrying loose change as the one guy did in Des Moines. That's still a head scratcher to me!

With a heavy heart, I will be taking my remaining kittens to Petsmart tomorrow. They may be returning Sunday if they don't get adopted, but I will miss them if they do. I just hope and pray they go to loving homes. I saw Mrs. Park today and she wasn't too upset at me..she let me pet her and she purred for me! The mom cat I have now is Sadie. She meows. All the time. I actually gave her a chill pill yesterday since she was driving me to put earplugs in. That can't be good for her, but she's just a tightly wound up cat. At least now. Some mom cats are just very different for a while (Goldie was for sure) even after the kittens have moved on.

Well, better go balance my check book and clean the litter box, my absolute favorite things to do! More updates after my race!

There is hope...

2009-08-06T06:23:00.001-07:00

I had a good fast run this morning. I could have run more, but Andy had to get to work, so I left it at just 5 miles. It was nice and cool too, which is a huge difference to the way it was in Wilmington. I do have some hope for a great run on Saturday morning!
The boys have beckoned me to see the red lights guarding the bathroom. They put their mini lanterns on the red blinking light and put one on each side of the door. Yes, the bathroom is guarded! They are so cute and I love their creativity....at least most of the time! Boys can sure come up with some interesting things to do with other things and to each other! At least they haven't quite learned how to make the armpit farting noise that they so desperately want to! Time to go watch the bathroom doors again to see if any goblins come across!

More info than I can handle!

2009-08-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

There has been so many things these past few weeks! Because of the grant money that Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue has received, we have been able to spay/neuter 15 cats that would not have been otherwise! Beth has called the people who have advertised free kittens in the paper and offered the reduced price, as long as they qualify. Many of these people are so grateful to Beth for this and have been able to have their cats spayed and neutered because of her idea to make these calls. It's such a neat thing to be a part of!
Six cats have been adopted from PetSmart since Saturday so I am taking Mrs. Park and three kittens there tomorrow morning. Two cats were adopted today, so we are hopeful that all the cats that I have will be adopted by Sunday. I will take three more kittens on Friday. They are wonderful so I am certain they will find great homes very soon.
Goldie has had a urinary tract infection so she hasn't been displaying her best behavior when it comes to NOT using the litter box. If the infection clears up and there are no other issues, we will have to find her another suitable home where there are no other cats or she can be indoor/outdoor. This will break my heart into a million pieces because I truly love this cat, but I cannot have her pee all over areas unsuitable for cat pee. I will exhaust all my resources in trying to fix this problem as a responsible owner should, and if it can't be fixed, I will find her a happy and healthy home, as a responsible owner should. And I will cry if she has to leave, as a responsible owner should!
There's more going on, but you should read another blog, done by my sister, to get updates on that....it is http://whatiswrongwithme-randee.blogspot.com She has a very entertaining writing style and is currently a medical mystery, so I urge you to check it out.
I am running in a race (Finally) on Saturday in Sgt. Bluff. It is a 3.1 miler so should be a great fast run. The course is flat and I won the 30's age group last year and am hoping to again this year. We will see! I have been out of it for a while so I hope I don't choke the last minute!

Chili's is partnering with Paw Prints the entire next week. They will donate 10% if receipts if those patrons request vouchers to do so. It must be requested, so if you enjoy eating out, please visit Chili's next week and ask for your voucher! I am making table displays so hope you enjoy those too!
Enough for now. Hope to have good kitty pictures tomorrow. It's almost impossible to take pictures of cats by yourself and have them turn out, so we'll see...again!

This week

2009-07-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

I just haven't been good at blogging. I am in Wilmington, helping take care of my sister, who has some mysterious condition. She was in the hospital all last week, more doctors appointments this week, and still no answers. We are just hoping to get some answers soon! She is sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I am so lucky to have a husband who urges me to be here to help, friends who are helping with my kids, and a husband who is taking care of things at home. It's very frustrating to watch your loved one, my only sister, go through this and not be able to make it go away. I couldn't imagine being home and not pacing the room with worry, so I know I need to be here. Ah, I druther on.....
We have yet another foster cat, Goldie is peeing on the boys' beds, so she is going to the vet to get tested today. The new kitten looks like her. Andy said that Mrs. Park is doing great and is coming out more and more. She's a sweetheart. I could keep her if there's no issue with Goldie. I just cannot keep a cat who is peeing on beds...not acceptable. Not sure what we would do with her, but probably see how she does at another house. If she does it there, then she would more than likely be a barn cat or find an indoor/outdoor home.
Well, need to get ready for sissy's doctor appointment. I will be missing the Mighty Mo race this Saturday since I will be flying home that day. Oh well, not even a consideration. I haven't been training much so not worried. I am going to try yoga this week if I can get my Paw Prints paperwork done! I need to strengthen my muscles....running isn't enough.
More updates later, at least we're counting on it!

Exciting News

2009-07-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

I have some very exciting news. We got a grant a few weeks ago. It is small, but it is already making a difference. Beth has contacted several people who advertised free kittens back in May, and offered to get the mom cats spayed at little to no cost. These people haven't been able to afford to get the cats spayed themselves, so this help will prevent the births of surplus kittens. Beth, you are amazing, and I'm so lucky to be working with you! What an inspiration.
When I can get more details, I will post more. I am out of town and busy with family stuff that just came up, but I hope to post this weekend. This is great!!!!

