The year that was...

Whew, what a year it was!  2012 was a year of milestones and a busy one for the Turingans.

1.  May 2012.  Megan received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Her godmother was a very dear friend, Shirley, and she chose Cecilia as her confirmation name.

2.  July 26, 2012.  Our 25th wedding anniversary.  Ralph and I celebrated this milestone with a cruise to the Bahamas.  We went with some friends and their families and we had a ton of fun!

3.  November 9, 2012.  Ralph turned 50!  To celebrate this milestone, Ralph, and two friends checked off an item on their bucket list and went skydiving.  They all landed safely and are armed with stories to tell about the experience that will last them a lifetime.

4.  New sport/hobby.  This year Ralph and I started running.  We ran several 5K runs and have signed up to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February.  

5.  And we traveled in 2012!

January 2012.  Charleston, South Carolina.

March 2012.  Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

June 2012.  Lajas, Puerto Rico.

July 2012.  Nassau, Bahamas.

December 2012.  Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

I look forward to another year filled with fun, laughter and new experiences.  2013, bring it on!

Lessons learned from running - so far

98 days before the Disney Princess Half Marathon!

Having sped through the third week of half-marathon training has taught me some lessons in running. 

• Map your runs so you don't run more than you planned to.  Not that this is entirely a bad thing but it could be dangerous if you are not prepared in terms of hydration and energy replenishment during these runs.
• Invest in high quality socks.  I use Thorlo socks and swear by them.  When I started running, I had some recurring knee pain.  After I got hold of these socks, I have run 6 miles in them without even the need to ice my knees after.
• It's okay to run without your ipod in your ear.  The last long run we took was without music and I didn't miss it.  I was able to stay in tune with my body, especially my knees and hips, during the run.  I observed the beautiful houses along our route.  Occasionally I would look up to watch the birds that flew overhead.  I used to think that I would need the music just so my mind would not give up on me before the run was over but I ran over an hour without ever thinking when will this run end! 
• The difference between 5 miles and 6.5 miles is all in your head - NOT.  If it seems farther than you think, it's because it is! 
• Jeff Galloway's run-walk-run method is an excellent strategy.  I would not have been able to run longer than 3 miles if not for this method.  
• Do not run during trash pick up days.  The funky smell hits you before you even get next to them.
• Do not run just because a dog or two starts barking and running towards you.  Pretend like they don't scare you and by all means, stop running!  At the very least, immediately look around for a stick that might be used as a weapon against even the cutest puppy!
• When there is a storm coming, and the clouds are starting to form, don't pretend that you can outrun the clouds because you can't.  If you really have to, plan on not bring all your electronics so they don't get wet.

Food art!

Halloween gives us the license to be creative.  

We come up with the best outfits and parade happily 

around the neighborhood holding buckets out 

for candy treats; 

while others simply dress up to celebrate with friends.

It seems appropriate then that

I tap into my Anatomy and Physiology students' creativity 

to prepare food items that represent human body parts.  

Year after year, they come up with the most creative,

almost life-like works of food art.

It would be sacrilegious not to share them, so here they are.  

The lungs 

An eyeball

Are you grossed out yet??  Enjoy a slice of a large intestine!

Pearly whites - say cheese!

An arm!

Care for some brains?  

Wiener head!

A body farm!

Hand bones!

A rib cage protecting organs of spaghetti!

Two kidneys and a bladder!

Erythrocytes aka red blood cells.

Long bones!

Oreo truffle eyeballs!

Another eyeball - the green eyed kind.

6 - pack!

 Broken, bleeding finger!

Casualty of .... halloween!

Half-marathon training - Week 2

Week 2 of half-marathon training was almost cut to naught with the visit of Hurricane Sandy.  We were in a tropical storm warning with winds going over 40 mph.  This prompted the school board to cancel schools last Friday much to our delight.  I was able to run my Tuesday short run but skipped Thursday's.  It was rainy and windy that evening.  So, when our neighbor's lawn guys woke me up at 7:30 the next day, I decided to go for a run.  I thought, nah, those clouds are not going to fall anytime soon!  Well, it did. The rain came with a vengeance, and sideways.  In a matter of seconds I was soaked to my socks!  I had to take off my glasses because I couldn't see and when I took them off I couldn't open my eyes!  Some would call it dedication; I say, foolishness; to think that I could outrun the clouds!!!  

Half-marathon training: Week 1

I have officially kicked off my training in earnest for the Disney Princess Half-marathon in February 2013.  I am following the run-walk method by Jeff Galloway. Although I am two weeks behind from his training program, it is not impossible to catch up with the pace.  I feel that I am not really a beginning runner anymore but I don't think I am a strong enough runner yet to set a time goal so I have combined the beginner/time goal programs.  At this point, my goal is simply to finish the race by the recommended time of 3:30!  Funny thing is, they ask you what your estimated time to finish would be when you sign up.  You cannot put a time  longer than 3:30 so I put 3:29!!!  This is my magic number!

