2012 Climb For Clean Air

Last year, on my climb recap, I vowed to be part of 2012 Climb for Clean Air event again and give Mt. Rainier another try.   I love the mountain so much and I am a big supporter with American Lung Association effort and this event is the best of the both world for me.   I get to climb the mountain that I adore so much and be part of an amazing event for a good cause.

This year is also mark as 25 years anniversary of this event, which made it even special and my mind was set to be part of this amazing event again.

Then life happened.

My family are my biggest supporter.   Without the support from my husband, I would have serious hard time to accomplished things the way I did.   Last year, we trained together and weekend after weekend, we drove 2 hours to the mountain so we can hiked for 8 hours and head home (well, he drove, I napped).   It was wonderful and awesome.

There are certain health challenges that we are facing recently and my husband is heading in to some surgery with about a month recovery time, and there were absolutely no way we can squeeze in an appropriate training with that short period of time and the last thing you want is to go up there without proper training.   So we decided this year, something gotta’ give.   We are not going to be part of the event for this year and will be looking forward for the opportunity to be part of it next year.  The mountain is not going anywhere and it always welcome and challenge us to give it another try.

For those who want to know more about this event, feel free to contact me.   If you want to give mountaineering a try and want to take on challenge to summit the mountain, this is an awesome event to be part of.   Their reach to the summit program give you flexibility to choose between four mountain; Mt. Rainier (14,410ft), Mt. Hood (11,239ft), Mt. Adams (12,276ft) and Grand Teton (13,770ft).   I proudly stood on the summit of three of those mountains (Rainier, Hood and Adams) and I can tell you this, it was absolutely amazing experience.   They will have professional guide service and you are not required to have certain pre-requisite mountaineering skills (you kinda have to be somewhat fit tho).

This picture was taken around 9,000ft and is my favorite picture of me in the mountain.   It was a phenomenal day and a great reminder of why I love this mountain so much (I did look happy, yes?).    We might still take occasional hike up to the Camp Muir during the summer or to the surrounding lower peaks.   Would love to have other people in this awesome SQL Family to join us one of these days.

2013 Climb for Clean Air — watch out for us!

Until next year.

TinkerBell Half-Marathon: Race Recap

I had an incredible weekend.

No, I didn’t break my half-marathon PR and I wasn’t the first (or probably last again) on my age group, but I finished another half-marathon yesterday.  Remember when I post here about my next crazy adventure?   Well, by completing that race I finished the challenge!  I did Disney Coast-To-Coast challenge and January is not even over!

Inspiration Dinner – Team in Training

Thank you VERY, VERY much for everyone who donated and support my cause.   There were total 369 runners from Team in Training for this race and collectively, we raised ONE MILLIONS DOLLAR!   ZOMG.  That’s a lot of dolla.   I was very impressed and touched.   This money can do so much for further research and patient support and I can testify and attest to that from the personal experience!  I have a stack of thank you card that I need to send out for all my generous donor who supported and helped me during my 2011 fundraising season for THREE different event.   Everybody was so generous and they were continuously support me on various event!   Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

The pasta dinner was great.   It was a wee bit crowded and there’s a bit of mishap about seating arrangement, but it got fix right away.  Food were good and I had wonderful company.    They put all the ‘In Honor’ and ‘In Memoriam’ pictures on the slide and it feels really weird to see my own picture up there!

We wrapped up the dinner by 8pm and I went back to the room and get my things ready for the race.

Race Day

My husband woke me up at 3am (YES, THREE AM) to get ready.  I was not a happy camper.   After I whined about 10 minutes, I finally got up and got myself ready.   I ate my usual pre-race breakfast, english muffin + peanut butter + honey + banana and head downstairs to meet the rest of Team in Training runner.    We hung out for a bit, took pictures and started to walk to our corral at 4:30am.

Unlike WDW Marathon, my husband able to walk me all the way to my corral and stood there with me while I was waiting for our corral turn to start.    It was a good 40 degrees morning, calm and a bit chilly.   I felt surprising calm and not anxious.