Signed up for the Sioux City 1/2 Marathon

2009-07-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

There have been a lot of personal things going on today. Some of our great friends that were our neighbors in Mooresville are here to visit for the day. They will be here until morning. I am trying to help Beth with the grant money organization. That has been harder to do with all the other stuff that came up that needs done. To prove a point that what she is doing will help, she called someone from the newspaper ad who was giving away kittens. This is the mom cat's sixth litter in a short amount of time. Once her kittens are weaned, she will be spayed! So no more kittens from this cat anymore! Beth also met someone who heard her talking and has a cat who needs spayed. He's a college student and this will prevent him from having to give away kittens. It's amazing how many kittens one cat can produce. We have to stop the madness! About 2-400 cats are euthanized each MONTH in Sioux City by Animal Control.
Anyway, once I can get my thoughts organized, I will update my readers and post some pictures of the wonderful little kittens that I have here now. The mom cat is Sadie...what a sweetheart, but she does come across rather grumpy. I guess I would too! So much change for a cat.
As in the title, I decided to go ahead and sign up for the Sioux City 1/2 Marathon. This was a part of the deal, of Kelli's Challenge. I can only hope to bring in a few more dollars! Next huge thing is the craft fair....we need crafts to sell.

Mrs. Park

2009-07-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Park came home from the vet today. She was spayed and front declawed. Beth is doing an experiment and wants to know if declawed cats are more adoptable than non-declawed. She is getting lots of inquiries about her cats and some peope are not interested at all if they are not declawed. It doesn't make any sense because some cats do not tear anything up. Case in point: Goldie. My other cats were tearing up my couches and other things but Goldie does not. The only thing she may tear up is Tigger's ear, and that hasn't happened in a while. So I urge anyone to not get their cats declawed if possible and if they do start to tear up your house, then make the decision to do it. If the cats we are offering for adoption are all spayed/neutered and have thier shots, what is the big deal about getting it done for yourself? My prior foster, Montana, hasn't been adopted yet, which totally boggles my mind. She is so sweet, doesn't tear anything up, and behaves. Ah, who knows. Anyway, Mrs, Park will be adoptable in about three weeks.

We are offering low-income spay/neuter/immunization for people in Sioux City. We assume the grant money for that purpose will go very fast, but if you know someone who has an unaltered cat in Sioux City, please contact me and we will try and help. There is a co-pay depending on income.

We are working on our next fundraiser for the fall. All craft items are needed to sell at the craft fair. It should be a fun and interesting time!

We have had a great time today and hopefully again tomorrow. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was away for a few days to visit my grandma. My cousins and their kids plus my uncles/aunts were there so I decided over a few minutes to go. What a great decision. It's so neat to see my kids play with my cousin's kids where we used to play 25 years ago. Wow, does time fly!

As for running, I haven't been able to much this week due to being away and not having child watch help. I am revisiting my running schedule to see when the next one is. The one that I know is coming is Aug. 1st in S. Sioux City. I'll see if there's one sooner, but not sure if it's in the area. Then there's that pesky weather! I am going to take up yoga, thanks to my cousin Sarah. It rocks and hopefully will help shave that last minute from my times that I have wanted. I've been a little lazy the past month but need to get back into it!

A new foster cat

2009-07-12T10:37:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture of me at our campsite, a picture of a mug that I had made for Beth, and our new foster cat, Mrs. Park. Let me start with camping on Friday. I wasn't really thrilled about going, but we were all geared up to go so I went along. Once we got there, my mood lifted and the boys had a good time running around and finding sticks for us to burn. My hubby and I are not good firestarters so we did have to borrow some lighter fluid from the neighboring campers. It helped so we had a big enough fire for hot dogs and s'mores. It was a really neat camp area at Stone State Park here in Sioux City. The sites are small, so at least there were several vacant so we could change the one we reserved. The nice ones who lent us the fluid ended up being a little foul mouthed. I don't think the boys really noticed the language, and I know I'm not the perfect example, but I certainly do not talk like that in front of my kids (or in general). They did have a child there so it was completely inappropriate in my opinion.

After we all had enough of firefly catching and s'more eating, we decided to get to bed. My wonderful hubby cleaned up our site and helped the boys brush their teeth and herded us to the bathrooms (the more modern and less smelly ones) a little walk away. It was a very pretty evening but we wish it wouldn't have been cloudy so we could have watched the stars. At about 11pm, I heard a cat rowling a ways away. I thought I was at home! It stopped but just a bit later, I heard the cat right next to our tent. I got her attention, snuck out of the tent, found our last hot dog, and fed it to her. She was hungry. And very friendly. Darn. I had a few thoughts running through my head....I could take her home, but I didn't know if she would make a huge mess or if I could even get out of the park. I knew it closed at 10:30 so didn't know if the gates closed. Then I could just let her stay out and hopefully find her in the morning. BUT I thought she would follow me and keep us up anyway with her meowing or me thinking about her. What to do, what to do.....

I took her home at 11:15 that night and returned at midnight. No gate issues and she was hungry. I set her up in our basement where she had plenty of soft places to sleep and plenty of food and water to have. Tyler named her Mrs. Park for obvious reasons. She is shy but when I call her, she comes and just can't get enough petting. She also gorged herself with food. She seems to be doing fine and I will take her to the vet this week to get her leukemia tested and find out if we can get her spayed right away.

