This weekend

The Rob Riggle story from Bloomington finally aired this week! The rally starts about 3:50 into the clip.


We are so excited because this weekend is the wedding of our friends Amanda and Aaron. Plenty of pictures to come!

Bloomington Obama Rally

Last Wednesday, Barack Obama came back to Bloomington for a big rally in Assembly Hall (the same place where the Dave Matthews concert was and where we saw the Dalai Lama last year).


My friend Pam hooked us up with great seats, overlooking the stage. There were 13,000 people there, though some reporters said up to 17,000.


The rally was really fun. I enjoyed it a lot more than the town hall meeting in Columbus. Maybe it was because I was more relaxed because I knew I wasn't on TV!

Apparently, Rob Riggle from The Daily Show was there, but I haven't found any clips of him online.


So I am glad that everything is finally winding down, and still can't believe that Indiana matters so much. Unfortunately, I think Hillary is going to win by about 6 points here.


The good news: Bloomington will help Obama - a lot. The campaign has been doing a great job getting IU students to vote before they left after final exams. USA Today reported that "The heaviest absentee voting has come from the Bloomington area, where Indiana University is located, and where 12.5% of the county's 77,343 registered voters have already cast ballots."


I voted back in April, and Chuck voted yesterday. He had to wait an hour and a half in line.


Fired up and ready to go!

GO OBAMA!

My Half-Marathon

I DID IT!!!

Saturday morning was the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, which I have been training for since January. I was one of 35,000 participants in this year's race, up in Indianapolis. It's the largest half-marathon in the country. The weather was gorgeous.

I was assigned to start in "corral" S (yes, we were herded kind of like cattle) and it actually took me a full 20 minutes to reach the starting line once the race began. But you have a chip tied to your shoe that counts your actual time once you cross the line.

Chuck was there to cheer me on (these are all his pictures). He caught this picture of me VERY close to the beginning - as you can see, I am still smiling and looking comfortable.

He was smart because he stood right next to a giant Obama sign, so it was easy to pick him out in the crowd on the sidelines. There were a lot of spectators.

I also wore an Obama bumper sticker on my back, but it fell off in the first mile. I didn't want to wear my Obama t-shirt and get it all sweaty and gross.

It was a bad sign when I started getting tired around mile 4. I was feeling how I expected to feel around mile 8 at that point. I was walking through the water stops (which were plentiful, thank goodness!) but my goal was to run the entire way other than that. So I kept on chugging along.

Around mile 6, the course enters the actual Indy 500 race track speedway. Or, as I now call it, the Never-Ending Asphalt Loop of Death. That was the most miserable 2 and a half miles I have ever run. The track is so big that you couldn't see how close you were to completing it. It just kept curving and never ending.

I really wanted to walk after that. But I knew I would be really mad at myself if I did. So I didn't.

It was nice because all along the course (except on the speedway track) there were live bands playing, and people cheering and ringing cowbells and holding signs. People would even say your name because it was listed below your number on your bib. It was really fun. (Except for the whole pain/exhaustion part.)


Chuck was about a third of a mile from the end to take my triumphant picture. He was waving to me, and the lady in the pink shirt to the left thought he was waving at her. I am just to the left of the guy in the red shirt.

You'll notice that everyone around me is walking. But I am not. I am running in my little shuffling baby steps to the finish. (I was okay when the speed-walkers passed me, but a little demoralized when the regular walkers started passing me!)

It felt so good to finish. I can't even describe it. First of all, because I had been running for over three hours and I was sick of it, but most of all, because I actually accomplished it. I never thought I could have done that. It took me 3:11:48, about half an hour longer than I expected!

There were lots of goodies at the end, of course. Have you ever seen 35,000 bananas in one place?

You can see pictures from the local TV coverage HERE. (Including shots of the Never-Ending Asphalt Loop of Death.)

Thank you to everyone for your support as I made my "improbable journey" (as Barack says) to the finish line!

The Empire Strikes Barack

This guy is a genius. And he keeps using my favorite movies!

Big events

Obama pictures coming soon!


This will be me on Saturday, crossing the finish line of the half-marathon up in Indy. I have started hydrating and carbo-loading...and getting nervous!

Assembly Hall, IU Bloomington Campus, 8:30 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.!

Obama news, good and bad

Barack Obama is coming to IU! Tomorrow! After work!!


I never finished the story about Obama's FIRST visit to Bloomington. After my big day in Columbus at the Obama town hall event, I drove up to Indianapolis because Chuck and were going to the ISO, and my 15K was the next morning. I got a voicemail from my friend Pam, saying "Drop everything and get over to Nick's RIGHT NOW!". [Nick's is the local bar/hangout on Kirkwood Ave.] But I was already halfway to Indy. It turns out that Obama came to the women's portion of the Little 500 race, made famous by the movie Breaking Away, and then wandered down Kirkwood to Nick's to shake hands!


The lady in the picture with the white hair is Pam. She got to shake Obama's hand, though she had already met him several times.


