NYC Here We Come!

Miles in 2013: 889
Days until NYC Marathon:7!

OMG a week from now I will be double, triple, and quadruple checking that all my stuff is ready for the next morning.  A week from tomorrow Leah and I (along with 40,00+ of our closest friends) will be headed to Staten Island to the start of the New York City Marathon.  This day seemed so far away almost a year and a half ago when I decided to set the goal to run the NYC Marathon and fundraise for my spot.  Now here it is a week away and I'm so excited I could scream!  You may not believe that this tattooed free spirit is actually quite the worrier and planner so it's safe to say that between Leah and I, we have read every blog about the NYC Marathon as well as every word on the ING NYC Marathon official page, oh and the handbook that I got in the mail today.  My suitcase is already packed, and I am READY to go!  This morning we did our last weekend run before the race.  It was a 10 mile pace run and we hit it almost spot on.  In talking to our coach she suggested setting a tier of goals for this marathon.  NYC is a difficult course.  It's crowded, hilly, the crowd support makes you go too fast, then you crash.  I've read it all.

So in our talk we set 3 goals:

1: Perfect Race = 5:15 finish (over an hour PR for Leah and almost 30 minutes for me - ok maybe not totally realistic)
2: Pretty Good Race = 5:30 finish (close to an hour for Leah and almost 15 minutes for me)
3: Still a Good Race = 5:40 finish (40 minutes for Leah and 3 minutes for me)
4: Ok I know I said 3 but Leah and I added one today - Finish strong running and not doing the "death march"

I also received my race shirt this morning!  It's pretty cute and fits like a glove.  I'm so happy to be representing The Pink Agenda and Team TPA.  I'm not sure if NYC is ready for us, but I can't wait to land in LGA, pick up Jen and get this weekend of celebration started!  Thank you to everyone who helped me get to this point, it's been a journey and I'm so glad that I could share it with you!

NYC we are ready for you!

Proud to be on Team TPA!

 

A good luck note from The Pink Agenda Founder!

 

Cherokee Harvest Half

Miles in 2013: 889
Days until NYC Marathon:7!

Last weekend I went to Cherokee, NC with about 20 people from our training program.  We headed up for a road trip to run the Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon.  The 9 hour road trip with Krystal and Rich was lots of fun!  We also rented a sweet cabin up in the mountains.  Not long after arriving we went on a (scary) trail run.  Ok, it wasn't so scary but I was terrified that I would trip, fall, and break something right before NYC.  From there we headed to dinner at the local Mexican place which was delicious!

Road Trip!

3 miles on the Scary Trail!

Getting ready to run the trail.

Life is great at the Cabin

The next day our itinerary got wrecked and we had to change our breakfast plans.  Then our fearless leader took us on a 3 mile hike up a mountain to the top of a fire tower.  I was still worried about tripping, falling, and breaking something, but I sucked it up and made it to the top for a pretty amazing view!  Off to dinner at the Cork and Bean after that.  Only a small sweet potato fry fiasco but our pre-race meal was great!

Breakfast!

Don't mind the Drink Chia! placement on the top of the fire tower!

Saturday morning was race day.  I'm glad I stayed with people who get up crazy early like me and don't mind getting to the race hours before we need to be there.  Going in to the trip I wasn't sure what my plan would be.  Maybe practice the 2:45 pace I have to do for OUC, maybe do NYC race pace (2:37), maybe go for it and run the best race I could.  While not sure that it was wise to go all out 2 weeks before NYC my coach, Susan, said it would be ok, and said she would run the race with me.  It was nice and cold (thank the lord!) race morning and I took off pretty fast.  Susan claims my walk breaks aren't really walk breaks but I think that's only because I have some really long legs!  I tried not to really pay attention to my watch and just run the race where it felt good.  I also couldn't look like a wimp in front of Susan, so I was pretty determined to run as hard and fast as I could and not take any namby pamby extra walk breaks.  The only extra walking I did was us the really nasty hill in the middle of the race.  By about mile 11 she assured me that no matter what I did from there on out would be a PR so I felt pretty good about finishing strong.  We came in to the end and low and behold I took over four and a half minutes off of my half marathon time!  2:22:10!  I'm so thankful to Susan for running the whole thing with me!  I am also thankful for all the people who went on this trip with us because they were all there lining the finish and cheering me on even though some of them were done almost an hour before me!  It meant so much that these people who are much stronger and fast runners than I am were there supporting me as well.

On the course

Coming in to the finish

PR and Bling!

Best Coach Ever!

