Marathon Madness

As usual – sorry it took me so long to write this. I made up for it in length, though.

My marathon experience actually began about a week prior to the event. Our training runs had been carefully planned out, culminating in a 20 mile run scheduled three weeks before the race date. After this run, our longest practice mileage, we began what is known as “tapering”. Tapering means that after pushing ourselves and working harder than ever, we were now expected to ease up and slack off. Believe me, it sounds easier than it is. For weeks we had be running and training, building our mileage. Now we were under strict orders to ease up and our Saturday runs became much shorter. We went from 20 miles one Saturday to 10 the next, and then only 6 miles the weekend before the race. Trust me, when you’ve run 20 miles, six feels like a walk in the park. The end result is that we all ended up with tons of extra energy that we were supposed to try and conserve.

So, the week before the race, we had our final practice – six miles. It was almost a tearful event, as this would be our last official training run. After months of meeting up every single Saturday, we now faced the final days of what had become so much a part of our lives. During the days that followed, we all tried to get to bed early, drink lots of water, and only run a few miles twice a week. The tension was building and my little group (the 4-1 interval group, otherwise known as the 4-1’s) shot off multiple emails daily in our attempt to coordinate ourselves for the morning of the race.

Unfortunately for me, by Thursday of the week before the race, I began to get that dreaded feeling in the back of my throat that heralded the coming of a Cold. Desperate to avoid getting sick, I took extra care to get plenty of sleep. On Friday, I left work early (which was good, since I couldn’t really concentrate anyway), met up with Dad, and we went together to get our race packets. The Alamodome was filled with participants and vendors, and excitement was thick in the air. The next morning, I met up with my group at the Tower of the Americas for a short, inspirational run featuring Team in Training participants from all over the country. Still, I felt myself becoming more and more congested, so I skipped the team meeting and pasta party (it’s traditional and highly recommended to load up on carbohydrates the night before a marathon) and rested in bed as much as possible. I’m grateful that my family was so supportive and didn’t give me a hard time for lounging all day.

That night, before bed, I put on all my race day clothing. Our coaches suggested we get completely dressed and pin on our race number the night before. This would ensure that we didn’t forget any vital bits of equipment. We had been warned that on race day morning, it’s not unusual for folks to have the mental capacity of a two-year old. I laid out all my clothes, set my alarm, and tried desperately to go to sleep.

Just as the weather forecasters had predicted, it was chilly the next morning as Dad, Aaron and I all drug ourselves out of bed. Actually, I didn’t really drag myself out of bed; I sort of leaped up and somehow managed to get dressed all at once. After chowing down on brown rice and loading Aaron’s new bike into the car, we headed out to meet up with the other 4-1 folks. Aaron was to be our Marathon Support Vehicle and was prepared with Vaseline (for chaffing), snacks, extra Gu (like the name suggests, this is a goo which is primarily brown rice syrup, and is one of the primary fuels for long distance runners), and who knows what else I saddled him with. His directive involved parking the car downtown and biking all over creation so he could magically appear when needed.

As agreed, the 4-1 group (and my dad) met at Carla’s apartment, piled ourselves into the back of Marisela’s Expedition, and were chauffered by her husband to the start line. We were all bundled up against the cold and comparing notes regarding what we had eaten for breakfast. The general consensus was that we couldn’t believe that the day had finally arrived; we were about to run a marathon!

The San Antonio Rock and Roll marathon was such a hit that registration was finally capped at 30,000 participants. Of those who registered, about 28,000 showed. In order to avoid a crushing stampede, the organizers created starting corrals for participants based on their projected finish times. Our 4-1 group had all ended up in Corral 18, which we quickly located and waited impatiently for the race to begin. Each group was brought up to the start line about 2 minutes apart from each other, so we actually began the race about 20 minutes after the official start. The way they deal with how this affects your race time is to use computer chips which we put on our shoelaces. As we pass various parts of the course, we run over sensors laid across the road, and this way we can know our real finish time instead of just going by what the race clock says. This is referred to as “chip timing”.

