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.

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.

Scenes from Lake Harriet

As I've said before, we're truly spoiled being able to run around the lakes here in Minneapolis. And now that the weather is getting warmer, the lakes are coming alive! At any time of day, there are tons of people out, running, walking their dogs, roller blading and biking. It's rather invigorating and always lifts my spirits.

One of my favorite places to go is Lake Harriet (pictured above). In the summer, they have live concerts at the bandshell, there's a park nearby and they sell ice cream too. All good things!

There's also the old streetcar nearby that is still run by volunteers. Last summer, Nana came to visit and we took a ride:


But absolute favorite part about Lake Harriet is the "little elf" that lives in the bottom of the tree on the opposite side of the lake. His name is Mr Little Guy and he's been living there for as long as most people can remember. When I was there a few days ago, kids had left a bunch of presents for him. Here's his house:


If you open the door, there are two bags of letters; one bag of letters to Mr Little Guy and one bag of letters from Mr Little Guy. One of the letters I saw asked Mr Little Guy what his favorite sport was. Of course, his answer was "elf ball".

Whenever I run around Lake Harriet, there's always a crowd of people at Mr Little Guy's house. I always wonder how he gets in and out without anyone seeing him. But he does and I love it. Long live Mr Little Guy!

I'll leave you now with a self-portrait of running. Love live the run!

It's official

I'll finally call myself a runner now. Was it the 10 miles I ran during training a few weeks ago that pushed me over the edge? Was it the 10K race I ran last weekend? Nope, though those things still feel good.

Today at the airport, I bought Runners World magazine. It's really a pretty good magazine, by the way, and their website is really good. The cover story was all about beginners to running. And, they refer to themselves as RW, which is me! It's kismet.

It's official. I'm a runner.

The Get in Gear 10K!

I have officially completed my first 10K race and it went really well! Sean and I were joined by 7000 of our closest friends in the race on a cool but sunny day. And, my sister Bethany was there to cheer us on, even though she missed us both coming across the finish line. Such a bummer!

Here we are getting ready for the race:


That's me in the pink shirt and hat and Sean walking toward me. It's really quite something to run with such a big crowd. This is really what it looked like for most of the race:


I felt really good the whole way. With that many people, you really are distracted most of the time by trying to move around people and keep your pace going. I kept an eye on my NikePlus and was feeling really good about the pace most of the way. Of course, my iPod was blasting in my ears too. Here was the rockstar playlist:

Paper Planes - M.I.A. (always my song for the start of a race)
Because of Love - Janet Jackson
Just a Ride - Jem
King Without a Crown - Matisyahu
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z
Stronger - Kanye West
Someone to Call My Lover - Janet Jackson
Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill) - Wyclef Jean
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker
Mercy - Duffy
Freedom - George Michael
September - Earth, Wind & Fire
Final Countdown - Europe (always the best song for the end of a race)

And yes, I do go from listening to Matisyahu, the Orthodox Jew rapper to Jay-Z singing "Dirt Off Your Shoulder."

My goal was to finish the race in under an hour, which would be a pace just under 10 minutes/mile. I finished at 58:35 and felt GREAT about it! Here's a link to the official results. You'll see I placed 604 out of 1766 women runners. Not too bad! Sean seriously rocked it. He finished in 45 minutes and placed 319 out of 1647 men!

Here's Sean and I after the race. Pay no attention to the fact that my face is the same color as my shirt:

So it was a good day all around. Special thank to Sis for cheering us on!!

Ode to my first pair of running shoes

Alas, the time has come for you to retire, dear running shoes. You were the first pair I ever purchased specifically for running. How have I loved you? Let me count the ways:

• You are silver and sassy and that makes a girl think that anything is possible.
• You are the LIVESTRONG brand from Nike and therefore my purchase donated money to cancer research. You know I'm always a sucker for a good cause.
  
• You introduced me to my second running-related love - my NikePlus. It's so very clever of you to get me hooked on your brand like that. And it worked. Oh, how it worked.
• I never once had sore feet or blisters and that's pretty remarkable.
  
• You took me so much farther than I ever thought possible. 268 miles farther, to be exact. I never thought I'd be the person who ran more than about two miles and only then it was because it was required for the volleyball team my senior year in high school.

So thank you, first pair of running shoes. You have shown me that I can do things I never thought I could.

Two big milestones in one day!

Yesterday was a big day, my friends. For so many reasons!

First:

This is the face of a girl who just ran 10 miles. Yes, 10. And it actually wasn't too bad. I finally made it to a team run with Team in Training down by the river again. It was another beautiful morning - about 40 degrees and sunny.

The group met up. We discussed the route - "turn at the Ford bridge - turn at the Franklin bridge - keep the river to your right." Seemed easy enough but for some reason I had to ask which bridges we were turning at about 10 times. I think it was the combination of the early morning fuzzy brain and the nerves over running 10 miles. I noticed a few other people did the exact same thing. Then someone shared a "mission moment", which is our reminder why we're raising money for cancer research. One person shared that she's a teacher and she's running in honor of one of her students.

Then it was time for the cheer. Oh yes, the cheer. It's a lot to ask at that hour on a Saturday morning, but I did my best to get in to it - "I say purple, you say green - purple! green! purple! green!" You get the idea. It did occur to me that there would probably be some form of the cheer on race day too. Since I'll be wearing a bright purple jersey along with the rest of my teammates, I decided that I'll just go with it and love the cheers. There's no acting too cool for school here.