First wave of runner and the wheelchair went out promptly at 5:45am and my corral started at 6:05am.    There were so many people with running skirt and wings!  It was very, very cool!

The first couple miles, I can’t barely pass anybody as there were so many people and I took my time and tried to make my way to the side so I can get a good pace going.   We made our way towards Disneyland park from the employee entrance where you can see the train, parade car, and other behind the scenes stuff.   It was a lot of fun!    That path took us to the side of Main Street USA inside Disneyland Park and we ran towards the Sleeping Beauty castle.   It was absolutely stunning.  The sun just rise and it made the castle sparkle!   I didn’t take a lot of pictures this time around as there were a long lines on each of Disney Character for runner who wanted to take pictures.   Pretty much all the princesses and their prince were out, I saw Jack Sparow, Mickey and friends, Toy Story character.   It was so much fun!    I had to made a potty break inside the park and unfortunately, every bathroom had a very, very long lines.   I stood there and went anyway but that took about 5 minutes out of my time.

From Disneyland park, we ran towards the center of city of Anaheim.   There were so many volunteer and entertainment around!  I saw my husband, who wore a tutu (yes, in spirit of TinkerBell) and carry a cow-bell and a sign.   It was sooo good to see him!   Then I saw Karen Lopez (t) and Rob Farley (t) at mile 5 who also had a sign with my name on it.

Karen and Rob F. took an extra day from their busy days to stay at Anaheim so they can cheer me.    These two awesome people were on their way home to Toronto, CA and Adelaide, AU from spending a week in Seattle for training/meeting but they bought extra ticket to LAX and spend extra day for me.    They are my #SQLFamily.   I met both of them via SQL Community and I mentioned this on previous post about how awesome this community is.   I’m very blessed and honor to be able to call them a friend.

We ran through the city and I saw Karen and Rob. F again between Mile 8 and 9.   I had a cheek-to-cheek smile and I felt great!    Shortly before we entered California Adventure Park, I felt a sharp pain on my ankle.   I had one of those uh-oh moment again as the pain was significant.  For those who don’t know, I sprained my ankle 10 days before my full marathon, then ran the full, then I spent two weeks walked around the park at Disneyworld.  So this ankle took a lot of beating lately!

I stopped running, stretched and massage the tendon a bit.   I knew I had about 5k to go and I wasn’t going to quit it.   I stopped at the medical tent, took some Tylenol and slowly jog my way towards California Adventure Park.    I enjoyed my time running through the park and tried to forgot the pain in my ankle.   The cheer-tweets from my #SQLFamily were constant throughout the whole 13.1 miles.   I felt SO much love!!

We ran through the park and out and I knew that the finish line was around the corner.  I barely could hear my music as the tweets came constantly over my iPhone.   I started to run faster and I saw my husband WITH HIS TUTU on top of the bleacher.   I waved to him with a big smile.   I saw Karen and Rob F. again by the finish line and I lifted my hand up, had the most cheesy smile and cross the finish line.

I did it.   I finished.

I got my space blanket, my medal, and went to Coast-To-Coast tent and got ANOTHER MEDAL for completing the challenge.   We then proceed to post-race refreshment where I drank entire powerade in one shot, ate banana and took my official post race picture.

I saw my husband from the distance and leap into his arm.   I did it!!   He gave me a very proud look!!

A few minutes later, I saw Karen and Rob. F.  We hugged and Rob F. told me that they had a surprise for me.   He pulled out his phone and play this video here.  Go ahead and click that link or paste this to your browser:  http://youtu.be/iUuEcdQWjZc

I was about to die of excitement.   That’s JEFF GALLOWAY!  He is the running guru, the Olympian, the mastermind behind the run/walk method, the official Disney Coach and he was TALKING TO ME!

You think that would be the highlight of my day, right?  I finished, got my medal, got another medal, and saw the awesome video.   Well, I thought so too, until I walked into the Platinum VIP area where my husband, Karen and Rob F. was when they cheered me on and I saw Jeff Galloway there.   I shook his hand, gave him a hugged and we chatted for a while.   I mumbled almost the entire time because I was just a way too excited!!

