Finally broke the streak!

With a friend in from out of town and prepping for my trip, I finally missed a run! Dang it! But, as we all know, it's bound to happen! And being that I'll be in B.F.E. California for the next 4 days, I'm not sure how much running I'll get done at all! I know the scenery would probably be great out there around the lake, but the truth is that I really don't feel all that comfortable running around by myself in a rural area where I don't know where I'm going. That just sounds like an abduction waiting to happen! But, we'll see!

Today, to make up for yesterday's missed run, I went to the gym upstairs on my lunch hour and did it on the treadmill. I cannot believe how great I feel after that! I came back was just bursting with energy! And the run went incredibly well...not only did I never feel fatigued or tired, but I wasn't even bored! The run felt so easy that the 40 minutes just flew by. It's almost like I'm a real runner now or something :)

I won't be taking my laptop on the trip, as a tent just isn't the most secure place to store $1500 worth of electronics! I will charge my phone before we leave San Fran and I guess it will last as long as it lasts! This is going to be very strange to be so out of the loop for a few days. But in a good way! I guess I will see you all after the Wildflower!

Good Food & Mojitos

I needed last night. It made for a less than stellar morning, but I really, really needed it! One of my girlfriends is in town for the next few days, but due to my running schedule and leaving for my trip to see Jon compete in the Wildflower on Thursday, last night was the best night to meet up.

It started with a freezing cold walk through the rain to Bandera on Michigan Ave. Hello, yummy! First off, great ambiance! Very dimly lit, mostly boothes, but some great tables overlooking the Mag Mile. We got a booth right next to the jazz band that was playing and it was awesome. You couldn't stop tapping your foot or bobbing your head...great time! Now the food...oh, the food! This is definitely a meat-happy restaurant, so my choices as a vegetarian were limited. But, I got the Veggieburger and it was ridiculously delicious! It came with coleslaw covered in a peanut sauce...BOMB! It was a different, but a great take on coleslaw! We decided to share a side of their Mac & Cheese and it was so rich I could only eat a few bites...oh, but they were heavenly!

From there, we headed back to her hotel to meet another one of our friends at the Crimson Lounge downstairs. This place was great too! The decor was totally awesome and it was only moderately packed (as it should be since it was a Monday night!) and a great place to just chill! I had a couple of mojitos and they were sooooooo yummy! Good thing I stopped at 2 cuz it was hard to get up this morning just off those! My tolerance isn't what it used to be!

This night out was just what the doctor ordered. I've been trying to be good since I started training and have lost 5 lbs in the past 4 weeks. But, it felt so good to splurge for a night and know that I don't have to feel guilty about it since I'll be making up for it with my runs. Yay for a night on the town and finding new places!

Week 4...DONE!

I have successfully completed another training week. That makes 4...with 23 left to go. That sounds like a really long time!

Friday's 40 minute run was spent on the treadmill since the forecast showed quite the storm rolling in. It's amazing how quickly I became used to running outside because this treadmill run seemed to take forever! But, it was done.

Today was my 7 mile long run. Despite the fact that I know I can do it, I still get nervous before my long runs. I'm sure its some crazy psychological thing that has to do with last year...hopefully I'll break out of it one of these weeks! The run went pretty well overall. The wind was brutal at certain points, but I've miraculously turned into that runner that will not be deterred and it was just a challenge to get through, whereas last year it would have been an excuse to stop and bag it.

I will say that this run felt nowhere as easy as last week's 6 did. It wasn't like it was difficult or anything, but I felt slower and not as excited about the progress as I was last week. Let's say the wind had something to do with that, shall we? :) Okay, good. Right now, I have faith that I can handle any distance scheduled, but the mental part is still going to need some work. Boredom on those long runs is going to become a huge problem. I can already see it coming. Poo.

Here is what my Garmin recorded for this run:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/57978

Problem is that the pace on the watch usually was somewhere around ten and a half minute miles. Sometimes even eleven minute miles. So how does that equal ten minute miles being recorded EVERY mile? Either the pace thing is not accurate or timer isn't. As crazy as I would look running with 2 watches on, I'm about to do it for a run to see if its accurate. Ten minute miles would be great, but I'm just having a hard time buying into it.
And there you have it, folks. Week 4 is done. Bring on Week 5!

