Boston 2013

I wasn't sure I was a runner until Monday. I woke, took kids to school, and came home quickly to live stream the elite finishers. I've always known there was a marathon in Boston. I couldn't tell you when it was, until now. Because I'm a runner. I watched the women finish and I cried and felt a surge of emotion I'd only known at finish lines. I want to be able to have that stride, that form, that strength. I watched the elite men finish and was awed by the power. Then I went to lunch. Upon returning home my phone was buzzing with texts and facebook messages. Something had happened. Explosions at Boston. My youngest daughter had been watching live stream on the news at school. She texted, she was glad I wasn't there, she was scared. I went inside and found coverage immediately. I checked FB, and Twitter. I knew 4 people who ran that day. All 4 were unharmed. Shock, anger, disbelief, hurt and sadness, all this circled inside me. I cried. I felt lost. I felt scared. In the next few hours, all that filtered into desire, a two-fold need. 1. How to help, I contacted the Red Cross and donated blood. The next part will take me, I'm committing now, 2 years. I will run Boston in 2015. This is no simple statement. I have to qualify. It's a full marathon. And to add perspective, the elite women are 1.5 hours faster in a FULL marathon than my current half marathon time. My next race is May 5. The OC Half Marathon. It's going to mean a lot more to me, because now I know. I am a runner. To the running family, we are that, a family. My love is with each of you directly affected by the events. Let's run.

This past Monday we took Drew back for another test at the Psychiatrist. Same deal as before. Take the meds, wait an hour, take the test, see if results are acceptable or not. Well, Drew showed he was done. He had a meltdown before the test. Then refused to take it. This is a boring computer test. It's not designed to be entertainment, but it's also painless. After 2-1/2 hours of trying to wait him out to calm down, regroup, etc. we decided to go back the next day and try again. When we discussed this with the Dr. his response was not expected! Instead of agreeing and trying to talk with Drew about it. He spoke gruffly to Drew about cooperation and involvement. Then closed the file folder and suggested strongly to us that we find an intensive 30-60 day residential treatment facility for him. WHOA! Initially while heartsick, I considered it. I mean, he is a doctor. We left, to do research on facilities, etc. I made phone calls. Initially looking for someplace that would take Drew. Not too many places accept kids under 16. Thanks to Sharon at St. Joseph's I was referred to UCI's Autism Center of Orange county. Well, they have a 4month wait list. That won't work. So, they sent me to Help Me Grow, a referral organization. After a 20 minute phone call I had several phone numbers. I called the first choice on the list. It's not a residential it's just a new Dr., but it's a group, the Psychiatrists work in tandem with therapists that do "talk therapy" and "behavior counselling", After a brief chat with them, confirming insurance contracts, and we are set with an appointment. The more I thought about the first Dr.'s response the more disturbed I was. Drew wasn't violent, his grumbled statement of wishing he could blow up the place than take another test fits a frustrated ADHD/ODD/Anxiety 10 year old boy. It was not said with intent to action, it was said with frustration. There is a difference! And as a Psychiatrist, isn' he supposed to HELP people through ALL the issues that are a part of this diagnosis? So, the adventure continues. In the meantime, I called the Pediatrician to let him know what's happening. He was shocked too.  I've also talked to Drew about Monday, and how the Dr behaved and how it made ME feel and asked him about his feelings and he doesn't like him. (DUH). So he's just as happy to not go back as anyone. Really hoping this next try is successful!!!!

The ADHD Adventure

Today I'm sharing the adventures of my Son, now 10, who at 5 was given a diagnosis of ADHD. That diagnosis came from his pediatrician and was accompanied by a prescription for a med commonly used to treat the symptoms of ADHD. Being a bit in the dark on how it all works, and well, I'll admit it now, ashamed of the whole situation. I took the prescription gave the meds as directed and called it happy. I did no research, I did no after care, besides every 3 months going for a weight check. Side effect of the meds is loss of appetite. He's already thin, so this doesn't help. We were sailing along the not so smooth seas of life, but no one knew about the tantrums, outbursts, threats or fears that were part of the "behind the scenes" of our life. So all was well enough. Then, something happened. I'm blaming hormones. A few months ago he started having outbursts at school. Threatening violence, attempting to provoke others into fights. Still, nothing outward violent against others. Yes, you guessed it, the other shoe dropped. In a 10 day span, that included 3-1/2 days out due to suspension he kicked,bit or hit others, and threatened the type of violence that brings in police, at school. The escalation to violence outside the home forced my hand, if you will. We saw the pediatrician for a referral, and shortly after began the process of diagnosis and treatment for my son with a Psychiatrist. It is ADHD. As it turns out, those 4 little letters mean A LOT more than can't sit still and focus at school. I'm now a google and wikipedia expert. In the last 10 days we have assessed that we are dealing with severe ADHD, with mild OCD, and Anxiety.  The Psychiatrist we are seeing specializes in kids with ADHD, and uses something called the TOVA testing for medication dosing. Basically, we started out on no meds, Drew took the test (it's a computer thing), and we got our baseline, then we started with 5mg of a medication. No change in testing, so we tried 10mg, no change in testing. We went back a day later with a different medication, no change in testing. We've done this 5 different times, no change. The cognitive level the test shows, my DS shouldn't be able to tie shoes, which he does, let alone read, which he does. So what's the issue. Today, in discussion of the latest results a conversation between Drew and Doc it became apparent that Drew is "blacking out" or "zoning" during the test. We will test again Monday with a selected dosage of  meds, if the results are the same, we will go for an EEG. The suspect, petit mal seizures. No, really, that's not frightening at all. Sigh.

