Record Mileage! (+ virtual race for the cure)

Virtual race? Yeah, I didn't know what that was either until last weekend.

Hannah informed me of a virtual race that a fellow blogger (Tall Mom on the Run) was putting on, for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. After going to her blog and kind of figuring out what it was, I thought...why not?! Hannah and I were already planning on joining the Team for a 15 mile run Saturday morning, so just decided to time the first 10k of our 15 miles. I'm not going to go into huge detail..well for one, Hannah has already done so here (go check it out), and two, I reallllllyyyy should be studying right now so am kind of in a rush!

Quick report:
The race was a blast! Thank you Hannah for inviting me to do this with you! Because we had 15 miles on our plates, we were definitely not actually going to go all out and "race". We ended our 10k in around 1 hour and 5 minutes.

(Hannah and I Pre-Race)

(We took a lot of other fabulous pictures, which you can also find on Hannah's blog.)

After the excitement of our 10k, we still had a good 9 miles to run! I wasn't so sure about this whole 15 mile idea...I was thinking more like 13. But...guess who ended up doing 15 miles and loving it?!? Meeee! Not gonna lie, the last 2 miles...brutal. My legs felt like they weighed 800 pounds each. Running with my TNT group made it so much easier though, I definitely would of collapsed without them.

Oh, and no thanks to the little bug who decided to fly down my throat around mile 8. I seriously coughed, hacked, and choked to death for almost a mile before that sucker went away. It was the most uncomfortable feeling ever. Hannah let me have a sip of her water to try to wash it down..unsuccessful. Tried to swallow a shot block to maybe get it unstuck...unsuccessful. Finally...after some more coughs and some more water, the critter went away!

I suppose its back to the books... joy.

Love my team.

Well, spring break is over...so it's back to the grind of juggling running, work, class, homework... But you know what? I love it. Sure, there are days I feel too tired to get up at 5am after getting home from class at 10pm the night before...that's when I remind myself, I am doing this for people who have suffered far worse. Feeling tired and drained? Pssht, they would give anything to just feel tired and drained.

Onto my running progress...
Sunday and Monday: Both days, my body just hurt. Saturday, I ran my 10 miles on the treadmill at a pretty fast pace...especially the last 2 miles. I think this is what got me. My legs really haven't been sore after a run in a long time..tired, maybe..but sore muscles, nope. Sunday, my legs were sore. Monday, woke up to my alarm at 5am and my back was sore. Sheesh, am I getting old or what?! So.. I got up to get ready and had to force myself back in bed. I hate missing days, but I kept telling myself...miss one day now because your back hurts...or possibly miss a whole week because you go out and hurt your back even more.

Tuesday: Woke up and felt rested, unsore, and ready to get my week of running started. Met Madison and Alfredo for a quick 6 mile run.
It ended up being another beautiful day at over 60 degrees! So..later that afternoon, I squeezed in an hour long bike ride in between work and class. Definitely taking advantage of the nice days we have. Loveeee bike rides!

Wednesday (today): I always look forward to Wednesdays, because this has become kind of our second Team Run day of the week. Hannah, Madison, Scott (TNT Coach), and I set out for an 8-mile run. It was sprinkling when I walked out my door which kind of threw me off guard, since yesterday was such a beautiful day! I have never ran in the rain before, so was kind of apprehensive about this mornings run.
It ended up being perfect weather! For the first 2 or 3 miles it was lightly sprinkling, but it cleared up and felt great.
And oh my golly... apparently, we had a gun pulled on us??! I didn't see it, but we ran by this older woman who was walking by herself who pulled something out and pointed at us. The 3 others saw it..but of course me being blind and without my glasses didn't see anything. I don't blame her, if I was an older woman walking by myself at 5am I might want a gun too!

Later this morning: Had a meeting with my fundraising group and my mentor, Meg. Absolutely love this aspect of Team in Training. We had a great talk about fundraising events, training woes, training highlights, nutrition... everything! I have learned so much from these ladies it is unbelievable! Meg is the most encouraging person ever. After our meetings, I always feel so rejuvenated and ready to take on the world.
Watch out goal...I'm gonna get you.

