The Down and Dirty 2010...

Joe, Oscar and I after the race.

When Joe showed an interest in wanting to run a race, my first reaction was shock followed quickly by excitement.  I was game for which ever race he wanted to do.  When he selected a 5K mud run, I thought, "How hard could this be after finishing the marathon?"

I spoke way too soon.  When I went to the race website to register, the race was advertised as, "an opportunity to race along side of the military, public safety officers and police academy trainees."  I began to think who ever wrote this misused the word 'opportunity'.  In my book, opportunity is something that goes with hand-and-hand with self pampering.  I just didn't see how a boot camp style run along side of some of the toughest people ever fits this description.  

When I read on, I learned that there would be military style obstacles, commanding cargo climbs, wild water crossings and mud, mud and more mud.  Crap, none of this was good news!  When I completed my registration, deep down I thought that instead of paying to do this race, they should be paying me.  Oh, the crazy things we do for the people we love!

The morning of the race I saw the obstacles and looked around the crowd and I knew then exactly what I was getting into.  First off, it was fairly easy to park.  At a race, this is always a sign that the race is either really lame or really hard.  Then, there were no people who were overweight, over age 45 and about it was about a 2:1 man to woman ratio.  This was a pretty good indication of the latter.  

We signed release waivers indicating a high chance of injury or death to those who weren't in peak physical condition. I got a glimpse at the last couple of obstacles on the course, which included one of the world's biggest mud pits, a slippery incline that you had to climb up leveraging a rope and then jump 6 ft to the ground, and a lake that you had to cross to get the finish line.  I then understood why the release was necessary.  However, it was too late to turn back.

The race definitely lived up to its name.  In addition to climbing some of the steepest terrain inclines ever, the obstacles were no joke.  We climbed up a mud hill while fireman were spraying us with a hose.  We had to hoist ourselves over a 6 foot hurdle using our upper body.  We crawled on our stomachs through mud pits.  We ran through lakes.  We even endured injuries.

By about mile 1, I was ready to be done and I actually think it was as physically challenging as the marathon.  The craziest thing is that today I am more sore than I was one day after the completion of the marathon.  I am not sure if this is a sign of me getting out of shape or a reassurance that I chose the right career because I definitely can't hack it in the military.  I know one thing, hat's off to the military, they kicked my butt with this run! 

Many congrats to Kimberly and Jonathan for completing the Nashville Half Marathon and to my lovely husband for completing his first self elected race. Enjoy some more photos below.

Leanne and I after the race!

Proudly sporting my medal.

The mud sculpture.

The world's biggest mud pit.

Sporting our injuries.

Oh S#^$

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been writing as frequently.  Well, right now, we are in the stage of Get On The Bus that I like to call the "Oh S*&^" Stage.  Let me give you a little history about the "Oh S%&@" stage before I go on...

The Birth- Last year during the height of a Swine Flu epidemic, the California state prisons shut down visiting on the week of our Get On The Bus event.  We got word of this the Monday before the event, which was set for that upcoming Friday.   My response "Oh S@#$".  Not only did this mean that I had to cancel the event for all the children the week of the event, but I had to pick a reschedule date in the future that may or may not have happened depending on whether or not the visiting rooms opened. Then I had to undo all the work I did for the upcoming event (cancelling busses, food, etc.)  Then I had to redo all the work that I had done for the new reschedule date.  If that was not a good time to say, "Oh S#$^" I don't know when would be?

The Evolution-  Every year right around this time, no matter how well the stars seem to align, something comes up that completely turns everything upside down.  This year is no exception.  In the past two weeks, we got notice from the state that we did not win the Chowchilla Mother's Day contract, a contract that we had for the last 2.5 years so I have been scrambling around working with the new contracted company and to top it off, we also found out that we are over capacity at CIW, CMC and now today, CTF, which makes for further rearranging.  Again, another great reason to want to say "Oh S$%&" and furthermore, why if this is God's work, is it so G*& D@$^%$ hard?

