And I would run 200 miles...

I have added up my mileage since officially starting training and it is 200 freaking miles! Incredible, no? 15 of those miles were done all in a row last Saturday - definitely the most gruelling one I have done so far - 15 miles in the heat, running on the West Side Highway from 97th street to the tip of Manhattan and then BACK. For the first time ever during a run I got to experience what it feels like when your legs just completely have no more juice. It's very different from feeling "tired." But my fellow Fred's Team runners clapped and cheered when I finished, yay! I also wore one of the fancy new running shirts I got in the mail - thanks Mom! Then Dimitri and I got burgers and fries at the Parker Meridien, haha. Not a good post-run meal, but I made up for it at dinner with a homemade stir fry - tofu and swiss chard in hoisin sauce, yummy.

We leave for Belize on Friday! I will fit in a few 5-7 mile runs while we are there to maintain, and hit the long runs when we get back.

I am also at $1245 now and we haven't even begun selling concert tickets yet!

This Girl Loves an Organized Run

My 12 mile run on July 12th through NY Road Runners was awesome! It's so much easier to log miles when there are people with cups of water, gatorade, gel packs, and fire hoses every few miles. The next organized long training run they are doing is while I'm in Belize, but I will definitely sign up for the September and October ones once registration opens - I wish they had them every weekend.

I got way too sunburnt on Saturday at Port Jefferson beach and had to skip Sunday's run, just too painful. But tonight I'll do 6 miles with my friend Jenna, also a Fred's Team runner, in Central Park - which is always fun! Mom is sending running shirts in the mail (thanks Mom!). Hopefully some fancy running shirts will aid in the arm-chafing department - I got a stick of Body Glide too, which many runners have recommended to me.

Dimitri's mom accidentally plugged my marathon charity at a dinner party on Friday night and two people donated. She is embarrassed but my Fred's Team account is $200 richer!

1/3 of the way!

At 9 weeks and $1020, I am both 1/3 of the way through training and 1/3 of the way towards my $3000 fundraising goal! I love that symmetry.

Last night after my 10 mile run, I said to Dimitri "Doesn't it feel like I've been training FOREVER?" Dimitri doesn't lie to me though, and replied "Well, I don't know... not really."

I guess it's just my tired brain playing tricks on me. Also my left knee hurts and I have a rash on the underside of my arms after every long run from chafing against my sweat soaked t-shirt. And sometimes a girl just wants to spend the evening vegging, rather than running 10 miles around her neighborhood while everyone else is bbq'ing! But enough complaining, I still have 2/3rds to go, with a very important 26.2 miles at the end.

I've decided to beat the boredom by expanding my running repertoire. This coming Sunday's 12 mile training run with NY Road Runners should be exciting - it's a long training run and it will be with all kinds of marathoners, not just Fred's Team. I think the group excitement will buoy me on.

I also went to a great running store in my neighborhood, Jack Rabbit Sports, and the girl who rang up my Gu told me she is running the marathon this year too, and that they have a group run on Wednesday nights that leaves the store around 7pm. Could be just the thing to mix up my routine, lest I start wallowing in the loneliness of the long-distance runner.

Nice Warm Up

Sorry for the lag in posting! I ran 11 miles last Saturday and it was great and hard. It was a nice milestone for me, though I finished slower than I'd have liked to. Running one 6-mile loop around Central Park is easy for me now. Running two? Not so much! Still, I remember when running three miles used to feel like a great workout to me. Now it feels like a warm-up. Which is pretty awesome. I may never view distance the same way again.

That being said, I've taken it easy since experiencing some pretty bad knee pain on my regular Monday night 6 mile training run. The consensus seems to be that the only thing for knee pain is rest. I will be running 13 miles (my first half-marathon, woohoo!) today in Central Park with Dimitri there for me at different mile markers to supply water, gel packs, and moral support. I usually run excellent after a brief hiatus, so I have high hopes for today, and am crossing my fingers that the knee pain doesn't return. It will also be my first training run with gel packs, so here's hoping I don't toss my cookies as well!

Into Everyone's Life a Little Rain Must Fall

I had a beautiful 9 mile jog on Saturday in the early evening. I was utterly alone in every sense. Dimitri is still in Greece, Aline was on her flight back to Paris, and it was rainy and misty, so there was practically no one in the park. I loved it. I'm a people person, don't get me wrong, and I miss my Dimitri, but it was meditative to be out there, jogging in the misty rain, with nothing but the trees and my thoughts. 9 miles was a big milestone for me as well - longer, by far, than I'd ever jogged before starting this training.

I also thought of a friend of mine who was just diagnosed with cancer and is starting chemotherapy. We'd spoken on Friday, and it seems that they caught it very early, thankfully. But it made me think, what a life-changing event, what an earth-shattering moment, when your doctor says to you "you have cancer." When you have to then turn around and tell your family. There's so much unknown about this disease and what causes it, and so much improvement to be made regarding our current methods of curing it, that it seems as if we are in some sort of dark age. I felt both strong and impotent at the same time, jogging along. I wished I could do more, at the same time I was thrilled at what I was doing.

I may be the only woman on earth who is happy to be turning 30, but I am so pleased. I'm so lucky to have everything I have: my health, my love, my family, and my wonderful friends, travels and experiences to look forward to. Growing old isn't the curse that our culture often treats it as, it's a privilege.

Back in the Saddle!

I am in love - with my inhaler. It has made a huge difference in my running and I am totally back on track with the training schedule! Last week I completed my first 7 mile run, which felt great. Every 2 miles or so I stop for about 1 minute to have an inhaler break, then keep going. It's nice for my muscles to walk for a bit too, and I feel better at the completion of a longer run that way.

This weekend we were in Lancaster, PA, for my friends Pierre and Adrianna's wedding, which was amazing. I ran 8 miles in downtown Lancaster, it was HOT and I was sweating so much and even got lost once. I literally fantasizing about lemonade on the last mile (and iced tea and juice and coconut water). My friend Aline, who is visiting from France, ran the first 2.6 miles with me as well!

Aline will probably join me again tonight for a jog in Brooklyn, the weather is beautiful and I am feeling great!

My Asthma, My Self

Today I finally broke down and saw my doctor to talk about the breathing issues I've been having while on my longer runs.

The first time it happened, a few weeks ago, I thought it was just my body not being used to running long distances. Then it kept happening, along with chronic coughing that would persist for days afterward. It was scary, and frustrating. Instead of getting better at cardio endurance, the more I ran, the worse my condition got. I felt at war with my body, like I set this amazing athletic goal for myself, and my body is crapping out on me before we are even out of the gates. It seemed like some kind of terrible proof that I wasn't equal to the task. After 4 miles my lungs were rejecting air like I was allergic to it. I couldn't complete my longer 6 miles runs anymore, I felt like a failure.

My doctor believes I have excercise-induced asthma. I'm going to get a chest x-ray on Friday and see a pulmonologist on Monday to make sure there's nothing more going on, but we are pretty sure that once I get my hands on an inhaler, my training can get back on track. I feel better now, knowing that the problem is manageable, even though, mentally, for me, it will take some getting used to being dependent on an inhaler. I know I'm not the most afflicted person in the world - a friend of mine is allergic to her own sweat and has to take a Benadryll before each run!