Flying High Now

I've never run 6 miles non-stop in my life before.....until today! Already a few weeks behind on my 1/2 marathon training, I hit the Petit Center this afternoon to try my first ever crack at a 5+ mile run. I was hoping to be running outside already, but we've been hit with a stubborn cold snap with temps 10-15 degrees below average. I went in with a manageable goal; just to run further than my 5 mile run last week. Even if that meant 1/4 mile more. I started very slowly as I really wanted to pace myself for 6 miles. As I hit the mile markers, tunes on my iPod helped me along. At the 3 mile mark Vienna by Billy Joel came on. The verse "slow down, you're doing fine...you can't be everything you want to be before your time" seemed to fit. At 4 miles Bruno Mars' sang "girl you're amazing, just the way you are". Thanks Bruno....helpful. My iPod was on shuffle and the whole time I was running I was hoping for the Rocky training/theme song to come on. That song always fires me up. I was bummed as I was scant minutes from finishing and it hadn't played. Then, true story, as I rounded the last turn before the 6 mile mark, the song started almost like it knew I needed to hear it. I got so psyched I ran an additional 1/3 mile as the song blared in my earphones. A few tears filled my eyes as I finished. A super cool day for me. Doing something I wasn't sure I could feels pretty great. Next week, 7 miles.

Kindness

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~Seneca

In the last few weeks since we found out my Mom is sick, I have witnessed personally a number of humans taking an opportunity to be kind. Some of them have come from friends who have had my back for years, including one dear friend who offered to jump on a plane to keep me company, help me clean my Mom's house or run errands. Other offers have included funny statements such as "Mary, I have a credit card and I'm not afraid to use it" and "name the time, the place and the kind of wine you want, and I will be there". Family has been there too; helping to shuttle Mom and Dad to errands and appointments and popping in to make sure that everything is going smoothly at home. Other acts of thoughtfulness have come from somewhat unexpected places, like my parent's neighbor who I have never met in person calling me to offer any help she can; She has consistently shown kindness to my parents, even going out to buy my parents a snow shovel after the latest big storm when she noticed their shovel was broken. I think sometimes with all the negative news that barges into our lives from the media and the 24 hr. news cycle that we forget that on balance people are compassionate, thoughtful and wanting to help if they can. A personal thank you to all of you who have reminded me.

Cure for a lousy day

Hayden Rech - 6 mos. old

Number of times her photos bring me joy daily - At least 10

Having her in our lives.....priceless!

Hot Mess

As part of my 1/2 marathon training schedule, I'm supposed to spend one workout a week strengthening and stretching. My friend Rachel mentioned that she used to do a Bikram yoga class over on the east side while she was temporarily living in Stacy's condo and was planning on attending last night. I had heard of Bikram before and once even participated in a class that was advertised as Bikram style "hot" yoga at a studio in Brookfield. So, I thought the class held at Bikram Yoga Milwaukee would be a no brainer. I went onto their website earlier in the day to get an address and some directions, but having a very busy day I didn't have time to read the section called "What to expect". In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman; "Big mistake.....HUGE!" Here are just a few of my general learnings and observations about last night's Bikram experience.

1.) Bikram is a set series of 26 poses. No matter where you go in the world, if you take a class called Bikram the number and sequences of the poses is the same. To get through this many poses it takes 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees with 40% humidity. Add the body heat of 25 people into the room and it's Amazon jungle thick in there and crazy stinky. No amount of Febreze will ever make that room right.

2.) I never really knew what the term "flop sweat" meant. I do now. Since I didn't read what I now know as the critical "what to expect" section of the website, I came into the room with no headband, bandanna etc. and the regular amount of make-up that I have left on my face at the end of the work day. Within 10 minutes I looked like Heath Ledger's version of the Joker in The Dark Knight.

