Paying it Forward

Happy holidays, everyone! I'm still very much in the holiday spirit, because just yesterday (December 29th) I crossed another item off my list:

#23. Do an anonymous pay it forward - check!

This one, similar to the Thriller dance on Halloween, just felt like the right timing to do in December. Why? Everyone is in cheerful and giving moods, and families in need are scraping together savings to support gifts and even necessities for their children.

This was an item on my list that I struggled with for a while - trying to figure out exactly what to do. But over time I developed a set of criteria that ultimately led to what I chose to do yesterday.

Earlier in the year I considered paying for someone's meal in the drive-thru behind me, but didn't think that would be impactful enough. Sure, it might be a nice surprise for someone, but what if they didn't necessarily appreciate someone picking up their $5.65 value meal at McDonald's? It would still be a random act of kindness, but I wasn't convinced it was as impactful as I wanted to make crossing off this item. I needed my pay it forward to make a definite, impactful, positive difference.

I also considered paying for someone's heating bills this winter and even checked out heatupstlouis.org for more information. However, I was deterred because it seemed to be simply giving to another charity. (Not that it's an unworthy one, but I already give my share to many other worthy charities and organizations like St. Jude's, St. Louis Children's Hospital, The United Way, Zeta Tau Alpha and the MS Society.) Similar to why I eliminated a large donation in a Salvation Army bell-ringer's bucket, I decided that I also needed my pay it forward to affect a specific person or family rather than an organization.

So - what did I end up doing? I was inspired by a movement that started a few weeks ago and that I heard about during my morning routine while watching CNN Headline News. Strangers were going to Kmarts across the country and paying off other people's layaway bills. Genius! Not only did this hit on my impactful criteria, but it was also a way to ensure that my pay it forward would affect specific families. So that's exactly what I did.

Yesterday I went to my local Kmart on Manchester road. (Yes, that's a picture of it from my car before I went in. Not sure what the ambulance was there for, but assuredly not for an emergency based on the pace I saw the EMT walking.) I had called earlier to inquire the easiest way to do my pay it forward, and they directed me to simply walk to the layaway counter in the store. So, that's what I attempted to do as I casually shopped through the aisles. Unfortunately, when I got there I found the counter was closed and they were directing customers to the front of the store for layaway payments.

A few purchased miscellaneous items later, I was at the front counter informing the woman there that I would like to be a "good samaritan" and pay off someone's layaway bill. To which she replied, "Oh, how nice of you. I'm going to call the manager and he'll meet you back at the layaway counter to take care of it."

So I headed back to the layaway counter to meet the manager who was there right away. He helped me to identify specific families by looking for items that had children's toys, clothing and essentials (bedroom furniture) and phone numbers listed so that he could call them to tell them the news. With me there in spirit, (but not geographically as she was home for the holidays,) was Nancy Featherstone, who when I told her about my pay it forward mission was 100% on board with helping. And help we did - four families to be exact. It felt great! The manager shook my hand and thanked me when all was said and done, and he asked if I had a message for the families when he called them to tell them they only had $0.01 left on their layaway bill. All I could think of was, "Happy Holidays! ...and Pay it Forward" as a lame-sounding add-on, but hopefully one that's taken to heart by the families we helped. The manager reassured me by saying, "Trust me, this makes a huge difference to people", and I was glad to hear that other people had done this same thing at his store many times before.

So, that's it! Another one checked off the list. I wasn't the first to do this and I won't be the last, but it felt great sharing my story with the friends I met for dinner and drinks last night and sharing it now with my awesome blog followers. I hope it not only makes a positive impact on the four families we helped and encourages them to do something nice for someone else, but that it inspired many of you to do your own pay it forward or random act of kindness. Wouldn't the world be a better place if it did? If so, then Operation 30, Item #23: Mission Accomplished.

Timestamp (getting dangerously close to less than 100 days - yikes!):

Bonked Hard

Time to elaborate on the other item I recently crossed off my list:

#4. Do an adventure race - check!

Last Saturday I completed the Castlewood 8 Hour adventure race as a part of the super-fantastic Bo'z Up team. Uniformed and ready to go, we met before the crack of dawn to car pool and drop off our bikes at the designated spot and then headed to the starting point at Camp Wyman.

Roughly 6:45am at Camp Wyman, ready to go. Digging the fun/creepy facial hair my team members decided to sport for the occasion.

