Fundraising Updates and More Race Plans

Two Saturdays ago, thanks in part to a generous anonymous donation and thanks in part to finding $20.00 in the middle of the trail with no one to claim it (there was a woman up ahead, but when my running buddy and I asked her if it was hers she said that it wasn't), I hit my fundraising target for Seattle. I am so incredibly in awe of the generosity of family, friends, blog readers, and colleagues for their donations. I've been amazed by how many people have become part of my team and how so many of them are from different chapters and compartments of my life. You are all fabulous people!

Over the course of this training cycle, I've had an opportunity to share quite a few miles with one of this season's Alaska Team mentors, Christy. Christy lost her son Bryant to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and will be running the Chicago Marathon in October in memory of him. She has been doing TNT as a means of fundraising to establish a grant in his honor. After much thought and indecision and more thought, I have decided to continue working to fundraise for TNT through the next fundraising and training cycle so that I can join Christy and other members of the Washington/Alaska Chapter in Chicago on October 9th. I know I have been asking many of you for money for Seattle, but if you wanted to contribute to my fundraising efforts and hadn't gotten around to it, I would be incredibly grateful if you sponsored me for the Chicago Marathon. No amount is too large or too small. Click here for my Chicago fundraising page.

I'm also really stoked about doing Chicago because one of my best friends from university days got in through the lottery. Also as longtime readers may recall, it was a race I was training for back in 2011. I had logged quite a few miles on my training plan before I had to make the tough decision to DNS due to a hip injury. While I'm a little nervous about training while being in Europe for part of the summer (more on that soon), I am so excited about doing this marathon! It's been on my bucket list for a long time, and I hope TNT can help me get to the starting line healthy, happy, and running for a purpose!

Is there a race or event that you really want to do?

Scenes From the First Run of 2016

Full disclosure: due to jet lag and a cold, I didn't even make it until midnight on New Year's Eve. After a good night's sleep, I awoke refreshed and ready to start 2016. On the first morning of the year, I texted my friend Heather to see if she was still up for a run. We had previously discussed possibly running in our neighborhood or on a trail system very close to it, but it had been sleeting on top of a turn-of-the-year warm up and refreeze, so our streets and walks were quite icy. We decided to attempt the coastal trail, so she and her dog Beatrix picked me up and we drove a little ways to begin our run.

The Coastal Trail was also rather icy, but we had on our screw shoes. I have to say that their tread is pretty magical, and they are much more comfortable than wearing yak tracks. (If you live in a place with snowy and icy winters and don't already do so, I highly recommend investigating to see if your local running store will put screws in a pair of your running shoes for you.) Also we didn't have to contend with cars that might be turning corners without full control like we would have if we had run nearer to our homes.

We did an easy run of 3:1 intervals with a few stops for dog business and picture taking. The coastal trail provides some gorgeous views, but because it's not super convenient I don't run there as often as I might. It was a successful jaunt of just under 4 miles.

After our workout, my running buddy bought me a delightful cup of coffee at a local coffee shop that was giving matching proceeds to charity that day. All in all it was a great way to start the new year with fresh air, exercise, and camaraderie.

How did you ring in the New Year? Is there a route you love to run, bike, or hike, but tend not to due to lack of convenience?

Race Report: New York City Runs Ice Cream Social 10K

I've been in New York for over a week now, but this is the first chance I've really had to post, as my days have been spent in the archives and my evenings have been spent either catching up with NYC friends or working on a few odds and ends related to a service project. I also didn't have internet access in the apartment where I was staying last week so I am behind on reading and commenting. I'll try to do some catching up in the next few days. Yesterday I ran a 10K over on Roosevelt Island, which was super quaint. After a week of thunderstorms and deluges, we had a day of blue skies and relatively low humidity, so the conditions were pretty much perfect for a day in late May.

View from the tram

A friend and I had both signed up for this race so we met on the Upper East Side and took the tram over to the island together. Due to being a failure at being organized, I had to pick up my packet before the race, and my one complaint about the race and/or its organization was the packet pick-up line was probably the slowest moving line I've ever been in, and, since the 5K started 30 minutes before the 10K race, about 20 minutes before the start of the 5K, the organizer let all the 5K runners jump to the front of the line. Eventually I got my bib. My friend and I headed over to use the portapotties and then to the race start, where we agreed to run our own races and meet at the end.