3.) Cotton may be the fabric of our lives, but it is most definitely not the fabric of Bikram yoga. Instead of grabbing a dri-fit top in the morning, I threw a cotton tank top into my bag. Cotton stretches when it gets drenched. All of my siblings who witnessed my tank top after the wave pool incident at Noah's Ark a few years back knows what I'm talking about. I picked up my shirt a few minutes ago off my bedroom floor to throw it in the wash, and after 22 hours, it was still soaked...Ugh. (p.s. no comments about why that shirt was still on my floor)

4.) I forgot my regular dri-fit sports bra so had to go with my regular cotton bra. See #3 for results of that screw-up

5.) Apparently, Bikram Yoga works. The class instructor was very slim and toned and for lack of a better term a Bikram Yoga NAZI! This class has rules. No looking around the room, no drinking water during poses and no wiping off the sweat with your towel even if your eyes are burning like you looked straight at an eclipse. Allegedly, all these things detract and distract from the "true and pure practice" of Bikram. Since this is a family blog, I can't repeat the mostly 4-letter words floating through my thought bubble, but I'm sure you can guess. She used snaps and claps to prompt you from pose to pose and she talks fast and succinctly. Full disclosure; she scared me.

6.) I discovered that while not in Bikram Nazi shape, I can survive 90 minutes in oxygen deprived hell and still be here to write a blog post about it. Rachel said that she has seen people sit down to get their breath and/or leave the room. I made it all the way through without having to do either of those things. It's not much, but's like all the little victories of this training it's something. And, believe it or not, I'm definitely going back.

Once you go Mac.....

Hi Everyone. This is my first blog post from my brand spanking new Macbook Pro! Earlier this week, I powered on my 5 year old Gateway laptop to surf the net and write a blog post. After churning through what I thought was the normal set up, I got the dreaded Windows screen that is just black and lists a myriad of things that are going wrong with your system. I chose to "restore windows from normal settings" all the while crossing my fingers that it would work. After that I got the equally dreaded blue screen that popped up with another crop of dire information that I could never understand if you paid me. So earlier today, I jumped into my newly repaired Jeep (yup, that money sucker drained another $180.00 from my checking account today) and headed over to the Best Buy to talk to the Geek squad to see if my ole laptop stood a chance and might be worth repairing. Andrew, the helpful geek squad representative powered on my computer, read the screen and promptly told me my hard drive was fried. I asked him with hope "Is it worth repairing?" to which he quickly replied "Not a chance. Five years for a laptop is actually good. They usually last about three". So I mentally gave my old Gateway some serious props for outliving the average lifespan by two years and immediately headed over to the Apple department. About 45 minutes later I was leaving with my brand new Macbook after the sales guy took me through a few of the basics. Needless to say this baby is off the chiz-ain. The set-up is amazingly simple. Within a few minutes I was already writing this post. Don't get me wrong, this Mac scares the H out of me. I've been using a PC my entire adulthood. But, since I've been a iPhone user for over 3 years, I know what intuitive products Apple makes, so I feel confident I will be able to figure it out. I'm so looking forward to no more viruses and no more Windows crashing. Way to go Steve Jobs and all you other geniuses at Apple....See ya Microsoft!

Flirty and Forty

What do you get when you mix 6 great friends, 1500ml of Pinot Grigio, an afternoon at the spa, a raucous bar dice game of 7, 14, 21 and a huge surprise party? Well, in this case you get the celebration of Jenn's fortieth birthday. The day started at the Azana spa in Brookfield with mani's, pedis and a big jug of cheap wine drank out of Styrofoam cups. After polishing off the wine and drying our newly polished nails we headed to one Jenn's favorite neighborhood haunts, The Ugly Mug (I know, awesome name for a bar). Well what are a bunch of girls to do at 4:00 in the afternoon at the corner pub. Play bar dice, naturally. Needless to say, we all made Jenn drink most of the shots. Later that night we surprised Jenn with big surprise party that required a fairly elaborate ruse involving multiple people and even more white lies. Happy Birthday Jenn!