Rundown of Week 1:  

• Tuesday :  Warm up: 10 minutes; Run: 30 minutes; Pace: 15 min/mi; Miles:  2.1
• Thursday:  Warm up: 10 minutes; Run: 30 minutes; Pace: 17 min/mi,; Miles:  1.94
• Distractions:  caught up with neighbors running, stopped and talked so pace is longer
• The pace doesn't seem to add up with how long and how far I ran, but I got these numbers from my ipods summary after I ran.  
• Saturday:  Warm up:  10 minutes:  Run 1:10 minutes; Pace 17 min/mi; Miles:  4.1
• Breakfast:  Post wheat cereal with non fat milk
• Location:  along Lake Washington Rd.
• Weather:  perfect; cool breeze from the north, temperature at 67 degrees!
• Injuries:  none
• Physical discomfort:  left pinky toes rubbing against 4th toe at around mile 3.  Remedy:  put vaseline between toes in the next long run.
• After run intervention:  ate a piece of cookie while icing both knees for 10 minutes.
• Advice for others:  do not go to a dinner/dance in the evening after a long run!  While only the legs were a bit tired in the morning, adding the hips and hands to dance the night away a few hours later was utter torture.  At least, I got a full body work out!

T minus 123 days!

This is the Jeff Galloway timer that I use and is set to beep every 30 seconds of walk/run interval.  

Half marathon, half crazy!

Well, I have done the unthinkable and registered for the 2013 Disney's Princess Half Marathon to be held on February 24, 2013!  Me, with only a handful of 5Ks (3.1 miles) under my belt is daring to run 13.1 miles! That's the distance from my house to the Melbourne Square Mall and back! So of course, you'd ask - have I lost my mind?  Well, hear me out on this.  As serendipity would have it, last week I read that one of my favorite financial consultants, Jean Chatzky, has run a handful of half marathons and lived to tell about it.  She is probably a real runner than I am, but I thought, if she can do it, so can I.  Then while flipping through channels the other day, I flipped on the Sex and The City movie just as "Carrie" and "Charlotte" were discussing why "Charlotte" had not run since she got pregnant.   Her fear of losing the pregnancy stopped her from running and eventually got back to it and still carried her baby to term.  Even fictional characters are running, then why can't I.  

But most of all, I found out that little Clare, the 2 year old daughter of one of my co-teachers, just had her first dose of chemotherapy yesterday. She is fighting the biggest battle of all, leukemia.  I don't know the pain that she is going through and I can only imagine the pain that her parents are going through.  The beneficiary of the run is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I am going to endure the pain of running for over 2 hours to help raise awareness of this disease and fund research for a cure.

So am I crazy?  Of course I am, because I'm not Jean Chatzky or "Charlotte".  I'm Joy who, while running 5Ks, is cursing my way through the course thinking why did I ever sign up for this?  What could possibly possess me to embark on such a seemingly insurmountable goal?   Well, maybe I just want to say in the end that I did it - check it off the proverbial bucket list.  Simple as that.  There is plenty of time to train. Honestly, I am truly terrified at the thought of running for 13.1 miles but I know I can do it and expect to live to tell about it!  I hope you follow me as I share my successes and failures through every run as I prepare for that big day.  

Let the 127-day countdown till the half marathon begin!

Newly redesigned blog

Welcome to my newly redesigned blog!  Thank you to Kim at www.733design.com for her creative genius in coming up with the new design.  I hope to see you here often.

Turtle Krawl 5K

     After a long hiatus from running, my husband and I ran the Turtle Krawl 5K in Indialantic on September 15.  There were close to 2000 runners and the course was great.  What I was not prepared for was the heat, and oh, running for 5K!  Not training before running is not a good idea.  Halfway through the course, I could feel my thighs starting to tighten and feel heavy. Nevertheless, buoyed by the excitement and the similar look of exhaustion from my fellow runners, I pushed on and finished the course in 45:34 minutes.  As one of my friends said, it's not how fast or slow you run, but that you do!

These are my running essentials:

1. My running shoes with #465 D-tag.

2.  #465 - My runner number.

3.  My shirt. 

4. ipod - loaded with running music including my power song, Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger".

Miscellaneous perks from organizers or vendors

Canvas goody bag filled with advertising supplement for future runs, a granola bar, a shirt and a D-tag

Another bag from Absolutely Natural

Drinks from Starbucks and Nathan's

Carb reload courtesy of Publix and other vendors. Running almost becomes worth it with all of these freebies at the end of the run.

Was able to snag this most plump chocolate chip cupcake.  Everybody was eyeing it as I walked to the car!

The results - 45:54 at a pace of 14:47 per mile.

My running hubby, I mean buddy.