In Running News...

Since 2 weeks from today is the Chicago Marathon, I have a few running notes to post:

1. Melissa has, in fact, re-hydrated. She's doing well and hates the fact that I posted a picture of her in a hospital bed on the Internet for the world to see. (Yep, I am a "jerk-face", and yes, anything you do or say can be blogged against you!) But I can give her a plug, she is running the Marathon for the American Cancer Society. If you'd care to donate, click here for her donation page.
2. Way to go Mom! Yesterday, she participated in a 1 mile walk in honor of her service puppies. Way to put that mall walking to good use! I'm proud, mom--I think a 5k is somewhere in your future.
3. I also have to say, I'm proud of Amy. She finally made it OUT of the gym. For some reason she hated running outside. But she's broken away from the treadmill and found the great outdoors. She will be completing her first 1/2 Marathon the first weekend in December. You go girl! Keep up the good work!
4. Congrats to Dwayne! He ran his first 8k this morning. He called me after, his knees covered in IcyHot wondering just how many miles were in 8 kilometers. He said it felt like it was about five. :) So close--4.96. I told him that if he jogged to the car or to the fridge to get a beer during the Bears game, he'd be at 5. Great job, D--when are you going to run a Marathon? (No pressure.)
5. Finally, I'm so proud of all the Fabulous 12 Minute Mile Runner's!! You made it 17 weeks, chasing my ass up and down the Lakefront Path--that's some tough running! But seriously, It's quite a commitment you've made, and I'm very proud of all your hard work. It's been a pleasure to watch you grow as runners and it's been an honor to get to know each and every one of you. You've taught me a lot, and I thank you. I know a lot of you are running your first marathon; all I can say is, enjoy it!

That's about all for now, I have some football to watch--Go Bears!!

Who could ask for more...

I had a really crappy day at school. But I have to admit there were some positives:

• a hug when I needed it the most
• running at the gym to blow off some steam
• a new pair of fuzzy socks
• a chat with a good friend
• and sitting around in my underwear drinking Moose Drool and watching the Cubbie's win it in the 10th (thanks to Lee and Ramirez)

And really, what more could a girl want?

Movin' On Up!

Bears Season Ticket Wait List Up-Date:

Last Season's Number: 2571
This Season's Number: 1918

To quote Homer Simpson:
"Now we play the waiting game. ------
The waiting game sucks. Let's play Hungry, Hungry Hippos!"

Frickin' Hilarious

I gave a homework assignment to my fourth graders to bring in either a picture or a sketch of their favorite animal. One student was showing students his picture, saying rather loudly "It's a frickin' elephant!!"

I called him up to my desk to check his paper and he repeats "Miss B, look! It's a frickin' elephant!!" Now if you know my students, they're really not afraid to cuss in any situation, so it's highly abnormal for them to say "frickin'" instead of just dropping an f-bomb.

So, I look at his paper, and it takes every ounce within me not to laugh at this poor child. I look at him and say, "Um, sweetie. This says 'A FRICAN Elephant'."

It makes me wonder what they'd call an asian elephant.

R2R

After all that carbo-loading, we were up bright and early for the 20 miler! For those of you not familiar with the route, it starts at Foster, heads up to Hollywood and then down to the South Shore Cultural Center at 71st Street. It began with some warnings (yellow/moderate), but my runners were ready to go (or at least they pretended they were)!

I of course felt the need to practice actual marathon conditions. And as you all know, this means finding beer along the course! You can see that some tailgaters gave me one...
That's right, 11.5, with Soldier Field in the back ground, and wearing a pacer's shirt...I stopped with some tailgaters to have a beer. I'm sure someone in the CARA office is very proud.

Sometime after 10:30 the flags were changed to red/high risk level. I slowed my pace down about a minute per mile for the last 5 miles, but I still finished in about 4:07. I'm so proud of all the runners in my group! They all did so well--especially in this heat!

We did have one runner go down...Melissa finished and headed straight to the medical tent. She was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. We got her to the ER and 3 liters of fluid later she started to feel better. While I was pretty much useless in the medical capacity (Let's face it, I was trying not to puke every time she was stuck for an IV), I did try to entertain her by singing her songs and trying to find all the possible impressions I could do with the mylar blanket. (You'd be surprised how many you can do with that thing...Elvis, Chipotle Burrito, Batman and my personal favorite Jiffy Pop!)