I thought Beth was going to kill me when I told her, especially since she had just said that they can't take in more cats...the hotel is closed. She called yesterday to share the absolutely wonderful news of getting a nice grant to fund our first spay/neuter clinic. This will change the lives of the animals in Siouxland and hopefully make a huge impact on the number of cats euthanized. I hope anyway. After she told me the news of the grant, I told her of our "find" at the park while we were camping. Of course it was ok since we both know that we can't say "no" when a cute furry face is meowing in ours.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, so we will forge ahead and get started this week. What a wonderful way to spend time.....making a difference.

Stay tuned as I have some more things to post about Animal Control.....

Some updates

2009-07-10T11:51:00.001-07:00

This picture is of a cool firework we had (in Nebraska). I think it is a John Deere tractor. It's hard to say. We had a tank, a firetruck, and a tractor. They are difficult to take pictures of!

This week went fast! And slow when the boys were grumpy. Here's some updates from this week. First of all, a few cats were returned to Paw Prints. People adopt kittens because they are oh-so-cute and when it's time to move to a new apartment, they return them when the new landlord doesn't take cats. Well, it's time to take responsibility for your animal that YOU chose to adopt and find a place that does take cats! That is what owners do. They are not shirts, they are animals and you are to take care of them. That is what adoption means. Sorry, but people who do this drive me nuts.

Paw Prints is not participating in ArtSplash this year. It will take a lot of money up front and then with all the other booths, it may never be returned, plus it takes a LOT of time to prepare for and work these things. Their time is better spent getting money another way.

The Chili's day was dismal. Only $37 was collected so I assume that no one else came who was given vouchers and no one requested them when they came to eat there. The good thing that came from it is that Chili's wants to give Paw Prints a full week in August, October, and December and also allow them to put up literature and info on cats up for adoption. This should make a big difference. Now only to design the table tents....

I had a Tupperware party and they provide fundraising opportunities. The products are more limited and some prices are higher, but the organization you are raising money for gets 40%. With just a few orders, I raised $135 for Paw Prints, plus we get something to have and use at home! What a deal. I urge anyone who wants to raise money for a non-profit to have a Tupperware party. There are so many other things I wanted to order but my wallet said "NO".

I went for a run this morning and if only I hadn't pushed the 10 minute snooze. I thought there was a little distant lightning and by the time I got the furthest away from home, it was getting a little scary and started sprinkling. I can handle the rain just fine, but not the lightning. Thank goodness my parents live closer to where I was! I stopped by there to call my hubby (of course the kids were up because of the thunder- they don't sleep through anything) and he had to come get me. I've never had that happen before!

Time to get some boys down for naps so we can have a good night camping. Yes, camping. We shall see!

A long run today

2009-07-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

I decided to go for a long run today....instead of 8 miles, I stretched it to 10. It didn't feel the best but I chugged through anyway. I felt like I had a bungie cord working against me and was taking it inch by inch up the steep hills. I was just about 3-4 miles into it and a police car pulled up. I was thinking...what in the world could I be doing wrong??? It ended up being a high school classmate of mine who was a police officer. He had a K9unit, which was a beautiful black dog. Not sure what kind and I wanted to pet him/her, but decided to keep my fingers. It was nice to see him.
The boys were a little grumpy and I was a little grumpy so it wasn't the best day. I think the best part was knowing my mom and aunt made it safely to my sister's house in Wilmington.

Paw Prints will be having some sort of craft at ArtSplash this year. I am helping Beth decide what to do. I assume the boys will be helping too! I am not sure what the next race is, but it's coming soon. I have a lot more miles to put in and run.

On a sidenote, I am saddened by the death of Michael Jackson. I think we all need to pause and remember how important it is to take care of our bodies. They are so precious and we have to treasure them. I am always amazed at my boys' beautiful innocence. I hope they take care of themselves as I hope they do now. Thinking of them as teens driving two ton cars and breaking bones while playing sports makes me want to go on anti-anxiety meds! I'm sure I'm not very different from most parents.

Well, more later this week. I will have a race schedule figured out and I hope to know how much we got from the Chili's event and from Tupperware.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a week since I have written. So sorry, yet again!

Here's a picture of Goldie Girl. She may be Goldie Gone if she keeps up her shenanigans. I am at a loss of how to deal with the cat pee in the house. It frustrates and angers me more than I can describe with out using a lot of these: &%$#@ but I'm trying to pin down exactly who it is. I do have my suspisions and she is pictured here.
I decided not to run in the race on Saturday. We all ended up sleeping in and breaking all our old sleep-in records by not getting up until around 8:30. WOW! That is when I would have been done with the race, so it was good to get rest, but I think I would have done well in it. Next time!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Sonia!

We had a fundraiser day at Chili's on Thursday. Not sure how much we are going to get, but hope it's $1-200. I had my fill for lunch and dinner there! Dessert was exceptionally yummy! This upcoming Thursday I'm trying to have a Tupperware party to raise money as well. I know it should be a decent amount from just what I plan to order! We will see.

I had an idea for Paw Prints to march in the Rivercade Parade here in a few weeks. I will have to work on that one this week. Paw Prints was asked to participate in ArtSplash this year so we're trying to come up with simple crafts for kids. Hopefully we can get that ironed out as well.