Doesn't this sound fun?!

I'm currently following the training schedule put together by the training group I ran with back when I was in Portland...and well, since I'm running the Portland Marathon this year, it just plain makes some freakin' sense! But here is the hiccup in my plan. They have scheduled benchmarks that are based around some races. One of these is a half marathon scheduled in June. Yes, I know, I can always run a half marathon along the lakefront, but wouldn't it be more fun to actually go run a Half Marathon?!

I set out to see if there were any going on in my neck of the woods that same weekend. Here is what I stumbled across and immediately fell in love with the idea of: The Hatfield & McCoy Half Marathon! You run all over and around this highly infamous and disputed land of the Hatfield's and McCoy's. Plus there is a whole festival! I was all psyched up and ready to register when I began trying to figure out how I would get there and how much of a hole this was gonna burn in my pocket. Can I just tell you that this is not an easy destination to reach?! Here were my options:

1) Drive all the way. This would be about an 8 hour trip each way in my gas guzzling automobile. Due to the length of the drive, probably at least 2 nights in a hotel would be required. Expenses: Gas, Food & Lodging

2) Fly to Louisville for a fairly cheap price. Rent a car and drive the other 4 hours to get there. Again, due to travel time, probably at least 2 nights in a hotel. Expenses: Airfare, Car Rental, Gas, Food & Lodging.

3) Fly to Charleston, WV for a ridiculous amount of money. Rent a car and drive just over an hour. Could probably pull this off with just one night in the hotel since the airport is much closer. Expenses: Huge Airfare, Car Rental, Gas, Food & Lodging.

The bottom line here? My excitement came crashing down when it became quite apparent that this would be costing me a whole lot more than I can even remotely feel comfortable spending on a run. Maybe if I wasn't already going to have to spend money to get to my marathon, I could splurge on this fun little gig. But that isn't the case :( I will definitely have to keep this little ditty on the radar for the future though cuz I think it would be a hoot!

Guess what I saw?

So, I'm out on my run tonight and I run east (as usual), but decide I'm going to try to go all the way to the lake. I run and run and run...straight into the Lincoln Park Zoo. Great. So, I start running north just to see where I end up. Just as I'm about to make the turn to head back west, I see something move out of the corner of my eye. I turn and there's camels! Right there. Eating and staring right at me.

Well, I'm not THAT into my training that I can't stop for a minute to wave at the camels! Okay, and maybe talk to them just a little bit...but only after looking around and making sure that no one caught me! Oh, no worries, they just kept eating and staring. So, I went on my merry way! I love that I'm getting a chance to explore the city on foot with my runs!

I'm sure my watch has to be lying to me because I had another great run! 4.96 miles in 50 minutes. Ran just over a 10 min/mile pace again. This just can't be right. It can't be. But, you know, I'll take it!

10:08

That was my average pace for my 35 minute run tonight! I realize this is nothing special for the majority of you, but to me this is huge! Not only am I doing better than I even remotely expected, but I'm also proving that I am the shizznit of running!!! Yeah! :p

Okay, back to reality! Seriously, I couldn't be happier with how things are going. For those of you that followed me through last year's ups and downs, I hope you can see how different this year is going. I'm excited and motivated and actually doing the damn thing! My 405 is making it even more fun cuz its giving me something to work for. If only I could figure out how to post some of the data on here...hmmm...

Running on the streets seems harder than the lake front. Not sure why. Maybe its just the cruelty of the concrete. And the curb jumping. And the dog poop dodging. Maybe. The pace calculating on the watch while I was running was WAY off. Therefore, I had no idea I was going as fast as I was until it would beep that I'd clocked a mile. The satellites must not reach Bucktown and Roscoe Village :p Yeah, I ran north tonight which is something I have NEVER done. Yes, believe it or not, I always run south and east. It was fun. Roscoe has a ton of cute little shops and eats. Might have to check those out some time. All this time I've been so close and never knew!

