On a "Celebrity" High

Miles to date: 331

After Ladies Night on Wednesday I decided to sleep in and skip running on Thursday.  Normally our group would run on Saturday, but I had to go to the State Special Olympics Swim Meet with 5 of the athletes that I coach.  It was an early morning and a long day out in the sun and the heat.  I came home, took a quick nap and then went to go see one of my childhood idols perform.  Debbie Gibson played at one of our local gay clubs, and I was not about to pass up the chance to see her in person!  I was the biggest Debbie fan circa 1989 and the 8 year old in me is still squealing with joy,! The show was awesome and it was totally worth staying up so late even though I knew I'd have to get in a 14 mile run this morning!

 

So with only two hours of sleep, I drug myself out of bed and headed to go meet up with the group for 14 miles.  Today was still pretty hot with 90% humidity so it didn't feel too promising!  Pair that with no sleep and I thought for sure that I wouldn't make it and would bail out at 10 mile mark.  Somehow we made it through 13.22 miles at a 13:26 average moving pace which is pretty amazing all thing considering!

 

Somewhere in the last few miles I got an email response back from the one and only Bart Yasso saying that he was interested in running the Mickey Marathon with us and he'd get back to me later when it gets closer - you'd better believe I'll be following up on that one! I was reading his email (where he also mentions my blog and running for Jen) at Panera with my Breast Cancer Bagel - hey a girl can run and eat for a cure can't she?



Track Shack-O-Holic!

Miles to Date: 318

This week has already been a busy one!  Monday Night I went to The Track Shack for a Meet and Greet with Bart Yasso.  I met him at the Pittsburgh expo, and I have to say in terms of the Running World he is one of my favorite people.  He tells the best stories and is really entertaining, but also is laid back and down to earth and seems like a guy you could go grab a beer with.  I offered him the highly thrilling chance to pace 4 girls who run real slow and swear alot while doing it in the Mickey Marathon.  Not sure if I convinced him - but hey it's worth a shot!

 

 

Tuesday morning we met for a short run and skipped our usual 3 mile warm up.  Leah and I ran a fast for us 2 miles in the low 11 min mile pace and walked another mile and half.  Tonight was Ladies Night at the Track Shack.  Our entry fee went to the Florida Hospital Breast Cancer Care Fund which helps women afford to get mamograms.  With a raffle, snacks, fashion show, and a goody bag of Betsy's favorite things I knew it would be a great night!  I also won an entry to the Disney Princess Half Marathon and the Royal Family 5k in a silent auction.  I paid less than it was worth online and my money went to the cause, so I could truly feel great about running for a reason!  Leah also went and bought one of the flamingos that Florida Hospital was selling.  One goes home with her, and the other gets tagged and goes out in a flock to somewhere in Winter Park, so she let me stick Jen's name on that one.  We run past a flock of flamingos every weekend and it always makes me smile!  Up tomorrow is another easy morning run and then 14 miles this weekend!

 



Oh the Terror!

Miles to Date: 315

The past two weeks have been pretty overwhelming there has been a lot going on and I've been exhausted!  We bailed on yet another week of Tuesday and Thursday runs, but managed a pretty decent 10 mile run last Saturday.  This week our group faired a little better about getting up to go running during the week.  Becky and I decided to do mile repeats instead of the track workout which worked out pretty nicely especially because it was cool and not so humid.  On Thursday Kathleen and I wore some purple running gear and ran 6 miles for Jen's 6th Chemo treatment.  The nice weather on Tuesday was just a teaser and it was back to miserable humidity once again.  Yesterday I got up and met Janice for an easy 6 miles at a 1:1 interval, which was ok with me since I had a race last night.

One of my other best friends Amy, managed to get me a bib for the Innagural Tower of Terror 10 mile race at Disney World.  She even got us super cute villian shirts to wear for the race.  Amy, Amy, Leah and I started the race together but at about a mile and a half Leah and I lost track of both the Amy's!  She and I stuck together for the rest of the race, and my cute villian shirt came off at about mile 3 because it was so miserably hot and humid.  For those of you who don't know me, I've lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, so taking my shirt off in public in front of 10,000 of my closest friends is not my idea of a great Saturday night!  Despite the heat, humidity, hills on the highways, and our more than usual walking, Leah and I both clocked in at 2:13:57!   Not bad all things considered.

This week is another busy one!  Seeing Bart Yasso speak at the Track Shack tomorrow, running Tuesday, Ladies Night at the Track Shack on Wednesday, running on Thursday, and a trip to the Special Olympics State Swim Meet this weekend. 

 

 

 

Another Goofy Double

Miles to Date: 280

This week did not start out as one of the best running weeks.  On Tuesday I texted the girls at 3:15 that I was headed back to sleep and not going to meet them at 4 for our warm-up and track workout.  That was all the girls needed to hit snooze themselves!  Thursday didn't fare much better, I met Leah and Amy at 4, ran a mile and then walked 2 in.  We met Sarah and Kathleen in the parking lot and I bailed and hopped in my car headed back to my cozy bed without doing the hill loop.  Just wasn't feeling it.

Saturday was better though, after icing my tired old knees the night before I met the girls for an easy 8 miles.  I ran most of it with Jenny and we finished at a perfect 13:43 pace - right on target for a 6 hour marathon.  Then we met up with Sarah for the Greater Orlando Heart Walk, to celebrate her survivor status!  A very slow 3-4 miles were put on there.   I think our first mile (with a slurpee and taquitto stop) was a 45 min mile! 