Another interesting bit of trivia involves clothing. The temperature was really quite cold that morning. Several participants from Canada expressed their confusion – they were under the impression that Texas would be a warm place to race! So how does a runner stay warm without worrying about overheating once the race begins? Goodwill. Like Marisela did, you go shopping at Goodwill, buy some cheap warm-up pants and a jacket, then toss them aside once they are no longer needed. As such, once we began running, we quickly realized that the first two or three miles of the race would also be like running an obstacle course. We leaped over gloves, coats, pants, hats, and so on. I had ditched my cheap sweat pants before we even began, and, true to form, Aaron magically appeared behind the Alamo (mile 2) and I was able to tear off my jacket (which I wanted to keep) and I was able to give it to him.

Unfortunately, thus began our shortl comedy of errors. As I tore of my jacket, I tore my race number. It dangled and bounced as I ran on, irritating me beyond measure. We weren’t due for a walk break for another three minutes, so I thought I’d just try and re-attach it while I ran. This is not easy to do when you are wearing large cotton gloves. As I snapped the safety pin shut, quite proud of my moving accomplishment, I went to drop my hands by my side and realized that I had safety pinned my glove to my shirt. Needless to say, this is not a comfortable way to run. As we approached our walk break, I managed to fix it, but no sooner had I finished than Marisela tripped over something in the street and fell to her knees. I remember being horrified, thinking that there was no way I could finish this thing without my running buddy, and we were only at mile 3! Fortunately, she was scrapped up but not seriously injured and we were able to push on.

The crowds were amazing as we ran. They cheered, held out signs, offered us free beer, and gave us all their energy. I can clearly remember thinking at mile 10 that this was awesome and I couldn’t believe we had already run 10 miles. I said to my friends, “remind me of what I just said when we hit mile 20!” We ran together just as we had on many a dark Saturday morning, encouraging each other, reveling in the moment and our accomplishment as the miles flew by. At the point where the half-marathoners separated from the full marathoners, we all patted ourselves on the back and ran on. And on. And on. And on. The crowds thinned and our muscles began to tire. By mile 16 our little group had become somewhat separated. Marisela, Carla, and I stuck together though, running and walking, running and walking.

Our conversation dwindled and we focused more on just running. As I had done in our 20 mile training run, I talked to Carla and invited her into my Happy Place. Some time ago we had joked about each of us having a role: Marisela kept us on course, Carla was the cute one (no matter how tired she was, she never showed it), and I distracted people. Whatever mental strategy I was using, I’d talk about it aloud. Once, I had said I was going to my Happy Place and Carla said she couldn’t find hers. I replied that mine was big enough for everyone. So, there we were, all helping each other, running past an airport, the missions, past signs that read, “Run like the ice cream truck is going 60mph”, or “You are all Kenyans!”, and my favorite, “The pain is temporary, but finishing lasts forever”. There was even a sign that read, “I envy you.”

Unfortunately, your mind beings to waver a bit when you get fatigued, and Marisela and I somehow lost Carla around mile 18 or so. I think we began running a little faster than her and didn’t notice because we were too tired to look around us. Marisela and I had long ago discovered that we could match each other’s pace perfectly, so it was very natural for us to run together in unison.

At mile 19, Aaron found us again, minus a pedal. He had apparently had an encounter with a lawn chair, and the bike pedal lost. Nevertheless, he persevered and stayed with me from that point on. I was getting pretty tired. When I had done my two 20 mile runs in the past, I was tired by this point, too, but I think I lost my focus this time. I knew that, unlike in the training runs, I didn’t have only 1 more mile to go; I had 6. A whole hour more. My head was getting fuzzy and I tried hard not to panic. Marisela and I ran past a couple of other women from Team in Training. These ladies had obviously done this before (they were still smiling). As a way to encourage us, they shared their secret strategy: a chant – “My feet are fast, my legs are strong, I can do this all day long”. I think that managed to get me another five minutes before it was too much work to repeat it to myself over and over again.

At mile 22, I realized that I never even saw mile 21 – I guess I lost it somewhere. By mile 23, my stomach was starting to feel upset and I was forced to stop before my walk break. Marisela did her best to encourage me on, but I was feeling too sick to continue at that point and I began walking. My three goals for this race were: finish, don’t get hurt, and don’t throw up. Vomiting was not in my game plan, so Aaron and I walked until I felt better. The last three miles were slow and at times I’m not sure that my pace qualified as “running” but I didn’t really care at that point. My poor husband…I wanted him with me but I kept telling him to stop talking to me. It was just more than I could handle. Marisela had gone on, at my insistence, and Carla was somewhere behind me. I found out later that Marisela never stopped again to walk – she discovered that it was less painful to just keep going; and Carla was found by a Canadian Team in Training coach we had chatted with earlier in the race. He overheard me worrying about her to Aaron, ran back, found her, and ran with her the rest of the way.

