Here we go ...

We leave tomorrow for San Francisco. The marathon is here. I will cross the finish line on Sunday. I am excited beyond words. I have lots of pictures to post - it's been an exciting week, but I've just been too busy so I'll put it all in one big blog when I get back. For now, here's a blog written by the mother of one of our honorees. She explains the meaning of Sunday better than I ever could:

Today is Monday, October 13. We are so close to Day +100 and as I've said before, it's magical yet very anti-climactic. To me, it holds even more magic because this year, it's the same day as the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. Now, Let me give a brief background. Bryna has been a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training (TNT) Honoree for over 4 years. The TNT groups run marathons while raising money for the LLS research (in a tiny nutshell). For 4 years, I've wanted to come up here and cheer the team on, bring Bryna and yell till my voice cracks, then yell some more and let them know how important they are and that what they're doing MEANS something to someone. I finally get my chance. The universe and some friends are conspiring to Bryna-sit on Sat night/Sun morning so I can get my humble butt to downtown SF at am to cheer 20,000 walkers and runners and inspire them to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
In my heart I hear, do any of them realize the importance of what they're doing or how spectacular it is that Bryna and so many other kids have reached their Day +100 or other miraculous milestones? Some probably do. In fact, I know some of these incredible people. Everyday people, like you and me, who give of themselves in a way I can't and do it with gusto, pride, pleasure and bittersweet tears when they reach their finish line. When they get to Mile 23 and they're exhausted, their feet are swollen, they're sweat rolls off them like rain and they see a vision in their minds' eye of my child or any child that has meaning to them, those who are fighting for their lives, those who lost the fight and those who will have to fight, and they keep running/walking to their goal of 26.2 miles. Are they heroes? No, the kids they're running and/or walking for are the heroes, true. But in my world, they are right up there in the hero walk of fame (no pun intended), because they help those little heroes who teach us so very much.
This year, I have the opportunity to stand in the cold San Francisco air at 6 am and hold up a poster with Bryna's beautiful smile and know that each and every one of those marathoners are celebrating life with my daughter. It's her Day 100, she's not out of the woods, but she's closer! She's scheduled to be finished with this aspect of our process before Halloween. That means we'll be in Fresno for Trick or Treating. Bryna plans on being a Ballerina and has already decided I'm to be a Ladybug (biggest damned Ladybug I've EVER seen); and at this point, I'm ready to cry with relief and believe me, I plan on bringing my Puffs on Sunday morning, and I am looking forward to crying for hours while I watch 40 thousand feet hit the pavement and know that each tear is relief, sorrow, joy and ecstasy for each child I've ever known who has been through any illness, life-threatening or not.
Yeah, I'm a bit emotional right now, and yeah, I know, you don't often get that from me, but it's well deserved for all of us who have watched Bryna through these last 4+ years. Let's toast, let's enjoy and let's remember to celebrate every day, treasure each moment, cherish each child, hold dear every blissful memory and hear Bryna and I in each runners' ear saying:
GO TEAM GO

The Longest Run

Last weekend, we ran our longest miles that we will run in training before tapering off until the marathon. Since I was down at UCLA with the Red Wave on Saturday, I ran 20 miles on Sunday morning. Jill graciously offered to run with me for the whole 20 miles. Vicki, who just recently completed a triathlon, ran the first 12 with us. Most awesome of all, Lindsay, Janie and Michelle biked alongside us for the whole ride. Another TNT alum biked with us for the first 12 but I'm horrible with names, and can't remember her's : ( It was so incredibly awesome to have all of their support because that is a long way to go and you really need all the encouragement (and water/gatorade) that you can get. I was seriously touched by their willingness to be there for us - this really is a team. Jill's husband Mark, Rosemary from the TNT office, and another mentor, Ron, were there to cheer us on when we arrived back at our Starbucks starting point. I love that part : )

On a sadder note, we ran Sunday in memory of Jenny Miranda - a seven-year-old who lost her battle to cancer last week. In those toughest moments of mile 18 on Hospital Hill, I definitely felt we were running for her, and for all the others out there who should be running rather than battling cancer. One day ...

It was definitely a tough run, and I'll admit there were points when I thought, "If this is so hard, how will I ever run 26.2?" but now I know I can, especially with such amazing people supporting me. As I reach the end of this journey with TNT towards the Nike Womens Marathon, it is becoming very clear that this is only the beginning - I have made some amazing friends and I would run 20 miles any day just to hang out with them for a few hours : )

Off and running ...

Switching up the order...

Two members of our faithful entourage ...I like this picture because Jill looks lost : )The sign said stop ... who am I to disagree?
The whole gang! If it looks like I'm barely moving, it's because it hurts to move. Lead the way Lindsay!

