The Proof is in the Puddin'!

It says "PROOF" because they knew that you would doubt my running ability!

Or maybe because I am too cheap to pay money for something that I can pull off the internet with a lovely watermark on it. This photo was taken of me nearing the finish line of my first 10k.....here is another shot of my finishing time:

Trust me if you would have told me in March that I would be training to run a half-marathon I would have laughed at you, not because I doubted that I could do it, just at the fact that I was crazy enough to imagine myself finishing!

After running my 5k on March 20th, 2010 without training I was amazed to hear that our race was a "warm-up" for the marathon...chump change for the big guys. I was outta shape, outta breath, and on the verge of passing out at the 3.1 mile finish line. The best thing about the race was thinking that I could start my sprint at the top of the Doyer's Stadium parking lot with a quarter mile more to go. I guess I just got pumped when I saw the crowd starting to cheer, but didn't know what my body could handle. Well I found out the hard way when I got a cramp halfway down the cheering crowds. They were cheering me on as I had to do the side cramp walk of shame to get to the finish line & force myself to jog across it with what little dignity that I had at that point. The world continued to spin as I finished and I was so exhausted I didn't know what I was doing or where to get my medal!

So my next logical challenge would be a 10k...at this point of the year I was launched fully into my work's Flab Off competition, so I figured I could use races as my motivation to keep running. Well it didn't work as well as I'd hoped and I hadn't run consistently for weeks, but still did my other forms of training on the machines at the gym & at my weekly pole dancing classes. So I made a promise to myself that if I could run a 10k with no training at griffith park that I would sign up for the race. So I did and I clocked in at 1 hour & 20 minutes, so I signed up for the race that week! My goal was to beat my first ever 10k time. So I ran it and I felt great...being 10 lbs lighter from the 5k also helped! I finished and completed my goal of getting a better PR! 

To think, that was just 4 months ago and I just jogged 4.5 miles yesterday with Betty with no problem and just for the fun of it!

So here I am now.

Gearing up for Saturday's 6 mile workout....even though im bummed that I can't run 8 miles with the 26.2 crowd! So I feel like a real runner now: I have fancy pants shoes, a refreshing water belt & the correct gear to run in.

The funny thing is that the most stressful part of this whole thing is that I have a big-ole zero for my fundraising! I would be less stressed running 26.2 than this whole fundraising bit! We'll see how the See's candy lollipops sell tomorrow at work! As well as the Baja Fresh day!

Again with the crazy ridiculous times to Blog...its 4:36am & I should be sleeping.

Adieu for now!

:) joy

The Rundown

Well hello there!

Welcome if this is your first time here :)

So here's a quick & dirty breakdown of whats going on in my neck of the woods:

• My dad is still in the hospital
• Suffered from a stroke a few weeks ago
• Has been transferred to another hospital
• I'll be driving up to Vegas after practice, then coming back to LA on Sunday
• I bought my hydration belt 
• It makes me feel like a superhero
• I will run with it for the first time tomorrow
• Im intrigued by the "goo" bottles
• I bought new shoes 
• Woohoo! 
• A Runner's Circle is amazing
• All New Balance Shoes are 20% off until 6.15.10
• Can't wait to buy more goodies from there!
• I'll see tomorrow if my ankles still hurt after the run
• I made TnT business cards :)
• Why? Because I figured that it would be a better presentation to have a business card with your name & donation website on there when talking to potential donors
• Also because I have the resources to do so
• I will having my first fundraiser!
• Making TnT business cards for my teammates!
• I'm asking for a $10 donation for 50 personalized cards
• There are 2 designs to choose from
• I can take the long web address for your donation page and condense it to be more memorable
• I can also take personalized orders & greater quantities
• I still have an easter egg for my fundraising
• There will be a big fat zero by my name tomorrow on the sign-in sheet :(
• I'm going to have a Baja Fresh fundraiser
• I spoke to the manager at the Westlake Village location 
• He sounded excited to have one because I work within walking distance of their location and we have a lot of hungry employees
• He informed me that all I do is fill out a form and they provide a flyer & 15% of the proceeds would be mailed to the organization
• He also mentioned that if we have enough people to bring in $1,000 that they would bump up the donation to 20%
• I will plan the date so that it lands on a payday so more people from work would be willing to take a caravan across the street
• Went to both mid-week practices
• I find it difficult to make it through all the traffic in the 6 o clock hour and make it to practice on time!
• I was okay on Monday but came in at 7 on Wednesday
• My friend Betty & I did our 3/1 intervals for 40 minutes which came out to 3 miles
• It feels good to run on dirt as opposed to the cement
• Am planning more fundraisers...
• Along the lines of health & beauty....Stay tuned!

Oi! I should have slept a few hours ago! 
I'm fighting to keep my eyes open...so until next time.

Joy

"Everything will be okay in the end. So if its not okay then its not the end"

Times are a changing

My dad has been in the hospital for the past few days and I have decided that I want to cross off a marathon on my bucket list. So since I missed the Nike Women's marathon this year...I think I'll do it next year along with the LA marathon.

First things first...13.1 miles
So today we ran a 10k in Griffith Park...one of my favorite places :D
But instead of running straight through I ran it at a 7/1 interval...7 mins of running and 1 min of walking. I felt pretty good until I got a cramp & slowed my pace down. When I got back to our water stop I had a packet of salt with a few shots of water & was back on the trail.

My goal for next week is to contact a family that has been affected by Lukemia or Lymphoma who will inspire me to run before I start running those double digit miles. I'm interested in their story. I will keep you posted and write about them in a post.

I also wanted to start hitting that fundraising hard this week so keep a lookout on what interesting things I can pull out of my bag of tricks!

Check out the hydration belt i got today...Its my power pack!

:D

ps- Im going to buy a domain name today so I can link this blog/fundraising page/twitter/facebook all in one... I'm taking my fundraising to the web and see what I can catch!