20 MILES!!!!!!!!!

Today, I ran my first 20-mile run!!! This is also the longest run that we will run this season. WOW!!! I cannot believe how far we have come this season, literally and figuratively.

So, details. Because I know you want to know every detail of each and every mile ;-).

Well, today was a special run because actually got to get out of the city for once. Instead of running in Central Park, which is very hilly, we took a drive out to beautiful New Jersey. That's right, I have never loved New Jersey more than I loved it today. Not only was it a nice change of scenery, but the path on which we ran was the FLATTEST, SOFTEST path that I have ever run on. It was made of gravel and the path was actually an elevated path lined on each side by a creek. It was beautiful. Compared to the unforgiving concrete of Central Park, today's run was like walking on air!

Basically, we just ran one giant out and back, meaning 10 miles out on this path and then turning around and running 10 miles back. My friend Erica chose to look at it this way, "We're just going for a 10-mile run and then coming back and having a picnic." Obviously, Erica - with her ever-positive attitude - forgot to mention to herself that the "coming back" involves ANOTHER 10 miles!

Here we are at the conclusion of the run. I love this picture because both our happiness and our exhaustion are wonderfully apparent! And FYI, that's me, Kiernan, Erica from left to right.

So, allow me to indulge you in a moment of reflecting on how I FELT during the run. See, our coach, Ramon is all about really paying attention to how you feel during a run. Because regardless of the distance, endurance running is about learning to run through pain. Well, today, I didn't really felt very good for all except miles 12-16. For some reason, those four miles were really painful for me. However, I managed to make it to mile 16 and found a little extra burst of energy to get me to the finish line! I think that I was even able to keep up a decent pace of about 9:15/mile. That might not mean much to you, but that means I might (MIGHT) be able to finish the marathon in about 4 hours, which, for now, is my goal.

Alright, well,since I have already spent 1/8 of my day running, I think I'll give myself a break and go get some food! Thanks for reading. Leave a comment!!

2 Half Marathons Down, 1 Full Marathon (and $703) to Go!!!

This past Sunday, I ran my second half marathon. It was a beautiful day and I still had some friends in town for the basketball games, so I had lots of people to meet me at the finish line and celebrate.

Immediately following the race, I called my mom to look up my results online (they have these nifty devices that you put on your shoe and they time you crossing the start and finish lines to the second and then feed it directly to a website resport). Unfortunately, she was unable to find them. I also had no luck finding my results all day on Sunday.

Finally, after 24-hours of un-posted obscurity, my time for the More Magazine Half Marathon surfaced yesterday.

And I must say, I am very proud of the results!!

1:55:48

I managed to shave 2+ minutes off my previous time, despite a hillier course and higher temperatures (I've never been very good at running in warm weather). My average pace per mile for the race was 8 minutes and 50 seconds, so I am very pleased :-) Here's a picture of Erica and I at the finish line!

So that's 1 bit of exciting news! The other bit is this:


I have raised my fundraising goal from $4,000 to $5,000 by April 28th, 2007!!!!

That's right, things have been going SO well that I can't imagine stopping now. I want everyone to have the chance to donate, so I have raised my goal!

I sent another appeal out on Sunday and so far no one has responded. My hope is that some of you will arrive hear to read about my journey and will decide to click "Donate Securely Now" and donate, even $10 to the cause!!! Every little bit helps. In fact, now that I have surpassed my "minimum" amount raised, 100% of anything I raise goes DIRECTLY to the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! So don't think that just because I'm there I don't need you. I need you more than ever!!!

Ok, well I must go, but please leave some encouragement, I could definitely use it as the race approaches!!!

I don't mean to brag...

But our coach, Ramon thinks I am a rockstar. I e-mailed him today and we had the following exchange:

Ramon: I'll be sending a email with how to approach the event, specially for those are going for time..Ready to kick ass on sunday?
Me: DUH!!!! (to the ass kicking part)
Ramon: (answering my question about how much I should run leading up to the 1/2 marathon this Sunday):

ok..
your choices:
today run 4-5 miles
cross train tomorrow 40-45 minuts
off saturday

or

cross train today
run 4-5 miles tomorrow
off saturday

or

run 3-4 miles today
off tomorrow
run 2-3 miles saturday..


your choice........I am so good to you !!
and yes, you are going to kick freaking ass, I know, you have been running well, very well, just behave in the early miles !!!

