Last post before the Big RACE!!

GO Team OZ!!!!

Hey hey!! So it's been a while since I last blogged. Hopefully everyone will still check back and see this post before we send off for the big day!! It is Monday Dec. 8th and we are officially less than 1 week away from the marathon!!!!!!!! The marathon is this SUNDAY, DEC.14th in Honolulu, Hawaii.

My feelings? I'm a bit more nervous than anything else. I am praying every day that my knees will hold me up long enough to complete the race (without it being like 10hours or something ridiculous like that) But I'm also EXCITED! I can't wait to get it over with - haha (jk) But seriously I really am feeling very accomplished, I survived training for a marathon now I just have to survive the actual marathon. I've raised around $3000 which is crazy - and I couldn't have done it without the help of all my friends and family. I was really worried about it at first but I've seen so many people that I didn't even expect to be able to help just completely extend their hearts not only with donation contributions but with support and advice and sharing their personal connections and so on. I truly truly appreciate all of the help that I've gotten all the way from Michigan (whoot whoot) to Oregon, and of course my new home, Cali.

We also had an amazing turnout for the beer pong tournament that we hosted a couple of weeks ago. We were expecting around 20-30 people (10-15 teams) and we ended up with 74 players (37 teams)!!! Plus we had about 25-30 people who didn't play but were just there to hang out and support the cause so all in all we had around 100 people - who were all there because they wanted to support LLS and our team!! After the beer and supplies were paid for we profited about $1200 from entries to the tournament!!! WOOO-HOOOO!!!! In a separate fund - we made around $200 from t-shirt sales (Which by the way are still available for your purchasing pleasure ($20)) Don is modeling the shirts below:

Other than that - I am still available to take donations if you haven't donated yet and still want to - it is NOT TOO LATE. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are always in need of any help they can get. And yeah, just wish me luck!! Will send out an update to let everyone know how the run went (if I'm still alive at the end) and I can't wait to see everyone back in Michigan the following weekend!!

My team "jersey" is super tiny also (as shown above) Little concerned about that ;)

Love and Peace

-Sara

Gettin' pumped!!

Hello again bloggers!! So I know everyone is going to be impressed when they find out that I am updating the blog without ANY friendly reminders this time. Shocking I know. Although thank god for those little reminders or else I may have let the blog slide off my priority list (one of my downfalls :P) Then what would everyone have to read at work when they're trying to pretend they're working when they're really not. No of course I'm not talking about you -haha. Like I have a lot of room to talk - I think this is one of the few blogs I have written when I'm NOT at work! I do it when I'm on break - of course. Anyways, moving on before I get myself in trouble....BLOGGING!! Pretty awesome. So, we did another 16 mile run this weekend getting ready for our 20 mile-er this weekend. I unfortunately did not run the full 16, I actually only ran half (8 for those who don't like to do math in your head). My knee felt better but I still wasn't going to push it for the big run this weekend. I am bound and determined to run 20 miles so I don't want to be all sore and then try to run it. I got some insert things you put in your shoes to possibly help keeping my arch from collapsing when I run. Other than the blisters they gave me on the sides of my feet they felt pretty good. Now I need those blister protector things I guess. So much goes into this running stuff, you have no idea. I felt great after the 8 miles which is more than I can say for anyone else that ran on Saturday but then again, I'm the slacker who turned around half way-hehe. Still seeing dr. morganstein so I think I'll be just fine.

On to fundraising. On my website it says I have almost $1200, and then I just sent in over $500 in checks and cash donations so those aren't on there yet but total I have around $1700!! Pretty good I think. HOWEVER, my fundraising deadline is less than one week away!! Bummer. So you're wondering what's going to happen if I don't come up with over $2000 in one week?? Well I still try AS HARD AS I CAN to get AS MUCH AS I CAN this week. Then, on Saturday - although kind of later than exected, Don and I are hosting the first annual....

TNT BEER PONG TOURNAMENT!!