So on I ran, trying to smile when I saw a camera…getting passed by an older gentleman who was race-walking…groaning when I realized what was waiting for me as I entered the last mile. For a reason completely unknown to all 28,000+ participants, the race organizers plotted a course that ended in a hill. If I ever thought running up hill was hard, that was before I had to run up one after running 25.5 miles. I started walking up it, but the spectators were so encouraging along the way that I finally forced myself to begin trotting again. All I wanted to was to cross the finish line, which was unseen around the corner. My feet hurt. My thighs felt like lead. My whole body wanted to be done. As I finally turned the corner, the finish line was only steps away and I passed under the cameras, not even bothering to try for a “I finished!” pose. Someone put a medal into my hand, I turned to find Aaron, and burst in to tears. After years of never thinking of myself as athletic, I had just run a marathon. There is no doubt in my mind that if Aaron hadn’t been there, I would have just toppled over.

Finally, I moved on, hobbling, dazed, and looking for lost friends. After some time, we reunited, took a few photos, tried to eat (though most of us could only choke down some oranges or smoothies), and started the trek to the car. Dad and I stopped along to way to get a combined total of 40 pounds of ice so we could soak in an ice bath. We both limped and glowed for the rest of the day and I met up with my friends the following morning so we could all share our stories and bask in our coolness. At lunch that day, several of us started talking out how we needed to start planning some get-togethers so we could train for the Austin ½ marathon in February and Marisela and I began to plot a way to run another Marathon in Seattle (in June).

So, that’s the marathon story in all its glory. Call me crazy, dedicated, or hooked; your choice, but there you have it.

Finished!

The marathon kicked my immune system's butt, so I won't write much now. I felt like I had a cold coming on the day before the race, and now it's hit me full force.

As you can see from the photo, my father and I successfully finished our first half and full marathons! It was quite the life experience, I must say. I ran for 5 hours and 14 minutes, but finished without throwing up and with no injuries, so I'm really happy with that!

More to come later...

The Day Before

Tomorrow I'm going to run a marathon. I'm going to run 26.2 miles, and it will probably take me nearly five hours. Though I run intervals (run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat), I don't think my body will care about that one minute of walking once I hit mile 20. Or mile 21. Or any mile thereafter. Afterwards, I'll cry and hug my friends, eat free food, confirm plans for a pedicure on Monday, and go home to an ice bath. Twenty minutes of sitting in icy water - I'll probably need 30 pounds this time - should just about do it. So, what am I thinking at this moment? I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I'm so excited in fact, that my friend Marisela, my father, and I have already signed up to run a half marathon in Austin on February 15th.

I can still remember when I started running, back in Nishiokoppe. Over and over I told Aaron that I just wanted to be able to run a 5K. Three miles would be good enough for me. Our friend, Nao, was married to a marathoner. I would occasionally pass her in the chilly mornings as she trained for the Tokyo marathon. Later I would shake my head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what would drive someone to run such a great distance. That all changed last November when I ran in a 5K race which preceded the San Antonio Marathon. As I watched all the marathoners run past me, I was nearly brought to tears as I thought about the struggled they would face for the next few hours, the dedication and craziness of it all. Then the thought crept into my head, slowly at first, building in intensity until I found myself sitting at home looking at the website for next year's inaugural San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. By the end of that day, I had paid my money and become obsessed with the idea of it all.

So here I am, a year later, resting before my big day. I still can't really say why I'm doing it, only that I know it's going to be wonderful and I can't wait to plan my next one. I'm met some great folks along the way: Carla and Marisela who are my perfect "pace-mates"; Speedy Tom, Veronica, April, and Katherine, and Justin - whose wife is also running and who had enough dedication to find a sitter at 5:00 a.m. every Saturday for six months! I've read books and magazines, watched Marathon movies, and risen early morning after morning. Not a single second of it have I regretted. I've never been what I would consider an athlete, but tomorrow it feels as if a journey that I began on a cold morning in Japan will take on a new life. For after tomorrow, I can officially say I'm a “Marathoner”, and to me, that suddenly means that anything is possible. If I can go from couch potato to Marathon Mom, what other possibilities lie ahead of me? Only time will tell, but I'm excited to find out.

