Kickoff for Chicago 2011

Well, here I am again. Training for another marathon after I said I would NEVER run a marathon! This time is a little different. There is less pressure because I'm just running for myself and not for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society but I'm more nervous because I won't have that great support from my Team in Training coaches and teammates.

This year I'm running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9, 2011. My friend, Mary-Claire and I signed up together back in the winter when I was still hurting from my first marathon.  MC ran Nike Women's with me in San Fran and we did most of our training together along with our other TNT friends so I'm really glad I'll at least have her to suffer with me! Haha. Really, there were many times when I thought why am I torturing myself?? And as I said before, here I am again!

I officially started my training this week and it feels great to be running and working out this much again! I'm starting off with just 5-6 mile long runs and 3-4 milers during the week which is what I was pretty much doing this year but I'm doing it more days a week. I really battled with my hip at the end of my training, during and after the mary so I took a good 2 months off before running again. The first 2 months after my hip was still hurting so I took it real slow and steady.

When the pain was finally gone I started running a few short races to get motivated again and they sure were motivating. I ran the Downtown Melbourne 5k in March and got 3rd in my age group which was exciting to do in my hometown. I then ran in the Shannon Miller children and women's 5k here in Jacksonville after hearing about the battle she's been going through with ovarian cancer. Anyone who knows me, knows I was a competitive gymnast up till I was 17. Shannon Miller was and still is my all time idol/hero/role model! I was just excited to see her and hopefully meet her. When I finished the race, I noticed hardly anyone else had finished or walked over to the festivities. So I grabbed some water and saw Shannon standing there under a tent. I was able to introduce myself and tell her how great she is for all she does. I was shaking so bad, don't completely remember the whole conversation and I'm pretty sure I was teary eyed from actually getting to speak with my childhood/adulthood idol!! My day was set.

I ended up running into my boss and his family so I stuck around for a bit longer since I was no longer standing around alone; no one could make it there with me but I didn't care, I met Shannon Miller! I walked over to see my official time and.....I won my age group!! So of course I stuck around till the award ceremony, went back over to Shannon's tent to get her to sign my TNT running hat, signed up for a free massage and sampled the goodies on display. Right when they called my name for next massage the MC announced the beginning of the awards ceremony....Hmm, free massage or get a first place plaque from my idol?! I think you all know what I choose...

When they called my name for my first place finish Shannon made eye contact with me and gave me a huge smile with a nod of recognition and congrats! Something, by the way, that she did not do for the other winners! I'm pretty sure she was just excited to see a fellow ex-gymnast win but whatever the reason, I was elated! The only thing I said when she handed me the plaque was, "maaan, I wish I had a camera with me today!" She laughed and I felt so childish but I didn't care one bit!

My boss actually got me an autographed poster from her while he was in line with his daughter which I was really excited about, though I tried to act cool and pretend I wasn't a child on the inside. I don't think he bought it! haha


My next race was the next weekend. The Melbourne Beach Founder's Day Pineapple 2-mile run. I won my age group the year before and the prize is a half century old tradition: a pineapple. I was determined to defend my pineapple which was the only race I had planned this spring. There were a lot more runners in my age group this year but I managed to defend my pineapple my a matter of seconds! An old friend was a close second and a new friend came in third. That is what I love about Melbourne Beach. You always "run" into friends no matter the event, weather or day!

And now, I'm following my race schedule! I FINALLY uploaded my runs from my new Garmin GPS watch and it is soooo cool! Once you upload your run, you can view your route on bing maps! It measures all sorts of stuff like distance, average pace, fastest and slowest pace, elevation change, etc. No more mapping out my runs before and after, calculating my pace with my Timex digital watch (which I still love and wear, don't get me wrong) or posting my runs manually on LogYourRun.com. Here was my first Tempo Run for the season. Not sure if this will work for you, if not I'll have to do some more playing around to figure out how to share my posts. And here is my training schedule for the month of June: