blogging

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The Versatile Blogger Award

I was tagged by AJH at Age Groups Rock with The Versatile Blogger Award.  The rules are to share 7 things about yourself.  Then to tag 15 people.  If you have been following me for awhile you may know the 7 things I am sharing but here goes.

1. I started running in April 2008 at the age of 55!! Since then I have run 72 races.  In January 2011, I ran my first of 5 half marathons.

my first half in Naples, Fla.

2. Second to running is my love for tennis.  I started playing seriously about 12 years ago.  The best thing about tennis is the friends that I have made.  Now we do lots of things together that doesn’t even involve playing tennis.

group photo wtih our instructor Billy Bob

3.  My first profession was that of a French teacher.  I did that for 22 years.  I spent my junior year of college in Nice, France.  I love anything and everything French – art (Monet), music (Celine), food (pain au chocolat), drinks (kir), cafe au lait, Les Miz, etc.

 

4.  I play mah jongg once a week with a great group of ladies.  My favorite game, however,  is still Scrabble.

playing mah jongg by the Schroon River

5.  I love to travel.  I would do it more if I had the time and the money.  I have been to most countries in Europe (except Ireland) & Israel, Greece & Russia.  China and an African safari are on my bucket list as well as Alaska.

3rd trip to Kursk, Russia

6.  I’m a computer geek.  Luckily I went back to school and got another Masters and I have been working as an Instructional Technologist for the past 14 yrs.  Digital photography is my passion.  I never leave the house without a camera.

7. Finally, Dec 29, 2011 was one of the worst days in my life.  I fell avoiding an ice patch while out running and broke my ankle in several places.  I have a plate and screws and am convalescing still at home…. It’s a very long recovery.  The doctor says I may play tennis again but probably will not be able to run.  I say that I will prove him wrong!!  I am so glad that I ran those halfs last year,  You never know what the future will bring…..

 

I am tagging some runners who have commented on my blog recently:

Happy Running!  Tag yourself if you are reading this post & I haven’t tagged you.

 

 

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37, That’s Me!

My age?  I wish!

Marathon Training

No, I made the list of 100 Top Running Blogs for 2012 and I am #37. 

 There are so many that are better than mine that are rated lower and many great ones not even listed.  Who knows what the criteria is?  But I am grateful for the mention.

If you don’t know about this list or you don’t follow any running blogs, you should really check some out!  Running blogs are informative, inspirational, and just plain fun to read. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop. 

Some of the bloggers may even become your friends! 

Felice (The Happy Runner), Amanda (Manderz on the road...) & me

You may run races with them.

Suzy (Running on my time), Amanda & me

You may even spend the weekend with one.

me & AJH (from Age Groups Rock)

Happy Running! Bloggers, keep it going!

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Running Blogger No More?

So what does a runner post about on her RUNNING blog when she cannot run???

I thought about changing it to the “Broken Ankle Blog.” But, you wouldn’t believe how many there are?  I’ve read quite a few and they are depressing though probably therapeutic for the blogger.  Do you really want to see gross photos of my ankle as it heals or hear about all of the difficulties involved in being immobile??

I could change it to the “Recovering Runner Blog.” There are quite a few of those but every runner is different.  Every injury is different.  Everyone returns to running at a different pace. We all know that runners are impatient and healing will seem SLOW and there will be pain and setbacks.

So I decided to continue THIS blog.  I will write to keep my readers (if any continue to follow me) informed on my healing progress.  As I heal, I hope the things I do and learn about injuries like this and running will be helpful to others. I will post about running-related things and continue to support my running friends and bloggers as they run, train and race.

I may be depressed (all the time) but my posts will not be!

Happy Running! Thanks for all your “speedy healing wishes”!

 

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2nd Annual Holiday Blogger Gift Exchange

Thanks to Run with Jill for organizing this! I did it last year too. It’s fun to meet new people, pick out running gifts & of course, get gifts!

I was matched with Jenna from Corgi Pants.

This is what she got from me:

 John was matched with me (he doesn’t have a blog).  This is what I got:

It’s PERFECT! I love love love Starbucks and from the Running Warehouse, I think I’m going use the gift card toward  a running skirt.

Thanks John.

Happy Running?  Did you get any running-related gifts yet?

 

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First Annual Secret Santa Sock Swap

Thanks to Courtney for organizing this.