Back to running. I did clock a good time for me, but I also felt pooped by the end. So, tomorrow's 50 minute run will have to be at a slightly slower pace...although since the dang pace doesn't work, how I will work that out, I can't tell ya! You know, I've never known what it was like to not dread my runs :) This is an amazing turn of events. Somewhere pigs are flying. I'm sure of it. So, I'm actually hyped for tomorrow night because I want to see if I can slow it down and make those 50 minutes feel as good as my 6-miler did. Fingers crossed...

Nothing to be afraid of!

First off, I should say that I splurged BIG TIME and bought the new Garmin Forerunner 405. They got an early shipment in down at the Garmin store so I went to pick one up for my friend who was stuck at work. He called and they only had 6 left. I was there in less than an hour and they were down to 3! I felt the pressure...so I bought one too! That left only one after my purchases... so cheers to whomever that lucky duck was!

I was very nervous about my 6-miler. I dilly-dallied all morning and into the early afternoon. Finally, after running out of excuses, I put on my running gear. Strapped on the new watch. Grabbed my Ipod and Gatorade. Out the door I went. Drove up to Montrose, fought the Cubs traffic, got a decent parking spot and got ready to go. To change it up and overcome the mental challenges I have with the lake right now, I decided to head north a mile first, make my way back and then head south for 2 miles before the final turn around.

I set the watch for an 11 min/mile pace. That first mile I stayed pretty much on pace. And the GPS was working great because it was almost perfectly on with the mile markers posted. By the 2nd mile, I noticed I was speeding up a little, but I figured it was because there were more downhill spots on the way back. By the third mile, I knew that 11 minute miles were too slow for me. I was feeling great. Trying not to get overzealous, I did try to keep slowing down, but everytime I looked down at the watch, my pace was around 10:30. I figured I could live with that. I kept right on truckin! When I finally got to the first accessible water fountain I was so excited that I could actually stop the time and distance on the watch and just drink for a second. Then I trudged on. Got to my turn around point and realized that maybe the reason those 3 miles south had gone so well was because the wind had been at my back :) Very windy on my way back. I thought this might slow me down a bit, and it did at first. But soon, I seemed to be right back on my previous pace. And for the record, I can't believe how easy this run was going...I kept waiting for the fatigue to hit me at any moment. I hit mile 5 and felt amazing...not tired in the least so I did something that I never do. I challenged myself to pick it up and run that last mile in strong and hard. And I did just that :)

I was running about a 9:30 pace for that last mile which is not like me at all! I finished the 6 miles at 1:01:48. A 10:18 min/mile pace! Obviously, this is just one run. But I can't help but feel there is something big in the making here! It's got me excited about running again! I want to beat my times and challenge myself to more than I've given myself credit for! If my next few long runs continue to feel this good, I might actually have to change my marathon finishing time goal! And I love this watch!!! :)

Where to start?

I have like a zillion different topics floating around my head right now! There is my run yesterday, this breathing technique I read about, the fear I have of my 6-miler tomorrow and then the difference a few pounds can make. I guess I'll go in that order :)

My run - Outdoors! Beautiful day yesterday! Great for walking and shopping, not so great for running though. Don't get me wrong...not BAD for running, but just not so great! Why? Well, first, the wind! Holy moly! It wasn't so bad a first. That first mile was great, I'd found my groove, was window shopping my way down Damen, good stuff. Oh yeah! Totally off-topic, as I was running, I saw that they opened a knitting shop on Damen 2 blocks from my place!! I am so stoked! Whoa, I don't use that word...weird. But yeah, not sure when it opened, but saw it for the first time yesterday!! Woo Hoo! Okay, running. I turned and started running east and was still good. Until I got across the Chicago River, that is. Hello, wind gusts! Totally killed my rhythm! And I had a heck of a time finding it again, just as I'd be getting there another huge gust would blow me down. Then, there was the temperature. When the wind wasn't blowing and you were in the sunlight, it was a little warm for me. But, I made it through! Even felt a little guilty about waiting for stop lights so I tacked on an additional 3 minutes to make up for them.

I mapped my route in Google Earth this morning and found that based on my watch time and the mileage, I'm running much faster outside than I am on the treadmill. Like a minute faster per mile! I told you those stupid treadmills in my gym are hard!!!

