Vegas, baby!

JENNIFER: I've been in Las Vegas since Sunday, and I'm leaving later this afternoon. Whew! That's a long time to be in this city.

I'm here for the Oncology Nursing Society annual conference, where I was manning the LAF booth and talking to oncology nurses about the services we offer that can help their patients. I am happy to say that our information and the giveaways we distributed were very well received.

This year I developed the marketing strategy behind our booth presence at healthcare professional conferences like ONS and some others taking place this spring, so I enjoyed seeing my brainstorming and preparation finally come to fruition and be successful. Yippee!

Except for a couple of dinners out with my colleagues and some Fertile Hope friends, when I haven't been at the conference, I've been working in my hotel room. Needless to say, I haven't ridden my bike once this week. I even brought my cycling shorts and jersey with me, thinking there might be a workout room in my hotel. Sadly, I didn't even think to ask hotel staff whether an exercise bike exists here. Blame it on the long expo hours and distraction of the blinking and dinging of the casino downstairs.

In between the conference hours and plugging away at my laptop, I did get to see a show. My friend Tara indulged me and agreed to see Barry Manilow at the Las Vegas Hilton. Yep, I'm a Fanilow.

Barry was awesome! Everyone got a glow stick when you enter the little bitty theater. Then they played great dance music to get the crowd going. Then the stage went crazy with lights and a few cheesy graphics, and Barry came out and by the end of the show we were all on our feet, dancing with the glow sticks.

The best part was that halfway through the show an usher asked Tara and me if we wanted to move up closer from our seats in the back corner of the theater. She took us down the center aisle to the 12th row! Awesome, especially at the end of the show when Barry climbed a ladder-crane-like thing that hovered over the audience.

Wow, that man still has some serious moves. I have to admit...I was dancing and singing along to Copacabana and waving my glow stick in the air.

And then there's the casino. I'm a craps player - that's the only table I play. I especially like the $5 tables because I understand how all the odds work and generally feel comfortable with the amount of money I have out there during a given roll.

I am here for work - really - so I haven't gotten to spend much time at the craps table. That might be a good thing, seeing as the time I have spent playing craps has resulted in my being down about $30 or $40. Oh well. If that's the cost of entertainment this trip, I'm okay with that.

That being said, I'm about to get kicked out of my hotel room where I've been working nonstop, and I'm not leaving for the airport for a couple of hours...so I guess I'll have to find another $5 craps table to occupy my time. Wish me good dice rolling!

Checking In

LAUREN: First off, thanks to everyone who has posted comments and shared thoughts and ideas regarding riding and fundraising. I enjoy hearing from you and am so inspired by what each of you are doing too. Keep'em coming!

Now to the update...

Last week was a complete blur for me due to a busy work week, which was followed by a busy weekend. To be honest, last week was a bit of a challenge because it wasn't the typical week for me. At the end of the week, I had a trip scheduled to Washington, D.C., to conduct a site visit for our upcoming LIVESTRONG Day event. It was a short trip, but action-packed no less. I would like to say that I held to my "only two days of working late" but it didn't happen...and I'm okay with that (sort of). The reality was that while I was traveling and away from the office, the emails kept coming and deadlines needed to be met. It happens and I'm okay with that...for that week.

As we headed into the weekend, my husband took me out for a nice sushi dinner at Beluga and we enjoyed spending some time together. We are co-presidents for our neighborhood association and we had recently organized a crime prevention meeting for our neighorbors on Thursday. I was traveling, but my husband conducted the event on his own and we discussed what we wanted to do next. Overall, he was pleased with the turnout, and I was happy that it went so well for him.

Saturday brought our quarterly "Adopt-a-Trail" clean-up along the creek in our neighborhood. We had five neighbors show up and we spent about two hours picking up cans and snack wrappers that had washed down with the recent rains. Saturday also happened to be "Dumpster Day" in the city so we managed to do a little cleaning of our house too. I was really tired that night, so I headed to bed early and proceeded to sleep for ten hours. Ten glorious hours!!

Sunday was by far the best day, and along with a little more house cleaning, I managed to squeeze in a long ride. Since the hotel where I stayed didn't have a bike in the gym, I figured that I needed to log some time to make up for it. Hence, I rode more than hour and would have gone longer if I had had more time. The weather was so beautiful and the wind wasn't too bad. I rode in a new area so the scenery was nice too. I also stumbled across a great stretch of road that had little traffic and was fairly long. All was good until I got a little closer to home and then IT HAPPENED!

