Vacation

My posting will be spotty for the next week as it has been for the last week.
I am on vacation and doing all my training on my own following the TNT calendar. I am finding that although I love the music in my ears and go as I please pace and time schedule, it is harder without my running pals.

I shifted my running schedule to make sure I was not zonked for my brother's wedding today: I did hills on Monday, Tempo Run on Wednesday and my long run yesterday. Overall feeling ok, but quad issue is being crowded out by an ankle ache. Need to check in with the PT after Labor Day.

In the meantime, we get our September schedules for TNT this weekend and then right around the corner is RACE DAY!

Have a great week and I will check in when I can ...

Weekend Re-cap

Ran 10.74 and loved the run on Saturday. Steph (whose most recent long run was around 5 miles) ran it with us like she had been training all along. It made me think a lot about those who are destined to be runners and those like myself who are non-runners fighting to convince their bodies that this is a good thing. I am getting close. Much of my pain has subsided or been managed out.

I read this blog posting and needed to share - it creatively sums up the wrongly named 13.1 miles that I am doing on 10/2 with a passion.

I am running 231 football fields, so there!

Hills

Last night was tough. It was hot and we did hill repeats. I probably should have eaten more yesterday and I felt it. Doing a morning run tomorrow with Steph, getting into a bit of a habit with her which is nice, something to look forward to! I really enjoy being the reason someone laces on their shoes and gets out there, since it has been so hard for me to get here myself.

I am organizing a team to do the @nychalfmarathon in March for Team in Training. Wanna join? Email me.

A Letter of Gratitude

I sent this letter out to my supporters today. I ask the same of you, please spread the word.

Dear Friends,

I wanted to take a moment and express my gratitude for your support. Your generosity has allowed me to surpass my Team in Training fundraising minimum and now strive to raise as much as I can to help accelerate finding cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and bring increased hope to the patients and families who are on the front lines of the battle against these blood cancers.

With the expert coaching and mentoring of Team in Training (TNT), this past Saturday I ran ten miles for the first time in my life. If you had asked me on June 19th at my first TNT practice, where I ran 3 miles, if I would ever make it this far, I might have squeaked "I hope so ..."

So here we are, 53 days left to the Hamptons Half Marathon and I am feeling good. I would not be me if I was not asking just one more favor, BUT it won't cost you anything.

Please spread the word of my efforts, as I would love an excuse to raise my fundraising goal again.

Direct your friends to http://bit.ly/runjennyrun to make a donation, or if you think they might need to get to know me a bit better, send them to http://thismommyruns.blogspot.com/ to read my training blog.

As always, I thank you for supporting me with your dollars but more importantly, your faith in me.

Sincerely,
Jenn

Weekend Re-cap: The Accidental 10 miler and Eat What You Want Night

So Team in Training ran Summer Streets on Saturday for what was reportedly a 9 miler. Garmin says otherwise and it felt like Garmin reports: 10.3.

I am one proud monkey.

With the advice of my new massage therapist/PT lady, I aimed to keep my right foot pointing in and the pain in my quad all but went away. Yesterday I felt great, today feeling a little sore but nothing terrible and I am going to see her again tomorrow so if it is still bad she will go to work on it.

Tom and Max went for a big boy/daddy bonding overnight to DC this weekend which left me to my own devices on Saturday night for dinner. So I decided that I would eat exactly what I wanted for dinner. I have lost 25 lbs and have not really done this since my journey started on April  4th.

This is what I ate:

Grafton Cloth-aged Cheddar on Rosemary Crostini
2 big glasses of Chardonnay
A pickled mix of peppadew peppers, cornichons and garlic olives
3 small slices of rosemary grilled steak
chocolate pudding

all from Whole Foods.

It was amazing.

Week ahead: Core Fusion tonight, TNT practice tomorrow, Wednesday rest, Thursday Central Park run EARLY with Steph, Friday Pilates, Saturday 10 miles with TNT, Sunday recovery run.

Juice Till Dinner - perfect antidote to my crappy run.

So today I am doing a modified cleanse from BluePrint Cleanse called Juice Till Dinner. It is four of their juices, (2 greens, 1 pineapple apple mint, 1 spicy lemonade,) a raw food snack bar (cherry orange) and dinner tonight is: Carrot Ginger Soup and Asian-style salad with tamarind sauce and a tiny chocolate mousse.

I love it. It makes me feel really good.

And I almost have forgotten that terrible run from this morning, although my legs are stiff.

Acupuncture soon!

I think they call it Bonking ...

...except that it would have had to have been mid-long-run according to Wikipedia.

Factors:

• I set out a little too fast,
• I drank several glasses of wine last night, 
• My quad pain was acting up, and
• I had a deep cramp in my right side. 

So I walked some, ran some and cut it short and went home. I almost want a do over. But instead will go to acupuncture and do a pilates session tomorrow followed by a deep tissue massage and prep for my Saturday 9 mile run.

Some days are just like this... even in Australia.

Bureaucrat vs Runner

Been doing a lot of thinking about goals, audacity and channeling your inner daredevil.

Lately I worry that professionally I am thinking like a bureaucrat. Not sure why, but I come out of meetings feeling like maybe my reactions to audacious ideas have been rather conservative.

And then I go and add another mile to my longest run ever each week.

Here's a crazy thought: what if I were to approach each week in my work as I do in my training, pushing one mile further, assessing the goal, without fear and full of passion.

Ok, with some fear but with do or die (not literally) determination to accomplish it.

Wonder what would happen if I just "ran with it" at work.

Training report: Hill Training wasn't bad last night, I'm sore today  but ok. Been taking magnesium supplements on the advice of my acupuncturist and it seems to be helping with the aches. Looking forward to my run with Steph tomorrow morning and then my long TNT run on Saturday via SummerStreets.

Longest Run

My beachside run was wonderful. Only a little pain towards the end as my knees were achy in the 8th mile.

Today's Runners World QOTD felt very close to home:

"Running gives me a sense of controlling my life. I like the finiteness of runs, the fact that I have a clear beginning and end. I set a goal and I achieve it. A good run makes you feel sort of holy." - Nancy Gerstein, runner

And indeed while soaking in the hot tub at the hotel after my run, I did indeed feel holy.