Boston Scientific Thank You Gift

A special gift from the Boston Scientific HR Summit. The painting reflects my life experiences and accomplishments with a pacemaker, my family, volunteer activities and partnership with Boston Scientific.

Queen of the Mountain

Queen of the Mountain event is participating in 3 events within 3 consecutive days. Making this more exciting, they combine the events during the Highland Games taking place at McCrae Meadows at the base of Grandfather Mountain.
Event #1 - Thursday, July 9th The Bear - 5 mile uphill run starting at 7:00pm at Hwy, 105 in Linville finishing at the top of Grandfather Mountain State Park. It was disappointing to have so much fog this evening therefore the views were distorted. I focused on pacing myself knowing there are two more days of events, so found the fine line of pacing myself and racing The Bear. I was happy with my 52 minute finish. It was great to see my husband and running partners at the top.

Event #2 - Friday, July 10th - The Grizzly 65 mile bike ride at 8am from Linville through a 6 mile climb on Beech Mountain, through Banner Elk and the beautiful blue ridge parkway finishing around the dirt track at McCrae Meadows. This was by far the hardest bike ride ever! After the bike ride I experienced my 1st ice bath...BRRR after the GRRRR.

Event #3 - Saturday, July 11th - Grandfather Mountain Marathon

The 26.2 mile run started at 7:30am from Appalanchian State College. Ashley, Ed and I began the journey through backroads of Boone/Blowing Rock, along the blue ridge parkway, we were greeted by Doug, Amanda, and friends on their bike encouraging us to keep moving forward. In order to pace myself for this very rolling course, I walked the hills early on. Approaching mile 20 along Hwy 221, I'm having a sinking moment as Amanda encourages me to finish the last Gu that I've carried for about a mile. 15 minutes later my sugar levels are back up for a surprisingly strong finish of 4:23 around the McCrae Meadows track.

A total time of 10:15, I'm 3rd place Queen of the Mountain out of 5 female participants. Looking forward to a little time off training and some rest.

Thanks for the support of my husband, Coach Melinda, training partners and the friends riding along the marathon course.

Red Sox & Rain

Despite the rain, we visited Fenway Park on Tuesday April 28th the day after the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately Sox vs. Minnesota Twins game was a rain out. The fans were disappointed but managed to enjoy the visit to Fenway Park as a Boston tourist spot. The famous CITGO sign 1.5 miles from the marathon finish!

Meeting Bob at Boston Marathon

Bob Meltcher and I have lot in common: Boston Marathon finishers, the love of running, love of life and the Boston Scientific Altrua 60 pacemaker. It was so much fun sharing this experience and wearing the BS title across our chest during the marathon as advertisement of a quality life!

Boston Scientific HR Summit - April 27th 2009

As a spokesperson for Boston Scientific, this has been the highest honor as guest speaker at the 1st Global HR Summit hosted by Lucia Quinn, HR Director on Monday, April 27th. The evening kicked off with Camille Change Gilmore introducing Board of Directors speaker, John Pepper and myself at the pre dinner cocktail party. Camille gave us the red carpet treatment. John Pepper spoke of values and inspiration of his business beliefs. After the evening meal, I was dessert guest speaker and briefly spoke of my Boston marathon experience from the prior Monday, my Boston Scientific Quality Days experience including the video, then talked of my lifetime of physical challenges and how the Boston Scientific Cardiac Rhythm Management pacemaker device has enhanced the quality of my life (as you can read about more in my blog post below). Two hours prior to the event I was notified of my Uncle's death, therefore speaking from my heart the reaction seemed it was very inspirational to my audience.

Boston Marathon, Monday April 21st 2009

At 6:45am, after Doug's good luck kiss, Melissa and I were in a taxi to our chartered bus meeting location that will take us to the start line host town of Hopkinton. One memorable part of the 26.2 mile journey was the 1 hour bus trip with 5 Charlotte running buddies, Melissa, Lana, Diane, Ultra Joe, and Saun. We enjoyed nervous chatter , calling my Coach Melinda, performing our pre race routine, eating breakfast while other runners tried to nap on the bus. Arriving at 8am, the school yard filled with runners wrapped in blankets across the sports field made us appreciative of our warm, private bathroom $30 chartered bus that would be available for our use until 10am. Lana, Diane and I leave our warm bus at 9:45am to turn in our drop bags and walk to our coral 2 starting position as we were greeted by media cameras. 10:25am is the sound of the start gun.....the 1st 10k is the slight downhill as expected, I'm on 8:40 pace for my 3:45 goal finish time and feeling great. Greeting Nancy and Diane along the way, Lana and I greet each other among the runners at mile 9 as we hopscotch each other throughout the rest of the course. Fun to see a familiar face!
Hopkinton to Boston was street lined with cheering spectators especially the high pitch at the half marathon point by Wellesley College. Around mile 17 experiencing stomach distress, watching my Garmin reflect 9:00 pace for a couple of miles, I realized I need to focus on at least meeting a requalifying marathon finish time of under 4:00. To focus on what I need to be focused on....nutrition, not slowing down too much, running through discomfort.... I ran along the right side of the road close to the cheering spectators, media taking pictures while I point to my Boston Scientific sponsorship shirt, drank water and force the gel nutrition at mile 21. As I approached the large CITGO sign with 1.5 miles to the finish I'm excited to see the last turn at the old fire station where Doug camped out since 9:00am. I ran along the crowd looking for Doug as I spotted Lana to my left and the Finish Line in the distance. Enjoying the greeting of Doug, then realizing I need to make the 4:00 cut off, I pushed the last bit of energy out of my legs for a 3:58:15 finish time! Boston 2010? I don't have to decide yet but nice to know I have the option. Thanks to my Trijinx Coach Melinda, my husband, Dad and Boston Scientific for helping me to reach the Finish Line!

