Baker, MT marathon

This morning was the first marathon of a four-in-a-week series.  http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon. The race was in Baker, MT, population 1,875.

In preparation for the Baker, MT marathon, I set my clothes out the night before:  partially because I'm OCD, and partially because I didn't want to bother Grandmommy and PawPaw early in the morning.

The air was crisp and cool this morning, and the sunrise over the lake was beautiful.

The Mainly Marathon group has one big water/food stop set up, and the runners make laps that pass the table about every 2 miles.

The course was 14 out-and-back loops.  At each loop, the runners pick up a rubber band to signify that they finished a loop.  On the end of the last lap, you go to the timing table to get your official time.

All four of the marathons will be set up similar, although the number of laps will vary.

I met some great people along the way.  The way the race is set up, there is so much comradary, that you really get to know the other runners.  There were about 55 registered for the marathon and about the same for the half marathon.  

I was aiming for a 5-hour finish, and ended up finishing around 4:58.

After I finished, I found out that we were kicked out of our hotel room because too many people had asked for a late checkout, and they were booked solid for the night.  I changed into my ice tights and we got into the car to find some lunch.  After one attempt at a place that was closed on Mondays, we found a little deli (that also rented movies and offered tanning beds) called Getit Here.  The sandwiches were pretty much like a Subway sandwich, and did the trick.  Once we were fed, we got into the car to drive to the site of the next race, Bowman, ND.

Notice the many bullet holes in the sign.

North Dakota was a little more interesting in terrain than Montana (at least the little we saw of Montana).  There were some mountain-like dusty rocks among the plains...

...and fields of sunflowers.

After arriving in Bowman...

...we took a drive to the site of the next marathon to make sure we knew where we were going tomorrow.

Each night, there is a group dinner organized.  Tonight it was at the Hibachi House in downtown Bowman, ND.  

Before we ate, we walked around the little town and stopped by the grocery store (perhaps the best we've seen yet, which isn't saying much).

The downtown was small, the people are nice, and I'm looking forward to running a race there tomorrow.  Follow me at http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon.

The adventure begins

Today we started the day with a morning hike around Devil's Tower.  It was a crisp and beautiful morning, and a lot of people were out.

The view from the hiking trail was gorgeous!

We saw many climbers climbing to the top of the Tower.  Can you see the climbers in the picture?  There are actually about five of them.

After returning to the hotel, showering, and checking out, we went on a search for groceries and food. The local grocery store was a bust.  

Out of the six items I needed, they only had one.  So we decided to try again in Baker.  

Our next task before getting in the car for a 2.5 hr drive was to get some lunch.  We started at the Itching Post.  As we were walking in, two couples got up and left.  One muttered, "Don't stay."  Not a good sign.  So we followed them out the door and asked for more info.  They said they had been waiting for a long time.  They were shorthanded, and there was only one person cooking.  No one was getting served anytime soon.  So, strike number two for Hulett that Sunday morning.

We walked down the street to the Ponderosa Cafe, but they were closed for a private party.  We kept walking to the R Deli, but they were closed.  We tried the Saloon across the street, but apparently they don't serve food.  So we were left with a BBQ food truck or the Red Rock Cafe that is attached to the Hulett Motel.  We decided to try the Red Rock, and were pleasantly surprised.

The food was good and the portions were large.  Lunch is served.

After lunch, we hit the road to Baker, MT, the site of the first race.  As soon as we got to Baker, we located the grocery store, Reynold's Market.  It was a nice sized store with everything I needed.  Much better that Hulett.  But things got difficult after that.

The packet pickup and pasta dinner was supposed to be at Triangle Park.  We asked how to get there when we were at the store, and no one had ever heard of it.  We decided to try to find the hotel and check in, thinking they would know where Triangle Park is.  So we headed up the road to find the hotel.  After turning down many roads with no road signs and not finding it, we decided to go back to the grocery store and ask directions.  We attempted to follow the directions and got lost again.  So we called OnStar to get turn-by-turn directions.  Their directions took us to a trailer on the wrong side of Main Street.  So we turned around and decided to just drive down the road and see if it was the other direction.  After three methods of trying to find it, we finally found the hotel.

