I have to admit. I’m pretty freaking proud of myself. At last night’s practice, we did mile repeats. Basically, you run a mile as fast as you can, recover for about half a mile, and repeat. I remember doing this before and it was HARD, so I wasn’t expecting too much. Now here’s the part where I toot my own horn a little. I was freaking awesome. On a normal slow run, I average about a 10:30 or 11 minute mile. Last night, my first mile was 8:25 (SPEEDY LISA), my second mile was 8:22 (SPEEDIER LISA) and my last was 8:25, which means that I paced myself pretty perfectly, while still pushing myself. On my second mile I was running basically step for step with another woman. I don’t know who she was, but I just tried to keep up with her. And in the end, I beat her. Ok, that wasn’t part of the workout, but it’s still awesome. And the most surprising part of this workout? I felt great when it was all done. Sure I felt like I was going to throw up during the run (coach said we got extra bragging rights if we threw up), but afterwards I was really proud that I pushed myself that little extra bit. If anything this means I should probably pick up the pace a little on my long runs, but we’ll have to see about that one.
Another reason to be proud- I raised $75 just by making cookies. Never under estimate the appeal of a chocolate chip cookie to the average office worker. They literally disappeared. So that brings me just a little bit closer to my goal! WOOHOO! Since it’s August 1st, let’s set a new goal. By the end of August, I want my total to be at $2000, which means I have about $250 left to go. Who wants to put me over the top? DONATE HERE!
In other news, LOOK AT THE KITTY!!!
I’m totally obsessed with him. It’s honestly kind of distracting. I’ve determined that he was definitely not a feral cat. He likes people too much. We’re taking him to the vet on Saturday to make sure he doesn’t have a micro chip. If he’s chip free, then HE’S MINE!!
I’ve been feeling like a real marathoner lately. My runs haven’t been easy, but I found a way to push through and finish strong. I even got up this morning for a recovery run. Monday mornings are hard enough without getting up early to run, but I had to do it. I’ve been feeling kind of crappy the last few weeks post Saturday run, and this is supposed to help. It basically breaks up some of the lactic acid, so your legs don’t feel like lead. So I got up, and went for an easy 30 minute run. And you know what, it felt pretty darn good.
Then it happened. I saw a kitty, so I went to say hello. Normally when I walk up to a cat in the park, they get scared and run away, but this one didn’t. He was purring and I was petting him. Then I picked him up. Long story short, he’s in my apartment right now.
I think I need to stop running through this park. I’m going to end up with a menagerie. I think he's about 6 months old, and he's very curious and not afraid of anything. We're taking name suggestions :)
Seems like there's a lot to talk about. So let's get started.
Who's excited about the Olympics, huh? I love the Olympics! Admittedly, the opening ceremonies were a little off, but I think most of that was because the announcers wouldn't just SHUT THE HELL UP. I loved that they talked over the entire Arctic Monkeys performance, telling us how amazing the performance was. Thanks guys. That made total sense.
The thing that I like the most is all the athletes, especially the ones from all the tiny little countries. A lot of these countries have never won a medal, and they probably won't win one in these games, but they show up and compete anyway. That's pretty freaking awesome. And that brings me to my training. No one in our running group is going to win anything, but we show up and do our best. I like to think we're pretty awesome too. That's what marathon running is all about. That and pastries.
I know last week I mentioned that I was going to try some very tasty donuts post run. Well the coach changed the workout because for once, we had some decent cloud cover. So we left the park to run by the Hudson river. Since we were on the west side, and I was running longer than everyone else (I was aiming for 14 to 15 miles), I decided just to continue home. I ran 6 miles out with my group, all the way down to around Canal street, then headed home. I have to admit, after the first 6 miles, I didn't think I was going to make it. Time felt like it was going so slowly. I would look at my watch and only 2 minutes had passed since the last time I checked. I got to about 12 miles and something kicked in. I put in my headphones and said "Let's do this!" I stopped looking at my watch and those last few miles just flew by. Or maybe they felt that way because I was a little bit delirious after all the running. Either way, 16 miles later (I'm bad at math, so I accidentally ran too much) I made it home. I was sweating so much my shoes were making squishy noises. But I made it. And I still got my pastry.
