Very disappointed and really bummed

So Chandra and I have been working hard (her even harder ) for about a month now on planning this huge event. We had so many people tell us that this Bunco Fundraiser would bring in so much money and it was such an awesome fundraiser. We had so much interest thrown at us with so many people wanting to participate. So we started our planning. Originally we tried to get to use a room at my church. Unfortunately they were booked and directed us to other churches. But by the time they had replied to me, time was being cut short and we needed to get the ball moving and get the word out. So we attempted to do it at my place. Well, we knew we had room for 6 tables - possibly 7. So a max amount of 28 people. We knew Bunco is a well loved game and many people we knew played it. And we figured we would have more interest then 28 people. So . . .we added a second time slot. Our original buy in was $20 with all profits going directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Awesome prizes were to be won. Starbucks, lia sophia jewelry, pizza hut, TGIFridays, and much more. How could we go wrong right?

Wrong. We put the word out. We threw out between 200-300 flyers. We posted on our playgroup thinking we had support from them. We put the word out on Myspace. We put the word out on Criagslist. And so many other groups. We had interest. But as the time grew near, interest declined. We lowered our buy-in to $10. We now put our profit from $280 each (with a full house) for each time slot, down to $140 each. Ok, this sucked but we knew we would at least gain something to help us out. More then we had. How could we go wrong? This information was now in the hands of close to 500 people or so.

Wrong. Today we started getting everything ready. 3pm grew near. Nobody. At 3:15 our first person showed. Ok, we have hope. At 3:20 our second person showed. Ok, a bit more hopeful. At 3:30 our 3rd AND FINAL person showed. Yep. 3 people plus Chandra and I. Not enough to play. We had 12 definite rsvp's. Definites! I guess definite is never definite.

We had one girl give us $20 as she walked out and another gave us $10. The other was going to give us money too but we told her to just hold on to it (she's part of our playgroup - the one person who came). One of our rsvp-ers got in a car accident so she is definitly excused of course.

So today - a month in the planning, tons of computer ink used, gas used (high in these days thank you), $50 plus in food, and now I'm sitting here with an earned $15.

So how do people do it? How do you seriously get a successful fundraiser when everyone you thought supported you . . ignores you? How do those you thought were close to you and would help you out with anything, just ignore you? Frustrating????? To say the least.

back in the groove

So last night a great friend of mine offered to watch the kids while I ran. We met at Starbucks at 5:30 and headed up to Millerton Lake. Chandra (my team mate) and I went with our coaches in their car. We were suppossed to start running right at 6 but the gates weren't open yet so we had to wait out on the main road til they opened. We finally got in, stretched a bit and started our run. The first half was on road but then we hit the trails. Talk about a work out. Trying to not run in the crevaces on this narrow dirt trail was certainly a challenege. Lots of twists and turns and hills. Before I even hit the trails my thighs were starting to burn but I just had to keep going, every step hitting to the beat of my music, trying to maintain the same pace through the workout. It was do-able. I reached the half way point for the half marathoners, had my gatorade and headed back towards our starting area. It was then that I passed my coaches as they were running in with part of the group. One of them turned back and came running with me. She was telling me I'm such a strong runner (since I was leading the half marathon group by a good distance) that I should switch to full marathon. That would be great, but without enough practice time I just don't want to put my body through that. So she suggested I just run with the level 1 marathon runners for practice. So I guess next time I'm out, that's exactly what I'll be doing. After not running for so many years, it's nice ot have someone tell me I'm doing a good job. I really thought that when I started this I would be running with experienced runners and I would look like a joke. I was so self-conscious and was hoping to just meet a few new people. Luckily even the experienced runners don't make you feel like the bottom of the pit. Everyone is awesome and I am so glad to be part of TEAM IN TRAINING!!!

Tupperware Fundraiser

Well tonight I had my Tupperware Fundraiser. I had 8 fantastic friends who showed up. I'm not sure how much I made for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society yet since my party isn't closing until Monday but I'm just glad people came out tonight! I actually saw a few things I am wanting to get so hopefully I can afford it . .lol.

Tomorrow a fantastic friend of mine is getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to drive across town and watch my kiddos so I can run with the team. This will be awesome because it has been a few weeks since I had a sitter to be able to go run. We are running almost 7 miles tomorrow so I'm hoping I can do it and really hoping I don't stop to walk at all. We are running up at Millerton Lake so that should be lots of fun. I wasn't planning on running so I hadn't really prepared today. So now I'm sitting here drinking up some water and will probably have a protein bar. I did however have an instant breakfast today so that gave me some calories and other "yummy" stuff I need to survive . . lol. I will definitly be paying back this friend with a yummy Starbucks. She's gonna need one by the time I get back . .lol.