Being a small town, there were many choices for hotels, and apparently the Red River Inn was the best option out there. 

Our next adventure was to find the packet pickup and pasta dinner location.  We got back in the car and headed toward the lake.  After driving around for a short bit, we were able to locate them in a pavilion on the back side of the lake.  

The race will start and end at that spot next to the lake tomorrow.  We will have 14 out-and-back laps to get to the marathon distance.

After the pasta dinner, meeting some of the other runners (including a guy named Nads....Can you say, "Go Nads!"?), and a short walk around part of the lake, we returned to the hotel to retire for the night.  My first race of a four race week is tomorrow at 6:30am.

Wish me luck at http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon.

Arriving in the center of the nation

Late last night, we arrived in Rapid City, SD to begin my marathon adventure.

After picking up our awesome ride...

...we headed to the hotel to get some rest.  

Fully rested the next morning, we explored the city.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the temperatures were in the 70s.

On many of the street corners in Rapid City, they have statues of our past presidents.  I decided to see what it was like to be president of the United States.

I decided I would stick with being a Compliance & Ethics manager.  After stopping for a delicious bison burger and made-from-scratch cream pies at Colonial House, we hit the road for Devil's Tower.

There isn't much going on in western South Dakota.  But soon we were in Wyomong.

We stopped to learn more about how the Indians caught their winter meals/clothing.

After a short educational stop, we were back on the road.  Our destination was Devil's Tower, which is a pretty amazing landform that was created by an old volcano.  It even looks like the lava is pouring over the side.  It is also the nation's first national monument.

As we were leaving the park, we stopped to take pictures of some wildlife.  We saw prairie dogs, turkeys, deer, Longhorns, and buffalo.

Mmmmmmm, dinner!

Closing out our first full day of vacation, we strolled down the streets of Hulett, WY in search of a quick, light meal.  We found one at Ponderosa Cafe, where I had an amazing chef salad.

I'm looking forward to hiking around Devil's Tower tomorrow, and then heading to Baker to meet the rest of the crazy people running multiple marathons in one week.

Check out why I'm doing this at http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon

Marathon Week is coming!

Tonight I fly to South Dakota to start my week-of-marathons adventure.  I will be running a marathon in Baker, Montana on Monday (9/14), running one in Bowman, North Dakota on Tuesday (9/15), volunteering at the one in South Dakota on Wednesday (9/16), running one in Sundance, Wyoming on Thursday (9/17), and running one in Chadron, Nebraska on Friday (9/18).  

I am doing this crazy thing in hopes of raising money for my family’s adoption expenses.  Some of you know by now that my husband and I are in the process of adopting a girl from Albania.  We are currently in phase two of the adoption process, which is the international approval to adopt (also called the Dossier).  We don’t have a specific child yet, so we are calling our little girl “Sissy” since she will be our son’s little sister.  

The barrier to adoption can be quite high, which is likely why more families don’t choose this route.  There are so many children out there that need forever homes, but the adoption process itself is quite expensive and time consuming.  We estimate that the process will cost between $35k and $45k and will likely take at least two years before it’s all over.   As such, we are fundraising to help break through this barrier.

If you are interested in finding out more about my story, please visit the fundraising website at:  http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon.  Note that this website doesn’t work on the version of Internet Explorer that most people have on their work laptops, but it does work in Google Chrome, Safari, and Foxfire, as well as on mobile devices.

I will be posting updates on a daily basis as I run the races on both the fundraising site, and on my blog (http://runnerchik26-2.blogspot.com).  I hope you can share this wonderful experience with me through pictures, messages, thoughts and prayers!

100-miles on the Books

Yesterday, I completed my second 100-mile training week on the way to run four marathons in five days to raise money for our adoption expenses.  This was my last really long training week before the races, as they are three weeks away now.  I will be tapering the rest of the time with a 20-mile, 70-mile, and 40-mile week left.  Sign up to follow me at:  http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon.

