It's been a long time coming...

But my good friend Betsy (of The Bets Week Ever fame) finally gave me a reason to post! She had the following list on her blog, with the instructions to bold everything you have done on the list. Thought it might be fun to see what I've accomplished! See below:

The rules: Bold the things you’ve done, and post on your blog!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Bought your own home

What a coincidence! 41 things, and I'm 41. Apparently I have done one thing a year. Okay, maybe there were a few years when I did more than one thing. Looks like after this marathon training is over, I need to take a tour of Europe to cross some of these other things off my list!

Anyone Can Do It!

When I was a kid, I hated running. I always felt like my lungs were going to explode, and usually felt like I was going to die. Needless to say, I was not very athletic. I tried to avoid running at all costs at all times.

I never was an exerciser, and didn't really think of it as important until it dawned on me at the ripe old age of 20 that I could possibly use it as a means of being able to eat more of what I wanted with less dieting involved. And so it began. My friend, Amy, seemingly had come to this same conclusion and so we began to run together. It was great to have a partner with which to share the pain, so that habit stuck for a while. Then she graduated and moved away. And I got married.

Throughout my adult life, exercise was an endeavor I pursued in fits and spurts. I would get it in my head to "get healthy" and "be skinny", so I would start on the exercise track again. Being married to someone with similar exercise habits didn't help. He would quit, so I would quit, or vice versa. It wasn't until I really started doing weight training about 10 years ago that I really saw physical changes that made me want to continue my exercise regime.

The last five years I have been pretty consistent with my training. Even though I went through my divorce a couple of years ago, I kept my exercise habits up. Last year, for the first time, I completed the longest running challenges of my life. A friend and I ran a 10K, then I tackled a half-marathon.

And now for the motherlode. Training for the Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon in June is going to be the most difficult undertaking I have ever experienced. However, doing it through Team in Training makes it one of the most exciting opportunities I think I have ever had. The fundraising efforts will be exhausting, but since I have an intense fear of rejection, this should help me in overcoming that fear. I am already enjoying my long run days, and know that the physical part might prove to be easier than the actual fundraising part. However, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society provides assistance to families and individuals struggling with blood cancers. One never knows what might befall his or her family or friends, and finding a cure for these diseases is necessary and worthwhile.

It is kind of funny to me that people who haven't known me very long think I have always been into running and fitness. My family and friends who have known me forever know this isn't the case. I guess that's what makes it important to me to succeed. It's the knowing that anyone, no matter how much they hate to exercise, can makeincorporate it into their daily life. It can become something that you actually enjoy and look forward to. Anyone can set fitness goals, no matter how small, and accomplish them slowly and steadily. Before you know it, you'll be on the track to bigger and better goals for yourself, in fitness and in life.

**If you would like to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, visit my donation site on the web at: http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/rnrseatl09/mpetersaay . You can donate easily online.

Are You a Guitar Hero?

I used to think video games were for kids. Of course, when I was a kid one of the most popular video games consisted of two white lines that could be maneuvered up and down (not sideways) to bounce a small white ball across the black screen of your television. Wow. Atari. What technology.

Soon, advancements were made and all of a sudden there were small outlines of white "aliens" that marched across a screen and could be shot down from below. Many was the wasted quarter spent playing that game for hours upon hours, because at that time there was no such thing as a Home Gaming System. Other favorites put poor chickens at risk who bravely tried time after time (sometimes unsuccessfully) to cross the road, and crazy caterpillars who could clone themselves and wind their way through a maze from the top of a screen to the bottom. Kids today don't know how good they have it.

This brings me to my main point. I am 41 years old and a complete Guitar Hero/Rock Band fan. During my formative years in my small town, my best friend and I were just sure that someone would come discover our hidden musical talents and whisk us away to Los Angeles, where we would rub elbows with the likes of David Lee Roth and Tom Petty. This, my friends, is the mentality that causes middle-aged adults like me to spend our hard-earned money on these games . They help us, in a way, realize our rock star fantasy. Here we are, fully established, stable citizens, and we spend (a portion of) our free time jamming out on a little plastic device, under the delusion that we are actually making real music. Our living rooms have become a stage--we sing, we dance, we play guitar, and most of all, we have a blast. When I was young, 40 seemed unimaginably old, but luckily the birth of such technology has granted us the opportunity to shave off a few years, seeming so much younger than our parents did at our age.

As teachers, it allows us yet another opportunity to relate to our students. I even know of music programs in certain schools that use said video games to enhance student understanding of rhythm. How much more fun is that than singing 60's folksongs from a spiral songbook while the music teacher pounds out accompaniment on the piano?

Perhaps, though, it is the invention of these games that causes kids to become bored with school so quickly. How can the classroom teacher compete? We have only our wit and sparkling personalities to keep our students awake and alert the majority of the school day. What gets us through, however, is knowing that eventually there will be a snow day or vacation day and we can spend it as Judy Nails, Pandora, or Steven Tyler.