This Race is About So Much More....

Happy Sunday everyone!!!

First of all thank you so much for the continual support of me throughout this extremely challenging and honestly life changing event that I am going through right now- every single day I think of how blessed I am to have been so fortunate to be able to live the life I lead.  To have the most amazing parents in the world who have supported my crazy endeavors from my swim meets when I was little where they would drive me for hours to be at a pool at 5am, to my lacrosse tournaments all around the Northeast and my world travels for lifesaving (that I know they had a really hard time sacrificing going with me on those :))  But more importantly not only were they able to help me financially pursue all of my dreams they were always at every game/meet/event to watch me and my teams no matter what.

Now, that I have started running this marathon I am now being given the opportunity to do something I have NEVER had the chance to do before, primarily because I did not have the courage or the desire, but to be honest I do not think that I would have been able to put myself to pay for a race that you are basically torturing yourself for 26.2miles lol.  So the fact that I have provided this chance to run the race without having to pay a thing is empowering me in ways not only in running but it has reopened my eyes into what else I can do.

One of these things is helping empower other people.  As a part of our commitment to running the 2012 LA Marathon our team has also committed to helping others through the organization OpUSA.  OpUSA is an organization that helps provide aid and relief to "overcome the effects of disasters, disease, and economic proverty."  This is a continuous effort that will always be a challenge for our world, but knowing that with the money I have saved from signing up for this marathon, I can donate it to a child who did not grow up with the same opportunities as myself just makes running the marathon even more meaningful.  As the marathon costs $150 I commit myself to donating that amount to OpUSA.  I hope that you all reading this, if able to, will also help me by donating too!  This is a rare chance to 1. see me run more than 100m and 2. to help other children and families have even a glimpse of how amazing we have it.  The website to help donate is http://www.crowdrise.com/csodlamarathonfundraiser . Any amount is greatly appreciated!!


Week 9 of training : 12 miles Playa del Rey to the Manhattan Beach Pier :)

Just Getting Miles In

So everyday I bike 2miles each way to and from work... really  not a lot when that is all that I am doing for the day.  But add on a 5 mile run and then a 3.5mile bike ride back home ... those 4 extra miles start to feel a little bit longer than before lol.

Todays run was all about getting the miles in.  We are starting to up the weekly runs a little bit more so this week we added 2 miles to the short runs and next week I believe we do 3miles extra on each of the short runs so either 5 or 6 miles... UGH ew! I love that the short runs are still more than I would ever had wanted to run before this training.  The only thing that gets me through these runs is knowing that each day I train, each day I put in the time, I am getting closer to our goal of finishing 26.2 miles.  It does not get any less crazy sounding the more I say it.... I am waiting for the day when I am like hmpf 26 miles- NO BIG DEAL!!! I am not sure if that moment actually comes but I am waiting for it haha.

One thing I was thinking about during my run today was a speech that was given back in the day at one of the Delaware All State Swimming Banquets... I can't remember who gave this speech but I can remember it being so spot on. It described how there are different types of athletes those who do it for the love of the sport and those who do it to get something out of it (ribbons, metals... and in my case tubs of powdered sugar doughnuts from Bjs lol) Now when I think about why I am doing this race there are obvious reasons such as Cornerstone is paying for it, I have nothing else to do and the time to do it... but what I have realized the true reason for me to do this is that I have always enjoyed pushing my body to oddly extreme levels aka Harrison and that darn "White Buffalo" that I always saw at the gym in Georgetown (gosh that place was so ghetto lol)  So I have already learned that I can dominate sprints but never have I pushed my body to a distance event... so giddy up lets see how this one goes :) who knows maybe Ill become a distance runner BAAAHAHAHAHAH I hope yall laughed out loud like I just did haha... lets be honest that is not going to happen but I may as well enjoy this ride :)

Love you all!!

Happy Thursday now time to prepare for our run on saturday oh you know its an easy one...12 miles :)