The MS Runner

Running While Battling Foot Blisters, Leg Cramps, Black Toe Nails - and MS

Archive for the ‘Kari’


Random Thoughts

Published August 30th, 2010 in Payton, Denver Marathon, Kari | No Comments »

And once again, it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything, but hey, it’s quality not quantity.  Right?

I’m losing patience with Sirius Radio.  It’s great if you want to hear songs all the time, but there are times when I want to hear news, or listen to talk radio.   But if you want that, you have to listen to a barrage of commercials every 15 minutes.  I can’t stand it!  But then, if you pay attention, you will be happy, healthy, and wise!  There’s commercials for beating the stock market, curing prostrate cancer, and of course one for E.D.  They even call it Prolixus!

My daughter, Kari, had a baby girl recently and her name is Payton.  It is totally unbelievable that my little girl had a baby.  26 years ago, Kari was born at 1lb 12 oz.  Her odds were 2% that she would even live.  Totally unfreakin believable.

Miss Payton

Only 7 more weeks until the Denver Marathon.  This past weekend was tough on me.  I had to do a 20 mile run, and my group did a very hilly trail run.  Number one, I hate trail runs. and number two, it was hilly.  Hence the hilly trail run.  I think I walked 3 miles out of the 20, and 2 days later, my shins are pretty sore.  It’s a good thing this is a recovery week.

Yes, I’m back

Published May 1st, 2010 in wedding, Cherry Creek Sneak, Platte River Half, Kari, Jason, Michael, North Carolina | 2 Comments »

Ok, I know I suck because I haven’t written in like forever.  For some reason, I don’t feel creative anymore, and it is tough to get motivated to write more that a couple of sentences.  I’ll try harder though.

I ran the Platte River Half Marathon last month, just 3 weeks after my marathon.  I was recovered from the marathon, but not close to being trained for the half.  I ended up at 1:56:07, which wasn’t all that bad.  I did take a few walk breaks because my knee started hurting.  I was 15th out of 43 in my age group, and if I was a chick, I would have come in 2nd in my age group!

My next run was the Cherry Creek Sneak, which I had previously vowed never to run because there are sooooo many people.  I mainly ran it because it was promoted by Runners Roost, of which I am on the race team for.  There is a 1 mile run, a 5K run, and a 5 mile run.  I did the 5 miler.  Leading up to this race was the fact that I had been sick again.  Diane thinks I have allergies,of which I have never had before.  I believe she is correct!  When I got to the race, I hooked up with other Runners Roost race team members, and we decided to take off for a “warm up run”.  Yeah right.  Their warm up pace was faster than my race pace!  After a little while, I faked the fact that I had to tie my shoes, so they took off without me.  Thank goodness!  So I lined up with the many other million runners at the start, shoulder to shoulder.  My mistake here was I was about in the middle of the pack, and when we started, it was like an episode of the Keystone cops.  Everybody was running every which way and it was hard to maneuver around.  I weaved in and out for about a mile and a half, and I was exhausted.  I was running at the pace I wanted to be at the start, but all the bobbing and weaving left me with no energy.  The last 3 miles were not pretty!  I ended up at 42:35, which was 26th out of 103 in my age group, but it was 3 minutes slower than I should have been.  Oh well.

Next  weekend my son Jason is getting married in North Carolina.  This makes it all 3 kids that are married now.  My daughter Kari is expecting her first child in August, and she already knows it’s a girl.  Micheal has his 1 year anniversary this month.  It seems like yesterday they were all just kids themselves playing football in the front yard.  Time surely does fly.

Merry Christmas

Published December 25th, 2009 in MRI, Miles, Kari, Jason, Multiple Sclerosis | 1 Comment »

It amazes me that it is not “politically correct” to say those words because you might offend someone.  I bet all those people are not offended about getting a paid day off from their employer every year.

Catching up on a few things.  I had my MRI and met with my MS doctor last month.  The MRI showed no new lesions and the option was on the table to either continue taking my medication, or to stop taking it all together.   Going in I was thinking that I wanted to stop taking the medication, but I guess I chickened out.  What if I stopped and then things got worse?  Is it the medication that is working so well, or just the fact that things aren’t going to get any worse for me?  I hate the injections, but I hear that in the next few years there will be an oral medication that I will be able to take.  I might as well just keep on doing what I’m doing.

I still haven’t decided what my next marathon will be.  Jason and I still want to hook up and do one together, but he was diagnosed with an inflamed IT band.  So his running has been curtailed a bit.  If we don’t run together, I may do The Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach.  I’ll have to see how my training goes as well.

My daughter Kari announced yesterday that she is pregnant!  Yikes.  I’m happy for her and her husband, but then again I don’t want them to struggle financially.  They are both still paying off their college loans, and most of us all know that having a baby ain’t cheap.  Heck, having a dog isn’t cheap, and they have 2 of those.  Speaking of which, my dog Miles has been a big drain financially.  He got his side ripped open awhile back (about a 12″ gash) and had to go  to the hospital.  He ended up getting stitches and staples, but after a few days it got so infected that they had to remove the stitches and staples, and leave the wound open for a few days.  So then he got stitched back up and everything seems fine.  But then he got some eye infection, then he got another parasite.  It’s always something with that boy.