I experienced (I believe) a cyclist's rite of passage because I had my first crash on the bike...EVER! I'm okay and so is the bike. Luckily, I wasn't going too fast to do serious damage. However, the story of how it happened isn't very glamorous either. I was down the street from my house and made a U-turn in the street. I managed to get too close to the curb and lost control of the handlebars. Before I knew it, I hit the curb and fell off the bike. It kind of scared me, because it happened so quickly. After it happened I immediately thought of my friend, Rodney, who had encouraged Jen and I to learn to fall. Again, it wasn't too bad because I fell onto a grassy area but I think was more embarrassed than anything else. Like I said, not a glamorous story and I don't have any major road rash; but it happened, which is kind of a big deal when you are beginner.

Looking back on the week, there is definite room for improvement and this week will be a true test of that. Although the week didn't unfold exactly as I planned, I am still happy with what I did accomplish and am committed to making it better each week.

Happy Friday!

JENNIFER: Yesterday was the best day.

All week long I have been working late-late hours on a big project and getting home after dark so riding my bike has been impossible. Yesterday morning I decided to give myself some Jennifer-time - to come into work a bit later than usual so that I could ride in the morning.

It was such a nice morning, not too many cars on the road, and I enjoyed my 40-minute ride. And wonder of wonders...arriving at the office an hour later than usual didn't cause the LAF to completely fall apart. I felt quite good about taking the time to give myself what I needed, so that then I could jump back into my job without having to compromise much.

The end of the day was just as fulfilling as the beginning of the day. Last night was Book Club, and although I didn't finish the book (What is the What), I had a wonderful time drinking wine and spending time with friends. We shared funny stories and laughed a lot. Although Book Club is made up mostly of work friends, we didn't spend too much time talking about work - which was nice.

Whew! It's Friday. I'm looking forward to getting to spend time with my parents and my in-laws this weekend, as both sets of parents are coming to Austin. Yippee for the weekend!

Enough Talk...It's Time for Action

LAUREN: I read Jen’s posting last week and it really struck me because I was in the same boat. A week had gone by and I didn’t get on the bike once last week. UGH – so disappointing! In addition, I was reading my friend's blog and she’s recovering from her first half-ironman. I was thrilled for her, but again disappointed that I had done nothing last week. (She’s also doing the MS150 from Houston to Austin this weekend, and that’s something I would like to tackle next year.)

So enough talk, it’s now time for action and that action started yesterday. From here until Challenge weekend, I am getting serious about training and will only let myself work late two nights per week. (I can hear some of my colleagues laughing about that, but I am going to make it happen!) I will also ride three times a week – two times during the week and once during the weekend.

I rode on Sunday for an hour (without padded biking shorts – big mistake, I won’t do that again.) through my neighborhood and had the best time. The weather was so beautiful and tons of people were outside doing yard work or hanging out in the yard.

While riding, along with admiring the nice landscaping of many of my neighbors, I started thinking about how I also needed to get my fundraising efforts started. I met some of the Challenge mentors for breakfast on Saturday morning (Viva Las Manitas!) and heard stories about what each of them planned to do. They had some interesting ideas and advice, but I will focus on that next week.

This week, it’s all about getting back on the bike and logging time in the saddle. I am trying to start a new routine, which will require me to get up earlier and arrive at the office earlier in order to miss traffic. I am striving to achieve a better work/life balance and today was my first step toward making it happen. I know it won’t always be easy, but it wouldn’t be worth it if it were easy. Plus, I will have each of you to hold me accountable. :-)

I am also heading to Washington, D.C., at the end of the week for a site visit to prepare for LIVESTRONG Day. I hope they have bike in the hotel gym because I will be there on a “ride day.” On a work-related note, we are about four weeks away from LIVESTRONG Day, and it’s going to be G-R-E-A-T!

I'm back!

JENNIFER: The first ride back is the hardest, right? The same with running, when I used to run with my friend Angela in Dallas. The same with yoga, when I was really into Ashtanga yoga a couple of years ago. Today, it probably didn't help that I think my tires were a little low. It certainly wasn't my best ride, but the weather was beautiful and perfect. I rode my bike around the neighborhood and enjoyed being outside.

