One week closer ...

I'll be honest, I'm pretty tired! This morning we had another run in Reston, Virginia on the W & OD Trail -- a far cry from last weekend's run through the city. Despite not being too psyched about the prospect of running in Reston again, I found this run to be more pleasant than our 14-mile run a couple weeks ago. The Country Music kids did 16 miles while Crystal and I joined our National Marathon teammates for our first 20-miler ever! Everyone did a great job :-). (We missed having Brandon and Chris with us -- apparently skiing was a more attractive alternative.) And aside from being tired and sore, I think we escaped without any major injuries.

I'm beginning to get nervous and excited about the big day. It's less than three weeks away now! (Well, at least for two of us.) Running with TNT has been an awesome experience. As I said to someone at the beginning of our marathon training, these morning runs have been the most fun I've had at 8am on a Saturday in a looong time. And that's saying something considering how far we've been running! The energy and positive attitudes that people exude are refreshing, and I'm so happy to be a part of this great cause.

This morning there were quite a few mission moments shared, all of which were very touching. I'll admit that I'm often freezing during these talks prior to our run (I know, I could wear pants ... I'm not complaining), but they're a good reminder of what we're running and raising money for. Thinking about those individuals who are battling blood cancer while I'm running often keeps me going. Today I was hurting pretty badly around 15 miles, and the thought of having to turn around to run another 5 to the finish was ... well, less than attractive. But I thought back to the stories we heard this morning, and I realized that I was lucky to even have the opportunity to run 20 miles. Some people never have that chance. And the pain and exhaustion I feel is probably nothing compared to what those individuals have to endure.

We can do this, guys!! We're almost there!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us - we couldn't do this without you.

Yee-Haw!

       Yesterday, like Chris said, we had our run on the National Mall.  I broke my record in distance, running 16 miles (as did Jessie).  Imagine running the loop 4 times----  I actually thought I was on my 2nd loop on my 3rd loop so that was actually a nice surprise!  Thank you to Coach Charlie and Coach John Park who ran with me parts of the way and much thanks to team members/volunteers Jess who unfortunately has a stress fracture and is unable to run for a little while and Mary who kept the water station opened for me till my last loop.  

       Last night, we had our fundraiser at Cowboy Cafe.  Thank you to TNT members who came to support the group and our friends from DC and Arlington who showed up as well! And of course many thanks to Cowboy Cafe's owners and staff. Enjoy some photos from the night!  Oh, and one of our Team Captains, Mickey is having a happy hour and Wing-Off at Nanny O'Briens on Thursday.  Please come out after work if you can!

Hitting the National Mall

Our first run as a group divided (Crystal and Jessie putting in 16 miles for the National Marathon) and the rest of us dropping back down to 10 miles for a couple laps around the National Mall on a beautiful, sunny morning.

After 14 miles on a winding trail through suburbia last week, the jog around DC was a welcome change. Each trip up and down the Mall, from the base of the Capitol up to the Lincoln Memorial, accounted for just about 4 miles. Most of us agreed that knowing distance wise where we were at in our run made a world of difference mentally.



This is not as bad as it looks. We were all in good spirits and feeling great afterwards. Even the girls that battled through 16 miles!

Luckily no one's heart exploded from having too much Advil before the run as our pre-run training talk warned us might happen. Unless a couple of us are biological exceptions, the warning may have been a bit of an exaggeration. The only side effects appeared to be from excess consumption of energy gel, which are known to contain OMG energy.



After resting up this afternoon we're looking forward to a great night at Cowboy Cafe in Arlington where our group will be hosting a fundraising event. Come on out and get your party on with some live music and drink/food specials while supporting a great cause. We look forward to seeing everyone out there!

Post-Run Party Time this Saturday at Cowboy Cafe

Planning to party this weekend? Want to support a great cause while you're at it? Then join the seven of us this Saturday night at the Cowboy Cafe in Arlington where we'll be fund raising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We're running in the morning but will be ready to party at 7 pm until they boot us out the door. There will be live music (details to come but I'm sure they rock), and a $10 donation gets you beer specials and half off appetizers all night. I also hear they have Nintendo Wii so you can get your Fitness on.

