Been There, Done That!

In my 3 years as a TNT Team Manager, I spent many a Saturday morning showing up early to weekend runs, checking people in, motivating them to enjoy their run, shouting out numerous "GO TEAM!"s, waiting around as folks finished their runs to check them back in, clean up, and then make the long drive back to San Jose to call it a day. Most of the weekend runs were held at various trails throughout the beautiful Peninsula. I was even lucky enough to head down to Monterey with the team a few times to enjoy 10 or so miles along the coast. While some weekend runs were more grueling than others, I don't think that I ever really knew what "grueling" meant...until this past Saturday.


For years, we've always talk about the "Woodisde Run" as being a critical component of training for any race. From what I understood, there was a good mix of pavement, trail, flat road, hills, and a good sense of accomplishment when anyone completed the trail. Yes, as the Team Manager I would often hype up the dreaded "Woodside Run" and then quickly try to ease anyone's anxiety. Most seasons, we're fortunate to have excellent running weather in Woodside....if we started early enough, we'd beat the heat in the summer. And, the weather was almost always on the cool side and perhaps a little wet in the winter. No big deal...at least it wasn't too hot.

Woodside Town Hall, Woodside CA

Well, this past Saturday, yours truly finally discarded the Team Manager role and took on the dreaded "Woodside Run" myself. Now I know why this run is such a pain in the a**, especially on a 100+ degree day.



I woke up extra early to drive up to Woodside in hopes that I would be able to start my run at about 6:30am. Nope. Coach didn't let us start until about 7:30am. By then, it was already 70+ degrees, and when I was about 2 miles into my 8 mile run, I swear it felt like the temperature jumped about 20 degrees. For about 2 miles of the run, I ran against traffic (luckily there was none), on the shoulder of a road that hugged the freeweay. I had to be extra careful while running so as not to step in the frequent and sometimes massive piles of horse droppings/poop/crap/sh** or whatever you want to call them. By this time, I was getting cranky, was about halfway through my water, and had to go to the bathroom....a nice mixture of "Don't Go TEAM me while I am running or I might bite your head off!"



Seriously.....I WAS NOT a happy camper.



At about the 5 miles mark, I refuled, found a bathroom (sorry, I'm not really a pee in the bushes kind of gal), and kept going. Everything in me told me to stop everything and just walk back to the car. I was literally a few hundred yards from my car. But I kept going, not knowing what lie ahead.



Fortunately, there was shade on the remaining 3 or so miles of this trail. Not the entire 3+ miles, but enough that I could try and keep out of the sun for small pockets at a time. Thank goodness I remembered my sunscreen. Had I not, I probably would have had some major burns....we're talking lobster red, or worse. That's how bad the sun was in the non-shady parts of the trail.



The last mile and a half, I ran (or should I say tried to run, but rather walked) along a non-shaded part of road that led by some horse stables. More horse poop, lots of flies, wonderful stench. I'm glad I remembered to breathe through my nose so as not to swallow a fly. There were a few time I was close to tears. I was exhausted, hot, sweaty, dirty, my shoes and socks were now brown and covered in dust and perhaps a little horse crap. Fortunately, my teammate Vicki ran up beside me. She didn't try to cheer me up, rather she just ran next to me. She had been on my previous teams and I respect her tremendously, so it was actually nice to have a little company for the last half mile or so. That last half mile seemed like it lasted FOREVER. We were headed slightly uphill, and then FINALLY rounded a corner on our left and down into the parking lot. It took me 1 hour 40 minutes and some change to complete 8 miles that day. Not a personal best, but I was DONE!!!

Now, I can say I have been there, done that.

As grueling as my experience was this past Saturday, I know that it will never really compare to what some folks experience everyday. Just two weeks ago, a friend and former TNT participant told me that her 5 year old son was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

He's 5. 5 years old. FIVE!!!!

At the end of the summer, little kids are supposed to be looking forward to starting school, meeting new friends, playdates, soccer practice, thinking about this year's Halloween costume. Not dreading spending over 2 weeks in the hospital hooked up to machines that administer chemo and powerful drugs to wipe out cancer cells in your tough, little body.

This kid is the toughest 5 year old I know. He could probably run circles around me with all of his energy. Heck, he probably would have LOVED to have run this past Saturday in Woodside with the hot sun, no shade, horse poop and all. All that is probably a million time better than chemo.