My lame excuses

Published December 14th, 2008 in Rock and Roll Marathon Arizona, Miles, blak lab, knee, Kari, Michael, Diane, training, Jason | 1 Comment »

Wow.  I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve written anything.  No real excuses, but I do have some that I will share with you.

After the half marathon I ran, my daughter Kari got married 2 weeks later.  The ceremony was in Florida on Sanibel Island and it turned out great.  There were just a handful of people that came to it since most friends and family are from Michigan.  The ceremony was on the beach right at sunset, and the weather that day turned out perfect.  I was there for 4 days and most of the time I hung out at the beach with my boys Jason and Michael.  Of course we all ate and drank too much and I only got one run in.  I needed to go 18 - 20 miles, but all I could do was 14.  Possibly too much drinking the night before.

We now have a new addition to the family.  His name is Miles and he is a Black Labrador.  Diane and I got him when he was 6 weeks old, so he is for sure a handful.  He eats like he’s never eaten before, and chews up everything.  He’s 10 weeks old now and almost potty trained.  I guess that’s not too bad when you consider it takes 2 years to potty train a baby.  I’m looking forward to the days that we can go running together (hence the name Miles), but for now he sniffs and eats everything along the way when we go for a walk.

My training for my next marathon, the Rock and Roll Phoenix Marathon, is not going well.  I re injured my knee on a run 2 weeks ago, so I had to miss almost 2 weeks of my training.  I was scheduled to do 22 miles last weekend, but I ended up just working out on the elliptical machine at the gym.  I ran 14 miles yesterday, and although my knee is sore, it feels okay.  I will attempt 20 miles next weekend and see how everything feels.    It’s 5 weeks until the marathon, and I have some ground to make up, but I can’t be too aggressive in my training for fear that I hurt my knee again.

Well that’s my story,and I’m sticking to it.  I will try and be more diligent in my writings, and actually try and make it worthwhile reading.

What Happened to Fall?

Published October 11th, 2008 in knee, Denver Marathon, OBX Marathon, Kari, Michael, marathon, Jason | 1 Comment »

I think last weekend it was 75 degrees and sunny.  Today it’s 40 degrees and raining.  I’m not sure what the rest of the week will bring, but it’s crazy.  I’m sure it’s global warming and them damn Republicans.  In fact, I think I heard that it was Governor Palin who was shooting holes in the ozone with her shotgun.

I signed up today to do the Denver Marathon which is next weekend.  Since I’m still “recovering” from my knee injury, I’m doing the half marathon and doing this as a training run, and not a race.  The most I’ve run since June is 10 miles, so this should be a good test for my knee.  I hope that the weather is better this year.  Last year it was 34 degrees and raining.  I was miserable.

Then in 4 weeks is the Outer Banks Marathon, of which I’m doing the half with I think my 2 boys, Jason and Michael.  I hear that Michael may bow out because he hasn’t been training at all.  I think that he didn’t want to get beat by the old man.

Not to be missed is my daughter Kari’s wedding in 6 weeks in Sanibel Island, Florida.  That should be fun except for the part where my ex and her family will be there.  I plan on hiding out until it comes time to give Kari away.  Then when that’s done, I run into the gulf where I have a speed boat that is straight out of Miami Vice waiting for me.  I speed away as fast as I can and as far away as I can.  After that my plan is kind of fuzzy.  I’ll either end up in Mexico or Cuba.

What a Week!

Published May 10th, 2008 in Kari, marathon, Michael | 2 Comments »

Things are going too fast, spinning out of control, I can’t keep up with things, I suck.

Next thing you know is, I’m going to wake up and it’s the morning of my marathon.  What seemed like at one time a long, long way away, is now right on top of me, and it’s feeling heavy.  In one way, I’m glad it’s here and I can’t wait, but on the other hand, I want a couple more weeks to prepare.  But as one great philosopher said, “It is what it is”.  I will do the best that I can and I’m glad that I’m able to do it.  There are so many people out there with MS who need a wheelchair to get around, and here I am complaining about not being totally ready to run 26.2 miles.  What a dolt.

My youngest son Michael, announced  this week that he and his girlfriend Heather are engaged.  To each other no less.  I’m sure everyone who knows them are not surprised.  They have been shacking up now for 4 years and I guess that they decided to make it official.  No date has been set, but it will be sometime next summer.

My daughter FINALLY graduated college.  I think she breaks the record for the most number of years in college to get an associates degree.  I believe that all total she went to college for 6 years to get a 2 year degree.  Actually she was there for 4 years before she decided to can her one degree she was after.  I’m sure it will come in handy down the road sometime.  Yeah, that’s it.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Wings and Pistons are in the playoffs and are doing well.  The Tigers are up and down, but the good thing is that they are in a weak division.

This week will be more rest and less running as I wind down for the marathon.  I am getting a massage, which will be great, and I promise to go bed early.