For the Californians reading this - COME OUT AND HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH US!!!!!!!!!!!! It's $20 per person entry fee but that includes your beer for the night - you absolutely DO NOT have to play and drink if you don't want to. If you do want to - you should know that you can't beat $20 for beer all night ANYWHERE in the San Francisco/bay area - HAHA! We also got t-shirts printed that will be for sale for $20 each. They are really cool shirts - not specific to LLS or Team in Training but just want a subtle reminder that we're all SAVING LIVES whether it be through a t-shirt, a game of beer pong, or a small donation from the heart. The t-shirt design is as follows BUT it is not black!! It is white printed onto blue tshirts - look very cool and I will post actual pictures of the shirt when I find the cord to hook my camera to the computer - haha.

So PLEASE if you or anyone else you know might be interested in any of this (I have lots of options for ya') please either send them this link or the ling to my fundraising page:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke

I really appreciate all the support and help!!

PEACE <3

Kind of slackin' on the blog :P

Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last updated the blog! I'm not going to lie...I've been kind of a slacker in a few categories lately. Sadly, they do pertain to running. So if you remember to the beginning of my training I had some knee issues that had to do with my IT Band (muscle). I had been seeing Dr. Morganstein in Walnut Creek and he really helped me out! Within a couple of weeks I was slowly back up to my mileage. Well the problem is that what happened to my right knee back then - has now happened to my left knee. I don't know if I was over-compensating because my right knee was giving me problems or what but I'm almost at the exact same place but with the other knee. Which is kind of scary because my run is coming up soon!! FIVE WEEKS! So not only have I been slacking on the blog, I've been slacking on my running. Not this past Saturday (11/8) but the previous one (11/1) we were supposed to do 14 miles through the Oakland hills. Well when I say Oakland hills I don't mean foot-hills. I'm talking damn near mountain (or at least that's what it felt like-haha) The first 4 MILES were pretty steeply up-hill and my knee felt it then for sure. There were some parts that I had trouble walking up - not to mention that it was raining, muddy, my shoes had about 2 inches thick of clay stuck to the bottom that were making my feet feel like they weighed about 20lbs each and it was 7:15am! Needless to say, I didn't make 14 miles. I actually only ran about 3.5 before I was advised by a very veteran runner to turn around. I ended up doing about 10.5 total but I walked about 7 of it :( The week following that run I tried to run another hill workout without much progress then I took the rest of the week and this past weekend (11/8) off to rest up my leg and get it back into working condition. I was telling Don last night, I had no idea that it was going to be training for a marathon, fundraising, AND trying to get over injuries the whole time. It makes it so much harder. I feel like if it weren't for the knees I would be fine. Regardless, I am going to go see Dr. Morganstein -I am now working on getting my left knee back into good shape and then - it's going to be a BREEZE!! I have reached over $1000 with my fundraising so yay!!! for that. I have slightly over $1000 on my fundraising page as of this morning and with the money I have at home that puts me at about $1500!! almost half way there =) Only problem is - my deadline is in 3 weeks!! So..if you haven't donated yet - PLEASE DO IT NOW!! AHHH ;) Will post more later this week (I promise) about some upcoming fundraisers - yay!

16 miles - done!!

So I thought about updating the blog last week but I thought..I don't really have anything to talk about. I'm still running and running is still taking over my life ;) So I decided to wait until well...now to update since we ran 16 MILES on Saturday (10/25) and I thought for sure I would have something to talk about. First off, it was chilly in the morning. Here's a pic:This is me (not fully awake and cold at 7:45am) and our wonderful Laura. This was Laura's last run with us before her big move to Colorado :( We're all going to miss her - she's super nice and helpful (and if your reading this Laura, I got my list up to 70 people, just short of 75 but thanks so much for the challenge and goal)