Thoughts.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
Irish playwright and critic

I found this quote on another blog and now I can't remember whose I found it on. Argh. So thank you to whoever you are! I think after you read it, you will understand. It's one of my new favs.

Running
...it's going really well. No thanks to the weather. Well, maybe I shouldn't complain because Thursday was practically the best day of my life. As you probably recall, it was a lovely 60 degrees outside so I decided to take advantage and go for a long bike ride...

It was absolutely amazing. I got my bike last year, right before it turned cold and yuck so I never really had a chance to get out and enjoy it. Thursday, I rode for almost 2 hours! Where did I go? Everywhere! I found a couple trails, rode through some really nice neighborhoods, and basically explored the northeast side of Wichita. I almost got ran over by a big white truck one time, but then realized it was just my friend Tyler.. so I just laughed, waved, and kept on my journey.

Because of the snowstorm, our Saturday morning TNT group run was cancelled. Bummer. I decided I was going to wake up on Saturday morning anyway to see how the weather was and either tough it out and run outside or go to the dreaded treadmills at the Y. 6am rolls around, look outside..HA! There was like 80mph winds and it was still snowing. Off to the Y I go...

Ended with a good 10 mile run. On the treadmill...bluhhh. Physically, I felt awesome. Mentally, a different story. I find it very hard to stay focused and not get bored when running in one spot for that long, especially when the dang TV is on cartoons! I kept hoping someone would walk by in front of me and I could ask them to please change it for me...but by the time I had the chance, I was almost finished so no need to bother. There was a guy running next to me, probably mid-late 30s, for about 5 miles of my run. I noticed he kept looking over at my treadmill, reading my screen...which kind of started to irritate me! Mind your own business sir. Well, once I was finished he took off his earphones and said "Do you always run that far?" Although irritating at first, it actually kind of made me feel good that someone noticed how far I had actually ran! It was kind of like last week, when I wanted to yell to all the cars driving by that I was on mile 10, 11, 12!!

Fundraising
...guess what?! I hit the 50% mark of my fundraising goal!!!!!!!! I am soooo very thankful for everyone who has donated. I could not do this without you. The fundraising aspect of Team in Training has really been eye opening to me. I have never really put this much effort into raising such a large amount of money. When I first joined TNT, I knew we had to raise this much money, but I was unaware of the amount of time and effort that is actually put into raising it. Since day one I have been writing letters, sending emails, brainstorming, making phone calls, setting up events...I would not take back any of that time for anything.

One day, we will find a cure. One day, Leukemia & Lymphoma will no longer take the lives of our loved ones. One day, I will be able to say...I helped.

Papa...this is for you. I love you and miss you.

Spring time!!

...only until tomorrow. UGH! 60 degrees today, then snow tomorrow? Really?!?

Quick update of this week:

Monday: I am pretty much the worst running partner ever. Why? Well...Madison and I made plans to meet at 5:00am at Genesis for a morning jog. So, I set my alarm for 4:20am...plenty of time to get up and ready to run! I even went to bed pretty early! The morning rolls around and I wake up to the sound of my phone vibrating.. look at it and it says "I'm here". OH NO!!! I look at the time and it says 5:00am!! I frantically jump up and start sprinting around my apartment trying to find all my running gear, while texting Madison back telling her how sorry I am. I am SURE I set my alarm at 4:20.... so I look at it.. 4:2oPM. Awesome. Glad I wanted to be up by 4:00 in the afternoon! Most people would of guessed I was late because of daylight savings time, but nope, I actually had that part right! Anyway, I made record time. I pulled into Genesis before 5:15 and was ready to go! Definitely the fastest I have ever jumped up and gotten ready. I'm sorry Madison!! Because my morning was all out of whack, it wasn't the best run. We ended at 4 miles.

Tuesday: 4 miles at the YMCA followed by some different cross training. I'm really liking getting back into lifting a couple days a week, I think it's really going to help on our long runs. Yeah?

Wednesday: Chilly 8 mile morning jog. Originally, Madison and I were planning on doing 6...but we talked each other into putting in couple more miles. Glad we did.