We have had a wonderful 4th weekend. We took the kids fishing at Beth's house Friday and caught some keepers. They went back in the pond, but would have made a yummy dinner! Yesterday we had a get-together at our house and it was a great time with great friends. There were 14 kids and 12 adults. Too bad the weather wasn't good enough to get the huge water slide out! We saw lots of fireworks last night too. Each 4th of July makes me feel so very thankful that we live in this wonderful country. It certainly isn't perfect, but I couldn't imagine living in any other country! I send a thank you for everyone who has made our freedom possible!!!!

We are off to play more at the river today. Thank goodness for the warm sunshine. I think it was warmer at 9am than it was the entire day yesterday. Goodbye jeans!
Happy 4th of July to everyone!

Back to Work!

2009-06-29T16:54:00.001-07:00

I am getting back into my pre-vacation running form, starting with a great 8 mile run this morning. It was in the lower 60's so very refreshing. I haven't run that far in three weeks, and I am happy to say that I haven't felt fatigued from the run, just the sun the past two days! I ran it in about 65 minutes and the last mile was in 6 minutes. Not too shabby!
I am also starting to enter our file info into the database that I have. It's been a while but I need to catch up. I will be doing this, probably forever, but the boys are playing nice in the mornings so I can get about ten files entered this way. I am determined to make this summer a "Summer of Fun" which means that housework and cleaning go by the wayside and fun with my kids will prevail! It's working so far but it will be hard to overlook the dusty wood floor during certain daylight hours. Oh well, it's only dust. We went out on the Missouri yesterday and to my parents' "house" on the river in Ponca. Today we went to Hillview Park in Hinton with our friends and had a great time. The boys are exhausted now, but wow, fun a fun time so THANK YOU ANNE!!!!!
On Thursday, Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue is getting 10% of all receipts for lunch and dinner from Chili's....if you ask for or have a voucher. So all you Sioux City area residents, go to Chili's on Thursday, July 2nd, and ask to have your 10% given to us. We thank you in advance!
I am still trying to learn how to use my new camera so I can't upload any new pictures.

I am strongly considering entering in the race for this Saturday in Dakota Dunes. It's a 5k and should be a lot of fun. I heard the stories from last year, running in the downpour, and there's some rain expected Friday night. I don't know why running in the drenching rain would be any worse than running in 20-30 mph winds and 40 degree temps. I guess I've gotten spoiled recently with the good weather! It would be another boost for Paw Prints, so I expect to be there with my "Running for a Paws" shirt on.

Has anyone else been trapped in the back of a plane with a disgruntled flight attendant who wouldn't let you past the drink cart because you didn't wait for the little light to go off (which it rarely does anymore) and went to the bathroom anyway? I guess I unknowingly broke the rules, but she was rude and I was glad I didn't eat lunch that day or I wouldn't have squeezed through the cart and seat. I'm still thinking back with a rather disgruntled view. I'm also a little peeved that I made a sleeveless t-shirt for running into my "running for a paws" shirt and the iron-on brand was so bad, that after one wash, it was terribly cracked. I followed the directions and my other shirts haven't been ruined like this one.....me-thinks a refund is due.

I am thrilled that my sister is coming for TWO weeks at the end of July. I will tell the story after she is here and makes a decision about a pet she has, but it's an important story to tell about Paw Prints and making decisions.

Thanks for being patient with me while I took some time off. I plan to blog as much as I can. I thought of tons of stuff to write about. Do you think I can remember them???? Time to watch my wonderful hubby (who got me some sparkly bling for our anniversary) play Mario Kart!

By the way, I looked at some of the last pics. I am a LOT more tan than I was before. I love the sun!!!!!! Yes, I do wear sunscreen!

I'm irritated

2009-06-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

I just spend half an hour blogging and adding interesting pictures and my *^#$%$ computer made windows quit. This is going to be short because the boys want to go for a walk. Here's a picture of the coolest animal at the "zoo" we went to in S. Carolina. I won't be returning for reasons that I blogged about that are now wiped out, but anyway, I must continue.

First of all, HAPPY TEN ANNIVERSARY to the love of my life!!!!!!!! Hopefully I don't look like the animal in this picture when I get up in the morning!!! :)

Second, thank you Sherri and Bill for your generous donation. Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue appreciates it more than they can express! This brings the total to $1522, not including the approximate $500 pledged at the end of October.

Third, I have Goldie Girl back at my house. I really missed her and want to make our household a nice and peaceful one. It doesn't seem to be starting off that way, so I'm researching making these cats get along.

I will be posting more than I have been. The vacation has been fun but must get back to work!

Back to Iowa

2009-06-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, our vacation has finally come to a close. We left Wilmington (yes, she will always have my heart) this morning and are leaving Charlotte Tuesday morning. We will fly to Atlanta for a 3 hour layover and then hopefully get to Kansas City around 2pm, ready for our long drive back to Sioux City. It has been so much fun and memorable. Very memorable. So thank you to our hosts. Thank you to Randee and Chip, Wayne and Nancy, Stuart and Allison. We love you!
At least I busted my rear to clean my house before I left. Hopefully the cats didn't have a keg party and destroy it out of anger that we left them and turned the air conditioner up to 82!
I did finally get back and jogged for an hour this morning. It felt great except for misplacing myself in Randee's huge-ass subdivision. Oh well, nothing like running on the highway to get back to square one! It was funny that I can't remember simple things like the street that I turned from after only about 15 minutes.
Back to fundraising and cat issues!!