Stop by the Facebook page and let us know you're coming or drop a comment with any questions you might have. See you all out there!

Details:

Cowboy Cafe
4792 Lee Highway
Arlington, VA 22207

*If you are taking the Metro, it's just over a mile from Ballston but not walkable unless you're in for a trek. I'd cab it or hit one of us up and we might be able to hook a ride.

It's a Switch-up!

Hi Everyone,

    I have an update for everyone.  I was having trouble recommitting to the Nashville Country Music Marathon.  For those who do not know,  I work full-time, do an additional internship, and am enrolled in a masters program.  This is my 7th straight semester of grad school and my goal is to finish this spring!  Unfortunately, the Country Music Marathon is right around finals time and until then, I could not find myself committing to hardcore fundraising every weekend.  Actually, as I'm writing this blog I'm sitting at my school library working on a paper and another assignment.  The stress was increasing this past week and as you can imagine, I found myself devastated when I could not make myself sign the recommitment forms.

   BUT - after talking to one of the TNT staffers - Caitlin Brown, who is awesome - I decided to just switch marathons!  I will now participate in the SunTrust National Marathon right here in Washington, D.C.   I will still proudly wear the purple singlet and continue training with my team as a member of Team-in-Training.  This marathon required a qualifying time which I did nervously on Saturday(!) at the George Washington Birthday Classic 10-K in Alexandria, VA.  The fundraising goal is not as demanding although this DOES cut my training a month short but I am more than determined to do this.  The course looks awesome as it goes through almost all the familiar haunts of DC that I know so well (including right past my apartment!).  It starts from RFK (where I've watched so many soccer games), through the mall (where I practically live in some of the museums), Foggy Bottom (GDubsssss), up my neighborhood and so on.  I am actively recruiting friends to come watch or run parts of it with me (please let me know if you even just want to run a mile with me).  I am still going to try and get ahead with finals so I can drive down with some friends to watch the Nashville marathoners.  

Anyways, that's my big update.  Please wish me luck with my training and the rest of my fundraising.  Also, remember March 21 - come outside and cheers The Team on!!

Still Truckin with Visors, Survive Difficult Run

With the team down a few members (Brandon visiting Ithaca and Crystal qualifying for the National Marathon) we set out from the 'burbs of Reston, VA for 14 miles, once again along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, donning new TNT visors.

"Block the rays!"

Unsurprisingly, many of us are carrying nagging bumps, bruises or strains with the smallest ache compounding over the now two hours spent of pounding legs against concrete.

Regardless, we all survived what was the farthest distance yet for any of us and did so while crossing over an inspirationally named stream dubbed "Difficult Run." While the pace of running usually allows for some conversation, there is plenty of time reserved for introspection. One thing I've been considering is how the course of a run feels.

I've come to decide that for me, it's a bit like the flight path of an airplane:

Warm Up and first couple miles = Take off - Hyper energized, excited for what lies ahead and burning fuel fast.

Miles 2-4 = Climb - Burned off starting adrenaline, adjusting to course and working out kinks in stride depending on how the body is feeling.

Miles 5-10 = Cruising altitude - Found stride with footsteps drowning all else out, past checking times and distance every quarter mile, refueling with water and energy gels (ewwwww)/jelly beans (mmmmm jelly beans).

Miles 11-13 = Descent - Up and down with a little turbulence dealing with a tired body, slightly re-energized by signs of the finish line although approaching final mile seems to take forever.

Mile 14 = Landing - Tired feet are landing gear waiting to touch down with the last mile disappearing faster than expected. Leg stretching, friendly faces and food await after some taxiing back to the parking lot.

Yea, it's maybe a bit of a stretch, but we all have some weird thoughts during that much running right? Feel free to share some of the ideas your brain generates along the way.

Lost In Translation on 2/7/09

I think all of us who made it out to the run this morning might as well have been running through a maze.  Coach Charlie spent about 10 minutes describing the route we would all run for our “12 miler.”  Clearly, he didn’t take long enough to describe it - either that or we didn’t listen well enough (it was probably the latter).

