I'm Back with TNT!

I've decided to come back for another season with Team in Training!  But this time, instead of training for a marathon and raising money, I'm an Assistant Mentor!  We have 11 GPhis signed up to run the San Diego Marathon on June 6th and I'm helping Rachel (their actual mentor).

It's super exciting to be back on the team.  There are lots of old faces, and even more new ones.  Last night was our second track practice and it was awesome.  3 miles, IT band stretching and cooold weather.

It'll be great to get back in shape while helping girls raise money for an amazing cause!  I get butterflies just thinking about their marathon day!

Fantastic news!!

I REACHED MY FUNDRAISING GOAL!!!!!!!!!

I donated the final $3 tonight and am at $3,900!!  I didn't think in a million years that I could raise that much.  You all have blown me away with your amazing generosity!  I appreciate every dollar you have donated and every word of support you've given me!  What a great way to bring in my 2 week countdown!

THANK YOU!!  :D

20 MILES! Seattle, here I come!

The 20 miler was today!!  It has been absolutely the most mentally/physically taxing day of my life - and an amazing one, too!

I ran with my mentor, Peter, and another girl on our team, Lindsey, who usually run together.  They follow the Galloway Method, which is a run-walk strategy to avoid injury and to make running marathons less stressful on your body.  We run for 8 minutes and walk for 2.  Those 2 minutes are supposed to re-energize you so that during the 8 minutes you can run faster than you would be if you just ran it straight.  Considering that before today the longest I had run was 11ish miles (I was sick when they did the last big run), I thought this was a smart choice.

After about 3.5 miles we had to run up one of the steepest hills I've ever seen.  And it was at least 1/4 mile long!  I'm just glad that was at the beginning and not the end!

The run-walk was working really well for me.  At first I felt like I should keep running because I had so much energy, but I think it really saved me in the end.

At about mile 13 (half-marathon!!) I reached my first wall.  My whole body hurt, my leg muscles felt fatigued, and it was all I could do to just keep up with Peter and Lindsey.  I was absolutely miserable, but I kept at it.

At mile 15 I not only reached the wall, but ran right into it.  The SAG stops had been 4 miles apart, and by the time I got there I was light headed, dizzy, and all of my muscles felt tight and unhappy.  I couldn't sit still but I couldn't keep going.  My coach took my pulse, gave me gatorade, and ran/walked with me for the next 1/2 mile or so, when the gatorade kicked in and my head was clear again.  From then on out I was alone in my run.  My hips were hurting just from being on my feet for so long and my leg muscles weren't helping me out - I should've lifted weights earlier in the season!

Me.  Hitting the wall.  

Then I discovered something life-saving.  I started counting my steps.  It was originally a way to keep track of how long I should run and how long I should walk (I don't have a watch, still... oops!), but it ended up being something I could focus on.  The steps just kept on coming, even up hills that I thought I wouldn't be able to make.  It was insane how my feet just kept going even though I thought, "maybe I'll just take a little break..."

The last mile was uphill and my FABULOUS coaches Neal and Erin met me and ran the last leg with me, cheering me on.  At the end my team was stretching out and drinking water - and they were all so supportive!  They told me that they thought I was going to quit at some point and were so impressed that I toughed it out.  One of them, who has done 4 marathons, wrote on my facebook: "I've seen some gutsy performances turned in over the years.  Your 20 miles today will stick in my mind for a long time as one of the great efforts.  Nice job."

So I cried when I finished, I cried when telling my mom about it, but I'm so proud of myself!

The "tunnel of love" finish line!

And since apparently in those 5 hours I burned about 3,000 calories... I've got some eating to do!

June Update! 24 days and counting!

It has been far too long since I updated this!  So sorry!

Most importantly, my list of most favorite people/companies:

Albertson's

Giovanni's Pizza

Kaylan Basacker

Lee & Carol Kemper-Mccall

Molly Kious

Terryann Satterfield

Vons

I'm at $3,406!  88%!!  Thank you thank you thank you to those of you who have donated!  I cannot thank you enough!

In April Rachel and I held a fundraiser at Giovanni's Pizza called, "Take a Slice out of Cancer!"  They gave us 10% of profits we brought in.  Lots of our friends and members of our sorority came out to support, and we made about $32 between the two of us.  It was great for a fun evening of playing games and hanging out at a pizza parlor!

Eating pizza to find a cure!

In May we held another fundraiser, but this time we wanted to donate all of the profits, so we did it ourself.  Gamma Phi Beta hosted our Spaghetti Feed Fundraiser, and we invited friends, family and anyone who wanted to pay $5 to eat a big plate of spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread and a drink.  We raised a total of $422!!  And the people who helped out at this event deserve their own special recognition, because we could not have pulled it off without the people laboring over pounds and pounds (24 to be exact) of pasta, buying more sauce, serving up hot garlic bread, setting up tables/chairs, cleaning up the kitchen and manning the ticket table.

Alex Blacker

Alyssa Skipper

Barbara Roseland

Deb Watkins

Jackie Li

Karen Kious

Ken Kious

Meredith Meaux

Marissa Floro

They're basically my heroes :)

And I'm sure most of you heard about it, but the Santa Barbara hills caught on fire a couple of weeks ago, and the smoke and ash + my asthma + a chest cold = TERRIBLE.  I didn't run for an entire two weeks because I had a difficult time breathing and our coaches told us not to go outside unless we absolutely had to.  So getting back on the horse has been very difficult.  But I'm doing it!  With a countdown of less than a month, this is serious.  This upcoming Saturday is our longest run yet.... the 20 miler!!!  If I can make it to 20, I can make it to 26.2, so I'm hydrating, carbing up, and getting lots of sleep in preparation.  I'll be sure to update you all on how that goes!

