the Verdict

Ughhh.. I'm so tired of blogger not allowing my photos. I'll try again tom with the sitting up pic.


Yes I'm just cutting and pasting this from facebook but my eyes are killing me....

Since many of you have been praying, I thought I would just post the update here. It turns out, I'm abnormal, but I'm sure many of you knew that anyway. :) It's nothing too serious but will be something that I will probably struggle with for some time.

I panicked big time when they first checked my eyes as I could not see a thing with my right eye but the left was not that bad. The lady looked at me like I was crazy and pretending that I couldn't see. Then the Dr did some tests, all were okay but yet I still couldn't see so he dilated my eyes and told Mike that something wasn't right.. Thankfully I didn't hear that.

But alas... due to the viral infection my body built up too many antibodies (I should have mike check this first as it made more sense to him but oh well) and left spots on my eyes causing the blurred vision. He put me on steroid drops and said that it will take about 10 days to see clearly again but that my body would need to learn that the virus is no longer there and that could take a long time. So I will wean myself off the drops but my body may react and vision be blurred again until my body adjusts. Meaning that i may be on and off these drops. He also said there was quite a bit of erosion on my eye due to wearing contacts but that it wasn't anything that drops and no contacts couldn't fix.

But the biggest thing he stressed and the biggest discouragement to me is that I can no longer wear contacts. I figured this might be the case so I will have a positive attitude but my glasses have always made me motion sick so I'm praying the optometrist will help me get the right type of glasses to prevent that. And well... I've got a great pair of oakley sunglsses for sale ! haha

So I go back next Tues to get checked again and see about new glasses.

I just praise God that it's nothing too serious and I praise God for our family Dr who has taken such wonderful care of our family and made this appt possible in more than one way.

Thank you so much for your prayers!



On a much lighter note.... I got the results and pictures from Sunday's race. If I had been able to keep my pace, I would have been able to run about a 1:46 race! My halfway time was 53:29! While my final time was not what I was hoping for... I'm stoked that this was my halfway time because it means that I can do it if I am totally prepared. So I'm anxious to get back into training and plan to go out and smoke the Disney Unicef Half next Dec!!!

I did it!

I survived the half. I was NOT prepared and that definitely showed in my time and the last 5K but I am pleased. I knew that I wouldn't beat my time from Disney but I had hoped to do a bit better than I did. Actually, I started off doing much better than anticipated but the last 6K where up and down and up and down and I haven't run any hills since before Christmas. But I did it and I'm proud of what I've accomplished in just a few months.

I think I'm going to take this week and do some tae bo and focus on my core. I have an incredibly sore back from the race and my scar area is a bit sensitive so I think I need to work on building up those muscles again.

But I'm off to feed buddy and rest my weary body. :)

Happy 2009!!!!

I wanted a memorable way to begin 2009 ...




so at 6:30 I put on my running clothes and Mike and I raced in the Pacers Shatin New Year's run. It was a 10K. We've been battling a stomach bug in the house and it keeps lingering between Mike and I. That and very little sleep the night before... made for the worst feeling run ever. Mike did great and my time actually wasn't so bad but I felt miserable and almost puked 3/4ths into the race. But I finished and wasn't last and that's what I was going for, considering how I felt.

And now I'm on to preparing for the Standard Chartered Half-Marathon thanks to Sarah! I actually missed the deadline but Sarah gave me an entry for Christmas so I'm really excited about it. It feels so good to be getting back in shape after having Isaiah and I'm proud to say that I've run 2 10K's and he's only 4 months! :)

But alas... we spent the rest of the day celebrating with the aff (alliance filipino fellowship) ladies at our home. I think there was a total of about 30 of us here and lots of laughter. It was fun to see them all relaxed and having a great time.

I've got several goals for 2009 (I'll post those another day) but one is to be more consistent with my blogging this year. I feel like I've forgotten a lot of great things/blessings/etc about last year because I didn't write them down so my goal is to at least blog a little about each day so I'm constantly aware and looking for what God is doing and being thankful for each day.

As for today, I'm thankful for the New Year and another chance to grow, learn and challenge myself in new ways. I was reading another blog that talked about choosing one word for the year ahead. She makes jewelry and was selling your 'word' hand stamped on a necklace. What a great reminder to have throughout the year but I thought the idea of one word was really great so I'm praying that God will give me that one word for what He would have for me to focus on this year ahead. Could you summarize the year ahead in one word?

UNICEf Half

Well what can I say.... I'm DONE and SO glad it's over. Not the same attitude I had last year after completing my 1st 10K. There has been a lot going on for us over the past few months... a few quite stressful things that I attempted to just put behind me and trust that God was in control but it was clear to me this morning how heavily these things had been weighing on me... including this race.

