Red Ribbon Ride: Day 4

Reflections on Day 4 (5 days later)...

This was a short day -- only 50 miles or so. We rode from Northfield to St. Paul and even rode through Eagan (for all you Gabriel girls and our parents!). We all took our time and spent more time at each pit stop (there were only 3 that day). Pit 2 (Katie's pit) that day was a MN Twins theme, which I loved! They even had wiffle ball.

Other highlights of the day:

• Meeting up with all the Team Wells Fargo riders at pit 3 and then riding in a long line all the way down Summit Avenue to the State Capitol. It was so cool to see such a long line of riders. And we live only about 6 blocks from Summit, so Eric and Indy stood on a corner to wave at us and cheer us on.


• Closing ceremony was really cool. The State Capital just made it all seem so official. Mom, Rob and Eric came to watch the ceremony, and then we all went to the St. Clair Broiler (near my house) for some late lunch/early dinner. I ate a buffalo burger, fries and cherry coke, all of it, and it tasted amazing.

I'm getting tired of writing now, so I will just say that yes, I'm planning on riding again next year, and I'm hoping to gather more friends and family to join me, so let me know if you're at all intrigued by any of the opportunities: riding or crewing (being at pit stops or driving sweep vehicles along the route to cheer riders on and make sure they're ok -- take them to camp if they need to be done for the day, etc.).

Here's a pic from closing -- all the crew were walking in and waving red streamers.

Here are all the pics from the ride. Enjoy!

Red Ribbon Ride: Day 3

Well, I was too tired after both days 3 and 4 to write anything down immediately afterward, so I'll have to summarize it all now.

Day 3:

It was a hard day, and I think that's due to the fact that Day 2 was so hard. So then we were just tired and everyone's butts hurt. I used chamois butter in the morning at camp, at each pit stop and then again at camp at night, so that totals 7 applications! Hey, it helps sooth the skin around where you're sitting on the seat, so there is no shame, people! Lance uses it (so I've heard)!

Highlights of the day:

• Seeing Gramma K sitting at the end of the country road near Pine Island. She is a 90-ish-yr old woman who sits out there every year to cheer on the riders. I worked with her daughter on crew last year, and her grandson rides. Anyway, she is the cutest lady ever, and she gives us hugs, red rice crispy bars and wrote us this really sweet note on a huge poster board. Get your kleenex out!


• Seeing Jeanne White (mother of Ryan White) at night as our guest speaker. She was amazing. It was really touching and emotional to hear her story about her son. I definitely knew who Ryan was, but I was really young when all the controversy was going on (between 1985 and 1991, I was only 5-11), so it was really educational just to learn about how much things have changed in the past 20 years.
  
  She seems like your typical mom who just loved her son and wanted him to be happy and have a normal life. Telling her story even now, 17 years after he died, she had so much emotion in her voice and so much conviction about her main purpose for speaking out about HIV and AIDS. She said her ultimate dream would be for everyone to just be nice to one another and accept each other for who we all are (differences and all). This was stemming from how her son and others have been treated after people found out they had HIV/AIDS.
  
  It is interesting that there seems to still be this stigma surrounding the disease, and people often wonder how someone got it (was it unprotected sex, hemophilia, blood transfusion, drugs?). I admit that I have wondered those things too. I don't think it's right to judge someone based on that or say that they deserve or don't deserve care based on that, and I don't think people really think there should be such rules. But there does seem to still be this curiousity about it. Maybe because people continue to get infected and we wonder how that could happen when everyone knows how to prevent it. Someone on the ride who works a lot with prevention, etc. told me that he thinks young people are still getting it because they think there's a cure or at least drugs that are easy to come by. Isn't that sad? There are a lot of people living with HIV who are doing great and are healthy (many HIV+ people do the ride themselves), but the meds are not easy to get, you have to have good insurance, you probably can't get life insurance, etc.
  
  Anyway, I loved listening to Jeanne White. She was very inspirational and she just spoke from the heart.
  
  One huge surprising take-away: I could not believe that about 80% of hemophiliacs (like Ryan White) in the 80s who used factor 8 (this blood treatment that was about to be approved by the FDA) got HIV from their treatments.

Pics from Day 3:

Gramma K's note to us.

Gramma K

Red Ribbon Ride: Day 2

Here is what I wrote in camp the night after Day 2 on the ride.

July 18, 2008

Well, reading through yesterday's goals and thoughts on how today would go are interesting now that it's over. As of today (this afternoon sometime -- no idea of the exact time at all cause I was just not paying attention), I have ridden 150 miles in two days. And they were long, tough miles, especially today.

