Week End Stats 1/20/07

Longest Long Run: 8.2 Miles

Total for Week Ending 1/20/07: 20.21 Miles

Total since official TNT signup: 80.41

Total donations collected: $1913

I raised over $1,000 this week thanks to my letter and e-mail campaign. This leaves me with just over $1,000 to raise to meet my fundraising goal.

This week, I was the cranky one on Saturday so we didn't run until about four in the afternoon. We ran from my house down to the beach and came pretty much straight back. We didn't completely think out the route ahead of time so we ended up having to cross over the railroad tracks and scramble through some bushes, but we had enough sense to take a more direct route back.

Our Team in Training kick-off event is next Saturday. I'm really looking forward to meeting the coaches and teammates. I'm also really glad I've been able to build a good running base before jumping off the couch to go run a marathon. Go Team!

Week End Stats 1/13/2007

Longest long run: 7.4 miles


Total for week ending 1/13/2007: 18.09 miles

Total since official TNT signup: 60.2 Miles

Total donations collected: $881

I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for all of the donations, encouraging words and motivation I have received in response to my letter campaign.

I have also been made aware of a few more honored teamates, those that are struggling with, have overcome or died from leukemia, lymphoma and related diseases. With every person I am made aware of, I realize how important this is to collect the donations and be thankful that I am healthy enough to run in their honor. My new honored teammates include: Jeremy Brit, Penny Dinsmore, Bina Crowe, Vicki Mayer, Gloria Cronk, Anthony Avalos, Curtis Stiles, and Fred McFarland.

I have also recieved very sweet notes and letters enclosed with the donations. I've looked at these more than once this week to motivate myself. One in particular really made me smile. It seemed to me that this particular donor really 'gets it.' She writes, "I commend you for this effort...whether you finish the course is not as important as the fact that you ARE participating." That statement alone sums up all the reasons to run the marathon.

As for the running part of the week, it went pretty well. I only ran four days this week instead of five, so I didn't make it to my goal of 20 miles this week, but I'm completely ok with that, especially since I ran 7.4 for my long run and felt great at the end. Originally, Bree and I intended to go to the Westlake TNT training run this morning but we decided it was pretty far and Bree didn't want to have to get up early. So then we tried running in a nearby neighborhood this morning at 8 A.M. However, there were near gale force winds and the temperature around sunny Ventura dropped like 20 degrees so it was especially cold and we had to don the cold weather hats and gloves. We made it, maybe half a mile? before we stopped at a park bathroom because I had to pee. When I got out, Bree had her arms folded and I knew she wasn't going to run anymore. So she suggested running home, but I figured it wasn't worth it so we walked. Bree was having an anti-running day. It happens. I had one a week or two before I decided to start TNT, unfortunately, I didn't have anyone to walk home with.

Anyway, I decided not to run until my husband got home so I didn't have to push the jogging stoller. I ran down to the harbor and it turned out to be 7.4 miles. I stopped at the halfway point down by the beach to get a drink of water and stretch out my calves a little. Then I headed home and it turned out to be a great run. It was crisp out, but the winds had died down so I just had this perfect gentle breeze to cool me off when I was down by the water.

Here's to another great training week. Go team!

Getting Faster!

Bree and I had the best run tonight. We ran a three miler around the neighborhood and we kept commenting to each other, "are we running faster than usual?" The first time one of us commented, we tried to slow down a little bit so we didn't wear ourselves out, but after that, it was really just stating a fact. We were running faster than normal.

At some point in the run, Bree threw out that it might take us three whole hours to finish the marathon. I could hear her jaw hit the pavement when I told her it would probably take more than five hours. Apparently, she'd never thought about how long it might take - which is why I love her. She's game for anything.

Week End Stats

Total miles for week: 18.42

Total miles for long run: 6.2

Total miles since official TNT signup: 42.11

Fundraising total: $67

This weeks long run was GREAT. I went out with Team in Training, we met in Newbury Park at the brisk 7 A.M. hour. Boy was it COLD! It took me almost the first full mile to get over the cold, up some hills, and really into the run. I made it a good chunk of the way up the first hill before I walked for a couple minutes. But overall, I walked less on this run than either of my previous 5 mileish runs. I missed having Bree there, especially in the beginning as I was getting into the groove of things, but the last half was a breeze. It felt SO good. My legs hurt a little bit (I am NOT used to running on hills) but I knew that I would be able to run the entire way back.

When I got back, I ran to the post office to get stamps for my SASE's and I threw the stamps on and stuffed the envelopes in. Today was the last day to get them to Amber (the program director) so she would pay for the postage. I really had to stretch to find 100 people to send this letter to, but almost everyone on there has met me at some point in my life. (For those of you that don't recognize the name - my maiden name was Quarnstrom) There were also some unsuspecting residents of Westlake Village that will soon be receiving a letter from me.

But, I also met a fellow TNT member from New Jersey. Officially, his name is Mark from New Jersey. He helped me stuff my envelopes and we swapped blog addresses. His is pretty neat - he actually runs in a 0.3 mile circle in his yard for some of his runs. Now THAT takes willpower. Check out his blog at: www.thefinitemonkey.com