A Run & an Accessory

Yesterday I ran. I ran 13.32 miles in fact. I felt like it was longer, but I guess not. I had a normal running experience, except with a new accessory. (I'm a girl & we love accessories!)

For about a year I've been trying to figure out good headphones for working out in. Of course there are way too many to figure it out. I've been staring at the Yurbuds for awhile. I saw people return them or other people say they are just too big to fit in my ear. So I've been hesitant. Then I saw during the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco, they released Yurbuds specifically for woman. I was intrigued by this. Then they released the info that they would only sell at Target stores or Target online. The price tag? $29.99! A steal! I still went back & forth with the decision. Even looking at them in store, but walking away in the end with nothing. Yesterday morning I spent a little bit reading honest reviews on blogs. I then decided I'm going to get them. I got a pair of purple ones & decided that my long run would be my trial for them.

They come with 2 different size inserts. (I kept the smaller ones on.) At first they felt different because they don't go all the way into your ear like other earbuds do. I plugged in my iPod & off I went. Almost 3 hours later I returned home & could not have been happier! I didn't have to play with them in the middle of my run. I could hear my music perfectly as well as everything else going on around me! (That is important if you're going to be running on the street & are not looking to be killed by a car.) The fact that I could forget they were there was impressive, especially with my piercings.

I have both tragi pierced, which makes it hard to wear earbuds sometimes.

My ear didn't even hurt afterwards!

I highly suggest these earbuds! They come in 6 colors.

Aqua, Orange, Yellow, Green, Pink, & Purple

You can get them at your local Target or at Target online. And they are only $29.99! (Look at the price for other headphones specified for exercise. Don't be surprised to see almost $100 for a lot of them!)

What do you listen to when you run?

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have, the people in your life, and helping others. Or about planning your Black Friday chaos for the next morning. I do not think any sale is worth sitting in the cold for 6 hours and risking your own life. (Sorry Mom!) This year it did seem pretty straight forward. By the time I woke up everyone was home and done with their shopping. So back to Thanksgiving.

For the half with TNT I made a goal to raise at least $1,000 by December 1. On November 1, with the help of 2 friends, I hit $1,025! I was really thankful for everyone who had donated so far. I still have a ways to go with fundraising, but I'm feeling much better about it.

I started my Thanksgiving at 5 am getting ready to run with Sean & Stan. Sean picked me up at 6 & we began our journey to Plymouth. After an experience at Dunkin Donuts, we got on the highway & soon we were in Plymouth. The 3 of us did something called the Second Helping Challenge. We did a 4.77 mile run throughout downtown Plymouth first then moved to the Pinehills for a 5k. It was fun. Even those hills downtown was an experience. We all finished. We all got medals. We even all placed in our age groups! (Sean coming in 3rd!)

After the Turkey Trot. We just have another 5k to do. No big deal.

From Plymouth I headed home to shower & change for "dinner". This year my uncle & his husband came home from NYC so we went out to eat. It was good. We all got turkey. (No surprise there!) Then we went back to my grandmother's house to eat more dessert. Yum! After watching too much Family Feud & Cash Cab we went off to the movies. We saw Lincoln. It was really good. It's long so make sure you don't eat too much turkey & haven't been up since 5 am without a nap first.

Being Black Friday, I'm off to work now! Remember to be nice to the sales people & other shoppers. No deal is worth being treating others poorly.

A Run Meet-up & A Football Game

A few weeks ago I met with my TNT campaign coordinator, Whitney, before work. We were meeting to talk about fundraising & just to getting to know each other. She had mentioned that the Team going to Disney for Marathon Weekend were holding a run meet-up in Lexington for the grand re-opening of the Greater Boston Running Company (or GBRC for short). So I checked my work schedule & saw that I had the day off so I said that I would go. I go in my car at 6:15 am & drove about an hour to Lexington. I was nervous getting there because I had never done a meet-up before, but figured it was a good way to get to know other people who were going to Disney in January, as well as other TNT members. I ended up running with 2 women who were going to Disney. One was doing the Goofy Challenge & the other was doing the half. For those reading this & saying "What the heck is the Goofy Challenge!?!" let me explain. On Saturday these runners get up hours before the sun to run the half marathon. The next day they do it again to run the full marathon! You get a special medal for doing both. You can also spot these people out of a crowd. They are limping & in pain, but smiling the whole time. They will usually wear all 3 medals the rest of Sunday so you can hear them before you see them. (FYI-the medals are not light. I've read that wearing them is worse then the pain from running!)

Look at those medals!

Anyways one woman & I did 6 miles so we split off from the woman doing the Goofy Challenge & headed by to the GBRC. It was really nice to run with someone (which I normally do not do) & talk about whatever we wanted. In the end, we did 6.22 miles. For the first time ever I ran 2.5 miles without stopping. The longest I ever did was 2 miles & said never again. (I'm a big promoter of the run/walk method.)

After I left Lexington I was then en route to meet my friend Chris for the Harvard-Yale football game.

