Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in the June Half Marathon in Lake Placid, NY as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training.

Most of us have been touched by cancer, either directly or through a family member or a friend; it seems that everyone has been impacted by cancer in some way. One way to fight against cancer is by supporting organizations like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society who fund research, education and support groups for cancer patients and their families.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

Thanks for your support!

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Race day recap - 6/15/09

It's all over now, and I have finished my first half marathon. All told the Lake Placid event raised over $822k for the LLS. Pretty impressive - that was across eastern PA, NY, MA, VT, NH and ME. I had a great time up at the event in spite of a rocky run. I ended up completing the race in 2:27 after having some calf cramping at mile 9 that meant I had to walk/run the last 4 miles or so.

I have my sights set on the Maine half marathon in October to see about completing the whole race running and I want to improve my time to get under the 2 hour mark. Training for that race will start in about a month.

Thanks to everyone that helped me surpass my fundraising goals - we met a 5 year old girl during the pre-race dinner that made me realize how important raising this money is. She had been out of treatment a year and a lot of that is thanks to the research that this fundraising supports. 30 years ago she would have had a very small chance of getting through her treatment, but today her cancer has a 90% cure rate.

My long term goal is to run the Disney full marathon in January, so get your wallets warmed up - I'll be starting a new round of fundraising this fall!

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Training Update #14 - 6/03/09

Did 10 miles for our long run on Sunday, then on our rest day I was busting around Thompson Island so I took yesterday off. I'll be running about 12 miles total this week before our 5 miler race on Saturday. Then next week is pretty light leading up to Lake Placid. It's less than two weeks away now. Oh, and thanks to a lot of generous donations I crossed the $4k mark - special thanks to Adrian Shin for putting me over the top!

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Training Update #13 - 5/25/09

Back up to 9 this past week and it felt great. Ran it with Seth and we set a good pace. We're bringing the mileage back up to 10 for this Sunday's run and it will be the last long run of our training. Hard to believe it's been about three and a half months since we started this. We've run in freezing cold and blazing hot and pretty much everything in between. I feel ready. So far during training I have run a total of over 240 miles. At the end of training we will have run over 300 total miles. That's crazy!

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Training Update #12 - 5/20/09

This week we dropped back in the mileage to only 7 miles. I was planning to run with the group up in Portsmouth, but some unexpected happenings kept me in Georgetown for the day looking after the chillerins. Since we don't have a triple jogging stroller (and I really don't want one) I ended up skipping the run on Sunday and made up for it by doing a solo 7.5 mile run on Monday. I took the route Seth and I had done the previous week and chopped off one of the extension loops to get to 7.5. It was a great run, but I felt my hamstrings tightening up a tad on the last half mile and start to cramp up. Since then I've been doing nightly stretching and stretching longer after my runs. So far everything feels good. I had my first dream about the race last night - must mean it's on my mind more than I thought.

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Training Update #11 - 5/11/09

After planning two different routes for Seth and I to take this past Saturday for our 10 mile run we ended up abandoning both due to me leading us down the wrong path for the first two miles. We pieced together a route that took us across the highway and back and through three towns before ending at the house a little short of the full 10 miles, which was OK by me since I had only run about 12 total in the past two weeks. No more taking time off, and definitely no more skipping the long runs. This sunday will be only be 7 miles for our long run but I think I might extend it to do 10 again so I can get the legs ready. I don't want to be caught unprepared in June.

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Training Update #10 - 4/20/09

Yesterday's 8 miles felt fantastic, in spite of a sick looking blister that developed on the arch of both feet. I could feel the blister on my left foot from the first time my foot hit the ground to the last step of the run, but the little hit with ever stride took my mind off the hill repeat we had at the beginning of the run and the 6 miles that followed. The weather could not have been better. 40 degrees with bright blue skies and warm sun and just enough wind to keep you cool. Walking into work today I passed by at least 20 people with Boston Marathon bags on their shoulders heading to Hopkinton for the start of the race. While I have no ambition to run Boston it was inspiring to see the mix of athletes making their way to the busses for the ride to the start. Should be a good day for running today, too.

