Happy LEAP Day!!! Practice at Run 26

What a quirky little day! Every four years we get this extra leap day, and on our bonus day it happens to be snowing buckets.

My hope is we won't be snowed out again for our shoe clinic at Run 26. Our practice begins at Run 26 this Thursday at 6:30pm. The snow is suppose to be subsiding by then!

Anyone interested in a little food before we train, please join us at Tablas, for light Tapa's, arriving anytime between 5:00pm & 5:30pm. That will give us plenty of time to eat and chat. And get to Run 26 across the street.

The address is:

Run 26
15603 Main Street B 106
Mill Creek, WA. 98012
425-948-6495

HOORAY to Mary & JR Wahl, Lorraine Cunningham, Lori Navarro, Donna VandeKieft, Sarah Dahl, Jeannie McLam, Pat Hamburg & Michelle Heinemann for getting their second $100.00 donation in!

CONGRATS to Hope Soley and Landon Bennett for reaching their $300.00 donation!

A BIG shout out to Sarah Dahl for sending out donation forms to her friends and family and procuring $150.00!!! Way to go Sarah! If you would like me to send you the form that Sarah used for procuring - - let me know and I will send it to you!

See you tomorrow night!

Go BEADS!!!

Sports Nutrition, Hills, and Saturday Practice

We learned from registered dietician Acacia Wright how important proper nutrition is to endurance sports. She graciously donated her time and shared with us how to create the correct balance of carbohydrate, protein, and fat while training. She left us a handout, for those of you that couldn't make it or live far away, let me know if you'd like a copy and I will get it sent to you! Thanks again Acacia for sharing your knowledge and spirit!

We had an awesome group that rocked hill training last night! We even had a small smattering of snowflakes for a few minutes. Yet once again our luck was in our favor and "no" rain. We've been such a lucky group!

A BIG hoorah goes to our brave hill climbers:

Jeannie McLam, Robie McLam, Lorraine Cunningham, Erica Wolf,

Hope Soley, Pat Hamburg, Donna Vande Kieft, and Rod MacLean.

It was a challenging practice and you all did FABULOUS!!!

This Saturday our practice will be at beautiful Langus park in Everett. It's a three-mile paved trail, which is perfect for our training. It has a great vantage points to see waterfowl, raptors and shorebirds. Saturday we will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the covered picnic shelter. If you have a watch or phone you can set, please bring it as we will be starting and learning about "tempo" training. Please let me know if you'll be at Langus park so we can watch for you!

From the south: Take exit 195, Turn left onto
E. Marine View Dr. Continue 1.2 miles to the
entrance ramp onto Hwy 529. Proceed north
on Hwy 529, over the bridge and take a right
onto 28th Pl. At the next intersection, turn right
onto 35th Ave NE. Continue to stop sign and turn
left onto Ross Ave. Turn right onto Smith Island Rd.
into the park.

From the north: Take I-5 exit 198 (N. Broadway)
at Marysville. Go approximately one mile to the
Frontage Rd. exit. Follow road past left curve.
Road becomes Ross Ave. Turn right onto Smith
Island Rd. into the park.

For a map go to:

http://www.everettwa.org/Get_PDF.aspx?pdfID=833

If anyone would like to leave from our house, meet at 8:45 a.m. and we can carpool or caravan to get there!

Go BEADS!!!

Hills, Hills, and MORE Hills!!!

The sunshine sure did help our winter blues - - yet we are glad to back to our practices and all of you! Hope you all had hill filled days! We had the immense joy of jumping off sand dunes, and the dreaded climb back - - thought you'd all like to know we went up and down so many times that I almost threw up. We were truly with all of you in hill spirit! :-)

This Thursday practice will once again include "hills" - - you will all feel so accomplished when were done! Plan to bring rain gear and water bottles as we are going to sweat, and I want all of you hydrated. Ugh!

On a happier note, we will have Acacia Wright here to talk about "sports nutrition".

Her topics include:

• The Importance of Nutrition and Sports Performance.
• Everyday Eating During Training - - with specifics on daily needs for carbs, protein, and fat.
• Eating Before, During, and after the Race.
• Eating Post Recovery.

