I'm a MENTOR!!!

Well, friends, it has officially begun (which reminds me...this blog might need to change form soon...)!

This week, I got the names of my first two mentees whom I will be guiding through the Team In Training (TNT) program for the New York City Marathon! I can't believe it's really happening!

In case you're wondering, what it means to have "mentees," allow me to explain. Well for those who don't know, I ran a marathon last year with TNT (in fact, it was TODAY a year ago...crazy!). TNT is part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and participants in the program raise money for cancer research and patient aid while getting coaching to complete an endurance event. So at the finish line of my last marathon I swore I would never do another one. Then I realized I had automatic entry into the New York City Marathon and well....here I am.

So as a mentor, I will have about 10 people whom I am charged with sort of guiding through the experience of Team In Training. So I'll be helping them with everything from fundraising ideas to training support (but only a little, the coaches have to do most of that for safety reason - I am no expert!). I'll also be organizing little mentor group outings and encouraging my mentees to attend team outings as well.

I'm really excited because I feel like this role really plays to my strengths of organization, enjoying working with people, and event planning all wrapped into one! It should be a good time! I will definitely keep you posted about how it is going! Oh and I'll also probably be asking you to support the Society with a donation, but more to come on that. And for your enjoyment here's the e-mail I sent to my first two mentees. Enjoy!

Dear Kristen,

Hello and welcome to Team In Training!!

My name is Carissa and I am so excited to be your mentor for this exciting season. I am here to help guide you through one of the most amazing and life-changing experiences you will ever have! I can sure say that my Team In Training experience was all that I hoped for and more and I know that the same will be true for you. Warning, this is a long, but very informative e-mail (I hope), please read and respond!

If you are nervous, don't be! I promise that you will cross the finish line of the amazing New York City Marathon if you listen to Coach Ramon and BEHAVE (his signature phrase). And I will be there to help you every step of the way!

Attached is my mentor bio. And I'd love to know a little bit about you.... where you're from, what inspired you to join TNT and what you'd like to get out of the season. Anything you would like to share. :-) So shoot me an e-mail whenever you can.

Mentor Bio: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dch7cxqr_9cp9pnrgm

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Wednesday, May 7th 6:30 pm: KICK OFF is at 630 2nd Avenue @ 35th street. It's a big church, you can't miss it. I look forward to meeting you there. When you e-mail back, PLEASE let me know if you will be able to attend.
• Saturday, May 10th at 10:00 am: First Group Training Session (GTS) at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park and in Prospect Park. For the first practice at least, it would be great if you can come to Bethesda, which is located on the north side of the 72nd street transverse that connects the east side of the park to the west side of the park. I will be there in whatever standard-issue TNT Mentor gear they give us, more details to come! If you’d rather train in Prospect Park (I believe you live in Brooklyn), I will get more specific meeting locations for you.
• Tuesday, May 13th at 6:40 pm: First mid-week practice. You'll get more information on this later. It’s a team tradition to go for happy hour after Tuesday night practice, so plan on drinks with your mentor group. Believe me, there’s no better way to bond than drinking beer at a bar in spandex (if you don’t have spandex yet, don’t worry, you will)!
  

FUNDRAISING:

• One of the most important things you can do in the next few weeks is NOT to go out and run (there’s plenty of time for that later), but to sit down and get your fundraising going (you’ll be glad you did once training starts!). Believe me, the earlier you start, the easier it is.
• You should get an e-mail soon (or you may have gotten it already) about setting up your fundraising site. This only takes 2 minutes to set up...piece of cake!!!
• Here’s mine from my last marathon: www.active.com/donate/tntnyc/tntnycCLucyk1 (note: this was hosted on a different server and has a different look and feel. Once I edit my site for this year, I’ll definitely show you!).
• Also, don’t forget that one of the most effective ways of fundraising is still the good old-fashioned LETTER. I raised most of my money this way (especially from my non-computer-savvy relatives). I have posted my letter online. Please take a look and feel free to plagiarize! http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dch7cxqr_3cz5rdscw.
  
• Send me a draft of your letter and I’ll gladly take a look. Don’t forget, TNT will mail up to 100 letters for you

Finally, please know that I am always available to you. Call or email me ANY TIME with questions, concerns, etc. In fact, I will be calling you this weekend…watch out!

• Cell phone: (419) 494-9040
• Email: carissa.lucyk@gs.com AND carissa.lucyk@gmail.com (please always copy BOTH so I can get it whether I’m at work or home!)

Thanks and I look forward to talking to you this weekend and meeting you at Kickoff!

Carissa

Don't drink and....Sleep?

I'm a little embarrassed to share this story, but it is almost too funny for me to keep in, so here goes.

My friends from work and I have developed a little habit of going to a local cantina (read: High class Mexican restaurant) called Dos Caminos about once a week for the $11 margaritas and $24 guacamole. Before you gasp let me just say the margaritas are strong and DEFINITELY more worth the money than those $6 ones at Chili's. And as for the guacamole...it's just delicious, so $24 for 4 people is ok with me.

Anyway, last night we went to Dos Caminos and I had three margaritas. Which is a lot. Despite being pretty tipsy I did get home fairly early and have a nice conversation with both my mom and Taylor before falling asleep around 10pm. And here's where it gets interesting...