Breathing 3:2 - So, I read about this breathing technique that says you inhale for 3 steps, then exhale for 2 steps. It's supposed to even out the impact on your body because you hit the ground harder or something while you exhale and if you are always doing it on the same foot, well, I suppose its not good. But, my guess is that it hasn't killed anyone yet. Whatevers, I thought I'd give it a try anyway. The first thing I found it that it makes me breath faster than I would on my own. Which is weird. I also found that I naturally exhale longer than I inhale, which is the opposite of what this does. This leads me to my final finding that if I didn't concentrate on it, I quickly resorted back to my natural rhythm. Anyone heard of this technique? Is it worth it to try to learn to do it all the time? The upside is that I was concetrating so hard on that, that I didn't concentrate on how hard my run was feeling :)

6 Miles - So, tomorrow is 6 miles. If you had told me when I started back to running that I'd be running 6 miles in 3 weeks, I'd have laughed. But, here I am, facing that exact scenario. Hmmmm. I'm scared. In all honesty, running my mileage on the lake brings back bad memories. The thought of going out there and getting on that same route AGAIN, just feels yucky. And again, I've hardly run outside yet this season. And of course, do I have 6 miles in me? I think I might. It's possible. And it would be totally worth it to walk back to the car all sweaty and hot, just knowing that I once again triumphed over the me that was last year. But that doesn't make it any less scary!

A few pounds - That's all I've lost in the 5 or 6 weeks that I've been back to working out. At first the scale wouldn't budge and I thought I might have to throw it out the window. But, then, despite the lack of support from that old thing, I did notice that my clothes were starting to feel a little less tight. Something must have been moving and changing inside there somewhere. Now, the scale seems to be on the move, albeit slow, but its amazing how much different I feel! I'm not trying to hide under all those winter sweaters anymore. I can actually suck in my belly and make it go flat again! Yeeeeeessss! Granted, I'm also pretty sure I've lost half of my butt already too...but, we must make sacrifices here, people! The most amazing part though is how I just feel so much leaner, even though I'm not. I know its probably just the success of running that is giving me confidence, but I swear I walk taller. It is such a lovely feeling!

Just a Teeny bit closer

Tonight I think I got just a little bit closer to actually liking running. Yes, I do it. And I've been doing it off and on since I was about 15. But, do I like it? No. I've never been one of those people that finds relaxation and relief from life in a run. It's always been a chore that has to be done. And I've honestly always been okay with that.

But tonight was different. I had to convince myself to go up to the gym, as usual :) See, my headphone konked out out on me during yesterday's run and a treadmill run without TV or music is not a good idea! I brought my backup set which I got free with my Venus razor :p I know, quality at its finest. They actually work fine, but they are the earbud type and I've got either really small earholes or they aren't shaped right. Whatever the case, I have a hard time keeping them in my ears! They just keep popping out!

Anywho, I had 40 minutes ahead of me. Despite the need to push the buds back in my ears every minute or so, the run flew by! Only in the last 10 minutes or so did I begin to get bored. It wasn't that I was tired or fatigued, I was just bored. I finished with my last 2 minutes at 6.0mph and felt great! I thought maybe I'd be tired on my 3/4 mile walk home, but I didn't feel tired in the least bit!

It was on this little walk that it hit me! I actually felt kinda good! I felt strong and confident. The run I was dreading was cake. I still haven't missed a run. I am actually running and not hating it! This is amazing, I thought! I can't exactly say that I'll be getting up in the morning hardly able to keep myself from running, but I'm definitely taking a step in the right direction :)

Crabby

That's me today. For no reason. I hate that! It took all my energy to smile and be nice to students. I was sort of snubbing my co-worker when she tried to talk to me. I even tried to weasel my way out of a meeting with some people from our Corporate Office because I didn't think I could handle sucking up and being nice :) Finally, I just looked at my co-worker and said, "I am in a bad mood and I have no idea why!". She smiled and said she thought she might be in a bad mood too :p Maybe it was just one of those days!

Since all my energy was zapped from pretending to be nice, running was the very last thing I was in the mood for when I got off. There was a moment today where I dreamed of running outside when I got home, but the cold wind quickly put that idea to bed. Since I have yet to miss a run on my the training schedule, I knew I'd just have to pick myself up and go.