Through all of this, I have wanted to pull out my hair and/or jump off a bridge at times, but last night seemed to draw me back...  Yesterday, in addition to being my 3 year wedding anniversary, it was a very special night for my boss Sr. Suzanne Jabro and our agency.  Sr. Suzanne was honored for her steadfast work in the field of justice and reform at the Death Penalty Focus dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  When I received the invitation in the mail and saw that her cohonoree was Alec Baldwin and the supporters were all high profile celebrities, I knew that this was no fly-by-night event.  It then became the perfect excuse to get all dressed up, get my hair done and buy some new Rihanna shoes.

I don't know what it is, but being around 200 plus people who have dedicated their lives to making a difference for others is incredibly powerful.  I looked around the room and saw all the people who I have "grown up" with in this industry.  I saw people who have become the voices of the voiceless, the friends to friendless and the people who care when others could careless.  I was so moved that I actually smudged my make up and the event hadn't even started.  Yet another reason to belt out "Oh S#^@". ;p

When the first speaker came to the podium, he said something that completely centered me.  He said, "In life it is not the image we put out to the world, but what bleeds through that makes us who we are."  "Oh S#$%" this guy has nailed it on the head and that's why it is all worth it.

I would like to say congratulations to my dear friend Marylou for completing the MS Walk last weekend.  I would also like to wish my 'NYC hubby' lots of luck this weekend in your first half marathon.  I am rooting for you!!

The forgotten ones...

Yesterday I was running late to head up north to my friend Lauren's house for a relaxing day filled with eating and painting.  I stopped at the local gas station on the way just expecting to fill out before I got on the freeway.  As I pulled my car up to the pump, I noticed a woman, who was clearly homeless rooting through the nearby gas station garbage can.  I have to admit my first thought was, "I hope she doesn't ask me for anything because I am in a rush."

As I got out of my car, she walked up to me with all of her life belongings.  Instead of asking me for money, she said, "Excuse me Miss, I am in the business of collecting empty bottles for change, do you think you could spare any extra bottles?"  

As I frantically looked through my car, which I had coincidentially just cleaned out the day before, hoping to find something of value for her.  I said, "How long have you been in this business?"

Shocked and a little taken back by the fact that I was actually engaging her in a conversation, she said, "For about 3 years ever since I came here from NYC."

After I realized that I had nothing of value to her, I apologized and said I was sorry that I couldn't help.  I then asked her what she did back in NY?  I learned that she was an aspiring artist who came to L.A. on a false promise made by someone she met over the internet.  She had shipped all of her art to this person and he sold it and promised to give her a large share of the sales once she came out to California.  Once she got out here, she learned that she had been part of a scam by someone who lived somewhere totally different.  However, her most valued possessions, were stolen and gone forever.  

Depressed and homeless, she battled with an addiction that almost landed her in prison and/or dead.  Just as I looked down at the time and realized I had to go, she asked if I liked animals?   Well, for those of you who know me well, you know animals are my weakness.  If space allowed, I would probably have my own petting zoo.  She reached in her bag and pulled out a beautiful bangle cat.  She said, "Meet Bones.  I met him three years ago on the street.  He had been ran over by a car and was in pretty bad shape.  When I picked him up, he was basically a bag of bones.  I took him to the vet and she worked on him for free and he has been with me ever since.  I always remember the day that I met this little guy because it marked the start to my now three years sober.  Before we both had nothing to live for, now we have each other."

I was taken back by this story and I realized that in my conversation with this woman, I never formally introduced myself.  So I said, "You know, I have spent the last 10 minutes talking to you and I never introduced myself, I'm Maria."  

Clearly at a loss for words, she said, "You already met Bones.  My name is Peg and you made my day by taking the time out to talk with me.  I do this route every Saturday and when I walk down Sunset, no one dares to make eye contact with me.  People look away, keep their heads down or roll their eyes.  Even when I try to make contact with people, their response is, 'No. Go away.  I don't have anything for you or get a job.' People don't even believe that I am a human being.  You are the first person in months that has formally introduced yourself to me."

