Positive Projection

This is how I'm visualizing myself after my marathon is over...

5 miles and feelin' fine!

I honestly cannot believe that this morning I ran five miles and ended feeling energized. That is the single longest distance I have ever consecutively ran in my entire life! Although, I guess this will be the case for all the coming weeks as well... But! Regardless! I'm SO happy that I'm keeping pace and don't feel like dying 5 minutes into it. My pace group is really wonderful, and we ran EXACTLY on pace today. I'll just have to remind myself next Sunday morning when my alarm goes off at 7am, that in a few hours time I'll be glad I woke up and went running.

Next week is 6 miles and our coach is going to change up our course a little bit so we don't get bored. So far we've been running south along Frontage Road (leaving from the Berkeley Marina), but starting next week we'll be running north along Frontage Road (up toward Pt. Richmond).

I sent out my first attempts at mass fundraising this weekend, and many of you are probably reading this as a result of following a link in my email... Thanks for stopping by! I'm hoping to get a good first push of fundraising done. I feel badly because I've been so preoccupied that I probably wasn't giving my fundraising the attention it deserves, but now it's priority #2! (Priority #1 being: Find a full time job)

Now I get to spend the rest of the day relaxing and bragging to everyone that I ran 5 miles! Yay!

Week 3 Status Update - It's been a rough couple of weeks...

When I say it's been a rough couple of weeks I mean it...

Two weeks ago I came home to find my house had been broken into, my laptop, digital camera, ipod and jewelry box had been stolen. A number of Adam's electronic goods had been stolen as well. So, I was dealing with that, and just a few days after I had a housewarming party I had to throw. Not to mention the, thus far unsuccessful, job hunt. My personal life has been exhausting by itself.

But I kept running.

This past weekend I had to travel to LA in order to attend Amy's graduation ceremony at UCLA where they were honoring her at a Philosophy Department reception and awarding her with her degree at commencement posthumously. So, I drove to LA on Thursday and spent Saturday with her family and friends. It was an extremely emotional day, but it meant a lot to Amy to graduate, and UCLA was really wonderful about handling the situation.

But I kept running.

On Sunday I ran 4 miles on my own, from my house to my friend Alexa's house and back. I'm back in Oakland now and have started incorporating cross training into my regimen. I spent time at the gym yesterday lifting some weights, but only very mildly. I know my body is in shock from all of this physical activity so I don't want to scare it into shock and am taking things relatively slow.

This weekend we'll be running 5 miles I think. I'm actually getting excited for these runs and have found that the interval running system (running 3 minutes, walking 2 minutes) really eases the stress of longer distances. Thank god for my Ironman watch that I bought which keeps those intervals for me.

Wish me luck! And don't forget to donate!
http://aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=SF-5133&EventCode=LV07

Week 1 - 3 Miles is hell

So... I just arrived home from my first day of training! We met at the Berkeley marina at 8am and they sent us out in waves of ten. Today's run was unique in that we were being timed from start to finish in order to determine our minute-per-mile pace. I ended up running a 14 minute mile, exactly as I had suspected. They asked that we take the 3 miles at a "laugh and giggle" or "conversational" pace. So, I ended up doing intervals (run/walk) and probably walked as much as I ran for those three miles. I'm happy with a 14 minute mile... It was hard and I'm feeling really out of shape, but that'll change (hopefully).

Anyway, after our run we met with the other people who run at our pace and elected a pace group leader (PGL). Nobody in our group (there are only 4 of us for now) wanted to do it so I (reluctantly) volunteered. The basic role of the PGL is to act as a liason between the runners at that pace and the coach who facilitates the run site. Also, I have to keep time while we're running, which means I need to buy a new watch!

I've got the OK to coordinate a fundraising event at Brendan's winery, so I've got to start cracking on that in the next week. And I sent in the paperwork to have a movie night at the Parkway, and I should hear back from them sometime in the next couple of days.

I think that's it for now. . . Time to go lay down.

T-Minus One Week...

For those of you who don't know, I'm running the Las Vegas Marathon on December 02, 2007 on behalf of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to raise funds which will provide vital services for the organization, and primarily for those living with HIV/AIDS. There are two reasons I am doing this: I used to work for the organization that facilitates the training for the marathon, and I appreciate what they do for the cause. However, if it hadn't been for the death of my best friend in January I would never have committed to this program. Amy was so committed to being fit and having fun while doing it that I decided I should embrace her love of a healthy, happy lifestyle and run this marathon in her honor.

So, one week from today begins my marathon training! I'll run every Sunday morning at 8am at the Berkeley Marina (so early!!!) with my other East Bay participants. I went to our "kick-off" party yesterday and learned a bit more about what to expect, tried to win a couple of raffles, and then went over to Sports Basement in the Marina to buy the essentials (water bottle, anti-chaffing stick (apparently it's important), shoes, shorts, visor, etc.). I'm feeling really excited for it all, but also REALLY apprehensive. I'm so out of shape!! I've started moving on my fundraising endeavors, so keep an eye out for those coming up in the next few months (movie night at the Parkway, a Casino Night hopefully, and letters you'll all be getting in the mail).

This blog is where I'll complain about how sore I am, keep track of how much weight I'm losing, and share with you guys any fun stories or experiences. I expect it'll be mostly me complaining A LOT about how much running sucks, but hopefully my opinion of running will change.

See you next week!