Something Exciting To Share!

With kick-off just around the corner for my season with TNT, we are starting to get emails about different things. When I saw the email at work, I didn't have too much time to read it so I just read it within the last 30 minutes. It is nice to read little check-ins from different people every now and then. One of the major things I noticed in the list was a little mention of the top 3 fundraisers. With the help of you all I am number 2! As of this afternoon I hit $1,373 with the help of Phil! We are $102 from hitting the half way mark! I'd love to reach that by New Year's Day!

This is a first! I've never been in the top 3!

We also got to meet our honored hero! The honored hero is who the team will run for as a whole. I'm excited to share that with you all. Her name is Tracy. She's 27. That's just 2 years older than me & she is going through more than anyone ever should. She will be spending her New Year's getting transplants, while the rest of us are already hating our resolutions. You can check out her story below.

Tracy

Remember there is still time to donate & have a tax deduction for this year. Any amount can help people like Tracy. If you can't think of what to get someone for Christmas, donating to a charity in their honor is a great idea! If you would like to donate directly to me you can do so through this link:

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

Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

I've been a little distant. Working in retail during the holiday season will do that to ya. Plus I can't access a blog post on my iPad.

I did a long run last Monday. I know why haven't I done one since then? I haven't been off of work since then. I'll be back out there on Thursday before helping a friend paint around his house. Okay back to Monday. I ran 10.1 miles. It was long, but not close to the 26.2 I need to accomplish in a month. (AHHHHHHHH!) I went to Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, MA. You can do a lot in there. I ran for myself, not for a time, not for a distance, but just for me. There was some running on trails which slowed me down. I also brought my camera along with me. Running in Disney means taking photos, so I might as well try it out. I kept around a 14 minute pace which is fine with me. A muscle has been taking a toll on me. It's annoying & I hate it. That run was the first time running with my Bondi Band. I wrote about these in my last post (or 2 posts ago). Growing my hair out is annoying. It's not long enough to pull back, but its not short enough to leave alone. I pulled my hair back, put it on, & ran. I didn't have to keep adjusting it. It stayed put. It was great. I was definitely a giant plus. Even when I took it off after the run my hair looked okay enough to go into the post office.

The print of my Bondi Band.

I have some Bondi Bands still for sale as a fundraiser for TNT if you are interested. I have the pink with white polka dots, the plain aqua, the purple print, the black with the pink tiara, the pink that says "Powered by Pixie Dust", & the black one that says "Mirror mirror on the wall who's the fastest of them all".

By donating $10, you can receive one band.
By donating $16, you can receive two bands.

To get a band for yourself just donate to my fundraising page:

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

In the comments you can let me know that it is for the Bondi Band fundraiser. 

Hopefully by my next post I'll have much more to share with everyone.

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!