Before the start

The course was a no-frills double loop around the island and was the flattest course I've run in a while. I didn't really have any goals going into this race. I hadn't done any speed work for the past five weeks, as I had tapered for Vancouver, taken a zero week, and had gently eased back into running over the past couple of weeks. I thought that it might be possible for me to break 62 minutes if everything went perfectly, and for awhile I thought I might have it. Unfortunately, my lack of conditioning and the relative heat of the day (I have only run in temperatures above 40F four times since March) caught up to me in the final couple of miles. My splits were 9:31, 9:43, 10:13, 10:17, 11:02, 11:23, and 1:40. After a couple of cups of water and a popsicle and cheering for the award winners, including a 9 year old who had torn the course up, we made our way back to the tram and then headed back to our respective sides of the park.

It was my friend's first 10K and she smoked it. Her goal was to finish in under an hour, and she finished in under 56 minutes. I was impressed! I might even be a little jealous, as just last summer I ran at a faster pace than she typically did. Have you ever been envious of a friend's running improvement? U.S. friends, did you race on Memorial Day?

Running with my Best Friend

This past week I've been able to enjoy a run and a cross-training work out with one of my best friends, Suzie. Even though we don't naturally run the same pace (by that I mean that neither the paces at which we are most mechanically efficient nor the paces that we are actually in shape for right now exactly match up), we make a pretty damn good team. Typically she pushes me to go a little bit faster and I push her to go a little bit farther. Even more importantly, running with one of my best friends is awesome because I can tell her anything and everything while we are out on the road. We do talk a lot about running, but we also talk about life - partners, work, problems, joys, and the miles usually fly by while we do. No matter how much we talk to each other we never run out of things to say unless we are out of breath or too exhausted to talk and then we fall into a comfortable silence.

After finishing the Madison Half-Marathon together last May

Although we hit it off right away when we first met, I'm sure that running made us even closer friends than we might have otherwise become. S. and I ran together quite a bit last fall and spring, but we spent most of this past summer in different locations and our schedules and my injury didn't allow us to run much together in the fall. I realized just how much I had missed that when we met up for a little 3 miler last Tuesday morning. It was just getting light and it was cold but clear as the light came up. We chatted about my trip to Chicago and the start to our semesters, and we spotted two deer on the local paved trail we were running along. It was time well spent with one of my favorite people doing one of my favorite things.

We were planning to run together again yesterday, but I was feeling under the weather, so we postponed our next work out date to tomorrow. I'm hoping that this semester our schedules continue to line up a bit better than they did in the fall and that we're able to run together at least once a week if not twice and do cross training together once a week. While I value my solo runs and work outs and those with a bigger group of local runners, I get so much out of my runs with my best friend.

Have you ever run with a close friend? Do you have any friendships that you feel were cemented by doing something together - running, playing squash, lifting weights, going to early morning mysore practices together?

Weekend Fun: Bridal Shower 5K

On Sunday my running group held a little 5K bridal shower for one of our members. Our coach had shirts designed for us to wear for the occasion as running attendants. One of the other runners made a veil for the bride-to-be with a stocking hat and some tulle and tuxedo t-shirt for the soon-to-be-groom. Our coach and fearless leader had come up with a very funny and very sweet little ceremony to join our friend the "Running Goddess" with her fitness partner for life and soon-to-be husband "Stud Muffin."

We ran a fun little Run Away Bride 5K route in our coach's neighborhood. The only two rules were for the bride and groom to stay together the whole time and to have fun. Since this was only my second time to run two days in a row since before my injury, I decided to run at an easy pace and ran with my friend K. and her daughter, A., who did an awesome job! After the run, we all had a yummy lunch of chili and fixings, cupcakes, coffee, and punch. Some of us had gone in together on a professional popcorn maker as a running bridal shower gift, so there was also some present opening and general conviviality. It was such a fun way to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a couple of runner buddies!

M. is not a fan of running, and, while most of the time, I enjoy the fact that running gives me time away, Sunday was one of those times when I found myself wishing that my partner was a running partner too. Is running something that you share with your partner or significant other? Would you consider having a running bridal shower, bachelor/ette party, or Jack and Jill social for yourself or a running friend?

