Crazy Hair Night at AWANA

Back Down

Every few weeks with TEAM in Training, we have a "Back Down" week when we decrease our training run mileage for a week to recover and heal our bodies.  Here's our schedule:

Week #/Miles

1/4

2/6

3/7

4/8

5/5 <----- today

6/10

7/12

8/9

9/14

So our "back down" 5 miles was a breeze today (compared to 8 miles last week).  Never thought I'd say that.  Must mean that our coaches know what they're doing.  

(Can I just say again that I'm so grateful that I've met my minimum fundraising requirement.  I continue to be overwhelmed and am so glad I don't have to worry about it anymore and can focus on my training.  I'm loving my training team.  Everyone is so encouraging, even through sore muscles, track workouts and long training runs.)

Today was especially wonderful because not only was it an easy run, my family came to watch me run!  The devoted Mr. Garland hung out with the kids while I had my meeting and went for the run.  After I got back, we all hit the sand and waves for some beach time (in February, go figure).  

Moonlight beach:  TEAM meeting on the left (we have a big team, 125 strong wearing the classic purple and green), kids playground on the right, ocean in the rear.  What could be more perfect?  If you look closely, there were even people playing beach volleyball early Saturday morning.  It was an amazing day.

S and J building sand cakes.

Our coaches say one of the best things you can do after a long run is to apply cold, salt and massage.  The ocean has all 3 so I enjoyed a nice long soak holding my boys.

Z enjoying a  nice, one-arm-up nap on the drive home.

Snow Play, Part 2

We made a second (and probably final) trip up to the snow a few weekends ago with the Matsuyoshi Family (friends from church) and had a great time.   I have quite a mound of kid snow gear left over from our years living in Denver, but it's growing too small for our kids (funny how that happens).  The snow wasn't as plentiful as we had hoped, but we made it work.  The kids especially enjoyed sliding down the mountain on their backsides.  

The Matsuyoshi's invited us to their home after snow play for a traditional Japanese meal, Tonkatsu, followed by a caramel apple Julian pie (not traditional Japanese but delicious nonetheless).  

Peggy, Wendi and their 1-year old baby boys.

.

J and Z with 4 mini-snowmen.

Peggy with her little N.

H enjoying a slipery-slide down the hill.

Bryan and little N.

 

Tour of California

Lance and the boys came to town last weekend on the last day of the Tour of California, a bicycle race through the great state of CA.  The last race was on Palomar Mountain, near Escondido.

Two of Jeff's friends from Colorado (Lyle DeVries and Tommy Rand) came out to watch the race, so they stayed with us for a night.  Jeff and J joined Lyle and Tommy to watch the cyclists whiz by. 

"Park inside the white line."

Lyle (in blue) and Tommy (in red) on the bank, ready to go.  Spectators handed out newspapers for riders to stuff in their shirts for warmth.  

Lyle (left, in blue) at top of Palomar Mountain.

J looking for riders on the switchbacks.

J loved hanging out with "the boys."

Don't ask me who was who.  Ask Lyle.

Support traffic.

J:  all set with pretzels and his cowbell.

l to r: Tommy, Lyle, Jeff and J.

Leaky Monday

Monday was a rough day.

It started with the devoted Mr. Garland informing me that we had water dripping from the living room ceiling.

Dripping water can't be good, right?

It wasn't.  

Besides being an incredibly busy morning (S had school and art class), I was coordinating a visit from the plumber.  

We now have water damage and two 2-foot holes in our dining room ceiling, but we found the leak.  Praise God.

It was a leaking master bathtub faucet, so now we need a new one.  You might think that this would be a pain to replace.  But no worries.  We have a huge hole cut conveniently underneath the bathtub and in our ceiling so that the plumber can swap it out lickety split.  

Turns out it is pretty handy to have holes in your dining room ceiling.

But I don't recommend it.  

front hole: water damage

back right hole: underneath leaky bathtub faucet

Monday night at Costco, all plugging our noses.  Not because anything was stinky, just because it was fun.  I didn't want you to be bummed out by my dreary "leak" post and hope this last photo at least puts an ending smile on your face.  God is good!

