ITS ON! Racing to Save Lives

If you're wondering why I have decided to spend the winter running through rain, snow and the freezing cold to train to run a 26.2 mile marathon...you're not the only one.

May 2nd, 2010

Marathon!!!

Well, after six months of training......marathon day came!

Waking up at 4:30 to eat a power breakfast of bagels and peanut butter, I went downstairs to join my team in getting on schoolbuses and heading to the start line. The race didn't officially start until 7:30, so two hours was spent sharing nervous energy with the thousands of other people milling about.

At 7:15, we all made our way to the start line. In Canada you don't line up according to your time so everyone just bunches together at the front. This means that when the starting shot goes off someone running a ten minute mile and someone running a four minute mile will be next to each other. This basically means that if you're the one running the ten minute mile you're about to get run over.

I decided to safely wait on the side where I wouldn't be in some speed demons way.

The starting shot sounded and people took off!

At the same time, the sky opened and began to pour.

Being that my favorite running weather is rain, I was ecstatic.

Other people, not so much and by mile 5 I saw people removing their water logged shoes and running barefoot...no joke.

My personal cheering squad, consisting of my parents and a huge handmade sign, calculated exactly where I would be on the course based on my pace and met up with me about every six miles.

This made things so much more fun as I got to see them along the way. My cheering squad even got their own cheering squad as people began to recognize them along the way and people ahead of me would shout back, "your parents are awesome, they're up ahead!"

The run was beautiful, along the water, through Vancouver's gorgeous Stanley Park and along English Bay. The rain did not let up for the whole time, it just vascillated between a light mist and a torrential downpour.

The whole race was the most incredible experience and I loved every minute.

The only difficult part was mile 23 when you are so close to the end and exhausted and you hit a bridge which you need to run up to get to the finish line.

With an elevation of 150 ft., the Burrard Bridge is the last thing you want to see at mile 23. Luckily, my awesome Team in Training Coach, Christine, was there to jump over the barricade and run up that hill with me. At the top she gave me one last piece of advice, "give it all you've got!" That did it and I ran the last two miles down to the finish line.

The entire season was one of the most amazing experiences and I couldn't have asked for anything more out of my race.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated and helped along the way!

March 21st

19 Miles 3:08

March 14th

16.5 Miles+torrential downpours

March 7th

14 Miles

February 28th

10 miles

February 14th

13.5 miles-----2.5 hours Central Park, NY

February 7th

My first race!!! 4 Mile Gridiron Classic in Central Park

+ another 7 miles! = 11 miles---time:1:40!!!!!

Temperature:17 degrees!!!!

February 5th

http://susanlapin.typepad.com/susans-musings/2010/02/my-nosweat-marathon.html

just a little unbiased point of view...

February 3rd -- Training Update

I know, I know, training started eight weeks ago already, what am I doing with my first update now? The answer to this basically sums up my experience in the past few weeks.

When you decide to participate in something like a marathon it is essetially the equivilant of kissing good bye to any semblance of life outside of that event. I started to pick up on this when I mentioned to a friend who has done marathons before that I signed up to run in one. She congratulated me and then asked when the event was. When I answered, "May,"she smiled and said "great, see you in June then."That's basically what training has been like.

I showed up to the first night of practice with the longest distance under my belt being the grand total of three miles, and even that left me feeling very proud of myself. The notion that running three miles would cut it, got put down very quickly as I learned that 3 miles runs are referred to as "easy runs"that you do on "off days."

The distance was not the only scary thing about practicing, I also very quickly had to get used to the temperatures of these runs. Coming from Seattle, you can bring on the rain but when the temperature dips below forty, I'd really rather be inside.

The first week of practice was a bit intimidating as the one thing it had never occured to me to do when the temperature hits twenty degress is to take off my coat and run around Central Park, but that's exactly what we did. If you're ever walking in the park at night and you see a group of fifty plus people run by in a blur that would be us. And, it really does help to show up to practice and realize you're not the only crazy one.

As I watched the temperatures drop from November to December and through January from twenty to sometimes ten degrees with a wind chill of negetive zero, I learned that if you really care about something you can force yourself to do just about anything. The day has actually come where I will check the temperature and if it's twenty-five degrees with no wind, I'll rejoice in a "warm run"and leave the gloves inside.

Most shocking to me, those three mile runs really do feel like "easy runs". This past weekend I completed my first two-digit run, running ten miles around Central Park in 1 hour 50 minutes in 16 degrees.This upcoming weekend I will be running my first official race!

At almost every practice someone who has battled a blood cancer or is undergoing chemo now is there to not only speak about their journey, but most of the ones I've met are running and training with us as well; talk about motivation!

For anyone who thinks that slow and steady efforts do not pay off, this is proof that anything you set your mind to and really work hard at is within your grasp.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me so far!!! It really means so much to me!!!!

I'll keep the updates coming, hopefully the next one will be before the next ten-mile marker! :)

How I got started:

I've always been interested in running a marathon but somehow I always found a really good reason to push it off. A few weeks ago I showed up at an information session by accident when one started in a store I was shopping at and I got stuck. I'm still unsure how this happened, but I left signed up to run the Vancouver Full Marathon. (Just a warning, be very careful where you shop, stay aware or you may find yourself signed up for the race of your life.)

What drew me in initially was the challenge of running my first marathon but I am now being spurred on by something much bigger than just a marathon. I have become a part of the best team of motivated, dedicated and incredible people and this season we will raise over $2 million dollars together for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Unfortunately, as the reality is, we all know someone who has been affected by cancer. When I think of the daily struggles that these people go through, it makes training for a marathon seem like nothing and raising money for the LLS that much more important.

Together with my Team In Training teammates we will reach out to people like you and completely rely on your incredibly kind donations to reach our goal.

When I tell you that every dollar counts, I'm not just being cliche. Every single donation that you can give, makes the biggest difference to finding a cure for cancer.

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!

Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. I will be updating it all season with stories of training and how things are going.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!