From Brenda: My running world

I haven't posted much about training.  Running is running!  We run.  A lot.  I run in the mornings, Todd  and Carson run whenever they can or whenever they feel like it.  Some days you feel great.  Some days are really hard.  We are finishing up week 12 out of 18.  It's going to get a lot harder.

Here's what's been going on in our running world:

We are thankfully uninjured at the moment.  Todd had a minor (almost major) eye injury last week when a squirrel knocked a twig out of the tree.  The twig fell through his safety sunglasses and ended up scratching his cornea.  Any deeper and he would have had permanent damage.  Close call.  And bizarre running injury.

It's getting hard.   I ran 16 miles (a personal distance record for me) this last Saturday.  This week is "easy"  only 12 miles.

I never thought I would be at a point where 12 miles seemed easy.

I have a bunion.  And a new podiatrist.  And new shoes with new inserts.

I've discovered Bonk Breaker Bars.  Which will get me (and my diabetes) through a marathon.

I have needed the support of my running team more than I thought I would.

I've made amazing new friends.  And so have my kids.

I've discovered and love ice baths.

I've done hundreds of loads of sweaty laundry.

I can't find headphones that fit my ears.

I use Body Glide and Aquiphor like it's going out of style.

I need to get (and try out) salt pills.

I need to eat more and not worry about it. (Seriously, no one wants to gain weight while training, but you can't run this long and far and watch calories.)

I have found Yin (or is it Yen) Yoga and am in love.

I've found a new favorite band to run to:  Mumford and Son's.  (And apparently tickets to their Chicago show were around $200 each, completely sold out and impossible for my sweet and thoughtful husband to get.)

55 degrees is the most perfect weather to run in.  85 is not.  But running 7 miles with Carson in 85 degrees made us both very proud of ourselves when were were finally done.

I'm more tired on rest days than on running days.

I haven't figured out how to carry a glucometer with me.  Not sure I will bother.  I may just give several meters to our fan club and hope we see someone some during the races.  If not, Vanilla GU will fix any blood sugar issue.


I'm sick of Vanilla GU.

The treadmill isn't so bad when you run with a friend.

Putting on the "Coach Mom" hat stresses me out.  But I wouldn't trade running with Carson for the WORLD.

3 runners in the family is expensive.   I consider it to be a preventive medical expense.  Really.  And I would much rather spend money on amazing life experiences than stuff at Target.  Even though I really love Target.

I have learned how to run with a handheld water bottle.  And switch hands.

It takes an entire day to clean up the mess in the house after our Saturday morning runs.  It looks like a bomb went off in the house Every. Single. Saturday.

I no longer feel guilty about having coffee at 3pm.

Sometimes when I run, I hear my friend and coach Jen cheering me on saying "You can do it!"  And sometimes I hear my kids voices saying "GO MOM GO"  I need that.

Here's a link to a video I love.  And I can't wait for race day!

Chicago Marathon

Ugh, Trying to get this video to work -- will try to figure it out later.

Help Support Oasis for Orphans as we run with Team Oasis

Hi, I’m Carson Degner and I’m running my first half marathon with my mom and dad on 9/9/12 (The Chicago Half Marathon).  We are running with a group named Oasis for Orphans.  I like to run, a lot!  I started running this summer with the Libertyville Boys Cross Country Camp.  I am the youngest boy at the camp, but it’s still a lot of fun.  We practice 3 days a week very early in the morning.  I am also running with Team Oasis on Saturday mornings.

Team Oasis is raising money to add a second building to their orphanage campus in Kenya.  Oasis for Orphans provides a home, food, clothing, shelter and medical care to some of the neediest orphans in Kenya.  You can read more about them here at Oasis For Orphans  

I want to help these kids because they don’t have anything.  Oasis for Orphans is helping these kids that have nothing.  I have had type 1 diabetes since I was 9 months old, and if I were an orphan in Kenya, I would have died without doctors and insulin.  We should help all of these children because God loves all children and people.

You can donate to our Team Oasis account here: www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/degner

You can also mail a check here

Oasis For Orphans

PO Box 524

Wadsworth, IL 60083

Please designate Team Oasis Degner on your check.

Thank you for supporting me and my family as we run for Oasis for Orphans.

Sincerely, Carson Degner

From Todd and Brenda:

As we are training together to run our first marathon on October 7th (Chicago Marathon),  we have the honor and privilege of running with Team Oasis, a non-profit organization that  provides homes, food, shelter, schooling, medical care, and most of all Love for some of the poorest orphaned children in Kenya.  We’d like to tell you a little bit about how we started running in the first place as well as how you can help support Oasis For Orphans.