We are still in the process of gathering our Dossier paperwork, and have had a few bumps along the way.  Yesterday, when I was paying bills, I noticed that the charge for our marriage certificate had been refunded.  I went onto the website where I ordered it to look up our order, and it said it was cancelled.  I have no idea why it was cancelled, because I certainly didn't cancel it!  So now I have an outstanding email to the company to see why it was cancelled and make sure it is in progress so we can get that piece of paperwork.

I week ago, I received the wrong divorce certificate.   For those who don't know, I was married and divorced in college (we all make stupid mistakes, right?).  As a part of the dossier, I have to have a certified copy of my divorce decree.  They sent me one from a Michael and Elizabeth Adams who were married in New Jersey in 1993 (I was 14 at that time) and had two kids.  That is definitely not me!  So I had to call them up and tell them that they sent me the wrong one.  Now they have to reorder it.  The divorce happened in North Carolina, so once I get the correct one, I have to send it back off to the Secretary of State of North Carolina to get it apostilled, which is going to take another month, probably.

We started the paperwork gathering for the dossier in mid-July.  One month later, we are probably about a third of the way through.  It is slow going, but I'm hoping to have it done by end of September or early October.

Home Study Approved!

This past week we were informed that our home study has been approved!  This means that the first phase of our adoption process is complete.  They said it would take about six months to complete the home study, and it was exactly that.  We started at the beginning of the year, and here, at the end of June, we are finally approved and finished.

We will now move onto phase two:  the dossier.  The dossier phase, we have been told, will take between 60 to 90 days.  They said that it will be somewhat repetitive of the home study phase in that it will be another pile of paperwork.  This is the phase where we will get her the necessary official documents for customs, immigration, and to be approved to adopt from our target country, Albania.  

Each new phase brings a new cost.  The dossier phase is $5,500, which we just paid out of savings so that we can continue through the process.  For those who don't know, I will be running 4 marathons in 5 days in September to help raise some of the money for our adoption expenses.  We estimate that the entire process will cost us about $45,000.  That's a heafty price tag, but it will be worth it when we bring Sissy home.  If you are interested in learning more about the fundraiser, please visit our fundraising website at:  http://anython.com/running-for-sissy-simon.

We thank you for your continued prayer and support as we work to bring Sissy home.

Waiting Family Dinners

The adoption agency we're working with, Bethany Christian Services, hosts "waiting family dinners" each quarter.  This is a time for parents who are in the adoption process to come together, meet each other and learn a little about an adoption topic.   The dinners are pot luck.  We eat dinner and socialize for the first 30 minutes to an hour, then the adoption agency presents a topic, and we break out into groups to discuss.

The first dinner of the year was in February, and we were so early in the process that I didn't really feel like we had been waiting long enough to go.  The second one of the year was held last Thursday night.  Since we are pretty much finished with our home study, I thought we might benefit from going.

There were five couples that attended.  From what they said, we were a smaller group than normal.  All of the other couples were domestic adoptions.  The couple that we sat with at dinner was in about the same position as we are.  They had just gotten their home study approved. 

Another couple was in the process of adopting their second child.  They had a 4-year-old adopted girl, and were waiting for their second.  They had been waiting for two years!  They had gotten matched twice over the past two years, but the birth mother backed out at the last minute both times.

The third couple was just beginning their second adoption.  They also had a 4-year-old, and were just starting the paperwork for their home study for their second.

The last couple had a sixteen-year-old and were in the process of adopting another.

The topic that was presented was "Open Adoptions."  This likely won't apply to us, since most international adoptions are from orphanages and are generally closed.  However, open adoptions are getting more and more popular in the USA.  An open adoption is when the adoptive parents know the birth mother and vice verse.  The birth mother may even want to be part of the child's life to some extent and have some level of contact with the adoptive family.  We went through a case study where we discussed scenarios through four stages of the adopted child's life and how to handle certain issues with open adoptions.

It was a very interesting and informative dinner.  I am very much looking forward to coming to the next one and learning more about other families' adoption experiences.