Friday, October 29, 2010

A weekend full of team spirit

After a successful trip to the endocrinologist last Friday (SUMMARY: It turns out I have both Graves and Hashimoto's diseases - both types of auto-immune thyroid disorders - which is why my levels are all over the place), I went on to have a really fun weekend here in Ithaca. The doctor gave me a new prescription for propanolol (a beta-blocker medication) to lower my crazy heart rate to more normal levels, and so I was able to run in a 5K race for the Finger Lakes Cancer Resource Center on Saturday. Several of the people in my church book club formed a team to run this race in honor of the people in their lives that battled/survived cancer, and it was my pleasure to be a part of both their running and fundraising efforts.

Here is a picture of our team before the race. Our team was called Team Millennium Falcon, and I was so excited that we had a Star Wars theme because I found a really cute Lego Star Wars shirt in the boys' section of Target! My character was R2D2.

After the race! This was my first 5K race since I used to competitively race in high school and college, and I have to say that it was interesting to line up at that starting line again. So many Saturday morning memories! When the gun went off, I immediately zapped into "race" mode and for a brief second, I wanted to run ahead of my teammates in order to see what kind of a time I could run after all of these years away. I am so glad that I got over this and chose to pace my teammates toward their goal of finishing in under 45:00 instead. I am sure that my time would have been terrible/disappointing in comparison to what I used to be able to run, and more importantly, there was something really special about motivating people who had never finished a 5K before to keep the pace. Ironically, it was my slowest finish that I have ever had - 35:25 - and yet, it is also one of the finishes I am most proud of. Everyone that ran in our group ran the entire time, and we had a lot of fun along the way using our trusty lightsaber to guide us to our next milemarker!
On the next day, David and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Pittsburgh vs. Miami game. I was so excited to go to watch the game that I almost forgot to put shoes on!

It was a close game, but ultimately the referees decided to hand the victory to my Steelers. (Thank you refs - your check from the Rooneys is in the mail I am sure...) During the game, we also did the Blazin' Challenge, which we have been wanting to try since we started going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch football games. In this challenge, you have to eat 12 Blazin' wings (the hottest wings there) in 6 minutes without any drinks or napkins. Both David and I accomplished this task (I ate them in 5:53, and David in 5:18), but our victory was bittersweet because the Blazin' wings absolutely destroyed our digestive systems for the rest of the day.

This weekend = low key. We have tons of leftovers to eat, Rescue Me episodes to watch, and Red Dead Redemption quests to complete! :) Oh, and of course we will hand out yummy Halloween candy to any cute kiddos that come by our door on Sunday. Happy Halloween to all!

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