iPod Shuffle WINNER!!!

I know I'm a little late in announcing to everyone on here, but first thing Monday morning I (that is, Rafflecopter - no bias!) picked, and then notified the winner of the giveaway!

...
But first I'm gonna make you wait ;) (Don't throw stones! haha... But really)

I just wanted to share some information on A-T directly from the main A-T Children's Project page. I know many of you used the option of providing information about A-T as an entry, but I still wanted to get the information out there!

Even if you weren't selected as the lucky winner, I hope you came out of it with some information on A-T, information that maybe helped you understand just why it is I decided to run with the A-T Children's Project next month.

WHAT IS A-T?

A Multi-system Disease...

Ataxia-telangiectasia, or "A-T," is a progressive, degenerative disease that affects a startling variety of body systems. Children with A-T appear normal at birth, and the first signs of the disease usually appear during the second year of life. These first signs are usually a "wobbly" lack of balance and slurred speech caused by "ataxia," which means a lack of muscle control.

Ataxia...

The onset of this ataxia marks the beginning of progressive degeneration of a part of the brain, known as the cerebellum, that gradually leads to a general lack of muscle control, and eventually confines the patient to a wheelchair. Because of the worsening ataxia, children with A-T lose their ability to write, and speech also becomes slowed and slurred. Even reading eventually becomes impossible as eye movements become difficult to control.

Telangiectasia...

Soon after the onset of the ataxia, the A-T patient usually shows another clinical hallmark of A-T: "telangiectasia," or tiny red "spider" veins which appear in the corners of the eyes or on the surface of the ears and cheeks exposed to sunlight. Although these telangiectasia are seemingly harmless, their unique appearance together with ataxia is what led to naming this disease "ataxia-telangiectasia."

Immune System Problems...

For most (about 70 percent) of children with A-T there is another clinical hallmark: immunodeficiency that usually brings recurrent respiratory infections. In many patients, these infections can become life threatening. Because of deficient levels of IgA and IgE immunoglobulins, the natural infection fighting agents in the blood, children with A-T are highly susceptible to lung infections that do not respond to typical antibiotic treatments. For these A-T patients, the combination of a weakened immune system and the progressive ataxia can ultimately lead to pneumonia as a common cause of death.

Predisposition to Cancer...

Children with A-T tend to develop malignancies of the blood system almost 1,000 times more frequently than the general population. Lymphoma and leukemia are particularly common types of cancer, although the frequencies of most cancers are elevated. Ironically, another facet of the disease is an extreme sensitivity to radiation, which means that A-T patients cannot tolerate the therapeutic radiation usually given to cancer patients.

Other Features of A-T...

Other features of ataxia-telangiectasia that may affect some children are: mild diabetes mellitus, premature graying of the hair, difficulty swallowing causing choking and/or drooling and slowed growth. Even though A-T is a multi-system disorder, the children afflicted have and maintain normal or even above-normal intelligence. Their dispositions seem to remain equable and help them to maintain a healthy outlook on life despite the progression of their disabilities.

How Frequent is A-T?

Ataxia-telangiectasia respects no racial, economic, geographic or education barriers. Both males and females are equally affected. Epidemiologists estimate the frequency of A-T as 1 in 40,000 births. But it is believed that many children with A-T, particularly those who die at a young age, are never properly diagnosed. Therefore, this disease may actually be much more common.

Prognosis...

A-T is presently incurable and unrelenting. If they are lucky enough not to develop cancer, most A-T children are dependent on wheelchairs by the age of ten, not because their muscles are too weak, but because they cannot control them. Later, A-T patients usually die from respiratory failure or cancer by their teens or early twenties. A few A-T patients live into their forties, but they are extremely rare.

What treatments are available?

There is no cure for A-T, and there is currently no way to slow the progression of the disease. At this time, treatments are directed only toward partially alleviating some symptoms as they appear. Because A-T is a rare, "orphan" disease, very little research data is available on pharmaceutical therapies that may aid these children. Physical, occupational and speech therapy are used to help maintain flexibility, gamma-globulin injections help supplement the immune systems of A-T patients, and high-dose vitamin regimes are being undertaken with some moderate results.



And now, what you've been waiting for... the winner of the iPod shuffle is...

Congrats to Kevin!

Now, ladies and gents... As I mentioned, I've already notified Kevin. However, as I initially stated in the Original Giveaway Blog Post (yes, that merited capitalization), the winner has 48 hours - AFTER being notified - to contact me to claim their prize, and from then we'll get it all figured out, shipping and all. At this point, Kevin has about 11.75 hours to contact me before I draw another name.

