My friend Amy brought by some Minestrone Soup and yummy bread for lunch. Totally cheered me up!
Then my mom sent this YouTube video. Oh my gosh, I have watched it like 5 times. So funny! Thanks Friends!

So the screen on my cell phone went KAPUT yesterday. Which, of course makes it really hard to call anybody b/c I can’t scan down the list of contacts. Fun times. I also can’t store my numbers to my sim card last minute to update it before changing phones. Hummm…so if you don’t hear from me in awhile, call me. I’m not ignoring you, I just lost your phone number. It was a ripe time for it to go dead, what with me leaving for Austin for the Capital of Texas triathlon tomorrow.

MOM CAME THROUGH! My mom works at Palm, and she asked around, and her friend Sue had a spare Palm Treo 680, new in the box, in a flashy RED color! Mom paid a bundle to overnight it to me and it arrived at about 11:30am today! Then my awesome techie friend Jordan helped me for like two hours and now my new Treo syncs with my Mac computer. They share my address book, and my calendar! Since I don’t want to spend the money I’m not going to set it up to share email, that’s just a bit too much for me. It’s little disasters like this that remind me how much of a support system I have. I have tons of people that love me and don’t think twice to jump up and help me.

So, I mentioned that I leave tomorrow for Austin. I am so super duper excited to go race. I have been to Austin once many years ago for work and I had a lot of fun so I’m excited to go back! We are staying close to downtown and close to the race site. I’ve heard this is a pretty top notch race! It’s a 4 loop bike course and a 2 loop run course, so lots of repetition, but also maybe lots of cheering?? The swim is in the river that runs through Austin…yes, you heard me right…a river. How cool is that? First the ocean in FL, and now a river in TX. Sounds like the title to a good book.

So yes, ladies and gents, my head is in the right place going into this race. I am calm, I am happy. I’m not stressed, I’m chill. Just ready to go do my THANG, to swim, bike, and run the fizzle out of my sha-nizzle. Word.

Kristin Reed with the two loves of her life (after Rob of course)

I don’t ask for help like this often. Although this is not what my blog is about, I feel very deeply about this.
I need your help, but I’ll get to that…

I have this great friend, Kristin Reed that I worked with back when I actually made money. She is just the most awesome person and was an avid runner when I was pregnant. I remember hoping that I could start running again after Annie was born so that I could go out for a run with her. She inspired me with her fitness, her zest for life, and her love of dogs. We used to swap dogs for vacations all the time and Arwen always came back happier!

Several years ago Kristin had a turning point in her life where she found out who she really is, and in the process found yoga. It’s amazing to see the transformation from an awesome motivated woman to a peaceful, thoughtful, even more awesome, more grounded, gentle person. Amazing.

This year Kristin has taken on an amazing feat and I’m hoping that we can help her out a little bit (or a lot). This year my friend Kristin, through an organization called Off the Mat, Into the World is raising $20,000 for the Cambodian Children’s Fund. This organization was founded to help some of the most impoverished children in the world. If she is successful in her fundraising, she will actually go to Cambodia in 2009 to help rescue some of these children from trash dumps where they work scavenging for items to sell to support their families. Many of them die due to disease or are sold into prostitution. The CCF rescues these children, meets their basic health needs, and provides them education as a means to break free of the horrific cycle of poverty they are in.

Kristin is looking for 4,000 people to give $5 to help these children. Ladies and Gentlemen, she just would like $5! Please consider taking a few minutes to donate $5 (more is welcome and all gifts are tax deductible) and then sending this post to as many people as you can. She is hoping to show that a small effort by a lot of people can make a collective difference. To donate and find out more about both Off the Mat, Into the World and CCF, see the links on her blog below and check in frequently as she will be updating her progress often.

I sent my $5 off today and plan to send another 5 and then another 5 and then another. If you have a monthly charity budget please consider dropping some money into an envelope and sending it off to her. I would appreciate it, she would appreciate, and a ton of children in Cambodia would greatly appreciate it.

Learn from Kristin, living a full life is about finding your passion and making a difference in this world. She is one example, maybe you can be the next.

Many Humble Thanks!

Click here for Kristin’s Blog

Make all checks to “The Engage Network”.

Or just pop $5 or $10 in the mail to:
Kristin Reed
657 Golden Eagle Circle
Golden, CO 80401

If you are reading this you have found my new blog location! Congratulations! If you run a blog and would like to be on my blogroll, email me, or leave a comment saying you would like to be added. Also, comments should work for everyone now. If you can’t comment, PLEASE let me know so I can solve the problem!