A well-deserved water break care of our well-supplied entourage.

I love this girl!

Our celebratory feast at Bentley's with great food and even greater friends

EIGHTEEN!

I've been sick with a cold all week and uber-busy at work (not a fun combination) so I never got a chance to share the big news - I ran 18 miles last Saturday! And I mean ran. I didn't walk any of it. I can do this. I'm sure of it.

This weekend we drop down to 13 but we're going up to Bass Lake which should make for some beautiful scenery, nice weather, and challenging hills. I can't wait!

The Human Race

Me and the hubby just got back from our weeklong vacation in New York. The primary purpose of the trip was for the Fresno State/Rutgers game. The secondary purpose was to see NYC. But while we were there ... I decided to run in Nike's Human Race - a 10K being run by thousands of runners in 26 different cities. I also decided to talk my husband into running with me. He had never run over 3 miles before, but he did it! I was so proud of him ... even though his attitude wasn't the best near the end (and by the end I mean the last 4 miles ... miles 1 and 2 were ok). In retrospect, it was really a communication problem. He apparently is not motivated by high fives and 'you can do it' like I am. Instead, those just make him use profanity. Oh well. To each his own. We survived. And I was very very proud of him. Here are some pics:

Before the race (you can tell who was more excited):

Paul's favorite part of the race was getting a pic with the Naked Cowboy.

Paul right before the finish line and right after telling me to f*** off for saying "you can do it!":

At the finish line!

In other news, we got stuck in Phoenix for Friday night on the way home because of a missed connecting flight. So... I missed the team training on Saturday morning. Determined not to miss my long run for the week, I went on my own this morning - 16 miles ... all by myself, just me and my ipod. I also opted to run from my house instead of starting at Woodward Park like we usually do. That was pretty interesting since I learned just how far 16 miles really is. It was actually a really great mental exercise. I rely on my fellow runners a lot to motivate me towards the finish but this time I could only rely on myself, and I did it. I left my house at 6:30. Three hours later, I arrived home, exhausted and sore but extremely proud. All in all, it's been an exciting week. Onward to 26.2 ...

And the base keeps running, running ...

Ok .... it's been a while since I updated. But have no fear, I have still been running ... and running ... and running some more. I've just been super busy at work - we were in a trial for the last three weeks - translation = 14 hour days/7 days per week since late July ... but I am proud to say I did not miss a single Team in Training practice throughout the whole trial! In fact, I am now running two days on my own in addition to the Team trainings.

Last Saturday, I ran twelve miles - less than I planned on, but much much harder. We ran up at Shaver Lake - the altitude and the hills kicked my butt to say the least! It was a beautiful run though and Jill got some great pics:


Enjoying the view ... and the excuse to stop:















Yum ... shot blocks at the half way point:







Happiness is breakfast burritos after a long run - thanks Aubrey!












So things are moving along ... I'm feeling stronger every time I run. The closer we get, the more I know I can absolutely do this. And the more I want to - I am forming great friendships with my running buddies and actually enjoying running in the process. Most importantly, I am becoming more and more attached I become to the why. All the achy knees and cramped feet are completely worth it knowing that I am running for those who can't .... so that one day they can. That's pretty powerful.


That being said, I am oh so close to my fundraising goal! I am planning on a couple more fundraisers to finish things off so keep checking back for ways you can help.


I'm also starting to drag people into the running world - Victim #1, my best friend Alexis who is training with Team in Training for the Fresno Half Marathon. Go Alexis! I'm so proud of you.


Victim #2 is my husband who is running the Nike Human Race 10K with me on Sunday and said if it goes well, he too will run the Fresno half!


Speaking of which - me and the Mr. leave Saturday morning for our week-long vacation in New York City. I'm super excited that we'll be running alongside 10,000 New Yorkers in the Nike Human Race, along with many many more people around the world. It sounds like a cool event.


So life is good. I'm still here. And more importantly - I'm still running : )

Back in Business

After the knee pain and a plateau in fundraising, I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things on both fronts.

I ran 9 miles Saturday morning - slower than usual, but a good way to ease back in. And after all, it's a marathon not a race - the point is to make it through all 26.2 miles!

Then I spent a lot of time this weekend re-energizing my fundraising campaign - less than $1,000 to go now! I sent out reminder emails and postcards, updated my fundraising website and planned for the Creative Memories party I'm having this weekend. (leave me a comment if you'd like to come!) I got my first donation notification in a while today - so exciting! And it was from a former co-worker of mine who, as it turns out, is the daughter of a lymphoma survivor - awesome!

I'm off to bed now ... 4 am comes too soon...