Luckily, Craig had already plotted our first three checkpoints whose coordinates were given to us at packet pick-up the night before, so we had a plan of attack when we started the running and trekking part. Unfortunately, we started our search for Checkpoint #3 in a different spot from where we thought we were on the map and lost a good 45 minutes in the process. But once we decided to re-orient ourselves using a main road, it didn't take us long to get our bearings and find the first three checkpoints before heading to our bikes at checkpoint #4.

Me punching our passport at what I think was checkpoint #7

From there, we proceeded on our mountain bikes to the next checkpoints throughout and surrounding Greensfelder Park. Lots of fun trails in the hills, and then some flat sections on the roads. We elected to do the "bonus" section to get another five checkpoints before getting to the canoes. (A good strategy move, as this automatically put us ahead of all the teams who elected to "opt out" of that extra section.)

It was a beautiful day for paddling on the Meramec River, which is what we did through another two checkpoints. Bikes in tow, we shored up and did our gear check (had to show we all had headlamps, emergency blankets, whistles and a couple of other items), then got back on the mountain bikes and headed back toward the starting point, punching more checkpoints along the way. Shortly after tackling a killer hill on Alt Road, we were back at Camp Wyman and got the coordinates for our remaining checkpoints, which Craig quickly plotted on the map using his UTM tool.

A quick refuel on water and food, and we were back on the trail on foot, trekking again through Greensfelder. After punching our passport at another few checkpoints, we decided to head back to make sure we were at the finish line on time. (Teams had to be in by 4:30pm or risk losing checkpoints for each minute late.) At roughly 3:45pm we finished our nine hour adventure, ready to sit and enjoy some pizza.

There was some debate that day about which is more difficult: riding two century rides (100 miles) on a road bike two days in a row (which the Bo'z Up team does each year at the MS150) or finishing the Castlewood 8 Hour adventure race. Being a veteran of both, I can say that my vote is solidly in the adventure race camp. I have never before been more thoroughly sore in my life than I was this past week! Even my hands were fatigued...presumably from gripping my mountain bike handles and canoe paddle so intensely for hours on end. :-)

In retrospect, there's good reason why I was so sore after this event. I can't say that I followed a rigorous training plan in preparation for this adventure. I had only gone trail running once before (years ago), and never with a stuffed hydration pack on my back. Saturday's ride was only my third time mountain biking, having just recently gotten the mountain bike that was given to me tuned up at Big Shark in October. And while I'd been in a canoe before, this was my first experience with a paddle in hand rather than a beer.

Reflecting on our journey throughout the day, it's likely that we trekked 7-8 miles, biked at least 25-30 miles and canoed over 3.5 miles. During the nine hours it took us, we barely stopped moving...only breaking for pit stops, pickle juice and to eat our packed sandwiches and power bars along the way. If a weak link were to be named, it would most definitely be me. I couldn't keep pace, particularly up the hills. But my team was awesome in waiting when needed (although there were times when I'm sure they didn't mind the break), and pushing me through.

Overall we ended up finishing 11th out of 18 in the 4-person coed division and 52nd out of 93 overall. Not bad for a first time group! The entire experience was awesome, and something I'd definitely do again...provided I could do it with such awesome teammates. Kyle, Craig, Brad - thanks for making #4 such a great experience!

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Built a Quilt!

As some may have seen from my Facebook post on Sunday, this past week I knocked out two items from my Operation 30 list:

#8. Finish my t-shirt quilt - check!

#4. Do an adventure race - check!

In order to do them both justice, I'm going to separate my blogging and focus on one at a time. The nerd in me says it should be chronological in the order they were completed, so here goes my quilting extravaganza...

The last I wrote about my quilt in August, my mom and I were working on cutting the fabric border pieces and sewing the front of the quilt entirely together. I have to be extremely clear that my contribution was exclusively in the ironing, stenciling and cutting camp, while my wonderfully talented mother provided all of the expert sewing skills. I'm not sure if this picture does it justice, but this is a QUEEN SIZE quilt. It's huge! To break it down a little bit, there are 30 t-shirts, 76 border strips and 42 corner squares just on the front of this thing. That's 148 separate pieces that my awesome mother stitched together piece by piece...and that's not even counting the edges or the back!

The month of September was spent sewing together the front, while October was spent finding someone who had a machine to do all the quilting. My mom again came through by finding someone a short drive from St. Louis who said she would do the quilting for $50. (Yes, $50!) To put that in perspective a bit, the next lowest quote for quilting such a large size was well over $100. What a deal!

