Week 8

Time just seems to be flying with training.  This week was better than last week.  The only issue was a lingering full-torso rash that wouldn’t go away.  Running and sweating and clothes rubbing were an obnoxious combination.  Hopefully that wasn’t too much information for some of you.

But, I got all my runs in and felt pretty good about them.  Although I’m sure I’m pushing myself hard enough on my tempo runs.  I might up the challenge a little bit this week.  I did complete about 20.5 miles this week, which is just way cool in my book.

My long run today was supposed to be 8 miles.  Nike+ logged it as such, but I think it might have been a little shorter than 8.  I made up for it though.  Today I ran outside.  On a trail.  With rocks.  And steep hills.  And oh.my. it was hard.  But it was hard in a good way.  I’m a little sore now sitting here this evening, but it felt so good to challenge myself.  My average pace for this run was over 10:30 minutes miles.  The pace I have been able to easily keep on the treadmill and even outside on the city streets is 8:30.  I completed this run in 1:27:05 by the time I shut off the iPod.  I’d like to do more trail runs, but I’m not sure if I should with this training or not.  It is definitely harder on my body and joints, and I don’t want to injure myself.  So I will probably stick with the streets, at least for another couple of weeks.

T took this picture of me today after we got home from my run.

I am updating my thank-you note up at the top.  (I know I said I’d do it last week and I didn’t. I suck.)  Next week I’m slate for 1 mile less than this week. So pretty much it stays the same.

I have to give a great big shout out to Christie O. who is on Team Shrinking Jeans with me.  Today she ran/walked 26 miles on a treadmill in a mall as a big part of her fundraising efforts for Team in Training.  I could not be more proud of her.  She raised $1435 today.  Just today.  I’m sure she is going to enjoy a nice, not moving, kind of Sunday tomorrow.  And she deserves it.  I am proud and honored that she is on of my “sisters” and on my team.

 

Week 7…wait a minute…

Wow! I have officially started week 8 of my training!  I can hardly believe it.  This last week was a little rough.  I’ve been recovering from being sick a week ago which left me with some sort of crazy rash all over my torso.  It doesn’t hurt.  It doesn’t itch, but man it looks horrible.

So, first, I want to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people who have continued to donate.  I need to update my little sticky note at the top of the blog, because there are so  many new people, and I appreciate their willingness to donate in my name.  AND there are ton more who have donated to the whole Shrinking Jeans team and you? are awesome also!

I stuck to my schedule this week which was a 4 mile run on Monday, 5 miles on Wednesday, and a 3-mile tempo run on Friday.  I was originally planning on doing my long run of 6 miles on Saturday before I headed off for scrapbooking, but T wanted to head out to the hills with a local running club for a run.  And since his schedule fluctuates and he doesn’t get out running as regularly as I do, I felt it was worth the sacrifice.

So Sunday morning I headed outside for my 6-mile run.  I was contemplating throwing an extra 0.5 mile in there just because, but I decided that after about the first mile I was just going to do my 6.  Why, you ask?  Well after crossing a street with a light and I hopped back up on the curb and took a couple steps, my lack of gracefulness finally caught up to me and I tripped over an uneven spot in the sidewalk.  I’m happy to say that I only hit the side of my right knee and my hand as I caught myself.  I never did stop though, I pushed off with my right hand and just kept going.  I have a bruise now though.

This week brings an increase in my long runs.  It jumps to 8 miles this weekend for a couple of weeks and that number won’t get below 8 until the week before our race in San Diego.  I am so excited!!  I also get to run my longest scheduled training run of 12 miles with 7 members of Team Shrinking Jeans in April.  We are getting together at Christy’s place in Texas for a little R&R and ‘sisterhood’ bonding time (along with a handful of other sisters who are on Team Shrinking Jeans).  And then I just signed up for a local half marathon the weekend after our little retreat – which is a month before the half marathon in San Diego.  I’m doing it for two reasons.  I want to see how I perform at 4500 ft. above sea level.  If I can do at least as good as I did in San Francisco last fall, then there should be no reason I can’t reach my goal time in San Diego.  And, I’m a glutton for punishment.  T, unfortunately, will be out of town that weekend for drill, so he won’t get to run it too.