Old Faithful

On the way to the doctor's office last week, this is what we saw... classic story of the car hitting the fire hydrant.  The cartoon version would include the car being raised up on top of the water spray, but we weren't there to witness that part, darn.  

The poor guy in the yellow jacket (city employee) had to be under the spray, hunting for the turn-off valve.  There was quite the gushing river flowing down the street.

Running Thoughts: Week 4

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: 

Fundraising Minimum Achieved!

I'm excited to say that my dear family and friends have helped me achieve my minimum fundraising goal of $1,750 in contributions towards the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  If you gave,

Thank you so much.  I'm so overwhelmed and grateful!

If you considered giving, thank you also.  I'm touched and encouraged.

This is a tough economy, so I wanted to be sensitive and let you know when the funds were no longer necessary.  My LLS fundraising page may not show that I've achieved my goal yet, but the checks are in the mail and it's just a matter of paperwork and time until it is updated.  

Wow, so now I really have to run the marathon.  People are praying and giving hard earned monies towards my efforts so it's time to make good on my word.  I will do my best not to let you down.  

In that light, our training run yesterday was 8 miles long.  I really struggled last week (7 Miles), but this week was so much easier.  I think having a full week of not-being-sick was key.  Cardiovascularly, I'm feeling good, but have my moments.  My running friend Gabbi has an injured right knee and she struggled, but did great nonetheless.  It made me thankful that I'm not having to train with an injury.  That has to be tough.

I'm considering training with a run/walk interval.  One of our coaches (Coach Ken) emailed this to us last week regarding "all running" and "run/walk intervals":

The following shows the results of three different types of runners that all run a 10 minute pace and the results they would achieve with different race strategies.

• Run 26.2 miles at a constant 10 minute pace: Finish time = 4 hours 22 minutes
• 8/2 run/walk interval for 26.2 miles, running at a 10 minute pace and walking at a 13 minute pace:    Finish time = 4 hours 38 minutes
• Run 18 miles at 10 minute pace, walk 6.2 at 16 minute pace: Finish time = 5 hours 11 minutes

I found this information to be useful as I run about a 10 to 11 minute mile, so these numbers were directly applicable to me.  I don't want to finish the Marathon feeling completely wasted and exhausted, so I'm considering the 8/2 or 8/1 run/walk interval.  Also, in the Rock n Roll San Diego, there is an aid station and a music band every mile, so perhaps I'll just treat the aid station as my 1 minute walk as I enjoy my Dixie cup of Gatorade.

Track workouts start this week.  Again, my thanks to all you who contributed towards LLS.  There's no way I could do this without you.  Go TEAM!

PS. If you have a GPS running watch (Garmin or the likes) that you're not using and want to loan or sell it to me, would you let me know?

M&M Math

Every time we open a bag (usually the fun size minis) of M&Ms around here, this is what we do...

Green was the winner... this time.

Running Thoughts: Week 3

7 miles.

Last Saturday's training run was 7 very long miles.  I truly struggled at about mile 3, and almost stopped.  My last 2 miles I ran with Kim and boy does it make a difference when you're chatting with someone.  The miles just slip by.  This is why it's so great to be training with other folks.  Such a blessing.

Can I also say that I've been amazed a the financial support that has been coming in?  I have such amazing family and friends.  My heart is so grateful.  God is so good.

Last Saturday was a good eye opener for me for how tough 26.2 miles will really be.  It was a crazy week last week, so you gotta give me a little credit.  I had the stomach bug for 3 days.  I also planned, prepped and threw a 6-year old's birthday party the day before my run.  

So I could tell that I was very weak.  I just didn't have the usual gusto that I usually have.  Not that I usually have a huge amount of gusto.  I was just exhausted.  I was all hunched over and my legs were sloppy.  The gals running behind me commented that my knees were knocking each other.  Not good.  Let's just say that I wouldn't be a good candidate for a Nike running poster.  

