October 9th weekend, more or less...

This was the week when I couldn't wait to get through and be done with.  It seems like there was so much scheduled that I was worried that I will forget something really important, like getting a cake for Jon's birthday (which almost happened...).

On Friday kids didn't have school, so I signed Larissa up for a day long Drama Camp.  It was held at a local high school, and even though it didn't turn out to be as exciting as I expected, kids seemed happy to be there.  Larissa watched a movie, learned a song, played with make up, and made some friends. 
She still needs to learn to speak up when it comes to her diabetes though...  I told the teachers that she needed to test regularly and they had no issues with it, it was Larissa who didn't know how to get their attention and get a break to test. She ended up leaving her meter in a lunch bag and only testing once, right before lunch...  Grr!  Needless to say, I was worried because she wouldn't text me her latest #s.  But it worked out ok, she was within norm when I picked her up at 4:30pm.  Kids put a few musical numbers onstage.  Here is Larissa's group - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsEaW_9Jxpw
She is on the left left, black pants, white shirt.

Saturday started off with a steady rain.  Not a good day to spend outside.  Luckily, Jon's 6th birthday was scheduled indoors.  We booked a party room at a movie theater with the movie and cake to follow up.  A few kids cancelled at the last minute.  When we got to the theater, we were told that movie time had shifted and we need to rethink the order of cake/movie/presents... Ok, I thought, let's just try to do this as fast as possible.  Success!  We did miss all the previews and a few minutes of the movie, but kids didn't seemed to care.
Cake was ok, not great, and all the red die...  wow!
We did get to see the giant movie projectors and a huge ice machine, which quite impressed the kids.

After getting all the kids back to their parents we went home and I prepared the old fashioned "carb load" for the family, I was getting ready for my (next day) 2010 Portland Marathon.  I know that "carb loading" is not necessary, but it's almost like a pre-race ritual.  It makes you feel better.

One restless night later, I was up on Sunday at 4am (even though my alarm was set for 5am)!  Still, contemplating at the last second on bailing out of the race.  I really didn't train this year at all.  My longest run was probably around 6 miles!!! and on top of that it was pouring down rain outside...
The typical over-achiever that I am, I decided to stick with the plan.  Thank goodness I got everything set out the night before!  My mind just wasn't working at a full capacity.

I managed to get ready and drove myself downtown Portland.  Just as I got closer to my destination, the drizzle turned into a shower...  Large crowds of runners and their families were everywhere.  Most were wearing trash bags to stay dry.  Some were hiding in the doorways.  I realize that there is no way I can get a street parking and I have no option of being dropped off at the start line!  Closest garage will do!!  Parking fee is $5, which I think is a rip off since (I believe) Sunday street parking is free, but someone always profits from the other people's need.  All I had was two 1$ bills and a bunch of quarters.  Money is money, cant refuse it!!  Hee hee.

After parking and finding my assigned corral "E", I still had to check my clothes bag in.  The line was so long, I missed my scheduled wave and had to join a later one.  It didn't really matter to me, since the run is chip-timed and my clock doesn't start till I actually cross the Start line.  Plus, I knew this was going to be a long and slow "run" (if you can even call that a run at all).

Before I even started, I was already miserable and wet, but determined to run as far as I can, then walk the rest.  I lasted 13 miles of running!  then, alternating running and walking, with walking becoming increasingly longer and longer...  At the end, my time wasn't great (or even good), but it was "only" ~40 minutes longer than last year's.  And most importantly, I finished!!!
While running, I took a few pictures, sent a few texts to Tim, got a few encouraging texts back :-)

This is just one of them from ~ mile 17

Oh, by the way, where were YOU on 10/10/10?  at 10:10am I was still running, and at 10:10pm I was heading to bed.  Too tired to stay up any longer!