Merry Christmas and Happy Everything!

Hey kids. It's a slow going running week, however I wanted to post to say check out my partner in crime/running buddy/enjoying our prep periods by playing in the snow friend Grande's super cool new blog at www.ethelhill.blogspot.com

In the meantime, enjoy the holiday, or the time off, or whatever you want to celebrate!

Happy Chrismahanukwanzaa Solstice!

Geology Rocks!

I've said it before, but I will say it again:

The Mount Holyoke College Geology department is the best department in the whole world!

You guys are amazing, thanks so much!

My children at school would know nothing about minerals or landscapes if it weren't for you!


You too can win my ever lasting gratitude if you donate below!!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/cmc09/bmahonegon

15K In the SNOW!!!

Yesterday I ran the longest distance I have ever run, which is a 15K race. The hardest part about running this race yesterday was the inclement weather. Though the "snow" in New York City pales in comparison to the way in which New England was rocked daily for months when I was in college, running in it was a different story. Despite fears (Hopes, maybe?) that the race would be canceled, New York Road Runners kept the 15K alive in Central Park. The back drop was beautiful, as all the trees were ice covered and snowy, and the ground was (mostly) dry. I finished the race in 1:51, which averages a 12 minute mile, which isn't bad.

I'm proud that I made it out in the bad weather. There are no images of me in my race gear, but the picture above illustrates the weather the day before the race. After my BFF Grande ditched me because we both had a teensy bit too much fun at the "office holiday party" on Friday afternoon, I'm surprised that I made it out at all!
Let's just say that there are other ways to get carbs than pasta parties!

Thank you for all of you who have donated so far! Any and all donations make a significant difference in the fight against blood cancers!

Happy Holidays!!

Global Warming is Good For Running

Though I am a hippie, environmentalist freak (sort of), I must say that I appreciated the warm weather yesterday as it allowed me to run in shorts for the first time since I started training for this marathon.  Aside from mirroring Nashville conditions more closely, it was just a whole lot more fun.

Today's rain/hail mixture should prove to be a bit more daunting, but I'm looking forward to working my way up until 9.2  (That's 35% of a marathon!)

Check back in later tonight/tomorrow morning for tonight's update!

NYRR Holiday 4 Miler! My FIRST Race!

Saturday morning was the New York Road Runners Holiday Four Miler. It is obviously a four mile race that took us on a loop through the park from the 102nd Street Transverse down to the Boathouse and back up. I had never run a race before, so it was an interesting experience.

Being that I have the worst sense of direction in the history of human kind, I was terrified that I was going to get lost and not be able to find the start line. Alas, the uptown 6 train was filled with people wearing spandex and yellow chips on their shoes, so I was able to follow all of them to the start line.

I had a purple number, which meant I was part of the slow crowd, but I'm a-ok with that. My goal is to FINISH the marathon on two feet. Any kind of time goal is secondary. In the middle of the second mile, Grande caught up to me and we ran the end of it together. Four miles was easy enough, and I finished in about 44 minutes, which meant I was running 11 minute miles.

This race was fun, and I'm excited (and terrified!) about next week's 15K, which means I'm off right now to go run some while the weather is still nice!

Check out the photo of me and Grande!

Cross-Training = Boy I'm Glad I Played Rugby!

Last night, rather than running very much, we cross trained. This involved a significant number of squats, lunges, butt kickers, side ways squats, side ways lunges, star jumps, and quick feet. It was the first time that I appreciated playing rugby for reasons other than 1) being able to threaten to tackle my students, 2) knowledge of dirty rugby songs, or 3) the infinite number of fun things that happened as being result of the most bad ass team on campus.

The fact that my legs were strong enough to still do those exercises was thrilling. While some people surrounding me *cough*Grande*cough* struggled and threatened tears, I remembered having to do wall sits while singing, and suddenly life was ok.

Tonight, we're aiming for about a five mile run, to get ready for the NYRR Holiday 4 Miler on Saturday!

You know what they say about numb feet....

This week, I've run a total of 20 miles.  After the eight i Ran on Tuesday, I ran four on Wednesday, four on Thursday, and a little over fie on Saturday morning with the team run.  During the team run, my right foot went completely numb, and it ached.  

