The Pre-race Festivities

We did it! Eitan and I ran 39.3 miles in San Diego this Sunday - 26.2 of those miles on Eitan's legs and 13.1 on mine. I'm overwhelmed with pride, hunger and muscle pain.

Saturday evening, the festivities began. We attended a pasta dinner with Team in Training where thousands of people crammed into a banquet hall for last minute carbs and inspiration. Eitan and I sat at a table with some of the women in our training group and their parents, we had a lovely time chatting, sharing our jitters and excitement. The pasta was mediocre, by the way, I was not satisfied but had been dealing with an upset stomach for several days so I likely wasn't going to eat it even if it knocked my socks off. The presentation was unbelievable. In addition to sharing some amazing statistics about the Society's work, a gentleman who was battling leukemia spoke to us about what Team in Training has done for him. I was expecting him to talk to us about the donations we collected and how they made a difference in his life - instead, he talked to us about his battle and how his training with TNT has changed his outlook on life and his disease. I thought his story was incredible and I want to share the details accurately, so I am pasting them in from the TNT website:

Honored Teammate - Gordie Lat

Gordie was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia on June 9, 2005. After undergoing many rounds of chemotherapy, he decided he was tired of sitting around and sulking, and he was going to do something to help him beat the disease.

"I got a flyer in the mail and decided to go to an informational meeting about TNT to find out what it was all about. One of the speakers, Virginia Gardner, spoke of a drug named Gleevec (one that I was taking) and how a large amount of the research funding came from TNT."

Saturday evening, he was presented as a candidate for the "triple crown" an award given to TNT participants who complete a triathlon, century ride and marathon. I was completely blown away, as were the thousands of people in the hall who stood and applauded as Gordie announced he would be running the marathon with us the next day. We were beyond impressed and ridiculously inspired.

After Gordie spoke, Eitan and I ducked out and went back to the hotel. It was 8:30 already and we were knew we had to be in the hotel lobby by 4:00am the next day, so we were anxious to get to sleep. I put my book down at 9:30, woke up at 11:30, 2:00 and 2:30 just to be sure that we hadn't missed the alarm and wake up call that we had set for 3:30am. 3:30 came and we cheerfully jumped out of bed and threw our clothing on without any confusion of who's shoes, race jerseys and hats belong to whom (please read with heavy sarcasm and snarling upper lip). Honestly, we were quite prepared and even pinned our bibs to our jerseys the night before - I guess Eitan was having a laugh when he put on my sports bra. We were in the lobby by 4:02, checked in and on the bus by 10 after and sitting near the starting line by quarter to 5:00. Did I mention the race began at 6:30? The buses couldn't run after 5:45 because the roads shut down and TNT shuttles ran early to be sure we were all ready to go - so we hurried up to sit around and wait, but I didn't mind-we wouldn't have slept anyway.

A piece of advice I heard numerous times from our coaches and some season pros - once you arrive at the race, get in line for the port-o-potty. After you exit the port-o-potty, get in line again. I heeded this advice, not only because I'm a nervous peer but also because my stomach was not cooperating and I had gone to the bathroom a million times the day before so I assumed Sunday would not be different. Unfortunately, I was correct on that one - but more on my San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon Port-O-Potty Tour later.

We stretched, sat around, stretched some more and then headed to our corrals. Yes, corrals like where the put cows. They give you corrals based on your predicted finish time. The further back you are, the slower you run. There were 23 corrals, the Kenyans were in #0, I was in #21.

6:30 rolled around and the started gun was shot. We think. It was hard to hear back where we were, a mile or so away from the start. Kudos to those who ran the full, I think we could call that an "ultra" marathon being that it was probably more like 28 miles after all is said and done. So, the gun went of and we started running - we ran for about 20 seconds and then realized there was no penetrating the wall of 17 thousand people ahead of us, so we stopped running. Then a minute later, we thought we would give it a try again. Running attempt #2 foiled as well. 15 minutes after the gun went off, we crossed the starting line and were on our way....

Everything Hurts!

I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while. Life has been insanely hectic and will continue to be rather hectic until May 19th. This will be a short entry, but I wanted everyone to know that I am still training even if I haven't updated my blog.