Unexpected inspiration and little victories

Earlier today, I headed over to the Petit Center to get a short training run in. When I arrived, the parking lot was packed. I assumed there was a big hockey or speed skating tournament I wasn't aware of. Actually, to my surprise, they were conducting an indoor 1/2 marathon with a full marathon to be held tomorrow. Since the track was closed to regular runners and walkers, I took a few minutes to watch the race. I'm feeling pretty inspired! The Petit Center is pretty inspiring already as hundreds of world class Olympic speed skaters, many from Wisconsin, have trained and competed there. Sometimes when I feel like I'm pulling a plow around that oval track, I look up to see a huge banner of Eric Heiden in that famous shiny yellow suit looking down. I can almost hear him saying "You can do this Mary....and, perhaps you might consider losing a bit of junk from your trunk?" As I was watching the competitors finished, I started doing the math. On the Petit track a 1/2 marathon is 48 laps. I confirmed with a fellow bystander that a full mile is 3 1/3 laps. I always thought it was 4! So, in the last few weeks, I've actually been running further than I thought. HOORAY! I know that's a pretty small thing, but in this larger war, I need to win every tiny battle I can.

Alleluia!

My Grandma Orley was a great lady and a devout Catholic. She believed in all the saints and their special causes but I think her favorite saint was Saint Anthony of Padua. He was the patron saint of lost and stolen articles. My grandma used to work at a factory where cardboard boxes were cut and assembled. Once, she lost the diamond from her wedding ring on the floor of the factory during one of her shifts. She prayed to St. Anthony and lo and behold, among all the piles of cardboard shavings and dirt, she located her diamond. A few months ago, also among a fair amount of dirt and chaos caused by my bathroom remodeling project, I lost my digital camera. Well, I looked everywhere and could not find it. So I said a little prayer to St. Tony hoping I hadn't used up all my locating "credits" throughout my life. Everyone knows that I'm a bit careless and tend to misplace things. Actually, the truth of the matter is that I tend to think I've lost things when in fact they are usually right under my nose at all times. Andrea always teases me about my 'lost' keys and cell phone, and 99 out of 100 times they are always in my purse. Well, earlier today in a major cleaning frenzy that involved the actual movement of furniture, I located my camera. It was under my dresser (where I had looked more than once) but tucked between the dresser and the bed frame at an angle just so as to be out of my sight line. Anyway, some doubters would say that wasn't St. Anthony as much as whoever the patron saint of clean and organized homes is. I'm sticking with the big A. I even mused to my family that perhaps if I prayed to him enough he would find me a husband. Of course, to that my family replied "Did you lose one?" Touche! So, look to future posts to includes some long lost photos.

I'm hooked

Darn you The Biggest Loser....why are you so compelling? Last Tuesday, I turned on the TV for a little background noise as I was cooking in the kitchen. The TV was tuned to NBC and the popular weight loss competition was on. In the past, I've resisted watching this show as I'm not a huge fan in general of reality based television. At first, I stayed a safe distance from the TV, occasionally looking up to catch a few moments. However as the contestants back stories unfolded and the teams took the long agonizing walk up to the scale to be weighed and judged by all for the first time, I quickly found myself glued to the couch and thoroughly engrossed. Initially, I was also one those people being judgey, thinking to myself "how could anyone let themselves get that big". But very quickly compassion took over and complete disclosure here, I found myself tearing up more than once. Man, those producers really know how set up the show to tug on your heartstrings. Losing weight is incredibly hard. Those of us who have struggled to lose even a few pounds know that. Some of these people are staring down the daunting prospect of losing 80, 100 or even 200+ lbs. So now, every Tuesday evening I will be tuning in to watch these brave folks journey toward a healthier and hopefully happier existence. And, perhaps I'll be able to pick up a few training and eating tips that will assist me with the 10-15 lbs. I'd like to lose in the next few months. The Biggest Loser is helping to run a contest where for every pound people pledge to lose, an 11 cent donation will be made to our food banks to help needy people. Check it out http://www.pfpchallenge.com/

