Marathon training, and other stuff

I was shocked to see that I hadn't posted anything since July 1st.  Since that last post, I had a little change and decided that I needed to run the Nike Half-Marathon in San Francisco.  As of this writing, that is only one week away.  I have been training with Team in Training and it has been awesome.  I have met some awesome people and gone further than I have ever thought I would.  I have been through parts of Brackenridge Park I never even knew existed, and been through neighborhoods and through some very beautiful parts of San Antonio.  I have logged quite a few miles on my favorite pair of running shoes and spent alot of time with my two favorite running friend, Johnson and Lali.  I have more running clothes than other clothes, and a ton of race t-shirts!

Lali, Johnson and I actually did 11 miles, but it was supposed to be 10 lol...still, it was a great trek through the Alamo Heights part of San Antonio.  Afterward, when I thought about it, I realized that this was the farthest I had ever gone, and also that we were only 2 miles shy of half marathon distance.  I knew that if I had gone that far and knew I only had 2 more miles to go,  I could have done it.  That 11 miles took 2 hours and 46 minutes.  Not bad at all...and having someone to talk to helped the miles go faster.

Since I started this venture, I have had to hold off on participating in the 5K events I had been partaking in.  I needed to log longer miles than 3, and training with the team has been fun!  Team in Training involves fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I had originally signed up for the San Antonio Rock and Roll (half) Marathon.  To do this, I had to raise $1500.00.  I was hanging out with Johnson one evening, and she asked me if I was doing "Nike", meaning the San Francisco event.  I told her I was doing the RnR in San Antonio, and she told me I needed to go to San Francisco with her because she didn't want to do it alone.  The fundraising for this is $3200!  That goal seemed more out of reach to me than 13.1 miles!  Then, I found out that the event takes place 2 days before my 42nd birthday, and I knew I had to do it.  I still plan to do the San Antonio Rock and Roll event, and now I have signed up for another half marathon in January (Hero-Thon) and am considering Zooma in March.  I am hooked!

Although I have been holding off on the 5K events, I did have to do the Pajama Pancake Run, which was the very first race I had participated in last year.  I have been dealing with leg and ankle pain issues this week.  I had hoped to log a better time this year, but I was only a minute or so less than last year's run.  Next year, I will do better.  Still, it was a beautiful run along the Riverwalk and near the Guenther House, which is where Mark and I got married.  I should have taken pictures along the way, but I was so focused on getting my time in faster, and also dealing with pain in my legs threw off my focus.  NEXT year will be better!

I have done a few other 5K races along the way, such as the Loteria 5K and the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition in Austin as well as a few others, but no where near the amount of races I had been doing.  I miss the race day energy, but am enjoying the Team in Training energy so much better.

Ok, signing off for now.  I will post again after the event!
Until then, I am...
The Determined Runner.