No Pain, No Gain

Just as I was thinking I was indestructible .... it started with a little pain on the lower outside on my left knee cap. But it didn't hurt that bad, so I ran 10 miles on Saturday.

By Tuesday morning, it wasn't really hurting at all ... until I started running, but it went away after the first mile.... So I ran 6 miles with the team as the sun was coming up on Tuesday morning.

I was fine. ... until I stopped running. Then it hurt ... a lot.

I'm ok now - still a tiny bit a pain if I start walking too fast, but I've been icing it, resting it and massaging the muscle as much as I can. And I've learned my lesson ... listen to your body! I had to miss the run this morning which I was really bummed about - they went up to Millerton Lake and I had really been looking forward to that.

This morning at 4, when I got up to take the puppies out, I gave a second of thought to going to training, but I stopped myself... Because if I don't listen to my body now, I won't make it to the finish line on October 19th. And that's the real goal. It's a marathon, not a race ... in the big picture too.

TEN

I hit double digits yesterday - 10 miles. For some reason, that's a really big deal to me - I sort of feel like it removed any doubt that I can totally do this. I'm definitely feeling it today ... but that's ok - I ran ten miles : )

I always raised a bit of money yesterday with a Pampered Chef fundraising party - it was great. Thanks to all who came!

This week should be an adjustment - because of the heat, the coaches have moved our Tuesday/Thursday practices to 5am. Umm... yeah. I'm not a morning person. Here goes nothing..

Running Buddies in Training

Paul and I adopted two black lab puppies on Sunday. They are two and a half months old. Needless to say, it's been a long sleepless week. There are many things I am looking forward to as the puppies grow up - other than the obvious not peeing in the house thing. Namely, I am looking forward to having two awesome running buddies...

So I took them out for their first training tonight. We were supposed to run 4 miles to make up for the no training last night. So the plan was to take Bailey (girl dog) for a 2 mile loop around my neighborhood and then trade and take Blizz (boy dog) for a second 2 mile loop.

Bailey did pretty well except for her inability to run in a straight line, mostly because she was trying to lick my leg as we were running. She pooped out at about mile 1.5 though - I can't really blame her since it is like a million degrees outside. So I carried her for a bit and then she ran the last stretch home.

Blizz was a whole other story ... we got as far as the front yard before he decided he'd rather lay down on the front yard. It was like pulling teeth to get him down the street and back. He also went to a dead stand still any time he heard the slightest noise. Some guard dog!

Needless to say, I didn't get my 4 miles in, but I did have a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the day that will come all too soon when these guys will be my favorite running buddies.

Eat Steak, Cure Cancer - TODAY at Tahoe Joe's!

If you're feeling hungry in the Fresno area today, please print this flier and take it to Tahoe Joe's. You can go to either location (Cedar & Herndon or Shaw & Marks) anytime today, even for take-out. As long as you give them this flier when you pay, 10% of the proceeds will go towards my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Thanks - I really appreciate it!

Almost double digits...

9.6 miles today! I ran mostly with my mentor, Lindsay, which was great - it takes a lot of good conversation to get through that many miles and she is a fun person to talk to. The set Level 1 mileage today was 7; Level 2 was 9 - we weren't quite sure where the turnaround point was so we ended up doing 9.6. I was so excited when Lindsay (who wears a GPS watch) told me how far we'd gone - that's almost 10! I was proud of myself today because I started off feeling pretty stiff and tired from the race yesterday and 4th of July binge-eating : )

Speaking of which, note to self - do not go grocery shopping for "a few things" right after a nearly 10 mile run. You will end up buying the whole store.

Race newbie no more!

I ran my first race today! The 4 mile Freedom Run at Woodward Park - It was a lot of fun - perfect weather and a fun atmosphere. I really haven't timed myself at all during this whole process so it was fun to find out we ran it in just under 40 minutes - that's a steady 10 minute mile! I will take that. Here are some pics:

My running buddy Angie and me at the Finish Line - we ran the whole thing together:

A bunch of my teammates with our honoree, Leukemia survivor Jenny Martinez standing next to me - how inspiring!

My mentor, Lindsay and me:

The practical benefits of endurance running

So we got robbed today. Literally. My husband came home from work to find two guys inside our house packing all of our valuables into our suitcases. Luckily they were more scared than he was and ran away only with my ipod and digital camera. My husband chased them for a block before stopping. In an effort to laugh through a really scary situation I told him if he were training for a marathon like me, he would have been able to catch them, saving my ipod and digital camera.

In all seriousness though, it was a scary day - but I still ended it with a 4 mile run!

5, 6, 7, EIGHT!!