So, I woke up at about 4am and was really thirsty. I reached for the water bottle that I keep on the nightstand beside my bed. I took off the lid and began trying to drink the water. Any by that I mean I was sucking REALLY HARD because nothing was coming out. "Strange," thought my slightly drunk and half-asleep self. Well, finally after a while, something came out.....yes, something. This something was sort of gooey and not at all the consistency that water is supposed to have. It was more like pudding... Somewhere in my brain I rationalized that maybe something was wrong with the bottle and the water had gotten thick...yeah i know, real logical.

So, what do you think I did after swallowing the pudding-water (which tasted like pretty much nothing, by the way)? That's right, I took one more big swig just to be sure it wasn't h2O. Nope...definitely not water. At this point I finally am conscious enough to realize something is very wrong, so I run to the sink in the kitchen and get a big glass of ACTUAL water. I returned to my room to figure out WHAT I was drinking. And you will never guess what it was.

Suave Advanced Healing Lotion. Seriously. I was drinking lotion in my sleep. I really dare you to try to top that because I don't think I could if I tried. YUCK! And you guessed it, when I removed the "cap" from the water I had in fact popped off the piece of plastic out of which the lotion actually squirts (it was laying pathetically next to my pillow when I woke up - with a stomach ache of course!). And there was my headless little bottle of lotion. I seriously can't look at my lotion without gagging. Ugh....

So I will end this post the same way I started it. With some very very wise words. Don't drink and sleep....lest you become like me. Hey, look on the bright side, my esophagus is very smooth.

Scenario 1 is coming true!! Taylor GETS the Fulbright!!

Well, as you can see, Taylor got the Fulbright. We're not really 100% sure what that means, but what I do know is that Taylor will be in Indonesia (not sure where) teaching English (not sure to whom) from August 2008 to May 2009 (not sure of exact dates). And I'm not sure where we'll live after that!!! Not much of an update, huh? So I am tentatively leaning toward option 3 below or some variation of it:

Taylor GETS the Fulbright:

• I stay in New York, doing pretty much what I'm doing now.
• I stay in New York until I run the New York City Marathon in November and then move to Atlanta and work for Deloitte and wait patiently for Taylor to come back.
• I stay in New York until I run the New York City Marathon in November and then move to Ann Arbor to live with my sister while she attends beauty school and work for Google and wait patiently for Taylor's return.

I'm not 100% sure though, so we'll see!! For now, I'm planning to move in with my friend Kiernan from June 1- December 1, but I might leave for Michigan/Ohio right after the New York City Marathon. I honestly have no idea what I will do with myself when I get there. I have debated some or all of the following:

• Live with Taryn and work in Ann Arbor in either a "real job" at a big company or some BS job like a barista at Starbucks
• Live at home and do the same.
• Live wherever and work for a non-profit making virtually no money (but still enough to afford rent that will be about 30% of what I pay now)
• Train for a Triathlon
• Get a dog
• Be a nanny
• Work in the ministry
• Write for a newspaper
• Blog for a living (jk, you've read this, I'll never make it!)
• Read a lot of books
• Invent something
• Teach
• Work for my dad (wouldn't that be funny?!)
• Start a non-profit (see www.backonmyfeet.org - sorry you have to copy and paste, the link isn't working...)
• Open a knitting/yarn store (Keepin' Knit Together - say it fast, sounds kinda like "Keepin' IT Together" it's "Knot Just Aknother Knitting Shop")

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS? I mean seriously, I'm open since I clearly have no agenda here. I'm bummed that Taylor will be gone, but I'm excited for both our future together (after Fulbright) and for the time I get to spend with my family doing whatever I want. Career? Who needs it!

Alright, well please feel free to comment with ideas about my future!

Good question, Aunt Sheryl :)

So apparently I'm not the only one concerned about my life plan (which is good to know)...my Aunt Sheryl asked the oh-so-pertinent question: When will I know if Taylor got the scholarship - which can be roughly translated...when will you finally have a plan?!

Well, the Fulbright selection committee evidently doesn't want to be held to a firm deadline, so they have told him that he will hear from them regarding their decision on his application sometime between Mid-March and Mid-June. Fair enough. So, essentially, my life is on hold pending the decision of some Indonesians and a few American businessmen.

Awesome. Basically the options are many, with a few laid out here:

• Taylor GETS the Fulbright:
• I stay in New York, doing pretty much what I'm doing now.
• I stay in New York until I run the New York City Marathon in November and then move to Atlanta and work for Deloitte and wait patiently for Taylor to come back.
• I stay in New York until I run the New York City Marathon in November and hten move to Ann Arbor to live with my sister while she attends beauty school and work for Google and wait patient
• Taylor doesn't get the Fulbright:
• We stay in New York
• We move to some other city (TBD)

The options if Taylor doesn't get the Fulbright are primarily determined by where Taylor gets a job. With my background and experience at Goldman Sachs, I shouldn't have too much trouble getting a job wherever I need to, so for the time being, I'm going to just do whatever Taylor does.

And there you have it. I will most certainly keep you posted on what happens. For now, it's sort of just waiting patiently and enjoying the spring in New York until we get some news :)

Thanks for reading!