This morning 4 of us met at 4:30 to do 4 miles before meeting up with the rest of the group for another 10.  I spent that 10 working hard to keep up with Dennis who had told me the day before not   to make him run too fast (yeah right).  Since I forgot my Garmin watch (NOOOO! The HORROR!) I will have to do a little math - our average pace for all 14 was a 13:40 - which includes 4 water stops and a bathroom break at my favorite 7-11 - so I would bet that we were averaging 12 something miles for those last 10.  We left Joe, Kathleen, Amy, and Leah in the dust but I did go back to get them at the end so we could have our Sunday Panera ritual.  All in all the weekend finished out an otherwise abismal running week on a high note.

I also talked to Jen this week and I have to say she sounded the best she has sounded in months!  She is recovering nicely from surgery and started this second set of chemo this week.  She is going to be up and running before she knows it!  Now to find time to sneak down there and visit for a weekend, I miss her and my favorite boys so much!

After Panera - Thanks for the witty shirt Nike

 

Getting our Heart On at the Heart Walk

 

116 Days Away!

 

215 miles to be Cancer Free!

Miles to Date: 242

As I mentioned in my last post we finally were allowed back on the track on Tuesday mornings.  I don't try and hide the fact that I love the track!  For some reason this running nonsense makes sense to me on the track.  I think it has something to do with being a swimmer in high school - the measured laps make it easy to visualize how far I have to go and gauge how much I can push myself.  Last week was 800's at 10k pace and this week was "the puker" as it is referred to in Marathonfest.  I did don my Nike "TRACK HEAD"shirt for my return to the track as promised.

 

On our weekend run we did an easy 8 miles which was a welcome break from all our usual double digit weekend runs.  This week we did our usual warm ups and had a timed 5k run on Thursday.  I almost went home instead of running it - but Leah and I toughed it up and started out running it at a pretty easy pace.  After the first mile I picked up our pace and by the time we were done (35:00!) we had run each mile faster and faster.  For a sweaty, hot, humid morning I'll take a time that is only 24 seconds slower than my PR.

 

Jen's surgery went pretty well with only a few minor hiccups.  By removing what was left of the tumor the doctors said that she is technically CANCER FREE! So if you are keeping track that would be right at the 215 miles run mark.  That sounds like an amazing donation amount  $215 or even $21.50 for 10 cents a mile.  Now she's at home resting and recuperating. She used words like machete, knife, and baseball bat to describe the pain she had to go through.  Makes me think my sore calves and knees are nothing and that I should put on my big girl panties and suck it up.  I am still constantly amazed by her strength and attitude through of all this - she is the most amazing and beautiful person I know.

 

Tomorrow morning is another 10 mile run which will put me over 250 miles already!

 

Passed by this on our weekend run

 



Track, Yasso, and a Double Mastectomy OH MY!

Miles to date: 209

This week brought me over 200 miles run! That number is only going to get a whole lot bigger in the upcoming months as we train for Disney's Goofy's Race and Half.  Last Sunday I did a pretty impressive ten miles after 3 straight days of running including my super fast for me 5k!  All the girls decided it was ok to take running on Tuesday morning off and get in some much needed rest.  We were back at it with 6 on Thursday and 12 not so pretty miles on Sunday.

Tomorrow is the first day we get to run on the track instead of running mile repeats on the road and I have to admit that I'm pretty excited!  I even have a track shirt I've been saving to wear to commemorate being back on the track.  On top of that it's also a work out of Yasso 800's - I was lucky enough to meet Bart Yasso at the expo for the Pittsburgh Marathon in May, so it seems fitting that my first track workout in months is his!

 

Tomorrow also is an important day for Jen, she goes in for surgery - a double mastectomy!  I love her attitude and outlook on this process she'll "do this once - but not again"!  I'm so proud and in awe of her bravery!  So after the run in my special track shirt I'll be sporting purple at work for her.  So put on some purple and send her positive thoughts, prayers, wishes whatever it is that you're in to, because I know that I will be!

Motivation and Inspiration

Miles to Date: 181

Even though it's been summer time - it's been pretty busy and hectic around here.  Training is no exception.  I've been cranking out the miles and running hard!  This week we had a lot of miles to put in: 6 on Tuesday, 6 on Thursday, 6 on Friday, a 5k today, and 10 tomorrow!

Sometimes it seems really tempting to take it easy in this heat and humidity, run a little slower, and not push myself near as hard.  When it comes down to that time I try and think about my friend, Jen, her battle is so much more than my last measly mile in the heat or pushing myself to run just a little bit faster.  After this last chemo treatment she hit a rough patch and had to spend almost a week in the hospital.  After a 7 mile run last Thursday morning I showered and hopped in the car to make the 2 hour drive to visit and surprise her in the hospital.  Her hospital shared a parking lot with a Starbucks so I played the "I was just in the neighborhood getting a latte" line.  We joked that true friends know each other's Starbucks orders.  She is going through and dealing with so much that when it comes to things like being sore running I try not to sweat the small stuff (just the humidity!)  She really is my hero and motivation to do well at running!

I went to the anniversary sale this week at the Track Shack where I was told that sadly I had to retire my Nike's and start wearing some Asics. Luckily they're purple and judging from my 5k time today they are my "magic shoes"(thank you Forrest Gump). Leah and I also got matching purple Nike visors to supplement our ever growing Nike apparel collection.

Today a bunch of us suited up in our Nike shirts to run the Track Shack's Celebration of Running 5k.  Gloria and Betty (both Breast Cancer Survivors themselves) joined us with the Abso-FREAKING-lutely Amazing Shirts.    Leah and I started the 5k together and she finished in an impressive 34:17 and I ran a 34:36 - a PR of 3 minutes!  Granted we both thought we were going to throw up but that's a small price to pay for running so fast!

For now it's just resting up for our 10 miles tomorrow and another week of running. That and crossing my fingers that Jen starts feeling better and can start running soon herself!

Me and Leah with our matching shirts and visors

After the race with my medal and "dedicated to Jen"shirt