See also: keep your eyes peeled, because you could be the winner if Kevin doesn't step forward.

Or, if you know Kevin, tell him to shoot me an email, a tweet, a blog comment or something! ☺

Thank you so much, each and every one of you, for entering my first giveaway!

Also, just because the giveaway is over doesn't mean it's too late to donate to my ATCP page! It's never too late to give, and no amount is too small!

Again, thank you, everyone! ☺

Mischief Managed

The title of this post just seems oddly appropriate.

Let me just say... I feel a WHOOOOOLE heck of a lot better now than I did when I made that last post.
SO. MUCH. BETTER.
Accomplished. Content (and I don't think that's sugar talking, either - I had the feeling yesterday, too).

Long story short: I got our hotel room for Disneyland taken care of.

I was really starting to worry that nothing would be available because I listened to my husband and waited to book a room... And then I forgot about it, so it's not like I can blame it all on him.
It's within walking distance - about half a mile from the start line. And... Is really pretty. I looked at the pictures of the hotel. Our room has a king and a double. DH joked that we could sleep on one bed and crash on the other after running.

Yeah, I'd already thought about that, and thought that it sounded pretty reasonable.
After the Princess Half, we all went back to the hotel room and just... Crashed. I was out for at least an hour or two.
Runner problems, huh?

At that time, I also took care of theme park tickets. I still have to figure out dining plans, and where the post-race celebratory dinner will be - I'll talk that over with the hubs later. Vegetarian husband = some restrictions on where to go. Although some of the places look rather promising, and I think he'll like them :)

I know time's running out on raising money for the ATCP... But I'm feeling better about that, too. Not so much "I've given up", but more of realizing just how much I actually had control over with that whole deal.

Even with the Disneyland stress, it's been a good couple of days.

I was hoping to hit 100 miles this month - but 50+ is definitely where it's going to be.
I'm contemplating having a couple really strong weeks - there are only a couple weeks left in the month, anyway! We'll see how it goes.
I'm definitely thinking a run later tonight. But not too late - gotta get plenty of sleep. I've been up late reading the last couple days. My guilty pleasures :)
Courtney Milan just released The Heiress Effect. And shortly after, Reeni Austin released More Than a Maid.
I've been looking forward to both books, and I pretty much devoured The Heiress Effect. Loved it. I'm now about, I dunno, 30% through with Reeni's book... I'd say, so far so good. I've had a few issues with it, but nothing really major that wasn't later addressed in the book.

That said, I think I'll get back to reading now. And a run tonight sounds like a really good idea :)

Motivation = Down

I can't tell if I'm having a couple of down days or if this is really what Disneyland and Dumbo are going to turn into...
I bought our plane tickets for Dumbo on Friday. That's about the only thing that's gone right with this whole thing, and even then that's messed up.
We're flying into John Wayne, so not very far away... But we're flying out of San Diego - which is two hours from Disneyland... In good traffic. And no clue how we'll be getting there. We'll probably end up leaving at like 10 just to make sure we get to the airport with plenty of time. Of course, the return flights have a 60% and 50% rate of being on-time. I've never knowingly bought tickets that said anything less than, oh, 80%. Not if I could help it.
At least the plane tickets were fairly cheap in comparison to others I saw - the cheapest, actually.

And the hotels at Disneyland are sold out. Or rather, I found one that was available every day we needed it - EXCEPT the night before the half! ::facepalm::

So I'll be calling tomorrow to see what I can get figured out. The hubs says he'll do it, but the fact of the matter is... I'm our trip planner, usually. Comparing hotels, plane tickets, you name it.
I'm getting sick of being told to not worry about it. I've been hearing that for months, but now it really IS time to worry about it, when even nearby hotels seem to be sold out, AND I'm probably going to end up paying the $600 donation minimum just to run in the races!

It seems likes just when things start working out, they don't.

I tried for a month to get ahold of someone about holding a family walk/run to raise money for the charity... Would you believe I finally got ahold of someone at the beginning of this month? I had the possibilities all planned out, and then when I put my foot down because people got carried away with planning without consulting me, I got "Oh, well, we don't have enough time to do this, forget about it!" Well, we HAD enough time then. Now I've barely got a month before the fundraising deadline, and what's the use of me bringing up any other fundraising ideas when the three I've had have completely fallen through in some way or another?

I'm starting to wonder what the point in all of this really is. The fact of the matter is that this trip was supposed to be fun, but now it's just a pain in the neck.