The beach part of vacation

2009-06-19T11:30:00.001-07:00

Here is my new look and me and my boys at the beach. Maybe the glasses are a little bit too big?? haha! Tyler is off with his Aunt Randee (DeeDee) and Uncle Chip to the snake zoo. It's actually called the Serpentarium. Yuck. He's been looking forward to it for a long time and it's good for him to spend some time alone with his aunt and uncle. He is thoroughly enjoying the ocean. He loves to just play in the water and Ryan is loving the sand. Ryan got knocked by some large waves yesterday so he's not too thrilled with being in the ocean. He entertained himself in the sand for two hours this morning while Tyler played in the water. I am enjoying getting some fun time with my sister, her hubby, and my little family. It' svery relaxing and we are trying not to schedule everything like it was in Charlotte for the first part of the vacation.
I have taken a few days off from running as well, which isn't normal for me and I'm actually having a little bit of difficult time NOT running. I think it's more important to get some good sleep and spend time together. There's so many miles of sidewalks to run on when we get home and things get back to normal. Who knows, I'll probably go out for a jog on Monday before we get in the car for four hours then travel the majority of the day on Tuesday. Thank goodness for salads and Diet Coke!
Well, Ryan was supposed to be napping but isn't so we may take off and go do something....maybe not!
As for Paw Prints, Beth said that there have been 26 adoptions from June 1st until June 17th. They have most of the adoptable cat "supply" down, which means that some abandoned cats will be dropping from the sky as the supply never stays slow. People are seeking Paw Prints out instead of leaving them with Animal Control, where they will almost certainly be euthanized, because that is what Animal Control does. Don't get me started!
I am going to put my newly exfoliated feet up and rest a little before heading out shortly. Walking in the sand is about the best pedicure ever, and so cheap!!!

Simple but Very Important Request

2009-06-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,
I am having a tough time dealing with all of the stories about animals being abused, lost, dumped, killed, and all that sort of thing. I request from all of you, regardless of where you live, to paste the letter following to your word document and print then send. It would mean the world to me to not let this dog's death be in vain. If you aren't familiar with this story, a man beat his dog in the face 30 times and the dog died a bad death....not that any death by beating is a good one but it was a relatively slow and painful one. This guy needs to be punished to the fullest extent, if only to teach other hethens a lesson. Anyway, this is what I am asking and posting for today. Please help me make all of this blogging do at least one good thing for our animal friends.
Thank you......very much......

Patrick Jennings Woodbury County
Attorney Christine Rupp Assistant Woodbury County Attorney
County Attorney Office
Woodbury County Courthouse
7th & Douglas
Sioux City, Iowa 51101

RE: Bobby Loggins charged with aggravated misdemeanor for animal torture PLEASE ADD THIS LETTER TO THE FILE ON THE CASE

Dear Mr. Jennings and Ms. Rupp:
I have learned about Bobby Loggins, who is currently facing aggravated misdemeanor animal torture charges. The dog, which was punched over thirty times, according to a witness, was seriously injured and later died. The Police are quoted as saying, “we just don’t see cases like this where it’s an intentional act by the owner to assault an animal to the point of its death.” I strongly urge you to pursue prosecution of this case to the full extent of the law. I also suggest you ask the Court for: maximum jail time, probation to include mandatory psychiatric evaluations and treatment at his own expense; a meaningful fine; and that Mr. Loggins not be allowed the privilege of pet ownership in the future. The link between violence toward animals and violence toward humans is well documented. Research shows that if animal abusers are not adequately penalized for their crimes, it is likely that they will continue to commit abusive crimes in the future. To break this cycle, intervention and treatment, including stiff sentencing, is critical. I am personally very pleased to hear that the Woodbury County Attorney’s office has chosen to pursue this case against Bobby Loggins. I commend you and your staff for recognizing the significance of this case, and I urge you to continue your pursuit of this case and others like it.
Sincerely yours,

Race in Lake Wylie, S. Carolina

2009-06-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the Lake Wylie Splash Dash 2009

*Click on any picture to enlarge... and sorry if they aren't in the right order....when I post, things get screwy.
Picture top left: Andy and my self portrait after the race. Say CHEESE!

Next picture to right: 1st water stop. Boy Scouts were handing out water and there was plenty of it. THANK YOU!!!!!

2nd Picture from right: Every runner's favorite thing- the FINISH LINE!

Top right picture: Pasture and horses at the start/finish area....I was hoping to pet one but they were busy eating.

Picture to left: View of golf course along the race course...beautiful!

