Fifth Group Run

I was a little bit nervous before our run yesterday because last week we ran 6 miles, and this week we were skipping 7 and going straight to 8.  I don't know what poor number 7 ever did to anyone.  I mean, it's lucky, right?  Why did we have to give it the cold shoulder?   

The thing is, running 8 miles wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  True, we did have to stop a few times.  Our team got a little lost trying out a new route, but we eventually just turned around and kept going.  Kristen wears one of those nifty GPS watches, so she knew exactly how far we'd gone and how far we'd still have to go.  Overall, I felt good on this run, and my knees were much better than the week before.  Yippee!  And we're not skipping a mile again until we jump from 16 to 18, so next Saturday will be a 9-miler.  

After our run yesterday, Chris and I had a meeting with the General Manager at Margaritas in Weymouth.  Now, Margaritas had already established a special place in my heart because it was one of my favorite places to go up in Manchester when I was in college.  But now, I have even more reason to love it!  They're using the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as their designated charity for their next THREE Full Moon Margarita Madness nights!  Basically, every month on the night of the full moon, they donate 5% of the lounge's proceeds to a charity.  Not only that, but they have games give away prizes.  In case you're interested (and you should be, if you like margaritas and/or Mexican food and/or fun), the dates are April 9, May 9, and June 7.  Don't worry, I'll remind you when they're coming up.  ;-)  

I could really go for a marg right about now...  

Which is better?

Acoustic for a Cure

OR

Unplugged at the Fours

OR something completely different? Help us choose! We need a name for our April 24th fundraiser before we can start selling tickets! The event should be pretty awesome in every conceivable way (no exaggeration). We have some really talented people who will be performing and some great raffle prizes lined up, not to mention that the food there is YUMMY.

Speaking of fundraising, Chris and I each hit our 25% mark for our minimum last night, thanks to the fabulous people who have donated (and who have bought cookies at Chris' office)! We're feeling pretty good about reaching our goal of $4,300 each. In addition to the fundraiser at The Fours, we're going to continue selling home-made cookies, and we have a few other tricks up our sleeves, maybe even another event or two. Of course, we want to raise as much as we can, not just the bare minimum!

Fourth Group Run

Saturday was “bring a friend to training” day, so my sister Kathleen came with us to run 6 miles! It was so warm and sunny out that morning! MAN, that was nice! I’d guess it was already in the low 50s at 8:00am….Perfect running weather, if you ask me.

Chris and Leenster both kicked butt, running the first 3 miles straight - at a really fast pace, mind you - and then mostly running the last 3, taking a couple of walking breaks. I ran the whole way, but my knees really didn’t like it. They were begging me to stop, but I told them to shut right up and I kept on running, albeit a LOT slower at the end!

Then during our 9-minute ab workout, my abs were SCREAMING at me. I better have washboard abs when this is over, I tell you what. Kathleen had just had an ab workout the day before with her personal trainer, so she took that time to have her gait analyzed and she bought some new running sneaks.

Yesterday we had perfect running weather again, but I had ice skating lessons, so I didn’t get out there. It felt a little weird to go ice-skating when it was sunny and 63 degrees outside.

That weather was such a tease….Today it’s freaking SNOWING, so it’ll be back to the treadmill once again tonight!

Save the Date!

Chris and I are putting together a fundraiser at The Fours in Quincy for the night of Friday, April 24! It's going to be eff-yoo-enn FUN.

We hope to have a website up shortly where you can buy tickets, and I will, of course, post a link here as soon as it's up and running!

Run for the Hills

Kristen sent the course description of our marathon to me and Chris the other day. Not knowing Seattle at all, and not knowing much about marathons, it’s a little bit Greek to me. But the elevation chart makes it look pretty hilly!


(Click to make larger.)

Is it just me, or are we running uphill for entire miles? Mile 5 to mile 6, and mile 15 to mile 16? Am I reading this right?

Kristen said she sees hill workouts in our future, which means I see sore knees!

“I've felt the coldness of my winter… I never thought it would ever go.”

March really wanted to live up to its reputation of coming in like a lion this year, so it dumped about a foot of snow on us yesterday. Just when you thought spring was on its way! Oh well. Our Team In Training mentor, Kate, recently advised us, “between a plow and a human, the plow will always win!” So, I took that to heart and last night I headed to the gym and the safety of the treadmill.

Now, I am weird in that I don’t really mind the treadmill. Sure, I’d rather be outside. And yes, I think some treadmills totally LIE about how fast I’m going (I swear I was running WAY faster than 5.1 mph last night!). But overall, it’s not such a terrible experience. As long as I have my iPod, I’m golden. I even look forward to running on the treadmill lately, because in an effort to be safer, I’ve stopped listening to music whenever I run outside in the dark by myself. And when we go on group runs, we talk, plus I don’t think they’re really “allowed” by TNT. So, since the group runs are my only daytime runs these days, I never use my iPod for outdoor runs!

Last night it was Led Zeppelin, “Houses of the Holy,” to be exact. LOVE IT! The 3 miles flew by, even though I SWEAR TO GOD IT FELT LIKE I RAN ABOUT 8 BECAUSE I WAS GOING SO FAST ON THAT @*^&#*! TREADMILL!

Did I say I don’t mind the treadmill? Hmmm….

Anyway, we set the clocks ahead this coming Saturday night! Can you believe it? That means it’ll still be light out when I get home! So, I’ll probably start listening to tunes again while I run outside. Woo hoo!! I mean, I can only take this whole “safety first” thing so far.

Third Group Run

Yesterday morning was one of those times when I really had trouble figuring out how to dress for my run.  It was chilly and overcast, but definitely not as cold as it had been for our first two group runs.  When I left my apartment in Quincy, I felt like I'd be fine in a windbreaker, but I brought my trusty neon-green fleece pull-over, just in case.  When we got to Hingham, it was FREEZING!  So the radioactive fleece went on and then it was time for 5 miles.  

During the run, the fleece came off and went back on a couple of times.  I kept getting too hot but I never really heated up enough to run in just my short-sleeved shirt.  UGH.  So, that was annoying, and it wasn't the best run ever.  But another Saturday run got checked off the list.  I know 5 miles is just a drop in the bucket when you eventually have to do 26.2, but when you haven't run 5 miles at once in over a year, it's something feel good about!  

After the run, we did eight minutes of ab exercises, then the team headed over to Panera to discuss some fundraising ideas.  

Which leads me to to today!   I spent the day baking chocolate chip cookies for Chris to bring into work and sell for donations.  He made a cool flyer that says "Cookies for a Cause" and encourages people to donate at least $1 per cookie.  

I also spent a lot of time making calls to restaurants to see about hosting an event.  It looks like we're well on our way to scheduling a fun night of yummy food, entertainment and prizes for late April!   I hope to get the date and time finalized in the next couple of days, so stay tuned for details!