I was paired with Cortney from Nerd on the Run. This what she got from me:

Erica from I Run Because I Can  got paired with me.  She obviously reads my blog and got me the PERFECT gifts.  I love Gu and snowmen & Starbucks!!

Thanks Erica!

Happy Running!  Do you participate in Secret Santa gift exchanges?

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Blogging and the Holidays

my 2011 card

It’s so exciting to participate these exchanges/swaps. You get to read new blogs and meet new people (virtually).

Team Joy

Team Dasher

This one’s a secret!


2nd Annual Holiday Blogger Gift Exchange

This one’s a secret too!

Happy Running! Are you participating in any of these or other blogger exchanges?

 

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21 Things About Me

I haven’t been tagged but I have read quite a few of these so here goes nothing:

  1. I am a coffee snob… I make a latte every morning…I won’t drink instant or bad coffee.  Starbucks is my fav coffee shop.
  2. I am a cat person.  I have five.  I do love dogs but they are too much work.
  3. I hate to swim because I don’t like to get my hair wet.  I have unmanageable frizzy hair.
  4. I don’t change jobs often.  I’m on my third job & I had the first for 22 years.
  5. I hardly ever cook.  Fortunately I don’t have to now that the kids are out of house. I am lucky that my hubby doesn’t mind fending  for himself.
  6. When I do cook, I go all out.  I search out gourmet recipes online & make new complicated dishes.
  7. I love photography.  I am never without my camera.
  8. I am not very athletic.  In fact I am pretty uncoordinated.
  9. I started playing tennis in my 40’s and my tennis team came in 3rd in the nation in the 2002 championships in Palm Springs.
  10. I tried learning golf several years ago and I was really bad at it so I gave it up.
  11. My favorite board game is Scrabble.  My friends & I play it at the beach on vacations.
  12. I am hardly ever home.  I work during the day & in the evening I either play tennis, run, yoga class, shop, go to a movie or play mah jongg. (Thank God for Tivo.)
  13. I am a closet teenager.  I love the Twilight Saga, Hunger Games and have even watched 90210, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Everwood on TV.
  14. I usually run by myself because I have to squeeze it in when I can and I run so slow that it would annoy serious runners.
  15. I am very competitive.  This is why I run better in a race.  So I sign up for a lot of races. (Yeah, like 20 a year!)
  16. I am obsessive about matching my clothes.  I mean colors, brands, everything.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s work, dress up, tennis, running…
  17. I hate to clean but I hate when things aren’t tidy.  So I have a cleaning lady.  I wish I could afford her to come more often. (And I don’t want my cleaning lady to think I’m messy so I straighten up for the cleaning lady!)
  18. I have a great memory but only for numbers.  Yes, I know all my credit card numbers by heart.
  19. I love desserts.  I always look at the dessert menu first to make sure I have room.  I have even just had desserts for a meal.
  20. I love to travel.  I visited France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Austria (while in college) and since then France, Holland, Greece, Israel, Russia.  I would love to go to Alaska, the Orient, and on an African safari.
  21. I love being near the water.  It could be the ocean, river, lake… I don’t care. I find it so relaxing.

That was fun.

Happy Running! If you haven’t been tagged, just  do it. I love  getting to know more you.

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It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…

Yes, today, it is in the 30’s. It snowed yesterday and more snow is predicted for tomorrow.

So I guess it’s time to think about Holiday cards.

If you read my blog, you’ll know that I love to take pictures.  As a result, when I send holiday cards, I usually enclose one of my photos.

I think that this year, I am going to use Shutterfly to make my own holiday cards using some of my digital photos.

Once you upload your digital photos, you can create either greeting cards, calendars, invitations and even a variety of unique gifts.

Shutterfly is very easy to use. 

The problem will be deciding which of Shutterfly’s many designs to choose

and which photos taken this year to upload??

me running?

or 

me & hubby on our boat?

or

our cats?

If you’re lucky to get one, you’ll find out…

This year Shutterfly is offering bloggers a great deal. 25 free Christmas cards when you blog about Shutterfly’s Christmas cards!

 Are you a blogger?

Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

 

Happy Running! Do you send photo greeting cards? 

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My 7 Links

This was very difficult.  With over 600 posts to scour through…
 
THE GOAL
To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

THE RULES
1) Blogger is nominated to take part
2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers
5) And so it goes on!

