Heeey Jenny Nag!
An Ode to Josh January 20, 2010
We have to send a special “Thank You” to our new friend, Josh, who only 2 weeks ago was nothing more than a stranger. Josh, who is rooted here in upstate New York, actually works in one of the most dangerous countries in the world – a place quite unfriendly if you are American. However, he has managed to do good for the poverty-stricken locals there, doing his best to persuade several companies to donate bags of clothing for them. While doing his part to change the world abroad, Josh has managed to be a tremendous help to us as well granting us an extremely generous donation of $1,000. We were honored by his generosity and even more thrilled to get the opportunity to meet him in person.
While home for the holidays, Josh came across an article about our cause in The Times Union. After having to tell a man abroad that there was little hope for his 5 year old son suffering from brain cancer, Josh saw donating to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation as a way that he could help. And so, not knowing us at all he tracked us down, donated a generous sum, and took us out to a lovely dinner at Jack’s Oyster House!
So here’s to you, Josh, for taking a chance on 5 crazy cousins and giving unlimited chances to even more crazy kids 
As Josh says, “Giving is contagious,” sooooo……….
*Are you interested in helping out Josh’s friends? They need clothing, shoes, and jackets. If you would like to help, please a comment on this blog with your contact info and we will be in touch!
TWO NEW EVENTS SET! January 19, 2010
Hi everyone! On behalf of all the Crazies, we hope you all had a great holiday season and that 2010 brings nothing but the best to all of you We wanted to update the blog with two new events we have coming up.
The first event is another pub crawl set for JAN. 30th. Yes we realize that we have already had one, but it just went so well that we had to do another! We can’t help that our followers also love the sauce… Click the link below for all pub crawl details and how to pay online for the event!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=260761546509&ref=mf
Our second event takes place on Saturday, FEB. 13th and will be held at Glenn Peter’s Diamond Centre, located at 1544 Central Avenue in Albany. We will be hosting a wine tasting with hors d’oeuvres, in addition to live music and a raffle for a beautiful piece of jewelry! This is a perfect date for a couple- and if you’re stag, a great event to wine and dine among friends! Please click below for all details and we look forward to seeing you all there!
X’s and O’s December 29, 2009
When we first decided to train for a marathon and raise funds for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. Of course I expected the perfunctory aching muscles, early morning runs and those random trickles of doubt you experience whenever taking on a project of this magnitude. What I didn’t expect, was to learn as much as I have, not only about myself but about the four amazing women I am training with. It would be ambiguous of me to say that I didn’t know much about my four team mates prior to our training. After all, I have literally known 3 out of 4 of them, since they were born. I have experienced major ups and downs with each one of these ladies throughout the years, yet through it all, there was still so much I didn’t know about them. It’s hard to appreciate the time, energy and discipline it takes to train and raise money for something like this so being able to share it with Lauren, Jenny, Jennifer and Alaina has given me a unique insight into how truly remarkable each one of them are. If it wasn’t for our training and fundraising, I never would have realized Jenny Nag’s awesome writing skills or Jenny V’s knack for bringing large groups of people together; it has given me a better appreciation for Lauren’s resiliency and Alaina’s genuine kindness.
Sitting at Justin’s last night, putting together the remaining pieces of our fundraising efforts, I felt very lucky to be a part of something as meaningful as Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation with my four teammates, family members and friends. Throughout this process we have been questioned about our ability to run 26.2 miles and raise $10,000; in all honesty, we have questioned it ourselves. But as I have watched all of us pour our time and energy into making this goal a reality, I am more convinced than ever that this is something we absolutely can and will do. (Insert cheerleader jump here)
I realize that running a marathon and fundraising isn’t for everyone but I cant help to feel a little sad for people who never get to experience the camaraderie and sense of accomplishment that comes with being a part of something so significant. So in closing, I’ll leave you with some what of a cliché; no matter how big or small, make a concerted effort to do something meaningful for someone less fortunate than you- in the end, you always get back more than you give.
*Angie*
P.S. While your thinking of ways in which you can make the world a better place don’t be scared to visit our fundraising page to make a donation…………
http://www.alexslemonade.org/stands/20285
Our Training Schedule December 28, 2009
Check out our training schedule created for us by a friend of Angie’s who runs 5 marathons a year. We’ve been following this schedule for the final 11 weeks of our training. Who says we won’t be ready by February 28th?! We’re heading into the big weeks and the high mileage – we’re gonna rock it 
Our Training Schedule – Click Here!
Many thanks to our many “coaches” for helping us through this journey
Larger than Life December 22, 2009
Like Alaina’s piriformis syndrome, holidays can also do damage to the bootay! Luckily this marathon keeps us trim no matter how much we celebrate! Running around in general and seeing the season in full swing always reminds me of the past… The first Christmas I remember was when I was maybe 2 or 3 years old. Christmas Eve. Unlimited supply of M&M cookies. My mom told me to stop eating them or I’d be sick- 24 hours later I was opening my gifts next to a garbage can. Although I’d rather not recall the colorful yuletide yack, it’s remembering my mom and that from some of the earliest memories I have, to the every day things I find myself doing now, that she was usually right. But every year, on the anniversary of her death, I’m always wondering what I’m supposed to do or how to pass the time. For all the things my mom did for me, she never prepared us for this… I do know though, that she’d want us to be ok and do something good or productive- so, what I decided to do was come up with a little list of some of the things that my mom did teach me or things I remember about her. In doing this, I hope she is somewhere watching and finally knows that I realize what she meant all times she told me that “someday you’ll understand” and that all the good things we do, like raising this money for Alex’s cause, are because we are following her lead…
A few things I remember:
- convince a child that taking a nap is just “resting your eyes”
- let your daughter be Barbie Princess for 3 consecutive Halloweens; you are spared a tantrum and you save a buck, too
- “Don’t listen to the kids on the bus. Ask ME!”
