Smells of Jasmine

Ug...I'm behind in my running updates. Let's see...last Sunday morning I met up with Diana and Cameron and we ran 10.5 miles together. Since I ran to and from her house, I ran a total of 16 miles. This was my second 16 mile run. I remember that after my first 16 mile run two months ago, my legs felt soooo sore. I'm happy to say that my legs felt fine afterwards this time:-)

I skipped out on my Tuesday run because it's just too much to squeeze into my already full day of working and teaching. On Wednesday I ran 8 miles outside around Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Niguel. All of the jasmine in the area is blooming and it was so sweet to smell during my run. The first three miles of my run were mostly uphill, so it was good practice for the hills in the marathon. Luckily, the hills in San Diego are much smaller! The MapMyRun Web site now shows the elevation of your route, so here were my elevations on Wednesday:


The socks I wore on Wednesday were not my regular running socks and they were much thinner. Consequently, I came home with new blisters:-( I ran 5 miles on Thursday (down to Lake Laguna Niguel, through the park, and then home) and my blisters are really killing me today. I hope they heal before the marathon!

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Diana and Cameron to run again. I have to put in 12 miles. I only have two more "really" long runs before the marathon--one 18 miler and one 20 miler!

Lots More Thanks: You all have been so generous in giving to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Thank you to Ely and Shannon and also to my co-worker, Paul, for donating. You guys are awesome! I'm now 76% of the way to my goal.

Well, I'm running down the road, tryin' to loosen my load...

...and I definitely need to take it easy! Only six more weeks until the marathon though! On Tuesday I got home from teaching late and went to the gym to run. I don't know why I do that. I haven't been to the gym in a long time and every time I go, I come back and write in my blog about how freakin' hot it is in there and about how I almost passed out from the heat. And then a few weeks go by and I start thinking "well, maybe it's not that hot" and so I go to the gym and run and almost faint onto the little Orange County girls who are all dressed up in their best gym clothes and who are slowly walking on the treadmill next to me. So, last Tuesday was pretty much just a repeat of that scenerio again. I ran my first 2+ miles at an 8:27 pace, but then I had to slow down because I felt like I was running on the surface of the sun, not at a gym in SoCal.

On Wednesday I met Megan at her house and we ran 8 miles together around Laguna Niguel in the cool, windy weather. I felt so sluggish for some reason--like the entire run was uphill instead of just parts of it. Megan's IT band was hurting her. Despite our aparent slowness, we only finished about 3 minutes later than we normally do.

On Thursday Megan met me at my house and we ran 4 miles in Aliso Viejo. This was a nice, quick run and I felt much better than the day before. After my run, I quickly showered and rushed off to a Tupperware party hosted by a drag queen! The dude was quite entertaining, but as much as he sang and danced about the wonders of Tupperware, I still refused to spend $50 on a plastic bowl that I keep in my fridge with leftovers in.

This weekend I'm running 16 miles on Sunday and 10.5 of those will be with Diana and her son, Cameron. I'll do some cross training too, but I'm not sure what yet.

Until next week, don't let the sound of your own feet make you crazy...

Of Strong Winds, Baby Joggers, & Bike Rides

The update...last Wednesday I ran 7 miles around Aliso Viejo by myself. Then on Thursday Abdul and I ran 4 miles together at Aliso & Wood Canyon in fairly strong winds. Saturday morning I woke up at 6:15am and ran to Diana's house in Laguna Niguel and then her, me, and her 8 month old son, Cameron, ran 9.5 miles (well, her son slept in the baby jogger) and then I ran back home for a total of 15 miles. It was great running with Diana. We talked the entire time and so the run flew by. She's going to be my weekend long run buddy and we're already planning on heading out together again next weekend. She ran the LA Marathon the other month, only 6 months after giving birth! I also gotta give her major props for running so far with a baby jogger. I think it would be a lot harder to run with only one arm--especially up hills (and we ran up quite a few of those!). I'm very excited that Diana lives so close now and that we're able to run together:-)

Sunday was a day for cross training and so I went on a 6.5 mile bike ride down the Aliso Creek Trail. Today is supposed to be a rest day, but since I have to teach on Tuesday, I think I might do Tuesday's running tonight.

Even More Thanks: Since my last post Julie B. has also donated money towards my fundraising efforts for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I'm now at 61% of my goal. Thanks Julie!

25:35

Last night after teaching I met Nicole D. and Sabina at the gym to run on the treadmills. Since I switched training schedules, I only had to run 3 miles last night. So, I pushed myself to run a 8:27 minute/mile and although I had to slow down during the last 3 minutes because I thought I was going to overheat and pass out, I still ran 3 miles in about 25:35, which is the fastest I've run 3 miles since high school. I think I'm going to keep pushing myself on these short mileage days to increase my speed. My biggest problem isn't that I don't have the endurance or physical ability, it's that it's so freakin' hot in the gym that I am literally melting and bright red not too long after I start running. 24 Hour Fitness, pleeease turn up your air conditioners!

Tonight I'm running around Laguna Niguel and the lake with Megan and then Abdul and I might run 4 miles together on Thursday. Oh...and on Saturday, Diana and I are going to run together finally--yeah! I love my running partners!

More Thanks: Since my last post Susan & Marcus and Nikki have contributed towards my fundraising efforts for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society--you guys are awesome! I'm just over halfway to my fundraising goal of $500. Nikki, in fact, is a complete stranger to me, and yet she still donated. Nikki has a Google alert set up to receive e-mails when information about Forest Falls (her hometown) is posted online. My last post included a blurb about Forest Falls because we went hiking there last weekend. Well, she got the link to my blog and read it and felt inspired to go running and donate. Isn't that a great Internet story? So, special thanks to Nikki for being such a kind stranger. Maybe we can even go running together sometime since she doesn't live too far away from me.

