Days 1 and 2 of Training

Day 1 - 5/19/10

Well, yesterday I "officially" started my training for the half-marathon coming up on October 2. That sounds like a long ways a way when I say it, but when I realize I will have to run/walk 13 miles at that point, all at one time and in less than 4 hours, well.....it seems like it is right around the corner!

Last night the boys headed to the ballfield for game night while I was home doing whatever it is I always do when I am home. After a few minutes I realized the field was 1.8 miles away so I might as well start somewhere and head to the field. So, I laced up my tennies and headed out at 8:06 p.m. I was thinking I would walk for just a few minutes and then perhaps run for 30 seconds/walk for 30 seconds, run for 3o seconds/walk for 30 seconds, etc., etc., until I reached my destination. Well, needless to say that did not happen.

I walked for 2 minutes, ran for 30 seconds, walked for 2 minutes, ran for 30 seconds and then I had to look at the back of my legs because I literally thought my calves were on fire! Luckily, I did not see any flames. Whew! I actually reached my destination in 32 minutes (my goal was 30 minutes since the ultimate goal is to eventually be able to run 4 miles in an hour). Out of that 32 minutes, I ran a total of about 4 minutes. So..... I felt that was decent for my first attempt at running since 9th grade PE class and I still lived to tell about it with my calves in tact.

Day 2 - 5/20/10

Today after work I met a friend of mine for dinner. These plans were made months ago, long before I knew I would be training for a marathon on a daily basis (LOL - I still laugh at the thought of me doing this)....anyhoo, I went to dinner and enjoyed myself catching up with my friend. Didn't get home until about 9:00 and was tired. However, being the trooper I am (after all, this is only day 2 of training - I can't already be quitting - right?) I laced up my tennies and off I went. I only ended up doing 1.2 miles tonight, however I did that in 21 minutes and ran 3 1/2 minutes total....so I am thinking that is a slight improvement to last night......... and my calves only burned about half the time of last night too! Woo Hoo.

Let the training begin!

As you may or may not have heard yet, I'm training to participate in a half-marathon as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. If you know me at all, I know what you are thinking .......... "What has Tina gone and done now?"…. "That girl only knows how to run to the bathroom or to run to catch a great sale at the grocery store!"…… "Has she lost her mind?"

Well - I may have lost my mind, but at least it is for a good cause. Yes, I could have easily backed out when I learned a half marathon was actually 13 miles long! (I have never walked more than 3 or 4 miles at any given time – and never ran more than a mile and that was 20 years ago!) And sure, I could have snuck out the back of the meeting when they explained I had to collect $2,500.00 in donations all by my little ole’ self. And I certainly felt like running and hiding under a rock when they told me I would have to be in downtown Charleston every Saturday morning by 5:45 a.m. to run anywhere from 4 to 13 miles over the next five months!!! (This one almost sent me over the edge since Saturday is my day for beauty sleep!)

However, then I realized……..those patients that are suffering with Leukemia, Lymphoma and other blood cancers…..they do not have a choice to run from the problems they have to endure on a daily basis, so why should I be able to run away?

So, if you would like to make a donation to my cause and help me obtain my required donation amount of $2,500.00 it would be greatly appreciated! Hopefully I can get my fundraising achieved within the next 30 days so I can divert all my attention to figuring out how to go from running 20 feet to the bathroom to running 13 miles to the finish line!! So please, if you feel this is a great cause as I do, please don’t delay and send in your donation now! We will all appreciate it!

There are two ways you can make a donation to my cause. You can mail me your check made payable to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (or simply LLS) to: Tina Rucker, 206 Jasmine Drive, Summerville, SC 29483. Or, feel free to go to my personal fundraising website where you can make a quick, secure, online payment.

Also – if you have a family member or loved one that has or is suffering from a blood cancer, I would be honored to write their name on my race day jersey and run in their honor! Simply make sure and put a note in with your donation of their name and even a little story about them if you would like and I will be sure to bring them along with me on my journey!

