Fall 2010

With the fall season approaching, there's so much to share!!!

First of all, we're adding two sites to Jackson County, one in Independence and the other a Girls on Track in Raytown.  At the same time, we'll be keeping our 7 other existing sites.

We are also in the process of expanding. Instead of just Jackson County, we will soon be Greater KCMO and include both Platte and Clay Counties. Hard to believe that just 3 short years ago we were becoming a council, and started that first season with just 6 girls. Now, we'll be in 3 counties with hundreds of girls.

We are also establishing our 5K's. We've partnered with KC Running Company (who brings you awesome events like Rock the Parkway, Love to Run and many others) to help us take our 5K's to the next level.

This fall we'll be running down Main Street in Blue Springs. Competitive Runners will start at 8 am and the girls will start at 8:10. We'll be giving medals to top finishers!!!  

Our fall season starts August 23, so sign up today (while cost is only $50).  Oh, and if you're wanting to run the 5K, you ought to go ahead and sign up for it to. Only $15 RIGHT NOW. Check out www.jacogotr.org for sign ups to both events.

9 weeks to go

The countdown is on, I have 9 weeks to raise $1200 and to get mileage and speed up.  I am sure I can do both. However, I obviously need your help with the fundraising piece. Please consider giving a donation of $10 or more to support my SoleMate quest. What does your money do???

Quick example: We have 83 girls signed up for GOTR this spring. Of those girls, half are fully scholarshipped in at our "closed" sites in the urban core. Now, where does that money come from to pay for the girls? You guessed it - SoleMates is our number one funding source for cutting costs and providing scholarships.

Donate NOW! See how easy I made it for you!!!


On to the training. My goal is to drop about 20 pounds for this event. Being lighter will help me run faster and avoid injury. I've made 3 significant changes to my diet and have dropped 5 of those 20 pounds in the last 2 weeks. 


1. Drink WATER - just check out my profile pic on FB and all my water posts to know this is true.
2. No cream in my coffee. I'm still drinking my coffee every morning, just cut out all that sugar and calories the cream added.
3. Cut out chips.  By far the hardest!! However, I've replaced chips with Wheat thin chip like crackers. I believe the factor with these are that while I'm making lunch, chip bag is not open and I'm not eating and eating and eating chips.  (We've gone from 3-4 bags of chips a week to maybe 1.)


These are pretty simple changes and have huge results. Does this mean I'm planning to do these things forever? Mmmmm, the water is probably a good thing to keep up with, the cream I'm learning to live without. Chips, well, maybe doing portion control will be a better alternative. But while I'm training, YES!!!!  I can live with these three things!!!!

Week Two - Done

Hey, I did run three miles on Friday, they were slow, but they were a run.  Foot feels so much better, I look forward to more miles and a quicker pace this week.

My goal for race day to improve speed is also to cut weight. As you know, I've been carrying Big Jug all around town including the zoo. At the same time, I've decided to give up cream in my coffee. I'm switching to splenda and skim milk. I'm also giving up chips - UGH!!! No chips for 2 months. I'll live, it's only 2 months.

With both my online and offline donations, I'm at $285, very close to that $300, and with a more than 2 months, I've got plenty of time to hit my ultimate goal of $1500.

Remember, it's easy and safe to donate on line, every little bit helps! Help support my efforts and GOTR.

Katie's Visit

I'm taking a break from my solemate entries to share with you the last few days.  First of all, I want to say, my brain is so full of stuff, I'm not even sure where to start or how this will go, so bear with me as I try to capture this moment, you know me, I'm a talker, chances are this is going to be really long. . .

Let me back up to last summer.  David and I hit the 10 year mark with a bang, and not in a good way. David moved out for about a month which forced me to reevaluate my life and the direction I wanted to go.It was during that month that I first met Katie.  She was this young, 23 year old, passionate kid who was running across the country to inspire people to live their passion.  Hearing her message spoke deeply to me.  My passion at that time came down to two things, my kids and my Girls on the Run. My GOTR included my board president, Emily who has been a big part of my life since the seed of GOTR was planted in Jackson County. She came over and helped me redecorate my house, ok, helped is not accurate, she redecorated for me. She and my vice president, Sarah, sat with me into the wee hours one night on Emily's roof top over looking the city while we talked about my future. My SoleMate coordinator, Aimee, came to my house and sat with me letting me vent, cry and whatever else needed to happen. Through that process, our friendships were strengthened and my commitment and passion for this program grew.

And then came Katie.  She brought such joy with her and such determination, I took from that and realized I would be OK. I had great friends, a great organization and wonderful kids. And eventually, David came home. He saw the changes in me and realized that I too had changed. That I wanted more in life than just getting by.

The last year has been one of the toughest in my life, but it's also been one of the most rewarding. I've gotten to do some pretty cool things and meet some pretty fantastic people, and I've gotten to restore my marriage.