So, from now on, I'll stop complaining about Woodside and embrace it. Horse poop and all.

Bunco Benefit SUCCESS and a New Toy!

First off, a HUGE thank you to eveyone who came out and supported my BUNCO BENEFIT for LLS on Wednesday August 19th. The evening was a success, and together we raised over $900 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It was definitely a fun evening and I was happy to share Bunco and my excitement and passion for TNT and LLS with friends. A HUGE thanks to Sports Basement in Sunnyvale for helping to make the evening so fun. Who doesn't enjoy free pizza and beer?

Let the games begin!

28 players...the largest Bunco game I've ever played!

My training is going well. Last weekend I joined my teammates up in San Francisco and rana total of 8 miles around Lake Merced and down part of the Great Highway. While this training run was a preview of part of the Nike Women's Marathon couse, I won't actually run any of this again on race day since I an running the Half Marathon course. It was still wonderful gractice for event day. As any run who trains for endurance events knows, you've got to practice getting your gear, nutrition, pace, and everything else in sync BEFORE the race...not on event day. So, I broke out the Chocolate Gu (Personally, my favorite as I think it tastes like brownie mix. Is that strange? The weather was also perfect and I had the pleasure of running with my friend, Patricia, someone who I have not had the pleasure of running with before. Lucky for me, she was happy to run with me at my run/walk pace and it was fun getting to know one another a little better after having been on various TNT teams over the past couple of years. I hope to run with her again soon.

I also got to try out my new toy:

So high tech and very runner saavy!

Yep, I FINALLY (after about 3 months) decided to purchase my very own Garmin 305 GPS running watch. It is sooooo cool!!! Now, I can touch a few buttons and my watch will actually count down intervals and been after I run for 5 minutes and walk for 1 minute! It sure beats having to keep looking at my watch to figure out my running/walking intervals. Now, I am happy as a clam!

If only the darn thing would make me go faster......

Tomorrow, I take on the trails in Woodside. Hills, and heat...not the best combination.

Yes, I still run when it's THIS HOT!!!

I don’t know about you, but its hot here in San Jose! And yes, I still run….even in the heat! (I just have to get a little more creative about when I run, where I run, and whether or not I run with an 80 pound Golden Retriever while pushing a jogging stroller with a 25 pound toddler!)

So far, I’m taking to the trails a little slower than I wanted, but for good reason. I knew that after having a baby, it would take me some time to get back into a normal workout routine. (Well, it’d debatable that I even had a “normal” workout routine pre-baby.) Fast forward 18 months, and here I am trying to get into a “normal” workout routine. I walk anywhere from 5-10 miles a week, run anywhere from 4-8 miles a week, swim, and chase after an 18 month old son. And even though I’ve had a few pains here and there as I get back into the swing of running again, I press on.

I press on because lots of other people can’t.

This morning, my friend Jim Delaney, someone I met through Team In Training, had surgery to remove a carcinoma of the tongue. Obviously, this surgery is extremely serious and one that will impact him for the rest of his life. He has courageously battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for over 22 years, and continues to be an inspiration to so many as he recovers from surgery and presses on with his own treatment.

When I joined Team In Training 5 years ago, I didn’t realize just how much others’ would truly impact and inspire me to continue to fight, train, and raise money so that one day we can kick cancer to the curb. I encourage you to join me to support patients like Jim and help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to my fundraising campaign.

Every little bit helps.

Sharing TNT with my biggest fan, Brody!

When my son, Brody, was about 6 weeks old, he made an appearance at a track workout with my former Winter Team. Even though he slept most of the time, it was fun to reconnect with my former teammates and introduce them to my new little man.

This season, I couldn't wait to bring Brody to a workout and introduce him to the team. Before he was born, my TNT teammates threw me a baby shower and they made some great TNT onesies for Brody to wear. He quickly outgrew the infant onesie, but I've been holding on to his 18M onesie with hopes that he would get to wear it when meeting the team. Low and behold, this particulate onesie finally fits, and although he's no longer "Crawling for a Cure" (actually, climbing and running is more like it), I think my teammates on the North Peninsula team enjoyed out little team "mascot" for the evening at our track workout at the College of San Mateo.

Mommy and Brody at the track!

It's All About the CORE

I think that it's safe to say that I am going to be really sore when I get out of bed tomorrow. Today, I think that I did what I have been telling myself not to do since I started training again...I over did it.

