20 miler - check! So it wasn't so bad, and the best part was that I wasn't hurting too much at all by the end. My teammate JoAnna and I totally got each other through this one. She is awesome!! I'll admit at around mile 18 I ditched the walking intervals and 'went for it'. I came in just under 4 hours. I have a feeling the hills in SF are going to alter this timing somewhat. It's taper from here till race day and our coaches tell us we're going to feel antsy but we have to rest and let our bodies heal. So now a 12 mile run feels short - weird!

Hello! Here is the September training schedule. I can't believe we are going to run 20 miles in a few weeks! Last Sunday our team ran 16 miles. That is officially the longest distance I have ever run. To be honest, it wasn't too bad. I thought I was going to cry at the end but I didn't. I did sleep it off that afternoon though.

Also, today we made our fundraising goal!! Thank you so much to all of our sponsors!! This really gives Jen and me great peace of mind and a chance to now focus on finishing strong on race day.

Here I am with one of my coaches, Marissa (right) and mentor Christina (left). These ladies are hardcore!!

Training Log: August

Here's the August schedule, looks like a few more double-digit practice runs to come. I'm looking forward to that 8 mile 'recovery run'. I ran 12 miles today and feel pretty good. The coaches have us in interval groups now, for example run 6 minutes, walk 1 minute. This is a new concept to me, but I can see the benefit over 26.2 miles! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Training Log: July

Check out my July training schedule. So far so good!

Aloha

Aloha! I've been on holiday in Kauai and Oahu since my last post, but I assure you I kept with with training while on vacation; running, hiking, paddle-boarding and surfing. Here are some pictures from one of my morning runs in Wailua, Kauai. Jeff loved Hawaii too!

Carmen's Training Log, June 6th

Today, we had our 3rd team practice and ran in different pace groups along Ocean Park in Santa Monica. My pace is somewhere between the advanced and intermediate groups and I must say running with the team makes me run quite a bit faster than when I'm alone. Our super cool coach Gary told us that our goal today was to meet 3 new people on the team. During the 5.5 mile run, I chatted with some teammates and met another Canadian woman, which makes 3 of us on the team - Go Team Canada! Hearing other people's stories of why they are doing the race is really interesting. I am often inspired by teammates who have not been personally affected by leukemia or lymphoma, but are willing to put themselves out there for this cause.

June 6th - 5.5 miles, team practice

June 4th - 6 miles

June 3rd - 6 miles

June 2nd - 6 miles

June 1st - 3 miles

May 29th - 6 miles

May 27th - 4 miles

A sense of what our practice starts out like. Gary is in the burgundy shorts.

Hard Core

We just had our first official Silicon Valley TNT track workout last night. I'll admit that I was more than a little nervous. Since highschool, working out at the track has never been my favorite venue. Seriously, can you think of a more boring and mind-numbing workout than running in circles? But, by noon it looked like the weather was going to be cold, windy, and excessively rainy. So I thought I might have had a reprieve from the boredom with a cancellation. No such luck. TNT is hard core. Apparently, they will train with you, rain or shine. So, I grabbed a towel and buckled down for a hardcore memorable first workout in the torrential downpour.

Luckily, as I was driving to the track the relentless rain miraculously stopped. Thank You Jeff! Somehow, I felt like he could hear my bitching. And after he had a really great laugh, he probably helped me out with some sun. In any case, it gave me a much better attitude. I was determined to put in a good workout, especially for Jeff.

And with the right attitude, it really wasn't that bad! I'll be honest though, the track was still as boring to me as it was 10 years ago. But, because I'm in better shape now than I was back then, it wasn't as painful. At least I didn't feel like puking at the end of the workout. Plus, the social aspect was a great distraction. The coaches were amazing. They were patient, knowledgeable, friendly, and really humorous. Before every drill, we were required to answer questions, like "What's your favorite restaurant?" or "What's your favorite food?" And what better way to make me forget about running pain than occupying my mind with food??? genius. So even though track workouts still aren't my favorite, TNT definitely makes it bearable. Here is to a great start of the season!