2009 Boston Marathon Training

Saturday, April 11th, the last long training run prior to 2009 Boston Marathon, my running buddy Ashley and I ran at conversational pace for 13.5 miles at 8:35 average pace. I'm so psyched! It is exciting to feel the payoff from the 5 months of 5:30am morning runs!

Since Twin Cities Marathon, October, 2008, I've kept a good base mileage of runs consisting of 3-4 times weekly by making it enjoyable with trail runs with friends and keeping it social to avoid burn out. Wednesday 5:30am hill repeats began in November, then January came the tempos at 1/2 marathon pace, 5k intervals, and 30 second pick ups. Not only is Boston going to be a great experience, I'm not scared of Heartbreak Hill. Bring it on!

With the specail priveledge of running the Boston Marathon wearing the Boston Scientific logo, I'm excited to meet another patient with the same Altrua 60 pacemaker.

Bob lives in Pennsylvania and we have spoken over the telephone and compared pacemaker stories. One week and 1 day away from an experience I have dreamed of since my first marathon in 1994. My husband Doug will accompany me to Boston and is very excited to be support! Wish me luck!

Charlie is 2 years old

February 22nd, Charlie is 2 years old. Due to weather, his party was postponed and what a gorgeous spring day. He invited his canine friends, Jackson, Libby, Soda, Winston, and Chowder to celebrate and share his birthday cake from Canine Cafe.

Charlie's 1st Snow

The end of February and we are ready for spring! Sunday, March 1st was the best snow Charlotte, NC has seen in several years. Charlie enjoyed running and sliding around in the snow and chasing snowballs. Although Charlie was disappointed in the postponement of his 2nd year birthday party, he loved frolicking and getting wet in the snow. The city was icey but we managed to have power at home and get to work Monday morning.

Levine Cardiac Kids - CHD Awareness Week

Levine Cardiac Kids, a group supporting children with Congenital Heart Defects and their families got together on Valentine's Day, 2/14/09, to celebrate Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week at Build a Bear in Northlake Mall, Charlotte, NC. The children would make a wish and kiss the heart that was inserted prior to the bear being placed into the stuffing machine. Shown in the photo: Jacob, a 16 year old CHD patient, Lisa McKenzie, Steering Committee Chair of LCK, Ford, 1 year CHD child, Sarah and Adrienne Mauntel, Fundraising Chair of LCK. Since October 2007, I have been a Steering Committee Chair of the Awareness Committee for LCK. Being a part of this support group has exposed me to various CHD conditions. I admire the support and strength of the children and their families. Hopefully my story will give them hope of living a positive and active lifestyle. As a child, I was not exposed to other children with heart conditions and did not publically talk about my heart condition until I was 40 years old. The support group gives the children a bond and an opportunity to compare scares. For more information: http://www.levinecardiackids.com/

Run to Rich Mountain in Blowing Rock, NC

On Saturday, February 7th, 2009 Aprille, Ashley and I road tripped to Blowing Rock, NC for a run from Bass Lake to Rich Mountain at Moses Cone Park with our friend Ed and some of his Boone trail running buddies. We think they are really Dennis’s friends, but we’ll amuse Ed by letting him claim them as his friends too. After mornings in Charlotte in the teens this week, we welcome the beautiful 41degree starting temperature with approx. 60 degrees when we finished.
This was a great training run for Ed, Dennis and Ashley who are running the Mt. Mitchell 40 miler on February 28th. The same date Aprille is running the two day Gasperilla challenge of a 15k, 5k and ½ marathon held in Tampa FL. Others were training for Black Mountain marathon and the Myrtle Beach ½ marathon. I enjoyed the training day with good conversation and beautiful scenery.
Despite Ed cutting his hand, which we are not sure how this happened, and he lost Ashley on the trail, hazards were minimal. Thanks for Belinda running with her camera and sharing her photos.