Today Eitan and I set out to run 16 miles together. We were at Camp Ramah for Passover and missed 2 Sunday practices. We had to make up a very long run on our own and it was ridiculous. The run out wasn't so bad at all. We ran from Shobi's daycare to Venice Beach. By the time we saw the water, I felt ready to sit down. We'd been running for 2 hours at that point. Then we turned around and started to head home. It was hot and I was sooo tired. I kept telling Eitan that I thought he should run ahead, get the car and drive back and get me! He said no and stuck with me. I run slower than he does and he was really sweet and stayed with me. Then my knee started to ache so much and I could feel blisters on my feet. After 3 1/2 hours of running, I my knee decided it wasn't interested in carrying my body any longer. We walked a few miles in for a grand total of 4 hours on our feet.

I decided today that I need to stick to the original plan of the half marathon. I really wanted to go the full 26.2, but I don't think my body is going to go for it... I'll keep you posted!

Deflated

I had a hard time today. Usually my blogs are so happy and hopeful, but today for the first time I thought to myself, "why am I doing this?" Our run was meant to be 13 miles, but at about mile 7 I felt my knee start to hurt again so I stopped at 8 miles.

I had spoken with the coaches and they didn't think I should run at all but aqua jog (I'd never heard of it either, but basically it is treading water with really high knees and moving in circles around the deep end of the pool - no impact). I really wanted to run, and I especially wanted to run 13 miles because it would have been a half marathon! I hadn't yet committed to the full, but I kind of thought it would be cool. Today I thought, I have tons of time ahead of me to get to the full, why kills yourself now - there is no shame in running a half? There is an amazing amount of peer pressure though, well intentioned I'm sure, but people on the team say "you are only running the half? Come on! You can do the full!" I'm still conflicted about it, the coaches seemed to think it was no big deal and we could work past it. It probably isn't a big deal, but I felt very deflated not to finish the run with my group. I also felt angry at my knee for not being on board with the running.

Most of all, I thought if I weighed 30 pounds less it probably wouldn't be so much pressure on my joints....

Good news though, I'm $95 away from my goal! If you've been waiting to donate, I think now is a good time! Don't worry, I'm completed the race no matter what.. walk, run, limp, or crawl.

Dead Squirrels and Crunchy Knees

I have a bag of frozen green beans on my knee. Traditionally, peas are used in my family for injuries but Shobi prefers peas to green beans, so we have more green beans around. My knee just started to click at around the 11 mile mark and by the time we were almost done with the run, I was limping. My coach assures me it is just a case of runner's knee that should get better with rest and ice (or frozen vegetables). I ran just shy of 12 miles today though, and feel pretty good about it!

Toward the end of our run (about 9 miles in) one of the girls ahead of me started screaming. I thought maybe it was because the water stop was in sight, I would have screamed too, but it was because she nearly stepped on a dead squirrel. It was kind of gross. I think stepping on dead squirrel might be as high or close to as high on the grossness scale as stepping on fish. I tried to warn some of the group 1 runners about the squirrel as we crossed paths (us on the way to the 9 mile water stop and them on the way to the 12 mile finish) but it sort of came out as a breathy "squirreldeadcareful." They looked at me puzzled and then probably ran so fast over poor Rocky that they didn't even notice.

Great fund raising news! I am under $200 away from my goal! Wouldn't it be tremendous if you were the one to help me complete the goal?!

Major Donor!

Yesterday I was handed a check for $250 from Aunt Debbie. She asked her boss, Rich*, if he would like to sponsor our run and boy did he! This is the biggest donation I have received so far, I hope to see more like it. There is still time to send in the big bucks, so click away!

This morning we "only" ran 8 miles. It was a taper week, so they say. The amazing thing about this morning was that I not only knew that I could run farther but I physically felt like I could continue running for at least a few more miles. I was asked how far I ran this morning and said, "only 8 miles." I said that because people knew that we had run 10 miles the week before, not because it felt like a short distance - though I did feel a little bit cool saying "only 8.."