Isn't that a great line up? We are so fortunate to have her come support our sports nutrition needs!

Thanks to Carol & David MacLean for getting their donation of $300+ in! Great News!!!

Also congrats to Julie Norman, Landon Bennett, and Hope Soley for getting their first $100.00 in.

And don't forget everyone, your next $100.00 donation is due this Thursday! Thanks everyone for your dedication.

Thanks to Donna Vande Kieft for arranging last weeks practice at Forest Park. Hope some of you were able to make it and had a good time!

Soup bar opens at 6pm and our talk begins at 6:30pm! Can't wait to see everyone!

Go BEADS!!!

Welcome to Hill Month!!!

Here's the gang before the hills!!!

Here's the gang after the hills! Can you believe their still smiling???

We were so lucky not a raindrop to be found last night! Pat, Jeannie, Bill, Donna, Lori, and Rod all kicked it up a notch and had a great practice! Our practice lasted 65 minutes with 55 minutes of going up and down hills! You each dazzled me with your dedication and how much stronger you are all getting. Did you know hills are one of the fastest ways to get you in
top shape? They build muscle, make you breathe hard, create liquid
calorie burn (sweat), and make some of us cranky! :-)

Next week Rod and I will be in Baja on vacation, were going to see the gray whales in their birthing grounds at Magdelena Bay! Sunshine & whales - - YAY!!! Donna Vande Kieft has graciously offered to lead practice next Thursday. She's planned it for Forest Park in Everett at 6:30pm. She will send out an email with the details!

We have our second mother/daughter team! Lori Navarro and Sarah Navarro - - what an awesome way to share time together and get in shape to boot!

Have a great week everyone! Look forward to seeing you all when we return!

Go BEADS!!!

Our jersey color is . . . Drum roll please!

Ta-Dah . . . Tropic Blue is the team choice! Lime Shock was a close second. Thanks to all of you that voted!

Hooray to Tamy Bagan for fulfilling her $300 commitment, and to Lori Navarro for her first $100! Way to go you two!

The second $100 payments are due February 15th, however - - since Rod and I will be out of town, we've extended the due date to Thursday February 23rd when we all gather for practice! And you won't want to miss that practice as Acacia Wright, nutritionist, will be talking to us about sports nutrition.

Saturday Woodland Park Zoo practice was absolutely gorgeous! Rod MacLean, JR & Mary Wahl, and I all carpooled together. Unfortunately, we missed our new teammates Lori Navarro, her grand daughter, and Julie Norman. Unbeknownst to me, there were two zoo stores and we all wandered back and forth and missed finding each other.

We were rather surprised to see the zoo now has a typical Kenyan school room at the African Savanna exhibit, I wish you all could have seen it. As it is a good visual as to what we are raising money for. I am hoping that we can raise $15,000 to go toward a classroom in the new BEADS High School.

Below are pictures from the zoo practice! One photo is of the team standing in front of the Kenyan classroom. There is also a photo of a sign that has facts about Kenya.


Did you notice that we had a bunch of funny hats on? It was Rod MacLean's birthday - - add funny hats and some bubble blowing and how could we not have fun at the zoo?

Look forward to seeing you for Thursday practice! Soup, fun, and a good workout await!!! GO BEADS!!!

Hooray Team!!!

Tonight I was able to make the soup, yet had another commitment so I didn't get to workout! I truly missed the workout and all our lively conversations. Since I wasn't there you get a picture of the soup ingredients instead of team shots! With a little help from Trader Joes Bean Soup, a can of spicy tomatoes, rice, onions and carrots -- viola, it's soup! Pat Hamburg, Lorraine Cunningham, Mary & JR Wahl, Jeannie McLam and my guy Rod MacLean all had a great practice in the cool, clear, star-filled night!

Hooray to Jennifer Mars and Cathy Grondal for getting their $300.00 goal met. And to Sarah Dahl, Erica Wolf, and Michelle Heinemann for getting their first $100.00 in. Our team is building! AND a HUGE thanks to Associated Behavioral Health Care and Jennifer Mars for their sponsorship donation of $500.00!