I'm so proud!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

WHEW! Today was the longest run ever by 2 full miles!! That's right, we ran over 18 miles on this beautiful morning. And it WAS a beautiful morning, if you don't count the fact that we got 4 inches of sleet yesterday and ran on slush for most of our run. In fact, as I type this, I can hear some poor stranded sould sprinning his tires trying to get out of a snowed-in parking spot. Lovely.

So today we ran three full loops of Central Park. With each loop just over 6 miles, this was one heck of a run!!!  Kiernan, Erica and I ran together and actually managed to make the time go by by talking about pretty much anything we could think of.  I must admit, the first loop was a little depressing, just becaues you realize that you still have 2 more after that!!  However, as we pressed on, it became gradually less depressing and even a little exciting.  I mean, we nor realize that WE CAN DO IT!!!  We CAN run 26.2 miles on April 28th!!!

Notice all the "we's".  I must say, being a part of Team In Training has been an amazing experience in building friendships through adversity.  I have loved every minute I've gotten to spend out on the trails, in the bar, or writing e-mails with my new friends.  Team In Training just attracts the BEST people!!!!!!

Well, unfortunately, I must make this short.  I'm off to meet my teammates for some St. Patrick's day festivities.  I'm ashamed that I just pulled out my 1 green T-shirt and realized that not only has it not been worn or washed since last March 17th, but it is still  inside-out which is what I did to hide the lettering last year at the Tin Roof.  Good times!!! 

Please leave a comment. Oh, and did you forget that I'm fundraising?  Still got $103 to go, so please click to the right and give a little!!!

Running and Florida (and running in Florida)

My apologies for not posting, I have been so busy ever since last weekend!!!

Well, first of all, last Saturday was a great run. We ran across the George Washington Bridge again this week, but this time we ran into New Jersey for what Ramon calls the "hardest run of the season." The run had many large hills, making it quite exciting. The thing I realized, actually, is that when you're constantly going up or down a hill, time and distance seem to go by really fast!!

I finally had time to take another video of Ramon (our coach) at practice on Saturday. It is very short, but really (I think) gives a little picture of his personality. Sorry, I forgot again that I can't rotate this!!



Good times! So after practice, I had to make a train to the airport at 1:20pm. Therefore, I had to cut my run a little short and as a result ended up running the last half of the run on my own. And even though I love my running buddies, I must say that I actually really enjoyed the run and I was feeling really good and probably could have run a few more miles if I'd had time. This was extremely encouraging to me!

So I mentioned that I needed to go to the airport on Saturday. This weekend, I went to Florida to visit my grandpa and Nana at their place in the Villages. My trip to Florida was amazing! The weather was beautiful. It was 80 and sunny in central Florida. I had a great time with my grandparents. I got there Saturday night and we had dinner and hung out until I got tired (which didn't take long after the run Saturday morning!

Then on Sunday, they took me on a little tour of their town. The Villages is a retirement community with 65,000 residents who come there to live out (as the slogan says "the best of your life." The Villages has 40 golf courses and two "fake" downtowns that kind of remind me of Seaside Florida (where the Truman Show was taped). The towns were built within the last few years but they try to make them seem old and even hang fake plaques outside the buildings with fake history and stuff. One of the towns is a Key West/Victorian theme with pastel houses with white trim and such. Then the other downtown is Spanish themed with red brick roofs and stucco buildings.

Then they have live music in the square every night in each downtown so we went to dinner and then saw the live music on Sunday night. My grandpa's favorite singer, Norman Lee was performing, and it was a great time. Norman does a lot of old rock and roll and country music and everyone dances in the square. Now, most of these dancers are either residents of the village (55 and over) or their children, grandchildren or friends. Well...we had a special treat on Sunday night, the likes of which no one in the village had ever seen. I was lucky enough to capture some video of this experience, which I will share with you now. I cannot provide much context for this, unfortunately, because there isn't any!!





I also laid out by the pool for a couple hours each day and got a pedicure and my eyes waxed. It was great! Here is a picture of me with my grandparents!

My only complaint is that it went by really fast and I had to get up at 3:20 Tuesday morning to catch a van to the airport. Luckily, I was able to sleep in the van and I had the whole row to myself on the plane, so I laid down and slept the entire flight too.