If you know me personally, you know I'm not a football fan. I actually hate it. So this was a strange day for me all around. I parked at the Cambridgeside Galleria & took the train to Harvard. (I also can't parallel park, so I need a parking garage to get me through. Especially when weekend pricing is $3.99!)  I met up with Chris & we walked throughout Harvard before heading over to the game. After eating a hot dog (which was better than we could ever imagine and way cheaper than anywhere else!) we went to sit down. I critiqued most of the stuff that doesn't matter too much. (Like how Harvard cheerleaders kind of suck. Sorry!) We left before the end of the game to get some late lunch/early dinner & to beat the crowd out. Harvard did beat Yale. (Go team!) We ended up taking silly pictures in Harvard.

Chris & I in front of the John Harvard statue.

We may have went into a classroom & wrote on the chalkboard (there may or may not be pictures of this.) Before leaving Harvard Square we made our way to Pinkberry. We then went our separate ways to our homes. I was exhausted by the end of it & had a long day at work the next day.

I guess the next time I write it'll be about Thanksgiving & the Second Helping Challenge.

Stay tuned!

My Life as a Runner (So Far)

A few years ago I thought running was crazy. Living just outside of Boston means every April people from all over the world show up to run 26.2 miles. A few years ago I went into Boston with my ex & we watched a little of the marathon. I saw people of all ages running this race. It made me think about how some of these people were 3x as old as I was! I couldn't run a mile. I wouldn't even think about it! So it was right then that I decided if they can do 26.2 miles I surely can do a 5k! (Then I probably questioned how long a 5k was.) I then signed up to do the 5k during the 2010 Disney Marathon Weekend. I had a friend doing the half so I would have a roommate & supporter. (I still though she was crazy running 13.1 miles.) A 5k was pretty easy. Not a huge deal, but it was an accomplishment for me.

Here we are at the finish!

It was a few months later that I thought I want to accomplish 7 things before I turn 30. (Being 23 that gave me 1 accomplishment a year.) I said I wanted to do a half marathon and a full marathon. I even thought I was crazy during this time.

Rewind to this past January. I found myself back in Disney World during Marathon Weekend. I had a full weekend of running. On Friday morning I was standing alone in the dark and cold waiting for the 5k to begin. I was not worried about this by any means. It was the rest of the weekend that was scary to me. The next day I was running my first half marathon. Could I do this? Was I crazy? I can remember getting out of the Magic Kingdom thinking people who do this all the time are crazy. I don't want to do this ever again. I finished. It may have taken me 3:21:55, but I finished. I was excited & proud of myself. I could feel my right knee getting sore, so after a little while I chose to go back to the hotel to ice it before meeting up my mom & our friends for fun in the Magic Kingdom. On Sunday I was awake at around 3 am again to be part of the Marathon Relay. I knew I was in trouble though. My left knee was in a lot of pain. (Yes left knee which was fine the day before!) I was okay walking on so I figured I needed to just warm up a little bit. I was runner #2 during the relay, so I got to go through the Animal Kingdom & Disney Hollywood Studios before returning to Epcot for the finish. Even though we had to be at the runner #2 area at the same time as the first runner, we spent a couple hours just sitting around in a parking lot. I was really nervous for this half marathon. After finding Andrea (my relay partner) I was off on another 13.1 miles. I tried to do a run-walk ratio of 1 minute running, 2 minute walking. I knew I wouldn't be able to do this. I tried 30 seconds of running, 2 minutes of walking. Still I could not do this. I was getting discouraged big time. I even thought about quitting more than I would like to admit during the entire thing. I knew I couldn't let myself or Andrea down though! Being the second runner & being towards the beginning of the pack of marathoners was a little nerve racking. I mean here I was walking! Even when I had a few miles left I wanted to quit. Around the Beach Club I got the push I needed for a complete stranger. Behind my sunglasses were tears & thoughts of failure. I just happened to look at this complete stranger. She looked at me & gave me a thumbs up with a head nod. That was it. It was what I needed to finish. After forcing myself to run to the finish line I did finish. There may have been tears, but I did it! Fast forward 3:38:54 I was getting my medal & hobbling to the bus while calling my mom saying I need ice & lunch meet me in the lobby! I said I would never do that again. Goal accomplished. Then I signed up for the Disney Marathon. My training hasn't been awesome, but I'm not scared of a half marathon now. I'm working towards it. I'm listening to my body & getting support by people I never thought possible.

A weekend of running!

This blog isn't just about my story towards completing a marathon, but my story of doing another half marathon for a reason. I'm running the Nike Women's Half Marathon in DC with Team in Training. Raising money is scary to me then any amount of miles. Here I am helping other people. The official training hasn't really begun yet, but I will be meeting some other members on Saturday as they prepare for the Disney Marathon! I'll fill you in on what Team in Training is. Team in Training works with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. By signing up for an endurance event you are also raising money that goes directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. For this half marathon I have pledged to raise $2,900. I have already raised $775 thanks to generous friends, family, & co-workers. Any donation amount to any cause is helpful. I know $1 doesn't seem like a lot, but If 100 people all donated $1 that would equal $100. That helps more than we think about.

If you would like to donate to my cause here is the link:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/nikewhlf13/nnew5066

I will also be holding fundraising events over the next couple of months. Keep an eye out for that.