So my mom and I made the short drive in early November to drop off my quilt front, back and batting to our designated quilter, Marie, who I can only imagine has thirteen grandchildren and spoils them with presents throughout the year from all the money she makes quilting. (Seriously - garage full of quilts "on deck", rolls of batting, and patterns galore.) We picked out the pattern and thread for my quilt. (I went with "blown wind" and white thread.) And in roughly two weeks time Marie was calling me to tell me that my quilt was ready to be picked up. That was two weekends ago. All that was left after that was finishing the edges, which my mom did in a very short timeframe. She sent me a text last Thursday to tell me the good news - my quilt was finished! Sweet!

In case you're wondering, the answer is, "Yes, there is a significant meaning behind each t-shirt." And if you're curious just what that meaning is, then read on...

First, the shirts are arranged in somewhat chronological order. (The engineer in me had to have a structure to work within when arranging.) So the first two rows are elementary/middle school, the second two rows are high school and the last two rows are college. If you imagine that each row is numbered 1 through 6 and each column is labeled A through E (just like Microsoft Excel), then here's your decoder ring:

A1: New Kids on the Block - Only my favorite band in 2nd, 3rd and maybe even 4th grade. Jordan Knight was my fave.

B1: Colors, We're Better Together - An elementary school play where I sang in the chorus. Sad my vocal talents never fully materialized. :-)

C1: FHSD - Together We Excel - That's short for Francis Howell School District, and the t-shirt design is one I recall my mom creating/inspiring. (Yes, sensing a crafty/talented theme?)

D1: Kid Songs - A special chorus I participated in during elementary school.

E1: Of Mice and Mozart - Another elementary school play. Yep, again in the chorus.

A2: Dance Connection - Where I took classes in tap, jazz and ballet for several years. (Yes, I can still bust out a time step on command.)

B2 & D2: Zingers softball jersey. Pretty sure this is what I was wearing when I broke my leg for the second time in 5th grade.

C2: St. Joachim & Ann Volleyball - Shortly (we're talking days/weeks) after getting my cast off, I switched to volleyball which I was much better suited for and played for 3-4 years. Mother was my coach.

E2: Bullwinkle! - No, I don't have a crazy obsession, but there was a summer when Taco Bell had a frequency punch card for tacos...10 tacos = free taco, 20 tacos = free combo meal, etc. This t-shirt was my glorious prize for eating my way around an entire punch card. (I was not a burger and fries girl, but I loved tacos.) I remember getting two crunchy tacos and two soft tacos every time. I think my parents liked that they could feed me a fast food meal for less than $2.50, and I wore the crap out of that t-shirt!

A3 & B3: FHHS - Francis Howell High School...where I spent my Freshman year.

C3: Small Pieces - A conglomerate of t-shirt scraps from band (played flute in middle school), softball, dance, National Honor Society and Frullati Cafe (my first real job where I made smoothies, sandwiches, wraps and more in the mall food court).

D3 & E3: Francis Howell Central - Where I spent my Sophomore through Senior year. First graduating class - 2000, baby!

A4 & E4: Cheerleading! Yes, surprising as it may be for those who know me today, I used to hold pom poms, cheer, and be a solid base in throwing up liberties, elevators, basket tosses and my personal favorite - knee stands. Tina, Lauren - that was a shout out to see if you were paying attention. :-)

B4 & D4 - Powder Puff football! One of my favorite annual events during high school.

C4: Small Pieces - A little bit of college flair mixed into the high school row...pledge class t-shirt for St. Pat's, Godz shirt from Greek Week and a sleeve from a Zeta shirt I used to wear all the time.

A5: ZTA '04 - This was the Greek Week t-shirt from my last semester, but to me it signifies two important things: 1) my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, which I gave a lot of my time and energy to and got a lot from during college...friends for a lifetime and great experience serving as President, VP-Membership, etc, and 2) the year I graduated!

B5 & D5: Intramurals jersey for Zeta. My favorites were flag football, soccer and weight-lifting.

C5: Greek Week Godz t-shirt. I was elected Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt!

E5: St. Pat's sweatshirt from 2002 - The Best Ever! Had to include one of the many of these I own in here. Aside for the renowned engineering school, it's what separates my alma mater from others who only pretend to celebrate St. Pat's. (We got two days off each year!)

A6: UMR - That's Joe Miner on a t-shirt with the logo from the school I graduated from: University of Missouri - Rolla. Not to be confused with Missouri University of Science & Technology, or Missouri S&T, as it's called now. Regardless of the name, it's still a great school and I'll always be proud of graduating from there with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (and a minor in Spanish).

B6: 10 Signs You are Dating a Female Engineer - Literally, one of my favorite shirts from college. The creative genius of my friend, Jamie, who's actually pretty funny when she's not being completely disgusting.

