Operation Jack starts Friday!!!

What is Operation Jack? It's an attempt by Sam Felsenfeld to run 60 marathons in 2010 in honor of his 6-year-old son, Jack, who is diagnosed with Autism. Sam will run these 60 marathons, beginning with the Texas Marathon on January 1, 2010, to raise awareness for Train 4 Autism, so let's give him a hand!

OK, so I'm still learning!

I suppose I should have written these in reverse order, so they would read from top to bottom, but I didn't think of that, and I'm not about to retype, reload the pictures, and repost all these entries, so, gentle reader, in order to follow the story, start with the first entry of today, entitled "Catching up.", and then read UP from there!!

And since California..........

California was followed by the Running Fit holiday party, the Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving Day, more feasting, more running every day, work, Christmas, getting together with Katie for their monthly run/lunch date in November and December and more running. Asia got a digital photo frame for Christmas. We loaded it up with pictures of races, friends and family, and it sits on her table by the couch, scrolling constantly through the memories. Which brings us up to today. Jerry and Asia are at work, Grandma is watching Family Feud, Grizz is sleeping, and I'm trying to get this blog up to date.

New Year's Eve is tomorrow night and then Monday it's back to the real world for all of us. The Winter 2010 session of Running Fit 501 starts January 19, and Asia is counting the days. She has new warm gloves, a gift from my friend Linda at work. They are felted wool, hand knitted by a friend, and should keep her perpetually freezing fingers warm this winter.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!! See you in 2010!

California Dreamin' Finale!!!

But of course, the highlight of the trip, the main reason we went, was to spend time with Meghann and Jeff. It had been nearly a year since we last saw them and a lot has happened in their lives.........most notably that Meghann is expecting their first child......our first grandchild.....Asia's first niece/nephew, and Grandma Betty's first great-grandchild!

Meghann is healthy, looks fabulous, and has had a fairly easy pregnancy so far. The baby is due the end of this January and we are all very excited to welcome this new little person into our hearts.

The waiting time and separation has been made a little easier for us with the addition of webcams and Skype! Now we can see AND talk to them, and Asia thinks that is the best!

You can bet there will be more news on this later!

California Dreamin' Part 4

Of course no trip to California would be complete without catching up with my old boss and friend Jacques. Jacques and his Little Brother (bigbrothersbigsisters.org) Alosha met us for lunch at the Sojourner Cafe in Santa Barbara. After a fine feast, and lots of catching up, we moved the party to Jacques' house, where he kindly took a bunch of pictures of all of us for our Christmas Card. Jacques' house, in the hills overlooking Santa Barbara and the ocean, provided a beautiful backdrop for our picture.

California Dreamin' Part 3

If you go to Los Angeles, find a Kogi Truck and try their Kimchee Quesadillas.....or Korean Short Rib Tacos.....or Spicy Pork Burritos!! Genius cooking!!! We caught up with the Kogi Truck in Santa Monica at the Yahoo building at lunchtime. They aren't in the phone book, but you can find them on Twitter and get their route/schedule. It's quite an experience, and really yummy food!! I want a Kogi Truck in Ann Arbor!!!

California Dreamin' 2009 Part 2

A few days later we met some of the Board of Directors of Train 4 Autism for dinner at P.F. Chang's in Santa Monica. (train4autism.org) When we learned that Meg and Jeff had previous plans for one evening during our visit, I emailed Molly Rearick to see if we could meet. She immediately organized a dinner at the P.F. Chang's restaurant in Santa Monica and sent out email invitations. We arrived that Tuesday night knowing no one and left with 7 and 1/2 new friends (the 1/2 being Ben and Suzana Davidson's adorable baby daughter Nola). Shelly Overton was the first to arrive and instantly made us feel at ease, as though we had known her for years. Ben and Suzana arrived with Nola next, and Nola charmed our socks off! Ben Fesagaiga and Ling Esangga came in soon after, bearing gifts for Asia - a Train 4 Autism technical shirt, which she proudly wore the next day on her run, a hat and wrist sweat band. Molly and Anthony Altomare arrived after some traffic snafus. We spent a wonderful evening learning about the group's history, plans for the future, and how we can help. After Shelly mentioned that there are some fine races in California, Asia spent the evening lobbying for future trips back to race. After snapping pictures of everyone, all too soon the evening was over. But I'm sure we'll meet again, and I know we'll be spreading the word about Train 4 Autism at races here in Michigan.

California Dreamin' 2009...Part 1

Not long after the Halloween Party, we flew to California to visit Meghann and Jeff. We stayed in Manhattan Beach, and Asia got to run on a different pier, strand, boardwalk, or beach every day! The second day we were there she ran with Dana, a runner friend of Meghann's, who took her to Venice Beach for a 5 mile run.

After the run Dana tried his hand/foot at tightrope walking while Asia relaxed on the pier.

Catching up!!!

It's been over 2 months since I've written here! There's been a lot going on in Asia's life, some running-related, some not. So here is a summary, the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the past 68 days. (As if I ever write anything in a condensed version!)

This is the off-season for the Running Fit team. Not Asia's favorite time of the year. Since joining the team and re-learning the joys of running with others, she much prefers the Tuesday workouts and Saturday long runs with her running mates to solitary running her 5 miles a day. The Halloween long run helped, with runners in costume..