I was neither excited, nor nervous... all I could find myself saying was 'let's get this over with' and '1 thing to cross off the list.' NOT a good mental state to begin a 13.1 mile run. I jumped into the middle of the pack and when the countdown finished... I let others pass me as I picked a slow pace to begin with. One of my biggest struggles is starting too fast and then after just a few miles I'm done. So I had my Nike+ with me to keep track of my pace. This was so supposed to be a flat and fast race and in comparison to the Standard Charter... it is... but it did have some slopes that caught me off guard and I began to panic about how many hills there were going to be due to my lack of training in that area. However, I was actually quite surprised in how I handled them and found them easier to run than other areas of the course.

I was doing well... (despite my mental weakness already) until I hit 11K and looked down at my iPod to check time and turn it on for awhile. And that's when I lost it and literally almost broke down in tears. I have used my Nike+ to train... it tells me the distance that I've run and the pace I'm going. I calibrated it against my treadmill and thought it was right. However, at 11K (approx 6.8miles) my Nike+ said 8. At first I was stoked.. I though wow.. I'm doing much better than I thought (I was thinking the 8 was Kilometers) and then I realized it was miles... 8 miles. A bit off? So all my hard work in timing things, pacing things... was wrong so at the point I knew I wasn't going to make my 2hr goal and I was just discouraged and disappointed.

It was at that point too that the sun starting beaming pretty good making it much warmer out than anticipated and well... my body just doesn't do well in the sun. I'm not trying to make excuses for my poor training but the sun really took a lot out of me... I just haven't trained under the sun and I paid for it. I seriously just wanted to cry and quit because I knew my goal had just gone out the window and I just wanted to get it over with. I tried a gel pack but it just made me sick to my stomach. I don't remember much until 15K and then I was just happy to be on the down stretch. At 19K, I felt my toenail going... and it became harder to push myself. When I saw the sign for 20K... I just started to book it... I just so wanted to be done. I finished at about 2:20:28. Ugh... what's even worse was that I looked at my Nike+ again and at this point it was 2.5 miles off! That's crazy!!!! So while my time wasn't even close to what I wanted... I feel somewhat okay as based on the terrible calibration of my Nike+ system... I've never run 13.1 miles before! Based on what it said... my longest run was probably about 10.5 miles and my average runs about 6/8 miles. Not good in preparing for a half.

So I learned many lessons today....
1. Don't depend on my Nike+
2. Don't use gel packs
3. Don't drink sports drink along the way... just water for this girl
5. Bring a hat
6. Train in the heat
7. Train on hills more often
8. and most importantly....Don't carry burdens... lay them at the feet of God.

I'm proud that I could finish sprinting as usually the last thing i want to do after a long run is to sprint and I'm proud that I had the energy to do that but aside from that... I'm just glad it's over. Now... on to the Standard Chartered half. I'm beginning to think I'm crazy for wanting to do this but once the heat comes back around I don't think I'll be doing any racing so this may be my last chance for awhile and plus Mike's running the full so it will be fun to share this race with him.

And the race is on

I think I may have lost my mind. LOL I just registered for my next race and I registered for the 1/2 marathon! I can't believe how far I've come in enjoying this sport and actually being able to do it. I've always dreamed of running a marathon but I guess I never really believed I could/would do it. Now the marathon is still a ways away but I'm definitely getting closer.

So the half is at Disneyland. Mike and I had hoped to run in either Macau or Singapore this year but with Mike's vacation time starting each year in Oct we didn't want to use a lot of time so early in the year and we didn't want to just go overnight to run. The race is on Dec 2nd and I'm actually really excited about running and the training. I completed my half training back in June but then with the trip to the states and adjusting back to life here... well let's just say I need to do it again. I was just going to start marathon training but the miles for the long run were too high to begin with after a good 6+ weeks of very little running. But anyway.... I decided to do the 'improve your half' training schedule so it's a bit different and if I find myself back to where I was in early July I'll just jump over to the marathon training.

So anyway... Mike found this race for me and it turns out that it's raising money for children with HIV/Aids so I'm pretty excited that it's helping others too. Makes it more meaningful to me. And hopefully this will be a good prep run for the Hong Kong Standard Charter run that I did last year. Maybe I could push myself to run the full for that. LOL

It's supposed to be a gorgeous run too which will be awesome if the weather decides to cooperate too.

13.1

miles equals.... a HALf-MArATHON!!!! I can't belive it! I finally did it. I completed my first unofficial half-marathon and bumped myself up to 6th place! Wohoo... I feel fabulous... okay well a little sore but fabulous!