I am slightly concerned about my toenails. Not only because I thoroughly enjoy getting a bi-weekly cheap-o pedicure, but also because I have heard horror stories about runners losing their toenails. I can't imagine anything worse than a toenail falling off - that isn't true, I can imagine many things that are worse - but seriously, how gross is that? They feel okay so far, a little sore but they don't wiggle when I touch them. I am envisioning my childhood when I felt loose teeth and played with them incessantly until they fell off, er out... teeth fall out, toenails fall off. I don't think I would play with loose toenails... in fact, I just got the willies thinking about it. I'll keep you updated on the wiggle status, so far so good.

*Many thanks to Rich at Terra Pacific for his super generous donation - www.terrapac.com for all of your commercial landscaping needs.

Double Digits!

I ran 10 miles today. I'll likely have to fill in the details later, but it was really an amazing experience. There was sand involved. Sand inside my shoes and inside my toe creases. As we were running I commented that I was making little sock pearls and only one of my running friends chuckled politely, I thought it was pretty clever. (An aside: I always think I am pretty clever, clearly.)

Nana and Poppi are in town and I need to replenish the burnt calories with them at lunch.

45 Minutes

I saw a woman coloring her hair purple in the bathroom at LA Fitness this evening. I was able to regroup and run my 45 minute "short run" anyway.

My Phobias

"We only get to run four miles today?"

I said that. This morning.

The crazy thing is that I meant it and I was genuinely disappointed when our group mentors said that we should turn around if we were doing the half marathon. So, I didn't turn around. I had been toying with the idea of continuing to run with the full marathon mileage and see how I felt as June approached, and so I ended up running 8 miles this morning.

I did learn an important lesson today though; try not to have to use the bathroom while running because chances are you will lose your pace group. I have a phobia of needing to use the restroom when there isn't one available. I only have two phobias, that and the fear of stepping on sea life in the ocean (I'm serious, fish are gross). Heights, I'm also afraid of heights - so three phobias for me.

My desperatelyhavingtopeeandbeingstuckinaplacewherethereisn'tabathroomobia used to crop up in traffic, but in LA I have learned to be very diligent about taking care of things before I get behind the wheel. Now, Sunday mornings produce a bit of anxiety. I ask around, find out where a few good bathrooms are and usually feel better. The problem today was that I was told there would be a bathroom sooner than when I actually saw one. Those of us who suffer from the aforementioned phobia know, that as soon as you DON'T see the bathroom you were supposed to see you DESPERATELY need one. Two miles into the run and I hadn't seen the promised beach toilet. I asked the group, "where is the bathroom?" in a semi-panicked tone. The mentor leading the group chuckled, "to the right of left" (we were running in Marina Del Rey, over a bridge with water on either side - he is a comedian.) Then we got off the bridge, rounded a corner and he pointed out the real bathroom to me.

I sprinted ahead. Problem number one solved, problem two becomes the fact that I run out of the bathroom, trudge through sand and see my pace group about 150 feet ahead of me. I really don't know how that happened, I was fast in there.

So, I joined what I thought was the pace group after mine. Ran for a while and realized, it was actually the pace group ahead of mine. I was winded as we approached the half way mark but then I saw my group! Turning around... headed down the hill after a nice little break. Choose Your Own Adventure time - stay with Group 4, get a nice break but wheeze the 4 miles back or join with Group 5 and forfeit my break time? I went with Group 5 and wheezed the 4 miles back anyway.

I feel amazing now though!

Up Hill, Both Ways!

We switched running locations today. It was terrible. We ran in the hills for 7 miles and the first half (literally - 3.5 miles) was completely up hill. I lost my pace group because I felt like my lungs were on fire. Luckily when I got to the top of the mountain, er hill, er demon gravel structure, I found my group and was able to run down with them. Down was much easier but there were three up hill climbs on the down hill run - not at all in the brochure.

Before we went out for our run today, one of the mentors told why he was running with TNT. It was incredibly emotional, not a dry eye on the mountain. I thought about why Eitan and I are running with TNT as I climbed the 3.5 miles up. I really wanted to stop and turn around but realized, our loved ones with blood cancers don't/didn't get to do that. They had to run the whole way - up hill - and it totally sucked.

I wonder...

Check out my poll, it is what I was thinking about as I was running yesterday at the gym...

