Road to Philly

So I mentioned that I am running the Philly Half Marathon in November...I have been cautiously considering shooting for a sub 2:00 finish time, and up until this past Saturday, I wasn't ready to fully commit. But...here goes, with all of you as my witness: I am shooting for sub 2:00 (9:09 pace) on November 18! I ran with 13.1 with the team on saturday, and managed to finish in 2:02 (9:15 pace). I felt great, not sore at all, and this has given me the confidence to go for it!

I also called my PT to schedule a "tune-up". I'm not hurt, but I want to keep it that way. My body tends to go out of alignment from the hips up, and I can sort of feel that my gait is off a bit. I figure I'll let Kathleen work on me a bit, which will hopefully allow me to continue on injury-free.

Just got an email from one of my training buddies...an x-ray shows that she has a slight stress fracture in her 5th metatarsal, ugh! Please join me in hoping the MRI shows nothing more severe!

Musings from an obsessed runner

It is finally Fall here in NY! Yipee yi yay! According to the calendar, we are almost 4 full weeks into fall, however, temps here soared to almost 90 only 2 days ago. Can you say yuk? Today it's a bit rainy and gloomy overall, but at least it's under 70, and the weekend looks glorious! Which is so important, because I have a 13 mile run with Team in Training on Saturday. I am looking forward to this, as I do all of my team runs. It's just so much fun to see everyone and catch up, and get those miles in. This is the first time the Disney team is running more than 10, and I know so many of the participants must be so anxious. I love mentoring, I feel like I have gotten so much out of this experience, and I want everyone to benefit as I have. Training begins to get more intense soon...I am a bit nervous about the 18 and 20 milers. My injury began after the 18 miler, and I never got to the 20-miler because I was sidelined. It's funny...because I always lose sleep the night before, I am just so nervous. But once I actually get out there, and run with the team, I'm ok. And it goes by pretty quickly. Not like its effortless or anything, because trust me, it's HARD. But it's not anywhere near as bad as I imagine...which is crazy...because this is my 3rd full marathon, I know what to expect. Although, maybe that is the problem ;-)

We finalized our hotel arrangements for Philly, so now it really feels like I am going. I will be running just the half though, after my injury last season, I was afraid to try and run 2 marathons so close to each other, and Disney is around the corner. This will be great though, I am well trainied for the distance, and it's a totally flat course.

So, check out this cool website, Athlinks. It's so cool, I entered my name, and many of my races and times came up, and I was able to claim them, and now I have the majority of them all stored in one place!

Catching up

It's been way tooooo long, and I have put off writing because I just don't know where to start...so I'm just gonna dive in!

First...I am still with Team in Training, this is my 3rd season, and I am still loving what I do. This season has taken on a whole new meaning for me as my dad's sister, my Aunt, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia the same day I ran the San Diego marathon. I have dedicated this season to her and her recovery, and will be carrying her picture with me across that finish line in Disney. Her diagnosis has hit me like a ton of bricks, sort of like now I know why I got so involved with TNT and and why I am so drawn to the organization and the people. I only hope that everything we are doing will help my Aunt and all others who are or will be dealing with blood cancer.

As I said above, I did run San Diego back in June, and it was a very emotional experience. I got injured during the Long Island Half about a month before SD, and honestly didn't know if I'd be able to walk, let alone run! But after weeks of intense PT (thank you Kathleen!), I was able to not only run SD, but I shaved 32 minutes off my Disney time.

Here are some pics:

If you look closely at my finisher photo, you will see that I am holding up a medal and a dogtag. I was awarded this dogtag by my coaches. I mentored last season, and really gave it my all, and for that, as well as overcoming my injury, I was honored by the team, and presented with the honorary dogtag of one of Long Island's most honored patient heroes. I truly believe this helped me get thru those grueling 26.2 miles with a Cho-Pat strap on my right knee, wincing through the pain whenever my kneecap decided it wanted to move to a different spot. I held the tag proudly as I crossed the finish line, and cried real tears of pride, joy and relief. I never thought I could be more overwhelmed than I was after Disney, but San Diego showed me that I was wrong. It was amazing. I would be remiss if I didn't mention what Chris did for me that day as well. He met me at mile 6 with a bottle of Gatorade Rain (they had Accelearde on the course, blech!) and ran all the way to mile 13.1 with me. I kicked him off at that point because I knew at that time that I would finish, and I wanted him to get some food. He met me again at mile 24, and ran with me until he was forced off the course by the military. His support was priceless, and his pride in me was clear in his eyes. It meant everything to me.

I have run several races since SD, and all of them have been fantastic. My times are improving, and I am now training for the Philly Half next month, and am going for a very aggressive 2 hour goal. The course is flat, and if we have cool fall temps I think I can do it. A TNT friend of mine has offered to pace me, so with his help....ICANDUIT!

I will run Disney again in January, with Chris. It will also be our 14th wedding anniversary! Unreal!

And next in my TNT future...an Olympic Distance triathlon. Right now I am trying to decide between St Anthony's and Memphis in May. Hmmmm.... By the way, the swim scares the bejesus out of me, but I love the challenge! And I am in the best physical shape I have ever been in, and I know I can do this! Forty schmorty :-)

I have so much more to write about, but this will haveto be it for today.