The run actually started off feeling great. I felt strong and I wasn't straining. My LLS seems to be remedied! After 20 minutes or so, I peeked at the clock. It was all down hill from there! I started playing peek-a-boo with the timer for the rest of the run. Nothing makes it go slower! But, the bottom line is that I got it done! Again! I already feel the calluses on my feet coming back :( Ew! I really need to make it a point to treat myself to a pedicure here and there this summer. We'll see...

Off-Topic: Event Ideas

The past few years for our "big" Y-ME event, we've had a Pink Drink fund raiser in conjunction with a local restaurant in which they serve special pink drinks all night and we get a piece of the proceeds. Last year did not turn out so stellar. So, back to the drawing board we went. We came up with the fantabulous idea to have a Vegas Night here at the school. After much internet hunting, and finally a call to the Illinois Charitable Gaming Dept, that is pretty much off the table...unless we want to go around breaking laws. Which I just don't think quite goes hand in hand with charity! It really is a shame that they make it so difficult to hold a charity gaming event! It's a great idea!

So, the question I pose to you is what other event could we hold that would fun, entertaining and possibly bring out that competitive nature in people? It would be held mid to late May, so outdoors is an option. We have a budget that will cover food and beverages, but overhead should be kept fairly low. And for those who are wondering, no, a dunk tank is not out of the question :) Any ideas you have would be much appreciated!

May the Wonders Never Cease!

I had 5 miles on the treadmill to get through today. When I woke up and saw the sun, I got so excited that I could possibly tackle these 5 miles outdoors...then I went outdoors. Uh, no. It was cold and windy. Not ideal.

I ran errands, watched some TV, played with my heart rate monitor. Yeah, I broke out that painful mofo. I did the fit test on it and was happy to find out that despite my lazy winter, I seem to be in the same cardiovascular health as when I left off training...which was only "fair", but I'll take it! Finally, I decided I better head on over to the office gym to get this run taken care of.

I admit, I was full on dreading a treadmill run this long. Especially given the slow pace I'm running at right now. I got on, searched the TV channels...ended up stuck with Die Hard 2, not my top choice, but it did the trick...and started running. Here is the crazy thing, I swear this run felt better than all my shorter runs this week! What's up with that?! My heart rate monitor showed that my heart rate was in a good place for most of the run and I didn't have the Lead Leg Syndrome I seem to be suffering from recently. It's crazy! And great!

Once again, I got in all my runs this week. I guess maybe when you actually do the training the way its supposed to be done, your runs aren't so hard. Who'da thought?! :p This gives me so much confidence and makes me feel very excited! Granted there are like 25 more weeks to go (or something like that), but if they can all be this good, I have no doubt that I'll be crossing the finish line with a smile on my face.

Here is this week's plan...I'm scaling back the "extra-cirricular activites":

Sunday: 5 mile run - DONE!
Monday: 20 min Pilates video
Tuesday: 35 min run
Wednesday: 40 min run
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 35 min run
Saturday: Upperbody Lifting & Abs
Sunday: 6 mile run

We got GOT!

The "Pink Mafia", as we've been dubbed, has been resposible for Pinking everyone's office space over the past 2 weeks as a fundraiser for our Y-ME team this year. There was Pink Protection you could buy, but we assumed since we were the Masterminds behind the whole thing that it wasn't necessary...



We were wrong :) The Pink Mafia got Pink'd!

Looking back

I did a crazy thing this evening...I went back and read the blogs I wrote at this time last year. And I was truly surprised by what I read! The thing that struck me the most was that my attitude was so different than the way I write right now. I was upbeat, funny, hopeful...even when things weren't going my way. Now, when I write, I seem very technical...I did this many minutes, blah blah blah...my run felt good, blah blah blah. Where did the fun go?! Where is the enthusiasm I once held for this feat?!