- don’t touch everything in the store
- how to fold towels the right way, using windex on the mirror is not considered cleaning the bathroom, and noxema and other facial cleansers will never clean whatever was spilled on the carpet
- that making someone write “I will not be disrespectful” 200 x’s is an effective strategy to keep a mouthy child quiet
- say a prayer everytime you see or hear an ambulance
- you can never have too many friends
- work ethic and punctuality (ripping the covers off of me and lecturing until I got up to make the donuts)
- respect differences in others
- the importance of traditions, and how to accept changing them
- you can’t choose your family, so get over it and love them! (and I so dooooooo)
- knowing how to agree to disagree, and when to shut up
- men definitely have p.m.s., too
- it doesnt matter if you can sing or not, belt out your favorite tune
- “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed.” —> worst guilt trip words ever…
- not to be lazy, “…if I go up there and find it myself, you’re done.”
- trust can only be earned and is easily lost, i.e. turning 16, going to a kegger, and losing my driving priviledges. Not wise.
- ” I don’t care what so-and-so does, she’s not my daughter- you are!”
- how sometimes less is definitely more, i.e. cleavage + midriff top = not leaving the house
- how to break two eggs into the bowl at the same time without getting any shells
- how to pull a really good prank
- the value of a hand-written note or card
- not to compromise your standards for someone else and to trust your instincts
- that some lessons can only be learned the hard way
- do as I say, not as I do (not in many instances, but some)
- there’s nothing wrong with imperfection
- there is a very fine art to getting even, ex. pretending to buy shots for a guy who treated his girlfriend very poorly & spiking it with urine… and getting the entire bar in on it, too
- you can almost always get a deal, you just have to be persistant! (I used to be embarassed to go shopping with her)
- playing Ring n’ Run is a perfectly acceptable game- at any age!!!
… and last but surely not least…
- It’s always better to be weird than boring!!!
This is just a glimpse of the past, and I wish every day that I had 20 more years with her… however, as clueless as I might be about everything else today, I’m sure of one thing: Ali, Katie, and I have a mom who was and will always be better than the best.
A real pain in the glute…
This past Thursday when I headed out for a nice, easy 4-miler I didn’t know the run would turn out to be such a pain in the hiney. Right around mile 2, a sharp pain from my lower back shot down through my left derriere and hamstring. I’ve gotten these occasional bursts of pain since I began training and usually attribute it to the fact that my body is taking quite a hit running more mileage than it ever has in my 25 years. I stopped, stretched, and kept going. But no stretch seemed to rid me of the pain, and my steady run began to turn into a steady limp. Ouch! Well with no phone in tow and 2 miles to my front door I kept going. Run walk limp, run walk limp, all the way home.
For the next two days the pain lingered, and I just assumed I must have pulled the good old gluteus maximus. While that thing my mamma gave me (I get “JLO” and “Kim Kardashian” a lot…) has both done me good at times and made me want to remove all mirrors from my home at others – it has never caused me so much pain! Oh, culo, why must you hurt me so?
I took a rest for two days and the tush started to feel normal again. I went back at it this morning bright and early at 4:30 AM, ready to finally break that 10 miles. I was pumped! I hardly ran 50 feet before the sharp pain returned. After lots of back and forth, I decided that before I do any more damage to my posterior maybe I ought to educate my self about common runners’ ailments of the gluteus maximus. Well I Googled and searched from Wikipedia to WebMD. I kept finding the same thing. Piriformis Syndrome. Oh…syndrome? That does not sound good…
The piriformis muscle is one that is located in the gluteal region. It is located not so much on the surface but a little deeper within the area, near the pelvic cavity and the sciatic. It aids in the external rotation, abduction and extension of the hip. This would explain why the glute and hammy stretches I was doing weren’t helping. With all this information in mind, I took my symptoms to a co worker of mine who has run in 6 marathons (one of them in 3:12:00!) and has been coaching me along the way. Without even mentioning the information I had found, he brought up the piriformis, and promptly returned to me with information about stretching and treatment.
He said, “With everything I’ve read, it sounds like it is something that isn’t easy to get rid of,” With the thought of reaching that tenth mile looming in my mind, I asked him if I should, gulp, take a break from the running.
“No, you have to keep running!” he said. ”Get some Ibuprofin and some IcyHot and load up. Keep running.”
And I knew he was right. ”I once ran a whole marathon in pain,” he told me.
And so at lunch I bought the Ibuprofin and the IcyHot, and right after work I put on my running gear and ran 6 miles. It hurt, but I did it. I am still disappointed I didn’t do the 10. But I got out there and pushed through the pain.
I’m planning on doing some cross-training this week to take some strain off of the tush. [A note about cross-training: According to my current bible, The Non-runner's Marathon Trainer, Elliptical and step machines are the most comparable to running - bikes are the least, and instead of focusing on the distance, you must instead focus on the time. If you run 5 miles in 50 minutes, then you do 50 minutes on the elliptical, ignore the mileage.] Shortening your stride and focusing less on speed are also recommended. Hopefully I can work on making my badonkadonk stronger, so this piriformis syndrome can take a hike and kiss my tail!
-Alaina