Oh, and I double-booked us on pasta parties. RunDisney only sends out Disneyland Half Weekend RACE registration confirmations from one section, and the rest from another - at least, they did that for me, but not DH. So I thought we didn't have Pasta in the Park tickets.
Well, we do.
And now we have tickets for the free pasta dinner with the charity.
Same day. Same time.
Do you go to the party you paid an arm and a leg for, or the free party where you get to meet the people you've been raising attempting to raise money for?
Or do you find a way to go to both?

It's just one nightmare after another, and I can't help but ask myself why I'm going, other than what's been paid - and what's going to come out of my bank account when I don't reach the fundraising minimum. Ouch.

My annual appointment sounds more fun than this. Although I never saw the big deal about annuals, once you get past the first one.
But that's beside the point.

Well, it's now 12:01.
45 days until Disneyland.
Woo.
Goodnight.

ATCP and Red iPod Shuffle **Giveaway**!

As some of you are aware, I am doing the Dumbo Double Dare at Disneyland over Labor Day weekend. I'll be running with the A-T Children's Project to raise awareness and funds for research to benefit those affected by ataxia-telangiectasia.

The specific team I'm supporting is Team Randy and Alex. Alex is an adorable three-year-old who was diagnosed with A-T a few months before he turned two. Randy was Alex's mom, Crystal's, cousin. He lost his battle with A-T in 2004.

To help spread awareness, I'm doing a giveaway! (My very first one - I'm rather excited) ☺

The prize? A brand new red iPod shuffle.

"Why red?", you ask. Well, head on over to the ATCP website and you'll see - red is a color to show support for the ATCP.
The shuffle will come engraved with "The A-T Children's Project" on it... Those who know me know I tried to add more to that, but let's face it: Putting "Supporting Team Randy and Alex and the A-T Children's Project"? I tried, but I ran out of room. By a lot. (Surprise, surprise)

See, what'd I tell you?

Anyway, here it goes!
The entry period is between June 29, 2013 (see also: now) through July 22, 2013 at 12:00 AM CDT.
A winner will be chosen with 48 hours of the completion of the giveaway. The winner will have 48 hours after their name has been announced to contact me. If they do not, another winner will be chosen.

Have at! Please share with your friends and family. Our goal here is to raise awareness and help those in need! ☺


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Victoria's Secret. Yes, Really

Hi, my name is Victoria, and I'm awful at keeping secrets.

Ok, 1) that's a lie. 2) it makes me think of the stereotype for AA/NA/GA/etc. meetings.
"Hi, I'm [name], and I'm an addict."

But the fact of the matter is, I've got an amazing secret that I can't keep.
Well, I guess it's not really a secret, but it's fun to say it is. After all, friends make secrets, but secrets don't make friends, right?

ANYWHO!

You may remember me saying I'm running with the A-T Children's Project's Disneyland CureTeam over Labor Day weekend, and talking about fundraising to support the A-TCP?
Well, we got a virtual run up and, well, running! There are a few different levels:

• $10 for non-runners
• $25 for a 5k, 10k, or basically any other distance. This level includes an A-TCP decal
• $50 for a half or full marathon (or a shorter distance, if you so desire and want the shirt). This level includes and A-TCP t-shirt.
• Other - the option that gives you a little more leeway to pick and choose donation amounts.

I'm really quite excited for the whole thing. It'll be my first time hosting a virtual run, and I think it'll be their first virtual run ever for the A-TCP, so it'll be a fun experience for us all!

Here's the link to the Facebook page: Victoria's Not So Secret Virtual Run Facebook Page

Here's the link to the registration page: Victoria's Not So Secret Virtual Run.

Both pages give information on the charity, the run, as well as information on Team Randy and Alex.

Also, I want to clarify that it may be a virtual run... But all fitness levels and paces are welcome.

If you could like the Facebook page and share with your friends, that would be wonderful, and greatly appreciated!

That said, it's time for me to turn in for the night. Have a lovely night, ya'll :) 

For the love of virtual racing!

I just did my first virtual race yesterday! :) I don't have the info right off hand, but 6.2 miles in `1:23:58 (that sounds about right).

I'm starting to really take an interest in virtual races, partly as a motivator and a training technique for Dumbo and for Dopey.

The hubs has been really supportive about the whole virtual race thing - which is cool, because I've signed up for a BUNCH. Motivation has been down lately, due to a combination of the heat, work, being tired, etc. etc. etc. And I was ok making excuses. Too tired, it's too late, I just don't want to, my hair will get all sweaty and gross, it's too hot...