After the race - all the Orlando runners

The next day we got up and hiked the Appalachian Trail.  It was a long hike and at one point I didn't think I would go all the way (thanks Gideon for forcing me to go past the scary part) but I made it 3 miles up and 3 miles down the scary mountain.  Luckily, I did not trip, fall, or break anything on this whole trip!  I am so thankful that I decided to come on this great runcation!  We had so many laughs (none of them blog appropriate) that my abs still hurt!

About to hike

6 miles on the Appalachian Trail

At the top of the Jump Off

Race for the Cure!

Miles in 2013: 805
Days until the NYC Marathon: 27

This year's Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure was a lot different than last year's!  Last year Jen was still in treatment and I was a little bit of an emotional wreck.  It was also nice and cool last year, and that was not the case in Central Florida today!  According to my Garmin at race start it was 73 degrees, sunny, and 94% humidity.  Basically not my kind of racing weather.  Our original plan had been to run fast enough to break 30 minutes for the first time ever.  It took me all of about 2 minutes of the race to realize that was not happening for me that day!  I couldn't breathe and swore I was having an asthma attack - not good since my inhaler was in my car in my driveway.  I muscled through and pushed as hard as could and still came up with a 30 second PR so I was proud I was able to do well for all the survivors in my life.  I really do enjoy the races at UCF since I feel like I spent so many great years of my life there!

PR - I've had a PR at this race every year!

The new theme this year was "Do you tutu?"and we were more than happy to join in!  Leah and I got to the race early to pick up our packets and then sat in her car whipping up a few tutus for the race.  Michelle met up with us and we all walked around checking out vendor tents.  I think we all looked adorable in our Adidas Breast Cancer shirts and our tutus!

We sure do!

Pinktober

Miles in 2013: 805
Days until the NYC Marathon: 27

There hasn't even been a week of October yet and I've already gone to two Breast Cancer events and worn pink everyday at work!  Tuesday I challenged my students to wear pink and I'd say about 65% of all my students did!  I told them a little about Jen and why Breast Cancer Awareness Month is important to me.  Some of my girls made me a super cute Breast Cancer cheer bow to wear this month, and another got me a cute bracelet.  Here's a look at my pink outfits this past week.

October 1 - Tuesday

October 2 - Wednesday

 

October 3 - Thursday

October 4 - Friday

 

 

Tuesday was also Ladies Night at Track Shack, our local running store.  It's a fun pink evening with shopping, food, beverages, and friends.  I was asked to model some of the store's wares and I think I picked some great outfits! A few items I modeled may have found their way home with me because I liked them so much I had to purchase them!  Many of the girls from our training program were there and it was a great night which raised a nice chunk of change for Florida Hospital's Breast Care Fund.

 

Outfit #1 - Adidas Breast Cancer Line

Outfit #2 - New Balance (also a Breast Cancer shirt)

Me and Leah

One of my favorite survivors, Donna and I

 

Races Season

Miles is 2013: 786
Days until the NYC Marathon: 31!

Well it's official - race season is here in Central Florida!  I love races - the getting up early, finding your friends, the porto potties, and the medals.  Sometimes I get crazy and sign up for what most people would think is too many, but that's ok I love them.  I started off race season with the Miracle Miles 15k.  I had sworn I wouldn't ever run this race, it's notoriously hot. and a 15k is too long to be running in the heat and sun for me.  However, in the delirium I was in on our last long run Mary managed to convince us to all run the race and wear yellow to show support for a friend's son who is battling cancer.  I tried to keep up with the group but lost it around mile 4 or 5 after spending two miles with my nemesis the sun!  Even though I struggled through the middle I was glad to see that I took over 5 minutes off of my previous 15k time!

PR!

Some of the group before the race

Leah and I with bling and PR's!

Next up I earned some sweet looking virtual bling from Jost Running.  I cranked out the Soaring 5k pretty easy one morning.  Then for our last long run weekend I put in 14 miles to earn the Soaring Half Marathon bling, while it looks like I didn't run it straight through, all I did was drop of a group member and pick up some more so I restarted my watch in there.  The October race series from them has THE MOST AMAZING LOOKING BLING!  I cannot wait to get my hands on those!

5k!

 

Add those together for my half marathon

 

Love these big sparkly medals!

 

Coming up:

 

 

For the rest of the fall I might have just a few races:

• Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5k
• UCF 5 and 2 Milers
• Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon
• NYC MARATHON
• Baldwin Park Half Marathon
• Fight for Air Stairclimb
• Space Coast Half
• OUC Half
• DOPEY!