My current mile time is approximately 10:31, which isn't terrible, but I would like to get it below a 10 minute mile.  I also think that after my first mile i slow dramatically, almost to a crawl.  Alas, though, my goal is to finish the marathon.  Any time goals are just details.

I signed up to run two races this month.  The first, next week, is the holiday four miler in Central Park.  The second, in two weeks, is a 15K (9.2 miles).  I'm a little bit terrified, but I figure that the sooner I hit ten miles, the sooner I can hit 26.2.

Check in soon to see how this week's training is going!

Separation makes the heart grow fonder?

So, I'm a bad marathon runner.   After going to team practice last Tuesday, I didn't run a single step until a week later.  I had to work security at the basketball game at school, so rather go to the team training, I went home and ran myself.  

After realizing that my running clothes REEKED, I proceeded to set out to run over six miles.  When the route was said and done, I had run a little bit over EIGHT miles!  I can't even believe that, and I could barely qualify my slow motion movements as running, but I definitely did not stop running until I reached the front of my apartment.

It felt pretty good to run that much, although now my knees are aching, and I'm sure my running clothes still smell terrible.

Reasons that Running a Marathon was a BAD idea!

Tonight, we had our first team "fitness" session, where we learned proper running form and ran as a team.  

"Proper" running form is keeping your arms at approximately a 90 degree angle and keeping them parallel to your body when running (aka not crossing them across your body.)  Now this is a no brainer for me, as there are things in the front of my body *ahem* that are hard to move my arms across.  Regardless, we had to focus on pumping our arms like insane robots.  To add to this image, we weren't running particularly fast, and so we just looked like sad, sad individuals who were trying to get people to believe they were runners, but really not so much.

We ran about 4 miles this evening, and the weather was nice enough for it, considering how cold it was on the first day of practice.  The puddles weren't even so bad!  While running these four miles, I can imagine myself as one of those "runner girls."   You know the girls I'm talking, with the long hair bobbing in pony tails as their ridiculous long legs stretch across massive spaces while still maintaining a conversation and a smile.  Realistically, I am beet red, looking like I'm moving in slow motion, and hoping to all things holy that I'm not plagued by the afflictions of my senior year of college when I got to take a vomiting tour of the most beautiful campus in the country.  

As Grande and I were stretching, we both realized that while everyone else in the fifty person crowd could stretch easily, she and I were falling down and knocking others over.  As I was heaving, I was considering why running a marathon seemed like the dumbest idea in the world.  I'm NOT a runner.  Why didn't I just join a rugby team?  How in God's name was I going to run this at a normal pace?  What if my nipples chafe?  As I heaved and surveyed my so-not-a-runners' body, the questions kept coming.  

Though I'm psyched about this marathon, I have to wonder, "What is wrong with me?"

WOo Hoo! Half Birthday = New Personal Best!

Cats and Kittens,

Despite the fact that I stuffed my face at the super cool school pot luck dinner this afternoon, I managed to run a personal best this evening and total 6 miles! WOOOOOOOO!! I have never in my life run six consecutive miles without stopping! This is thrilling. I did it in about an hour, which is about 12 minutes a mile, which I think is pretty decent. 6 is a long way from 26.2, but I'm kind of almost of quarter of the way there! Hooorah!

What a fantastic half birthday present to me!

First Team Run

Saturday morning was our first team run. After waking up at the crack of dawn to get to the Upper West Side, I spent an hour and forty minutes (that's the better part of TWO HOURS!) attempting to get to Bethesda fountain. My poor sense of direction aside, it was as though the MTA was playing a cruel joke on me, and preventing me from doing what I needed to be doing.

When I finally did get there, I was lucky enough to find someone else who arrived as awfully late as I did, and we ran together. I was able to do a loop and a half (Approximately 2.6 miles) without breaking stride.

I forgot how great it is to be running with a team. It's so much more motivating than doing it by myself. Even signing up with Grande keeps me on track, because I know that I want to get our matching marathon tattoos!

The ladies in my mentoring group are exciting! Spending some time with them this weekend was fun, and I'm looking forward to the other stuff that's ahead this week!