I had incredible weekend.

Not only because I finished the race, met with my running guru but because I was surrounded with family.   I had an incredible and awesome support from my husband and my SQL Family,  in person (Thank you so much Karen and Rob F.) as well as virtually (Thank you Erin Stellato, Jes Borland, Rob Drysdale, Sarah Strate, Tamera Clark, Tom LaRock, Richie Rump, Andy Leonard, Grant Fritchey, Robert Davis, Tom Roush, Steve Jones, Jeremiah Peschka, Merrill Aldrich, Dave Levy, Shahryar Hashemi, Allen Kinsey, Diane McNurlan, Tracy McKibben.  I’m sure I probably forgot someone here, my apologies)

I am very blessed.   This professional community that I belong to become a second family to me.  They are there not only when I wasn’t sure what causing the ruckus on my server, but when I need a support for my challenges and adventure.

From the bottom of my heart.   Thank you.

Until the next adventure

My Name is Yanni. I’m a Marathoner

Wow.  I’m still in an awe.

I’m a marathoner.   I ran 26.2 miles.   Well, I hobbled around the course with a sprained ankle.  I ran, I walked.   I ran and walked.  For a long time.  Very long time.   But I finished.   I was upright, smiling cheek-to-cheek, and wasn’t the last one!   It was awesome.   It was victorious.   It was absolutely fantastic.   I am a marathoner.

Race Recap

The hotel wake-up call service woke me up at 2:30am.   It took me another 30 minutes before I actually moved from the bed and started to get ready.   I decided to wear my capri as supposed of my short, compression sleeves and a tank.   It was a cool morning, about 40 degrees out.   I had my throw-away jacket with me as well.   About 4:00am – I was sitting on the bus and head out to Epcot.

Traffic were pretty heavy and it took us almost 30 minutes to get to Epcot from our resort.   I was surprisingly calm.   We walked for another 10 minutes from the bus stop to our race retreat tent and I checked my bag, used a porta-potty and started to walked to my corral.     We walked for another 20 minutes to our corral.   There were so many people around me!   It was a full moon and it felt somewhat magical

The event started on time.   Wheelchair racers were out exactly at 5:30am and before long, my corral started to move to the starting line.   Exactly at 6:05am, they let our corral go.

I ditched my jacket before even hit mile-1.   I was pretty warm.   The first 3 miles went by pretty fast.    We went towards the Epcot, around and went towards the future world-case and head out from the side, made a loop towards our corral.   I felt great.   Then I saw John at Mile 4.5!!  I was soooo excited!!   I blew him kisses and kept on running.

I stopped for at porta-potty at Mile 5, did my thing and kept going.   We were running on the road that connect Epcot and Magic Kingdom, and I had to tell you – they put some interesting stuff for us out there.   There’s always sign about Disney-fact on the side of the road for you to read as you run (Do you know it takes 7 marathon length to go around all four Disney parks?) and there were Disney characters!   I had my camera with me and able to snap pictures with a few of them.

We came to Magic Kingdom from their staff entrance and put us directly on Main Street.   When I made that turn to Main Street and saw the Cinderella Castle, I had to admit, that was very, very cool.   I saw that castle the day before so it’s not like that’s the first time I saw it, but I had the same reaction with my daughter the day before.   It was one of those  “awwwww, it’s the castle”  reaction.

We went around the castle and under it, and out we were to the next park.   I was feeling great.   I paced myself well, about 2 minutes slower than my normal race pace due to my sprained ankle, tried to be cautious on how my gait and made sure that I did heel-toe inward on my stride.

Mile 12 came around, I suddenly felt a pull on my ankle.    I had those ‘uh-oh’ moment for a second.   I stopped.   I stretched it a bit and massage the tendon towards my knee.   My physical therapist warned me about this, so did my trainer.   I stopped for almost 10 minutes and decided to kept on running, even with slower pace.