So for everyone wondering how it went, it went about what you would expect 16 miles to feel like. Tiring, exhausting, painful, and long. And also...rewarding. Those first things just come to mind so much faster than rewarding - haha. So we started at 8:00am, the course was a 10 mile loop so we did one whole loop then started again but only went out three and then back three. The first 10 miles were ok. My knee started bothering me around mile 6 and I thought it was going to stop me from running but after I got going again after the 6 mile water stop I felt ok. I ran the rest of the way with Clara (who's in the picture with me) so I had someone to keep me company. The real killer was only like the last three miles or so. My knees were in quite a bit of pain and I couldn't seem to keep my mind off of it. I had to stop a couple of times within the last mile and I was thinking 'this sucks' but then I had to tell myself that I was almost done and I would feel good when I got back, etc. Which I did. This pic. is from Saturdays run also and yes, I do love the fact that I look so good ;) I don't even look like I'm running at this point but this is at mile 10 - so...give me a break-haha. As far as fundraising I am officially at $867 but I also have some money that hasn't been updated on the website yet so actually I have a little over $1000!! I think its great that I've actually got my little thermometer to move on my fundraising page but I'm still quite a ways away from my goal. If you haven't donated already, I would really appreciate the help and so would millions of other people that are in more need than anyone I know of.

Again it's http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke

Also, if you know anyone else who might think this is a good cause - please forward them something - either a letter/e-mail I've sent you, this link, my fundraising website link OR send me an e-mail at sara.verb@gmail.com and I'll send them the info. personally!! Thanks so much for stopping by! Til' next time - peace!

Excited yet Exhausted!!

Well hello out there! I'm always thinking I never know how many people are actually reading this until someones like 'oh I heard your knee's feeling better'...when I never told them ;) That's good though - I'm glad to hear it, because that's why I'm doing it!! So, to explain the title of this blog: Excited yet Exhausted, I am excited because this weekend probably more than half my team and countless numbers of other participants are going to be running in the Nike womens marathon in San Francisco!! I will not be running but I will definitely be there to cheer them on - whoo hoo - you guys are going to do GREAT!! I promised to wear my purple for TNT but now that I'm thinking about it, I dont really have anything purple - not really my color -haha. I'll have to find some before Sunday I guess. As for the exhausted part, I am soooo tired this week, I feel like I can't catch up on my sleep for anything. I was ridiculously busy at work yesterday and although slightly slower, busy for the rest of the week. Then I get home, eat, run, shower, sleep. Repeatedly. I know that sounds like all fun and games to everyone out there who doesn't run (wink wink) but it's really tiring I've found. On my "off time" I'm trying to raise another $3000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (on top of my almost $900 I've already raised). Trying to send out letters to family in MI so they have something physical to remind them since the e-mails obviously aren't getting through very well, trying to figure out when we can go to the farmers market next. I had to cancel my hair appointment on Saturday because we're headin to the farmers market again -yeee-haw!

Anywhoo we ran 12 miles this past Saturday, it was a pretty decent run though. My knee did start to bother me a little toward the end but it wasn't as bad as it had previously been. My fellow teamate brandon who was riding his bike on that particular day, ended up catching up to me when I had about 2 miles left and rode along side me the rest of the way. It was extremely helpful as this was where I was starting to get really tired. We talked about fundraising ideas and the last two miles were over before I knew it! This Saturday we are doing a timed run instead of mileage for this one week. Our goal is to run 110-125 minutes I think. Which if I run about a 10 min mile that is about 12-12.5 again. Like I said these few weeks are kind of slow down weeks for us because the people running the Nike are coming to an end and what not - then after this week we pick back up with the pretty steady 2 miles increase per week. Yay. (Sarcasm-haha) Here's a pretty dorky pic. of me that brandon snapped while we crossed the bridge back into Heather Farms last Sat.

Yeah - pretty hot I know. Looks like I'm not even moving - haha. Anyways that's all for now I suppose. Any questions/comments let me know and remember to visit my fundraising page and help relieve some of my exhaustion!!! ;)

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke

Hello again bloggers!!

GO TEAM OZ!! Oh - if I didn't mention. Our team name is "Team Oz" since we have so much courage, heart and of course brains!

