Goodbye 2010! What a wonderful year it was! A year of running events, travel to 10 cities & 2 other countries, and started new adventures. Looking at the Dailymile graphic above, I *only* ran 431.21 miles. I should be at the 1000 mark, considering I did 5 marathons, but I didn’t really do any midweeks (oops!). It’s interesting to see the spikes and dips in my training though. I’ll also recap the major milestones and highlights of 2010 here:
Read More
Just a few days ago, my Athens Greece trip ended (more on that later). Today was our first session for the Team in Training IronTeam 2011 season. Everyone was shy at first, just like all first classes or first sessions of anything, but there were some opportunities to mingle and chat. Met a wide range of endurance sport experiences from beginner swimmers (like me), people who have done century rides, people who have only done a 10k run, people who haven’t bought a bike yet, people who have joined for the cause, and people who are transitioning from the TNT tri team.
Once it started, we did a quick intro roundabout with the staff and coaches, then talked about what to expect. After mentor breakout sessions, there was a bicycle 101 by Helen’s Cycles talking about our bike options and accessories. Very helpful & exciting stuff! Can’t wait to see what the road lies ahead!
Read More
It’s been 20 months since my last update on this blog, and so much has happened since! I didn’t get to recap most of my races during this time so I will have to post them later as “flashback” entries. So what have I been up to? I’ve done 8 half marathons and 6 full marathons. One of which is still my favorite to date, The Anchorage Alaska Full Mayor’s Marathon. The course was absolutely beautiful, clean air, nice small town destination race. I’ve also been on track to get the Rock N Roll Rock Legend Medal, which you get if you do 7 Rock N Roll Events in a year. This year I’ve done 6 (3 full and 3 half marathons) so far, and of those events, RNR Chicago was my favorite. A few days ago I completed my 10th marathon in Athens, Greece. It was a huge 2,500 anniversary celebration of the Battle of Marathon, and it ended at the first Olympic Stadium – one event not to forget! So much to tell you all! I’ll recap all of my past events later, but now I just wanted to get up to speed for this blog because there are many big things coming up!
Read More
Sorry for the lack of updates, it’s been pretty busy with the new summer marathon season, which is already at week 5! As you can see from the screenshot above, I’ve been busy creating and maintaining that website. During the season, I will update fundraising updates on the Westside LA TNT Marathon Blog, and I will post updates on my training here.
Week 5 practice tomorrow will be in Marina Del Rey, one of my favorite running spots. It’s not too busy and it’s relatively flat. The tough part about tomorrow is the it’s Daylight Saving’s Time adjustment so it’s really 7am instead of 8am. I’m so glad to be back in Team In Training though, especially as a mentor. I love helping people out, and so far it’s been a great season. Everyone is so friendly & energetic (as always).
Read More
The Westside LA Chapter of Team in Training is now accepting participants! I will be the Web Captain for this season and I can’t wait to get started! If you’re interested, below is where you can get more information.
Please join us for one of our upcoming information meetings to learn more about our fundraising and training program.
Upcoming information meetings:
Tuesday, January 13th at 7:00 pm
Sporteve
3849 Main St, Culver City
Sunday, January 18th at 10:30 am
Niketown
9560 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills
Wednesday, January 21st at 6:30 pm
Will and Ariel Durant Library
7140 W. Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood
Sunday, January 24th at 10:30 am
Montana Branch Library
1704 Montana Ave, Santa Monica
If you cannot attend the meeting or would like more information about Team In Training please contact Kristen McManus at (310) 846-4727.
Together we are saving lives one mile at a time!
Read MoreMy first EVER athletic event was a 5k WALK for diabetes. I didn’t think anything of it back then, but seriously, I had a hard time doing that. A few years ago, my friend got me to run around the block a few times with her, and it was hell! It was probably only a mile. Seeing how poorly I ran, I decided to sign up for the Nike Run Hit Remix 5 Miler. The only training I did was on a treadmill. I finished that (with a very bad time), but I wanted something more. So I signed up for the Long Beach Half Marathon. I was semi-dedicated, still treadmill training. When I finished that, I thought to myself, if I could do a half, I could do a full!