As Peg and I bid our farewells, I began to reflect on this experience.  I know that many of you have said to me that you wish that you could help people more, but you either 1. Don't have the time.  2.  Don't know that right people.  3.  Aren't in the right industries to do so.  What most don't realize is the help that you can offer is normally right in front of you.  You just need to open your eyes and your heart.  Doing something good doesn't have to be costly, exclusive or time consuming.  Just a smile, a friendly face or a hello can brighten someone's day in ways that you have never imagined.  I challenge you all to try it.  It may just brighten your day just as much.

I would like to congratulate my coworker and friend Tara Regan for completing the Oakland Marathon. Our friend David Lee on completing his first half marathon today.  You guys rock.  I would also like to send an extra special shout out to Brenda Chroniak as she tackles her 3rd Boston Marathon tomorrow.  

Life is full of happenstance...

So yesterday I was driving home from work contemplating whether or not it would be a good idea to go to the chiropractor?  Correction, it is always a good idea for me to go to the chiropractor; however, sometimes after a long day I just don't have the energy to drive there. 

After coming down the Laurel Canyon hill and realizing that Joe was tied up working for the night, I made the decision to go.  As I made a right hand turn onto Sunset Blvd, I looked at the bumper-to-bumper traffic and started to regret my decision.  I could see up ahead that they blocked off a lane for construction on the busiest street in LA during rush hour.  Brilliant!

As I was lamenting in my car listening to some country music, I heard a crash and felt my car jolt on the left side.  Crap, now my day has gone from bad to worse.  I am still sitting in traffic and now my car just got hit.  I was ready to just go home and call it a night and let my dreams of having my back realigned fade like the sun in the sky.

We pulled over to have the ackward conversation that two people do when an accident occurs.  After I got out of my car to check out the damage, which was very minimal, I learned that the person who hit my car appeared to be a pretty nice person.  We exchanged info and he instructed me to get an estimate for my car and then to give him a call, which is what I did.

He sent me a very nice e-mail exchange and of course, I used the opportunity to tell him about Get On The Bus.  He has already visited this blog and is also a runner who was contemplating running the LA Marathon this year.  By profession, he is a lawyer and is willing to offer some pro bono services for our GOTB families if necessary.  If this doesn't categorize as "only Maria", I just don't know what else does.

As I was relying this story to Suzanne today, she just started laughing about how unbelievably unbelievable this happenstance was.  Her response though was classic, "Wow Maria, you need to get hit more often."  Let's hope this is not the case.   

Another victim falls to the dark side...

With me running the marathon, I was not able to gain a ton of awareness for Get On The Bus, but many of my readers, maybe some of you included, became inspired to run as well.  If you read my very first entry ever, you will understand that running enthusiasts are a lot like crack dealers and we feed off getting more and more people addicted to the sport of running.  In a way, it is our street cred.

For some of you, I wasn't that surprised when you decided to cross over to the dark side.  Actually for most of you, I knew you had it deep down in you, you just needed me to bring it out.  However, there was one person that still continues to shock me.  (Mainly because this person HATES to work out with a passion.)  He also doesn't understand the concept of running without being chased.  So when Joe approached me last week and said, "Hey Maria, I was thinking of running this 5K, are you interested?"  I just about fell out of my chair.

I knew there had to be more to this story because the likelihood of Joe freely electing to run without any danger is very low.  However, when he told me the race was called the "Down and Dirty Mud Run", I started to understand a bit more.  For those of you who aren't married, men never grow out of thinking like boys.  They constantly are attracted to things that they played with when they were younger: cars, trucks, and mud.  Although you probably couldn't pay Joe to run a 5K, if you slap some mud into the deal, he is easily on board.

Once the excitement of running through puddles of mud and military style obstacles wore off, Joe realized that he may need to train for this.  At this point, his excitement level dropped a bit and he did what he hates to do most, he asked for my help.  I was on cloud nine and I of course agreed to run with him.