This time I had another chocolate croissant, but this time from a new place in Harlem. It was super tasty, but post run, anything that's not a GU tastes good. I'll definitely go back.
I just got a really nice note from Maggie at the American Cancer Society in Chicago. Thought I would share with everyone:
Hi Lisa,
I just wanted to take a quick second to say CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU for your fundraising efforts thus far. You have already surpassed the fundraising minimum with a couple of months to spare. To me, the fundraising minimum represents a free one-night stay at an American Cancer Society Hope Lodge. This is where my friend, Clif, stayed when he received treatment for a very rare and aggressive form of cancer. The free lodging provided by ACS, and made possible because of people like you, was one less burden for him and his family to worry about as they dealt with his difficult diagnosis. To see how hard you're working and how great your fundraising is going just makes me so thankful to have you on our team. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I'd love to hear what your fundraising goal means to you -- please feel free to share.
I encourage you to continue fundraising all the way until the event (and even the weeks after). I have attached our fundraising incentives so you can see what levels we have. Although earning something like a DetermiNation hoodie is awesome (which it is!), perhaps the biggest incentive you have is to know how your money could be used in the fight against cancer.
Thanks again! I look forward to seeing what your fundraising total is when all is said and done.
Sincerely,
Maggie
So let's not disappoint her. Help me raise more money! Donate here! I'm soooooo close to reaching $2000.00. Let's do it!
I know I haven't talked about yoga much lately, but I don't really think I could continue to run without doing yoga. Last night I had a great class. I love that in yoga you make one tiny little tweak and everything feels different. I feel super stretchy after last night's class. I also notice that I've had more focus lately, and I think this is because of my marathon training. As the runs get longer, and I have to get serious about stretching and my cross training. They'll make all the difference in these last 72(!!!) days.
On another note, who else is super excited about the Olympics? I sure am! Maybe I'll even feel inspired to train more...but the jury's still out on that one...
Last night’s workout was HARD. We did Fartleks, which is Swedish for “running hella fast.” Ok it’s not, but it should be. It was hard, I was sweaty, yadda yadda. I did learn one thing though. As much as I hate to admit it, I really do need to do a recovery run on either Sunday or Monday. I’ve been finding myself really stiff and tired on these Tuesday workouts, making them harder than they should be. The recovery run would help with the lactic acid build up, and make me a little less stiff. So I might need everyone’s help. PLEASE come Sunday, make sure I do a recovery run. It’s the last thing I really want to do after a long run on Saturday, but I think it’s important. If you bug me, I promise I’ll do it.
So the workout was hard, but the post workout was AWESOME! We had a team social at a bar, which is always really fun. Beer and mozzarella sticks are good post run foods, right? If not, they should be. I really like getting to know my teammates outside of running. Funny thing- when we’re running, all we do is talk about anything but running. When we’re not running, all we talk about is running. We’re weird like that. Pictures will be up soon, I’m sure.
Also another side note, Darrell Hammond from SNL was at the bar too. DNation is pretty awesome. We drink with celebs.
Today was a BEAUTIFUL day for a run. The weather was almost fall-like. This made my 12 mile run a little easier. Another thing that made it easier? Good company! We had a solid group of 4 or 5 runners and this week’s topic of conversation was former gym teachers. It was kind of nice to hear that EVERYONE I was running with was a terrible runner in high school. We all shared horror stories about gym teachers that made us feel bad for not being able to run fast enough, or not being able to run for long enough, and we were all turned off from running for quite a while. And now here we all are training for a marathon. For any of you gym teachers out there, remember that fitness is different for every person. This body is not built for speed. Never was, never will be, but that doesn’t really mean anything. A lot of training for any run post high school was getting over that I’m-bad-at-running mental roadblock. If you can put one foot in front of the other, you can run! So I’d like to suggest that you get out there and go for a short run. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 6 minutes or 16. You never know. You might like it!
Another thing that I really like about my runs lately is celebrating my completion with a pastry. This week’s pastry was a chocolate chip scone.
YUM! I think I'll have to keep up this new tradition. What pastry should I get next week?
PS Help me raise money for cancer research. Donate here!
