Busy Mii

It’s been too long since my last blog entry. I have been interrupted every time I have sat down to write.

YaYa’s 10th Birthday (Thursday) turned out very nice. His oldest brother came up from Southern California and spent the day with him. While I was at work, they went out for breakfast and then when bowling. They were all leaving for football practice just as I arrived home to put the lasagna in an oven which was programmed to have it nice and hot by the time we returned home. I set the table ahead of time with a table cloth, Grandma F’s good dishes, and the special candles given to me (from Tom and boys) at the last birthday where our family was intact. Football practice was fantastic – he was moved up to the next string and there were cupcakes to celebrate the coach’s birthday. YaYa had two. We went home for dinner and cake. Then we all played 9 holes of golf in the comfort of my living room – thanks to Wii magic. My cute, Julie-like Mii lost miserably.

On Friday, I attended the funeral of my great aunt. Common to this day, was my knack for feeling lost (whether I truly was or not). The most obvious occurrence was when the funeral procession of cars was interrupted by a single car. Seeing the car, which was unmarked as “FUNERAL,” the police escorts left half the procession to find our own way. It was reminiscent of Grandma’s funeral only, this time, we were left to our own devices as stop lights, freeway changes, coupled with no body knowing the name or address of the cemetery added to fiasco. Lesson learned: Get the name of the cemetery (and address) before going to the car. *sigh* You’d think that we would have learned this from Grandma’s funeral.

The reception that followed was rich in traditional food from Guam, as well as a whole lot of people who had a remarkable similarity to me. Do to a VERY large family (my grandfather was 1 of 10 siblings), I was introduced to A LOT of relatives – some for the 1st time, and many others from many times prior. My phrase of the day was, “Tell me how we are related to each other.” Days later, I am still asking the question as many of my cousins and 2nd cousins hook up on Facebook. It’s a pretty awesome task to try to put it all together.

On Saturday, I was unable to join the “team” for our long run. I was a bit disappointed as this run was to be on the Nike course. Still, I knew when I signed up that training with the team would be difficult. Lucky for me, I know that I can get ‘er done when I need to. I set foot out the door at 6:30 AM and logged 6 of the 18 miles before waking YaYa for football practice. Thanks to some work in my area, my favorite brother was staying at the house and held down the fort while I ran. I hit the streets again at 9 AM for the balance of the mileage. I left YaYa at football, and waved at the coach as I set out to cover ground right from the practice field. I eyed my heartrate carefully after having inhaled my newly prescribed dose of 2 puffs of Albuterol. As I climbed the first long hill I watched in amazement as my heartrate remained at a remarkably low rate.

An hour later, I found myself at a stoplight across town. The road I had planned to loop back on had no shoulder to speak of causing me to revise my route. As I examined the time, I was worried that I would not be back to the practice field on time. My saving grace was that football practice generally goes over.

Around mile 16, the day was really heating up. My heartrate was now up to the familiar 170s and I was slowing down. Seeing a familiar face along the way, I stopped to rest and say hello to a friend from my mom’s cycling club. As her newbie’s from the bike club rode past, she reported in their numbers to someone up the road so that their progress on a time trial could be monitored. Soon, I on my way again and hoping that my final mileage would be closer to 18 than 20 miles. It probably would have been a good idea to drive and measure the route ahead of time. At least this way, I would have known ahead of time that my planned route was missing the shoulder. *shoulder shrug*

At mile 17, I was near the field but unsure of how to get to it. I pulled out my iPhone for a little assistance. The “current location” was not the same street as what was noted on the signs. I looked around and spotting a woman watering her flowers. She directed me down the street x 1 block and left to the park. I arrived with relief to see the players still going strong.

Although I had hopes that my total mileage was actually 18, that was not what Ms. Garminia was reporting. She informed me that I’d traveled 17.35 miles…so I filled up with water and began running what ever amount of laps around the field that it would take for 18 miles worth of running to be logged.

From practice, we went to straight to the new family picnic for YaYa’s new school. Due to another private school in the area closing down, the amount of new students at the picnic was staggering. We arrived just in time for lunch. I also discovered that I’d misread the date for the 1st day of school. Either that or my prayers for a solution to having no available daycare were answered. I spent the remainder of the weekend labeling the school supplied & uniforms, getting lunches ready, and preparing YaYa for another life-changing event.