This morning, I woke up and headed to the gym for a make-up Pilates reformer class. My doctor recommended that I give Pilates a try as a way to strengthen my core and my back, so I started these weekly sessions about 6 weeks ago. Because this morning was a make up session, I think that our instruction decided that we were going to work extra hard for an hour. My calves were burning, my abs were burning and I swear that I now feel muscles I never knew existed. So, by the time the hour was up, I pretty much felt like jell-o.

By 5pm I was feeling better, but this is about when the exhaustion set in. I know that everyone tells you that you should sleep when the baby sleeps, but when Brody naps for 3 hours, I can usually think of so many other things to do during those 3 hours, and then of course I never really accomplish everything that I hope to in those 3 hours. By the time Brody woke up, I was seriously considering cancelling the babysitter (Mike is out of town this week), and just not going to my track workout. Instead, I went and endured another couple of hours of intense core exercises from Coach Mary.

So, it's now almost midnight, I'm home after two brutal workouts and a piece of tasty Hobee's coffeecake, and I am still up. And yes, I now feel like a HUGE bowl of jell-o and I don't think that feeling is going away anytime soon.

Right now, it's all about the core.

I wonder if someday my core will feel more like a washboard than jell-o?

We can all dream, can't we?

4 miles down....lots more to go!

Again, I survived my latest weekend workout with the team. This past Saturday, we were up in San Mateo at Seal Point Park...right along the Bay, running alongside the airplanes flying into SFO.

When I first started training 5 years ago for the Portland Marathon, I had it stuck in my head that I had to "run" the entire thing. I was letting myself down if I had to stop for a break or stop to walk for a bit. Boy, was I silly for thinking this.

My second marathon, the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon in June 2005, I really learned my lesson the hard way. After a season of running with my partner in crime, Cori, she was injured the week of the marathon. So, all of the planning of how we were going to tackle the course, what we were going to talk about during the race....thrown out the window!!! I actually had to run the ENTIRE thing by myself. I think that I was in a daze when I got to the start line that morning - still thinking that Cori was right beside me pushing me to keep running. While I was running with a sea of people, Cori was not there and I had to keep pushing myself. There were many times I wanted to give up and just stop, but when I remembered all of the money I had raised and all of the honorees that I had trained for, I knew I had to keep going however long it took.

That day, I ran about 14 or 15 miles and pretty much walked the remaining miles. For the first time I had blisters between my toes and felt completed depleted of all of my energy. That day, I gained a deeper appreciation for walkers. Yes, people actually sign up to WALK half and full marathons. For so long I just figured I needed to run to finish quicker and get on with my day.

So, fast forward a few years and now I think that I am going to go for a COMBINATION of the two...Run/Walk. For the first time, I actually disciplined myself this past Saturday to pay attention to my watch and force myself to run 4 minutes, then walk for 1 minute...repeating this cycle over and over until I had completed 4 miles. Perhaps it was my 3 teammates (Angela, Eileen, and Sean) who were relying on me to tell them when to run and when to walk. Or, perhaps it was the feeling of happiness finding others who ran at my same pace (now that Cori and I live miles apart, we haven't been able to run together in years). Whatever it was, I FELT GREAT during and after my run/walk! I swear, I felt like I could keep going for another mile or two!

So, for this race in October my game plan has changed. I'll be running (most of the time) and walking (some of the time) to keep me balanced and to get me across that finish line.

Here's to another great track workout tonight!

Getting Back Into a Routine

The first full week of training is coming to a close, and I'll admit that I'm finding it a bit more challenging this time around. I felt pretty good after last weekend's 2 mile run at that Baylands, so good that I figured that this week I would try and get started on my new workout schedule:

Sunday - rest, hanging out with little man Brody at the Farmer's Market, walk around the neighborhood pushing a stroller and trying to control an 80 pound Golden Retriever

Monday - swimming for 30 min at the gym

Tuesday - track workout with the team (about 1.5 miles of running, and lots of core training)

Wednesday - hanging out with Brody, walking around Los Gatos and around the neighborhood

Thursday - pilates workout (1 hr), Buddy Run with the South Bay folks (2.5 miles)

Friday - day's not over yet, but I am pretty tired today!

I'm trying not to overdo it as I've got another team run tomorrow up in San Mateo. Right now, I'm just trying to decide if I should go for 3-4 miles or stick with 2 miles. Guess we'll have to see how I feel in the morning.