This morning Andy and I went to beautiful Lake Wylie, South Carolina, to run in the Splash Dash. What a wonderful lake and race! I have to mention early that I raised about $50 for Siouxland Paw Prints Rescue- thank you pledges! I did get a few comments about my "Running for a Paws" shirt so I hope I have a few new followers today! We got there a little early but because of the unknowns, we would have rather been early than late. The race started at 8am, with the 5k and 10k runners starting together, then the 5k walkers starting a few minutes later. It was a beautiful and sunny morning with lots of humidity, which we aren't used to any more! It wasn't overwhelming though and Andy and I both had good finishes. I ran my 10k in just over 50 minutes and Andy ran the 5k in just over 25 minutes. We were very happy with those times, especially considering the hilly terrain-for what we're used to anyway! We ran on the road looping through the neighborhood touching the lake. I did see several "For Sale" signs on houses I was passing and it sure made me want to research a little! Ha! No, Iowa friends, we aren't moving back here...yet anyway! :) I was very pleased to place first in my age group, now 35-39, and 7th of all women, and 39th overall. I got to go up and receive my blue medal at the awards ceremony, which is always good after running hard! I was also pleased that I did not have the typical stomach pains. I think it was due to eating a large amount late last night and being too tired for nerves. I will have to redo my race planning from now on as it was great to finish hard and fast instead of waiting to spew chunks at the finish line!

I do have several comments to make about the race and you'll be happy to know that no one ran with loose change this time! Haha! I did see a new fashion trend of women wearing what looks like tennis skirts. I don't know what is underneath but I'm confused. They look great but I would think they would sort of get in the way. I know my legs would chafe if I didn't have shorts on....oh well, very interesting. I saw a cute girl wearing some Princess Lea buns (although much smaller than the actual princess) and some low pigtails that I would like to try if my hair ever decides to start growing again! The guy who won the 10k in 38 minutes ran with his pit bull. What a trooper! She was one tired dog but boy, was she in shape. The young age group winner of the men's 10k was a very young man who had a huge stride. It looked a little uncomfortable to me- almost like loping, but he ran very fast and did great. One more comment about a pretty quick guy who had legs that looked like the Muppet Beaker. Remember the scientist guys helper who couldn't really talked and only said "Mbeep"? Anyway, his legs immediately made me think of Beaker. I do have to say to the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce: Job well done, keep it up and if we can make it back in June of next year, we sure will try and make the race as well! It was worth it, so thank you! The ice cream was an especially good treat for someone who's not used to sweating for another 30 minutes after the race is complete! Yummmy!
Here's more about our adventure vacation:

We got to North Carolina on Thursday. That event deserves an entire blog to itself, so more about the travel later! Let's just say that it was a stressful situation that could have turned into a nightmare. But we did feel like we waited all day......not fun but we got here safely and that's what matters.

Our neice, Ashlee, graduated from high school last night, so we watched that. Very proud as she's the first neice or nephew to graduate from high school. The next oldest is only 11, so it will be a few more years before we get another one! Power to the Kerkhoffs! It was a late night and we got the boys to bed at 11:30pm! They are both napping now!

In just a little bit, we (our little family of four plus Andy's parents) are meeting Andy's brother and wife plus three boys and his other brother, wife, daughter (the one who just graduated) and her boyfriend. We are going to have a late lunch/early dinner then go to a park to have family pictures taken. I think we will be back home early to get some really tired boys to bed! Tomorrow the boys are going to stay overnight with their cousins, which is great since two of the cousins are the same age as our boys plus one who's 11. They will have a great time together! Andy and I and his parents will be heading to dinner then seeing Phantom of the Opera. It's been while since I have seen this show so am looking forward to it!

I hope to post some adoption updates soon but haven't heard from Beth...I know she's swamped right now.

More cats and adoptions!

2009-06-10T19:51:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the pictures of Miss Goldie!

I found out today that Paw Prints is adopting out cats like crazy! That's awesome! That Tigger 2, who was at Petsmart that I talked about Sunday, was adopted. What a sweetheart! I'm hoping a bunch more get adopted out this weekend.

I will be out of town for a few weeks and have been experiencing some "cat issues". I don't want to go into details, but let's just say that they aren't using the litter box appropriately. I was blaming Goldie, but since she is not here, it isn't her fault! I'm reading up on how to deal with it, but man, it's frustrating! Good luck to our house sitter, a local college student staying here while we're out. Poor guy!

I'm posting some cute pictures of Goldie....I will also be blogging about my journey, so be sure to check back! I have been working on personal projects around the house and since the majority are done, I hope to blog a little more frequently than I have been.

Anyway, wish me luck on my run on Saturday in S. Carolina! It's a 10k with a view so I assume I will carry my phone as I did in Des Moines to catch some nice pics. Hopefully it's not of me falling down a cliff..... :)

More adoptions today

2009-06-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Eight cats were adopted over the past three days and that does not include any after 2pm on Sunday! That's great! Their new owners seemed so happy and I'm excited for the cats.
Now, I have to say that I cried a lot today over taking Goldie to Petsmart. She was grumpy about being there and I could tell she wasn't happy. She's such a great and happy cat at home, so we're checking into behavior modification to see if it's possible that she get along with Bailey and Tigger. At this point, I a.l.m.o.s.t. don't care, but yes, I do care about the happiness of my current cats. I don't want to sacrifice that for Goldie's happiness. Or mine. Although I really do want to.
There is a wonderful soft yellow and white cat named Tigger 2 at Petsmart. He just has to get adopted soon! What a total sweetheart. Yes, the other cats were as well, including London. She and Tigger 2 were reaching their arms through the cages and patting at me as if to say, "Hey, Lady, let me out!". It's heartbreaking. Anyway, Tigger 2 is such a lovie and I hope he gets a forever home very soon....and he is one that was surrendered by Animal Control the day before he was to be euthanized. How many more loving and wonderful cats are going to be killed? That is why I am on a mission to raise money for spay and neuter clinics so this stops. It's absolutely crazy. Paw Prints has saved so many lives and I am proud to be associated with this group of animal lovers! Thank you Beth and Kris.