I’m so excited about this new location, and new domain name. Don’t forget to bookmark www.gosonja.com. You can look forward to lots of exciting blog entries about racing, training, mommy-dom, crazy outdoor adventures, gear reviews, and silly stuff!

Enjoy!

The fall is such an interesting time for me. It’s always the time between a jam-packed summer and the anticipation of ski and snowshoe season. Making the transition in weather and daylight is always difficult for me and seems to force me into a reclusive mood. Let’s just say I end up baking a lot of cookies and forgetting to bring my coat when I leave the house.

It’s been a time of reflections, ahh-hah moments, and building excitement for what is to come. This last year has been a momentous build of many small successes. I have settled into my place as a mother, a wife, an athlete, and a skinny girl. Whew…tiring, but oh so much fun.

I have made some plans for the future in my time away from blogland, but they aren’t quite hammered down, so you will have to wait for the great reveal.

My season this year culminated with the Denver Marathon…my first time taking the 26.2 mile challenge.

On 11/6/2006 I ran my first 5K in a long time in 26:50…that’s 8:39min/mi pace.
On 10/14/2007 I ran my first marathon in 3:32:55…that’s 8:07 min/mi. pace.

I am now wondering who is ready to take on the challenge to make a drastic change this year? The better question is…how can I help you make a change…or even a series of small baby changes? This is a great time for change, no need to wait for the new year.

Who.are.you.ready.to.be?

Again, how can I help? Transition Clinics? Snowshoe Clinics? Running Clinics? Join you at the gym? Nutrition support? Recipe advice? Accountability? What can I help with?

I know of a certain someone who is ready …we stayed up late talking about it. Who else? How can I help?

Posts that are coming soon:
Denver Marathon race report - I wrote this yesterday and as I finished the power in the house went out and I lost my post…maybe it was a sign?
Very Exciting News - a press release will be involved, and let me just preface it by saying WOWzer!
Annie’s 2nd Birthday - including some of the funny stuff she is doing lately.

I thought poison oak didn’t grow in Colorado..yea, not so true
Poison IVY

In green are the confirmed counties in Colorado that have Poison Oak and/or Ivy

My Poisoned shoulder

Yea, so…I’ve got some itchy bumps. Not those kind of bumps, get your head out of the gutter, no, the poison oak kind of itchy bumps.

I swore, and swore, and told others, and swore to others that poison oak doesn’t grow in Colorado. I knew that Poison Ivy grows in Colorado, but I’ve only seen it once and it was South of Durango (if you can call “South of Durango” Colorado) in Mesa Verde National Park.

Well, I am still sticking by the fact that I have never seen Poison Oak in Colorado, but I am now 99% sure that Poison Ivy is more prolific than I first thought. I have this large patch on my shoulder and several patches on my legs too.

I must have been somewhere WILD, and CRAZY, and WAY IN THE OUTBACK. Yea…no…I was at Chattfield State Park, doing the normal trail loop that I run all the time out there. BUT, it’s really narrow, and right next to the Platte River, and if I were poison Oak or Ivy, I would totally grow along that trail.

Why my shoulder you ask…well humm, how do I put it? Yea, uhhh, I fell down. On Saturday my workout was 2 laps at the gravel pond (3800 M) and then 2 laps on the trail that leaves from the pond (9 miles). About 2.5 miles into my first lap on the trail I tripped on a hidden stump and ate it HARD. I fell into the bushes, knocked my cheek against a log, scraped up both knees and my stomach, and I think that my left shoulder landed in a patch of Poison Ivy (I refuse to think it’s Oak). Sooo…several days later…itchy bumps.

This puts such a buzz-kill on my FAVORITE running trail.

So I did a little internet research and the above map of Colorado shows all the counties that Poison Oak or Ivy have been confirmed (the green counties). Now, I’m not really good a figuring out which county is which, but I can tell that around Denver…there is some Poison ISSUES!

Man…I am so upset!

Okay I got tagged by A Mama’s Blog to tell 8 things about myself that most people don’t know. So here goes:

1) My biological grandfathers first cousin is Fidel Castro. We have pictures of my mom sitting on his lap at Easter dinner.

2) I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints until about age 10.

3) I am really good at clogging and competed on a championship team until age 23.