I'm sorry it's been a full week since I've "blogged". I figured it was time to get back on here when I started receiving threatening e-mails (Michelle again ;)-haha) So yeah, let's see what's new with me and the running.... The knee's/knee is getting better I believe. Still a little sore but I was able to run the full mileage on Saturday. I kind of took it easy to make sure that I didn't have any major issues like the week before but it was nice. We ran from Walnut Creek which is where I live, all the way to P-Hill by Don's old house on Norse Dr. For those of you who don't know where that is - sorry, I can't explain. Regardless, it was a good run, I was pretty tired at the end but who's not after running 12 miles!?! Towards the end of the run it did start to rain a little which was forecasted but we didn't even care because we NEED the rain!! It was looking like it was going to be a good day to put on PJ's at noon, go buy Sex in the City and have an excuse not to do anything all day but...it stopped raining and actually turned out pretty nice so Clara and I walked around downtown WC passing out flyers for her fundraising party and planning our fundraising ideas and what not. We drove around collecting all of the supplies we would need to set up our own TNT table at the farmers market the next day. We bought 96 bottles of water for $20 and each made a batch of cookies. The three of us (Don, Clara, and I) stood outside the walnut creek farmers market selling water and cookies by donation. We couldn't stay the whole time since we kind of threw everything together last minute but surprisingly made around $200!!! We plan to do this for the next...countless Sundays because although $200 is great, split it 4 ways (we cut Kyle in on the deal since he was sick) and that's not that much. Still very optimistic but I'm going to need some more help. That's right...from YOU!! I can't stress enough how anything will help. We don't realize how many things we waste $5, $10, $15 that are SO much less important such as....Those trips to starbucks, renting movies, cigarettes (i guess there are still some smokers out there), going out to lunch vs. packing a lunch - for ONE day, etc. I'm guilty of these simple pleasures too - don't get me wrong - I love me some carmel macchiato as much as the next, but I also know that this is much more worth it.

Please,

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke

I'm now up to $455, which is better than last week - and mainly thanks to someone who anonymously donated $175!!!! So THANK YOU to whoever you are - truly an amazing thing you have helped and I really appreciate it. Also a HUGE THANKS to everyone else who has donated no matter what the amount! You guys are helping me make it happen - yay!!

Haha - other than that..I don't have any pictures from this past week but I have some from two weeks ago. These are from our run in San Francisco. It was absolutely amazing. Take a look:

Ahhh...the Golden Gate at 7:30 in the AM!

Then that's a good one of me shoving something in my mouth. I was like 'Carol, I have my mouth full' she's all 'It's ok!!' haha - but it's not, as we can clearly see from the image on the right ;)

Everyone have a good week and I WILL blog sooner - if not I might start getting threatening phone calls!! haha

peace!!

Yellloooo!

