8 miles of smiles!

I was nervous heading out for today's 8 mile run as my training has been lacking lately, to say the least. I hadn't run since attempting 7 miles (and completing 5) last Saturday due to a chest infection, and hadn't run at all the week before that in an attempt to heal my left shin... come on body, keep up with me!

Anyways, today's run ended up being my favorite so far this summer, so maybe this 'rest time' did me some good. That, and the fact that it was only 24°C when we set out for the park at 6:45 this morning. Catching up with two of my mentees along the way made the time fly by. It wasn't the best in terms of pace (the heat seems to have slowed me down about a min/mile compared to my winter training), but I felt the best that I have in a long time- despite Harlem Hill! No side stitch, WOO! I like to think that my pre-long run fuel of Shake Shack contributed to today's success :)

Here's a look at a the route...


This run has started to restore my love of running. I'm now looking forward to the JackRabbit Battle of Brooklyn 10 miler on August 21st. And also to my 'snazzy JackRabbit "Circle Skyline" technical tee shirt'. It's all about the race shirts.

If only I didn't have to be up at 6 am tomorrow to run...

Four Weeks In and Half Way There!

Yesterday's long run took place along the Hudson river, a nice flat run with gorgeous views of the Hudson.  My teammates and I met bright and early in Central Park at 7 a.m., and heard a heartbreaking inspirational mission moment.  Not only has one of our teammates recently lost her second brother to leukemia, she also lost her mother to a stroke just weeks later.  Her story was passed on to the Team by our mission captain, who passed around cards for words of support.  I can't even begin to imagine the pain that she must be enduring at this time.  Despite all that she is going through, she is continuing to train for the NYC marathon.  She trains to stop leukemia from taking more lives.

Her story carried two of my mentees through their longest runs ever- 6 miles.  As our longest run before the Hampton's half marathon will be 12 miles or less, we're already half way there in terms of our distance.   In the last few weeks we've been working on our running form and cadence.  We'll now start focusing on effort levels before the grueling hill workouts begin.  Here's a look at yesterdays run:



I also thought I'd share my 5 mile route in Chicago from the 4th of July weekend- an amazing run along Lake Michigan and up into the Northwestern University's campus.  I miss Chicago already!

Summer Running!

This blog post is coming to you from my new and improved balcony (pics to follow)!  It's getting hot and humid in NYC, so I'm taking salvation in the breeze 14 floors up from the craziness of the streets below.  


Running in this weather feels so much harder than my winter training for the More Half Marathon, which is a bit frustrating in terms of the pace I'm now able to maintain.  I decided to make a list of 'summer running essentials' (gear that helped me survive training for the NYC marathon last summer), to send out to my newbie mentees (I'm up to 10 now!).  Here it is...

Also, here's a link to my favorite running store website: http://www.runningwarehouse.com/.  I'm a huge fan of the cheap prices, free 2 day shipping and free returns.  I'm also a huge fan of the extra 10% discount you can get by entering the code 'RWJUNE11' at checkout!  


I'm now 90 days away from the Hampton's Half Marathon!  Please help me reach my goal of raising $500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by clicking here:  http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/hampton11/etylerfydz


I'll also be crafting for a cure again with handmade cards, paintings, and my latest creations- hand painted wine glasses!  Orders welcome :)

I'm doing it again!

Welcome back to my blog!  I've just signed up for my second season of Team in Training, and am excited to be volunteering as a mentor while training for the Hamptons Half Marathon.  But first, it's time for a long overdue update.  So here are big races I've run since my last post...


1.  The 2010 Nike Women's Half Marathon- San Fransisco.

2.  The 2010 NYC marathon- New York!

3.  The 2011 More Women's Half Marathon- New York.

THANK YOU for all of your generous donations, support and encouragement, without which I would never have made it the 39.3 miles in San Francisco and New York that I set out to run in 2010.  Together we raised $4,105.50 that will help fund life-saving research and patient services! 

I had such an amazing 6 months training with Team in Training.  Hearing inspirational stories from fellow teammates who were running to continue the battle against blood cancers that their loved ones had lost, and from honored teammates who have beat the disease and want to give back, made me appreciate your support more and more at each practice.  