4) I learned how to swim in college.

5) I still sleep with a “moon pillow”.

6) My 6th grade teacher said that the word that most defines me is “ebullient”, and it’s still true.

7) I have a fruit obsession. I once sat down and ate about 20 kiwis all in a sitting. My mouth was all tingley for days. Just last week I ate an entire watermelon in a day.

I am a mathamatician and a horible spellar.

What is it to be inspiring.? To make people want to follow your actions. Is it what you do? How you do it? When you do it? Is it a certain sence of self worth that you carry in your heart and your step? Is it your compassion for those around you? Is it your inclusive nature? Is it your own mistakes and inadequacies that boost others to great deeds?

To me, to inspire is to live with your whole being. To feel others love, and pain, to want for others what you yourself have experienced. To feel utterly humbled by your sucess, and to want others to feel that sence of peace. To know that you are living the best life that you know how, and to remind yourself of that every day, every hour.

This is a quote I have heard before, but I was reminded of by Heather at A Mama’s Blog:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

Who are we not to be inspiring? Live fully with the power of your own experiences. Know that what you are doing today is inspiration, and who you are today is brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous. Take hold of the power of this and smile.

Life and my internal thoughts have gotten a little out of control lately. It’s time to take a step back and reassess what the heck I am doing. Days ago I was so obsessed with this year being the best year ever with races up the wazoo. Why? Where was I going with this? I convinced myself I needed a plan, or a coach, and I fibbed to myself saying it was becasue I would get injured if I didn’t have one. I’ve been injured once, when I was 13 (IT band). Honestly I have a pretty teflon body, it can withstand a ton. I’ve summited mountains in Peru, and I am 1/2 my dad’s genes…believe me, I’m a tough girl (note: physically, not emotionally ).
Well, I loooked into a coach, went a few steps too far in that direction and now I need to step back a bit.
So, how did I get here? Here’s the story: Well, I started loosing weight, and then I signed up for a race so that I would be motivated to continue my healthy exercise habits. It was fun, I enjoyed the race and I felt good afterwards. My memories of high school racing are associated with anxiety, dread, terror, pain. I didn’t feel any of those feelings, so I signed up for another. Again, a very positave experience, and that started the avalanche. I trained and did what I liked on a daily basis. I found a new love…to ride my bike. I loved to hook up Annie and go explore trails, and to run errands. I felt studly, and healthy. I started racing more, doing snowshoe races and duathlons. Training where I wanted too, spinning when I wanted, resting when I wanted, and knowing that I was maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Then I did well on some races and it went to my head. I started to think “I could be good at this” and “I SHOULD be good at this”. This is way off base.
My original motivation was to obtain a healthy body, to make consistent exercise and healthy eating part of my permanent life. And, here I have gone and doven off the deep end before I knew what I was doing.
It’s time to go back to my roots. Train when I want, for the events I want, at the speed I want. Maintain a blisteringly positave attitude about exercise and healthy eating. Remember that my husband, and my baby girl are my motivation, and who I ultimately report to in this world.
I am where I wanted to be 5 months ago. I got there for the right reasons, and I’m going to stay there for the right reasons as well. 5 months ago I was hoping for a change, a physical change. I got that and so much more. I got an attitude change, I got a new body, I got some new hobbies, ones that I can share with my family. I have reached my goals and I haven’t even stopped to absorb the gravity of all this. I have done miraculous things, and I wanted to just blow past that and onto the next thing.
No, I will not cheet myself of this luxury. If I have hopes of making this change stick, I need to come to terms with my accomplishments. It’s time to slow down and enjoy things.
Many, many, many people try every year to make the changes that I have made in 5 months, most don’t make it. Most don’t have the drive. Drive is not my issue, it’s balance. Balance with family, life, creativity, eating. I will never be complete with my quest for balance and moderation, I must continue to train daily.
And it finally occured to me: what if I get injured? Big flippin deal, then I take a month or two off, while staying healthy: biking, swimming, or whatever, and when I am better, I jump back on the bandwagon.
Please excuse the “self-help-ness” of this post, it’s more so that I can get some stuff off my chest so that I can go to sleep. I have been laying in bed for hours tossing random thoughts around in my head.

I just love this photo of Annie:

Annie on the pot this morning, reading her glitter turtle book:

Sitting in the dog bowl, looking like Where’s Waldo:

New and improved skinny son (people have been asking for pictures):