One week to go!

I have one more week to go until the 5K! I've written more about the details of my running and my plan for this week of training and the race over at RunWendeeRun (click here).

I'm behind on posting drawings and photos to Flickr and writing about them here, because, well, I've been a little single-mindedly focused on the whole running thing. I've been spending time getting my legs stronger and my stamina better, washing bunches of sweaty running gear, downloading and poring over data from each of my runs from my Garmin, and looking for something in a nice orange to wear for the 5K.Orange because Art Center is the orange dot school, after all. A nice orange, not 'Emergency' or 'Safety' orange.

I finally gave in and ran with my iPod last week, because although I prefer to not be plugged in to music when running on the roads (safety first!), I really, really needed the extra pick-me-up. The right earbud of the pair that I use at the gym had gone out, anyway, so I figured I was safe using that set of headphones, just listening to music through one ear. My half-functioning headphones fit the bill perfectly! Today, I went out, looking forward to more musical inspiration, and the left earbud died immediately. I wasn't even to the end of the block! Well! So much for that fine plan, huh? The run went fairly well, so I'm thinking I don't need to worry about music. I do, however, need to get a replacement set of headphones, for when I'm back running at the gym. 

That's pretty much how it's been: Lots of running on the brain.

Want to add an extra boost to my runs? I'm going to go back to the treadmill once a week starting this week, instead of doing all my runs on the pavement. I run far stronger and faster on the treadmll, actually, and - - not surprisingly - - really, really enjoy it. And that's what it's all about, isn't it, enjoying the feeling of running? Plus I can (and absolutely do!) listen to my iPod on the treadmill. I'm working to get to the point where I'm so happy while I'm running (and running at a strong enough pace) that I'm singing as I'm running (okay, maybe lip-syncing, not actually singing out loud). I'm not quite there yet. Leave me your favorite 'Kick it!' song in the comments and I'll be there in no time!

Training update

Sorry to be away for so long. I've been very absorbed with training and stocking up on stretchy and compressive running gear. The training part has looked like this:

I'm running or walking about 5-6 days a week and targeting at least 10-12 miles per week. That's a lot of extra sweaty clothes in the laundry.

Since it stopped raining (I know, some of you are dealing with snow), I'm able to train outside on the pavement. The transition from treadmill to pavement has been a little rough. I'm back to running in shroter intervals on the pavement, which has been kind of a challenge. My hips hurt. My mind wanders. I check my Garmin trainer and go, "Gee, I've been running for only 2 minutes? and 3 to go? Yeesh." I had a nice breakthrough this week, though, and finally was able to add a :) to my training log, where it had been mostly

:( and :P s.

The 5K is in two weeks. I'd hoped to run it continuously. I'll see where I am as far as making progress in running for longer stretches. Right now I'm at 6x [run 5min / walk 2.5min], which gets to me about 3.25 miles. I'm aiming to just finish strong, though, and earning my right to plop down in front of the TV later that afternoon to have a nice beer during the Super Bowl!

Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship

To my dear Bloggy Friends:

I wanted to let you know about a personal project of mine and to ask your support.

I’ve been getting back into running and have been training to complete my first (this time around) race, The Rose Bowl 5K, on February 6. To be honest, I wish this were easier; it’s been a test not only of my legs and lungs, but this time, of my will, as well. Fortunately, deep and unwavering inspiration came from an unexpected source: I’m running to celebrate and honor the memory of Norm Schureman.

Norman Schureman was a beloved instructor at Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena California, where I graduated from and now teach. A tragic accident took Norm’s life early last spring. He was a colleague, mentor and friend of hundreds of Art Center students, faculty, staff and alumni. We have missed him so very much.

Art Center established the Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship which will be available to incoming Product Design students. Our college President, Lorne Buchman, said in a blog post, “One of the ways the College can be true to his memory is to make sure young creatives have access to pursue a first-rate design education.”

Here’s the deal I’d like to make with you: I’ll put in the sweat if you donate to Norm’s Memorial Scholarship fund. In doing so, we both celebrate Norm’s life and help to ensure that his legacy continues.

- Click on the link below to get to Art Center’s donation page.
- Scroll down and under 'Area of Support / Degree Program Scholarships' select the Norman Schureman Memorial Scholarship. Give what you’re comfortable giving.
- At the very bottom, under 'Confirmation' please add words of encouragement in the ‘Additional Comments' section (something like: In support of runner Wendee Lee!), so that I can acknowledge your support of both my run and of the Norm Scholarship.  
[Click here!]

Please email me if you'd like to mail in a printed form.

If you’ve already given, thank you.

If you can’t give, please consider running or walking with me or send a note to cheer me on! I’d love the company and support.