One of the most incredible moments of the whole season was walking the ‘red carpet’ to our inspiration dinner the night before the race in San Francisco.  The red carpet was surrounded by hundreds of people cheering for all the TNTers.  This man, holding the poster saying ‘I’m a Survivor Because of You’, was shouting “Thank you, thank you, thank you” to all of the participants as we made our way towards the room.  I wanted to pass his thanks on to you and to show you how every one of your donations makes a huge difference in patients’ lives. 

 I also couldn’t have done this without my running buddies.  They kept me going the whole way when all I wanted to do was close my eyes and fall asleep at the side of the marathon course!  Here’s a picture of us approaching mile 21- still smiling!

One last ‘thank you’  to everyone who came out in the cold and cheered me on during the NYC marathon, especially to my mum and sister for coming all the way out here, and for carbo-loading with me their whole stay!


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I hope that you'll follow my continuing journey with the Team as I begin to train for the Hamptons half.  I'll need your support to do it all again!  You can click here to help me do it: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/hampton11/etylerfydz

Ella

I've got 18 miles under my (fuel) belt!

This morning I completed my first (and possibly last) 18 miler in the ING New York City Marathon Tune-Up!  The race was 3 laps of Central Park, which unfortunately meant we had to climb Harlem Hill (the steepest in the park) 3 times too!  It was a tough one.  At the start line an exploding Gu managed to cover me from head to toe (literally, I had Gu in my hair and somehow even Gu in my sock!), making for a sticky 18 miles.  Let me tell you, Gu chafes.   There's definitely power in numbers... if I was running on my own I would have been responding to my thoughts 'I'm tired' and 'I want to walk'  with  'Go ahead, walk, noone will know'.  I definitely needed the Team, and especially my running buddies to motivate me to keep going.  I'm really proud of all of us for finishing strong, on top of making it all 18 miles without any walk or pee breaks!  Here's a look at the run:


The race was good to practice taking water from the fuel stations- being able to drink from a paper cup while running and without inhaling any of the content is really an art form!  I made the decision that I can live without my fuel belt on race day- so I'll be running the marathon without all of the weight around my waist that I've been training with.  I also gave the jelly tots a test drive.  This is what you get after running with them in your back pocket for a few hours- I powdered the sugar!

 
After lots of gatorade and an ice bath, I made my way down to Chelsea for a sports massage.  I guess you can't expect one massage to work miracles, but I feel sorer now than I did before trekking down there.  I'm currently struggling with the question "is a McDonalds ice cream worth the pain of getting out of bed and waddling 2 blocks?".  I think it might be.  

Fundraising Countdown- 2 weeks to go!

The Brooklyn Indie Market was a washout.  Judging by the thunderstorms at my first CPK fundraiser and the miserable day that occurred on Sunday, the weather gods clearly don't want me to reach my fundraising goal!  So now I have 2 weeks and just under $800 to go until I reach my goal of raising $3,900 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society- eeek!  You can click HERE to help me do it!

Here's a photo of my market stall.  The market was a bit of a ghost town, so Melinda and I unfortunately ended up carrying practically everything we'd made back to my apt, where I'll be hosting a clearance sale this weekend to try and get rid of the stuff!  Big thanks to Andy for helping carrying everything to Brooklyn, to Melinda for helping me with the crafting and spending all day at the market with me, and to my running buddies Sindy and K for coming out to the market, hanging out and contributing to the cause!

I skipped the long the run last weekend as my ankle had been bothering me.  It was feeling fine yesterday, until I ran 5 miles on it!  At last nights GTS we had a pacing workout, where were supposed to increase our milage ~10 secs/mile to focus on the difference in speed and heart rate with subtle pace changes.  Maybe I was just having a bad night, but it really made me re-think my marathon goal!  Ideally I'd now like to finish sub 5 hours, but I know that the main focus needs to be enjoying my first marathon, and crossing the finish line healthy and happy!

On Monday I bought a months membership to Crunch gym on Groupon, so I'll be busy cross training (and icing, ibuprofen-ing and resting) until the 18 miler on Sunday.  Luckily I found jelly tots at Fairway on Monday, so those should make a nice change from the Gu and keep me going when it gets tough!  Three loops of the park will be a challenge... I hope K has her stories ready!