There were so many ginormous hills, during which I was in my granny gear (lowest gear). At one point, I turned back to Jeremy (a teammate from Team Wells Fargo who rode with me a lot today) and said "How many f_ _ _ _ ing more hills are there today?!" He chuckled. He's done the ride before about 3 or 4 times and says it's still tough, even for seasoned riders. It was nice on a lot of the big hills because there were crew and volunteers cheering us on, playing loud "pump you up" music, and one time, two men in their 50s or 60s rode to the top of probably the biggest hill of the day, and then they turned around, rode back down, and then rode back up again with other riders to help them, coach them, provide distractions with conversations, etc. It was so nice! I chatted with Tom, who said I was zipping up the hill very quickly and was doing well for a first-year rider. That made me feel good. :)

I did have some bike technical difficulties today. My gears were acting up, which made shifting really hard, especially when riding up and down so many hills. Thankfully, the problem is solved for now, but the Erik's (a bike shop) guy said my gears shouldn't be this worn after less than one year of use, and he recommended that I take it in when I get home to see if they'll hook me up with free repairs. Hope that works out! For now, I just hope to be able to finish the remaining 150 miles.

I met my goals I had set for myself today, so that's good. I finished without stopping, injury or too much pain. And I got a massage today (after waiting in line for like 2 hours). And, after it was suggested by my massage guy, I went and got a chiropractic adjustment!

Now, I'm just hoping my clothes dry by tomorrow -- they're hanging to dry in the tent (I rinsed them out in the shower so I can re-wear my shorts). Hope they're dry by morning!


Highlights of the day:

• Talking with Eric. I love him and love that he gives me Indy updates via text and pic messages. :)
  
• Katie's pit today was the MN State Fair. Hysterical! Katie was a carny who was missing teeth, there was a drag Princess Kay of the Milky Way, and even a real cotton candy machine!
  
• Ron, the masseur who was awesome and so nice. He kind of led me with relaxation/meditation type of thing along with the massage.
  
• All the music and cheering for us while climbing big-ass hills.
  
• Meeting more people and just chatting.


• Tried chamois butter (butt butter) for the first time. Note: A wise lady told me today not to use the menthol butter. She said, "It's not for the ladies. When it says 'slight cooling sensation,' it really means burning." I opted for the non-menthol, and it was fabulous.
  
• Katie taking charge of getting my bike fixed. She rocks and took care of it while I got to take a much needed shower.
  
• Going out to cheer the last 2 riders in to camp. It was very touching.
  
• Crying after learning that there no more big hills left today. I think it was a combo of: frustration at my bike gears for not working right when I needed them most, being done with all the hills, and being so close to done with what I'd heard is the hardest day of the ride.

Pics from Day 2:

Stopping at pit 2 for some cotton candy. It hit the spot.






Pit 2 Crew: MN State Fair

Red Ribbon Ride: Day 1

I kept a journal two of the four days during the ride. Here is what I wrote after day 1.

July 17, 2008


Day 1 of the RRR is over, and I am safely sitting in camp in my tent...exhausted. Partly due to the beer I just drank with about 20 others from the ride. Partly due to the fact that I rode 80 miles today...partly in the rain, and partly against a strong head wind. I worked hard today. I feel good, but I'm curious to find out how I'll feel tomorrow morning when I get back on my bike again to do about 70 miles through lots of hills. I hear it's the toughest day of the ride, so I'm a little nervous.

Highlights of the day:

• Felt great for the first 45 miles, then had to stop and wait 3.5 hours at a church in Miesville because there was severe weather (thunder, lightning, pouring rain). My shoes were (and still are) soaked, but the rest of me wasn't so bad. I hear that sticking newspaper in your shoes is supposed to dry them out, so I'm trying that out tonight.
  
• Leading about 8 or so riders approximately 7 miles along Highway 61 against a strong head wind. I was tired! So then I dropped to the back of the group and finished the day with one other rider (Jeremy) and we alternated who was leading.
  
• Opening ceremony was emotional. I can't help tearing up every time I think about all that this ride is about. I wish more people (friends, fam, etc.) would come volunteer, ride, etc. because it really is such a fun time and everyone is so nice. It's like summer camp for adults, and it's for a good cause.


• Katie's pit crew were gangsters and police -- very cute! (Note: Katie's outfit reminded me of her circa 1989 -- long black dress with white polka dots and a white girly hat with a flower on it).
  
• Riding into camp was gorgeous tonight. The trees and ground covering were so emerald green, it looked like a fake backdrop -- amazing!
  