C6: Order of Omega - A Greek Honor Society for which I also served as President and gave my time during my Junior and Senior years.

D6: UMR Panhellenic - I served for ZTA on Panhellenic Council for three years, and had a great time. Kind of a work hard, play hard program when I was there.

E6: Recruitment Counselor - Last but not least, my last semester I disaffiliated during Formal Recruitment and recruited incoming Freshmen to consider joining a sorority. It was hard to leave my Zeta family that week, but a great opportunity to help others share in an experience that had meant the world to me during my college years.

Phew! That's a lot of t-shirts. Recounting the memories above makes me even happier that my mom and I were able to repurpose them in a meaningful way. Admittedly, in terms of time spent, this was an 80-85% Deanna (mom) project, 10-15% Danielle (me) project, and 5% Marie project. Therefore I can't take credit for the great craftsmanship of my quilt or why it looks as great as it does. But I can say that whenever I see it or think about it that, yes, I'll remember the individual t-shirts and associated experiences, but I'll also remember the time spent with my mom pulling it all together and the time she took out of her busy schedule to make it perfect for me.

THANKS, MOM!

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Fifty Percent

So...here I sit. This past week was my official half birthday. Yes, less than 182 days until the big 3-0. Kinda scary. (I'm not ready!)

If nothing else, it's a good time to reflect on the progress I've made so far and get cracking on the things I have left to do. For the left-brained (like me) who are more interested in a quantitative analysis, here it is: 15.75 out of 30 complete - that's 52.5%. (Yes, I'm giving each stadium partial credit.) I wish I were a little further along, but the fact that in the next month I will be able to cross another two items off my list (#4 and #8) makes me feel a little better.

As I look back on the experiences I've had already, it's been awesome. Fitness events, concerts, professional and college sports, and random fun...all with great people in great places. It's been a blast! Thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way and been a part of the master Operation. I expect the fun to continue for the remaining 47.5%...and then some. Now to get moving on the other 14.25 items! :-)

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Killer, Thriller

Happy (belated) Halloween, everyone! Normally I wouldn't post mid-week unless I had a busy Sunday and couldn't get around to my regular update, but this week is a great exception. I crossed another item off the list!

#26. Learn the Thriller dance - check!

I'm sure there are those who probably had awesome Halloween activities this past Monday, but I think mine rivals them all. I spent the evening with ten wonderful women learning the Thriller dance, zombie-ifying ourselves, and then performing it on Saint Louis University's campus.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure exactly how this one was going to come together. All I knew was that I needed motivation and group support to knock it out. That's why I was extremely grateful when I reached out to my Zeta ladies at SLU and they were ready and willing to tackle this one with me. And what better time than Halloween to dance like a zombie?

We met at 5:30pm in the multi-purpose room in DeMattius Hall and by 7:00pm we had learned the entire dance from a YouTube instructional video and were practicing it to music. A special THANK YOU to Emily who coordinated everything and was a great teacher for all of us. (Especially impressive since she was just learning the dance herself!) Another big THANKS to Ann who provided the zombie rags and make-up, which was exactly what we needed to take it to the next level for our big "performance" at about 7:45pm by the clock tower on SLU's campus. (Go big or go home, right?) And props to Nancy who was able to successfully confidence her way through. :-)

Looking semi-scary after getting our zombie on.

I think we all had more fun with it than we anticipated. Emily, Ann, Nancy, Jordan, Gabby L., Meghan, Liz, Brooke, Megan, and Gabby G. - YOU ROCK! Thanks again for being a part of this! We're now forever immortalized on YouTube, and for those that have to see to believe - here you go:

We may not be ready to be in our own music video, but now I can dance along with my Michael Jackson Number One's DVD which is awesome in and of itself. Ah - Hee hee!

Winning Weekend

I'm just wrapping up an awesome weekend where three of my teams had big wins. That's right, the Cardinals became World Series Champs, Nebraska dominated Michigan State, and the Rams upset the Saints for their first win of the regular season.

First - the St. Louis Cardinals are 2011 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS! It was something even Cardinals fans never would have guessed would happen, considering we were 10.5 games back from even making the post-season. But it's been a great October for Cardinals baseball! I was lucky enough to make it to Game #1 and #2 in St. Louis and see the action firsthand at Busch Stadium, rally towel in hand. But the fact that Game #6 is already being called the best World Series game ever only made the Cardinal's victory in Game #7 that much sweeter.

