Welcome to Issue #259 of My Monday Memo
by Rachel Brandes
Quote of the Week
“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.”
– Dean Karnazes, American ultramarathon runner
Today is Monday, May 12, 2025
National Mental Health Provider Appreciation Day
Happily Ever After
https://www.everafterphotographypnw.com/
Ever After Photography PNW is owned and operated by photographer extraordinaire, Mira Nachtigall. Mira specializes in birth, maternity, and newborn photography.
Random Photo of the Week
Sunrise at Point Ruston in Tacoma, Washington. Photo by Rachel.
Feline Tomfoolery
with Brady & Belichick
Dear Humans,
Sometimes our human likes to remind everyone that we can be little troublemakers. Rest assured, this is very rare, like almost never. We are sweet baby angels and don’t you forget it.
Firstly, she can’t expect to eat string cheese and not have us go crazy over the smell of dairy. We are cats. We will lick that string cheese wrapper until we get every single trace of dairy off. Maybe sometimes we steal said string cheese wrapper before the human can get it in the trash and we hide with it until we are done. She loves finding these around the apartment.
And maybe, just maybe, one of us likes to sneak into the laundry room when she’s doing laundry. This one of us might hide behind the door until she leaves and then that one of us might just jump up on the washer and down into the tiny space between the washer and the wall. While this one of us is entirely aware that the space is unescapable without human intervention, this one of us repeatedly attempts this feat. The only problem is that the human can’t hear the meowing for help over the laundry sounds and someone has to spend at least 20 to 30 minutes in this tiny spot until they are found and rescued. Then the human gets all cranky when she has to move the entire stackable washer/dryer unit to free a certain feline.
Keep in mind, the human still loves us to pieces and since she hasn’t disowned us yet, even after all of our antics, we will continue to push the limits.
Much Love, Belichick (top) & Brady (bottom)
Brady & Belichick are Rachel’s adorable felines. Brady is a short hair and very dominant and athletic, much like his namesake (Forever Patriots). Belichick, aka Beli, the long hair, was the runt of their litter and is much more passive, until provoked. These two cute boys turned two on May 4, 2025.
Mental Health Minute
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
All resources shared in this week’s Mental Health Minute are located at SAMHAS.gov, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Find support in the United States by clicking on the link below.
Sunday FunDay RunDay
with Tacoma Run Club
The last weekend of April turned out a good group at the Tacoma Run Club. Pictured on the right is a photo taken by another runner and posted to the run club Instagram Story. This picture just happens to have Rachel with friends Jennie and Bill as they run the course. That “Big Run Club Energy Today.” message at the bottom… love it.
A Great Day to Run
Pictured Above: An incredible drone shot of marathon and half marathon runners crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, Washington on Sunday, May 4, 2025. This photo was shot by Northwest Skyview Imagery (click link to view site), who specialize in Aerial Drone, Real Estate and Commercial Photography. We thank you for allowing us to use your photo.
On Sunday, May 4, 2025, Rachel would run her first organized half marathon event in 12 years (when her back injury saga began). The journey has been long and hard, but well worth it.
For anyone that isn’t familiar with her history, she blew out her L5/S1 disc and required a spinal fusion. This surgery failed (her bone graft didn’t take allowing the screws to move around in her spine) and she ended up with broken hardware requiring a second fusion, a revision. She now has eight screws and a half screw that was not able to be removed during the revision.
A few comments that have stuck with her over the years…
“You will never run again, find something else to love,” Rachel’s first spine surgeon, 2016.
“If you want to run again, you can, we will work towards that goal.” Rachel’s awesome physical therapist after her revision spine surgery, 2022.
Rachel didn’t believe that physical therapist one little bit. As you see above, she has a lot going on in there. Of note… Rachel is obsessed with x-rays and absolutely loves to share this one, as she still can’t believe she walks around like this. Anyway… It turns out that physical therapist was right and with a lot of hard work and dedication (and some nerve pain and weakness on the right), she runs.
This 13.1-mile race was part of the Tacoma City Marathon Association’s Tacoma City Marathon weekend race series. Wow, that was a mouthful. There were several events held during the weekend, a Saturday 5k, 10k and 13.1 Ghost run (ghost as in you’ve been ghosted and there will be no course support like the next day), then Sunday would offer the official 13.1 and 26.2 half and full marathons.