Run Mary Run

I've decided to try to run the Green Bay 1/2 marathon in May and registered online earlier today. I wanted to write this post because if I didn't tell everyone then it might be a whole lot easier to back out. This is going to be a challenging one for me. I'm not built to run...In fact, the marathon website even has a name for someone in my weight range....Athena. I think this is supposed to make us bigger girls feel better for in Greek mythology Athena was the super bad ass goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill. I guess if I was going to be participating in a clean and jerk contest, fashioning together some sort of macrame plant hanger or sitting on jury duty this comparison would be fantastic. But for running, I'd much prefer to be more like the god Hermes, the winged-footed speedster who delivers all those bouquets for FTD florists, or the goddess of victory, Nike. She was so awesome that there is really tiny shoe company named after her. Everyone keeps telling me that the key to finishing a marathon is the training plan. You gotta stick to the plan. Russ sent me a 1/2 marathon training schedule and it's supposed to guarantee success if you follow it. I hope that's true. The longest I've ever run is about 6 miles and that was over 5 years ago. I will give this whole thing my very best effort and try to give an occasional training update. Hopefully on May 15th, 2011 at the finish line there will be a photo of me celebrating with my friends, enjoying a frosty beer and hopefully still standing.

This one's for you Russ

Bar games are fun. Especially when you beat people who are usually better than you at them. Russ and I spent some quality time at the famous Milwaukee drinking divehole Jim Mitchell's last night while he and his family were visiting for Christmas. Though he bested me in pool, I took 2 out of 3 games from him at the dart board. Boo ya Rusty! Our evening was enhanced with a couple of PBR's and some friendly banter with the crusty bartender who has probably worked there as long as the bar's been open (40+ years I believe). Lots of laughs were shared. Great seeing you Russ. Looking forward to seeing you soon in Denver.

What I do

In the long-running sitcom Friends, no one ever seemed to know what Chandler did for a living. I seem to be getting that a lot since I started my new job at IMS back in January. Even when I explain what branded merchandise is, many people still greet my explanation with a polite nod and a blank stare, indicating they still don't really understand. I thought a photo might sum it all up more succinctly.

Cross it off the bucket list

My bucket list is still long, but 3 weeks ago, I got to cross "attend Grand Slam tennis tournament" off it after I went to the US Open in New York. Watching live tennis at this level is amazing. We were lucky enough to get to watch both Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal play in Arthur Ashe stadium along with a number of other great matches in Louis Armstrong. The rest of the weekend in NYC was rounded out with a long day wandering around Central Park, a great Broadway show called In the Heights, a trip to MoMA and lots of shopping, great meals and general reverie with my good friend Megan Griffin. Someday, I'd love to get to London for Wimbledon, Paris for the French Open, and Australia for the Australian Open and complete my own grand slam as a fan.

That's Morgan, Captain Morgan

I have developed a strange and perhaps somewhat unhealthy obsession with Captain Morgan. Not the alcohol actually as I don't really like spiced rum, but the mascot himself. It started when I spied a full size replica of him at my companies Morton Grove, IL office (we handle the Diageo account, the manufacturer of CM) Naturally, I had to take a photo with him. A few months ago, I was hiking with my friends Jill and Dan in the Kettle Moraine and afterwards we stopped to enjoy a beer at a nearby pub. On the patio, who was there? The Captain of course. This Captain is a little obscene. Notice his hand gesture in the photo. Since then, I've launched a full fledged effort to take as many photos of me with him as possible. Game on! A few weeks ago, I was at a preseason Packer game with my girlfriends, and who came strolling through the parking lot...you got it. These pics tell the whole story. It's my understanding that there is another Captain at a bar in downtown Milwaukee called Brothers. I plan to get there soon to take photo #4 and I hope to find many more Captains throughout my travels and escapades. No one can say that I don't have goals, however misguided.

