Lake Michigan: The Perfect Distraction

After running in hot and humid DC last week, I was excited to run in Chicago on Saturday.   I was in town for my friend Lauren's Bachelorette Party, so I was pretty impressed with myself for fitting in my morning run.  The decision of where to run was any easy one since my girlfriends don't live far from the lakefront.  I ran down Division Street, took the tunnel under Lakeshore Drive, and off I went. 

Running by lake was so much fun and the perfect distraction for me.  I think I had a toothy grin plastered on my face all 3 miles.   There were tons of people out and about for a Saturday morning.  Groups were walking, running and biking on the trail (I even saw a few people in Team in Training jerseys!).   If I lived in Chicago that would definitely be my standard running route, although I'm sure once the Chicago winter hit I would stick to the treadmill.

This week the hill workouts begin!  As a person who likes my running routes to be nice and flat, I'm having a hard time pumping myself up for hills.  I will be in at my parent's house in Portage for my first hill workout, so I have a couple good hills in mind.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes! 

Lets Get It Started...

Walt Disney Half Marathon...Here We Come!

Me and the Mouse prepping for training!

After a little contemplating and lots of encouragement from family and friends I am officially a member of Team in Training and registered for the Walt Disney Half Marathon in January!  I have never run 13.1 miles in my life, but I am excited to set out and accomplish this goal. We had our official kickoff on Saturday and the energy amongst the group was contagious.  Everyone is ready to start training and start fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I'm fortunate enough to have my friend Danielle as my mentor this season.  Danielle ran the Disney half marathon for the first time last year and really inspired me to get involved with TNT.  She is a fellow Michigander, Delta Gamma, and Big Ten graduate, which means she is amazing!  Two other DC Delta Gammas, Lindsey and Jen, are also new TNT team members and are running the Philly Half Marathon, but will be training with us too. 

This week is our first week of training which means the mileage is low (thankfully!).  The coaches have us running 2-3 miles five times this week and we have our team practice in Virginia on Saturday.  I'll be missing our first practice because I'm off to the Midwest for the week, but I'm looking forward to running in cooler temps and getting out of the DC summer heat.  Thanks to Coach Moon and my North Middle School cross country career I can run 3 miles; it's mile 5, 6, and 7 I'm starting to worry about.  I'll leave the worrying for next week...