Never, never, never give up!

Catching Up

(by the way, the main photo here was taken after my second 20 mile practice run - feel free to be in awe of us, because, yes, we are still smiling!)

Okay, okay…so I know it’s been forever since I’ve written anything. Can I, yet again, blame the crazy fast pace of our lives? I hate to say this, but I suspect that my blogging is going to be pretty consistently inconsistent for a while. However, I will endeavor to cover the past two months as best I can.

Ridge and Holt began school without a hitch. Ridge is, of course, in second grade and Holt is in kindergarten. We are extremely lucky to have landed absolutely fantastic teachers for both of the boys. Last week their first report cards for the year were sent home and I am proud to say they are doing extremely well. Ridge is reading above grade level and Holt is very enthusiastic about learning to read. He simply loves sounding out words he sees written around him.

Ridge continues to enjoy JuJitsu and even competed in an in-house tournament on Saturday (that means it was a tournament at our school). He fought well, but more importantly he had fun. In addition to JuJitsu, Ridge has also started taking weekly guitar lesson and continues to forge ahead with is Japanese school every Saturday morning. As for Holt, he is taking Hip Hop lessons every week. No matter what, we couldn’t convince him to join us in our JuJitsu lessons, but instead asked for “dancing lessons”. Both boys will have a recital in December. It should be interesting!

Aaron was finally accepted in to the nursing program at San Antonio College. I won’t go in to details, but lets just say that the red tape that goes along with getting into nursing school is a pain! He’s excited about finally getting underway, though. For him, the next two years will no doubt be busy and stressful.

As for me, my marathon day is nearly here and I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I have done two 20 mile runs and survived them both, thanks to my WONDERFUL Team in Training teammates. My friend and I have already decided on our next race (we are insanely optimistic) – the Austin half marathon in February. In addition to running, I’ve discovered that I, too, just love JuJitsu. On Saturday, I also competed in the tournament along with Ridge and Aaron.

Many of you might be aware that I began a new job this year. I’m part of what I like to call a Behavioral SWAT team. When schools are at a loss as to what to do with special education kids with extreme behavior problems, they call us. I work district wide with all grade levels to support school staff. If you find that you are just dying of curiosity, you can even go to my school district website: http://tw.neisd.net/webpages/mfelke.

So, all in all, everyone is happy and busy – but not too busy. In fact, maybe now that I’m officially caught up with my blog I’ll be better about posting more often. Cross your fingers.

Here is a sampling of pictures taken over the past few weeks. Most should be self-explanatory. There’s one that’s a little blurry – that’s me fighting Laura, the Brazilian girl who works at the Jujitsu school. The man in the photo with Ridge is our teacher, whom we call "Marra" (pronounced "maha").

Training Update

Click here, then scroll down for my marathon training update:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/stx/rnrsa08/mfelker

Dixie Dude Ranch

My mother has reminded me that I have been remiss in my blogging duties. Funny - even though we live together, she still keeps me blogging! It makes me smile.

Last month we went to the Dixie Dude Ranch, courtesy of Cindy, my mother-in-law. For Thursday through Sunday, we had fun filled days of rest, horseback riding, and (best of all, in my opinion, no cooking!). There were loads of other kids for the boys to play with, a pool to entertain them during the heat, and no shortage of delicious homecooked food served family style in the quaint dining room. Each evening we were treated to awesome entertainment. My favorite was the trick roper you see in the photos. Not only was he very talented with a rope, but he was hysterical, too! I have a lot of photos to load, so I'll just stick them all at the end of this post.

Summer is nearly over for the kids and is totally over for me. I'll begin my new job for Northeast ISD tomorrow as we enter a week of teacher preparation. I'm really excited to be working with challenging kids again, and this time I'll have a team of 10 other members with whom I'll be working! It promises to be an interesting year!

As for my boys, Ridge will go into second grade at Specht again and now Holt will join him as he is entering Kindergarten. Aaron - HOORAY! - will begin a nursing school orientation/into. class for SAC's nursing school program in October. For now, he is working hard at a new job at a dialysis clinic. It's been a challenge for him - he usually has to be at work (a 45 minute dive away) by either 4:15 a.m. or 5:15 a.m. Crazy!

