Your Attention Please!

•So that wonderful handsome hunk that is my husband does more than just keep my house clean and my belly fed. He works, is completing his Master’s degree in theology, he slays deer to fill our freezer and he runs. When I say run I mean he is one of those crazy, insane, not right in the head runners who go into cyborg mode and run marathons. Two weeks ago he ran the Chicago Marathon. It’s 26.2 miles, let me repeat… TWENTY SIX POINT TWO MILES through downtown Chicago. Now he has a purpose to all this insanity. He does it as a member of the Organization for Autism Research (OAR for short). He runs because he is a parent dealing with autism every day. He wants to raise Autism awareness and support Autism education. Now, not only does this score him major points with this wife, (Come on ladies, you gotta admit a strong man being a great father is sexy!) he inspires me to find ways to be pro-active about Autism awareness myself. While we still are in the trenches of parenting and learning new ways to help Noah succeed, we are fortunate to be a point where we can step back and lend a hand in the global campaign of awareness and research.
Now everyone who knows me knows I am crazy. But with all this in mind I am ready to say that my crazy is being kicked up and level and I am going to participate in the Cincinnati Flying Pig half marathon in May!!! Yes, little ol me is going to look 13.1 miles, THIRTEEN POINT ONE MILES in the face and conquer it. Now note, I did not say that I was going to run…..
Tina does not run, well I do if one of my kids is injured, and I would if there was a clown moving towards me. But other than that, no. I watch these runners and they make it look effortless. I run from one room of my house to another to answer my phone and I’m winded. My hope is that I will walk the 13.1. I can walk pretty fast and I’ve been able to walk a 13 minute mile. So completing the course in the allowed time will not be a problem. Now comes the question…. Do I put a little bit of jogging in my training? I have two issues to contend with. First, lung capacity and asthma sucks. I was in a car accident shortly after my high school graduation and it resulted in the removal of my left lung, and I’ve had bouts with asthma since I was a kid. So…. Can I hack some running in my regime? I’m going to be doing some research to see how to incorporate all of this is my training. Second issue is all about the joints. (No not that kind….) I have pronate feet so up to this point my running has impacted my knees and further my hips. I know that they are all connected and when one joint is out of alignment, it affects others. No more off the shelf at DSW shoes for me. I’ll be consulting the experts at Runners World to be sure that my wonky feet are properly aligned so that I’m not putting pressure on my jacked up knee and then making my hips feel like they are begging for mercy. Oh yes the knee…. I never got that meniscus tear taken care off. So I want to be sure that my motion is smooth.

So there you have it! I’m out of the trenches for a moment to say I’m on a campaign mission to do some joint task force work with the Organization for Autism Research. I shall do my best to post how training is going, how Noah is progressing and how you can help. Because you know you want to!!