Here's some of the local coverage:

Barack Obama waded into Bill Armstrong Stadium on Friday and was greeted by a colorful array of spandex and a raucous student body. The race announcer credited him with bringing the good weather.

Friday's race was the women's contest - 32 teams in a 100-lap relay race around the stadium's quarter-mile track. This was THE sporting event in town. Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, celebrating his birthday, was there. Local bars carried the race on television. And, of course, Obama and his entourage caused their own commotion.
...
A few minutes later, in downtown Bloomington, he drew a crowd of hundreds to the street as he made his way through Nick's English Hut, a popular and cavernous beer and hamburger pub. The race continued on television screens.

So what's the bad news?


Some **jerk** keyed my car this morning, and the one next to it. Both cars just happened to have Obama stickers. We were parked on the circle not ten feet away from the School of Music building - they vandalized the cars in broad daylight. Besides this scratch, there is one all along the right side of my car. How sad. Sometimes I really hate living in Indiana. I know this probably could have happened anywhere, but there are a lot of idiots out here.

Just a week left. I'm happy the craziness will end soon. Hopefully I won't get any more battle scars.

Happy Patriots Day!

Today is Patriots Day, and the annual running of the Boston Marathon. It was a year ago today that I promised myself that I would complete a 5K...and beyond! And here I am, two weeks away from my first half-marathon!

On Saturday the 12th I ran in the training 15K up in Indianapolis. Despite having gorgeous spring weather for the last two weeks, that particular day was windy and freezing cold.

I ran six and a half miles before deciding that I really didn't care enough about running the entire way to keep pushing myself. It was miserable. So I walked, and forgave myself. I walked a little over a mile, and then I ran to the end. So I figure I ran about 8 of the 9.3 miles.


Chuck cheered me on at the finish line. I finished in 2:02:22. Here I am, holding all of my loot - potato chips, a Panera bagel, banana, cookies - good stuff!

So I am going to do one more "long run" on Wednesday to prepare, but next week back off a little bit to rest up before the race. I am determined to run the entire half-marathon!

If anyone has any good suggestions for my iPod playlist, I'd appreciate it. I'm going to be running for almost three hours, so I need a little variety! I can only play the Rocky song so many times. :) My dad was nice enough to purchase a song on iTunes for me (hee hee, thanks Dad!) and I have my mostly-cheesy training tunes, but send me your ideas for some snappy music!

BARACKY!

In honor of my favorite movie and my favorite candidate...

OBAMA-RAMA!

[Blogger's note: This is my 250th post! I am pleased to present a mega-post of an exciting event with tons of pictures for your viewing pleasure.]

The rumors were flying on Wednesday when the student newspaper reported that Barack Obama was planning a trip through Indiana, including a yet-to-be-determined stop in Bloomington. I called everybody I knew and I couldn't find out any information. My friend Susie, who I work with at the School of Music, kept calling me to see if I knew anything. No details.

The email came around 3:30. "Friday: Barack Obama in Columbus - Please join Barack Obama at a Town Hall in Columbus, where he'll talk about his vision for bringing America together and creating the kind of change we can believe in."

I don't think I've ever been so anxious for 5 o'clock to come. After work, I drove an hour over to Columbus to try and get tickets.


After waiting about an hour in line at the Crump Theater behind two hyperactive toddlers, handing out my home-made buttons to people in line and the volunteers, I got to the window and got my two tickets.

Our boss had not been in the office on Wednesday, but Susie and I assumed that she would let us have the day off on Friday. Luckily, we were right! She knew how excited we both are about Obama, and there wasn't TOO much going on Friday.


Susie and I got up very early on Friday to make our road trip out to Columbus. The doors for the 11:30 event opened at 9:30, and we were there and in line by 8:30.


I brought one of my Obama books...just in case. You never know what opportunities might happen.

We had brought crossword puzzles and stuff to read but we ended up too excited to be bored. They finally opened the doors and we made our way through security, which was amazingly efficient, by the way.

Everyone filed in and was seated in rows in the bleachers - no running to get the best seats in the front row. :) The VIPs were clearly in the seats on the floor, and the seniors from the high school were sitting in the top bleachers.

We, by pure luck, ended up in the second row and had a great view of the podium.

OUR SEATS:

We hadn't been sitting down in the bleachers for even a minute when an Obama staffer or volunteer came up to us, and the two people next to us, and asked if we wouldn't mind giving up our seats...to go sit on the platform behind the podium. This was not a difficult decision.

The view from our new seats:

Of course, this put us directly in the TV shot. We were in the first raised row behind the podium and obviously, had a much better view.

Had I known I was going to be on MSNBC, I might have actually worn make-up for once.

We were giddy, we were so excited. We started calling people to watch for us on TV. Susie said she had always wondered how the people on TV ended up in those seats behind a candidate - and now it was us!

An Obama staffer came up and "briefed" the people sitting in our section. We had special rules to follow, because we were "the face of the campaign" for this event. We were supposed to try and look engaged and not distracted. No taking pictures once Obama was on stage. No cell phones. No trying to shake his hand as he came in or left - we were supposed to stay in our seats. This was the price to pay for having the good seats. So much for getting his autograph in my book.