On the "farm" front, we are excited to report that our chickens are now in full production. Aaron and I finally culled the flock, killing and processing (i.e. plucking, gutting, and freezing) a total of 8 roosters over the course of two weekends. We have a great flock now of 9 hens and 2 beautiful roosters. On hen, the Americana breed, is faithfully laying us one green egg everyday. Between the other 7 Plymouth Rock hens we are getting between 5 and 7 eggs every day! I'll try and get some photos of the roosters and the green eggs sometime soon.

For now, here are some shots from the dude ranch. Remember, click them to make them bigger.

Imagination Rocks!

Searching for a new game to play inside in order to escape the heat of the day, Holt and Ridge devised this way to play marbles. I thought it was quite clever! They really get a lot of use out of their pieces of play silk.

Fundraising Update

Click the link below and scroll down the page to see my latest fundraising update.



http://pages.teamintraining.org/stx/rnrsa08/mfelker

Training Photo

Here's the lastest training photo from our six-mile run last Saturday. I'm going to have to practice posing better whenever I see the photographer. I promise I'm having way more fun than it looks! This Saturday will be 8 miles. I'm actually looking forward to it. We've been running at the Mission Park, which is a beautiful place to run. When the sun starts to rise over the mission, it looks just like a post card.

On a non-training note, we took the boys to Schlitterbahn today (a waterpark in nearby New Braunfels, for those out-of-town readers). It was the first time in over three years since we've been. Needless to say, the LOVED it. We even braved a few of the rides. Holt was okay with it so long as I kept ahold of his kiddie tube (they have handles). After the first few drops and splashes, he got over his initial fear. From that point on, his face was plastered with a huge grin and he kept telling me that this was FUN!!!

Training Update

Here's a photo from last week's marathon training practice. We did five miles. It was the furthest anyone in my little "group" shown here had ever run. Since we are doing intervals, I have to say it was the easiest five miles I've done. The group I'm in basically runs for four minutes then walks for one. We do this 4 - 1 thing the whole way. It was actually good, because we ended up running an average of an 11-minute mile. Usually when I've run five miles, I've been slower. I'm curious to see how much faster I am this week since we'll be running on a flatter course.

Ever since the first day of practice (we practice at 6 a.m. every Saturday), I found myself running with Veronica, the girl right in front of me. She's in her early twenties and is a high school teacher. Next to me is Carla, who thought she would only run the half-marathon, but Veronica and I changed her mind. The gentleman in the photo is Tom. He's a hoot. He told us last week that he had some major health issues, so he lost 50 pounds, ditched his blood pressure medication, and exercises like crazy. In addition to running, he does a Boot Camp exercise program several times weekly. Apparently, after turning 65 this year, he decided he should run a marathon. We have a great time running together and I'm looking forward to meeting even more folks!

Imaginary Friends

When Ridge was about three years old, we went on a camping trip out to a cabin in Juneau. The hike back to the road after two days of camping was a bit tedious for our little boy. There was some snow on the ground, and Aaron had moved ahead of us carrying Holt in the backpack (we were a little worried because Holt had bitten his lip pretty badly while at the cabin and we wondered if stitches would be required. They weren't and he was fine). So, this left Ridge and myself poking our way back through the woods. At some point during this long walk (3 miles), Sally was born. This imaginary friend of Ridge's lasted on and off for a few months, never really manifesting to the full extent that some imaginary friends do. I think he always knew she as fake.

Today, Sally came back to visit. For some reason, Ridge decided to playfully re-incarnate her. Now, of course, he knows he's kidding, and so does Holt. I think. Sometimes I'm not sure exactly what Holt thinks. But, I'm pretty certain that Holt knows that Sally isn't real.

However, now Sally seems to have an evil twist. Ridge has learned how to manipulate his little brother using a figment of their imaginations.

"Sally," says Ridge, "Do you think that spot on Holt's leg where he is bleeding is gross?"

"Yeah," responds my seven-year-old, "I think so, too."

How sweet.

Coming up the stairs after we got home:

Holt: Where's Sally Ridge?
Ridge: She went to Joelle's house to play [a neighbor].
Holt: NO! That's not fair! I don't want she to go to Joelle's house!
Ridge: Yeah, well, that's where she is.
Holt: (screams and cries) NO! Make her come back! I want her to be here!!

