Weeks 12, 13, *and* 14

Wow. I can’t believe that it’s been almost 3 weeks since I last updated everyone here.  So much has happened.  In week 12, I know I did my runs almost as prescribed.  That Thursday I only did 5 miles instead of 6 due to time constraints of T’s birthday and picking up Tiffany and Jerrod at the airport.  That Friday morning Tiffany and I headed to the airport and were off to middle of nowhere Texas (aka Leakey – pronounced Lake-ee not Leak-ee for those of you who might have mispronounced it like I had been doing).  The majority of the girls who went for our little ‘girls weekend’ were part of Team Shrinking Jeans and so really early Saturday morning (well, early for us pacific coast timers) we got up and ran our prescribed miles.  I completed 12.  It was a bad run, in my mind, but I banked those 12 miles.  Tiffany and I flew back into Reno on Monday.  I left her at the airport to catch her flight back to Boise.

Week 13′s training I modified.  On May 2nd (last Sunday) I had signed up for a half-marathon in Reno.  The Rock N River (Half) Marathon.  I signed up for this because I know I can run 13.1. But I’m aiming for a below 2-hour time in San Diego.  I figured if I could run at elevation in Reno in less than 2:10 that I would fairly easily be able to run the same distance at sea level in less time.  I ran 5 miles on Wednesday and then 2 miles on Friday just to give my body time to rest before the 13.1.  Also I was starting to feel like something was off in my left ankle.  It felt like it wanted to pop but it wouldn’t.  I’m blaming it on running in a different brand of shoes than normal.  They are really pretty shoes, but I will be handing them off to one of my teammates who loves her identical pair.  The race was pretty good.  I took off slow.  I didn’t want to push my ankle too much in the beginning.  It took a mile or so of paying attention to it and making sure I was allowing it to warm up gently. Unfortunately for my brain, my headphones died on me.  At mile 1.  I was a might bit ticked.  Music is my big motivator in running.  Luckily there were enough other runners around me that their strides and banter helped keep my mind off of the lack of music.  Then I hit a good stride about mile 2.5 – at this point I was running 9:10 miles.  My cruising kept up until about mile 8.  I knew I was over halfway there.  But at mile 8 my ankle did something weird and started hurting.  My pace slowed down considerably at this point.  I started having internal debate of whether or not I should just call it a day and quit.  But I wasn’t mentally able to say I was done.  I *knew* I could run this distance.  I kept wondering if I was doing damage that would hurt attaining my goal in San Diego.  Long story short(er), I finished the race running.  I finished with a time of 2:07:38 – which I’m totally fine with.  I met my goal, and I know that once my ankle is back to 100% I will definitely hit my goal time in San Diego.

Week 14 – I’ve essentially taken this week off.  I wanted to let my ankle rest after the half.  I did get on the treadmill today and ran relatively slowly for 2 miles.  Once my ankle warmed up, the muscles and tendons felt fine, but my ankle still felt like it wanted to pop.  This afternoon I visited with my chiropractor.  He adjusted my hips and my ankle and then he did some laser therapy on it.  It feels so much better already.  I’m going to let it rest tomorrow and then hopefully go for a 6 mile run on Sunday.  If it’s not back to normal by Sunday I will head back to the chiropractor on Monday.  There are only 4 weeks left until San Diego.  Actually in 4 weeks we will *BE* in San Diego and I’m excited beyond belief.  I will be hanging with my sisters and enjoying being all together for the first time ever.

I promise I’ll be back in a week and let you know how the ankle is doing.

 

Week 9

This last week of training brought to within $400 of reaching my fundraising goal.  Thank you to everyone who donated in the last week.

I was pretty sore on Sunday following the 8-miler in the hills.  I ran on Monday and then the Tworkout (via The Sisterhood’s Twitter workout during the Biggest Loser).  My butt was so sore.  But I knew that if I just kept moving that I would work the soreness out.  And eventually I did, but my muscles were very tired last week.  I did my tempo workout on Thursday so I could rest before my 8-miler this weekend.  I knew I needed to rest.  So yesterday rolled around, T got up early and went for his run and I headed outside again just before 10.  I knew I needed to be done by 11:15 so I could pick up the little gymnast at 11:30.  I have been running on average 8:30 minute miles.  So doing the math says that I should be done in 68 minutes.  It was an interesting run.  It was cold and breezy and cloudy.  After the first mile I was warm all over except for my hands, which were uncovered because I didn’t think it was going to be *that* cold.  I ended up needing to be creative with my path because the loop I was making was only about 7 miles.  But, in the end, I landed in my driveway at 8.01 miles in 1:07.  My only concern about next weekend is that I have a 10-mile run on the schedule.  I’m not sure I can maintain that pace for 10 miles, but I have a really hard time slowing my pace.  I know it’s something I need to work on.  And today I had a 4-mile run, which I did have to slow down and change my pace, because I was still tired from yesterday’s run – but not sore – and I slowed my average pace by almost 15 seconds.