Rachel had originally signed up for the 10k having run the 5k last year. However, with her friend Jennie’s first quarter endurance training plan (mentioned in previous issues), Rachel had completed a 13.1-mile jog with her friends a few weeks prior. While this was a slow pace with chit chat throughout, Rachel knew an official timed event would be a completely different animal for her. She believed she was ready to take on that challenge. Ready but nervous. The rule would be… any out of the ordinary pain means stop.
With 423 full marathon runners and 1037 half marathon runners, it was one full starting line. Rachel and her friend Bill, who was also running the half marathon that day, had been lucky to start nearer to the front of the pack.
When discussing the race ahead of time, Bill asked Rachel what her goal was for this half marathon. Her initial thought was ‘to finish without pain.’ She had thought on this long enough to have a better answer. She said, “I’d like to finish in 2 hours and 15 minutes, with no unusual pain, and I want to run the entire thing without walking.” When she saw the 2:20 pace person at the starting line, far ahead of her, she knew she would fight to get and stay ahead of him.
When she had finally caught up with and passed the 2:20 pace person, she felt good and hoped to keep her pacing steady. Bill was a great friend and ran the first half of the race with Rachel until breaking free to push himself for a faster time.
Pictured Above: Bill with Rachel bringing up the rear as they finish mile two on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This photo was taken by CJ Photography. Click this link to view their site. CJ Photo NW. There are also several other photos included in this week’s issue that were taken by CJ Photography. Each has the Tacoma City Marathon stamp in the bottom left. A big thank you for CJ Photography for allowing downloads and sharing.
It would be around mile seven that Bill pulled ahead and was out of Rachel’s site. She was now alone with her thoughts. What thoughts? Here are some of things that went through her head…
Mile 8
- It sure is a beautiful day for this.
- I wonder how fast Bill is running now.
- I need to remember to get toothpaste.
- That pizza I got for later sure is going to taste good.
Mile 9
- Why did I add this song to my playlist?
- Dang, these Nerd Gummy Clusters are amazing.
- Oh, I have a cupcake for later, too. Mmmm.
- Shoot, I forgot to keep Vlogging.
Mile 10
- Did I just put food in my mouth and then decide to do a video? Wow.
- I wonder where we will go to eat after this run.
- I can’t believe my cats turned two today.
- That hill ahead looks long. Oh boy.
Mile 11
- Ooh, back spasm.
- This hill is torture.
- Ooh, back spasm.
- Ugg, nerve pain in my butt.
- Ooh, back spasm.
- Eek, nerve pain down my leg.
Mile 12
- Okay, the course leveled out, I am so close.
- Another spasm, dang it.
- I’ve got this.
Mile 13
- The finish line is right there.
- Cool, look how many of my fans are lined up cheering for me.
- Oh, no… Does the finish clock say 2:15? That was my goal time. I better sprint!
- How am I running this fast?
- I bet I look a lot like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 1-50.
- I hope my heart socks come out good in the photos.
- Now throw your arms up and look cool in your finish line photo.
Pictured Above: Rachel manages to get both hands above her head to cross the finish line in celebratory mode. Pictured Below: Bill went for the “this is too easy” look for his finish line photo. Why does Rachel’s face say, ‘I survived’ while Bill’s face says, ‘I’m cool, I’m strolling, lookin’ good.’???
Pictured Above: Rachel and Bill after the race with Bill taking a bite of his medal and giving Rachel some very fashionable bunny ears.
Wow, this what an amazing experience. It just goes to show you that with hard work and determination, most things are possible. Not only did Rachel finish with her exact time goal, but she was able to run the entire 13.1 miles without walking. The best part, she had no back pain during and no back pain after. Simply amazing.
Pictured Above: Rachel’s race bib and super heavy finisher medal.
Pictured Above: Rachel’s end of race statistics.
Check out the route the ran by clicking this link: Interactive Route Map.
We See You, Tacoma Run Club!
Pictured Below: Tacoma Run Club (TRC) organizer, Ejay O’Donnell, was in attendance at the TCMA half marathon, as were many other TRC members. Rachel had to snap a shot of Ejay representing for the TRC.
One more thing… Until next time, be well.