Me: (thinking) Is this really what it looks like? My five-year-old is tantruming over the behavior of an imaginary friend? Wow. They don't write about this in the parenting books AT ALL. Not a word.

I've been reading this series of books called "Parenting with Love and Logic". They left out the chapter on how to use love and logic with a non-existent entity. Maybe I should write a letter to the authors, eh? I've tried to convince Holt to just create his own imaginary friend, but he's stuck on Sally, for some odd reason. Go figure.

Chicken Killer

Last week we woke to an upsetting sight - a dead chicken. The following morning, we found two more. We knew that Finn is too dumb and too slow to catch a chicken, so we figured we had a varmit of some kind. So, we were extra careful about locking the birds up at night and patched a hole in the chicken wire. Not good enough. The next morning, there were three dead chickens in the chicken coop. Aaron and Dad spent an hour reinforcing the wire and we began setting a live trap. After several nights of trying, we finally caught this big guy. I drove a few miles down the road and re-located him to a new, unpopulated area. I think we will set the trap for another few weeks, though, just in case there were a pair of them.

Marathon Training

Some of you may know this by now, but I've decided to run in the San Antonio Marathon in November. I began running about a year ago while still in Nishiokoppe and decided that I really enjoyed it. Well, I'm officially in training now - I've been to two practice sessions and I'm looking forward to increasing my distance. To date, I've never run more than 8 miles at a time, so I'm really excited to finally break into the double digits.

Since I knew that I needed to train with a group instead of simply going it solo, I've decided to join the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. This is a huge national organization dedicated to supporting folks battling blood cancers and trying to find a cure. One of the biggest ways the LLS raises money is to train folks for endurance events. In return, we commit to raise money for them. This really seemed like the best group to train with, since my family has a personal connection to Lymphoma, through Aaron's mother, Cyndi. I love the idea of running a marathon and helping others who've had to deal with the challenge of blood cancer.

Many of you who read this will be hearing from me in the future. I'd be happy to share more information about what we are doing, and, yes, I'll be asking you to support me and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with a monetary donation. I'm still in the process of writing my letters and getting my fundraising page set up. If this blog entry alone has inspired your inner philanthropist, though, feel free to visit my page and make a donation. My personal goal is to raise $2000.

Here is the link to my fundraising page. Also, if you look at my list of links on the right side of this blog, you'll see a link to my page and a link to the San Antonio chapter of the LLS, just in case you want to learn more.

Michelle's Fundraising Page

Photos

Here's a photo of Ridge and me wearing our Ju-Jitsu uniform. Many martial arts refer to this as a "gi", pronounced "gee". However, the Brazilians seem to call this garment a "kimono". Ridge's is actually a judo-style gi. Apparently, the folks at our BJJ gym got tired of waiting for the Brazilian customs officials to stop being on strike, so they ordered a few kid sizes from somewhere else. Aaron and I have the blue gi, from Brazil.

The other picture is from Holt's pre-school graduation. They had a wonderful little ceremony, complete with fake diploma.

Lately, Holt has been testing the bounds of honesty. Sometimes I really wonder where his head is at. We went to the Texas Folklife Festival yesterday and he watched a few dance groups perform. He really seems to enjoy watching people dance. Today, when my Aunt Donna come over, she asked Holt to tell her about the dancers he saw yesterday.

"We didn't see any dancers," he replied.

"Oh? Your grandma told me you saw some people dancing yesterday." Donna questioned.

"Aw, she was just joking you. We didn't see anyboy."

Hmmm. I'm really not sure I understand the way his brain is working. Oh well. It gives us a good laugh, anyway.

Choking Fabio

Aaron, the boys, and I met up with my parents and my visiting brother for dinner tonight. I wove my way through the folks seated on the patio of our favorite Mexican joint, and as I approached my mother I declared, "I should write a blog entry about choking Fabio". So inspired, I decided to do just that.