Because, the honest truth is that I am totally excited for this! And I feel better and stronger and more mentally prepared for this than last year! So, my goal is to make that come through again in this blog. I'll have to start talking about how I almost yelled out the Wheel of Fortune answer while on the treadmill at the gym. Or the crazy guy that like to run and yell and wave his arms and look so crazy out of the corner of my eye that I almost fall off the treadmill when I have to run next to him. Yep, those are the things I'm going to have to talk about :)

And of course, that I ran 35 minutes today, my legs felt like lead, I hated about 2/3 of it, but I finished :)

The first bump in the road

It's by no means anything major, but I skipped my first run today. I will make it up this week, but I just couldn't get it in. I've been going into work early and/or staying late each night for various fund raiser activities for our Y-ME team and I'm absolutely exhausted!

I went in this morning an hour early to prep for our "student" fund raiser and I basically ended up spending a good part of my day running all over to help with things. BUT, we did raise over $850! Then, when I was finally "off" at 6pm, I had to do another employee's office for our Pink'd fund raiser. I finally got done at 7:30 and just decided the gym was not in my future tonight. I want to be home at a decent hour one night and relax! I feel my back pain acting up from the stress already!

At least the major fund raising projects are almost over...that is until our Vegas Night in May! Woo Hoo!

Let's see...I also had my first "bad" run of the season last night. You know that one that feels so hard? And you think it's just because you aren't warmed up yet, but as the minutes tick by, it never gets any easier or more comfortable? Yeah, that was it! I'm assuming its cuz I'm tired and worn out. Which is why I don't feel all that guilty for skipping today. I know when my body is trying to tell me something!

So, I'll make it up tomorrow and do a little switching around and it'll be all good. Except the part where I have to do my Sunday 5 miler on the treadmill cuz of the weather. Yuck!

My 4 miles

I've been meaning to blog about how my 4 miles turned out this weekend, but I've been sidetracked a lot with the Y-ME stuff! I swear I'm living at this office trying to get all the employees "Pink'd" for our fundraiser!

Anywho, I have one questions. When are they gonna finish fixing the path on the lake??!! Not only are they messing with my mileage signs, but they are blocking the water fountains! I was not prepared for that. But, the good news is that I got out there and I ran the whole 4 miles! The wind sucked. I was cold. I was breathing harder than any treadmill run. But I got it done! Only for a VERY brief moment did I question if I'd finish. My body felt fine, but the breathing was getting on my nerves! I had to do a little off-roading when I got to the "constuction" point because the whole reason to run on the lake is to relieve my poor ol' knees from the pounding of the sidewalk. So, through the grass I went...hoping there was no doggie doo.

I got passed by a lot of runners. But you know what? I didn't even care! I'm just proud that I'm out there doing my thing again! And it also brought back a lot of memories from last year, good and bad. For one, can I just say something? To all you walkers out there on the path...can you please stay off the gravel? Your knees don't need that gravel the way my knees do and I don't see why I have to dart in and out of you guys just to run on it. Thanks. There! I've been wanting to get that off my chest for a long time! :)

I think I may need to re-evaluate my game plan. I wish I could lift and cross-train and run, but I'm starting to think that is a bit much for the shape I'm in. Maybe I'd been running all this time and wasn't starting at square one, I could do all that. But, my body definitely feels tired right now. While the mileage is short, its workable, but I know as it gets longer, its going to be a problem! Here's what I think my adjusted week will look like:

Sunday - 4 mile run (done)
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - S/T upper body & core, 30 min run
Wednesday - 35 min run
Thursday - Rest
Friday - S/T upper body & core, 20 min light x-training
Saturday - 25 min run
Sunday - 5 miles

Based on the weather outlook, I believe most of these runs will be taking place on the treadmill. Maybe next week I can start trying to get them done in the morning around my neighborhood. That'll be the day! :)

Success feels so good!

It was a small one, but it feels great! I did every workout on my schedule last week and did it when it was supposed to be done. If that meant that I didn't get home until 10pm, that was fine. If it meant that I had to catch a cab to save me a little commute time, I did. If I was tired and hungry and it was the last thing in the world I wanted to do (as was the case yesterday), I did it anyway. I do not ever recall having this much resolve. It feels amazing!

Today is my 4 mile run. I haven't run this distance since the day of the marathon. I'm definitely nervous. And being that it is such an amazingly gorgeous day outside, I'm going to take advantage and try to run on the lake. That makes me nervous too since I've only been running on the treadmill. But, I know that when I done, I'm going to feel great!