I hit the half-marathon mark and the sun was baking me! It was pretty warm! The stretch between Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom had a couple overpass, which mean, a hill. I was doing okay though, even though I can feel my ankle somewhat throbbing. No, shooting pain though so I kept going.

There so many tweets that came in between the 13-18 miles. I think it some point, between 15-16, that’s all I hear. It was awesome. I was laughing. I was smiling. I was giggling!

Then I hit mile 22. Something changed. My ankle hurt more and more and I started to doubt myself. I never run more than 22 miles before. Ever.  It was really a mind game.   I had even more cheer-tweets.   They were encouraging tweets.   I stopped for a minute, tried to massage the tendon around the ankle again and kept running.    I had so many people believe in me and I need to switch my mind set.     I grabbed a couple Tylenol from the medical tent, and started to run again.

The last 4 miles felt very, very long.   In fact, my runmeter app was 2 miles off as it already announced that I hit 26 miles when I ran past 24 miles sign!   Talk about discouraging tweet!   I started to get mad.   I want it to be done.

We entered Hollywood Studio, and I ran past the entire Disney character there without taking any photo.   I could careless about it anymore.  I just want to be done!    We ran through the boardwalk and headed towards Epcot and when I saw the Epcot famous ball from across the lake, I felt relieved.   All I had to do just ran around the lake and head out, then the finish line would be there.

Um.  Yeah.   Turn out, when you just ran 24 miles, those lake at Epcot is HUGE.    I kept hearing a tweets and I had to say, that’s what kept me going.    My ankle hurt every time my left foot hit the ground and my gait were completely off.

Mile 25.

People were cheering.  There were so many volunteer, Disney staff and just some random people that happened to be in the park cheering us.   I can see the Epcot famous ball closer and closer.   I took a deep breath and started to increase my pace.

Mile 26.

Who would’ve though .2 miles could feel like 2 miles?   OMG.   My phone constantly read the tweets.   Everybody excited.  Heck, I was excited AND impatience.   Who moved the darn finish line???

Then I turn in the corner, and I saw the finish line.

THE FINISH LINE

I almost sprint to it, but I remember that my husband and my girls were waiting for me at the left side of the finish line, so I started to look for them.   Before long, I spotted them.   I saw him waved and grin.  I saw my girls with their ‘I love you mama‘ sign, I saw my brother-in-law.   My eyes started to tear up and I had the cheesiest cheek-to-cheek grin.   I lifted both of my hand and cross that finish line.

When the volunteer put that medal around my neck, I started to cry.   There was another runner who cross the finish line shortly after me broke down as well, and we ended up hug each other and cry on each other’s shoulder.   I didn’t really catch her name other than she wore Team In Training jersey.    I grabbed the gatorade, banana and some bagel and head out to the photo line, did my finisher photo and walked back to race retreat tent to meet the rest of my family.

I stretched, and ate some snack and I was impatiently waiting for my family.   Then from across the tent, I saw my husband.   I ran towards him (yes, I ran again after 26.2) and leaped to his arm and started to cry.   All I said was “I did it.  I did it“

I finished the marathon.

I had the same medal around my neck with the elite runner who finish first.   That’s the awesome thing about this competition.   Every finisher have the same medal.    We compete against ourselves, and on that race, I won.

I have a long list of thank you for those who supported me during this journey, first and foremost, I want to thank my husband, John.   I know this is a public blog and yes, I have said these words in person, but I want to make an effort to say this again here.

Thank you, John — for everything you do.   From waking up at the wee hours over the weekend, made sure I had my pre-run breakfast and ride your bike alongside me during every single one of my long run for hours to end to everything you did on the race day.   YOU are my hero and my inspiration.    I love you more than I can say with words.

To the rest of you — my family, my best friends, my SQL Family.   There were too many names to mentioned, but you know who you are.   Thank you for your constant support.   For those encouraging words, for the giggles, and most importantly, for believe in me that I can actually do this.

You guys are an awesome bunch.