Drumroll please!

Here she is!.....the latest addition to "The Reching Crew". Hayden Anna Rech. Born September 2nd, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. Weighing in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. Height: 20 inches. We are so excited to welcome Hayden to our family. Personally, I'm super excited to buy her adorable outfits. Let the spoiling commence.

Summer of Change

More apologies for the terrible frequency of my posts. A lot has been happening this summer, but the biggest news for our family is that Peg, Russ and the kids have moved to Denver. Needless to say, more than a few hearts were heard breaking all over southeastern Wisconsin, maybe mine the loudest. But, change is good. It helps us appreciate things. What we have, what we want and it makes us really examine ourselves. What mark we want to leave; where we want to leave it. So far, the Bueges, now of Denver CO are embracing their new lives; exploring their new surroundings, making a home, making friends. I am as excited for them, as I am sad for us. Good luck Bueges. We love you.

Playing with the Boys

Memorial Day weekend 2010 was spent in Las Vegas catching up with the boys. We did a little bit of site seeing at the new City Center complex and hiking in Red Rock Canyon, but most of the weekend was spent eating, drinking and most of all, laughing.

This time around, I got to eat at the restaurant Ross works at in the Monte Carlo hotel. My arteries will never forgive me, but I don't care, it was worth it. We started the meal with seared fois gras (sorry to all my vegetarian friends out there but it was mind blowingly good). Then, we were the chef's guinea pigs as he had us sample a new appetizer he was working on, Bison carpaccio. Next up, french onion soup followed by Lobster Thermador. I've never had it in a restaurant, so I had to take this pic. It was amazing!

On the last night we were there, my friends Chris and Brian from Milwaukee arrived in town for a little sun and fun. We hit a fun local hot spot called The Blue Martini, then proceeded down to the strip for a little gambling.






Some like to class it up at nice casino's like the Bellagio or The Wynn. But, not this motley crew. We promptly made our way to the Imperial Palace, perhaps one of the last hold outs from the old, seedy underbelly days of Vegas. But, we didn't really care. The gambling minimums are low, and the booze is still included. We were all in. I'm not much of gambler as I hate to lose money. But, I was the only one who walked away that night with positive cash flow. I played Roulette for about an 1 1/2 hrs. had two drinks and still pocketed a tiny little $16 profit. Not bad. As always, Vegas was a blast. I'm looking forward to Ross and Jassen's visit to Wisconsin at the end of the month.

Zoom zoom zoom

Congratulations to Ross who bought his first brand new car the other day (9 miles on the odometer when he left the dealership). Ross has driven some crap in his day (well, who among us hasn't?) including a Pontiac Horizon and my parents hand me down Toyota Corolla. That same tiny white souped up lawn mower got Ross, all his stuff and me out to California when he moved there in 1997. I don't think any of us actually thought that little Corolla would make it all the way from Wisco to Cali, and when it stalled once in eastern New Mexico, we were pretty convinced that our prediction had come true. Miles from a town (but luckily armed with a cell phone and good senses of humor) we coasted to stop, let the car cool down and took our chances that it would restart. Much to our surprise, it did and proceeded to get us through the rest of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and on into California. Ross drove that thing for a few more months without incident, then proceeded to buy another Corolla, this one about a year old. That car was kind to Ross and got him through almost 12 years in crazy Los Angeles traffic and sweltering summers in Vegas. Ross called me to tell me about his new ride, a 2010 Hyundai Elantra, the other day and made me laugh when he said "Mary, it's like driving a Lamborghini" In comparison to the '97 Corolla, I'm sure he's right. It's all about the reference point. Here's what I won't miss about Ross's old car....not be able to see the dashboard at night. His dashboard lights have been burnt out for years. Safety first as always with that kid. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing his sweet new ride when I visit at the end of May. I'm sure it corners like it's on rails.