That’s when I signed up for TNT and my life changed from there. I’m always setting new goals for myself. The first season was to FINISH. The second was to help others. The third was to break my PR (personoal record). I’ll be back one more year, but I’m contemplating on an even greater challenge for 2010, a triathlon. I don’t know how to swim, I haven’t rode a bike in YEARS.
I guess I understand why people do some of the more extreme endurance events, like the Ironman Triathlon, or the AIDS Life cycle from SF to LA, or even ultra marathons of 50 or 100 miles. They probably started off like me, and just accomplished each goal that they achieve.
Here’s a sport preview of a film called “Indulgence“, following the training of an ultra marathoner Anton (Tony) Krupicka.
Read MoreA few days ago, I was notified that I got accepted to be a Team In Training Web Captain / Mentor! Wonder what that slash is for? I guess I’m a hybrid position because captains are not supposed to have any mentees, but I will (but half as many as the other mentors). I get the best of both worlds I guess.
What does a Web Captain do? Basically I will create and update the team’s website such as: team news, staff bios, fundraising, information about the cause, links, events, and more. In the next few weeks I will be working hard to redesign the site (as with Running Without Music’s layout), but not only just the design, but rethink the UI navigation, and think of ways to make the site a little more automated and easy to update. The challenge? I don’t have full access to the hosting that it’s on, so I’ll have to be creative about that.
When I was a mentor a few seasons ago, I pretty much held the same position but I was officially a mentor with online duties. I was thinking, this position was mainly about updating the site, and pushing information to the team. This time around? I want to evolve the position into something a little more than that. I’ll tie in social media tools such as Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook to connect all our team, so that information can easily be communicated. There is a wealth of knowledge across not only our LA team, but across the USA with all the TNT chapters out there. Why not use it? I’ve already contacted some TNT folks from New York, San Francisco, and Florida to help brainstorm new ideas for fundraising. We’re living in an Internet age, let’s use it to it’s full potential.
Read MoreRemember the movie, Cool Runnings, about the Jamaican track runners who decided to do a bob sled team? I previously posted about motivation, and here’s a scene from the movie where they would look themselves in the mirror and get hyped up.
Sometimes it takes just that to jump start your runs, especially at the big event. Maybe not as extreme as that, but that little voice in your head can do wonders.
Read MoreRunning full and half marathons, jogging along the beach, spin classes at 24Hr Fitness, and row classes. I love to do all these things, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. Five years ago, I wouldn’t even think about doing any of these things. I thought I probably would be married, have a few children, and settling down.
Thinking during Spin Class the other day, I realized that this is what I used to do as a child. I remember back in first grade, I would race my friend around the playground, probably showing off in front of the girls nearby. In elementary school, I LOVED riding my bike everywhere. I would bike a few miles just to buy baseball cards. The neighborhood I was in was fairly safe, so my parents would let my friends and I bike everywhere within reason. We would go from the park to my friend’s house, and so on. I guess it’s my childhood memories that are pulling me back to my running and biking roots.
Read More
A few months ago, people from my marathon team did a group outing of a movie called Spirit of the Marathon. I never got around to it when it was out in theaters, so I was glad to see it released on DVD and iTunes. Late last night, I decided to rent it off iTunes, and stayed up until 2:30am watching it. The movie is a documentary following 6 different endurance athletes of different levels, training for the Chicago Marathon, which is a well known course for setting PRs and its great energy. The athletes are: Ryan Bradley – Boston Hopeful, Leah Caille – First-Time Marathoner, Deena Kastor – 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist, Jerry Meyers – Four-Time Marathoner, Daniel Njenga – World Class Marathoner, and Lori O’Connor – First-Time Marathoner. It truly captures the essence of marathons, from training, to health, down to the excitement of the race, to the heartbreak of getting an injury. If you’ve ever ran a marathon before, thinking about doing one, you should definitely watch it! Even if you have no interest in it, but know of someone, this will help you understand what they went through, and what kinds of thoughts they have all throughout training.
You read more about the movie here, or download it on iTunes. You won’t regret it!
Read More