The only barrier right now is that I went to a fundraiser last night that was put together by one of my coworkers for our Y-ME team this year. It was at a bar and even though I stuck to just 2 Coronas, I haven't drank in awhile and it still hit me. I'm feeling a little sluggish today already. I'm hoping it wears off by mid-afternoon and doesn't become an issue with my run. Fingers crossed!

Speaking of Y-ME, this is the 4th year my company has had a team. I'm the captain and put together lots of different fundraisers leading up to the walk. You should really check it out! Great cause...did you know that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer? That is a huge number! My grandmother died of breast cancer in 1998 so this one really hits home for me. Here is the Y-ME site: www.y-me.org. They are different in that they do not deal with research the way most of the breast cancer charity organizations do. Y-ME is for information and support of those that have breast cancer right now, those that don't have time for the research to pave the way.

My coworker raised over $1000 last night at her fundraiser! I am so incredibly proud of her! She is the reason I continue to be the captain of this team every year, even when my schedule gets crazy and I feel like I won't be able to pull it off. If you want to visit our site to check out our progress, make a donation, or just see our fundraising ideas, the site is: http://race.y-me.org/harrington.

Treadmills

This is my week at work where I have Friday off and go in for six hours on Saturday. As it turns out, my friend who works ALL THE TIME had the day off too! So, we decided to meet up at his gym to get our runs.

Now, I already knew there was something weird about the treadmills at our office gym. I talked to some people and they agreed that they feel harder than a normal treadmill. You know how you usually have to increase the incline to 2% just to replicate ground running? Well, these ones feel like you are running slightly uphill when they are on zero. You feel like you are running against some kind of resistance or something...very odd. But, those are the dreadmills I have access to, so that's what I'm using!

I get to my friend's gym and they have the old school LifeStart ones. After having to dumb myself down on how to start it with only a few buttons instead of 20, I get going. The first thing I realized is that at 0% inclines, I felt like I was running downhill! So, I immediately increase the incline. I only had a 25 minute run scheduled so I did 20 at 5.2mph and for the last five minutes went up to 5.5 & 6.0. It felt great! That treadmill was so much easier to run on!

I'm supposing maybe its a good thing that I'm mostly running on the "hard" treadmill since maybe its better preparing me for running outside. I hope so! And speaking of running outside...that could really happen any day now! The weather is finally looking up! I have 4 miles on Sunday so maybe that will be my test!

Just like I thought

My run today felt MUCH better than yesterday. I was a lot less winded and I felt strong...although that didn't keep me from wanting to stop sometimes. But I didn't! So far, I've hit all my workout this week! 2 more and I successfully have this week in my pocket! That is so amazing for me!

So, my dearest Jon is doing the Wildflower Triathlon in May...and since he came all the way out to Chicago to see my miserable marathon failure, I could not miss seeing him in this awesome event. Here's the thing...I got the email from his boy today detailing our venture and I'm not sure I'm really ready for what I seemed to have signed up for! We fly into San Fran. Easy enough. Then we drive 3 hours south to I don't even know where. Once there, we CAMP for 3 days. I'm told there are showers, so at least we won't be musty. Because a bunch of musty tri-athletes just sounds gross!

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret...I have not camped since I was about 9 years old. Any while I used to really, really love taking showers from a water pouch attached to a tree branch and fishing for crawdads with a stick and some hot dogs...I'm just not sure I'm ready for this!

But you know what? I'll just have to make due cuz I wouldn't miss this for the world!

Tough Day

Whew! This lifting then running thing isn't as easy as I thought it would be! I only had to run 25 minutes today, but I did my lifting circuit beforehand...this made my run so much harder! I mean, 25 minutes. Come on! But after only 10, I was breathing hard and having to talk myself out of quitting...or slowing down the speed. Because I did not want to give in and do either.

I had waves of strength where I would feel like I was past the hump...but then a few minutes later I'd feel like my legs were lead again. This is not fun :) Tomorrow is 30 minutes of running and that's it. I expect this will be much easier than today's 25! Thank goodness...