Yup, I ran 8 today. The Level 1 schedule called for 6 but a bunch of us who had done the Level 2 run a few weeks ago decided to go for it again. Surprisingly, I feel great - I wasn't even exhausted or worn out by the end, but my body was definitely feeling it. As we keep upping our mileage though, 26.2 keeps looking more and more possible.

Full steam ahead...

Things are going great on all fronts of marathon training.

On the money front, I got a huge donation the other day, bringing my total so far to well over $1000!

On the running front, we had an intense workout today - 4+ miles including 5 loops up and around "Killer Hill". It was exhausting but I definitely feel myself getting stronger every day.

Plus, the Bulldogs are in the College World Series of Baseball and might actually win the whole thing tomorrow.... and this time I won't have to miss the game for training! : )

That's hot.

The car said it was 102 outside when I got to the meeting point. It had dropped to 99 an hour later when we got back. Yeah, not much of an improvement. 4 miles in 100+ heat is way worse than 7 miles on a cool Saturday morning. Hopefully that means 26.2 miles in the SF weather will be a breeze ... umm.... maybe not.

Anyways, I'm off to Vegas for the weekend!

SEVEN

I ran 7 miles today. Yes, SEVEN.

The training calendar said 4 (for Level 1's), but when we got there the coach said we'd actually be doing 5 because of the route he picked. Level 2's would do 7 and Level 3's would do 8. He explained that Level 1's would turn around at the base of the hill right at Cobb Ranch....

But when we got there, we just kept running ... all the way up that hill and back down it - the 7 miles assigned to the Level 2's. I felt like a superstar when we finished! That's the furthest I've ever run in my life! Total endorphin high. Plus, at the nutrition workshop after the run, the speaker said frosted flakes are a good food choice for marathoners. This gets better and better every day.

But where were they going...

... without ever knowing the way? Yes, that's a song by 90's one-hit wonder, Fastball. But it started playing in my head today when a co-worker asked me what the marathon route was through San Francisco and I had to admit that I had no freakin' clue. So I looked it up ...

http://insidenikerunning.nike.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/course-map.pdf

and now I'm even more excited!

We start in Union Square and run down the embarcardero, past Fisherman's Wharf and as we're climbing that first dreaded hill, it's with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. We continue along the bay and then shoot inwards to Golden Park and back out, down "Great Highway", pass the zoo, and then around Lake Merced on our way back to the finish line at Great Highway and Lincoln Blvd. I have a feeling that if nothing else, the amazing views and sites will keep me going through the 26.2....

So that's what 26.2 miles feels like...

We ran three miles in training today, bringing our grand total up to 27 thus far. That means that if you put together all of the miles we've run since May 17th and take away .8 of one of them, we've run a marathon. So I've proven my body is physically able to run 26.2 miles - now I just have to convince my body it can do them all at one time ...

In good news, the run actually felt really easy tonight. There was a nice breeze, so it wasn't too hot. The hills didn't feel as bad as they did last week and most importantly, my new shoes are awesome. They're bouncier and much more comfortable than my old shoes. They make me think I can run a marathon. They almost make me think I could fly. But I won't try that just yet...

New Shoes!

I ran 4 miles Saturday morning - ran the whole thing, and at a faster pace than I've been running. It felt great! So as a reward ... I went to Sierra Running Company today and bought new running shoes - real marathon worthy running shoes!

Out with the old:

And in with the new!

It's not a hill. It's a bump.

Or so the coach said...

We are in week 3 of marathon training now with Team in Training and tonight we ran up and down our first hill ... repeatedly. Allegedly we will be grateful for the training when we're in San Francisco this October.

All complaining aside, I feel pretty good about how my training is going. I have been running 2-3 miles 3 or 4 times a week on my own for the past year, and we haven't really gotten beyond that mileage yet. This Saturday will be 4 miles. By the end of June, we'll be running 6. And in October ... well, let's not talk about that yet.

I also got my first donation yesterday- Thanks Francine! It was so exciting. It really made my whole day and just encouraged me to send out more requests and think of more ways to reach my fundraising goal.

On my way to practice today, I was talking to my mom on the phone. She asked me why I was running a marathon. It's a good question really. I got the idea around New Year's and made it my resolution to run one this year. Last year, I passed the bar exam. I left the test knowing I'd passed and that I really could do anything I set my mind to. I guess running a marathon was just the next thing on the list. So I started doing my research and got a little overwhelmed with the idea of training on my own. I found the Team in Training website, went to the informational meeting, and was hooked. Now there's a bigger reason too - I'm running because I can. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who can't. Yes, I'm running for me - I want the satisfaction of being able to say I ran a marathon. But I'm doing it for them too. Because, let's face it - in comparison to what cancer patients go through, this marathon is just a bump.

Onward to 4 miles...