Monday, February 16, 2009

I did it! My first 5K

Boy, time flies when you are having fun! Or when you are sick as a dog... That is what I am going to blame my lack of blogging on, I have been feeling rotten. However, on Saturday, I completed my first "race" with Team in Training. Considering that I had been sick all week and only walked once, I was thrilled with a finish time for 46:34 for what felt like a verrrry looooong 3 miles. That works out to a 15.4 minute mile which is considerably faster than what I have been training at. This pace is a very good thing cuz I have been scaring myself looking at a lot of marathon sites and seeing that most of them require a 15 or 16 minute pace. I wasn't sure I would be able to walk that fast but now... I think it is doable. I still have about 4 months more to train so I should be able to make the cutoff time.

On the fundraising front, things have been slowing down a little. I did manage to make about $200 selling those gourmet candy apples I was telling you about. Oh boy, are those ever good! As I mentioned before, anyone (in the US) who donates $50 or more receives one of these apples if desired. I can also order them if you would like to buy one for $12 each.

I will try and post details within the next week or so of the drawing I am going to have for knitters who donate $25 or more. There will be wool, naturally, Wollmeise for sure, Loopified and, for the knitter who donates the largest sum, a complete Wollmeise sock club package! I am going to have to figure out what to do for donations from non-knitters, can't discriminate against them but I am betting they do not really want sock yarn!

Time for me to hit the hay, have been up since 6 am and I need to get up in just over 6 hours to get to work tonight. Take care everyone!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A whole week already?

Goodness gracious (omg, I think my grandmother used to say that!) where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday I was telling you I signed up to train for a marathon and a whole week has gone by already! Let's see, what have I accomplished in that time?

On Wednesday we had our first TnT workout at the Modesto Junior College track. Three laps to warm up, then stretch, then ... bleacher loops! Ughhh. If you really want to know, a bleacher loop is where you start at one bleacher, climb to the top, walk across top, climb down, head for next bleacher, repeat... Once you reach the end of the bleachers on one side of the track, head for the other side and ... Yup, lather, rinse, repeat! I have a feeling this is not going to be my favorite part of the training but I made it. We did one loop this week but apparently two are going to be the norm.

On Saturday, I walked nearly 4 miles in one hour at the Team in Training Official Kickoff. After the workout, the mentors cooked us a marvelous pancake breakfast and we received our welcome packets, Team in Training t-shirts, and met some of the team honorees who are folks who have already fought through or are currently fighting blood cancers. They are so inspiring! One of the favorite sayings around the team is "If you think training for a marathon is hard, try chemotherapy". They aren't kidding there. Those of us who have our health have no idea what tough really is, do we?

I managed to fit in a short walk before the SuperBowl and I think I finished my aerobic workout during the last quarter! Was that exciting or what? Another short walk on Monday when Modesto had a community walk to support physical fitness, not only in our children but in the adults. We walked a mile in downtown Modesto and it was great to see how many folks got out there to walk. We had an absolutely gorgeous day and finished to pick up window decals saying "Fit for the Future" and had some grapes that were waiting for us at the finish line. I do have to say that I now understand why our coaches tell us not to walk on the sidewalk. I swear my legs were more tired from walking one mile on concrete sidewalks than walking four miles on an asphalt bike path.

We got to see the gourmet candy apples that we will have available for fundraising. I brought home four, one of each variety. I took them to knitting class yesterday and got orders for ten so that was great! I will pick them up tonight when I go to our fundraising seminar.

I alreay walked 40 minutes this morning after going in for my annual checkup. You know how they always say you should consult your physician before starting an exercise routine? I never do but I thought that maybe training for a marathon might be a major enough reason to check in. LOL He couldn't find anything majorly wrong with me other than a tiny heart murmur that I have apparently had for some time. I was down 23 pounds since I saw him last August though. Hooray!! I think this regime is going to accomplish everything I hoped for. Raise a lot of money for research and patient services while at the same time, improving my own health. It's a win-win situation.

This weekend, I have to walk 6 miles by myself since I don't get off work in time to join the group. I will let you know how that turns out but I make no promises on when! I think I need Hermione's timeturner. How about you?