Well, I must get to work, but thank you for reading. Have a great day and please, leave a comment!

Running in the snow!

I saw someone wearing something on the train today that immediately took me back to my childhood. You know sometimes you see or hear something that reminds you of something you haven't seen or thought of in SO LONG...like Fraggle Rock, Lace trimmed spandex shorts, etc. Well today, it was: Neon cheetah. I TOTALLY used to love that stuff...but when was the last time anyone saw it out in the wild (or on a New York City subway for that matter!).

Exhibit A:

Alright, that was comlpetely unrelated to anything, I just had to share it. This blog is actually about (as you may have gathered from the title) running in the snow. Yesterday, I committed myself to get up after Tuesday night's practice and go for a run. Now, I haven't always been good about going through with this, but I felt pretty good when I woke up yesterday, so I decided to seize the moment, pull on the spandex, and hit the road.

It wasn't until I got to the exit of my building that I realized there was about 1/8" of snow on the ground and it was coming down fairly agressively. Again, I briefly considered giving up and going back. But I realized that I had already completed the two most difficult parts of the morning run ordeal: getting out of the bed and putting on the gross running clothes. With that behind me, I had no right to turn back now! So, I persevered and joined the surprisingly respectable showing of fellow "Hardcorers" out there on a snowy morning in Central Park. I managed to squeeze in 4.93 miles and had a great time doing it. Now if only I could find a way to do that 2 days in a row...

I can STILL run a mile (and other big news)!!

Believe it or not, I'm STILL celebrating one mile, even after running 16+ on Saturday. In case you don't remember, my first post celebrating my 1-mile achievement gave my time's for what our fabulous foreign coach, Ramon, calls "Test #1." Well, today was Test #2, and I am proud to say that I improved my times!! And THAT is something to celebrate!

After 6 weeks of hill training, our coaches have worked their magic even when I was sure that I couldn't run any faster to save my life! Well, I did. My times were as follows:

1st Mile - 7:14
2nd Mile - 7:35
3rd Mile - 7:39

Oh and today was another milestone....perhaps a less...dignified one. Today was the first time that I peed in some bushes in Central Park.

What? You didn't hear me? Ok...I peed in the bushes in Central Park.

I PEED IN THE BUSHES IN CENTRAL PARK!!! And I'm not afraid to say it...mostly because I really had absolutely no choice. I'm pretty sure that my first mile was so fast because I was afraid I would pee my pants before the end of it! Anyway, mom don't worry, the police did not see me, and neither did anyone else...but I must admit, it wasn't too pleasant completing the workout in 15 degree weather after having no toilet paper...ok enough of that.

Overall, I can just say I'm glad that practice today and am very proud of the outcome(s....that's right...both of them!).

Tools of the Train

**I apologize for the strange text sizing of this post...Blogger is not cooperating!**

As coach Christine (who is still running with us even at 6 months pregnant!) is fond of reminding us, nutrition and hydration become the most important part of our run....and often the most confusing! When I started running, I never imagined how involved this part is. Most people never get to the point of needing to worry about re-fueling on a run, but once runs get up over 10 miles, things get a little complicated.

Hydration: (Coach Christine's advice in blue, my comments in black)

To replace fluids while running, you should be drinking about 5 to 8 ounces of fluids every 20 minutes. If it's extremely hot or humid, you should aim for the higher end of that range.

This charge is actually harder than it sounds while training in the winter. In the summer, the water fountains in Central Park are on and placed about every mile or so along the main road.

However, in the winter, the fountains are turned off, and we often run outside of the park, so it is important to carry enough water with you to stay hydrated.If you'd rather carry your own fluids, invest in an easy-to-carry water bottle or a Fuel Belt.

Well, I would NOT rather, but for the aforementioned reasons, I do have to carry my own water with me during long runs. Here's a visual:

The fuel belt is a great idea, and it DOES come in handy, but I must admit, it is NOT easy to run with 36 oz of water strapped to your midsection. And even though the weight decreases while you run, keeping everything balanced and secured in place is no small task!

Hydrating with plain water is NOT adequate for endurance training-you must include salt. Most basic sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade) do not contain adequate sodium for replacement of losses due to sweat - choose higher salt sports drinks or add your own.