Today was just great all around... an easy trip to the store (Izzy was so well behaved the whole time!!!), a little time in the playroom making new friends, some nice treats that we don't get very often (sharp cheddar cheese, trail mix), a little time at the pool (even though it was raining), a little blues clues and 'skek' (aka Shrek.. Izzy's latest movie craze), a great run, daddy came home early to help prepare for the evening and an evening full of youth group students in our flat... in fact some are still here but they're playing xbox so I thought it was okay to veg a bit on my own. Wow... what a day of blessings.

I know there was more that I wanted to write but for now... I'm going to sign off and enjoy the fellowship of a bunch of teens. Have a blessed day!!!

Power Quotes

I was hanging out at coolrunning.com today and found this list of power quotes and I thought they were great but the one that I know will make me push myself is the very last one... yeah I don't know if that's a good thing or not but I did realize one thing... once I set my mind to something, there's really no stopping me. It's almost as if I become obsessive until completion. Again, I'm not sure if that's a good thing but as I look back on my spiritual life, I can remember telling God... I want to follow you but I'm just not ready... help me to be ready, give me that desire to serve you alone. And you know what... a few months later, I was ready, I was committed... and I've been hard core ever since. There was no looking back once I made that decision... some of the bigger issues I was dealing with at the time... gone... simply because I was committed... I became obsessive about following Christ. (not to say I didn't, nor still don't sin... I'm not perfect but you get my drift. well at least I hope you do but I know what I'm saying. lol) Anyway... some may say this 'obsessive' nature is a bad thing but in regards to my spiritual life... it's been AWESOME!!!


"Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit."

I have fought the good fight,I have finished the race,I have kept the faith

Yahweh ... please give me strength ...

Pr 4:12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.

Pr 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Isa 40:31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

1Co 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Ac 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race

Ga 5:7 You were running a good race.

2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.


"Is this REALLY the best you can do?"



Okay.. I felt the need to ramble some more. Hope I didn't bore you too much. :)

Elimination

I just love this picture that Hannah took of Mike and I. It's not very often that we get one of these.

I've been having some issues with my eyes... I got bitten (at least I think so) by something in Thailand and just when that started to heal, I got bitten by something here on the other eye and then the first eye had an allergic reaction to my contacts. So since returning from holiday... I haven't run at all and let me tell you, I fell just blah and I know that's why. However, I'm having a bit of motivation issues so I decided to join a Nike+ challenge. This one is an elimination challenge so I'm hoping it will motivate me to push a bit harder. It takes the average miles run by all runners and then choses an eliminating number and by doing it this way... I won 't know the eliminating miles until the day before so hopefully it'll force me to run the most I possibly could in attempts not to get eliminated. I'm also trying to figure out the best running time for myself. I'm going to attempt a late night run and an early morning ran and see what plan I could stick with better... since the heat is just around the corner, I know afternoon runs are out of the picture unless it's inside.

We've had some fun and crazy days since last Sat. Sunday we went tubing/wakeboarding and hung around Sai Kung. It was loads of fun and Isabella did great on the boat. I have a bit of fear of the ocean, especially when it's an overcast day, and since Sunday was, I didn't attempt either but rather just enjoyed the boat ride. I vowed to myself that the next time I will try but I really didn't have an desire to on Sunday. Monday, we went flat searching again, actually to one of the two we're choosing between, and looked around the area so to what was available. Yesterday we had a Dr's appt and dinner with Dan and Geeta and today we met Jill and Hunter for some warehouse shopping at Toys r Us and then Hunter came over for the evening to play. It was so cute to watch Izzy with Hunter... she was quite the big sis... giving him water, showing him how to play with certain toys, wanting whatever he decided to play with. LOL It was a fun day.

Izzy's asthma is acting up again but thankfully we got extra meds this time so it should only take a month to ward off the symptoms until the weather changes again. And she got her chicken pox shot so that she can now attend school... sigh... that makes me sad but it's reality in HK so I guess I better 'do the right thing' and start investigating different schools. :(

I know I had something else to write.. oh yeah. I feel like in a matter of just a few days, Izzy has exploded in her development! Though her vocab still is not that large, the words are coming like crazy and she's able to do all the correct motions for quite a few songs. After watching her and Hunter this evening, I realized how much of a little girl she really is... no longer my baby. But I'm so excited to teach her more and more songs and I've actually got a verse in mind that I can teach her motions to so maybe tomorrow we'll see how that goes.

Well.. it's really late and I really should get to bed. Have a great day!