Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page!

(May 22, 2010. TNT's Fall 2010 Kick-Off Party. Honored Team Member John and me)

My name is Connie Lee and I am training to participate in the Denver Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on October 17, 2010 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

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

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

About Me

I'm 26 years old and grew up in Albuquerque, NM. Attended Sandia High School and graduated from UNM. I would not consider myself a runner by any means, but I had a goal of running a half marathon this year and when I heard about Team In Training I thought it was the perfect way to do it! I'm excited for all the challenges these next few months are going to bring and am ready to face them to support LLS. GO TEAM!

Running Blog

09/25/10 Week 18: 10.5 miles! Personal distance record! This will be the furthest we'll run until race day. Only 2.6 miles to go! This week we ran around the Los Ranchos/Bosque/Paseo/Alameda area. I loved running through Los Ranchos; so many beautiful houses! The run felt great and I finally feel like a half marathon isn't so impossible afterall!

I can't believe the race in Denver is less than a month away. We received our race jerseys today which was neat! October is going to be full of running: Race for the Cure (10/10), Denver Rock 'n' Roll (10/17), and Day of the Tread (10/24). Busy, busy! I'm so excited and can't wait!

Next week's schedule: 6 miles. It's all down hill from here. Keeping our bodies conditioned but making sure we're rested enough for race day!

09/06/10 Week 15: 10 miles! Personal distance record! This week we ran through the foothills which was nice. The first 4 miles went by pretty quickly because there were different turns we needed to navigate through. The next 4.5 miles were rough because it was just a straight line from Lomas to Montgomery on Tramway. The last 1.5 miles went quickly as it was all down hill. Now, only a 5k is left for completing my half marathon!

Next week's schedule: 6 miles down by the river. It's a recovery week which will be nice. Then we start increasing our mileage again. The most we'll train for before the race is 10miles.

08/22/10 Week 13: 8 miles! The most I've ever run! I was really worried about the run this week because I hadn't kept up with my running homework leading up to the run. Luckily, I made it! We began our run at Wyoming and Paseo. The worst part was the looong stretch uphill on Elena from Wyoming to Eubank. You dont realize how much the elevation changes between Wyoming and Eubank when you're driving, but when you're running...oooh boy. It was hard. I can't believe there's only 5.1 miles between me and my half marathon. I hope I can make it.

Next week's schedule: 9 miles down by the bio park. I'm looking forward to this run because I'm not very familiar with the area, so I think I'll be able to distract my mind with the scenery which usually makes the runs go by faster! =)

08/08/10 Week 11: 6 miles! The run this week was absolutely AMAZING!! We ran at the Jemez Dam which is located on Santa Ana pueblo. This run is called the "right of passage":run and it really felt like a turning point. This was the first time I actually thought, "Hey, I can do this!!" Even when running up the crazy (and I mean insane) hill, I felt totally motivated and booked it. I was also so surprised when I hit the first water stop at 3 miles. It seemed like the first 3 miles just went so quickly! I was so excited when I completed the run and still am!

Crazy moment: At one point during the run I thought, "I wonder if there are snakes out here" since we were running up a mesa in the desert. I brushed the thought aside as I focused on my running. Then when we were being shuttled down the hill after we completed the 6 miles, we saw some members of the walk team stopped along the side of the road. We realized that there was a rattle snake in the road right where we had been running! Thank goodness it wasnt there when I had passed that area. I would have freaked the heck out!

Next week's schedule: 7 miles. That'll be a personal record!

08/02/10 Week 10: 5 miles! We're back to increasing our mileage. This week we ran through the Sandia foothills which was definitely hilly! My trusty ipod got me through it though. Our during-the-week runs have increased to one hour 4x a week versus 45min 4x a week. I got my first run in today, so hopefully I can keep it up! I can't believe we're about half way through our training. Time is flying!

Next week's schedule: 6 miles at Jemez Dam. I've heard that this is one of the hardest yet most rewarding runs, so i'm excited for Saturday!

07/25/10 Week 9: This week was a much needed recovery week. We ran 4 miles starting at Riverpoint to the Open Space at Alameda and back. I've been slacking with my running during the week a little bit, so I was so excited to hear that we were only doing four miles. I almost didn't go to the group run because I felt exhausted when my alarm went off. I pushed through the sleepiness and made it though. It's funny how you start to appreciate the little things like low mileage and overcast. Overcast is my new best friend! It makes running so much more bearable. Recommitment is coming up! Most likely I will recommit and continue with the training.

Next week's schedule: I'm not really sure where we're running or how far, but I know it'll be more than 4 miles. Hopefully I can stop being a slacker and get my during-the-week runs in!

07/12/10 Week 7: another 6 miles! We ran north on Wyoming, east on Elena, south on Holbrook and then west on Paseo back to the Starbucks on Paseo & Wyoming. The stretch of running on Elena was uphill and was definitely tiring, but my friend Teng ran with me and we made it up! After that it was pretty much flat and downhill which felt so great! I felt like I was able to keep a good pace the whole time and didn't feel sick like I did last weekend. Our coaches tell us that at the end of the run we should feel like we could keep running and I did! I felt like I had a couple more miles in me which was neat because that was not the case at all last week.

Next Saturday's schedule: The half marathoners and full marathoners have different schedules now, so I think us half marathoners are going to be in this 6 mile zone for a few weeks which is fine by me!

07/06/10 Week 6: 6 miles!! Personal record! Saturday was bring a buddy day, so Blake came with me. We ran two laps around the Academy. About a year ago, I tried running around the Academy and I made it about a mile before stopping, but this time I finally made it-twice! Doing the uphill stretch was grueling though. Thank goodness for Blake! He was my storage unit (held my phone, keys, and water), my motivational speaker, and my personal ipod. I am so thankful he was there!

Next Saturday's schedule: 6 miles around Paseo and Wyoming. I'm hoping there's not a long stretch uphill again. I know it's good for training, but still, I wouldn't mind if there weren't any hills...ever! It's going to be so weird when we start doing 10, 11, 12 miles and 6 miles will seem like nothin'!

06/20/10 Week 4: This week we did 4 miles at Mariposa Park on the Westside. We ran 4 laps around the park and were timed. I completed my laps in a little over 45 minutes which I was happy about! I have loved seeing the improvement week after week. I think 4 or 5 miles has been the most I've ever run, so pretty soon I'll be breaking personal records!

One of things that I've enjoyed about this program is getting to run at all these different locations. I've lived in Albuquerque most of my life yet most of these places I've never even been to. So while I'm running and supporting this great cause, I'm also getting to explore the city!

Next Saturday's schedule: 75 minutes. I'll be in Las Vegas next weekend celebrating Eric and Rayanna's Bachelor/Bachelorette party, so I won't be running with the Team. But, I must say, 75 minutes sounds like a very long time and makes me kind of nervous!

06/13/10 Week 3 : I wish I would have started this running blog sooner, but better late than never! Yesterday marked the third week of training already! We had a 60 minute session which consisted of a 10 minute warm-up walk, about a 45 minute run, and about a 5 minute cool down. I really focused on keeping a steady pace and, at the end of the run, I actually felt like I could keep going which was great!

After our run, ABQ Running Shop (located at Tramway & Montgomery) hosted a clinic on running shoes. I was in desperate need of a good pair of running shoes and they were such a help. I purchased the pair of Mizunos below and am anxious to try them out on my next run!

Next Saturday's schedule: 4 miles timed