So proud of my little girl!

After finding out in January that a fellow graduate of mine's daughter was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, I wanted to help in some way. I also thought it was a good way to teach Kennedy empathy.

I started an on-going conversation with her about how sometimes people get sick. I introduced her to this little girl through pictures, and tried to explain her story as best as I could in 3 year old terms. I explained that her and the little girl were the same age, and how they had things in common. For instance, they both liked Dora and love doggies!

I wanted her to connect with the little girl, and feel. We then talked about how we could help. I remembered how another fellow graduate's daughter had donated her hair. I asked Kennedy if she would be willing to do that. I explained to her how her hair could help make a wig that would make someone sick very happy. She was very excited to help.

I looked online about how to donate, and read the requirements for length. We measured her hair, and it wasn't long enough yet. Every month we'd measure her hair. Finally, this weekend we measured, and it was long enough!

All week we had been trying to explain to her Memorial Day, and teaching her how other's have been selfless and given a lot to their country. I showed her pictures of her Mommy & Daddy in uniform. Even the one where I'm 8 months pregnant with her! (Which noone else will EVER see!)

Since her hair was finally long enough, I decided that a great way to celebrate Memorial Day would be for her to have her first lesson in giving back. I started hyping it up, asking her if she still wanted to donate her hair. I told her over and over again how proud I was of her, and how much this would mean to someone else who needed her hair very much. And as she sat in the salon chair, getting ready to, and even during having her hair cut, I could see the pride on her face. And I've never been more proud myself!


Hugs,
Theresa

An Enormous Heart Filled with LOVE

Before I had my daughter, I had never imagined how strong and all encompassing love can be. Sure, I had felt love for my husband, but the love of a child…your child, is different. Sometimes I look at her, and can feel my heart swell with love. The feeling of warm chills flowing through your veins…making you a little light headed. And just when I feel like there is no way I can love her more, my heart grows bigger.

I RAN my first 5K!!

Well…I did it! I ran my first 5K Run yesterday. I’ve never been a runner. I forced myself to do it when I was graduating college and getting ready to join the Army National Guard. In the months up to joining, I found it extremely difficult to run, but loved the feeling afterwards. That changed though when I joined the Army.

Training was a killer for me. As someone who has never been a runner, or stick thin, I was slow. Not just normal slow, but severely slow. Like, people could speed walk beside me as I run, slow. Then it came time to take my first physical fitness test (PT test). This only confirmed that I was slower than two old people…well…you know how the saying goes. It took me 25 minutes to run 2 miles! I was embarrassed and humiliated. I was placed in group D for all the formation runs. D for Damn slow! For someone who is a perfectionist and had always pushed herself, this was extremely upsetting. There were words of encouragement, and the hope of someday moving up to a faster group. Ahhh…yes…something to strive for!

After about a month of running and pushing myself to improve, I felt I was ready to move up to Group C. This was my big chance. When it was time to get in our groups, I went over to Group C. The run began fine, but shortly into it I began to fall behind. I was told by Drill Sgt. Ellis to get to the front. Oh no! This was my worst fear. Everyone was going to pace off of me! So for the rest of the 20 minute run we ALL ran slow. I could hear the complaints behind me, from people wanting to run faster. At the end of the run, I was pulled to the side and yelled at in front of everyone for joining Group C, and banned for the rest of training to Group D.

My run never got much better for the rest of the 2 months I was there. As a matter of fact, after one long ruck march (where you carry a 30-40 lb ruck sack on your back), my run got worse. I now had a terrible pain in my right hip. I refused to get it checked out because one of the biggest fears in training is not repelling off of a 50 ft wall, but being recycled! If you were recycled for any reason, including an injury, you’d have to do this all over again with another company! I pushed through the pain, and tried my best. The final PT test was around the corner, and I was determined to pass. The day of the run, I pushed myself hard. I barely failed….by literally 3 seconds! I’m not kidding you. That PT test is still in my military file. Three lousy seconds!

I would get another chance to take it. The next day we did our last ruck march….15K! (9.35 miles) We marched out early that morning, and arrived by lunch time. We ate, set up our hooches (a tent made with a plastic poncho), dug ourselves a shallow fox hole, ate dinner, then spent half of the night pulling guard duty of one sort or another. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about this. Under normal circumstances, I actually enjoy this kind of stuff. But this wasn’t normally circumstances. The next morning, they got us up at 5:00AM, and drove us back to the Battalion to retake the PT test! Yes, I got to retake my PT test….after taking the first one, hiking 15K with a 35 lb ruck sack the next day, then taking another PT test the following day! Not the idea situation, and obviously I didn’t pass again.

I eventually passed the test after some rest. I also later found out that the pain in my hip was a broken hip! Yep, I had stress fractures in my hip that I had been running on for a long time. Believe it or not, hip injuries are a common injury for females in Army training (if you want to learn more, there’s an article here: http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/8/4/265.abstract). Needless to say, this didn’t help with my hatred of running, which is why running this 5K was such a big deal to me.

This time, I chose to run. I decided how I would train for it, and I decided how I would test myself. For the control freak in me, this was satisfying.

Now, when I run, I run for me. I run without peer pressure…without scrutiny. And for the first time in a long time, I love to run again! I’m planning my next 5K in October. I don’t plan on stopping then either. My goal is to run a mini-marathon (13 miles) in the next year or so, then run a marathon with one of my former Drill Sgt’s (not the one in the story above) to his retirement!

Preparing for my 1st 5K

Well, it's been a while since I have posted here. I really want to post more often. Let's see what has happened since I've been on here last. I got a different job (closer to what I want to do) with the same company. What else...let's see...yeah, that's about it. What do you expect, I live in Iowa!

One thing I've been doing for the past month in a half is preparing to run my first 5K! I've only been running 3 days a week, but have been trying to increase the amount of time that I run at once. I decided after getting out of the Army, that I wasn't going to put pressure on myself to run fast anymore because it discourages me from running at all. So, I've just focused on running period.

I ran the run path today, and timed myself. My only goal next week is to beat that time. I'm going for a personal best. Well...if you can call it a personal best when it is only the second time running it. LOL.