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

Miles, PR's and Team Jen!

Miles to Date: 114

Its been a few weeks since I have been able to post - my computer died making it difficult to upload the blog, and my miles off my Garmin watch.  Trust me though, I was still running and racking up those miles!

A bunch of our group all ran the Orlando Urban Trail 5k together on July 12 and a few of us, myself included managed to get Personal Records (PR's!).  It was also a chemo day for Jen so the girls represented in purple and the abso-freaking-lutely amazing shirts.  We also had another Goofy weekend last weekend and ran the distance of a marathon over the span of the week.

I also got to go visit Jen this past weekend.  She's so amazing and positive.  I can't believe how well she is doing with this whole process.  Her last chemo is scheduled for tomorrow and the Dr, says things are looking pretty good!  Fingers crossed she'll be running with us soon!

Abso-FREAKING-lutely AMAZING

 Miles to Date: 63

This week was a busy one with lots of miles!  I added another 19 miles to the total this week.  Our running group ran on Thursday, the day of Jen's 2nd chemo treatment so we wore purple on our run for her.  Kathleen had bought shirts for some of us a few months ago that are convienently purple and pink and say "Abso-freaking-luetly Amazing" (Thanks Nike), and since we all think Jen is pretty amazing we wore them for her.  Poor Leah doesn't have one yet - but she represented really well in an all purple Nike outfit.

This week was a big one for Jen too, in addition to her second round of chemo, she started to lose her hair.  She wrote a pretty funny blog about it but I still think it was pretty scary.  On Wednesday she told me she didn't think she was strong enough to shave it off and be done with it which is totally understandable.  By Friday (with a little inspiration from Charlize Theron) she decided she could do it.  Even though she told me I was crazy I hopped in the car and made the 2 hour drive to be there and help her shave it.  Lucky for her, that melon of hers is pretty cute and not lumpy or weirdly shaped at all!  Now I need to go find her some fabulous earrings to rock.  She continues to amaze me with her incredible strength and bravery, and I love her so much!  I am so proud of her for going through this with the grace that she is.  I also was lucky enough to finally get to meet the cute little guy that we're pretty sure saved her life (talk about a get out of trouble card there - that little kid is set for life now!)

For now time to keep on running - Jen also mentioned that she thinks on the days she feels up to it she's gonna start running and is going to run as much of that half marathon we signed up for as she can!  I think it will be the best race of my life!

A Goofy Idea

Miles to Date: 44

This weekend our training schedule had us running on both Saturday and Sunday.  A bunch of the girls I run with have bit the bullet and signed up for Disney's Goofy's Race and a Half.  This means the second weekend in January we'll be running the Donald Half Marathon on Saturday, and the 20th anniversary Mickey Full Marathon on Sunday.  39.3 miles total that weekend (with some talks of tossing in a 5k on the Friday as well!)  It definitely seems a little bit Goofy to be logging all of the miles that training for this race will require, but now with a purpose that matters they don't seem so bad.

Before my Sunday Goofy Training Run

All around me I have been noticing things that remind me of Jen and one of the coolest was on our Saturday run.  Rounding the corner to our finish area I noticed a heart with an A and a J in it on the sidewalk.  We run parts of the same route most weekends but I've never really noticed it before.  It made me happy and made me think of Jen (and my husband who is also a J).  It's funny how things you never notice suddenly mean so much to you.

On my run A+J

For now I'm going to keep running and logging those miles!  6 or 7 tomorrow morning assuming this Tropical Storm will go away!

Pink and Purple - Logging Extra Miles!

Miles to date: 34

For those of you who don't know me - I don't mind the color pink.  I actually quite like HOT pink.  Conveniently for me Breast Cancer's color is pink so it is easy for me to deck myself in pink for the cause.  However,  my friend Jen is not as wild about pink as I am and asked her friends and family to wear purple (her favorite color) on Thursdays (her Chemo days) to show support.

This week some of our running group decided that it was time to "run before our run" and added in an extra 3 miles of a warm up before our usual workouts.  This requires starting at 4 am instead of 5 am, but we manage to get in 6 miles instead of 3.  It's Thursday so this morning I put on a purple Nike top and laced up my hot pink Nike shoes (I'm a bit of a Nike junkie) for my run and for my cause!  12 miles total this week so far with another 10 planned for this weekend.  Racking up those miles and hopefully those donations!

For Jen

Welcome to my Blog!

A little about myself:
I started running about a year ago.  I will be the first to say I was never a runner.  But, I started running with a local marathon training group and training for my first half marathon.  After that I kept running and started training for my first marathon.  On May 6th, just days after my 31st birthday, I ran and finished the Pittsburgh Marathon in 6 hours and 43 minutes.  While in the beginning I didn't enjoy the running and the miles, it eventually grew on me.  Is every run fun?  UH NO. Is running in the Florida heat and humidity fun? UH NEVER.  Do I continue? YES, pretty much without fail 3 to 4 times a week.  Before a few weeks ago, running was just something I did, not something that I could make matter.

On May 31, 2012, Jen, my best friend and Matron of Honor, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma... Breast Cancer.  I couldn't believe it!  I've known her since we were 18 and living in the the dorms at the University of Central Florida.  To top the shock of Breast Cancer off, she was 9 months pregnant and due to have her third son two weeks later.  What should have been one of the happiest times of her life was now tainted by this lingering cloud of Cancer.  Everybody always wants to "do something" when something like this happens to someone close to you.  We live 2 hours apart, so bringing meals and babysitting aren't always feasible contributions.  Right away I turned to running.

Jen had signed up to run her first half marathon with me in March 2013, and was planning on starting to train after she had her baby.  Training has been replaced with trips to Chemo and beating Cancer.  However, I can still run.  I made the decision to run the New York City Marathon in November 2013 and run it for a Breast Cancer Charity in her honor.  While it is too early to sign up with a charity and commit to their fundraising goals of at least $3,000, I can start now trying to spread the word and have people start thinking about supporting me in this race.

Running Miles that Matter: I decided to keep track of all of the miles that I run from the day she was diagnosed.  So far I am at 22 miles.  I am going to try and make a pledge to myself that I'll set a dollar aside for every mile I run and add that to my fundraising efforts.  It's like I'm back in elementary school getting pledges for our annual Walk-a-Thon! (thanks Coach Poekert for having us do that every year)  So if you're interested, maybe you can set aside something (hey even 10 cents a mile will add up) for each mile I run and when my NYC Marathon donation site is up and running pledge me then!  I'm hoping together we can make "Team Jen" wildly successful!

Jen and Me - May 2011