On Sunday half of our team ran the San Diego Rock'n'Roll Marathon.  Their pictures are fantastic!  Everyone got medals for finishing, and limped to our track practice yesterday to wish us luck and share their stories.  Everyone finished.  I am impressed and proud of Team in Training for getting everyone to the point where they can finish!  Even one guy whose knee was killing him so badly that he had to walk the last six miles finished.  And he got a better time than I'll get running!

I wish all of you could meet my team members and coaches.  They are such amazing people, and I'm going to be sad when the season is over!

donations (:

And now!  It's time to announce the new names that have been added to the List of My Favorite People in the World!

Anna Grzechnik

Clare Smith

Jackie Li

James Zike

Jim & Cinda Spavins

Julie Persse

Katie Bullman

Lois Abbott

Madelyn Morgan

Mary & Ed Hall

Maureen Fornengo

Mercedes Breaux

Michael & Lorna Milani

Muniz family

Penny Brody

Peterson family

Rauber/Williams family

Shannon Wicks

Sheri Lund

Uncle Red

Vicki & John Anderle

Winslow family

(It's been a very generous last few weeks!)  So far I've raised $2,345!  I'm 60% of the way to my goal!  Thank you all so much for supporting me and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  You are all amazing!  And thanks for the notes that have been coming in with the checks - I save them all (:

Don't forget it's never too late to get your name added to the list of favorites!  Checks made payable to "LLS" and sent to me (890 Camino Pescadero #12, Goleta, CA 93117) or a quick and easy online donation is all it takes!

Santa Barbara Chardonnay 10 Miler!

Yesterday I ran in my very first race!  The Santa Barbara Chardonnay 10-miler started at Leadbetter Beach near downtown Santa Barbara, went five miles into Montecito, turned around and came back again.  I was number 627 and finished in 2 hours and 4 minutes.  (bout a 12:15 pace)

I've been very busy and have had a hard time working in training the last couple of weeks, so it was very rough.  But I made it!  And today I'm sore, but still moving!  It started at 8am, an hour later than we're used to, and that hour made a difference with the temperature!  By the end the sun was starting to get to me (thank goodness the marathon will be in Seattle).  Dirt and sand was sticking to the sweat on my face, and I was wishing I had had even more water and gatorade at the SAG stops.  But the one thing I can say that apparently no one else on the team can?  I haven't had a single blister.  (knock on wood)  My hips and knees feel very creaky when I finish, but my feet could go on for days.  And my moment of motivation: I was coming up one of the hills by a cemetery (nothing makes you more motivated than running right by a cemetery...) and I heard shuffling feet coming up behind me.  I maintained my pace, and the feet got closer and closer.  When the mystery individual was next to me I saw... a hunched over, well into his 80s man.  Passing me.  Something tells me I might need to train a little harder.

nearing the halfway point!

at our lovely team in training booth

(the woman with the purple wig is our

team captain, Erin)

all finished!

Another fun tidbit: while I was on the second half of the race I passed a couple of women who were some sort of pilates or yoga instructors.  Their client was leaving and I heard them shout, "Bye Billy!"  I looked over and saw...

  Billy Baldwin!  Random.

Spring Break didn't kill me!

Well!  As I'm sure some of you have heard, I went on a cruise for Spring Break to Catalina Island and Ensanada, Mexico.  It was definitely an experience, to say the least.  I tried to stay active so that this weekend's run wouldn't destroy me.  That meant snorkeling and biking around Catalina Island and running laps (only once, don't get too excited) on the top deck of the ship.  We even got to see dolphins off the side!  Not too shabby, even though the waves made every other step feel either incredibly light or incredibly heavy.

And the verdict today....  9.67 miles and a grand total time of 2 hours!  (That's about a 12:24 mile time)  I think it helped that I had a running buddy for the whole time.  That probably prevented me from walking more than a few times.  (He also confirmed my belief that eating Freebirds (delicious Mexican food) right before a run was a bad choice - apparently I'm not the only one who's tried it unsuccessfully)

We ran out for 1 hour, then back again for 1 hour.  Along the way they have things called SAG stops (SAG = Sport And Gear).  It's just one of the coaches who has gatorade, water and power bars in the back of their car to give us.  We get to stretch and reenergize at SAG stops, and they usually are playing music to pump us up.  Well at the last SAG stop today (I usually don't make it to all of them - I was very proud!) the guy in charge of it was taking pictures.  If I ever get my hands on it, expect a glamorous photo of my red, sweaty face squinting into direct sunlight.  It'll be a fridge photo, for sure!

And boy are my hips unhappy with me!  (Don't worry, Mom, nothing damaging :P)  Coming down the last stretch of road took a lot to keep me moving.  Once the end was near my legs seemed to have their own minds.  Even now it's difficult to find the motivation to get up and shower (especially when I know that what awaits me is a cold bath to soothe my inflamed joints).  But, for the sake of my dignity and my roommates, I'll do it.

2 hours!  I'm exhausted but impressed.  (:

Running along the coast.  Hard to complain!

One of the lovely SAG stops.  Those orange coolers are

the most beautiful sight when you're thirsty!