Hey everyone!! Sorry I haven't updated in about...10 days to be exact but I've found myself ridiculously busy both at work and at home the last week or so. Don's mom and grandma were in town from MI this past long weekend so we were running around acting like tourists again and having a blast doing it. Again, I'm glad to hear so many people are reading this! I'm even getting requests to write more often =) I do need to do that though, I agree. So I'm sure everyone's gathered that I'm having knee issues with my marathon training. Let me tell you...it is SO FRUSTRATING!! I've never had knee or any kind of leg issues - ever. And I would have known by now because of how super athletic I've always been up to now. HAHA...if anyone knows me from the past you should know how true that is (Michelle) ;) Regardless, knee issues. It's not really the knee but again the IT band which connects in the knee and has tightened up so much that it's pulling at my knee cap. It hurts is what I'm saying. I feel like I have a pretty high pain tolerance too - I'm not what some would call 'a wuss' even though I don't know how to spell that word (wuss)haha.
So I was doing good, going to the doctor, rolling on my foam roller, stretching and all that good stuff - feeling like it was really making a difference - Tuesday we ran at a high school track in circuits to improve stamina and time and I did really well - minor pain. Thursday I skipped because of our company but we were sure to make it to the 12 mile run on Saturday! I started off and I felt AMAZING! I was running and talking with my friend/teamate Kim and we had ran 6 miles before we even knew it! Just like that. done. Not breathing heavily, not a lot of knee pain, just steady running. So we turned around to run the 6 back but Kim kept going because she was doing 14 miles, so I made my way back...alone. I felt ok most of the way, kind of tired - little bored. Made it to the last water stop which was a little over 2 miles away from the end. Got some water and some jelly beans ;) and started to head to my finish and something happened. My knees stiffened right up from stopping I guess. I can't even describe this pain it was that bad. I felt like a 90 year old woman. Hopefully I didn't look like it too! I guess I must have pushed it a little too far too soon. So bummed out. Have been kind of taking it easy since then, not planning on running this week probably. Fortunately Don's mom is a massage therapist so she gave me an amazing massage last night to loosen up those muscles.
Other than that, I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. But no one fret, I WILL be running that race. I don't want to give anyone the impression that this will not be overcome and that the money that's being donated will be a waste. First of all, the money goes to an AMAZING cause with or without me running and second of all, I've come this far - I feel like if it weren't for my knee I would be able to run 12 miles no problem so when this gets taken care of...I'm good to go. So that's where we stand.
Speaking of where we stand, I have (sadly) only $225 raised. This is harder than the running - even with a bum knee! I need everyone's help!! I'm glad everyone's staying tuned and reading my blogs but there's more to it than that! My time to raise funds is getting shorter and I'm getting more nervous -I can't let it come down to the very last minute so if you haven't donated yet and you want to donate, PLEASE visit my fundraising site:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke

Come back soon!!

Update

Good morning all!! I guess it won't necessarily be morning when everyone reads this but anyhow...have a few minutes while I'm waiting for my experion components to come to room temperate ;) so I know I said I would post an update on the knee situation so:
I went to Dr. Morganstein in Walnut Creek who is a chiropractor that specializes in muscle work. He told me pretty much what I already knew though, that it's most likely the IT band that has not been properly stretched out and thus is a really tight muscle that is pulling on the patella or knee cap. Even though I already figured that, I needed him to tell me what to do about it!! So my "treatment" is to a) buy a foam roller like the ones you see at the gym and try to roll out the muscle to release the tension and any cartlidge that has built up in the knee cap now and then b) I've gone to his office on both Tuesday and Thursday of this past week for sessions where he pretty much just uses a lot of pressure and different techniques to release that tension in the muscle. It's pretty funny though because I went in yesterday after work and I had changed into my gym shorts and I wore my sweatshirt in because it's freezing in there - but you have to warm up the muscles before you start stretching and pulling at them so he put these little electrical impulse things on the right side of my leg then covered them with a towel, then this big heavy heating pad thing, then another blanket to get the muscle warmed up - all of this while I'm laying on a table with my head propped up slightly, my neck wrapped in one of those neck pillows and my knees propped up with these two big white pillows and you have to lay there for 10-15 minutes so yeah...what I'm saying is...I fell asleep!! Hahaha. I was so comfortable! Then he came back over and I opened my eyes and I had to confess, I was like wow - I'm falling asleep over here - he was like yeah that happens a lot, I put my patients that snore in the back room-haha. At least I didn't start snoring I guess ;) After that he just kind of massages specific muscles which are SO SORE. You think 'oh sweet, a massage' but not so much here, it's really really painful because there is so much tension in those muscles. Anyways as to whether it helped or not...I think so, so far. For the last few weeks it's been hurting me both when I run and the days following just while I walk at work or whatever but it's not really doing that anymore. I ran yesterday with some other girls and we were doing about 4 miles total and I probably ran 3 out of 4 which is better than it has been for me. Still some pain but I can't expect it to go away in two days, although that would be nice. After last nights run I rolled it out on the foam roller thing, then iced it. It got pretty stiff when I went to sleep so it kind of hurt to bend but the pain has dulled. Now it's just feels kind of stiff, not as much like my knee cap is out of place so I guess that's good?? Anyways I'll be doing about 4-5 treatments with Dr. Morganstein over the next couple of weeks so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for everyone's concern again! You can help dull the pain by going to my fundraising site and making a donation if you haven't already - haha! http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke
I only have $200 raised and I need $3700 more!!! oh my...

