Surpassed My September 1st Goal!

A HUGE thank you goes out to all my amazing family and friends who have donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and are supporting me in my first half marathon in honor of my friend Nick and all those battling blood cancers.  I never expected to reach 41% of my fundraising goal in less than one week and I have all of you to thank.  Thanks to your outpouring of support we are getting closer and closer to the ultimate finish line- a cure! 

Thank You! 

                                        Lauren Madden                                         

Kristin Elbert

Janet D. McGraw

Andrew Novaria

Paul Seales

Elise Andrews

Dan Leader

Dan McGraw

Jim & Terri Novaria

Craig and Jayne VanderMolen

Metaxo Vlahantones

 The Cheolas Family

The Messinger Family

Rick Searing

Ellen Bankert

Laura Vigiletti

Nick Milonas

Kenyon Fox

Kathryn Phinney

Sam Huang

Eric Brown

Danielle Frottier

Attack That Hill!

My first hill workout for my half marathon training was yesterday.  I haven't done a hill workout since my middle school days for a reason and I was not thrilled to start now.  Our coaches asked us to complete 3 miles followed by running up 6 hills.  After some contemplating of where to do my hill drills I choose to take on the Angling Road Hill.

 This hill is down the street from my parents house.  It may not be too long or too steep, but I have a beef with this hill.   As a kid I always had to stop and walk my bike up this hill when coming home from my friends house. It is the hill I wiped out on when I was 13 and still have the scars to prove it.   This hill and I are not friends! 

Standing at the bottom the Angling Road Hill it was as steep as I remembered.  I turned my ipod to a pump up song and went for it.  I was not going to let this hill defeat me as it had in the past.  I attacked the hill on the way up and caught my breath on the way down over and over again.  I conquered that hill and before I knew it I was finished and enjoying an easy jog home.  I'm happy my first hill workout was not as horrible as I remember them being, but boy am I sore today! 

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...