My First 1/2 Marathon

Yes, among other things this week (other than getting to know my new bees and keeping up with my garden prep), I ran my first 1/2 marathon in Providence, Rhode Island with my Sole Sisters from the Y. What a great group of gals. Below is just a small collection of us who drove in together. Our group 'Sole Sisters' ran as a team so we had people running the marathon, the 1/2, and the 5 K. Everyone here was running the 1/2 marathon. From R to L: Sandy (me), Jane, Joyce (our fearless leader), Courtnee (Queen of the Pop Tart), Stacey and Lisa. This is the photo before we left the garage where my camera was. The rest of the pictures were taken by another Sole Sister, Tracey, who is 'on the mend' and wasn't able to run just yet. She was fabulous, meeting us at several points during the race, cheering us on, taking all of our sweaty cast-off clothing, and documenting the whole thing on film. Thank you Tracey, it was great to have your encouragement!

Here we are, gathered together before heading off to the START. 

Here is Lisa. She is the crazy nut I ended up running the entire race with. Can't you see how she would be motivating?

The START!

Here is Jill (and I believe Megan behind her) handing off another piece of clothing to our cheerleader Tracey.

Here is Jane. Look at her go! She looks happy. And she should be! She had a great run (1/2) and qualified for The Boston Marathon! Way to go Jane!

Oooop . . . here I go, handing Tracey more sweaty clothes. Courntee (on the left) and I wore matching outfits by accident. Isn't that cuuuuuuute?

Stacey was looking fabulous in black.

Some of our Marathon Runners: Megan and Jill -- looking great.

Our fearless leader Joyce. Note: when your photograph is being taken during a run, muster up the strength . . . wave and smile. Joyce should have been a lesson to me . . . 

Is this not the most hilarious, frightening picture of me ever?! I look like I'm ready to call it a day and head home.

Here is a group of us at the end -- metals in hand. What a great day. L to R: Lisa, Joyce, Stacey, Susan, Sandy, Chris and Courtnee. (In the foreground are Stacey's beautiful girls who schlepped all over the course with her to cheer us on!) My time was 2 hours and 3 minutes. I achieved my goal: no walking, and ran a faster race than I was expecting . . . Thanks Prancy!

Here is our wonderful cheerleader Tracey with her daughter. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Sunscreen Stain Update

At long last I finally called Coppertone and inquired about sunblock stains on my clothing. (other company's sunblock has also stained my clothing ... FYI) The Customer Service gal on the line didn't hesitate (like she gets this question all of the time) and explained that the stains are due to avobenzone in the sunblock. As the entry in Wikipedia explained, Avobenzone reacts with minerals to form colored complexes. So if you have hard water (a lot of minerals in your water) commonly caused by having well water, the iron in the water binds to the avobenzone and creates stains in your clothing. Coppertone recommends applying the standard stain removers before washing your clothing, which I have found to be almost completely ineffective. Mainly (as I explained to the woman) because the stains show up after I wash the clothes. Which stands to reason if it's binding to the iron in my water! (Unless of course I'd been mining for iron in my back yard with sunblock on, in which case the stains would show up before I washed them. Eeegads.) To that, the kind Coppertone Woman explained that a lot of people say that the stains show up afterwards (oh boy) and then recommended using Rit Rust Remover or Iron-Out. I looked that stuff up and basically these have strong acids that can irritate the skin if not completely rinsed out of your clothing. One site recommended using detergent with phosphates in it against rust stains! Terrific. How about putting something in our sunblock that doesn't hurt us or our clothing? Afterwards I read that lemon juice can be effective against rust stains in the laundry. Stay Tuned. I'll try it.

Be well.

Sunblock STAINS!

OK, for awhile, I thought I was the only one experiencing this phenomenon but I finally looked it up online to see if there are other people who get orange blotchy stains on their clothing as a result of using sunblock. Particularly white and light colored cotton clothing. The orange stains show up in areas where you spray the sunblock, and also smears on your clothing like deodorant can when you put on a shirt -- or foundation. I haven't found anything that takes these stains out to the point where you can wear the clothing. How frustrating!! I have ruined two brand new white shirts! AND NO ONE IS REALLY TALKING ABOUT THIS! I have tried some new elemental sunblocks that I purchased for health reasons (no chemicals) that I think will be ok -- but I don't know for absolute sure yet. Has anyone else experienced this ... and is there anything that takes the stains out?! Over the weekend I discovered: Coppertone STAINS and Neutrogena STAINS. Irritating! (Thanks for listening).

Just what is this stuff doing to my SKIN?

Goodbye Cable

We are taking the plunge. Or, more accurately, we are removing ourselves from the vat of overpriced sludge. (ok, sludge doesn't exactly rhyme with plunge, but it's close) That is we are discontinuing our cable service. Yes, you heard us right, goodbye cable. We really don't watch that much television as it is. We enjoy the occasional Patriots or Red Sox game, but after that, it's pretty much all down hill. Between all of the violence (I'm sorry, Victor and I just can't handle watching C.S.I. or even Law and Order -- horrible things happening to people, why watch??), the low budget brain-numbing reality t.v., and the sensationalized news channels, we are done. We will keep our television for dvd's and the programming that comes to us for free - especially PBS. And that's it.

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My brother, Scott has many fun toys and creature comforts, but one thing he has never caved on is cable television. At first it was largely in protest to their monopoly - charging outrageous prices without competition. When I asked him about it last night at our Father's Day Family Night he said that now he also doesn't like having the temptation to burn up his time at home and "check out" (ie: turn into a tube-zombie). Growing up, we were never allowed much television. I can still hear my father shouting "Turn that thing off!" Today, when we go to our pediatrician, we are asked how much television our children watch. Our doctor is always pleasantly surprised when I answer that, if they watch any at all, they watch a 1/2 hour a day.

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When I start to consider how commercialism, consumption and big business have gotten so out of hand in our society -- turning off my television is my way of saying "I'm not filling my head with your lies!"

Vitamin D

Last fall I read that 80 to 90 percent of people are vitamin D deficient. After suffering as I usually do from winter doldrums -- particularly by the time February and March roll around I was researching the idea of getting one of those light boxes to relieve the slumps. Then I read that a large majority of people are vitamin deficient and that the recommended daily amount of Vitamin D was too low. Also, when milk - fortified w/ Vitamin D - was tested they found that the Vitamin D levels were depleted sometimes to more than half the amount. So, this winter, I've added Vitamin D to my daily vitamins and don't you know I have had NO WINTER DOLDRUMS ... in spite of my lowering the temperature of our home to icebox levels (ok, I'm exaggerating). Isn't that exciting?! So, for any of you who live in areas where you hardly expose your skin to the light of day from November to April do some research and consider taking some Vitamin D. I've been taking 800 IU of Vitamin D daily. Some recommend 1000 IU. Anyway, it's worth some research -- I for one can tell you it's made a huge difference in my life this winter! Check it out.

Enjoy!

Vitamin D and Depression

Calcium Absorption, Cancer, Gum Disease, Diabetes Prevention