Our first run was on Thursday morning.  Our goal was to concur a mile. At 7 am, Joe, Maya and I left our house for our first training run.   Now, after doing 26.2 of these suckers, I thought doing a mile would be cake walk.  Well, that is until we started.  As soon as I said go, Joe and Maya took off sprinting.  I learned then that running with a guy is very different than running with a girl.  Leanne and I converse and run at the same time.  We pace ourselves and we just go out and have fun.  Running with Joe and Maya, it was all competition.  No one was talking because it was impossible to catch that much breath.

As we got to the halfway point, I looked down at my watch and we had only been running for just under 4 minutes.  Holy crap!  I felt like one of the elite runners running the marathon.  We were flying.  Just then, Maya had to stop to do some business for about 30 seconds.  I was very appreciative because I really needed the break.  As soon as she was done, we took off again.

As we crossed our finish line, I looked down and we had run this thing in 8 minutes and 10 seconds.  I was flabbergasted.  I was used to running at around at 10 minute mile pace and I busted out one of my fastest times ever running with the closeted speed demon who had never trained for anything in his life.  How could this be?

I want to send a special note of thanks to Pasquale Vericella and the Beverly Hills Rotary Club for your kind donations.  Pasquale, a native Pittsburgher,  is also the owner of Il Cielo Restaurant in Beverly Hills.  http://www.ilcielo.com/  He will be holding a special fundraiser for Get On The Bus on Monday, April 26, 2010.  During this evening, 25% of all profits will be donated to Get On The Bus.  If you are in the LA area, please come out and support this.  The restaurant is fantastic and it was voted one of the most romantic restaurants in LA.

The Brownie Boy...

My friend Ter's grandmother always used to say that moving to California makes people crazy.  Ter said he never saw it in me until I started running marathons and then it all went down hill.

I know I have used this blog to display many tear jerking stories that have tugged on people's heart strings and a few of you have even admitted to shedding some tears while reading.  However, yesterday I was also crying at work, but for a different reason.

Each year around this time, GOTB does our final fundraising push as we are soon approaching our Mother's Day and Father's Day events.  We do a mass mailing to all of our past donors who have not yet contributed.  Even though we start preparing this mailing back in February, there always seems to be so much to do the week that it is going to go out.

This time around is no different so we have elicited the help of some volunteers.  I love it when we have volunteers in the office.  Not only are they free, but they seem to bring interesting stories and a flare to our office.  As busy as I get, I always spend a little time with the volunteers.  I always let them know what we do and I am always interested in why they choose to volunteer.

So yesterday during lunch I spent some time with the Brownie Boy.  Brownie Boy was a recent graduate from Georgia Tech who hailed from Southern Georgia.  In addition to having a pretty nifty accent, he was all decked out in a flannel shirt and a straw hat, not something you normally see here in L.A.  As normal, I told him what we did and I asked him why he came to volunteer?

In a proper Southern accent, he gave the following response.  "M'am, I'm not going lie during Easter Sunday, I was at a friend's house and I ate this brownie.  After I ate it, my friend told me I should have only eaten half of it cause it was loaded with the good stuff.  I was so high that I couldn't barely move.  Yesterday I was still feeling the effects of the brownie and pouf I saw the volunteer ad on facebook.  It said the magic word "pizza will be provided" and me still having a case of the munchies was in.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  I am a man of my word so even though I don't have the munchies anymore, I felt compelled to come here and volunteer for you today."

He caught me so off guard that I didn't know what to say.  I ended up laughing so hard that I was crying.  Ter, your grandma was right, California does make people crazy.

I want to say an extra special thank you to Neville Anderson and Prettybird for your kind donations.  To everyone, Bus D-2 has now surpassed its goal of $4,000.  Thank you, thank you, thank you again.  However, don't let this shy you away from making a donation.  We will be accepting donations until June 30, 2010.