Just where was I during this fateful moment? I was in the heart of downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, at an interesting bar called Sidetrack with my mom and dad. (Hence, why I opted for the professional photo rather than the one I took of the TV image on the projector screen at the bar.) Why was I celebrating 450 miles away? What were we doing in Nebraska, of all places? Getting ready for a Husker football game the next day, of course! Yes, this past weekend I also crossed off another item from my list:

#15. See a Nebraska football game at Lincoln Memorial Stadium - check!

It turned out to be a beautiful day for a game! The Huskers dominated the Spartans with a final score of 24-3, which was also a sweet victory as there were many who thought Michigan State would make it difficult. Wrong!

Many people ask me why I'm a Nebraska fan and why I chose to make this part of my Operation 30 list. I can only say that my dad is the biggest Husker fan I know and that I grew up watching Nebraska football and hearing him spout random Nebraska trivia constantly (which he also did on the drive up there...very true to form). Both of my parents were born and raised in Nebraska and I still have quite a bit of family up there, so I've always grown up with more than a little Husker pride. That's why I thought the fact that I had never been to a game in person was something that had to change before I turn the big 3-0. I also found out that it had been almost four decades...yes, since 1973 (*insert shocked smiley*) that my parents had been to a game in Lincoln. So I'm glad I was able to share my experience with them.

It was also great to share the experience with my cousin, Nick, and his wife, Tonya, who were at the game that day. We went to O Street after the game and had a few Bud Lights at Sandy's to catch up and celebrate the Husker's victory. I'm glad we remembered to take a picture so they're now officially a part of the blog. (Woohoo!)

And I have to mention that the win-less St. Louis Rams finally got a W today in an unexpected 31-21 win against the Saints. I can't say I'm a diligent follower, but it's been a good weekend to be a fan of St. Louis professional sports and Nebraska football!

Go Cardinals! Go Huskers! Go Rams!

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Rock 'n' Roll

Well, I did it! As of this morning I've officially checked another item off the list:

#5. Complete another marathon with a PR time - check!

This morning was the Saint Louis Rock 'n' Roll Marathon that I've been training for these past few months. I can't believe how quickly it came, but I'm extremely grateful that it's over. The last marathons I completed were in 2007 and 2008 in Kansas City and St. Louis. My times were 4:18:59 and 4:10:10, respectively. Although I've been competing in half-marathons since, it's been an uphill battle to start adding distance again. Over the past three years I've battled with shin splints and exertional compartment syndrome (where my left leg likes to fall asleep around mile 5). Unfortunately, the leg falling asleep thing hasn't gone away (pretty sure I'd need surgery to fix it for good) and I've developed a new left foot issue that causes me severe discomfort around mile 8 on. Is this what getting old feels like? :-) So training for this marathon has been every bit as much of a mental battle as a physical one.

The good news is that while I may have lost the mental battle once or twice during my training, I didn't let it beat me today. I started out with the 3:40 pace team...a little aggressive, yes. But considering I can easily knock out six miles at an 8:00-ish pace, I thought a little group support could help me to tough it out the rest of the way and average 8:23/minute miles. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The group support got me through about mile 9, but when the rolling hills started increasing in elevation, my foot and leg issues came to the forefront and I dropped back from the pack. "Oh well", I said. I've always been one to run my own race anyway, so that became my mantra the rest of the way.

While I didn't quite hit a 3:40 or even 3:50 finish time, I knew I'd be extremely disappointed with myself if I didn't at least break the 4 hour mark. Thank goodness I had enough in me to bust out a time just 30 seconds better. (Phew!) Here are my stats:

I guess I can't be too disappointed with finishing in the top 25% overall or top 15% of my division and gender. Still...maybe someday I'll score a time fast enough to qualify for Boston. (A potential Operation 40 Before 40, perhaps.)

I also can't complain at all about the event itself. The music along the route was great, it was well-supported, the route itself was awesome (in my opinion way better than the Go! St. Louis Marathon route), and the weather was perfect. In case you're curious about the details, here's a snapshot and link to my Garmin Connect details for today's event:

A big THANK YOU to my awesome mom who came down to support me and take pictures during the race. She's always been great at supporting my brothers and me, and it meant a lot to have her there today.

According to my Garmin, I burned almost 3000 calories running today. (And - ahem, ran 26.4 miles, not 26.2 miles...can someone please confirm the accuracy of the route?! Kidding. Kind of...) Anyway, now to implement the rest and recovery plan. My recovery nap earlier was very satisfying and so was the recovery blizzard from Dairy Queen. (Mmm...medium cookie dough blizzard - happiness in a cup.) Now if the four blisters on my toes will heal, then hopefully I'll be walking normally again by Wednesday. Hopefully.

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