Todd and I started running in the spring of 2011 when a friend invited us to sign up for a half marathon that August.  I remember my hands shaking when I pushed “submit” on the computer to register, and I still have no idea why Todd agreed to run with me -- neither of us were runners!  It was a scary challenge, but we were both up for it.  We trained all last summer, and celebrated our 15th anniversary in August running our first half marathon.  We enjoyed it so much, we ran another one at Thanksgiving.

For our family, running has been about so much more than the race, it’s become about the journey getting there.  In the last year, Todd has been on a journey losing 70 pounds.  I have been on a journey dealing with my own type 1 diabetes as I run.  And our oldest son Carson (who has had type 1 diabetes for 11 years), has watched our journey and decided to run himself.

Along with the Chicago Marathon in October, Todd, Carson, and I will be running the Chicago Half Marathon on September 9th.  Carson has been training all summer with a local boys cross country team and decided he wanted to run with us in September.

My friend who invited us to run that first 1/2 marathon, is the coach and trainer for Team Oasis and invited us to join the team.  We have never been to Kenya, and never met any of the kids helped by this group, but I want to share a personal story of why it’s so important for our family to help support them.

One morning before a training run, the leader of the group shared a story and asked us to pray for one of the children at Oasis in Kenya named Daisy.  She was taken to the hospital with severe pneumonia and in bad condition, it was not known if she would survive.  She asked us to pray for Daisy as we ran that day.

At the time of that training run, I had been really depressed.  Our 8 year old son, Henry, had been dealing with his 3rd concussion in a year and was on his 5th week of a headache.  It had really gotten me down in the dumps.

But as I started to run that day, I started thinking of Daisy, and these orphans in Kenya, who have nobody, no medical care, barely any food or clothes.  I was overcome as I ran about the abundance we have.  Henry was seeing a pediatric concussion specialist at one of the best children’s hospitals in the world.  My oldest son Carson has one of the best specialists in the world for his diabetes care.  We have health insurance and have never ever been lacking in any medical care.  We have never been lacking in food.  Or clothes.  Or a home.  I was overcome and humbled that we have so much and there are children with so little.  This is why we are running.  We are running because we have so much and can help those who don’t.

Please help the Degners in supporting Oasis For Orphans.  You can read more about Oasis for Orphans here: Oasis For Orphans

You can donate to our Team Oasis account here:  www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/degner

You can also mail a check here

Oasis For Orphans

PO Box 524

Wadsworth, IL 60083

Please designate Team Oasis Degner on your check.

Our goal is to raise $1500 for Team Oasis.

With Gratitude, The Degners

Crazy Mom

I've turned out to be a terrible blogger.  I have lots of things in my head I'd like to post about, but when it comes down to sitting down at the computer and typing it out, I'm bad at that.  I love my little iPhone to check email, read Facebook and check the weather, but I certainly won't use it for writing a blog post.  However, today I cleaned the office and now have room to sit down at the computer.  And I thought I'd share with you the fact everyone knows: I think I may have turned into "crazy mom."

This afternoon I signed my 11, almost 12 year old, diabetic son up to run the Chicago Half Marathon on 9/9/12 with Todd and I.  Yes, that's crazy stuff.

Carson has been running with the XC team at Libertyville High School this summer.  It's a summer camp program run by the high school.  It's for 6-12th grade (huge age spread) and they meet 3 (early) mornings a week for 2 hours each morning.  They run for 1 1/2 of those 2 hours and do stretching and conditioning the other 30 minutes.

I'm so proud of Carson for sticking with this camp.  Day 1 was brutal.  No "warm up - get used to the running thing" work out.  It was at least 7 miles of running including 30 minutes of hills.  Most of the kids are on the high school team.  A few 8th graders were there, even fewer 7th graders, and yes, my son was the ONLY 6th grader.  He was really sore that first week, but he pushed through it and is doing great.  Bless his heart.  He's brave, he works hard, and he has had a great time with these boys.  Plus he LOVES running.

We joke with Carson that he actually got something good out of our gene pool.  Todd isn't so fond of running, but he's good at it.  For me, I love it, but I'm not so great at it, but Carson somehow got the best of both of us with this.  He loves running AND is really good at it!

Carson's been asking to run a race for a long time and our training group, Team Oasis, has many people signed up for the 1/2 marathon.  We've decided to let Carson try it.  If he can just throw down 7-9 miles 3 days a week with no previous training, surely he can work up to 13.1 by September.  He'll be running with Team Oasis on the Saturday long runs and doing XC during the week.