Thursday (Today!): Met Alfredo for a run this morning. Got a good 6 mile jog in... at a faster pace. When Alfredo runs with Madison and I, he is normally a good distance ahead of us...but Madison is out of town, so I told him not to leave me too far behind, it's scary out there in the dark mornings by yourself! I'm sure he slowed down a bit, but it was still a faster past than the rest of the week.

Andddd...the quick post because its 60 degrees outside and it's time to go for a bike ride!!! WOOO!!

Okay, so this was when I first got my bike last year...but it seemed fitting. I have hardly had a chance to ride it. Can't wait!!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week, it's almost time for the weekend! Yes!

On cloud nine.

So many good things happened from Wednesday to now, I don't even know where to start! Since this is probably going to be a long post, I'm going to fast-forward to Friday night.

Friday night: Turnback Creek had a concert at Cy's bar in Sedgwick. Madison and I thought this would be a great opportunity to have a fundraising event. We called Cy and told him a little about what we were doing and he gave us the okay to have an event! We brought 3 big Team In Training signs and 3 buckets... our plan was to basically just ask people for donations. We got to the bar at like 9:30 (the concert started at 10:00) and felt totally awkward. Cy wasn't there, so we weren't sure what to really do. Luckily, my mom's friend Lisa came with us, who knows some of the ladies that work at the bar. They said we were welcome to do whatever we wanted, they just didn't want to be held responsible for watching any buckets. So we grabbed a table, posted some signs on the wall, and worked our magic.

People were SO much more generous than I expected. I was expecting change, dollar bills, maybe a five or two.... but there were several 20 dollar bills! Madison handed one of the buckets to her grandma, who ended up passing it on to someone else, who passed it on to someone else, and it just kept going around the bar! It was so awesome to see it going around the bar and people reading it, then reaching for their wallet. I wish there was a way I could express to them how thankful I really am for their support.

On top of the successful fundraising, Turnback Creek sounded awesome! Anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely not a fan of country music, but I really liked Turnback Creek. If you have not heard them, look them up... you will like!

Thank you everyone who came out and supported. And a HUGE thank you to Cy and Turnback Creek for allowing us to do this at your concert and giving us all kinds of shout outs! The night wouldn't of been as much of a success without you!

Saturday: I was kind of nervous for Saturday, I really wanted to get a good long run in, but didn't really have a good time to do it. After getting less than 4 hours of sleep on Friday night, I was in dire need of a nap after work. After my nap...I woke up feeling groggy and fought with myself for a long time about whether or not to suck it up and go out for my long run or make it up on Sunday. Madison was in Sedgwick, Alfredo was out of town, TNT group ran at 7:00am, so it was either go out and run by myself or don't go at all. At about 5:00, I looked outside and it was sunny! That basically made my decision for me.

I got this new fanny pack kind of thing to wear on my long runs, so I can have my snacks with me. Okay, it's not really a fanny pack, way smaller and way less dorky. I took a picture of myself before going out for my run, but unfortunately my phone is dunzo so I will probably never see that picture. Ugh. My TNT coaches have advised us that we need to start experimenting with different kinds of nutrition during our long runs, in order to stay refueled. At first, I thought this was crazy...why would you want to eat while running? I figured all it would do was make me nauseous, but it really does make a difference! So far the only thing I have tried is GU Chomps, which I really liked. And my fanny pack, perfect! I was concerned it was going to ride up and be uncomfortable, but it actually stayed put. I love all my new running gear! Sure wish I had the picture I took before I ran... I looked like a pretty legit runner. My watch, my iPod, my fanny pack, my new shoes, my running socks, my under armour, my tights... man I was rockin.

Anyway... I ran 12 miles!!!!! This is the furthest I have ever ran! My original plan was to run 10 miles, but after about mile 6 I decided I wanted to push myself and go a couple more. And I did!! I was so ecstatic while running. I seriously felt awesome. I probably looked like a freak running down the side of the road by myself with a smile on my face. I wanted to tell everyone who was driving by that I was on mile 9, mile 10, mile 11...mile 12!! Needless to say, my legs are dead today, but I'm still on cloud nine.

Overload.

Golly, now that is has been almost a week, I don't even know where to start. Here are the highlights to bring us up to date...