During several boring introductions, we learned that we couldn't hear very well because the speakers were kind of muffled. We said the pledge of allegiance and then there was a prayer.

But then, suddenly, THERE HE WAS!!!

Susie got some great pictures. It was unbelievable. Susie said, "He looks just like he looks on TV!" I have been working so hard for him for months, only reading about these big events, and all of a sudden there I was, 20 feet away from Obama!

Susie couldn't resist trying to discreetly take a picture or two during the speech and questions. We had been worried that we would only see the back of Barack's head, but he used a cordless microphone and sort of did laps around the little stage. He looked right at us!

Can you see us? :) Several people have told me they saw us on TV. Apparently, we were even on "Hardball"!

You can see us in this video - don't we look serious?

It was great to hear him speak in person. I've read or heard his stump speech so many times now, that there wasn't anything too surprising. I was good and I didn't cry or faint. I only got teary-eyed once, when he talked about bringing people together over their differences in a respectful and productive manner.

Since it was a "Town Hall" style event, there was about a 45-minute session of questions. All of the high school kids wanted to ask questions, and I was afraid someone would ask something very stupid (boxers or briefs?) and that it would be on the news. But the high school kids actually asked the most interesting and thoughtful questions, I thought.

The Columbus Republic newspaper has some fun videos and pictures in their coverage of the event. Check out their multimedia gallery.

As he left, we ignored our staffer guy's instructions and all tried to lean over and shake Obama's hand, and I held out my book. I was about six inches away. So close!

And then he was gone.

A few minutes later, as people were starting to exit, one of Obama's aides walked by carrying a stack of books. I figured he was not peddling copies of "The Audacity of Hope," so he must be bringing them to get autographed. PLEASE TAKE MY BOOK! He wouldn't because my name wasn't in it. And I couldn't find a pen. And then he was gone too.

So Susie and I and the rest of the TV-stage people were waiting, like we were told, until everyone was gone before we could start leaving. And then, a DIFFERENT guy walked by carrying a stack of books - and I got him to take mine (now with my name scribbled in the front cover)!!!

About 10 minutes later, the books came back out. We had to show ID to prove the book belonged to you.

And here's mine:



There is actually even more to this story about Barack's visit to Indiana last Friday, but I will save that for next time.

New apartment!

So sometime back in the past couple of weeks, we also went apartment hunting and signed a lease for next year. We found a nice place on the other side of town. It's a lot further from school and a little more expensive, but it will be MUCH nicer than our current apartment. The building is only three years old and we will have a little patio that leads out into a wooded area. We move in in August. I will FINALLY have a washer and dryer. Like a real, live, actual grown-up. :)


Lenny will even get his own bathroom! :) Which is a good thing, because the vet recently upped his bath regimen. We went a week ago to the doctor because Lenny has his usual spring itchies. He's itchy year-round but everything that he is allergic to is blooming now. So the vet said that not only does he have to have a bath every three days, we have to lather him up and keep the medicated shampoo on him for TEN MINUTES before rinsing it off (with cool water only).

If you have ever bathed a water-hating dog, then you understand how ridiculous this timeframe is.

Then, once we towel-dry him, we have to put conditioning spray on his skin. The problem with the spray is that we trained Lenny with a water spray bottle, so if he did something bad, he got squirted. So he hates that.

The vet said that Lenny is the worst allergy case he's ever seen in his career. However, he was really pleased with the progress Lenny's been making, and he thought Lenny's coat looked really good. (Despite the fact that he's been shedding like crazy, which wire-haired dogs are not supposed to do.) He'll get his summer haircut soon. The weather has been getting nicer, but on Saturday, the day of my first 15K, it is supposed to be rainy/snowy and cold.

Dave Matthews concert

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately. The problem is that all of my free time is going to running and volunteering for Barack Obama. I have been working for the campaign several days a week.



It all started to pay off on Sunday. I got VIP tickets to the
DAVE MATTHEWS CONCERT! He was performing a free show in support of Obama at IU's Assembly Hall.


People had lined up for hours outside of the Obama office to get tickets. At one point, there were 2000 people lining the street.

We got almost everyone to register to vote! The city office is overwhelmed with all of the thousands of new registrations, just from the Obama campaign. We did a great job getting people registered before the deadline on Monday. I myself spent several hours at the YMCA registering people - including a felon! I learned that they are eligible to vote in Indiana. Exciting.


On Sunday morning, people started lining up at 8 a.m. for good seats (the show started at 7 p.m.)


I went with my friend Pam from the Obama campaign, who complained that she was the only person with white hair at the concert, but loved every minute of it.

I admit, I felt pretty old too. Apparently I have not kept up with DMB in the past decade or so since high school and college, and I only knew three of the songs they played...

It was really fun, though.





Our mayor spoke. He is an Obama supporter and spoke at the headquarters opening. I also saw the new IU basketball coach, Tom Crean.

It was a very exciting evening. Hopefully there will be an event with OBAMA here soon!