First thing this morning, I had breakfast with some of the LIVESTRONG Challenge mentors at Las Manitas (my first time there - yum!) and laughed my tail off for two hours. They were in town for the weekend, and yesterday I had the pleasure of making a presentation to them about the LAF's programmatic initiatives, specifically our grants programs.

Next ride scheduled for Tuesday after work. Hopefully Lauren and her new bike will join me!

So ashamed...

JENNIFER: I can't believe it, but another week has gone by and I did not ride my bike ONCE. Between busy work and cranky weather, it has not been a good week for evening rides. I am so ashamed...

But Sunday is going to be the start of a new week and a new resolution. Twice a week, I will leave the office in time to ride my bike. I will begin riding on Sundays to start each week off right. Even if I think I don't have time, I will remember how good I feel when I get home from riding my bike and know that it is worth the effort to make time.

You gotta love Texas weather

LAUREN: This past week was a bad training week for me. I rode once for 40 minutes, but that was it. I was looking forward to taking my bike to our family ranch in Shiner, Texas, to log some riding time on the country roads in between our usual family activities of playing softball, chasing each other with confetti eggs and fishing. However, the weather had a mind of its own. After we had a nice week of Spring-like weather, the temperatures plummeted into the low 40s and it rained all weekend. Needless to say, the bike stayed in my garage in Austin and I stayed inside watching movies and playing board games with my family in Shiner. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed beating my brother at the 90s edition of Trivial Pursuit. :-) (I was able to beat my brother on a question relating to Baywatch. Yes, Baywatch! Go figure.)

I am looking forward to a better week of weather. The forecasters think the weather will be warm again at the end of the week and throughout the weekend. I hope they are right.

P.S.: I won second place in the NCAA tournament bracket, right behind Jennifer’s dad. LOL!

Matzah break, now back on the bike

JENNIFER: My small break from cycling and blogging this week was due to my stressing about, hosting and then recovering from celebrating Passover on Monday evening.

Matt and I invited some friends over for Passover seder - our first time to formally entertain since we moved into the house. I used our wedding china and crystal, and our dining table looked lovely! Thanks to my friend Melissa for the great decorating ideas.

I made a brisket that halfway through resembled worn leather but ended up perfectly tender, juicy and yummy. I also served gefilte fish (out of the jar), matzah ball soup and garlic sauteed spinach. Matt picked out a couple of pints of Ben & Jerry's for dessert, and our friend Stacey brought over delicious baklava. YUM.

I finally got back on the bike this evening, and I had a nice ride. The weather had cooled off, and I tried to push myself to ride longer than a half hour and faster than my normal pace. I was a little disappointed when I got home and realized I'd only been on the bike for 35-ish minutes. I thought for sure I had ridden at least 45 minutes! I know I need to build up my time because soon I'll have to kick into gear with some serious training for the 70-mile.

A quick shout-out to my dad for taking first place in the NCAA basketball bracket that Lauren and her husband put together. Daddy said I should use his winnings to treat my friends to the first round of drinks at tomorrow night's happy hour. What a cool dad I have!

A Great Start to the Week

JENNIFER & LAUREN: When you head to the grocery store or your local bookstore, be sure to check out the magazine rack. On the shelf today is the latest copy of Newsweek with a photo of the LIVESTRONG wristband on the cover and featuring a powerful column from Lance.

As LAF staff members, we take great pride in the work we do and are committed to helping the millions of people affected by cancer. For the last ten years, the LAF has worked to change the way people think about the disease. We started this work years ago with testicular cancer, moved into urologic cancers, began tackling the issues that survivors deal with each and every day and now we are not only supporting survivors but tackling the social injustices associated with cancer.

With recent cancer recurrence announcements from both Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow, cancer has received a tremendous amount of national news coverage. This week is no exception and the LAF is proud to be a part of it. But it’s not enough. We must and will do more for the more than 10 million cancer survivors living in the U.S., and we ask you to do the same.

We are both a part of the LIVESTRONG Army and we ask you to join today if you haven’t already. If you have already joined us, then please ask five more people to join the fight. Together we will make cancer a national priority. LIVESTRONG!