I suppose the place to begin would be to explain just who Fabio is. Don't be fooled by his name. There's no long, luscious locks on this guy. This particular Fabio happens to be Brazilian, speaks very little English, and works at our Ju-Jitsu place. I confess, when he introduced himself to me on Monday, he had to do it three times because I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Anyway, this guy is a really patient teacher. I'm a total newbie to this Brazilian Ju-Jitsu (BJJ for short...typing Ju-Jitsu is a pain) and I need a lot more instruction than the others. We always being with a grueling 15 minute warm-up. as a class. Don't be fooled by the fifteen minutes -you try doing two sets of 50 jumping jacks, 2 sets of 50 crunches, and 20 push-ups, and that's not even the whole thing. Afterwards, Serge, the head instructor, demonstrates a new technique for everyone to practice. Guys then pair up and practice for a bit before we fight. During the practice time, it's become a bit of a pattern for Fabio to work with me. He's not too dissimilar in size to me, so we are a good match. The language barrier gets funny, occasionally. BJJ is definitely an activity where you really need to know the difference between "push" and "pull". I have found myself slipping into some of the communication patterns I adopted in Japan while we work together, and have on more than one occasion come very close to blurting something out in Japanese.

Today, we learned four new chokes. So, I grabbed hold of my friend Fabio over and over again, working on how to choke him. Then, just for fun, he showed me how to modify one of the chokes I had just learned and taught me a fifth choke. I think he was quite proud of himself, because he kept jabbering away in Portuguese to Serge and another Brazilian fighter, saying something about "five". The he would scoot himself back towards me so I could attach myself to his back ("like a backpack," Serge kept saying. "So I'm a backpack?" I asked. "Yes!" he exclaimed excitedly. "You stay close...go where he goes." Gotcha). Then Fabio would tell me, "number five!" I obediently wrapped my arm around the front of his neck, gripped his collar tightly, reached with my other hand for his pants leg, and threw myself backward. This inevitably resulted in one arm choking him while his body was being twisted sideways. With a quick tap on my arm, he signaled that I needed to release him, and he would then grin widely and say something that probably translated to, "See what I taught her? Isn't that cool?" as he rubbed his throat and coughed a little bit.

As we finished up that part of our lesson, he gestured to Aaron, telling him that Aaron had better not mess with me now. I love Ju-Jitsu!

Groovy Grad

Check out this awesome photo of Holt! He cracks me up. The other day, he and Ridge were talking about something and Ridge was arguing with him. Holt told Ridge, "You are just trapping me with words!" How poetic!

Photo

Holt loves this chicken. She

is officially known as "the friendly one" who has guranteed herself a life-time reprieve from the stew pot. I mean, really, how can you eat a chicken who walks up to you and practically begs to be held? It must be some sort of clever adaptative trait on her part. I imagine that before the summer is over, she'll have a name.

Pizza World

Ridge: (in the middle of dinner) "What would the world be like if it were a giant pizza?"

Aaron: "Very greasy."

Grandma: "Would that mean that the sauce is always redder on the other side?"

Grandpa: "What would happen when you fell off the edge?"

Ridge had nothing more to say on the matter.

Kid Story

A few nights ago, the boys were tossing restlessly in bed. Unfortunately, this has become a common occurrence since daylight savings. Every night Holt tells me that it "can't be bedtime because the sun is still up!"

The muffled sounds of movement and talking drifted out of the room. Finally, an angry voice called out, "Mommy, Holt keeps imitating me!"

In my infinite Mommy Wisdom, I quipped, "Well, pretend to be asleep and have him imitate that!"

Silence reigned.

Clarification

Just to be clear:
If I ever direct you to my English/Japanese link, like I do in the post below, just look at my "LINKS" list on the right. You'll see it listed as "Michelle's Easy English Blog". Click on it, and off you'll go!

Photos

I'm going to be lazy tonight and direct you to my Japanese/English blog to look at more photos. It's faster than posting them twice.

I've posted photos of the following events:

Our family, dog included, enjoying our first every Oysterfest Parade Garis-style (i.e. there were flamingos involved). Each year, with increasing fervor, the Garis clan has put together a flamingo-themed float for the parade in Fulton/Rockport. This year was "Flamingo Beach". Even Finn got into the spirit of things, whether he wanted to or not.

There are some miscellaneous photos of our little poultry flock. We hope they'll start laying in a couple of months. We are most recently experimenting with "free-ranging" them for part of the day. This means that we turn them loose for a few hours. So far, as the books say, the majority of them return themselves to the coop once it's dark outside. One of them is destined for a name and not the cooking pot. She's the friendliest chicken I've ever met and practically begs to be held!