• Riding along the Canon River Trail was pretty, too. I stopped a couple times just to take pics.
  

Goals for tomorrow:

• Survive tomorrow without injury or too much pain.
  
• Remember to get in the massage line in camp (after the ride) early!

Some pics from Day 1:

Stopping at a sign outside of Lake City (our first campsite) to take a photo. We were about 5 miles from our final destination, so I had ridden about 75 miles at that point.

Katie and me out for a beer with the team (we look a little tired here, I think). :)

Lake Pepin - view from our campsite. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

Red Ribbon Ride countdown: 3 days

I have three days until I start the Red Ribbon Ride, a 4-day, 300-mile biking journey (to raise funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS) from the Twin Cities through Southern Minnesota and back again.

The route is as follows:

Day 1: Start at Mall of America and ride to Lake City
Day 2: Start at Lake City and ride to Rochester
Day 3: Start at Rochester and ride to Northfield
Day 4: Start at Northfield and ride to St. Paul, with closing ceremonies at the Capitol (on the front lawn, I think)

See the map below for a rough idea of where I'll be biking. I'm not sure of the exact routes, but I do know that on Thursday, we'll be biking about 80 miles (which will be the longest I've ever ridden in one day). And then I think the length of the rides tapers off, ending with a shorter day of 40-50 miles on Sunday.

I'm getting excited about it and did my last training ride yesterday. About 12 others from Team Wells Fargo and I did 50 miles in a lot of wind. I'm really hoping for not as much wind during the actual ride, cause that was tough. So pray for good weather, no potholes, the wind at our backs, not a whole lot of roadkill and no flat tires! Thanks!

One more thing: Thank you so much to all who donated to my fund. I raised more than my intended goal of $1,500, so thank you! Team Wells Fargo raised about $38,000 so far, and I think the total amount from all teams so far totals almost $400,000. Awesome. I'm sure many people will be very grateful for all your support!


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The house

At long last, here are some pictures of the house. I'm putting the more recent ones below--those that were taken just today, after we got a lot more furniture, rugs, etc., and after we finally hung one picture (seen in the dining room). It feels a lot more homey and cozy now, so come on over and see it. We will welcome you with open arms and also invite you to play Wii, which Eric just bought pretty recently too. It is super fun, and you don't have to be good at video games to play. We will also entice you with our comfy guest bedroom and guest futon in the basement. Yes, that's right, there are two places for guests to stay (two in each bed), so four guests total would be able to sleep comfortably. There's also a couch, the floor and an air mattress.

Click here to see all the pictures of the house and yard.

Highlights from my clinical practicum

This week marks the end of my fourth week seeing clients already! Here are some of the highlights:

1. Trying to hold in my laughter and tears (so as not to scare the little 3-5 year olds who might have thought I was crying) caused by my 5 year-old client in the preschool group, who always interrupts group conversations/activities with "ah....scuse me?" and then rattles off some little comment that is usually really funny or creative.

Example: Yesterday our theme of the day was bugs, and we were about to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

5-yr-old boy interjects: Ah....scuse me? I know a different version of this song.
Hannah (another grad student clinician): Wow! Well, how about you listen to the teachers sing this old-school version and then you can tell us if it's the same or different from your version?
(We all sing the song, and the kids join us.)
5-yr-old boy: Ah...scuse me? My song is different. It goes like this....(and then he just makes up a song as he goes that was something like this: The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again. Down came the rain and washed the spider out....away....to a different place....).

2. Learning to think on my feet a lot! Example: my 3-yr-old client is becoming pretty darn comfortable with me and not so shy anymore, so he has become super squirrely. Monday, he just did not want to work on his /f/ sounds and was kind of dancing around in circles saying "aaaffaa" (which was what we were working on). But he wasn't really there with me focused on what he was doing. So for reinforcement, instead of playing a game, I had him run to the other side of the room as fast as he could, touch the wall and then come back to slap my hand. That motivated him a lot. Then he'd come back and say a few good /f/ sounds for me, and then he'd get to run again. It was a very simple reinforcement tool. Funny what kids like. He also really liked a pirate ship with toy canons, a toy farm and bowling (bowling rocked).

