Merry Christmas!

It's 3 days 'til Christmas!! I LOVE Christmas!

Remember to enjoy yourselves, spend time with crazy family, and rest!

And I'll remember to run like the dickens! Along with the rest of it. :)

And why not give a fulfilling Christmas gift by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Click on my face at the top to donate!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

A Girl On A Mission

Random picture of the week! Got my hair chopped off! :) I highly recommend Will at Trim Nashville - he's the best!

This week was less difficult than last, thank goodness! I have stopped coughing as much, so a lot of my energy is coming back! I ran a good bit more this week, and on Saturday, I ran 4.5 miles! I haven't done that in a very long time. I could tell that my heart was in better shape than my body in that run. My heart was doing well, pumpin' how it needed to be pumpin', but my legs and knees hated me. Now, every time I get up from my work desk, I can almost hear small screams from my thigh muscles. Multiply that by about 2.3, and that's what I have ahead of me. Oi.

This is the precise moment where the "rubber meets the road." The little perfectionistic man (I'll call him 'Ed') that sits right in between my heart and my head, tells me I can't do this, that I am not strong enough to finish a 1/2 marathon, and this is when I kick Ed's butt by sternly reminding him that I can totally do this, not because I know the outcome of every scenario, but because of the Spirit within me that pushes me through every mile. I am a girl on a mission... and that mission isn't always about me; it's about something greater. You can help live for something greater along with me by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - a group of doctors, scientists, and all-around geniuses, who improve the lives of people with blood cancers, and are inching closer and closer to a cure. I would be honored to receive your money donation that will go directly to LLS's Team In Training, the wonderful fundraising organization that I am running for. Just click the link at the top of the page, and it's super easy from there! No donation is too small!

Week 3 = a doozy.

Well... not my best week. I caught ANOTHER cold! I'm assuming it's because my immune system is down from the Swine Flu and Bronchitis I just got over (yuck). But I am happy that this cold is less intense than the last; perhaps this whole get-over-viruses thing is a step-down process. :) But I still have the chesty cough, occasional stopped-up nose, and soup-head stuff going on. I walked uphill on a treadmill for 30 min. on Monday, then ran 3.1 miles Wednesday and Friday, and I have to be honest, they were really tough. I did a little bit of strength training (push-ups and ab work), but not as much as I would have liked. This week, I will hopefully feel better and be able to do more.

I found a new workout toy that I like, though, and thought I'd share. It's called a "Harbinger Balance Trainer." It's a little, round, blue thing with spikes on it. (How's that for a description!). I have been doing crunches on it, and it is awesome. It makes me less dizzy than doing crunches on a stability ball, and, and it's made my muscles more sore than I expected! Find it on Amazon.com.

Any more tips you can give me for running in the cold/with a cold/anything to do with cold, would be greatly appreciated!

Week 2 Complete!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a week! I worked out best I could, but I didn't follow the plan exactly. On Wednesday, I traveled to Georgia to be with my family for Thanksgiving, and like many of you, traveling, holidays, and mounds of turkey consumption make it a little more difficult to get all the running in. I ran and did some cross training (elliptical, bicycle, and weights), but not every day. However, I still can run the 3-miles they are telling us to run this week, so I know that I'm not backtracking. I'm just trying to imagine myself running 13.2 miles, and I just can't see it yet, ha! But I will get there.

Goals for this week:
-Run 4 miles one time this week.
-Run on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
-Cross train Monday and Wednesday
-Get enough sleep
-Prioritize my time efficiently by keeping up with to-do lists and calendar commitments, so that I stay organized and less stressed. (Stress always causes me to run poorly!)

I'm recording a new spot this week for Lightning 100; be sure to tune in. And don't forget to donate to this amazing cause!

Week 1 Complete!

It is now the beginning of Week 2 of the "official" Team In Training marathon schedule, and so much has already happened!