And off we went! I kept up with the group out front for about two miles. I felt pretty good about keeping up with the "fast kids" as I called them in my head, but decided that I wouldn't be able to finish if I kept up that pace. So, I dropped back a ways and rocked out to my iPod. I think I'm better at running solo anyway. I like to jam out to the music and I'm not much for talking when I'm working that hard at keeping my legs going. I kept a pretty good pace for most of the 10 miles as you can see here:






Second:

I reached the halfway point for fundraising! And a few days ahead of my goal, too. I have been so humbled by the generosity of each one of you. Thank you so much to all of you who have helped me get this far!! And thanks in advance to those of you who will help me get the rest of the way there!

I added a thermometer to the side of the page here and I'll keep it updated as we get closer to the final goal.

Third:

I'm sending in the recommitment paperwork today, which means I can't back out now! I'm really going to do this!

Happy Easter, everyone!

A lot of drama for a Saturday morning

I've been gearing up all week for the team run today. So when the alarm went off this morning, I wasn't too weary. But then the drama started. I had to go back in to the house, no less than 4 times to get things I had forgotten - the iPod, my gloves (it was 22 degrees when I left this morning), my Nike Plus thing ... you get the idea.

Today all of the runners and walkers training for the Seattle Marathon wore pink in honor of Gracie. It's her favorite color. (See in the picture above? I wore my pink proudly.)

We were supposed to be meeting in St Paul down by the river. I printed out driving directions last night but couldn't find the meeting location. I finally gave up and decided to just go run on my own for 8 miles. It was a beautiful morning, even if it was 22 degrees. There were already quite a few runners out. About 1.5 miles in, I came upon the Team in Training meeting spot. Well, at least I know where it is now! I met the coach, who sent me on my way for the run. All the way up Summit Ave (yep up - what little elevation exists in Minnesota, I experienced it this morning). So, off I went.

About another mile in, my iPod crapped out on me. Apparently a couple of minutes of charging isn't enough for a run that lasts an hour and a half! I had to run the rest of the way listening to my own heavy breathing. Like I said, a lot of drama for a Saturday morning!

But the most important is, I did it!! By the time I got back to my car, I had run 8.5 miles. Crazy!! I just might be on the verge of calling myself a runner!

Woo hoo! First major fundraising goal MET!!

I set a goal to raise $1000 by the end of March and it has been crushed! As of today, we've raised $1281! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed. I am so humbled by your generosity.

Every dollar counts and gets us all one step closer to the ultimate goal - making a real impact in the fight against cancer.

I'm finding that there is at least a couple of weeks of lag time in getting the checks updated to the "official" fundraising site, so I'm adding my own wall of fame/gratitude here on my site. So, one goal down - just a couple more to go. Next up - the halfway point ($2000) by the recommitment date, which is April 17th.

As for the training plan, it's ramping up! I got sassy this weekend while I was home visiting family and decided to go run the Dundee Hills. Stupid idea. I was completely gassed after 1.25 miles but somehow managed to keep going until 4 miles (on level ground, of course).

Big team run this weekend - 8 miles! It will be the longest I've run yet ...

40 degrees = shorts! Oh, yes it does!

Unless you live in Minneapolis, you might not be able to fully appreciate this scene, but trust me on this - it's a beautiful sight. This is 45 degree weather from this past weekend and I got outside (yes, in shorts!) and ran. On Monday, we hit the mid 60s. It hadn't been that warm since before Thanksgiving. If 40 degrees = shorts, then Monday I probably should have been in a bikini but let's be honest - no one needs to see that.

It's the little (really big) things like running outside three days in a row.

I'm now back home for a week or so. Might be a bit of a challenge to keep up the training, but I'm at the point where I (dare I say it?) actually want to go running. I just might make it happen.

Yep - it's crazy

I've decided to go for it. I'm going to run a half marathon. No, I don't like running, but there's a story ... Last summer, out of nowhere I ran all the way around the Lake of the Isles here in Minneapolis. Me, the girl who was really sure that she was literally, physically allergic to running. The girl who couldn't run more than 10 minutes on the treadmill ran all the way around the lake.

From that point on, morbid curiosity has kept me going. Can I do that again? What if I wanted to go a little further this time? Could I do that? And I did. I kept going. I did my first 5K in October of last year (which is captured in the picture at the top of this blog). My only goal was to finish and to run the whole way. It took Europe's "Final Countdown" blasting in the iPod to carry me over the finish line, but I did it! Here's me crossing the finish line:



The next 5K I ran was an altogether different experience. Sean and I ran the Reindeer Run here in Minneapolis in early December. We were not expecting the sheer number of people who turned out, especially since it was about 10 degrees with a windchill of -1. With those conditions, I thought we'd be somewhat alone but NO! The crazy Minnesotans live for this stuff. The news stations estimated that 4000 people ran the race that day and I ran the race next to a guy dressed up as a Christmas present. It truly doesn't get any better than this:


So, no, I don't like running but I do have to admit that I feel pretty bad ass when I get done. I still can't quite believe that I've been able to do this so far. After running the Reindeer Run, I decided to set a stretch goal for myself - to run a half marathon. I didn't think I'd be doing this so soon, but I came across a great opportunity and now I'm planning to run it in June.

I have to make a phone call to commit tomorrow - and I'll post more info then. Until then, I'll ponder the training plan ...