What's on my mind?

I need to rant. Today, I'm down ON technology. Absolutely hatin' it. Now, I get the time saving advantages, social networking, blah blah, that it allegedly brings to our lives. But, today I fought technology, and technology won. Example #1. Today, one of my co-workers called me to asked me if I had got a voicemail she had left me and if I needed her to assist me with anything. I innocently replied "What voicemail?" She had left me a voicemail a few hours earlier, but my little voicemail red indicator light wasn't lit on my phone. So, I enter the voicemail system to discover to my absolute dismay that I had 17 (yup 17!) new voicemail messages dating back almost 3 weeks. Now, keep in mind, I'm new at my company. Not returning client and vendor voice mails; totally uncool. Funny enough, I was grousing incessantly about a client last week who wasn't returning my calls...You guessed it folks, 2 of those 17 messages were from her. Now, according to another co-worker, inadvertently turning off that indicator light in the labyrinth that is the automated VM attendant is very easy. I think she just felt sorry for me. I honestly don't remember being anywhere even close to that menu choice. I say the system did it without me cause it hates me. That's my story...I'm sticking to it. Example #2. Tonight, I came home and begrudgingly went onto Facebook mostly to try and block a few so called "friends" who refuse to stop telling me how many chickens they have raised on their damn farm. So anyway, needless to say, I can't figure out how to block these people's posts without defriending them. However, as I'm rooting around on the FB, I see that I have a new message that I swear wasn't there a few days ago, but is from early March. It was from a neighbor of my friend Karen in Minneapolis asking if I could give her some advice about some good stores in Milwaukee where she could possibly sell her jewelry line. She was planning on being here at the end of the month and was hoping I could help her. Well, it's the end of the month and I never responded because I didn't see it. So, I guess you could blame that one of on me and my total lack of competence. Whatever. Seven year olds understand Facebook. Maybe, I should just bag the whole thing and go totally Amish. I just might....they seem so peaceful...probably because they don't use technology. Please don't comment on this blog. I'm sure I won't be able to figure out how to access the comments. Sigh.

Johnny, what do you make of this?

I read that Peter Graves died yesterday. He was an actor known to most older people for his role in the TV series, Mission Impossible, but I remember him best as Captain Oveur in Airplane! I distinctly recall the first time I saw the movie. I was a freshman in college. I was supposed to be studying for a test but wandered into the living room to hang with my dad for a few minutes. He was channel surfing and came across a late night showing of the film. I thought I would just sit down for a few minutes and then get back to studying, but two hours later, Dad and I were still there. I'm not sure how I did on that exam. Probably not as well as I would have had I not got distracted. It was all completely worth it. Dad and I were both night people. I have so many found memories of staying up late with him when I was a kid, watching The Tonight Show, or a baseball game, or an old movie. We had a lot of laughs that night, watching Airplane! The best part of that movie, obviously, is the dialog. All these years later, most people can still quote at least one line. Here a a few of my favorites:

"Johnny, What do you make of this?" "Well, I can make it a hat, a broach, or a pterodactyl"

Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

"Guess I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue."

Hanging Lady: Nervous?
Ted Styker: Yes
Handing lady: First time?
Ted Stryker: No, I've been nervous lots of times

Elaine: "There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? "

Johnny (after unplugging the runway lights): Just kidding!

Young Boy with Coffee: Excuse me, I happened to be passing, and I thought you might like some coffee. Little Girl: Oh, that's very nice of you, thank you. [takes coffee] Little Girl: Oh, won't you sit down? Young Boy with Coffee: Cream? Little Girl: No, thank you, I take it black, like my men.

Elaine Dickinson: Would you like something to read? Hanging Lady: Do you have anything light? Elaine Dickinson: How about this leaflet, "Famous Jewish Sports Legends?"