Ok, that last one is decently acceptable, because I'm mainly a treadmill runner. I use the treadmill in our apartment complex's fitness room, and in the last, oh, 7-8 months or so, they put up signs that they don't want us to open the windows. And running on a treadmill without any sort of cross-breeze to help you keep cool is, well, not cool.
Part of me wants to ignore it, because that room gets absurdly hot and stuffy, and they don't have any fans in there (safe/healthy? I think not). The other part of me acknowledges that they put the signs up for a reason. Whether it's pest control or not wanting people forgetting the windows are open, or maybe the windows have been broken in the past, I don't know.

Although, in all actuality, this is good motivation for me to get back to the base to work out. Yeah, it involves driving to get over there and all, but at least there are fans.

We call this the contemplation stage. I'm aware I need to make a change, I'm just not quite ready to do it.
Heck, I've thought about just bringing my own fan into the fitness room, but that either involves lugging a fan back and forth (like I want to haul that up to the third floor after a long workout...) or donating a fan... There IS a Goodwill right down the road, though...

Anyway, back to virtual runs.
Like I said, I completed my first one last night! Now let's see what all I have left...

Before the end of the month I need to do the Moon Joggers Full Strawberry Moon Half Marathon, 10K, and 5K. I'll be doing the half.
I've also got the Pluto Virtual Race (think Disney's Pluto) for... Maybe a 10K, I'm undecided. The hubs will be doing the mile.
Then there's the Mickey Mouse Virtual Run, for which I'll be doing 10k the hubs will be doing 5k.
The Donald will be available in the coming week, and I'll do another 10k for that, and the hubs will be doing a 5k.

(Note: Anyone interested in the Pluto, Mickey, or Donald virtual races... the proceeds go to the ASPCA!)

Next month is the Birthday Run, which I plan to do on my birthday. 2.3 miles, for turning 23.
Immediately after (or any time during that week) is the Nerd Herd Running virtual Happy Birthday Harry Potter 5k and 10k.

I admit it, my birthday is the day before Harry Potter's.
I admit that I know this.

His birth year is also 10 years before mine.

Yes, I'm actually aware of these facts. Hence the run ☺
I missed their May the 4th (be with you) 5K, but I do want to hit the Banned Book Week 5k and Half Marathon in September... Which is right after the Prairie Dog Half Virtual... As in, they're in the same week.
Obviously I didn't plan that one out too well, but what are you gonna do about it except run?

So, that's 8 virtual races between NOW and the end of September (not including the one I did yesterday). Hopefully they'll help get me ready for Dumbo over Labor Day Weekend, and Dopey in January!

Also, speaking of Dumbo! Since I'm raising money for the A-T Children's Project, one of the things we'll be doing is putting on a virtual run! It'll be the first one from the A-T Children's Project. Stay tuned for more info! It sounds like it's going to be super fun, I'm just hoping we'll get people to sign up for it. We're having a number of options available for registration, anywhere from just wanting to donate up to anyone wanting to run more that 26.2 miles! Still working out the kinks to the price points and all. And to make sure all of the money goes to the ATCP, there will be virtual medals instead of the traditional running medals.
Hopefully we'll have the page up and ready to go soon! I'm really looking forward to it.

On that note, I think I'm going to try talking my husband into a run! Wish me luck ☺

A-T Children's Project

Today is Rare Disease Day.

It has recently occurred to me, now that the Princess Half is over for this year, that I have been slacking SO badly on my fundraising efforts for the A-T Children's Project (Ataxia-telangiectasia... I spelled it right on the first try! Go me!!!) ☺

For those of you who didn't know, I will be doing the Dumbo Double Dare at Disneyland this Labor Day Weekend (August 31, 2013 - September 1, 2013). The Dumbo Double Dare means that I will be doing the Disneyland 10K (the first year for it!) on the 31st, and the Disneyland Half on the 1st.
Yes, back-to-back.

As part of my participation in such an exciting event (the first year of this event!!) I am working to raise money for the A-T Children's Project.
You can read more about it on My Fundraising Page.

My goal is to raise $600. Thanks to a old high school friend, I am already $10 of the way there (1.666667% of the way to my goal).
I understand $600 is a lot of money. I'm not asking anyone to donate an arm and a leg - at least, I hope I'm not! What I am asking is that you please take a short moment out of your day, and make even what you may see as being a "trivial" donation.

Every donation counts. You may not think that $5 is a big deal to donate, but it is. It means a lot - especially to the Olive family. I'm running with Team Randy and Alex for the ATCP. Randy unfortunately lost his battle with A-T and leukemia in 2004. Alex will be 3 years old in 8 days. He was diagnosed with A-T when he was just under 2 years old, and from what I can see from the update from his mother, Crystal, it has been a struggle.