First off, I am finally recovered from a lovely bout of swine flu I contracted about 5 weeks ago, and it has taken me 5 weeks to get over it. I am sure many of you can relate. *ugh.* But I'm bouncing back pretty quickly now, thank goodness!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to an informational meeting for Team In Training, and the coaches and staff explained everything, from how to raise money for this amazing cause, to what the training will be like. I must say, though, I came out of the meeting slightly nervous. I am a regular exerciser, but rarely do I do cardio for longer than 30 minutes at a time without some sort of break. However, my nerves went away when I went to our first run with our trainers and the other Team in Training participants this past Saturday. It was a blast! We all met at Lipscomb U. at 7AM (I'll be honest, that part was difficult), and they had an amazing breakfast setup for us, plus a few informational classes about running health, safety, and injury prevention. After we went through the classes, they had a running path set up for us, and encouraging staff and coaches guiding us through. There were several different lengths you could run. The people training for the full marathon ran 4 miles, and the people training for the 1/2 marathon ran 2. I ran the 2 miles since I have decided to do the 1/2 marathon. 13.2 miles is enough for a first-timer! The 2 miles was nice; not too difficult, but I'm wondering how a couple of weeks from now will be, when we are running 10 miles!

I think the best part of Saturday was the people. There was so much encouragement and optimism. I didn't feel left out or pushed; I was only encouraged to give my best. I heard a beautiful story of a cancer survivor. And I met a wonderful girl who is running for her brother, who was just diagnosed with cancer last week. It was a beautiful time of honesty, strength, and hope. I came out of that day more excited about why I am running.

If you would like to donate to this amazing cause, please go to Lightning100.com or click on the links found on my blog. It will take you to my personal TNT website, where you can contribute any donation (does not matter how small! Every cent counts!) that goes straight to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization that helps further the advancement of research for curing blood cancers. They have done so much already in the advancement of medicines, and they continue to save lives every day.

Getting In Gear!

WOW! I am so excited (and slightly frightened) to start this new trek. I, along with my fiance (note picture to the right :) ), are going to be running in the Country Music Marathon! I will be running as the Lightning100 representative, helping to raise money for an AMAZING organization called the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, that raises money for research and cures for blood cancers. I have never run a marathon before, not even close. I have worked out for a good bit of my life, but the longest I've ever run in my whole life is 6 miles. And it has been a LONG time since I've done that. So, it would be safe to say I'm a bit nervous about running, you know, somewhere around 26.2 MILES. Thankfully, I spoke with a Team In Training rep, Leslie, who explained to me that the trainers help you with a specific weekly workout routine that will whip you into shape... literally.

I'll be going to an informational meeting about it either on Sat., Oct. 24th, at the Bellevue Family YMCA, or on Tues. Oct. 27th, at East Park Community Center on Woodland Street in Nashville. They have a lot more dates in a lot more places in TN, and if you are interested in finding out more information and how you can run with me in the Country Music Marathon, go to their website at http://www.teamintraining.org/tn/.

Or, if you are interested in simply donating financially to a very worthy cause, I will be setting up a donations account online very soon and would GLADLY appreciate ANY donation for them. :)

I'm going to be tracking my progress on this blog for you all to see how it works and how a normal human being can (hopefully) run a marathon. Maybe it'll inspire you as well. :)

This week:

We haven't started formal training yet (that begins in November), but to get ready for it, I am adding 2-3 extra days of cardio work (my usual work out routine is cardio + weights 3 days a week), and I am attempting 8 cups of water a day, and no more artificial sugar (I'm ADDICTED to Coke Zero), and no sugar in general, except what occurs in nature. I'm adding protein shakes and taking out processed foods. I'm eating a lot, all throughout the day, and mainly only things that occur in nature. Oohh, but it's only been a day and a half and I'm having chocolate and Coke Zero withdrawals. But apparently, this type of eating makes you run better and feel better. I'll let you know the consensus. :)