And here are my 7 links.

Most Beautiful: Tall Mom’s 3 High Fives Virtual Race – I ran around a park during its TulipFest and posted some beautiful tulip pics.

Most Popular: The 23 Runners Commandments by Joe Kelly – I stumbled on these and I and many others could really relate to them and enjoy the humor.

Most Helpful: My Guest Post – It was written for a Blogger Exchange and I wrote about something near and dear to my heart -“You’re Not Over the Hill…Why You  Should Run… Advice for women in their later years”

Surprise Success:  It’s Monday and My Birthday – The subject of the post is obvious and it was nice to get the birthday wishes.

Most Proud:  Naples Half Marathon Report – After several years of racing 5Ks, I decided to take the plunge and run a Half Marathon!

Most Controversial: Hmmm, I don’t think I’m controversial at all…

Not Enough Attention: All of them Ha ha! or Read This If Your Feet Hurt – I wrote this about how I was quoted in Good Housekeeping magazine. I was talking about getting bunions last fall but the irony of it is that the day the article came out was when I was starting to realize that I may have hurt my foot (my current achilles problem)!

I nominate:

  1. Dutch Girls Gets Healthy
  2. The Happy Runner
  3. Canadian Runner in Exile
  4. Running On My Time
  5. Age Groups Rock

Happy Running!

 

 

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Guest Blogger

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Bloggy Post Exchange as much as I have!  I’m happy to be posting Bobbi’s running story:

Hi, I am Bobbi and I blog at zeroto26point2.blogspot.com. It’s so great to be doing a guest post for Darlene! 

SO often when I talk about my running journey, I begin with where I started running most recently in March of 2010. But really, that March was the culmination of a long road of self discovery. It’s safe to say that I discovered the Bobbi I want to be that March, but it was after a ton of epic screw ups and toxic apathy along the way. 

As a kid, I was introverted and shy. We were pretty broke as a family. There were no sports teams for me, and at the time, I was ok with that. I spent much of my time with my head in a book anyhow – I had no interest in team sports. When I hit middle school, I actually was interested in trying out some sports, but my fear stood in my way. And by the time I actually got over that fear, everyone else had been playing for a while, and I felt like I wasn’t good enough to overcome the few years my classmates had on me in terms of playing time. 

So during my freshman year, I went out for track. I figured if I sucked at it (and oh, I did) it was only on me – I wasn’t letting anyone down. I hated meets. I was a terrible sprinter. But I loved practice. And I really loved the longer distances. I only ran track the one season, but the seed was planted. Looking back, I SHOULD have gone out for cross country. But I never made the connection at the time.

Throughout college, I ran on and off, as the only “working out” that I actually enjoyed. I met my first husband my senior year, and I promptly gained a bunch of weight. We ate. We ate a LOT. His family ate. I was so unhealthy. Our relationship was so unhealthy. After a year, I left him. And I started to take back my life again.

When I met my current hubs, I started that unhealthy cycle all over again. And then we got married and nearly immediately pregnant, and I used that as an excuse to be as foolish with my food choices as I wanted to. I could kick myself looking back, but you know what they say about hindsight, right? We have 4 great kids that I’d give my life for, but I lost myself in there again. I ran a bit on and off between pregnancies, but I never managed to stick with it. Or I’d get pregnant again and quit.

When James, my youngest, was nearly 3, I finally reached a point where I was disgusted with myself. I felt awful. I got sick all the time. My cholesterol was terrible. The yo-yo dieting would take the weight off so that I could put it back on again. I needed a big change. So I registered for the Chicago marathon to be run on 10-10-10. Without having run in years. I was TERRIFIED. But elated and excited and thrilled with the possibilities! Then I got down to training.

In those first few months, I ran because I had to. To get across the finish line, it was necessary. I followed my training plan mostly. I was slow, but that didn’t bother me. I ran my first half marathon in August – the Chicago Rock and Roll half. Looking back, I didn’t race it very smartly, and I didn’t recover well, and I spent the majority of August not able to run at all. And I MISSED IT.

Somewhere along the way, running changed me. And it changed for me. It became something I craved. This weekend, I’ll repeat running the Rock and Roll half. And I know I’ll do it better. Because now? I love the run. And running loves me right back.

Thanks Bobbi for sharing!

Good luck this weekend!

Happy Running!