Aside from the massive amounts of time in the ER and missing the Bears game it wasn't too bad of a day, it certainly was a memorable!

R2E Pasta Party

Clearly I was being a social butterfly, because this is the only photo I thought to snap all night...
At least the food was good! The Fab 12's are going for it at the R2E (Ready to Eat) Pasta Party, in preparation for the R2R 20 Miler tomorrow!

Good Luck Runners!

And save the date...Friday, October 10th...Marathon Party at Casa de Bethie--BE THERE!

Froggies of the Past

I bumped into a froggie I hadn't seen since High School. We did the usual small talk stuff, when he says to me:

"Ya know, I still can't believe I never asked you out."

Now, this would not have annoyed me so much if a) he didn't just say he was MARRIED and number 2) I didn't remember (very clearly) the fact that senior year he had said:

"I would have asked you out sooner, but I was afraid of what the guys on the football team would think."

I'll just let ya'll have the field day with those comments because I just don't even want to get started.

Fake Baking

I hate to sound like a grinch, but when I go to a wedding reception there are two important things that I look for: Open Bar and Wedding Cake. (Clearly, I'm a woman with priorities.) Sure, I dig the whole two people are in love gettin' together thing. The first dance is lovely. I oblige and laugh at the Best Man's embarrassing speech. I run from the bouquet like it's a hand grenade. But I get all in a tissy when I see couples smashing cake in each other's faces--really, it's unnecessary and waste of perfectly good butter cream frosting! But I digress...

Anywho, when I heard about this concept, but I didn't believe it until I Googled it (and if can be found in Google, it must be true!). There is a service where you can rent a wedding cake! Apparently, the cost of baked goods have "sky rocketed" and instead of paying for a nice cake, you rent one that looks amazing, but it's made from styrofoam. Then there's a special section that has a secret compartment for the cutting of the cake part of the reception. Finally, fake cake is wheeled away and a cheaper sheet cake is served to the guests.

Now, I love wedding cake (ya'll know I have a major sweet tooth!) but you don't have to fake me out. Have a little cake that you use for the reception. Do the cake part and save the rest for your first anniversary. No biggie. I'm certain you can find a cute little thing to show off. I have no problem eating a well made sheet cake (with kick-ass frosting of course!) Don't lie to me (it makes me feel so used!)

Not that I've researched it, but really, how much does a wedding cake really cost? These fake cakes things sound expensive to me! These things start at $150.00 and the cost goes up. Plus you add the cost of the sheet cakes to the mix for your guests. Several hundred dollars for fake cake? Plus a $200 security deposit (which cracks me up--that's like insuring cigars against fire) Are you kidding me?

I want to make it clear, there is no edible part of the cake. In fact, according to the website, there's a secret compartment in the back of the cake that holds "three pieces of Twinkie(R), fit perfectly." Call me a princess, but I really don't want to indulge in a Twinkies on my wedding day (because nothin' says "I love you" like Twinkie the Kid).

This just sounds too bizarre to me...really has anyone actually seen this in real life?

From the mouths of babes...

My 6th graders are studying pre-historic art. When asked to describe "Prehistoric Art" one girl wrote:

"Prehistoric art is old art. Such as cavemen art or 1997 art."

I was 18 in 1997--does that make me a cavewoman? :)

Grossness!

I'm not the sort to enjoy things involving blood and guts. I won't even watch horror movies. So it amazes me that I know so many people in the medical profession. It's even more mind boggling that these very same people want to tell me their gross work stories, even though they know that the mere thought of an IV makes me gag.

It's also funny that what I consider gross for my job compared to gross for someone elses job. For example:

Gross at my job: Kid sticks red crayon up his nose.
Gross at Barb's Job: Festering, puss filled boil on ass that spurts four feet.

Gross at my job: Kid picking his nose. Not only that, he was stringing the booger out and touching it to different places on his face.
Gross at Amy's job: Finding hanging victim swinging from a tree in their back yard.

