What started off as a rainy practice soon turned into perfect running weather with the best views!
 

As we geared up for our 16 miler that day I was unprepared with armwarmers to protect me from the rain. One of our mentors Elaine was amazing and had an extra lightweight rain jacket that she let me borrow & pretty much saved my unprepared self! By the time we cleared the JPL parking lot the rain had ceased & the air was crisp and fresh and the views just kept getting better!

This is the extra credit view from the top of our turnaround point...if you look closely on the bottom left you can see the team!

Anne & I were so focused on the trail ahead that we took the scenic route and logged 17ish miles that day, but it was all worth the views & we found our way back!

Here is a more comprehensive view of that day:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129813237@N06/sets/72157647236211294/

First of all thank you to all that have donated & supported me in my journey to running my first ultra marathon! And a huge thank you from all the families affected by blood cancers...we are fighting cancer as a team & there is no limit as to what we can accomplish together!

Without further delay here is the video of the drawing for NOT ONE, BUT TWOOOO opportunities at a free month of bootcamp!

Visit this link to see the drawing: https://www.randompicker.com/Project/Public/Protocol.aspx?Key=134167x77464
 

So there you have it! Congratulations to Marcela Rojas & Sally Potters you have both won a FREE month at Fit Body Bootcamp Burbank!

Thank you again for your support and GOOOOO TEEEAAAAMMMM!!!!

So I'm going to be honest...I only watched the video below today & it got me both pumped & slightly frightened!

So I guess it was the first time they ran this race this year. Good to know. Also good to know how fast the elites run it & that they aren't kenyan.

Wow its just kinda settling in right now...the butterflies that hit your stomach with a tinge of fear. I mentally decided last week that I will now be training for the 50M instead of the 50K which is a mere 20 mile difference. And the 8 mile run I was suppose to do yesterday & make up today(which isn't happening) is sitting with the "fear-er-flies" in my tummy. But I'm going to give myself a break because I'll be running a half on Sunday & this week was a tiring one.

Here's a shot from the course I took a few weeks back:

So i am excited because today 12.12.14 is the day i met my fundraising goal! :D 
 

Woo hoo! So thank you for all that donated! I will be posting a video of the bootcamp winner later tonight with a video!

My second practice we got to run 12 miles to the Hollywood Sign which I am completely familiar with :D

I got to see Coach Dave who was there at the beginning of practice for some team support. Coach Dave has been an inspirational leader on the San Fernando Valley Marathon Team and he was at practice because his father had been undergoing treatment and needed to be around the team because he knew that we are all there to beat cancer.

So I never told anyone on the team at the time, but on my very first season with TNT at our second practice my dad had been hospitalized. I was 100% new to the team at the time and I can understand why Coach Dave needed to be with the team. It gave me hope to know that complete strangers were helping out families like mine whose worlds were spinning in the wake of bad news. I had my moments at that practice where I tried my best to keep it together. Looking back now 2010 was a pretty tough year for me, but found that running was the place where I got to work out my issues. It didn't fix the fact that I spent waaayyy more time visiting my loved ones in the hospital, but what it did was give me a positive way to deal with it.

So I run & fundraise to find cures for those families whose lives are turned upside down & spinning. Just know there is a team of people who are looking out for you too!

Here are a few shots from that practice:

Just wanted to give you a little insight on my training...with the first time I had been to a practice.

I was nervous only because I hadn't really run on a consistent basis since doing the LA Marathon in March. I would run with a trail running group called the New Basin Blues and they were all cool & some were realllyy fast going up those hills, but it just wasn't family like TNT was.

So I decided to check out the team for an 8 mile run in (what I thought was Malibu until I was corrected to...) Pacific Palisades on the Los Liones trail. I wasn't sure how the run would go, or what the energy of the team would be like and most importantly how I would do on some pretty good mileage on trails.

I felt great & strong that day & even knew that I could have kept on running! I especially found that running downhill on a single track trail really fast is really fun!

The seed was planted and I was hooked...I couldn't NOT sign up!

Here are some photos I took from that day: