Booked it...

Hey...booked my room at La Cantera today...have an open double bed if anyone needs a place to stay. I'm super excited!

Rewards?

Hold the phone...didn't know I was going to have to give stuff up for this! Lindsey, you can resist jelly beans? Does it make me less of a runner to crave chocolate at each mile marker? Just kidding!

I'm totally on board with this...it makes it all the sweeter when you get your prize at the end. Rebecca showed me an article about 2 moms who ran in a marathon and one of the moms chose to give herself $1/mile in training. She ended up with something like $800 I think. She also promised herself NOT to buy anything for her kiddos. (something VERY hard for me to do). After all her shopping, though, she had some extra cash and decided to get them a little something. Pretty cool reward I think...

I have been so excited about my runs this week. I ran 30 mins. on M, T, Th, F and then a 3 miler this morning. The treadmill says that I am running a 9:40/mile. I know that I'm slower when I run outside though...except when I ran beside a snake this morning on Oso Parkway! I may have run more like a 7 minute mile for about 1/2 a mile! ;)

Every day, but today, has been pretty smooth sailing...I'd hate to say "easy" but I think that I will be challenged more when I get into the longer runs. Today, though, I learned that having a marg the night before a run is a bad idea! Maybe THAT could be may reward! A margarita at the finish line! ;)

LJ, count me in on the shirts! I think that's a great idea. Rebecca, any luck with the nickname?

I'm going to add another run in on Wednesday, even though my training schedule says to rest. You think that's OK? Also...if I know that I can't make a run b/c of traveling, should I count that as a rest day and make it up on one of my real rest days?

My plan this week is to hit 30 mins on M, T, Th, F. 40 mins on Wed. and a 4 miler on Sat. Sunday - rest

Looking forward to hearing about your runs!
A-train

Sweet Threads

Team Boomer sent me a ton of cool gear yesterday. Included in my packet was a longsleeve navy team boomer under armor shirt, a matching short sleeve one, a matching navy hat, and a pair of Nike navy running shorts...Cold or hot, I'm set for the race. I also recieved a hundred light blue plastic bracelets and pamphlets, which y'all will be getting next time I see you:)
Here's the inspirational part of all this-they included their newsletter that tells about all the things people are doing for the cause...one man is doing the iron man Hawaii to celebrate the sixth anniversary of his double lung transplant, 2 kids with cystic fibrosis just recieved scholarships to run cross country in college, a football camp (it is the Boomer Esasion foundation) camp is being held to promote fitness for children living with CF. I read an article about the guy who sent me the packet, he's 51 and living with CF and says that fitness is the only thing that has kept him alive.
My schedule for this week matches last week 2 sixes, an eight, a four, and a fifteen, and maybe a swim.
Oh, and last week in running I saw the following- ten soldiers in full gear with packs and all marching on town lake in the heat, a lady in a wheel chair pushing herself up a large hill at race speed, a kid with down syndrome running along side his mom, a dad pushing a double running stroller and the children looking happy as can be, and at least a dozen American flags! God is everywhere! Blog done- LJ

First of Many

I forgot how hard it is the first time you increase your milage, but today I officially did my first real long run of my training, and mentally I had to push. The last mile was really the most difficult for me because I had to pass our street and go around the block...Mike was outside with the dog and I just wanted to run over and collapse in the yard, but I resisted. I kept telling myself that it was only eight more minutes of my life, and even Mike can run for eight minutes. Sometimes I use people that I think have no discipline to challenge myself. It was slow at the end, but I DID IT! I have one more fifteen miler before I increase to eighteen, so I'll be doing a lot of icing (not the cake kind) from here on out to decrease my recovery time.

Did y'all check out the links I added. The one with the coach yelling is one I love. Sometimes going up a hill or at the end of a run when I feel like there is nothing left in me I can hear his voice in my head saying, "You promised me your best!" The Ninja and Learattack and I tried to do the crawl at Bible study one week...Sarah thinks she can do anything (hence the name attack) and didn't think it looked that hard. We couldn't do it.

Last tidbit of info...Candice has signed up for the half too, and Kirby might actually come to Denver with me and do the half there. Running fever is contagious. Oh, and I promised Mike that we would start training the PX90, I'm eager to see how it compliments my running, even though it seems like a lot to commit to on top of marathon training. I'll tell you how it goes. Happy trails-Learjet