So tomorrow I'll blog again and let everyone know how I did. Oh . . better run and charge my I-Pod! Adios!

Upcoming Fundariasers!

On July 18th I will be hosting a Tupperware Fundraising party. This will be at 6:30pm at my house. 1244 E. Stuart Ave, Fresno 93710 Please rsvp at 708-8940 if you plan on coming.


Also we are hosting a BUNCO PARTY! This will be held on July 20th. Whether you are a experienced player or you have never played before, please join us for an afternoon of fun! This will be held at my house 1244 E. Stuart Ave, Fresno 93710 at two differnet time frames. Please pick a time that works best for you. We have 3pm and 6pm to choose from. It is a $20 buy-in and wonderful prizes from lia sophia, Avon, Starbucks, and much more will be awarded! Please rsvp at 708-8940 if you can come!

Another Race

Today I ran a 5K for the North Fresno Rotary. It started and ended at Fig Garden Village here in Fresno. This time I started out on a much better pace. Even though I had only a few hours of sleep (thanks to my puppy and my youngest child), I still felt like I was running good. They didn't have placings in this one like the 4th of July run, but I just wanted to get some run time in. I ran the 5K in 21:04 this time. Once again, I never stopped running. I did almost roll my ankle though on a turn. My asthma started to kick my butt though I kept it under control. So basically, I think I did pretty good this time.

Unfortunately our run team is not training in the evenings for a while and only doing mornings. Mornings, that early, are too hard for me to find a sitter. If the hubby was here it would be a problem. But a 12 year old doesn't want to come to my house at 4:40 or 5:40am to babysit. So for now I will just train on my own.

My donation page

Sorry, forgot to put in the link to my donation page in case you are visiting here for the first time. Since I am currently working HARD to raise $2800, I would love to have you help me out by making a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on my donation page. The web site is http://pages.teamintraining.org/cca/nikesf08/jsmithmzcp

Thanks!

So far in my journey

Welcome to my blog! I have transferred everything from Team In Training website to this page for easy access and updates on my life!

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1st Day of Training

I woke up thinking I was insane. What the heck am I doing??? Attempting to run 13 + miles??? It's been 14 years since I last ran and really didn't think I could do it. Today's goal was 2 miles. We did a half mile slightly downhill and back uphill again. Then took a brief rest before heading out again a half mile on a trail and back a half mile. Well, the first run I did pretty good. i was actually impressed with myself. I did the whole thing without stopping, though I did have to use my inhaler once. The second run I walked for about fifteen feet towards the end but then picked it up again. The second run I came in 5th with a time of 8:35. I was definitly impressed with myself. Though now I'm sort of sore. Oh well. It was just day one. Many more to go and I'm hoping to break my goal for raising funds as well as actually completing this race!

2nd Day

Today I took it easy and did my usual walk through Woodward Park. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is full of hills! I pushed my daughter in her stroller for the 2.2 mile loop.

3rd Day

Today I ran on my own as I must miss the Tuesday team trainings for a while. I headed out to Woodward Park but it was very windy. I ran what I could and complete about a mile and a half. I ran some hills to help build up my legs. The mile and a half was a bit exhausting due to the wind.

4th Day

Today I ran with the team. We ran the Woodward Lakes loop. I was off to a good start. We had a light rain which wasn't too bad. My asthma never bothered me at all. At about a mile into it, I got a bad side stitch and walked / ran the rest of the loop. By the end, the rai nwas coming down pretty good.

5th Day

Today I walked the outter road of Woodward Park again with daughter in tow in the stroller. It was a good walk, very quick paced.

6th Day

Today I ran around my neighborhood and completed 1.21 miles, only stopping briefly to walk. The weather was nice but my asthma started ot bother me again. I am still very excited about this race and can't wait to complete it!

7th Day

Today I ran 5 miles with the group. I hadn't ran in a while so I was impressed that I stayed up with the top level 1 runners. With all my check donations that I just sent in, I am now up to around $500 in donations. Only $2300 more to go. Please take this time to give a little if you haven't already and help me to reach my goal to help cure Leukemia and Lymphoma!