So here’s to this next week of good, solid training (and of hopefully reaching my fundraising goal)!

 

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.

 

TNT training week 4

Can you believe as of tomorrow I will start week 5 of my training?  I can’t.  For me that means that I am on the last week of page 1 of my training schedule.  There are a total of 4 pages.  I am so excited about it.  I had my first longer run this week that felt really good.  On Wednesday I got to do 6 miles.  It has been really hard to pace myself.  I get to do it again this week.  What I noticed on Thursday was even though I hadn’t run 6 miles in weeks, I wasn’t sore at all from my 6 miles.  I think that means the training is working.  I really had to pace myself and slow down.  Speaking of pace.  I finally figured out what my pace should be per mile so I can finish within my goal time of 2 hours.  I need to maintain a pace of 9:20.  I’ve been consistently running at the 8:30 minute miles.  This knowledge is really exciting to me.  That means I don’t really have to push myself to go faster on my longer runs but maintain what I’m currently doing.  Granted I have to push myself on my tempo days, but that’s okay.  I’m starting to enjoy the tempo runs.

Tomorrow I start back with the 30-Day Shred DVD with the Sisterhood.  I think I mentioned something about this last week, but I’ve changed my mind.  I want to complete it for 30 days straight – just like last spring.  I can do this.  I just have to choose to do it.  I will need to do it after my runs on run days so I don’t lose my mojo to endure the monotony of the treadmill.

So that’s been my week.  I’m still trying to get donations in.  I am getting close, but I’m not there yet.  I still have $1238 to raise.  The good news is that so many have already donated $1762 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  This is wonderful and makes my heart happy.  I hope those of you who have donated have a happy heart too.

So that’s it for this week.  I’ll check back in a week and let you know how the training went.

Please feel free to pass on my fundraising link to your family and friends.

 

All in the Name of Charity – A challenge

Before I get to the challenge I want to talk a little about Team In Training(TNT) and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).  I am so excited to be a part of this amazing organization.  My uncle, Jimmie, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and his wife, my aunt, left such a sweet comment on my fundraising page.  My heart has grown infinitely over the past few months due to many things.  Most of them are personal, but know that my heart is 120% into raising AT LEAST my minimum requirement put forth by TNT and LLS.  (Did you know that at least 71% of every donation made to LLS goes to research or directly helping patients/patient’s families?) The more people that I talk to about TNT, the more people I find out have been affected by leukemia or lymphoma – some with happy endings and, unfortunately, some without.

I will be sending out letters to everyone I know that has not donated yet.  They may be in the form of emails or actual letters for some who may find it easier to donate by check.

So, on to the challenge I talked about.  It’s not a challenge to me.  My challenge is train hard to run the best 13.1 miles I can.  Okay, my challenge is also the fundraising, but that’s where YOU come in.

My challenge for you, and you, and you (and YOUR friends and YOUR family) is that I will shave my head (not BALD, but 98% of my hair will go away) if I AT LEAST meet my goal of $3000 by April 2nd.

But because T is not thrilled at all with the prospects of me lopping off all my hair, I’m compromising.  All those who donate between now and April 2nd will get a vote.  When you donate online there is a place to leave a comment.  Leave me a comment saying whether or not I should shave my head.  (I will include the voting info in my emails and letters also so those not donating online can still have a voice.)  The votes will be tallied on April 2nd.  The majority rules.

If the “yes, shave your head!!” votes win, I am hoping that my hair is long enough to donate it to Locks of Love (it must measure 10 inches in length by that point). My scalping will be videotaped and posted here and probably over at The Sisterhood so everyone who voted can appreciate the wonder of my (essentially) bald head.

To make it interesting and so I can get as much exposure as I can, I would appreciate everyone linking and posting and tweeting and sharing with as many people as you can.  For every donation of at least $30, your name will be entered into a random drawing at the end of the challenge for a $50 gift card to your choice of major retailer. (If you all are as awesome as I think you are, and I reach my goal before March 15th I may just have to come up with more ways for you to win or more prizes or something.)

The link, again, to my fundraising page is found here.

Please help me fight cancer by donating to this awesome organization.