Beating the clock

Saturday I ran the Rose Bowl Triathlon in Pasadena. My last 2 races I was in the 2 hour 15 minute range. I wanted to beat 2 hours today. I'm still slow on the run, my split was 46 minutes and change. I look forward to breaking the 30minute 5k mark. My legs and lungs need to learn to work together better. This race it was all about the bicycle. I've been practicing my gears some. Not enough for smooth automatic transitions. But, enough that I knew to go to smaller gears for hills and larger for straight / down hill. My previous split for the bike was just over an hour. Today I broke the 1 hour mark! My transition from run to bike wasn't too bad. My transition from bike to swim was a sad 4 minutes. My legs were pissed at me. I'd pushed the bike hard. My swim was a respectable 5 minutes 37 seconds. My total time? Yes!!! 1 hour 54 minutes and 2 seconds 1:54:02) I'm a happy camper!!! And to any who heard any of "those" words I mumbled on the bike course hills, I apologize. ;)

Running, how it all began

This post is dedicated to my dear friends Stephanie, and Joe. For it is because of them that I am able to shamelessly brag that I have in 6 months, run 3 5K's, 4 half marathons, and 3 Sprint Triathlons.
It all started in August of 2012. I watched on Facebook as my friend Joe finished a half marathon at Disneyland. He posted fantastic photos, and made me dream of being able to do that. At the time, I was unhealthy. My weight was a serious issue. My asthma was aggravated by the weight, and my heart was not liking the extra meds for the asthma. All in all I was a mess. I kept trying the gym, but it's a scary place for skinny people or body builders. I am neither. 
Fast forward about a year, and I've now become friends with Stephanie. She's an amazing person, who has through running, lost a lot of weight and become very healthy. I truly, deeply admire her. In August of 2013 she challenged me to do a 5K at an event that she was running the 10K. I accepted the challenge and began using the C25K iphone app. I run/walked the race and finished with a respectable 48 minute time. Not too shabby for a girl who couldn't carry a laundry basket upstairs 3 weeks earlier. A week goes by and Stephanie reports that she has strep and can not run the Long Beach half marathon. I take her bib and do it in her place. I have 2 weeks to prepare. That is NOT enough time. But, I am a determined person, so I just do it. I ran portions, and walked more, and in the end I finished in 4 hours and 42 seconds. My Goal was 4 hours. I'll take it! I succeeded and didn't die!!! I also fell in love! I wanted to do more. I wanted to do better. So I signed up to run the Tinker Bell half. It has a 5k the day before. Why not? It's a fun run/walk. Done. I walked the entirety of it. My finish, a respectable 3:36, I was doing it!! In between those two races I decided I wanted to try a triathlon. But I knew I couldn't do THOSE distances. So I found Sprint triathlons. 5k run, 15mile bike ride and a 250 meter swim. In December I finished my 1st triathlon 2 hours 30 minutes. Not too bad. I didn't finish last. But I was close to last. But I finished!! Somewhere between that and running Tinker Bell I found an app that gives me dates and places of local runs. Between that and my friends I found more races. I'm now 3 races away from completing an amazing, to me, 4 half marathons, 4 5k's, and 4 triathlons in 6 months. I have become a runner and a triathlete. My last half marathon, I broke the 3 hour 3 minute wall. My time was 3 hours 27 minutes. My next race is in 4 days. Another triathlon. My goal is to be under 2 hours. I'll let ya know how I do.

Returning to blogging

I'm going to give this blog thing another try. While I will continue to post about my kids and the fun and silliness that is being the mom of 4. I will also be writing more about a new personal journey. I'm now a runner. I started walking in August 2012. In September I ran my 1st half marathon. In December I ran my first Sprint Triathlon. I hope you'll enjoy the adventure with me.
-Jen

Lessons Learned

Things I've learned recently.

A child with any level of curiosity in a car with electric seat adjustment AND an in dashboard GPS will NOT be able to focus on homework.

Dogs can "talk" it's not speaking as we do, but there was no denying the noises Bella made the last two days when she had her sweater put on and was leashed to go for a walk with Trudy and I. (note to self, walking the dogs is good for them too!!)

Children, when properly motivated can accomplish just about anything!!! While steadily improving Tori has never been a super academic student. Then we started horseback riding classes. She presented me with ALL her homework finished and ready to turn in, forms to be signed and a written list of needs for science class before the lights out panic attack!

Having no dirty clothes does not mean the laundry is finished. Sigh, I'm about to go fold and put away a lot of clothes!!! I'm also going to go through my son's clothes. He'll forgive me. Someday.

Eating for health can taste good, it just takes a little more time to plan and prepare. I'm learning to cook from scratch and really loving it!