8th Day

Today we ran 6 miles. The last miles was up and a down a pretty good hill . . YOUCH! Amazingly I did these 6 miles WITHOUT my inhaler in hand. No, that was not intended. But I got halfway to training and realized I forgot it. Not as though it does any good since I haven't had new prescriptions filled in a few years. Just using up the rest of my supply. Anyhow - back to training, it was 6am and already getting hot. I walked a bit - but not far. Enough to catch my breath and move on. I'm loving this sport again and couldn't be happier! Still at the $500 or so donation level and seriously needing some fundraising. I'm getting a bit scared on how to raise the last $2300. Any help would be great!

9th Day

On this day we ran a few miles (not exactly how far) and then did some drills. Oh the drills were a killer!!! Anyhow, after the drills we ran up this very steep hill, down the road and back down another hill. We did this three times. Then ran it backwards twice. YES . . I do think we will be prepared for doing San Francisco's hills after this. After we were done with that, my knee began to give me more problems. It was bad enough running in the smokey air out there, but my knee really kicked my butt. Then we ran back to where we began and had a nice cold popsicle! YUM!! That night I got a very bad headache from the smokey air. So bad I felt like i wanted to puke. But I didn't and I made it through the day.

UPCOMING EVENTS!!!

Chandra and I are participating in the Lemoore Navy July 4th Celebration. We'll start our day by running in the 5k race at 7am. Then we are sharing a booth to sell our hand made goods. ALL PROFITS WILL GO TO our fundraising!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come and help us out! Also, we are planning a Bunco Fundraiser on July 2oth. All proceeds from this will go to our fundraising as well. There will be some awesome donated prizes so I hope you will join us! Buy in is $10!!!! Contact me for more information!

10th Day

Ok so I haven't written in a while but I thought I would catch eveyrone up a bit. Chandra and I ran our first 5K together on July 4th. It had been a while since I did a really good run so my body wasn't quite ready for it. About a mile in, I thought "What the heck am I doing?" I didn't think my body would make it that far. I just kept my eye on the white arrows on the ground hoping to make it to the next one, and the next one, without stopping. Well, I did it. I ran the whole race without stopping even once (I was so proud of myself). I took off to fast so I think that's what really killed me. Anyhow, in this race they do awards in a few different categories. Women vs Men and then in age divisions. They called my name to accept my award. Apparently I got third place in my age in the women's division. So I was happy since I didn't even think I got an award and walked back to setting up our booth. Then they called my name again. Apaparently there was a mix up and I didn't get 3rd place. Nope . . I got 2nd. Ok, wow. I didn't think I'd get anything. I just wanted to get some race time in. I was hoping to get some pics of me running but my photographer didn't show up til 20 minutes after the race. Oh well.

This weekend I have yet another race. Instead of running with the team I am doing another 5K, this time in Fresno for the North Rotary Club. My father-in-law is in this so it's going to a great cause! I will keep you updated to how that goes.

Our booth at 4th of July went well, but unfortunately not as well as we hoped. We had our daontion box out but received no donations. We had the Navy Bicycling Team from Squadron VFA 122 stop to visit and and give us encouragement. That was quite nice of them. I sold close to $100 in bows. $50 was profit so it went directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

UPCOMING EVENTS

To help support my team mate Chandra, please visit her Open House of Body Shop At Home this coming Saturday, July 12th. You can stop in anytime between 1pm and 5pm to see what they have to offer. You will have a chance to win a basket of goodies!! You will get to enjoy a spa treatment and sample their products. please RSVP at 284-4770This is being held at 5928 W. Rialto Ave, Fresno 93722

On July 18th I will be hosting a Tupperware Fundraising party. This will be at 6:30pm at my house. 1244 E. Stuart Ave, Fresno 93710 Please rsvp at 708-8940 if you plan on coming.

Our third fundraiser is a BUNCO PARTY! This will be held on July 20th. Whether you are a experienced player or you have never played before, please join us for an afternoon of fun! This will be held at my house 1244 E. Stuart Ave, Fresno 93710 at two differnet time frames. Please pick a time that works best for you. We have 3pm and 6pm to choose from. It is a $20 buy-in and wonderful prizes from lia sophia, Avon, Starbucks, and much more will be awarded! Please rsvp at 708-8940 if you can come!

ALL OF THESE FUNDRAISERS WILL GO TO SUPPORT THE LEUKEMIA AND LYMPHOMA SOCIETY!