So that’s the last week and a little peek into the future.

 

We’re Having a Party!!

For the next 2 weeks over at the Sisterhood, we are having a Team Shrinking Jeans Bash! What is this Bash I speak of, you might be asking? It’s a HUGE party with door prizes and an awesome Grand Prize of $400 cash! Yes, cash!

What is Team Shrinking Jeans anyway? Well, a group of 16 Sisters and one Brother are training to run the San Diego Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team in Training Program (TNT). Through TNT, Team Shrinking Jeans will be training for the race AND raising $48,900 for LLS. Isn’t that amazing?

You can read more about our amazing team here, and find out why each of us is doing this here.

How can you join the Bash? Simple! Donate to Team Shrinking Jeans through our secure online team fundraising page. For every $5 you donate, you’ll be entered to win one of over 30 fabulous door prizes. If you donate $25, not only will you get 5 chances to win door prizes, but you’ll also be entered to win the granddaddy of all prizes: CASH!

Did you know?

Every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer.

An estimated 139,860 people in the United States will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2009. New cases of leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma account for 9.5 percent of the 1,479,350 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States this year*.

Overall incidence rates per 100,000 population for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are almost identical for data reported in 2008 and 2009 [(leukemia 12.2, 2009 vs.12.3, 2008); (NHL, 19.5, each year); (Hodgkin lymphoma, 2.8, each year); (myeloma, 5.6, each year)].

Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 53,240 people in the United States this year. These blood cancers will account for nearly 9.5 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2009 based on the 562,340 total cancer-related deaths.

Every ten minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 146 people each day, or more than six people every hour. Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1996 to 2005 (the most recent data available).

*Facts and statistics from Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma Facts 2009-2010, June 2009.

Those are some pretty eye-opening statistics, huh?

So head on over and join in the Bash! Check out the fabulous prizes, click on over and donate, and be sure to check in everyday for Happy Hour!

 

This week? Not good

So why was it not good?  Well I had a great, fantastic, amazing 6.2 mile run on Wednesday that left me feeling happy that I could run our Leprechaun Race 10K on Sunday even faster than the Turkey Trot last year.  Both runs are at the same place.  And then while at gymnastics Wednesday evening, I got really tired.  Like, I want to crawl into bed and sleep tired.  Which, by the way, is not my normal tired.  I came home, ate dinner, and got my work done.  Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of it.  I didn’t have a fever, but every.single.bone in my body ached.  I crawled into bed by 9:30 and slept horribly.  Waking up Thursday was only good in the fact that I didn’t have anywhere to be before 11.  And then, my sweet husband, called and said he was coming home from work so I could rest.  Can I tell you that in the almost 12 years we have been married not once has he taken off work when I was sick.  I have to give a shout out to our fantastic Nevada governor who has made my husband not feel so committed to his job because the only promise in this job is that your pay/benefits will only decrease and your furlough days may only increase.  I’m the one who benefited.  And I benefitted today too.  He even stayed home today and did all the normal running around stuff that I do.

I missed my tempo run today.  This makes me sad.  I have really started to see how those shorter runs have helped me increase my “normal” pace and feel stronger.  I know I need to let my body rest, and I will.  I promise.  I’m just hoping I wake up tomorrow and feel significantly better.  I really want to run on Sunday.  I had been shredding on my non-run days and was enjoying how tired my body felt at the end of the day.  Tired from exercising, not tired from lethargy like today.

So here’s hoping that next week is significantly better.

 

For the locals

I’m not sure how many people that live near me that have donated actually come and check out this blog.  I’m thinking that because my little town is about 10 years behind the technology curve, that most don’t.  But if you do live in my area, I am holding a fundraiser at the Claim Jumper in Reno.  Here’s a picture of the flyer.

So if you are local, please leave me a comment with your email and I will send you a copy of the flyer.  The flyer must be presented that evening in order for your dinner to count.