Some adoptions and fundraising!

2009-06-06T14:44:00.001-07:00

The left picture is of Max and Marie playing with Goldie Girl's tail. She is such a fun cat and I hope she finds a home soon! She is special...very special to me, but she doesn't get along with my cats now, so I don't feel it's right to interrupt their quality of life for Goldie. I'm trying to figure out a way to make it work, but she's aggressive towards Bailey and Tigger and it's just not fair that they are scared to come out of my room! Plus, I'm tired of having a litter box in my room- oh the things I do for these cats I love! Hmmmm, maybe I should get her declawed....

Thank you so much to Buffalo Alice, who donated $100 for my cause! We appreciate it so much!!!! I am also thankful to Chili's, who will donate 10% of receipts with our fundraising vouchers back to us. This will be the entire day on July 2nd, so MARK YOUR CALENDARS, GET A VOUCHER, and DINE AT CHILI'S in Sioux City!

Max and Marie, my two little tabby kittens pictured above, were adopted yesterday, along with some other cats that I don't have pictures of. Montana, the beautiful calico that I fostered about a month ago was adopted as well. Some kittens were also sent to rescue last weekend, plus Paw Prints is at Petsmart full time- that always helps adoption numbers! I'm so happy that they were adopted as they were all great cats and deserved loving homes!

It has been yet another busy week for me personally, but I am trying to get a few huge projects done before my family leaves for North Carolina on Thursday of next week. I will continue to write this blog and be on Facebook, plus I plan to run a race at Lake Wylie, S. Carolina next Saturday. I've taken it pretty easy this week but my right leg has been hurting more. I don't quite understand that, but it could always be due to the long and fast run from last weekend in Des Moines. I hope to run 8 miles at least three days this week, travel on Thursday, then have a short run on Friday before the race on Saturday. I guess writing about it reminds me to sign up for it! Thanks Blog!

Paw Prints is still not communicating appropriately with Animal Control at this time. I don't know if they are finding homes for all their cats or are taking the route from before Paw Prints took the cats who were about to be euthanized. It totally breaks my heart and I have to sort of put it in the back of my mind or I would be heading straight to the doctor for some sedatives and anti-anxiety meds(for me, not the cats!). I have learned far more than I thought I would but I do have to concentrate on the main goal....stop the madness and raise money for spay/neuter clinics so there aren't cats and dogs at Animal Control to euthanize. It is possible. We just have to work together to make it happen. It's hard to not try and do everything all at once, but then you lose sight on the overall goal. Hopefully, the cats and dogs who have sacrificed their lives at the hands of Animal Control will have something to show for it soon. I will keep you posted!

Happy weekend!!!!

A busy week!

2009-06-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

I took three days off from running after this race, which is not normal for me. I was just exhausted and then stayed up late so figured that taking that time off wouldn't cause the prior two years conditioning to deteriorate. I am my own worst critic.
I ran 6 miles this morning and it felt great, so I might take that time off more often. Of course, the next time I do, my first run after the time will will probably make me feel like a clydesdale!

I have been working a lot with Paw Prints this week. We are going to apply for grants to get our first spay and neuter clinic held. This grant money could help Paw Prints change Sioux City's cat and dog euthanasia rate to almost nothing if the goals are accomplished. Please wish us some very good luck with this difficult procedure. It hurts my heart to know that so many good good pets are uselessly killed. It's honestly hard to sleep at night sometimes and others, I wish I didn't know the details.....yet I do so it's impossible to sit by and do nothing....hence, this page, facebook, the fundraising campaign!

I shall attempt another fast run in the morning.....we shall see!

The Dam to Dam

2009-05-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

Pictures from left:* My hubby, Andy and me after our races were complete

*A view from my phone along the route. People everywhere but I loved it.

*View at the beginning of the race, at the dam watching the sun come thru the clouds.

*Picture after the race. People everywhere but I loved it!