5 Miles!

This Sunday Eitan forced me out of bed. It was rainy and gross outside and I said, "I'll go run 5 miles at the gym later today." He didn't buy that, and neither did I - but I was so warm in bed! Three cheers for the buddy system, if it weren't for Eitan's motivation I wouldn't have anything to blog about!

I was concerned about what I should wear to run in the rain. We got an email from our mentor emphasizing the familiar "no cotton" rule. That made sense, nobody wants to be caught in the rain in a cotton rain jacket... not that one of those exists, because that would be silly. I thought about a poncho, but was talked out of that - too cumbersome. So, I ran in my slippery pants, my training shirt, a cotton vest (I wasn't punished) and a rain jacket. I was pretty warm and dry though I sounded like a one man band as my slippery pants squeaked, the rain jacket made swooshing sounds with each swing of my arms, I gasped for air every 4th beat and sporadically cleared my throat (as you do).

All in all, a good run. I made my goal of two 30 minute runs on my own, this week I'm aiming for three.

New Shoes!

I purchased some gear today. Now I feel like a real runner, even if I don't really look like one yet. Turns out I was running in shoes that were 4 years old, it was good to replace them.

I did my 1/2 hour today, I ran outside as it was sprinkling a bit. It was nice, aside from the fact that I was wearing my glasses and couldn't see so well.

I'm still interviewing potential pants. I had a pair I thought worked, but today they betrayed me. As I was running, they kept sliding down no matter how tight I tied the waist knot. Sunday I wore some terrible pants on my long run, they kept exposing my belly and potentially more had I not worked out a system of pulling them up every 30 seconds or so. My arms were a bit sore after the run I think due to the pulling up motion, an added workout.

I raised enough money for my hat today! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. Only $2,150 more to go..... YIKES!

A Picture...

This is Eitan after our 4 mile run on Sunday! You can be in charge of the caption, send me suggestions!

4 Miles!

Today we had a team practice and I ran 4 miles. I feel so good! I know that sounds annoying and I promise I won't encourage any of you to come run with me and become super, crazy, peppy lady (unless you want to, which of course would be lovely). I only ran once during the week instead of the 3 times we were supposed to, I expected today to be awful but was pleasantly surprised. Next week I'm running at least twice by myself, so check in for updates.

I checked out a new bathroom today. I think this blog might turn into both my running updates as well as a guide to restroom use in the Santa Monica area. The Holiday Inn is quite lovely by the way. I ran in with about 7 other women all dressed in the Team in Training jersey. I think they would have stopped one of us, but were intimidated by the large group. People in general look at us as though we are crazy when we run. I probably would too, if I were just trying to walk my dog and 100 people ran by me, panting.

One of my teamates has already raised $4,500. I felt excited that I had almost $200! This fundraising thing might be harder than I thought. Tell your friends about me and tell your friends to the their friends! By the way, I still want to get my hat... I'm almost there.

Help Me Get My Hat!

Today I had my first running injury. I came home and told Eitan that I hurt my ear while I was running, he said, "I think you are doing it wrong." I didn't actually hurt my ear as I was running, I hurt it because I jammed my earphone too far into my ear. I think I might have widened the entry way - it hurts. I might sue JT, it is his fault - I was just trying to get closer to him. The run itself was successful, I was breathing well and felt great.. just concerned about my brain leaking from my ear.

Help me get my hat! If I double my TNT donations, I get a spiffy running hat! Make a donation today and I'll think of you when I where my fancy new dome piece.

Quasimoto

Today was our first practice with Team in Training and it was great! We met in Santa Monica and I was so happy when we walked to the beach to run near the water. It was gorgeous and it feels great to know that I will make it to the beach once a week now.

I used the bathroom at Shutters (super fancy hotel right on the beach that celebrities enjoy), 'twas a lovely experience. Later, I had to use the public restroom - not nearly as lovely.

We did some serious stretching before we started our run. Eitan is probably the least flexible person I have ever met, so it was rough for him. I was giggling with him and noticed a few other people giggling behind us. One commented to me, "he looks like Quasimoto".... I laughed, and then felt the "you can't make fun of him, only I get to" defense flare up. I decided to send a yoga instructor to Eitan's bell tower on Monday.