Thanks ☺

A-T Children's Project

If you missed the last post, I will be participating in the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend over Labor Day Weekend this year.
As part of it, I decided that I will do some fundraising for one of the Charitable Organizations that the particular race weekend will be working with. The one I chose is the A-T Children's Project.

A-T stands for ataxia-telangiectasia. If you would like more info, click on the embedded(?) link.
A way to look at it is like it's a combination of muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, and others.
My A-T Children's Project Page also provides more information.

It's interesting, because it's suggested that finding out more about A-T could actually help with other diseases such as varieties of dementia - which, if you know me, you know that's a subject near and dear.

If you would be able to donate, even just a couple dollars (or, hey, a couple cents!) it would be greatly appreciated - and not just by me.

Thank you, and have a good night :)

Disneyland, here we come! (fundraising tips welcome)

Race registration for the Dumbo Double Dare opened this morning. The DDD isn't anywhere near as long as the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge (half marathon/13.1 miles one day, full marathon/26.2 miles the next, for a total of 39.3 miles.
But the DDD still looks pretty promising. It's doing a 10K (6.2 miles) one day, and then a half marathon the next day, for a total of 19.3 miles.

I was one of the many many many many MANY people upset with runDisney. I tried for over an hour to get into the race, but the site kept glitching because so many people were trying to register. And by the time I got to it, it was already sold out! The DDD filled up in about 30-45 minutes after it became available to the general public!
(The part that bugs me about that is they KNEW there would be a mad dash for it - it's the first year for the DDD and the 10K there, after all. And yet the website wasn't equipped to handle it. I even checked different events on the website to see if it was just trouble getting that race to load. Nope, the whole site)
It also turns out that there were only about 5,000 spots available... And plenty of people were able to pre-register at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, as well as at the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend, if you were an Annual Pass holder, if you had a Disney Visa credit card (almost makes me wish I'd decided to get one but, uh, no thanks). The DDD was between 60-80% full by the time the general public got to it. Not only that, there were people (like myself) who signed up for an email alert about registration. By the time I finally got the email, registration was closed!

It's amazing how many people, like myself, were mad with the whole thing. I hadn't expected it to be so wide-spread. It was even more amazing how many people were saying something along the lines of "It's not runDisney's fault. You should've gone to a race!"
I'll be the first to tell you, me doing Disney World AND Disneyland in one year? That's a HUGE splurge for me. Call it a bucket list thing, if you will... Although I don't actually have a set "bucket list". If it had been as simple as "Oh, well, you just didn't get to it in time", that's one thing.

Anyway, let me quit my ranting and raving. It's really getting me nowhere.

So I went ahead and registered for the 10K. QUICKLY. At the time I registered, the 10K was about 90-92% full. Then I registered for the half which, at this time, is about 85% full. Unless the website has been updated some time in the last 5 minutes, but I think it's probably closer to 80-85% full by now, if not more. We shall see.
The hubs will be doing the 5K, and we can be each other's cheerleader. I'm looking forward to it, and maybe holding a sign for him, since this will be a 5K he's doing by himself - the 10K starts 45 minutes after the 5K, so unless he's doing an 8:00 mile or something, I don't think I'd have enough time to be able to see him before I take off for my race.

Onward with where I'm getting with this blog!
I kept seeing people saying "Hey, you know, you can register to run with a charity. They still have open spots for the DDD!" Eventually I decided to just check it out.
The A-T Children's Project had a spot where I could become a fundraiser, even though I'd already registered for the race. AND they still have DDD projects. So I figured I'd jump on the chance. And I took it - although I'm still trying to figure out how to get from "I already registered, but wasn't able to get into the DDD" to "I'm registered for the DDD".

It wasn't the easiest decision to make. I'll be the first to tell you that I can't pronounce all of ataxia-telangiectasia. I just can't. I'm getting closer, but I feel like I'm butchering it. So in addition to the weird feeling I had (coughHAVEcough) about "I'm going to raise funds for something, but I can't pronounce it", my main concern was "I've got about 6.5 months to raise $600. How am I going to do it?"

Ok, so that's an average of about $100 a month. No problem. Except... I'm no fundraising whiz. Never have been. But the hubs really settled it for me.
"We're going to be there, we might as well do some good and help others."
(paraphrasing, but you get the basic gist of it)
AND he said that if I wasn't able to raise the $600, he'd take care of it, and not to worry. And, well, 6.5 months.
Yes, my husband said that. Something tells me I should keep him ;)

Well, it's that time of the night. I'm gonna ski-daddle. Any tips/suggestions for fundraising are more than welcome!
Also, here's the link to My A-T Children's Project Page.

Goodnight!