The individuals who are battling blood cancers are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Stay tuned here for daily updates on my training efforts!

Tina's New Adventure

This blog started out as just a place for me to write my daily happenings, thoughts, etc. and somehow evolved into more of a business blog promoting my Stampin' Up! business. Well - I was never really good at keeping up with it for a business perspective so I am going back to my old self and using this for a personal blog.

I just recently signed up to train to run a half-marathon in order to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society so I am going to use this blog to maintain more or less a diary of how I am doing with my marathon training along with still fitting in my every day life.

I hope you will come along with me on my adventure. It is more than likely going to be a very long, interesting and probably embarrassing ride along the way.

Stay Tuned!

Amethyst Birthday Wishes

Here is a birthday card I made using the On A Pedastal Stampin' Up! Stamp Set for April's Stamp Camp. The words are from Fun Fast Notes stamp set. You can't tell from the picture, however the pedastal was heat embossed with silver so it looks like a sterling silver cake plate. Colors used were Almost Amethyst and So Saffron. My Stamp Camp girls do not like to venture off of the standard size cards and I get tired of making the same ole, same ole sizes, but this time I made this a top fold card on the shorter edge which was different than I had done in the past. I thought it turned out pretty cute, although very simple.

Thanks for looking.

Tina

Upsy Daisy Birthday Wishes

Here is a card I designed for one of my past Stamp Camp Card Classes. I, along with my "regular ladies" at camp, just LOVE the Tempting Turquoise cardstock so there is always at least one card every class that uses that color! This is a very simple and quick card to put together but yet I think is elegant.

It is a top fold card with a Tempting Turquoise card base and then white cardstock. That's it! I tied off the image with some white grossgrain ribbon to "fancy it up" a bit. Several ladies on my spring birthday list are getting this card! LOL It is just too quick and easy not to repeat. The stamps used are Upsy Daisy for the flower image along with "Happy Birthday" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set, which is a definite "must have set" for card makers!

Happy Stamping!
Tina

Together Forever

Are these birds just not tooo cute?!?! These little birds are from Stampin' Up!'s "Cheep Talk" set. I saw a card like this online somewhere several weeks/months ago and it has been stuck in my head ever since. Unfortunately, I dont remember where I saw it. When I figure it out, I will certainly come back here and let you know! I just love how you can imagine the little birds just running up to each other for that little "peck" on the cheek. LOL

The colors I chose are this year's "In Color" Bermuda Bay and Sun Yellow with a hint of Melon Mambo. For the center birds I used a pop dot on the girl bird so it looks like she is literally standing in front snuggling with the boy bird.

I thought this card would be cute to use for an Anniversary Card or even a casual/fun wedding card.

That's all I got for today. Spring has certainly sprung here in the lowcountry of SC so I am planning enjoying a little bit of time outside in the nice weather this weekend, but mostly will be inside crafting away for my new Etsy shop!

Make it a great weekend whatever you do!

Tina

Pretty as Peacock

I'm baaacck!! I know - it has been MONTHS since I have been on here. First excuse was because I took off creating for the holidays, but then not sure what happened! I have totally been creating new stuff since January, I just let this little blog slip away when I took on piles and piles of more stuff to do on other ventures I started. But no fear! I am back and am loaded with photos of stuff I been doing so I can post away (hopefully....I know I have said this before.....LOL)




Anyhoo - below is a card I made using Stampin' Up!'s Very Thankful set. Stampin' Up! has a stamp set every year that they promote and part of the proceeds goes to The Ronald McDonald House and this is this year's stamp set. It has four different stamps and this little peacock is one of them.

Isn't she cute? This card has a Tempting Turquoise cardbase and scalloped circle along with a hint of Close to Cocoa. I embossed the white cardstock using The Big Shot!

I'll try to post the cards I made using the other stamps in this same set later this week. If you would like to purchase this stamp set and help support The Ronald McDonald House please visit my Stampin' Up! website. This stamp set is only available until the end of May since our new catalog will be coming out and it will then replaced with another stamp set!

Happy Creating!

Tina