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Training Update #9 - 4/13/09

After taking last week off due to a cold I came back this Saturday and ran 8 miles with Ken, Seth and Scott. It was a great day to run - just around 36 degrees but no snow or rain. I was definitely tired after the 8 miles and developed a couple small blisters on my feet, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We're looking at 8 more this weekend, and I need to get my mid-week runs in so I'm ready. Even though I didn't pass out during the 8 miles I could tell that taking a week off from running made a huge difference in how good I felt at the end of the run.

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Training Update #8 - 3/23/09

Cold. Rainy. Windy. That was yesterday. The temp was around 36 degrees and it was either raining or drizzling the whole time. Oh, and we did a hill repeat at the end. OH!! and we ran 7 miles. Great feeling of accomplishment at the end, and again the furthest I have ever run in my life, but I could've done without the weather. At least the shoulder didn't hurt too bad. I put on a layer of bio-freeze before we went out and that lasted to about mile 5. Helped with the soreness. All in all a good run in spite of everything.

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Training Update #7 - 3/23/09

6 more miles yesterday for our training run, and guess when the sun decided to poke out - right as we crossed the finish line. It was good run, not as good as last week's run, but good nonetheless. I woke up that morning with a stiff neck and it bugged me all through the 6 miles, and my legs felt pretty tired, but I muscled through it and felt better at the end than in the beginning. Next week is 7 miles - it'll be the same loop with an extra half mile out and back extension to get us to 7 miles. Researching fuel belts now, gonna need one over the next few weeks and on race day.

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Training Update #6 - 3/16/09

Do you know how far six miles is? Do me a favor and the next time you leave your house reset your trip odometer and pay attention when it rolls over to 6 miles. I ran that far yesterday!! Never in my life did I think I could run for an hour straight, but I did it. And the kicker is that I felt GREAT afterward! A little soreness in the legs, but nothing a bag of frozen corn and some rest couldn't fix. Bring on 13.1 miles!!

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Training Update #5 - 3/9/09

The group run this week was 5 miles and it felt great. I ended up running in the new shoes I got last week and I developed a small blister on my left foot, but the pain in my shins I felt earlier in the week running on the treadmill didn't return. I'll try running in these for the rest of the week and see if the break-in takes that blister away. I officially crossed over my fundraising goal on Saturday when the raffle check posted. It feels good, but I am not done yet - I have 3 months left before the race and I don't think I'll give up on the fundraising until race day, so if you are reading this and you haven't donated yet please donate whatever you can! Counting the 5 miles we did yesterday I should end up at around 16 miles for the week if I do 3,4,4 for the rest of the week. Until next time...

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Training Update #4 - 3/3/09

Snow was expected on Sunday so I took my weekly long run on Saturday with Scott. We ended up running 4.4 miles. It was a little windy, so we took a route through downtown Portsmouth instead of the out and back run that we usually do taking us toward the water.

Also hit a fundraising milestone on Friday. A raffle I was running at work wrapped up and I took in over $400. The check is on the way to be processed, but with that amount I am over my minimum for the fundraising. Because of that I am upping my personal goal by $1000. Let's see if I can hit $3500!

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Training Update #3 - 2/23/09

We had our second group training yesterday. Luckily the weather was a bit warmer than last week, but unluckily I wasn't feeling so hot. We still powered through our 3 mile run and I felt great after finishing. Now all I need to do is run 10 miles on top of the 3 and I'll be at half-marathon distance!

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Training Update #2 - 2/18/09

Heading out in about 20 min to do my 2 miles for today. The training schedule has us running 4 days a week with the long run on Sunday with the group, and cross training 2 days. I'm taking my off day on Mondays. This week's long run is 3 miles. So far so good!

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Training Update #1

The KickOff meeting was held last night up in Portsmouth. We met our coach, mentors and other team members who will be running with us as well as members of the Tri and Bike teams.

The first group run is Sunday - a 2 miler to get things moving. From now on I am in training mode.

Today's agenda is cross-training. Hoping I can get on a bike at some point, although I may have to opt for the jump rope and some strength stuff at home.