Thank you! xox- Wendee

Running update

Here's an update about how my running is going. I've been posting running details at a separate blog, RunWendeeRun, somewhat irregularly (don't roll your eyes at me). You can read about my sore ankle, crunchy knees and weekly summaries there if you want. Or would you rather that I post there and here, simultaneously? Hmmm.

I've been using the Couch-to-5K training schedule and just finished off week 6. The idea is to go from sitting around on a couch to running a 5K, continuously, in 9 weeks. I'm at a point in the program where I'm supposed to be running about 2.5 miles, continuously. Geh! I've gotten to where I'm feeling good about doing the 8- to 10-minute intervals, but haven't quite gotten the 'continuously' part for the two last weeks' long runs. And this concerns me a bit.

If all goes as planned, I'll finish up Week 9 of training at the end of the month. My goal is to run my 5K the first weekend of February, one week later. I'm not quite convinced that I'll be running those particular 3.1 miles continuously, to the point where I've held off writing and sending a letter to ask for support for my cause (I know! Egh!).  I could walk the 5K if I had to, so I'm biting the bullet and writing my letter (running out of time) and am going to keep puttering along with training until I can run it all in one go.

I'll post my letter this week. Until then, leave me some good, hearty comments! Whew! I could sure use 'em! Thanks!

Reverb10: Try

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. Yes, I'm sorta running behind. You can find out more about it here.

Prompt 18 – Try. What do you want to try next year? ... (Author: Kaileen Elise)

On our recent long flights across the Pacific, 'Eat Pray Love' played twice. Coming and going. While watching, without the audio, both times (I really enjoyed the book, but was tepid, at best, about the movie), I found myself longing – – really longing – – to do two things:

– to paint acrylics/oils (ie, opaquely)
– to run (the 5K. Much more on this later, I promise. This falls in the: "Do or do not. There is no try" category).

And in retrospect, another thing we discovered a longing for that might be nice to try: a portable DVD player for future flights.

Reverb10: Photo

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. Yes, I'm sorta running behind. You can find out more about it here.

Prompt 25 – Photo – a present to yourself
Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

You'd think that there'd be plenty of pictures, what, with J being a photographer and all. But no, he's focused (arr) on landscapes. If there are any pictures of me in them, chances are that they're posed, in front of really great scenery, and taken with a timer.Not a lot of spontaneous candid shots. I'm not a fan of taking self-portraits, either, because it's hard to get a nice shot of one's self when one's arms are so short (ahem). So, this went pretty quickly, as there were, sadly, very few to choose from.



At school. Shot by me.
I'm hoping for more of this in 2011: "Oh, look at that! ", for pauses to stop and enjoy the small details, often overshadowed by the large sweeping landscapes.



At the Getty Villa. Blogged here. Shot by me.
This summer, we didn't go on quite the extensive road trip that we'd have liked. And we I moped a little lot about it. When we went to the Villa for my birthday, we moseyed up Pacific Coast Highway, had breakfast in Santa Monica, wandered around the Getty, then drove further up the coast to have dinner at one of the places we'd go to when I was living in Oak Park. We didn't think of it as a staycation day-trip, but that's what it was. And we had a great time.

I'm hoping for more of this in 2011: Keeping an open mind and heart to the adventures nearby, to revisit and enjoy what's here in Southern California and to enjoy images of the two of us, regardless of what they look like.

Out and About / Hawaii, Part 1

Hawaii for the holidays means:

- Hundreds of roosters crowing well before dawn. You get used to sleeping through the cacophony. You know when you have to study new words for standardized college tests and you learn them but don't really think about what they'd actually mean, in practice? The ruckus at 3 AM was my SAT moment for 'cacophony'. 


- Lots of food! Here's the potluck for New Year's Day. There was plenty more for Christmas and New Year's Eve. See the plate of futomaki sushi at around the center of the table? I would have been content to eat the whole plate. [sigh] Sharing... pfeh.


- Lots of mosquitos! Lots of mosquito punk coils!


- Exploring the plants growing ...




... everywhere!


More later

And ... we're back!

We just got back from spending the holidays with my family in Hawaii. I'll be writing more about our adventures out and about, but if you're feeling impatient, you can see the whole set of photos right now by clicking [here!]

I'm testing posting a video from Flickr, below. Does it work here in Blogger? Can you see it in your rss feed? Does it work better viewed directly at Flickr? (click [here!] to go to Flickr!) 

Birdsongs
Originally uploaded by hiWendee

More notes: I panned pretty quickly, but wanted to capture the songs of the birds. So if you don't want to get dizzy, click the 'Play' button and close your eyes! And don't mind the mess!