Also, last weekend we went to some Highland games and had a photo taken of Ridge on this enourmous horse. He's 20 hands high (a hand is 4.5 inches - you can do the math). Pretty remarkable, eh?

Mike built the boys a great playhouse/treehouse in the backyard of thier Arlington house. The boys really enjoyed playing in it with their cousin Lexie during Spring Break.

So click on the link listed to the right of this page and you can see the other photos.

Michelle's Top Ten (sort of)

Just for fun, I thought I'd do a list of things I miss and things I don't miss about Japan. I tried to keep it to ten, but a few of them just slipped in.

Top Things I DON'T Miss About Japan

1. Squat toilets
2. 5-hour long sessions with the snow shovel (Remember this picture of the snow? )
3. Seeing my breath as I dash to the toilet room in our house during the coldest hours of winter.
4. A constant state of slight confusion.
5. The archaic nature of special education.
6. The endless variety of sea creatures that somehow always seemed to land on my dinner/lunch plate.
7. Japanese beer.
8. Gender roles.
9. Isolation from other native English speakers.
10. The Japanese love of flashy, blingy, plastic stuff.
11. The “recycling police” (in the form of a local grandma).

Top Things I TOTALLY Miss About Japan
(note: I didn’t bother to list my friends because that one is so obvious. I miss them most of all)

1. Seeing stars at night.
2. Warm summer afternoons, open windows, and the sounds of children playing (in Japanese) in the street as I sip on a cold bottle of jasmine tea from Seicomart.
3. Komu (A Komu reminder)
4. The distinct changing of the seasons; each season accompanied by its own holidays, festivals, foliage, wildlife, and insects.
5. The “family” feel of the middle school and elementary schools.
6. The ownership students take in their own learning and their school.
7. Japanese playgrounds. (from our trip to Abashiri )
8. The slower pace of life found in a village.
9. Japanese vegetable gardens.
10. The Japanese love of presentation and of beautiful things. (A lovely little treat )
11. Insane recycling

Getting Caught Up

So, life has been tripping merrily along since our return to the world of big cars, big hair, and lots of traffic. I enjoyed life as a say-at-home mom for six months and became completely addicted to "the Dog Whisperer". Aaron and I still have bouts of what we refer to as "homesickness." Fortunately these pass relatively quickly. Ridge and Holt have nearly completed first grade and pr-K, respectively. Ridge, not having attended an English kindergarten, was slightly behind in his reading but has since raced forward and constantly amazes us with his newfound abilities. Holt has thrived in pre-K and can hardly wait to join Ridge at Specht Elementary come August. As for me, I took a job in January as an educational assistant at an Elementary school. It's a super-positive place and I really enjoy going to work every day. Next year I'll try to jump back into a teacher job, though. It's time.


Adjusting to life in America has presented some challenges, a few tears, but an equal number of laughs. Initially, Aaron and I struggled the most. English words bombarded our ears and eyes. Cars moved too quickly and we were overwhelmed by a sense of not belonging. For the boys, the reaction was somewhat delayed. Ridge missed his friends, riding his bike with Ryuuya, and his small first grade class.


One day, Holt earnestly asked, "Mommy, why do we have to keep our shoes on all day at school? We even have to keep them on at nap!" He was simply dumbfounded by this rule. On more than one occasion, he commented on how odd it was the everyone, "speaks English!" We also heard plenty of, "I miss my Japanese friends!"


IN fact, the boys still ask about when we will return for a visit. I think Ridge is really counting on it (we've told him that we'll go back after Daddy finishes nursing school).


We've had some funny conversations about Power Rangers. There are actually about 5 kinds in Japan. One is called, “Genki Renga.” Recently, Emma, (Holt’s “girlfriend” from school) informed me that Holt had taught her all about “Genki Renga.” This was a deviation from her usual announcements regarding her marriage to my youngest son. They’re very fickle about the wedding plans, so I’m not hiring a caterer yet.

Ridge is also doing well in school, both English and Japanese. He is so like his father and has discovered the Discovery Channel. Ask him anything about “Dirty Jobs,” or “Myth Busters” and he’ll talk your ears off! Last night was his first ever open house. Ridge was so excited that he could barely contain himself. Part of that was due to the fact that Grandma came, also. It’s really wonderful to have three generations all under one roof