I'm beyond thankful and thrilled that his blood sugar has been super easy to deal with while running.  That's a miracle in itself.  What a sight we will be at the race -- stocked with gatorade, GU, an insulin pump, a phone, and we'll somehow have to figure out how to carry a glucometer.  I need to work on getting faster.  There's no way he's going off on his own during the race with that many people.  He knows he has to stick with us (and he's not too happy about me slowing him down.)  So proud of Carson already and I can't wait to run with him in September.  GO CARSON GO!

From Brenda: It's all about CONTROL

As I'm drenched with sweat and my legs feel like they are going to fall off at this morning's (awesome) spin class, my spin instructor yells out "turn up the dial some more, you can do it -- it's all about CONTROL."  And it is, isn't it?   Good grief, I can't get away from my control issues anywhere, can I?!?  I think that we all have control issues, particularly women, and I definitely have my share.

I've written before about my control issues with diabetes.  That entire disease is about control -- controlling your blood sugar, food, exercise, stress, and on and on.  But there is no way to control who gets it and when or why.  That part is completely out of control.  The part about me and Carson having diabetes in the first place doesn't bother me too much because I can't control it.

So that brings me to the events of the past week.  Concussions and my 8 year old have seemed to become best friends.  3 concussions in 1 year.  Doctors are okay with 2, but when you hit 3 in 1 year they tend to panic and send you to a concussion specialist.  For the record, none have been from gymnastics.  Henry's first one was back in July when he was swimming backwards with his eyes closed at the pool and hit his head on the wall.  Had to take him to the ER when he started vomiting 20 minutes later.  He was fine the next day and the CAT scan showed it was very mild.

Concussion #2 came when his friend hit him in the eye with a baseball.  All who saw it said it was a very mild throw and Henry didn't even know he was hurt until later that evening when he got a headache and dizzy (that continued for 4 days).  Thankfully another very mild concussion.

And concussion #3 happened on Mothers' Day this year when my 2 rambunctious boys were messing around in the kitchen, and he slipped and hit his head (hard) on the corner of the wall.  This one too was very mild, but the symptoms are going on and on and on and on it feels like.   We had 2 steps forward last week when his headaches were very brief and only triggered by sunlight and then 1 step back this weekend when he probably overdid it on a weekend getaway and the headache came back pretty constant yesterday.  I'm trying to get over the fact he's missing so much gymnastics (the gym is being great about it) but I'm just so upset he's not better yet.

Concussions are maddening to me because the are preventable (unlike type 1 diabetes) but no one can prevent them!!!  It just drives me insane......

Another thing I've been noticing about my control issues lately is that I am on a constant roller coaster of emotions that ride on things I can't control.  Mostly my highs and lows are connected to how my boys and Todd are doing.  If Todd has a bad day, I have a really bad day.  If there's anything wrong with my kids, I am obsessed over it trying to fix it or just stressed about wanting whatever is wrong to go away.

I'm sure my extreme roller coasters have something to do with the fact that for many years I had to block out all stress in my life in order to keep my family functioning.  Having a 9 month old with diabetes, and a husband who was very unhappy with years of incredibly difficult family and work circumstances, plus Henry's toddler years where he was in intense special needs therapy 4 times a week caused me put a wall up so that we could just survive.  No emotions are allowed when you are giving your 4 year old 10 insulin injections a day and trying to keep your youngest from spiraling into a 5 hour meltdown.  I won't go in to any more details about those years, but say that feeling out of control in life is a struggle I have been very intimate with.

That brings me back to my spin class this morning.  "It's all about CONTROL" is a phrase I hear often at the gym.  And it makes me realize a huge reason of why I run.  It's because I'd like to think I'm in control.  I run alone.  I decide where to run, how fast, how far to go and when to stop.  Being in a class in the gym is not the same.  Someone there is telling me what to do.  But when I run, I run alone and I control it.

I'm not saying that's the healthiest reason to run, but I think it's an honest one for me.  It's not my only reason for running either.  I think I sweat out a bucket load of stress today, which was needed for me to function the rest of the day!  And I'm praying that the God we serve will have mercy on Henry and heal his head soon.

From Todd: Out and Back

Running has been an act of repentance.  This is not the same penance of course (for my armchair theologian friends).  When I became as obese as I had, it was only because I made individual choices of dissipation that became a compounding series of my souls crippling choices with my body.  I would eat because it made me feel good.  If that is not self worship and idolatry (using a created thing to try and do what only God can do) then nothing is.  These choices took me further and further away from where I should be.  It is just like going out on an out and back.

So, I've learned that repentance is not feeling deep remorse about what I had done.  It is not about feeling depressed and humiliated for the current condition I am in.  Instead, repentance was, is, and always will be, making an about face - going back and 'un-running' rotten choices.  Every miniscus crushing stride ('stride' is a gross exaggeration) has actually become a humble confession of wrong doing.  But with each step there are the words of the Comforter that are spoken in history and presently in my soul, "Go and sin no more..."  Lots of miles and needles pain - especially if I had made an about face earlier.