Injury Recovery Update and a Race Decision

This weekend I was able to do a 4 mile run.  I had more or less decided that if I could get through a 4 mile run without any pain that I would plan to go ahead and run the 10K that I am registered for next weekend. Going into the run I was cautiously optimistic.

I got up Saturday and met with my running group, which meets up with an even larger group of local runners on Saturdays. Most of them were doing 8 or 9 miles, as their last long run before the Mankato Marathon or Half-Marathon. I had decided that I would just do an out and back 4 milers. My plan was to keep it nice and easy, but I was apparently so excited that I started out a little bit too fast (around a 9 minute mile for the first mile) before I slowed it down for the other 3 miles. I chatted with a running friend on the 2 miles out and they just flew by, as we talked about work and buying running gear for cold weather. I turned back and took a couple of short walk breaks on the return just to be on the safe side with my hip. At the end of the run, my IT band felt tired but I didn't have any pain, so I decided that I'll run the 10K next Saturday and then continue another few weeks of keeping to low mileage and easy running.

The group this past Saturday

My running group got together at our coach's house for breakfast a little later that morning, and in a total blogging fail I took my point and shoot with me but forgot to take a single picture. I was too busy enjoying all the delicious food and chatting with running friends that I hadn't seen much for the past few weeks since my running schedule has been so sporadic because of my injury. It was great to hang out with them and catch up on their training and their lives.

I'm excited to be able to run the 10K this upcoming weekend. After several weeks of minimal running, I'm just really grateful to be able to be able to hit the pavement again. My conditioning has declined after 5 weeks of minimal mileage, and I want to make sure that I don't wind up sidelined again by going out too fast, so I have absolutely no time goals for this race. I just want to have fun and enjoy running it.

I spent most of the rest of my weekend hunkered down and working, so it was a treat to be able to run and hang out with running friends on Saturday morning. What did you do this weekend?  Any races, awesome brunches, or football games?

On Solitary and Group Running

The other night my friend Suzie and I were at a little get together, and another friend asked us if we had run together yet since S. had returned to town after being away for most of the summer. We said that we hadn't yet, and then Suzie joked that I had cheated on her this summer with other runners. I laughed and said that I had indeed been promiscuous.

Most of my teenage and adult life I've been active - either going to the gym or running. However, I've not always liked the more social aspect of getting my sweat on, though. I played volleyball and basketball in middle school, but in high school I abandoned team sports and spent several years doing martial arts. In college I went to the gym, but I always went either on my own or with maybe one or two other people. The same for grad school, and I didn't always enjoy running into friends at the gym. I was there to get Michelle Obama arms not to chit chat about seminars or dissertations or departmental politics. Even when I started running more seriously and joined TNT for my first marathon, I tended to avoid group training runs and preferred to go out solo or with just one friend.

This past year that has slowly begun to change. During the fall, winter, and spring, I did meet some other runners and went to group runs a couple of times, but still found myself training mostly on my own or running once a week with my friend Angi or my girl Suzie. This summer, though, I have suddenly craved the companionship of other runners. I was tired of running alone all the time, so I joined a running group. I also sought out other new running buddies with whom to hit the pavement. I've been, as I said, promiscuous. I've loved it. My group has been kind and welcoming to me. And more generally, the camaraderie is awesome. Shitty runs are much easier to endure when I feel like I'm part of a pack. The word relay has entered my thoughts for the first time ever.

However, 5:15 am group runs are only going to work for me a one or two days a week now that the academic year has started. Teaching an 8am class means that I need to be on campus by about 7:30 and most days I'll need more than hour to get ready. I also tend to work later into the evenings, which makes going to bed early enough to wake up at 4:30 and then function for the entire day tricky to say the least.  So while I will still run with my group when I can, and hopefully with other running buddies (maybe even together) one other day a week, and while I have come to prefer running in the pack, I am glad that I can still find joy in solitary running. There's still something very zen and rejuvenating to me about hearing nothing but the sound of my breathing and my own footfalls.

Are you a solitary or a group runner? Have you avoided running groups or do you try to avoid solo runs?