Gross at my job: Kid eats paint, paste and assorted other supplies used in that day's project.
Gross at Ken's job: Woman attacked with acid causing her body to disintegrate and turn green.

Gross at my job: Cockroaches infesting a trumpet case and running all over the band room. (OK, so it happened to Sarah, but it was still at my place of employment!!)
Gross at Melissa's job: Various medications improperly given, killing off surrounding tissue and a as a result being able to see the the person's bones.

Yuck, yuck, yuck!!

Is this a hint?

First of all, I want to thank everyone for a wonderful birthday, I had a great time!

Second, I want to thank the 2 people who sent me the Philosophy Bubbly scented shower gel and the Philosophy You Are My Sunshine shower gel and lip gloss. It was a fun surprise in the mail. I have to thank you on my blog, because neither package had any note!! The Sunshine package only had a card that said "Happy Birthday, Beautiful!", and the other had none.

So, unless people are sending me a subtle hint saying "Dude!! Bethie, you really need a shower!" Thanks, whomever you are!

Love Child?

Most of you know, that while I am a complete dork and love History and all sorts of fun facts of that nature, I completely loathe discussing politics. However, today I will make one concession by posing one question:

In regards to Sarah Palin, do you think she looks more like Tina Fey or Meghan Mullally? Maybe she's the love child of the two...

Feel free to discuss.

Check Out Down There

I know some of you have seen this, but I really wanted to post so that others could share in my laughter. This site (while generally informative) is hilarious! Maybe it's the art teacher in me, but "Hot & Heavy" is my favorite. And the "Down There Song" is almost as good as the "Camel Toe" song.

As funny as it is, I really can't picture my students watching it and taking it seriously...but then again, maybe all you Health teachers out there will use it in class! :)

The Happiest Race on Earth!

Sunday morning was the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon! We were a touch late getting to the start (missed the flame throwing, up close and personal), but we were just in time for our wave to go. We were in Corral B Wave 1 (yes, I do feel the need to brag that I was in the second corral wave one!) and we were ready to run!

Since it's Disneyland, we of course had to stop during the race for pictures! Here's Barb and I (in matching Minnie Mouse outfits) near the castle.

In the park we found Tinkerbell and Peter Pan.
And Belle, but where was Beast?
Somewhere along the way on a random Anaheim street I found some hula dancers and took some time to learn to do a little dance...Watch me groove!
And these ladies totally cracked us up! I love their signs!
Me mounting the freeway entrance; and yet Barb looks so chill.

Clearly there's always time during a race to hug a giant blue monster--I love Sully! Unfortunately, there was no Mike Wazowski. :(
Mrs. Incredible with 2 incredible chickies. (I'm such a cheese ball!)
This may not be the "Bungee Rat" that was flirting with me from the parade the day before, but he still deserved some love!
Barb, truly is Goofy and needed her picture taken with her race namesake.
Here we are standing by the statue that matches our "Coast to Coast" Medals! (Of course we had to get the Sleeping Beauty's Castle in the background!) Ah, the Disneyland...The Happiest Race on Earth; definitely a good way to spend Labor Day weekend. :) (Even if my flight was cancelled and re-routed through a hurricane in New Orleans!)

The Happiest Place on Earth

First time to California and first time to DISNEYLAND!!

It's definitely much smaller than in Orlando, but they do have some different rides. I was the saddest girl in the whole land to find out that "It's a Small World" was closed down (it's the original from the World's Fair!) It's ok, I think riding the Matterhorn and Indiana Jones made up for it.

And of course taking pictures with our friend Pluto!

I was also very excited about the giant sunshine in the California Adventure Park. Taking time to smell the roses
Barb's ready for the 1/2 Marathon....The only problem was that my return flight was cancelled. The default flight left the following morning and took me through San Diego and NEW ORLEANS. (Yeah, because I want to head straight for a hurricane.) Fortunately, the lady behind the desk gave me a shuttle voucher to LAX (Thank God!) and re-routed me. When I got there, I saw that there was an earlier flight home. I ran (not kidding) through the airport trying to get to the gate. They were boarding, but there was plenty of room on board for me to switch (with my own row to stretch out!). Even with the flight issues, I can think of worse ways to spend my weekend!