The last few days, Katie has been in town, staying at my house.  Being around her reminds me of how much I love GOTR. Thursday she and I took a trip to Fairmount Elementary School, one of our sites.  One of the most rewarding parts of GOTR are the stories. Seeing them unravel right in front of my eyes, watching and listening to the girls, seeing the difference GOTR is making.  And so, Katie spoke to these girls. She asked them what their passions were.  One girl said, "I want to be a model, but that won't happen." Katie took that opportunity to tell her that she could do anything she wanted. ANYTHING!!!  Then it was time for the work out piece of the day, the girls clung to Katie, holding her hands, standing only a few feet away, just being near her.  As I watched, I could only smile. I knew what they were feeling.  Wow, here's this amazing person who has an incredible message, and she thinks I'm cool enough to hang with, AND she believes in me.

When we left, I asked Katie if that was pretty typical, "Do all the kids take to you like that?" I was not surprised when she said, "Yeah." Of course they do, adults do too, she's just that kind of gal.

Yesterday was a blast! It was beautiful outside, and we spent most of it outdoors, playing baseball, going to the park, riding bikes, hanging out.  And then she cooked us dinner. AHHHHH!!!!!!

This morning we woke up with a blanket of snow. We all new it was coming, but we were hoping it would pass or the weather folks were wrong, they weren't.  Oh well, off we went to Loose Park, where over 30 people showed up in the freezing cold snow coming down kind of day to meet Katie. Several of us had met her this summer, but for others, it was their first meeting. Nearly all the coaches showed up, including the Pave Your Lane coaches.

Wait, I guess I skipped that part of all of this.  So, while Katie was running across America, she was raising money for GOTR.  At the end of the run, she sent us a check which allowed us to open a site at Imagine Renaissance Academy (located at 17th and Hardesty). Because of her efforts, 15 more girls this season are touched here in Jackson County.  This legacy will continue as we add more Pave Your Lane sites in the fall and spring!

And now, she's gone. Off to Trenton, MO and eventually back to Chicago on April 1. I miss her already, and I will cherish our time together. She reminds me of the importance of what I'm doing and of why I'm doing it. And she reminds me of the passion my board has, how amazing they are and how blessed Jackson County is to have such fantastic women passionate about this organization.

Running today

went pretty well, .25 warm up, then 5.5-6.0 run for 2.5 miles (average 5.7 according to Treadmill, so 10:34) then .25 cool down.  Total of 3.0 miles done.  Foot is not grand, but not bad. Waiting to see how much I raise for SoleMates between now and 10 pm before I decide what tomorrow will bring. For every $10, I'm running a mile.

Want to up my mileage for tomorrow? http://www.active.com/donate/SoleMates2010/slea1 .

Also, learned that guys get a really cool shirt if they do solemates, not girly pretty like mine!  If you're a guy and you're interested, you should totally do Solemates, the fundraising goal is only $262 (unless you're a maniac like me - $1500)

WATER LOGGED

Week 2, Day 1: Yesterday I said I'd start hydrating.  Today you could see me around town with monster water jug.  Look at this thing, it's huge!!!!

.  Celebrating that I got one of these big jugs down. All I can say is thank goodness for lemons!!!!

I'm thinking of doing a flat stanly with the water jug, where will it turn up next???  Keep hydrating while having fun, I always say, not always, but will start now!

Thinking I will make this one profile pic on FB, why not??  It's my new best friend.

Week One - complete

Training: On February 14, I hurt my ankle.  I've spent the last month resting it, using non-impact cardio machines like AMT and elliptical, but not running.  Yesterday, was my first day of "running."  Running being a totally subjective term.  I went a total of 1.65 miles at 5.0 - 6.0 pace, and walking every half mile.  However, the foot feels good, and today I was able to run a total of 2.0 miles without walking in between. Pace was still between 5.0-6.0, but foot still feels good.

Fundraising: Over the past week, I've used my facebook account to begin encouraging people to donate to GOTR. In one week, I've raised $210, enough to convince me to up my goal from $1000 to $1500.  That money will be enough to fund 2 inner city sites for one season or one site for an entire year. http://www.active.com/donate/SoleMates2010/SLea1 takes you right to my fundraising page.  I'm encouraging everyone to give at least $10.  Every dollar counts in an organization like GOTR of Jackson County!

Perks: Yesterday I received my welcome box to SoleMates.  My $26 registration fee got me a lot of goodies!!!  First, notice how cute welcome box is, tennis shoe box with footprints on it - ahhhhh.








In the box was a bunch of really fun loot, my favorite being the singlet.  There's also a training manual for half and full marathon. . .gets me thinking maybe October will hold the KC half marathon for me.  We shall see.

Besides my foot, the biggest struggle I'm facing right now is the weather, the long winter, and the extra pounds I've picked up to drag me down.  So, starting this week, my first priority will be to hydrate with water.  If you know me at all, you know I do not like water. However, yesterday I picked up some lemons at the grocery store, got my HUGE cup out of storage and will start downing at least one big cup of lemon water a day.