3. Realizing mid-session with my 10-yr-old boy with Autism that the phrase I was having him use was slightly inappropriate. Thankfully, he did not get it yet (but my supervisor commented that it might be inappropriate a couple years down the road and just said to be careful with what you have them say!). So the game was Chipper Chat -- it's a speech game where you show a flashcard of a picture that has the target sound in it (in this case it was /r/) and then when they say a couple of the good sounds, they get to cover a part of a picture with a little bingo chip type of piece. Well, this particular picture he was covering was of overalls with ants all over it, and it was titled "Ants in Your Pants." Since we're working on using the correct sound within a whole phrase, I just had him use the target word in the phrase "__________ in my pants." Yeah....so he was saying things like "Turtle in my pants" or "Rainbow in my pants" or "Doctor in my pants" or "Rabbit in my pants." A little inappropriate? Yep. But it was over his head. He just thought it was funny in general.

4. I have only met one time so far with an Aphasia group (it's a conversation group for stroke survivors that meets once a week). Aphasia basically means that a person has the words in their head, but the pathway from the brain to the mouth is just not letting them get the right word out. So we are supposed to be there to help them try to talk around the word to explain it in a different way and to also take notes for them to remind them of what topic we're talking about, etc. The first meeting was really interesting -- it was sad to see the frustration that the survivors endure while trying to find the right words to use in everyday conversations. But it was also really cool to be there to help them out and see all the support they were getting from each other. One volunteer conversation partner (which is basically what I am as well) is not a grad student but a stroke survivor herself. She is doing great and understands exactly what these other survivors are going through, so it's so nice that she's there to help them as well. I have my second group meeting tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that.

So this is just a little of what's been going on with all my clients. I'm sorry if I haven't been keeping in touch really well. I never imagined how busy I'd be planning sessions, etc. I fell asleep on my loveseat the other night at like 8:15 pm and then had to get back up to finish cutting out little planets for the next day's session with the preschool group. It's been fun, and I'm learning a ton. I'm just pretty tired by the end of the week. I hear it gets easier as you go, and it already is taking less and less time to plan, so that's good.

Furniture comes tomorrow!

So yeah, I'll finally post some pics when we get our couch and chair delivered tomorrow! Last weekend, we also bought a rug from IKEA, a futon for the basement from IKEA, a low table-y thing to hold our CDs and Eric's record player and a little cart/extra counter space for the kitchen. The pics I took previously were mostly of empty rooms. So maybe I will post some before and after shots. Huh? How would ya like that?

Other thoughts of the day:
1. I wish my meetings after clinic didn't last two hours just because my supervisor talks a lot. She's super nice and I like her, but man, I have places to be!
2. I have a headache.
3. The 5-year-old client I see in one of the preschool groups brought a picture in for me today that he colored at home. It's a bionic man holding a balloon (which, by the way, was one of his homework words from Monday), and he has steam coming from behind him cause he's going so fast. That kid is so freakin' creative! I can't even handle it! Today, he earned little planets, the sun, Darth Vadar, Princess Leia and a rocket every few words he said with a good /l/ sound. Eventually, he got to make a mobile out of it. I am getting good at figuring out what motivates these little guys.

That's all I have time for right now. Need to work, then go home and play softball. Have a lovely evening!

Off the grid

This post is dedicated to Eric, who often talks about living off the land and being self-sufficient. Read this article from the Star Tribune about two women who did just that in Wisconsin: http://www.startribune.com/local/22919019.html?page=1&c=y. Amazing....and not something I would want to do. Camping is fun. Being green in normal life is nice too. Living in a cob hut and peeing a bucket? Not so fun.

Super long run

I have been so busy and have a million things I want to write about, but I don't have a lot of time today during the day. So just fyi, I will try to post pics of the house, write about my clinical practicum, update you on the family of bunnies that lives in our yard (and Indy's attempts to catch them) later tonight.

Right now, I just wanted to post this link and tell you to check it out. My boss at the Center for Spirituality & Healing has a daughter who is 17 and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about a year ago. Well, she's a runner in high school and just decided that she wanted to try to run to Canada this summer...just for fun. Then, she thought about it some more and decided she could turn it into a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (Katy, you work there, right?). So that's what she's doing. She's leaving today and starting her 300-mile run to Canada from Minneapolis (leaving from her front door) and ending up near International Falls just across the border in Canada. Her mom created a blog (with the same cute format as mine), and they're planning to update it to keep people informed of how the run is going, post pics, etc. She'll have at least one parent with her following her every day, and I think her boyfriend and maybe some others will join her on different days. I just thought that was amazing. She's raised like $2,500 already! That's just pretty cool for a 17-year old. So check out her blog: http://megansruntocanada.blogspot.com/. It should definitely be interesting to see how she does. Hopefully she stays healthy along the way!

Have a good day. Hope to catch up with you all soon!