Saturday: TNT Group Run...10 miles, no big. I felt absolutely amazing after this run. Our group was a little bit smaller this week, due to everyone's work schedules, kids schedules, and what not. I think this actually helped me a lot...we were able to stay closer as a group as we ran and talk with a lot more people. After we finished, one of the coaches told us that it took us about 1 hour, 34 minutes. That means we ran an average of.... 9.40 minutes/mile! Okay, that may seem slow to some of you... but when I ran the Turkey Trot 10 mile I was definitely closer to 10.40 minutes/mile. Improvement. Love it.

Saturday night: My beautiful friend Katie's 21st birthday!!! A blast.

Meet Katie...love her.

Sunday and Monday: Blah, skip.

Tuesday: Woke up at 5:30 planning on running outside with Madison....because nature hates me and decided to pour down rain, we were forced to go to the YMCA. We got a good 4 miles in around the track, (44 grueling laps), until we decided we had enough. As we were walking to cool down a little bit, an older gentleman came up to us and was astonished by how long we had just ran. He was convinced that we had ran well over 4 miles... if only he knew that in a few months we will be running 26.2!!! We finished up our YMCA trip with a little bit of lifting..lunges, curls, military press, butterflies.. all those wonderful lifts Mr. Crumrine would be proud of me for. Later that afternoon, Madison and I had a really good brainstorming session of ideas for fundraising. If anyone is actually reading this, be sure to check back for upcoming events! You are the reason any of this is possible. Thennnn...my night ended with 5 hours of wonderful accounting...

And finally, Today: SO glad it wasn't raining at 5am, Madison and I had a great 6 mile jog. I definitely wanted to keep going, but we had our first official fundraiser that we needed to prepare for!

Grunge and sweat.
That means its almost time for spring training!!!

We set up a booth at the RSC (Wichita State Student Center, for those of you who don't know) and basically just asked people if they would like to donate. At first, I definitely had my doubts.. I am very shy about just asking random people for money and thought we were just wasting our time. However, people were actually a lot more generous that I expected! We were there for only a few hours and ended up making over 100 dollars! As I've been saying all along, every little bit counts.

Thank you SO much to everyone who is supporting me. I truly could not do this without you.

And just so you know... I'm really starting to like this whole blog thing. So you should definitely become a follower, leave comments, or something! Or if not.. I don't mind being the only one who reads this, it's fun!

Let loose!

These past few days have been pretty much fantastic.

Elton John and Billy Joel:  perfect.

The parents and I started off the night with dinner at Whiskey Creek, which was ehhhh definitely below par.  I ordered a side of grilled veggies (looove me some zucchini and squash)...however, I prefer them not to be completely raw, especially when I order grilled veggies.  Oh well, no need to fret... I was about to get my groove on with Elt and Bill.  We finished dinner with plenty of time, so I decided to take the rents to Oeno, where I enjoyed some Urban Imagination...mmm.  Basically, the rest of the night was just amazing. Absolutely loved the concert and loved spending quality time with my mom and dad.  

Today:

Started off not so great... had plans to go run with Alfredo at 5:15am, but had to cancel because I woke up not feeling well at all (and could also use some sleep after a late night with Elt). After falling back asleep for a few hours, I woke back up to get ready for work and was instantly cured by the amazing weather! After work, Madison and I met up to go downtown and pick up the fundraising shirts we designed to wear to fundraising events....

(...one mile at a time)

Te gusta? I'm satisfied with the way they turned out!

After picking up our shirts, Madison and I decided to go for a 4-mile jog around the river.  Oh my gosh... it was SUCH a blast.  If you are my friend on facebook, check out my album called "Seattle Bound".  We had our own little photo shoot, just like the good ole junior high days!  My album doesn't even come close to all the pictures we took... we seriously took almost 100 pictures!  People probably thought we were complete freaks, but I could care less... we were having so much fun.  

Looking ahead to the weekend:

I cannot wait until our long run Saturday!  Yeah, I said it... I can't wait to run 10 miles again! Wooooo!! 

I can wait though... to start on all the homework I have put off these past few days.  Eh, oh well.. I think I deserved these past few days of letting loose.