Head, shoulder, KNEES and toes - KNEES and toes :)

Hello all! I'm happy to hear that people are actually reading this. I know this is true because I've had several people checking in on me about the knees ;) So a tiny update is just that I didn't run the 8 miles this past weekend, but like I said - probably not a huge deal since I ran 7.6 the week before and that's not a huge difference. I walked about 4 miles total but nothing too strenuous. I have a doctors appointment today at 3:00 so hoping that I actually get out of work on time today I will have more info. on what to do and when I'll be able to get back out there!! From what I've gathered right now from my coach and some running peers is that it's probably the IT band. Large muscle that runs from your hip all the way down and does a lot of connecting in the knee area. From what I understand if this muscle tightens up and isn't stretched properly it can pull at the patella or knee cap causing...yeah, pain. So I'm hoping that's what it is, if I have to hope for some kind of pain in the first place because it can be fixed. The doctor I'm going to today does some kind of muscle targeting and pressure release technique that I think might be really helpful. So, thanks for the concern everyone and I'm glad to hear people are reading - will post an update after I go today. Other than that though...this past Saturday night, one of the guys we run with had a little party at his house so I have some pictures from that because my friend Clara made me the most delicious cheesecake I've ever had (original NY style cheesecake with a chocolate sauce, fresh raspberries, AND chocolate covered strawberries on top!!!) So they surprised me with it and sung me happy birthday again, which was really nice. We had a lot of fun and it was a good turnout. Hopefully the same will happen for the beer pong tournament!! The one on the left is me going "no way, is that real??"

Want to know what my wish was for?? -Everyone to visit my fundraising page at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke (if you haven't already) and make a donation, big or small to help me and most importantly to help those paitents that are battling leukemia and lymphoma!!! (and I'm going to need to keep running to burn off that cheesecake!!)

Not the brightest crayon in the box :(

So I turned 25 the other day and as a gift to me from some other power - pain in the knees. So we went to the track workout on my actual birthday (9/9) to do a little running, I got about half done and my knee started bothering me again so I stopped and walked the rest. I was kind of bummed out because I don't want the knee problem to keep affecting me throughout the season. Most days it's just a dull pain that I can easily handle but this particular day it was hurting pretty bad. After the run (my walk) my lovely boyfriend Don decided to announce it was my birthday so I got a very harmonious Happy Birthday sung to me by the whole team. Here's a pic of the song in progress:

It was nice - I got a ton of happy birthday wishes so it made my knee feel better. So I decided, I must go to the chirpractor because I don't want this problem slowing me down to that 26.2 mark so the smart option would have been to maybe just take it easy until I get it looked at since there's obviously something wrong. Well that's where not the brightest crayon in the box comes in. After I had issues walking for the next two days, we had a buddy run on Thursday(9/11) with a small group from the team. Instead of just taking it easy and walking I thought well I'll run for a little while then walk. So I ran for about 15-20 min. and then thought I should walk so I don't strain any muscles or what not. I walked about 10 min and then decided to run a little more. NOPE. Bad idea. I don't know what I did but it felt like just splinters of pain up not one but both of my knees this time. Smart move Sara. I probably was favoring that leg and put more strain on the other! Dull crayon. So anyways I walked the rest of the time which was painful still, went to the store and bought a bag of ice and some aleve, went home and iced both of my knees - wow, no I don't sound old do I?? I had trouble walking into my bedroom I was in so much pain but today after the ice they feel really good. I'm still going to wait until I see the chiropractor on Tuesday before I run again. This Saturday's run is 8 miles but I figured since I ran 7.6 las weekend it's not going to be a crazy set back if I don't run. Next weekend it's 10!! Getting into double digits. Saturday's run is in Livermore so I might go down with Don to support the team....there also happens to be some good wineries down there, what a coincidence! Anyways, will post more on the old knees when I find out - as of now I'll be doing some low impact workouts until then. Also tons of thanks to those who have donated already - got my first $100 YAY!!