10 Is The New 6

I've finally reached the point where 10 miles doesn't feel like a big deal. The first time I ran 10 miles I wanted to call everyone I know afterwards and tell them that I'd just run 10 miles. Now, it's just a regular old run. But, alas, I'm not running a 10-mile marathon, but a 26 mile one. Next weekend's long run is 15 miles, so that will really help me get closer to 26.

Since I'm now using Hal Higdon's training schedule instead of that no-name one from before, I didn't have to run on Saturday. Instead, I was supposed to "cross train." So, I went on a hike:-) Abdul and I were getting so tired of being in the "city" so we drove inland to Oak Glen and then to Forest Falls and hiked to the Big Falls (see picture below). I used different muscles hiking and climbing than I do when I'm running and that is the whole point of cross training.



This week I'm running 3 miles on Tuesday, 7 miles on Wednesday, and 4 miles on Thursday--much lower mileage than I was running before, but at least now I will minimize my chance of injury and burnout.

Oh...one more thing: THANK YOU so much for those of you that have donated so far to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through my Web page. Barbara, Lauran, Pam, Tanya, Katie, and Sabina--you are awesome! As for the rest of you, if you'd like to donate, you have until June 2:-)

New Schedule

Gosh, my posts lately have been so serious--I guess I'm really getting into this running/training thing! I had a GREAT week of running. First of all, I ran with Megan all week and she is wonderful to run with. We talk the entire time and so the run just flies by. Plus, I think that when I run with her, my pace is a little faster. I am really bummed that she's moving in two weeks. Anyway, we ran 6 miles on Tuesday and part of that was through Laguna Niguel Regional Park. On Wednesday we ran 8 miles. And then last night we ran at least 4.5 (partially through Aliso & Wood Canyon). I've been training since October and so I felt good, but I'm amazed at Megan's ability. She just had a baby four months ago and was able to run 8 miles with me after hardly running at all prior to that. I hope that I bounce back that fast after I have children (if I have children, of course). Megan has always been very athletic though whereas I've been more...um...stationary:-P

Megan has run three marathons before (two in Chicago and one in NYC) and so I've been talking to her a lot about my training, etc. Abdul's been telling me all along that he thinks I'm training too hard and Megan said the same thing. I sent her the schedule I'm following and she said it's not a "novice" schedule. She really encouraged me to use Hal Higdon's marathon training schedule for novices (he's the official trainer for the Chicago marathon). So, I'm switching schedules to avoid burning out! My new schedule looks much more doable and I'm looking forward to using it to finish my training. I'm getting so excited about the marathon!! I made hotel reservations yesterday and am actually really looking forward to running the race and proving to myself that I can run 26.2 miles while I'm 26.

Here's my new training schedule. I'm at the end of week 9 right now. You can check out more of Hal's schedules on his Web site at http://www.halhigdon.com/.

Make Cures Happen

I've had a couple of people ask me how they can donate towards the marathon I'm running. Well, this isn't a charity fundraising race, so up until now, there hasn't been anyway for people to donate. Realizing that doing all this training and racing in the marathon without helping others (when they can be helped) is awfully selfish, I decided to participate in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's "Make Cures Happen" fundraising campaign (you may already be familiar with the Society's "Team in Training"). According to the Society, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer every five minutes; every 10 minutes, someone dies. In fact, despite the many breakthroughs, leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. I'm sure everyone reading this post knows someone who's fought a blood cancer--or if not that, then cancer of some kind. Please help me raise money for this very worthwhile society so that hopefully someday children and parents won't have to suffer through leukemia or lymphoma.

I'm accepting online donations for the Society (my goal is $500 in only two short months) at http://www.active.com/donate/mchsandiego/26while26. If you prefer to donate via check, please contact me for my address and I will tell you how you can donate in that way.

For more information on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, click here. If you want to see a report on Give.org about the spending practices of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, click here.

Please, please, help me "make cures happen" while I run the marathon on June 3. Note that all donations must be made before the marathon on June 3. Thank you for your help!!

New Shoes, Part II

Last Friday Abdul and I went up to Hollywood for the night and then went to Universal Studios on Saturday--good times! He had a work thing to go to on Saturday morning so while he did that, I ran 4 miles in the Renaissance's fitness center. My muscles felt completely fine running, but I thought I was going to pass out from the heat! I think that if I'm going to run on a treadmill indoors, I basically need the air temperature to be 50 degrees and I need a bunch of fans blowing on me.

On Sunday I went shopping for some long overdue running purchases. I bought new training shoes, two running outfits, and a pair of running socks. Then, I put all my new gear on and went for a 10 mile run. The shoes gave me blisters (yeah, I know, I shouldn't have broken them in with a 10 mile run), but overall I like them a lot--they're very lightweight compared to my trail running shoes. The running outfit--oh my gosh!--I loved it! It kept me cool and dry (it's made out of that micro fiber material) and it was so comfortable--no chaffing! Anyway, the run went very well--I ran down Oso to Margarite to La Paz and then back home. I ran up six pretty decent hills, which made the run a bit more challenging, but more fulfilling also.



This week I'm on Spring Break from teaching and so I'm going to try and run on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday--hopefully with Megan, Nicole, and/or Diana!