Captain America led us out, but as usual, we lost sight of him before we knew it.  It’s almost a good thing we weren’t following him because after he told us where he ended up running, we realized he got more lost than anyone.

I’m not exactly sure what happened to Crystal, Brian, and Ashwin, but I know that Jessie and I missed the very first left turn that we were supposed to make, and about 1/3 of the way through the run we had a moment where we just stood around looking at all the different routes we could take, and we had no idea which was right.  It was like we were in the castle in Super Mario 64 and we didn’t know which door we should take.  Ok, that’s a stretch, but I wanted to give a shout out to the classic N64 game.

A friendly couple walking their dogs pointed us in the “right” direction, so we went with it.    We eventually realized that we made a mistake somewhere along the way, but we were on a trail, and it had mile markers, so we just kept on going...

After all was said and done, Jessie and I ran 13ish miles, and it’s unknown how far Crystal, Brian and Shwin ran, but it was probably right around the intended 12 miles.

We certainly missed Lena (who ran her 12 miles on Friday) and Chris (who ran later in the day), but we all finished and we are ready to tackle the 14 mile run next weekend.  No? Too soon?

Until next time, stay classy.

Saturday Inspiration for Running Solo

Steve Prefontaine is one of the few names in running I'll probably ever recognize, and today, our second journey into a double digit mile run, is one of the first times I've encountered the "guts" he's talking about above.

I missed the TNT group run this morning to coach my U9 boys (to victory!) in their indoor soccer game and ended up running our scheduled 12 miles alone. During the week we've all been putting in time on our own with distances between 4 and 6 miles. But facing twelve miles, which is absolutely the farthest I've ever gone in one span, had me struggling toward the end.

The run took me from Arlington down to the White House, up the Reflecting Pool facing the Lincoln Memorial and back across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia. The last couple miles were all uphill and probably somewhere around mile 10 I started thinking about "guts."

Both feet and my left knee were getting sore and the possibility of slowing down or walking for a bit seemed a pretty reasonable option. Who would know?

But with all my teammates already completed their training in the morning, the generosity of all those who have supported our efforts so far, and the cause we're running for, raising money to support those suffering from life taking blood cancers in my head, my legs kept moving.

Among his amazing achievements, Pre was famous for pushing himself and other runners past their imagined limits. I certainly owe him a little thanks for helping me through the end on this one and I imagine we'll all need some considerable "guts" to go more than twice as far on April 25 in Nashville.

Look for updates and probably some pictures from the rest of the group later this weekend. And as always, please considering donating to our support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

January 31, 2009

Due to icy conditions, we were back at Rock Creek Park for our run on Saturday morning.  For the first time in a couple of weeks, all 7 of us were able to come together in the freezing cold where Jessie still insisted in wearing shorts.  

The cold weather requires performance outerwear, hats, spandex, and gloves.  When someone realizes they lack any of the above, they improvise.  Note: Brian and his creative substitution for missing gloves.  His better half also had glove problems and wore one black glove and one white glove.

  

As for the Mission Moment of the Day:

    I was running and reached the half-point mark which was on top of a hill.  There I stopped for a minute to stretch out my hip flexor when two middle-aged men ran passed me and said hello and yelled quickly "What race is this?" I responded quickly "We're with Team-in-Training!"  After a minute stretch I headed my way back down the hill and caught up with the men again.  They looked at me and asked "What are you guys running again?"  I explained that we were all training for various marathons or half-marathons all raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).  I was just about to say have a good day and run ahead but then one of the men looked at me and said "Thank you.  My daughter was born with Leukemia and after months of treatment she's doing great now and living a normal, full life.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society helped our family so much through everything so you are doing a great thing."  

     I told him that was wonderful and told him he just made my last half of the run a lot easier to finish.  That encounter and the old Tai Chi (thank you Dr. Hancock) "Breathe deep. In with strength...Out with Pain" really got me through the run despite a hurt hip flexor and bad shins.  This run reminded me once again why we were all doing this and of course, renewed the spirit.

Unfortunately, at brunch afterwards, the lackluster 0-0 match we watched (not surprising as it was Arsenal) reflected the moods of the "Group of 8 actually 7."