Here is my story of the Dam to Dam 20k on Saturday, May 30th, 2009.
My family and I stayed with my great friend, Sonia, who lives in Des Moines. I woke up at 4:30am the day of the race thanks to the neighbor dog and decided to stay up and just get ready early. It was a very short night of sleep but I was ready to go. I got downtown Des Moines around 5:15 (thanks Sonia!) and loaded a school bus a short time later. They sure had everything organized! We arrived at the Saylorville Lake Dam not too much later, but we did get to enjoy seeing the rain leave...thank goodness!
Music was playing on the dam and they had places where you could dump a bag of stuff and it would be at the end. There were plenty of port-a-jons for us nervous nelly runners too-yes, I saw men coming out of the trees and just walking down the dam to go wee! It was a little chilly that morning but we knew it was going to warm up quickly.
We started on time at 7am. It was a slow go at first, but we were soon on our way. 6,476 people finished the race!!! That's a lot of feet to NOT trip over! Did ANYONE see me in my "Running for a Paws" shirt??? Anyone? Anyone??
The entire race went fairly quickly, probably because of the awesome atmosphere. There were people along the route cheering, handing out water, playing music, and letting their hoses spray us warm runners off. It was great! It's been a long time since I've run in a race with so many people and it's just not the same as when there's crickets...crickets....and more crickets!
I texted my hubby at the halfway point (yes, I carried my phone in case I couldn't find him afterwards so I could get the kids and he could run the 5k). I was going at an 8 minute mile pace, which was very good for how I felt. I do have a nervous stomach so I usually cramp up and hurt after about 5 miles and I didn't this time....until mile 10. Ugh, it was tough, and I think I ran a 12 minute mile that mile but I was already happy with my time so was ok with it. I'm very competitive with myself, which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, but I am...can't really help it.
Anyway, I speeded up at mile 12 and finished the 12.4 mile race in 1 hour 45 minutes- I was 1417th of 6476, 313th of 3167 women, and 55th of 538 women 35-39 yrs old. I almost barfed at the end due to sprinting the last bit, but it would have been worth it! There were people EVERYWHERE! I had no idea there would be that much of a crowd and chaos, but it was great fun. We got frustrated once when we were trying to sign up my 6 year old for the kid race, but we should have had Sonia do that the night before when she picked up the packets...our fault and we know better next year. Andy and Sonia ran the 5k, which started at 9:30., Andy hurt his hamstring, but it's feeling better today, and Sonia ran her very first race! She did great and I'm so glad I was there at the finish line cheering her on! They both did awesome and I got to see them both cross the finish line. Andy ran his 5k in about 27 minutes.
We got to eat some great food after....water, gatorade, bomb pops, bbq sandwiches, bananas, apples, BEER (no, didn't have any but we could have), and Dr. Pepper. The band was great and I even danced with Tyler, my 6 year old to the fun music! What a day. After the running and standing and walking around, I was ready to go and sit for a while (ie the rest of the day). Sonia had to go to Minneapolis for a graduation party and we needed to head home. What a day, what a great great day and I hope to come back next year for the Dam to Dam!
Now, I do have some observations that I made during the race....enjoy.
There are many types of running styles. I know I look a little funny when I walk and run, but to each his/her own, I say. If it works for you, then there's nothing wrong with it, but it's just interesting to see them all in one day.
*I have to say that there's one rule that I never knew that SHOULD exist: DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO RUN WITH LOOSE CHANGE. NEVER. NO MATTER WHAT. Let's say that this guy who ran with "ching, ching, ching, ching, ching" helped my time since I had to speed up to get away from that sound! Thanks Change Guy! But bring a credit card or some cash next time. I'm sure someone has a cell phone (me) you could use and I don't think pay phones are really around much, especially in the corn fields. No more change allowed in races. No exceptions.
*I saw a lady, who, from the back, looked like Grandma in a bathing suit. Let's say that I passed her about half way into the whole thing, so she's a rockin' runnin' young Grandma. Just a different top she was running in. It was NOT a swim suit, but looked very close to one.
*There were some very muscly women. They must lift weights with their arms since their shoulders were very wide and rippley. Not the same wide and rippley as my rear, mind you. They looked awesome and I was not passing them....
*There was tatoo guy- He didn't need a shirt as his tatoo served as one. Not sure what the design was as I saw it more from a distance, but was interesting.
*Talkey ladies- I don't think I could talk during a race going at that pace or I would be at the barfing point much sooner. Good for them. And yes, I was trying to hear what you were talking about but I couldn't get it all heard.
There were:
Swingers- swing your upper body from side to side as you run
Cutters- cut the air with your hands as you run, hands held all open and flat
Flippers- flip your hands as you run...seems it would use a lot of energy and your wrists would by mysteriously sore at the end of the day
Slappers- they slap the balls of their feet on the street as they run. ouch.
Plodders-they run like they have weights on their feet.
Bounders- they bound like gazelles. I assume this uses an extraordinary amount of energy but again, if it works....
Weavers- they weave in and out of traffic (this was me)
Inconsiderate weavers- they weave in and out of traffic, no matter who they step in front of and trip. (hopefully this wasn't me).
Walkers/slow pacers- sorry, but you should start at the back as they requested. You should not be in front of the 8 min mile pace people as we will have to dodge around you and in 6500 people on a street, is not very easy.
Spitters- take a drink of water and spit it out, sometimes hitting others around them. I was the one getting hit and considering the warm weather and my own personal odor at the time, was thankful to get some cool water on me.
That's my list for now. I love all runners and have a lot of respect for anyone who wants to run and then especially for those who do. We all have our own 'ways' about us, which makes running so much more interesting! I am used to running on my own in the early mornings, so it's wonderful to be out with others and yes, having fun while running over 12 miles!
One more note, I was happy to see that the article I wrote for Missouri River Runners club was published. I hope I am getting some interested readers. Please do email me your thoughts about anything! I would love to hear from you. I have already received a call from a friend of a member about finding a home for a dog, so I appreciate you publishing the article....Siouxland Paw Prints is awesome. I still need lots of donations, pledges, volunteers, fosters! Remember, if I get $20 pledged to me by July 1, I will attempt the FULL marathon!!!!!!! (this is a hint)
Well, I'm sure I have written enough for now. I do have more things to talk about, but will leave it for the next day!
Thanks again, Dam to Dam race! What a great time!