Then we set out for our 3 mile jog. We were divided into pace groups based on our time today. I actually did a little better than my treadmill times, I did my three miles in 34 minutes. It was not bad at all! Just 10 more to go.....

Jerry Springer's Puppets

Today I ran at the gym. I tried the slippery pants again and found that with a few discrete adjustments they are manageable. My run went really well. I didn't let the pants talk me into a higher speed than I'm used to, which was my biggest problem on Tuesday. I was wearing cotton though, a long sleeved cotton shirt. I have recently been informed by my new TNT mentor (who read my blog, how nice is that?) that the no cotton rule isn't a big deal until more serious mileage. I wonder if it is because cotton is too heavy when you sweat in it? It will slow my time down. If I don't wear cotton, I should probably remove all of my body hair as well - to be more aerodynamic and shave those important seconds off of my time.



Speaking of time, I ran 35 minutes today! I ran 2.7 miles in 35 minutes.... That is like a 13 minute mile. I think it would have been faster, but my shirt was rather heavy...

I've already received two donations on my other blog! Hooray! www.active.com/donate/tntgla/jsohn



I learned today that Jerry Springer now has puppets on his television show. They sit in the audience and they also have puppet commentators. That might have been specifically for the "Hillbilly Games" program they were doing today, but I was still fascinated. There were 10 televisions in front of me, but I couldn't stop watching Bobbie Joe Lisa and Jaime Lee Linda wrestle in a tub full of refried beans.... Oh, and the other event I saw was blindfolded, shirtless men get their chests covered in shaving cream and throw pork rinds at each other... Sometimes I am very proud to be an American.

Atomic Wedgie

I'm joining the blogging world to update supporters on my 1/2 marathon training. Yes, 1/2 marathon - that is 13.1 miles. I've started training in the past, gotten up to 10 miles and then decided running was stupid and that I would much rather eat Chinese food. This time is a bit different. This time, I am running with a group called Team in Training and I'm running for a reason. I would like to do something to honor the lives of a friend and of my cousin whom we lost to leukemia. You can read all of the serious stuff on my Team in Training donor site (which you should visit and become a Titanium donor) http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaJSohn Here is where I will be giving you the details of my training.

This Sunday is our first team practice. We received information from our coach regarding what we should be doing to prepare for our first meeting. First, they said "no cotton." You need to wear breathable materials... So, I went out and bought some polyester pants. Seriously, that is what they tell you to get. Second, they told us we should run for thirty minutes three times this week before we meet for practice on Sunday. Finally, they told us we can't listen to music while we run.

I woke up this morning. Ate a bowl of oatmeal, thinking that it would "stick to my ribs" and carry me through my jog. I waited the obligatory half hour before doing anything physical (I wonder if I will enforce this rule with the child...) put on my polyester pants and headed to the gym. The walk from the car to the gym was lovely in my new pants. I felt as though I was gliding with each slippery step - I hopped on my treadmill and programmed it for thirty minutes. I have to say that the no music while running long distances thing is stressing me out a bit, so I'm ignoring it for now and listening to music while I practice on my own. So, at this point the treadmill is programmed, Justin Timberlake is blasting (Eitan listens to JT too, and - he calls him "JT," AND - he programmed TiVo so we could watch his HBO special - I'm just saying) and I'm off. I should say that I've been running off and on for the past few months, so 30 minutes is not really a huge deal to me at this point. I think there was something about the slippery pants that made me feel like I could run faster, I took off at a much faster pace than usual. After about five minutes I realized there was another problem with the slippery pants, they were sort of creepy - if you know what I mean. Of course, I was on a treadmill and there was someone like 4 feet behind me watching as my pants crept and crept - watching and prohibiting a quick fix. After about 10 minutes I realized the oatmeal does not stick to your ribs so much. At least not the type that Eitan made, it seemed to want to leave my ribs quickly... I slowed down around 15 minutes in, feeling that something awful was going to happen (I could give descriptions, but I'm hoping for this blog to reach audiences of a broad range including my Nana and Dad, they don't need to know what I thought was going to happen, but you can guess...) 20 minutes in I hopped off and ran to my car in my slippery pants.

Not sure what to do about the "no cotton" rule. And I still have to run 3 times, 30 minutes each.