As a man, there are two mirrors I have to look into - the mirror of work and the mirror of my home life (e.g. Robert Lewis).   I had to turn around and run the other way because I started to see what my sons were seeing.  My sons had been watching a selfish person with no apparent care for their future fitness - not even enough to show them what I already knew.  As I read the Psalms and Proverbs I was also reminded that I am judged by my actions;  If only I had the luxury of being judged by my hopes, wishes, or intentions...  So for me, running is an act of repentance.  It is not unlike loving my enemies or blessing those who curse me...

Presently, I have begun to remember that exercising repentance in all of life is nothing but a relief.  When one runs an out and back route, there are few moments as refreshing as when you reach the "out" and make about 5 strides towards home.  All the pain seems to go away with those first few strides.  Everything that leads up to the turn is actually sort of grim as you realize you are getting as far away from home as you are going to get.  Obesity is like that for me - a going out to the furthest point away from what is good - and the 'back' is undoing all of it as I draw closer to what is good.

February's Totals

Instead of logging our workout totals, we thought we would log what happened in February.

February included:

1 concussion
5 (at least) dr/ortho visits for kids
2 ER visits
1 surgery
4 gymnastics meet (minus 1 due to concussion)
1 school music concert
16 hours worked at a gymnastics meet
24 students' songs accompanied at solo/ensemble festival
1 (work) trip to Florida
100+ mosquito bites from trip to Florida
4 rounds of antibiotics
18 songs accompanied for choir concert
1 visit from Nana
5 basketball games
45 piano lessons
1 art show reception
1 band concert


Marathons are all about endurance and some of this last month has been endurance training we didn't expect.  Trying to Breathe In, Breathe Out, and Move On.....and hoping that we've come out of February a little stronger than when we went in.

From Todd: In honor of the Oscars...

There are many miles to run before we achieve this feat.  The thing that I fear the most is not the lactic acid that can make my legs fail, but rather the things that run through my mind that would make my soul fail.  What I have found to date is that when I run, even with the music cranked, I start to remember life with alarming clarity.  That is the real burn.  Sparingly, I will share those events and words as I run to make sense of it all. But for me, running is like praying (read lots of groaning and exasperation) as it has a strange way of showing me what's wrong - and its rarely the legs.  We are commanded to overcome evil with good, and overcoming the loud and godless voices is more difficult than running any race as I see it. I know it may seem like hyperbole and melodrama to some of the readers (if you're still reading), running this race is nothing less than that for me.

Happily, there are truths and thoughts of people that keep me running.  On the eve of this new path, I am thinking of the people that inspire me through their actions.  I have gone through much of my life being encouraged and strengthened by many different people.  Some of them I have only admired from a distance.  Others are close to me.  I will spend lots of this blog telling you about these people.  I believe that it will be the memories of some of the people in my life that will keep my legs moving when it feels like it is time to quit.

So, in honor of the Oscars this weekend, I would like a few minutes to mention those people who will have made the training a bit more bearable.  I don't know what this means, but there are four women who surpass all the rest and they are at the top of the list of those who are, by the very thought of them, already making this race easier; My Wife, Brenda who, like an angel, has already run every grizzly mile of repentance with me; her sister Lisa who "Is an Ironman" and so much more; my Mother Jacque and my Sister Amy who have both endured Hell on earth and whose stories could not be believed, nor could they be told in 10 lifetimes.

The leading men are Troy Gentz, a friend without equal who also follows God and does not fear men like most of us;  Gregg Darling a teacher who expected more from me;  Pat Etherington and Don Roppolo, two guys who do what is right just because it is right, and neither of whom are afraid of mixing exercise and ice;  Gary "Buddy" McElwain, whose soul of a lion has a body never his equal;   Ray Lewis, just because he is the baddest man on planet earth; Jerry Peters, because he is even (more bad - badder - what's the right word?) than Ray Lewis; and Tommy Wilcox who never stopped running, but added swimming and biking too.

Some of the other guys by name are Brian Schupbach, Matt Walker, Mickey Klink, Brad Williamson, Josh Bruce, Aaron Badger, Jason Sutton, Frank Phee, Paul Goodman, (Orchestra starts playing...) Chris Tompkins, Sam Talsma, Dan Nizzi, Tom Palen, (Hostess grabbing my arm...)Steve Gansen, 11 year old Brian Nelson, The one and only "Mustangs", and my 2011 Dolphins LBC team, and that Dos Equis guy (Microphone dropping through the floor.....)  Thank You...!