Saturday Coached Run 9/6/09

Helllooooo alll!! Saturday (9/6) we were scheduled to run 7 miles - we meet at 8:00a.m. with the whole team on Saturdays so it's pretty early but nice because we get out and get started before whoever decides to turn on the heat! We ran this weekend in Walnut Creek which was nice because it's only like 5 miles from our house. Don didn't run this weekend - he was busy planning his company picnic which I attended after the run with Clara. I was running a few minutes late this morning. The picture on the left is our head coach - Coach Al. What I missed while I was running a few minutes late was him announcing that the course was a little longer than 7 miles. So when I got to the 7 mile marker and the course was not ending, I was thoroughly confused. Turns out the course was 7.6 miles! Guess I should be there on time for any surprise announcements next time :) You don't think an extra .6 miles is a big difference but when your looking forward to the end of 7 miles and you have to run for another .6....it's kind of a big deal. Anyways, the run went GREAT this morning. A hill around mile 3 kind of slowed me down but then from 3 to about 6 I was feeling good, nice steady breathing and kept a good pace. Around 6-7 my knee started to act up on me again but I made it to the end. Ended up with about a 10.5 min. mile - not too bad. This is a picture of me at the water stop which was at mile 4. I look kind of prissy for some reason but I swear it was just trying to down as much water as I could-haha. Anyways, good times..I should probably get back to work now :) Will post more soon - first track workout tomorrow 9/9 which is really where I want to be on my BIRTHDAY!! (yes, that was sarcasm)

Oh my god the hills!!

So part of our wonderful training (no, that's not sarcasm ;) is to train to run on different kinds of terrain since a lot of my teammates are running the Nike womens marathon in San Francisco. Well thank you to the genius who built San Francisco on a set of mountains! Ok maybe not mountains but..big hills regardless. So for our Tuesday hill workout on 9/2/08 we went out to a very hill-y area in Walnut Creek to practice. I can't really describe the workout other than saying after a very exhausting warm up - I thought my lungs were going to burst when I got to the top of the big hill. I was glad to find that I wasn't the only one panting like a 20 year old dog on a hot summer day :) All I have to say is...I'm kind of glad I didn't pick the San Francisco marathon - haha. Just kidding - everyone who's participating is going to dominate those hills. Plus I have some hills to worry about myself, anyone ever hear of Diamond peak in Honolulu?? Yeah I have, not so cool. Will post pictures of the hill workout when I get them - for tonight it'll be a nice 40 minute run in the 97 degree heat! Actually, while I'm thinking about it, better go get me some H2O!!!

My first blog!!

Ok, I know I am a bit behind for this since it is September 2nd and I started training at the beginning of August..but what can I say, I'm technologically inept and a huge procrastinator. But better late than never is what I always say :) Also the keyboard I'm using has some kind of communication problem with this computer because it misses almost every third letter I type so bear with me if you find a lot of mis-spelled words. So to get down to it. I really wanted to start this blog because I wanted everyone to be able to see what's going on as far as this training thing goes. It will be especially helpful for the Michiganders out there who might doubt the fact that I'm even running - haha :) Also because I can at least try to convey what an amazing cause this really is and how it effects different people. So the team I am training with is called Team in Training. This organization works directly with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to raise funds for research and patients dealing with leukemia, lymphoma, hodgkins disease and myeloma. The team will provide me with coached runs, lots and lots of helpful information and clinics on running and how to prepare and also a team!! Since we're already a month in...I've met most of the people on our team and have found every one of them a true inspiration about how much good there is out there. So I will try to keep up on this blog with updates on runs, distances, if I'm still alive or not ;) and how close I am to my fundraising goal. I hope everyone checks in on me often!!! Will blog more soon.