12 Miles...almost half way there to 26.2

The notion of running 12 miles had me psyched out all week. Running miles in the double digits now is the norm, but this is the first time in my life I have run 12 miles. I made sure I got my GU (god awful stuff...but we are suppose to feed ourselves every 45 minutes, less we bonk) and my water ready for the run. Since we did not have enough water volunteers...we got to run the "less fun route." We started out at Ocean Beach and ran our typical course through the park and once entering the Panhandle verved left...making our way to picturesque Lake Street all the way to 23rd avenue before turning around and running all the way back. The pace was good and the weather perfect - nice and foggy and with some mist to cool us down. Throughout Golden Gate park, folks were setting up for tomorrow's San Francisco marathon. We actually flagged down the Red Bull gals and got our drink on...with only 2 more miles to go...(apparently drinking Red Bull is a no no in marathon training as it has been known to make people have the runs...I doubt anyone wants to be the one who needs to wear "oops I pooped my pants" while running (Saturday Night Live skit). The run was one of the best to date and as we climb higher into the double digits, it becomes less daunting.

Only 3 more weeks left to make my fundraising goal...so PLEASE DONATE to my marathon.
(Mom and Dad...hint hint)

I'm off to take my nap....zzzzzzzzzzz

He who hesitates is a damned fool... -- Mae West

10 miles...ummm what happened to the alarm clock?

Are you serious we are running 10 miles???!!!!...Yes that was my reaction when I got the email saying we were going to be in the double digits. We just conquered 8 so logically we were only suppose to run 9 miles right? Well someone obviously has not read their training manual very well. Believe you me, I know it by heart now.
Ok, my partner in crime (Misty) and I went to our friend Callum's party the night before at Roe and had a grand 'ole time. (Great party Callum!)
So Misty and I made a pact that if we were too tired to go run Saturday that we would get our sorry butts up at 7am on Sunday and go for our run and that is exactly what we did. The weather was awesome but I can tell you that it was really hard to get motivated, not only that we could not figure out the timing on her brand new running watch...it was comical.
Thank goodness we are back to our group training this Saturday...12 miles this week...definitely
need to get that goo stuff so I can go the distance. Yes the stuff tastes god awful, but it comes in
tiny packages that won't weigh you down...and frankly after running anything tastes good.

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
W. H. Auden

8 Miles this week...a breeze

Another fogged in morning in San Francisco, but it was not as cold as last weekend. Our fearless leader Todd was there and I felt good about the run we were about to do. We started off at Ocean beach and ran past the buffalo in the park (they were no fools...snug warm in their pens), the flower conservatory was at the 3 mile point and the 4 mile point was at the pan handle. Everyone was in good spirits and it was a pretty flat course, which was AWESOME....no hills coach John! Thanks a bunch.

Overall this was one of the best routes to date...buffalo, a babbling brook, and waterfalls, who knew that Golden Gate park had all this to offer.

This was the first week we got fed after our run...celery with peanut butter never tasted so good. Yum.

Whoever is happy will make others happy too. - Anne Frank

Dad is doing well

As some of you may know, my dad went in this morning for major surgery. It was a success and he is expected to come home in a week. A heartfelt thank you to everyone for their prayers and well wishes.

How far up that hill do we have to go?!!!!

In typical San Francisco Summer weather fashion, the fog was quite thick this morning. So thick that some folks at the training site mistook the "mist" for rain. Needless to say the weather this morning was not exactly a mood enhancer to go run 7 miles.

We were told we were going to be running a new course today...yippee...at least until they finished telling us that we were running up the gianormous Sea Cliff hill up towards the Legion of Honor. 3 Miles of hills....lovely...at this point I wished I had stayed under my warm duvet instead of freezing my butt off waiting to get our group started.

Also our group "leader" (the guy with the Ironman running watch was not there today) but luckily Sarah had her watch and on we went. Can I say stairmaster has nothing on this hill...it was neverending...once we ran past the Cliff House and up the hill....it just kept going and going for 3 miles until we got to the Legion of Honor. We got a reprieve for a bit when we got to run down the hill next to the golf course, but then our glee quickly disappeared once we knew that we had to turn around and come back up the darn thing.

Needless to say once we got the the 4 mile point...it literally was all downhill and flat from that point on. Thank goodness! This run was definitely the most difficult to date, but keeping with our 4 minute 1 minute run walk ratio, we finished in an hour and 28 minutes; 4 minutes slower than our pace of 12 minute miles...not too bad with the hills...coach John said "you are not even sweating!" as I finished. Yeah, piece of cake :P

Next Saturday is 8 miles and we get to run through Golden Gate Park. Perhaps we will run by the buffalo again...yes we have buffalo in Golden Gate Park.

Blogging for dummies

Ok. So I finally am getting the hang of this blogging thing...well not really. I am still trying to figure out how to link things. Hopefully I will have everything figured out by next week so everyone can see my new blog.

I am sure amazon has a book "blogging for dummies."

Week 5 of SF Aid's Marathon Training

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."-John Bingham

It is hard to believe that I have already completed a month of training for the Florence Marathon! We still have 5 months to go before hitting the pavement in Florence Italy, November 25, 2007. Thank you to my college buddy Hal Marz for getting me involved with this great cause.

This Saturday we will be running 7 miles...only 19.2 miles to train for. I finally got on the ball this week and got my email solicitation out to a few of my friends and family. Thank you's go out to Sean Murphy of Abbott and to Jorge Maumer to be the first folks to sponsor me. Thank you very much!

I need to raise $4200 by August 17, 2007 so please donate to my marathon run. This blog will be updating on a weekly basis to let everyone know how the training is going and my progress - aches and pains - along the way.