We'll be running 8 miles this coming weekend.  I sure hope this will be a better week.  

No stomach bug.  Check.

No birthday parties to throw.  Check.

Ample rest and good mid-week runs.  Check.

So far, it's looking promising.    

Books of the New Testament Song

Back by popular demand for an encore performance, it's the Garland Family Singers...

Here's our Books of the Old Testament Song if you're interested.

Six: The Party

We celebrated S's birthday last week with some friends at a local park.  We were so thankful that it didn't rain, but it was a bit nippy and windy.  My girlfriend Cassie snapped some of these photos for us... you know, the good ones :)  

Homemade Heart Pinata (made by Daddy).

Oh yeah, and the devoted Mr. Garland also (always) decorates the kids' birthday cakes.  He's just the best daddy in the whole world.  Here's the cake Jeff made for S last year.

The Indesctructable Pinata.  Our homemade masterpiece was a little more sturdy than we bargained for.  The kids got some great batting practice.  (read: they were exhausted)

The Birthday Crew.

Our sweet six-year-old normally doesn't take naps.  But this was one extremely happy day, and on these days, what better thing to do than take a nap... with your birthday balloons in hand.  Oh happy day.

Happy V Day

"We love because He first loved us..."  I John 4:19

Happy Valentine's Day!

from the Jeff Garland Family

TEAM in Training

Z and me.

I'm most likely out running a "Valentine's Day" 7-mile training run right now as you read this.  

It's time for my shameless plug... I've started my marathon training with TEAM in Training and would love to have your support.  If you're interested, please see my letter below for more details, and feel free to contact me with any questions.  Thank you in advance!

Dear Family and Friends,

It is with great excitement and anticipation of sore muscles that I tell you that I am training for the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon as a member of Team in Training (TnT).  My race date is Sunday, May 31, 2009.  While I am not the “marathon running” type, I do enjoy running.  I regularly do three miles on the treadmill at the YMCA, but my engineering education helped me confirm that 26.2 miles is way more than three miles.  In fact, my husband Jeff thinks I’m off my rocker for wanting to run this far, but he supports me 100%.  (He’ll be busy watching our 3 young kids while I train. Thanks, Jeff!)  

Normally, TnT participants run in honor of someone who is fighting blood cancer.  Instead, I’m running in honor of my Aunt Ann who unfortunately passed away 15 years ago to leukemia.  My mom and her sister Ann were best friends and she passed away much too early in life.  

If this is the first time you have heard of TnT, let me tell you what they do.  TnT is a training support group.  I’ll be meeting with the North San Diego County TnT Group for long Saturday runs and mid-week high-intensity workouts on a weekly basis.  The strategy is to build endurance and distance for the big day.  I’ll also receive training and technique tips, nutrition advice, run support (water and energy snacks), and best of all, encouragement!  

I have committed to raising $1,750 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) cause and would love your help.  Your donation will help LLS’s mission to find a cure and save lives.  The money raised will pay for patient support groups, educational programs, research, and patient and community service.  Our economy is struggling right now, and like you, we are feeling the pinch as a family of five.  But whatever amount you can give will help continue the battle against leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.  

The easiest way to make a tax-deductible donation is to go to my own personal Team In Training website to make a quick, easy and secure donation: 

 http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/rnr09/wgarland  

Click on 'Donate' and fill in your personal details.

I would appreciate receiving your donation before February 27, 2009 so that I can track my fundraising progress and focus on training.  Of course, if you need some extra time, I’m happy to accept your donation after that date.  I’ll be posting updates right here on our family blog (jeffandwendi.com).  Thanks for being part of our lives, especially as I seek this significant personal milestone.  I appreciate your support and prayers for me and those battling these serious illnesses.    

Warmly,

Wendi Garland

Books of the Old Testament Song

The Garland Family Singers proudly presents...

I love the way J points to himself when his "book" comes up. 

Puzzles and Games

We recently set up a puzzle table, let's just say it's always in use!

Sweet Six

Our sweet S is six years old.  My baby!  Where did the time go?  We love you so much!  Happy birthday...