Running therapy.

Luckily, after my lone adventure on Monday... my faithful running friends were back and ready to join me for the rest of the week.  

Tuesday:

My training schedule called for 0-3 miles. However, Madison was unable to run Monday so she wanted to put in a few extra miles Tuesday to make up for missing...sooo I decided, "Sure! What could it hurt?"  So we met at our, what is now, normal time: 5:30am.  We decided to run 5 miles.  Not gonna lie, after about mile 3 my legs were feeling pretty dead and I contemplated suggesting we only do 4.  But then I thought, "noooo, one more mile? 10 more minutes? I can do it."  Sure enough, we got to mile 5 and we were both feeling great!  Another great start to my day.  ....well it was great until my accounting test at 5:00.  Thank you accounting.

This morning:

Wednesday's have been the mornings that I normally run with the TNT ladies.  Sooo we all joined together!  Me, Madison, Alfredo, Yvette, Sonya, and Sean met at 5:00am for a 6-mile run.   

4:20: Alarm goes off.  I think, are you kidding me?! I just fell asleep!!  Before I have the chance to think twice and press snooze, I hop out of bed and prepare myself for our run.  Sonya and Yvette seem to run at a little faster pace than I am used to, but I was definitely ready the challenge.  I really enjoy running with them because they push me out of my comfort zone and make me go a little harder in the middle of the week.  

Less than an hour after starting, we were done!  It seriously seemed like we only had ran like 3 miles... time flew by!  Another awesome start to my day.  And this time... no accounting test... instead, Billy Joel and Elton John. 

I've decided that running is my new outlet.  I've always heard people talk about how they love to run to let out stress, to get their mind off things, to cheer up... Before now, running has never been any of this to me.  It used to seem like a chore.  I would never go for a run to make myself feel better, it was more like a kind of torture that I absolutely dreaded.  But now, when I don't have a nice run in the morning... my day feels all out of whack.  I love long runs where I can just let my mind wander and get lost in my music or get lost in conversation with my running buddies (thank you Madison).  You'd think that we would run out of things to talk about or run out of breath to be able to talk... but no way!  We could talk and run for hours.  It may be a little far-fetched..but in a sense, running is keeping me sane.

Mental Toughness.

Let's just start off by saying that yesterday was not my day.  With a jam packed schedule of group meetings and review sessions, I was determined to get in the short 2 mile jog my schedule called for.  Well... I got in my 2 miles, but never again will I try to squeeze in a quick jog right after I eat lunch.  

After a not so hot Sunday, I was definitely ready to get a good start to my week by getting out early and putting in some miles.  Unfortunately, I had a dilemma... Madison: Oklahoma, Alfredo: Work, TNT Ladies: Children... Me: Stuck between running at 5:00am outside by myself or going back to the good ole YMCA treadmill.  

Needless to say, 5:oo rolls around and there I am, bundled up walking out the door, ready for a steady 6 mile run.  After running last week at like negative 15 degrees, it seriously almost felt like spring outside!  It was definitely a challenge to stay focused in the dark with all these crazy thoughts going through my head about creepers that could suddenly jump out from a bush and grab me.  

A little after mile 2, I about had a heart attack.  Of course, it is still dark outside.  I am on a somewhat lighted sidewalk and I see ahead of me this pack of black creatures coming towards me.  So of course, I start freaking out..a vicious pack of wolves are about to attack me!!!  Before jumping the fence and taking off at full speed, I was able to make out that they were actually just people running.  Not just regular people though.... they were kids!  There were about 6 kids and a mom and dad pushing a stroller.  You know those beanies that kids wear in the snow that only have wholes for the eyes and the mouth?  Yeah, they were wearing those...which definitely added to the whole wolf resemblance.  Anywho, after they passed I thought to myself how awesome of a family that was.  They were able to get all their kids up and go for a family run at 5 in the morning!  Pretty cool if you ask me.  

I never thought I would be out running by myself at 5:00am in 20-30 degree weather.  Heck, I never thought I would be out running by myself period!  Now to start my wonderful day of work and class!  Running in the morning... best idea ever.