Cathy Grondal and Sarah Dahl are our first mother/daughter team! For those of you that are parents grab your kids - - what a great way to spend time together for a great cause! We also have couple JR & Mary Wahl training together. I challenge ALL of you to invite a friend or spouse and bring them to practice on Saturday or Thursday evening! The more the merrier!

Speaking of Saturday, don't forget that we have practice at the Woodland Park Zoo! The zoo opens at 9:30am, plan to meet in front of "Zoo Store" around 9:40am. That should give us enough time to get our tickets and find the store.

Tonight we launched the catalogs for the "Equal Exchange" fundraisers. For those unfamiliar, its a company that sells coffee, tea, chocolate, and gifts. The best part is Equal Exchange is a and fair trade company and 100% organic that gives groups like ours 40% to our charity. Check out their website and if you'd like to order somethings I will get you a catalog and order form. What a win-win company!
http://www.equalexchange.coop/

Here's to ALL your fabulous workouts and AMAZING fundraising!

Find Joy!!!!

Gorgeous Saturday Practice

We saw this beautiful barn on our first Saturday practice! We had such a great time on the Lowell Riverfront trail!

We had the honor of meeting Pat Hamburg's husband Bob, and their two darling Corgi's Bear and Jewel. And we brought Trinket - - the pups added much levity and fun! We were also joined by Erica Wolf, Lorraine Cunningham, Donna Vande Kieft, and Rod MacLean.

Our shoe clinic at Run 26 in Mill Creek will now be March 1st. If you happen to need shoes before then, Shelby is giving 15% off your purchases. Just let them know you are training with the BEADS team.

I'm excited about our Saturday practice on February 4th (Rod's birthday), it will be at the Woodland Park Zoo. www.zoo.org The zoo opens at 9:30am, let's meet at the "Zoo Store" around 9:40am. Admission to the zoo is $11.75. The plan will be to do a fast training walk around the zoo paths for 60 minutes and then go at a leisure pace enjoying all the animals. Afterwards, whoever would like to go have lunch at 74th Street Ale House is welcome.

Our efforts are adding up! With your commitments and donations, drum roll please . . . all your efforts so far have added up to about $5000! Hooray team! Isn't that AWESOME! All of you are making differences in the lives of others and your own!

To inspire you even more in your efforts below is a message from Debby Rooney the founder of BEADS for Education:

BEADS for Education has been working in the Kajiado District of Southern Kenya since 1993 with women’s business development. Since 1998, we have been sponsoring girls’ education. In 2011, we sponsor more than 320 girls who are mostly Maasai and the first in their family to complete elementary school. Girls are matched with sponsors who provide their school tuition annually from 4th grade through college. We are proud of our 6 college graduates, 20 college students and the many girls following in high school and elementary school.

Educated girls have the opportunity to be the sole wife with a man of her choice, have far fewer children, improve the standard of living for her family, make a positive impact on the environment, attend college, select a career and become role models and leaders in their communities and hopefully, the country.

In 2011, the existing public high schools were required to accept 66% of their new student intake from underprivileged schools where the students frequently have had no books or teachers. We feel this will negatively impact the quality of the existing public high schools. Many of our best candidates did not receive admission to the better schools. This policy helped to determine our decision to build our own high school.

Tembea Secondary School will provide a quality education which is not available to the vast majority of high school students in Kenya. In addition to addressing the Kenyan curriculum, Temba will emphasize creative and critical thinking, reading and writing programs, environmental stewardship, value of community service, appreciation of all cultures and development of leadership attributes.

Tembea means to walk in Swahili . (pronounced Tem - bay’- ah). Our motto: walk with purpose to a successful life, as a member of the family, community and as future leaders of Kenya.

Hope you can make it for our upcoming Thursday practice. Soup bar opens at 6pm and meeting starts at 6:30pm. And don't forget to come get "wild" at the zoo practice.

Thank you everyone for your efforts, friendship, and inspiration as we work toward our fundraising and race goals! GO BEADS!!!!