Mercedes Marathon and the Bell Center

When I was in the hospital and the doctors told me I had to take it easy when I got out and not go back to kickboxing and running marathons immediately, I set a goal that I was going to race in the Mercedes Marathon this year. So now I am registered not only for the full half marathon, but also on a relay team! I don't do any extra, I'm the first 5K leg of the relay team, and will pass off the ankle bracelet then continue on the half marathon course.

The relay team I'm running on is supporting the Bell Center a local group dedicated to helping children from birth to three years of age that have developmental delays. We'll be sponsoring a child and trying to raise money for the organization. If you can make a donation please go to my pledge page! www.firstgiving.com/leighciarkowski

The Word Idiopathic

The first time I heard the word idiopathic was right before I was told to go to the ER for the first time in my life. So three months ago. I heard it again this morning at the emergency vet. I got up and was ready to walk out the door to head to UAB day (a recruiting day where high school seniors and juniors come in droves to learn about UAB). When I walked back into the bedroom to grab my Blackberry, because I can't go anywhere without it, Bettis was sitting up and looked like his head and shoulders were shivering. His head kept shaking and the muscles in his back were twitching. He couldn't control it. I woke Jason up who tried to calm him down and I went to call our vet. The nurse there told me it may be a mini seizure or the beginning of a more serious seizure and that I needed to get him to the emergency vet immediately. I called the ER vet next and they said it would be good to bring him in. By this point the tremors had stopped and Bettis was his normal self as if nothing happened. I piled him in the car anyway, swung by my office to hand over the information booth materials and duties to Brent and then we headed out to Hoover.

I'm not a fan of the emergency vet. I've only ever had to go there once before, but it was not a pleasant experience. I am one of those crazy dog people that treat my pets like they are human children and the thing about the emergency vet people is they always make me feel like I am to blame for why my dog is there. How I could cause my dog to have a seizure I don't know, but apparently I am. This time was a better than the last the nurses were very nice and cancelled out some of the snippiness I received from the front desk woman. After explaining what happened and Bettis's normal daily activity which involve sleeping, peeing, sleeping, eating, sleeping, chasing rats or chewing on something of mine he's not supposed to, and sleeping, the vet came in and I got to explain what happened all over again. She said physically he was fine although a little over weight. Note: He's 93.6lbs which means he has lost 5lbs from the last time we went to the vet and I was told to put him on a diet, so I was thrilled at his weight. They took him in the back and drew some blood and ran a CBC then we got to wait for the results. I

brought my knitting, so I had something to do, but I realized just sitting there wondering what's next is what my mom and Jason had to go through when I was sick.

The vet came back about an hour later and said everything was normal and that the seizure was idiopathic. As she started to explain what idiopathic meant I let her know that I overly familiar with that word and she didn't need to explain. So what does that mean for my big head? This could be the start of a future string of seizures or it could be an isolated incident. She told me to keep track of this one and then any others he may have.

Thankfully unlike me, I got to take Bettis home right after that. He was oblivious and really just enjoyed the car ride. I'm glad he's okay and hope things stay that way.

I've Been Slacking

This is the reason I have never stared a blog before. As I get busier, the blog goes by the way side and then I feel guilty about not posting anything. I realized the other day that I have been neglecting my blog and needed to post some updates explaining why I have been so out of touch:

Week 10.26 - 11.1: The week of Halloween I had something

going on every day including a pumpkin carving contest and a zombie invasion. No joke. On Tuesday I de-topped and gutted (with the help of wonderful RA's) 80 plus pumpkins to get ready for our second annual pumpkin carving contest that evening. It went okay, not as well as I would have hoped, but we did have a lot of carved pumpkins. Then on Thursday Max Brooks was coming to campus to talk

about his book, How to Survive a Zombie Invasion, which is key information to know when being invaded by zombies. As the Commons was that afternoon for lunch. About 20 zombies came to lunch moaning and bleeding everywhere. It was quite impressive. Then on Saturday for Halloween Jason and I finally decided to just stay home and hang out. At the last minute I went and bought candy, at first only grabbing one bag, but then picking out an assorted pack of my personal favorites since no one ever trick or treats at our house. WRONG. First year ever we had mobs of trick or treaters. I gave out all our candy and managed to carve two pumpkins in the process.

Week 11.2 - 11.8: Only three days of work this week, yeah!! This week Jason and I also decided that we really needed to get into exercise mode. So since Monday I have been doing 30 - 50 minutes of cardio daily. Which means the REC has become my second office. Actually it's been really nice. Once you get in the mind set that this is something I have to do every day and just build it in to your schedule it's not so bad. Also the REC has TV's with sounds hook ups. So I sit on the elliptical or the treadmill and watch the news, or football or if all else fails whatever ridiculous reality show they have playing on VH1.

On Sunday I got together with a group of girl friends and Kristen taught us all how to knit! This is something I decided to take up in the hospital since I had loads of free time. Note: It's a lot easier to learn when someone walks you through the steps. So now I have my own needles and am working on my first scarf!! Very exciting. On Wednesday we had our first official Dinner Club meeting. A couple couples we are friends with that also live in the Avondale/ Crestwood/ Forrest Park area decided to get together once a week and have dinner and just enjoy each others company. Kelly and Andrew hosted the kick off event in fine fashion. Then Thursday morning, Jason and I got up and went to the airport to fly to San Antonio to meet my parents for a nice vacation. We were there through Sunday and had perfect weather almost the entire time. We hung out on the Riverwalk, which is amazing! Jason and my dad went fishing while my mom and I shopped at the local stores and did a walking tour of the city. We also made it out of town and went to the original missions, including the Alamo, and a local winery. It was a wonderful vacation. All our pictures are here: http://gallery.me.com/ciarkowski#100157

Week 11/9 - 11/15 (i.e. NOW): Coming back to work on Monday was busy. I had a lot to catch up on, not to mention it was pretty overcast, drizzly and miserable outside. Monday is also a long day because I have class at night, which was long and uneventful. But at the gym that night I got to watch the Steelers Broncos pregame!! It was a great game, Steelers won and Hines Ward made a crazy 4th quarter hurdle over a defender for the touchdown play! Tuesday Ida came through and it rained, rained, rained all day. Our office started leaking in several places around the building which is just sad since it's only five years old. Wednesday was our second Dinner Club meeting and had two great events. 1) Andrew got to administer both my flue shot and my swine flu shot that my mom FedExd down, since they are out in Alabama. Everyone stopped to watch and Liz tapes the whole thing on her camera phone. 2) Was the Great Book Burning Incident. There were several books that were left behind when a club members husband moved out and to help cleanse the home they were burned in sacrifice in Kristen's Chiminey. It was fabulous!

This week I finally registered for the Mercedes Half Marathon which was a goal I set for myself when I got out of the hospital. It's not until February, so I still have some time to get in shape. I'm going to walk it with my friend Belinda who was told by her doctor she was no longer allowed to run because of too many stress fractures. I also realized that this week marks my two year anniversary with Sodexo. Can't believe I have been here for two years!

My mom got me new running shoes for my birthday, but I have been reading articles about barefoot running. I will NOT run barefoot through the Birmingham city streets. However, there are these great shoes that promote barefoot running and I'm going to go try them out this weekend. I know they look really weird, but I think they are really neat! We'll see how they feel!