Crossing the Finish Line, Movie Marathon, A Fallen Tree

Hello and Happy Monday, gang!

I hope you had a great weekend - whether than means being lazy, productive or crazy. I was all of the above at different points in time but felt really lazy because of what my co-anchor Sonya Heitshusen was doing. She ran the San Diego Marathon yesterday. Here's part of what she had to say about it, "I finished in 4:30 something. Not my goal, but not bad. The end was painful and emotional. I started crying and then hyperventilating!" For those of you who don't know, Sonya was running with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training in honor of her brother Quentin, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. It's also the ten year anniversary of Sonya's running of the San Diego Marathon with then her Channel 5 co-anchor Scott Smith. The two of them were running back then for Scott's two year old daughter, Sydney. I think you can still donate to the L & L Society through Sonya's fundraising page. Hopefully this link will take you there: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ia/rnr09/sheitshusen. And if you're interested in seeing just how much this means to Sonya and why it's important to many people, visit http://www.whotv.com/ and look for "Sydney's Story" in the video player.

Before Sonya left for San Diego, she suggested during a commercial break that we do the Chicago Triathlon together. I started laughing hysterically. Then we had to get a grip for the next segment in the 5 o'clock show. During weather, Sonya passed me a note reading "Steve could run, Michael could bike and you could swim!" I wrote back "See Steve Run. See Michael Have A Stroke. See Erin Drown." Seriously.

The only marathon I took part in this weekend was the movie watching kind. On the list over the past several days: Doubt, Valkyrie, Seven Pounds, Notorious and something else I'm forgetting. We also finally sucked it up and rented Marley & Me and as expected I bawled my ever-lovin' eyes out. As a kid I never really understood why my dad was never willing to get another dog after our dog Marka died of old age. My parents had gotten her right after they got married and she was part of the family for seven years before I came along. We always had a slew of cats over the years - and even a rabbit and a chicken - but never another dog. When Marka died it was the first time I'd ever seen my dad cry about anything. I get it now. Sometimes it's just impossible to give that much of heart again - particularly when you know it's pretty likely that it will get broken in exactly the same manner.

Finally, we had to chop down a beloved tree at our house yesterday. While doing yard work we noticed that a split in its trunk was getting noticeably worse. So, I walked over to inspect the damage and poked the trunk. My finger went right through the bark. Our lovely Chinese Mulberry was dead! It's official . . . I kill everything that has leaves or bears fruit or flowers. If anyone has suggestions for a nursery nearby where we might find a replacement I would appreciate it. The only good thing to come of this discovery is Michael got to play with a chainsaw (and he still has all of his fingers and toes).

Have a wonderful week!
EEK
Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com