We finished!

We did it! Sean and I both finished the half marathon yesterday (one of us much faster than the other, but hey! I still finished and ran the whole thing). Sean finished in an unbelievable 1:34. I came across the finish line at 2:19.

I'll be honest - it was a lot harder than I expected and I was a LOT more sore last night than I expected but I did it! The hills did me in. Didn't train much with hills in Minnesota! But the weather was absolutely perfect and the route was so beautiful.

It was an amazing experience to run with 25,000 other people. I've never done anything like it. After meeting the Team in Training crew at 4am (yeah!) we headed down to the start line in Tukwila. People just milled about for a couple hours and it was an amazing atmosphere. Everyone seemed to just be really excited to be there an definitely anxious to get started.

They started us in corrals - there were 36 total. I was back in corral 20 with 700 of my closest friends. It took almost 30 minutes for us to even get up to the start line.

I took a bunch of photos with a disposable camera so I'll get those developed ASAP and share them here too.

Here are some pictures from the day. (More to come soon!) :

Tomorrow is race day - don't forget to wear your pink!

We're getting ready to go to our team dinner (aka carbo load). The whole Team in Training Minnesota crew is sporting this t-shirt tonight.

Don't forget your own pink!!

Early day tomorrow - team picture at 4am. Brutal!! But it's race day. And that is oh-so-exciting. Beautiful weather today and it's forecasted to be the same for tomorrow. Can't wait!

My request ....

First, did you see that I met my fundraising goal?? Just wanted to make sure everyone saw that one more time. Because it's AWESOME. My rock star supporters (see over here at right) and everyone else who has lent moral support are absolutely the best.

So here it is - my last (running-related) request! My friend Ali (aka Laurie Ann) gave me a great idea for race day. I would love to have all of you wear pink on Saturday - race day - and send me a picture. Wear pink in honor of Gracie (it's her favorite color) or in honor of someone else you know who has battled cancer or in memory of someone you know who battled cancer. It will be an awesome show of support. And you don't have to wear all pink either. A couple of friends from work said they had pink bandanas. Perfect!

Here's me wearing my pink earlier in the season:


And again for the 10K run:


I'll post all the pictures here on the blog. I can't wait to see the pictures coming in! And don't worry - you know I'll send a reminder!

Just four more days ...

Fundraising goal MET!!

We've done it! Together, we have raised $4000 for cancer research!! What a truly amazing accomplishment. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have one last way for everyone to get involved on race day. (And this won't involve any donations!) Stay tuned. More to come a little later today ...

Wooo hoooo!

Wow! That was an awesome burst of energy at the end there. With more than $3800 raised, we're now at 95% of the goal which is beyond awesome.

We had a Team in Training meeting tonight and one of our fellow teammates shared his reason for joining Team in Training. He shared that his daughter, McKenna, died from Lymphoma a few years ago. He's also lost his father and his brother to Lymphoma as well. This is why I am part of this organization. For we are all touched by these diseases and we can all do something to help.

Our team - the group of about 50 of us in Minneapolis with Team in Training running or walking in Seattle's Rock n Roll Marathon - together have raised more than $155,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!! What an amazing accomplishment. I'm so proud of this team! And I'm getting so excited for race day!

GO TEAM!

Team Seattle Rock N Roll for Gracie

Our honored teammate, Gracie, absolutely loves pink so we've had a couple of team runs where the whole Team in Training crew wears pink. Gracie made it to the last one. Here she is - the princess in pink!

Exciting news - I have just $499 to go! That means I'm over 88% of the way to the goal!! There are only a couple of days left until the fundraising deadline. It's coming up this Tuesday, June 16th.

GO TEAM!!

Rainy run on a Saturday

Last Saturday I finally made it down to the team run again. It was a pretty rainy day. In fact, it felt a lot like the Northwest, so I told myself that it was a good warmup in case the weather isn't so great on race day.

Once again, I was late, though it really wasn't due to four trips back to the house for things I had forgotten. In all fairness, I don't think my tardiness was my fault this time. Somehow the dudes at MN Department of Transportation had once again, in their infinite wisdom, decided to completely shut down the major interstate that connects Minneapolis and St Paul. This kind of thing happens with alarming regularity here in the Twin Cities. I have yet to find an acceptable explanation for this.

So, I spent a good 20 minutes exploring (read: bumbling) around the city trying to find my way down to River Road on the Mississippi to meet the team. I finally got there late but with just enough time to see Kristin, our awesome Team in Training coordinator, who gave me the route for the day. It was a 10 miler.

In the end, I was okay with being late. Like I've said before, I tend to be a solo runner. I turned my iPod on and jammed out for the first six miles or so. At about six miles, I was supposed to be turning right ("keep the river to your right!") on the Washington bridge on the campus of the U of M. It was also at this point that the drizzly rain turned in to a true downpour and I was glad to be wearing my nifty Team in Training hat made of the world's greatest material: DriFit.

I headed up the hill in search of the U of M covered bridge on Washington Ave and happened upon three other women who were with Team in Training as well. Yay! I wasn't alone after all! So the three of us explored (again read: bumbled) around the campus and finally found our way.

Our coach found us on campus and ran with us for a while too. Though, he didn't seem to have much more idea about where we were going either. No matter! Coach Kelly said I was a hammer. To which I, of course, replied, "I am, Coach Kelly??" I've never felt like more of a badass. I think Coach Kelly was being nice to me but whatever!

Here's a picture of Amy and I coming in for the final leg of the run, which ended up being 11.25 miles. For those of you keeping track (really just me), that's now officially the longest I've ever run. And I was a drowned rat when I got done. But I was a hammer! Coach Kelly said so.

How Team in Training came to be ...

Here's a great video that talks about how Team in Training got started. It's such a fantastic organization and I'm so proud to be a part of it. I can't wait to cross the finish line with my purple jersey on!

I'm counting down the days!

The finish line is near. As you can see, race day is less than a month away. What an amazing experience this has been!

So far, you've all helped me raise more than $3000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to help combat blood cancers. I'm so proud to be a part of the Team in Training organization!

But it's not time to rest just yet. The fundraising deadline comes even sooner.

There are just two weeks left for me to raise $998!

Any assistance you can provide in helping me to reach my final goal is greatly appreciated! As always, thank you so much for your support.

GO TEAM!

My Portland

I'm home again visiting family and I am once again in love with my home state. Not that I ever fell out of love, but I'm back in infatuation stage. For those of you not from here, the picture above looks out from OHSU hospital on the top of the hill. The wires you see here belong to the tram that you can ride from the bottom of the hill up to the top. Here's a closer look at the tram:


As you can see, it's an amazing view. Sean and I decided to go for a run yesterday. We ran down the hill from OHSU and then back up again. It was about 5.5 miles all told and my pace was actually really good! Here's an above view of the road:


Though the hills truly kicked my butt, I hardly noticed because the view and the weather were so spectacular. Growing up in Oregon (and now living in Minneapolis) I've learned to truly appreciate the weather when it is good. And right now, it is SO good.

ONE MORE UPDATE!

I'm less than $100 away from my goal for today! I set a goal to raise $3000 by today and I'm getting so very close. The finish line is only a few weeks away now. Again, thank you so much to all of you who have donated! I'm so very grateful for your support.