As I'm sure you can imagine, drinking a drink that is high in salt content is great for hydration, but simultaneously makes you very THIRSTY!!! This is part of the reason that I completely ran out of water yesterday. I used up half of my fuel belt for Gatorade, and the other half went very fast because I kept having to quench the thirst caused by the Gatorade! Not fun! Oh, and if you do the math on the above, that means at LEAST 30 oz of water for 2 hours or running. And yesterday, that would have been more like 40 oz because we ran for about 2 hours and 40 minutes! If you have a moment, please take 40 oz of water, strap it to your belly, and go out there and run a mile. It's tough!!!!!

Nutrition:

The other part of refueling while we run long distances is nutrition. And let me tell you, nutrition has taken on a whole new meaning to me now. I'm not talking eat your Wheaties and plenty of vegetables. No, distance running nutrition looks a little bit more like packets of carbo-and-sodium-infused-goo in little packets. Not the most appetizing proposal.

Once you start running, you should take your first 100 calories of nutrition (remember, goo), about 1 hour into your run and then another 100 calories every 45 minutes.

Here are some examples of what our coaches recommend for "nutrition."

The gels:

















Shot bloks:














Each of these products provide quick, easy to digest carbohydrates and sodium during a run. The gels are literally a pudding-like consistency. We carry them in our fuel belts in the little pouch.

My running buddy Kiernan absolutely cannot eat them. The consistency is too problematic for her, so she prefers Shot bloks, which have the consistency of Australian licorice or orange rings, if you've ever had either of those. Both of these things require water to wash them down, further depleting the store of water. Regardless, they do work quite well and I usually feel a little burst of energy about 10 minutes after taking them. Yesterday, I had two during my run, and they really helped me keep going.

Well, I'm no expert, but this is what I know about nutrition and hydration in distance running. It's a lot more complicated than you though huh? I know! Stay tuned because I will keep sharing what I learn about this complicated topic and will share it accordingly. Thank you for reading!

George Washington Bridge

Another week, another "longest run of my life"...whew!

Well, today we ran 15.76 miles. It was notable in several ways. For one, today was the most beautiful day we've had so far. I was 55 degrees, sunny, the most beautiful of New York days. We met in Central Park for yet another hilly run, but some of my friends had a better idea. They suggested that we take a break from the hills of the park (Central park is VERY hilly!) and run up the west side to the George Washington Bridge. For those who don't know, the GW Bridge connects Northern New Jersey with upper Manhattan. The bridge is a giant suspension behemoth that is about a mile across and is an important fixture on the Manhattan skyline. My friends Kiernan and Erica went with me, as wel as two new guys we had never run with, Steve and Gustavo.

I don't know if I've mentioned, but in New York, 20 streets equal one mile. So we began our run at 72nd. Street and ran all the way to 181st street to the bridge. That is about 109 blocks, or about 5.5 miles. Tack on getting lost near the entrance to the bridge, 2 miles round trip to the path along the river, and another 2 miles round trip across the bridge and you've got one LONG run!!

We started out feeling really good, enjoying the day. I swear the first 4 miles went by so quickly, I don't even remember them. Part of the reason for this is that I don't think we really coach Ramon's advice to "behave" for the first 1/3 of the run. By behave, he means that we should make sure to hold back speed-wise to make sure we have enough energy left later in the run, when we really need it!

So after a nice brisk, comfortablt 6 miles, things got a little hairy as we approached the bridge. For one, we climbed about 100 yards vertically just to get on the bridge. We felt really good while we were running on the bridge (probably helped by the beautiful view of Manhattan) and for the first half of the run back down to 72nd St. Then....we hit a wall.

We each hit a wall in the last few miles of the race. This was not aided by the fact that we pretty much ran out of water right when we needed it most. Times like these, the value of teamwork makes itself incredibly apparent. I don't think I could have finished today without my teammates and I feel the same! How lucky I am to have such great people to keep me going when the going gets tough!

Oh, and that includes great people like you. Each week, I know that you will be reading my blog. And I know that you don't want to read that I quit after 10 miles. Neither do my honored teammates. These heroes didn't have the option to quit halfway through their fight against cancer, so neither do I. If I am lucky enough to be healthy enough to run, I will NOT chicken out when the running gets tough. Thank you for reading this far. I'm getting pretty tired, so I will sign off, but please check back tomorow, I have more fun stories to share!

Carissa