Big news!

I have some big news!

I've sadly decided not to continue with my current Team in Training campaign for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. Please don't hate me. I'm so so so so so dedicated to the cause, and I'm still going to fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as the team captain of Team Mom for the LLS's Light the Night campaign this year (4th year! Woohoo!). But, I just can't dedicate myself to raising the $3,900 for the Nike Women's between now and October. Life has gotten a little rough in the last few months, and I'm trying to remove as many stressors as possible at the moment. Unfortunately, I can't give up law school, which is the stressor I really want to eliminate!

Check out my fam at Light the Night two years ago. Darn, we're cute!



This absolutely does not mean that I'm going to stop training! In fact, there's a trail marathon here in Georgia (the North Face Endurance Challenge) on the same day as the Nike Women's, and I've already gone ahead and registered. I might even do a road marathon a month before that (The Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio). I'll keep you posted on my developing racing plans!

Time to get to work!

I finally got all signed up with Team in Training for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco!

Check out my fundraising page here!

I (and my mom, too) would love it if you could help with a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! The LLS funds research and development for new cancer medicines in the hopes of finding a cure. One of the drugs they researched and developed, called Rituxan, is the drug that saved my mom's life! It helped put her lymphoma into remission, and it will extend her remission for up to five years!

My mom is a fighter, and my family has hope that she will live a long and happy life with us. PLEASE HELP US GIVE OTHERS HOPE, TOO.



Meeting my fundraising goal is going to be tricky, but I have faith that I can do it. I have some ideas, but not nearly enough, though! Please let me know if you have any thoughts!

This year I'm going to enlist the help of some law school friends and my little brother's fraternity. Also, last year I organized a pub crawl to raise money for the LLS, so maybe I'll do that again this year. I got this shirt for the occasion:



I'm hoping that I can get some of my artist and jeweler friends to make some pieces that are either lime green (for lymphoma awareness) or purple and green (for Team in Training) to raffle/auction at my Mom's school.

Anyone have some fantastic fundraising ideas?

And thus commences uber-training

So, I'm all good and signed up with my Team in Training for the Nike Women's Marathon! $3900 sure is a daunting fundraising goal! I know I can do it, but it's going to be tough. I'm going to need so much support from my friends and family!

I'm going to use the Jeff Galloway training plan to prepare for the race. (More info about the Jeff Galloway plan here). Basically, you run three days a week with your Sunday run being your long run, and the length of the long run varies until you reach 26 miles.

You can see my marathon training plan here!

You may notice that the race plan has 28 weeks in it; I did this because I'm including this current week, in which I intended to include a 5-mile long run anyway. You may also notice a lot of things in parentheses. These are other events I have scheduled on those days that will necessitate training modification. I don't think my other races or my triathalon will cause too many problems--nor will my trip to Comic Con in San Diego because we'll be at a hotel with a treadmill--but my volunteer work in Haiti might cause some problems! We'll just have to see.

Combining my marathon training with my triathalon training will be interesting. My schedule for next week will look something like this. I imagine future weeks will look like this, too.



Because I'm starting a new training program that I'm sure will prove to be unduly demanding in the next couple of weeks, I decided to give myself a break today! I still went to my afternoon vinyasa yoga class (LOVE!), but I didn't run, bike, or swim at all. It was lovely!

I slept in a bit, and I started my day with some of my mom's FANTASTIC vegan cornbread. These are leftover from Easter. SO GOOD! A little Earth Balance makes everything better, too!



For lunch, I had chana masala and quinoa. I love chana masala. I would eat it every day of the week if I could! I find it too heavy on days I'm exercising, though. I really only crave it most on my days off.



I also had a slice of my mom's awesome vegan carrot cake, also leftover from Easter. She sure knows how to please a vegan! It's. So. Good.



Now, I'm munching an apple, some walnuts, and some baby carrots while I attempt to pay attention in my fascinating entertainment law class! I know I shouldn't be blogging in class, and I swear I'm really a good student! We're talking about talent contacts for new artists, and I've already covered it in another class. :-)

Big news!

The Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco is 28 weeks away. A modified Galloway marathon training program will take me 27 weeks to complete. Coincidence? I think not! I know that yesterday I was considering just the half, but today I know that I want to try for the whole thing!

Twenty. Six. Point. Two. Miles. Oh my goodness!

I know I just ran my first mile in my life in January, but I know I can do this! It would mean a lot to me, and it would mean a lot to my mom, too.

I'm going to start my modified training program next Monday. I'll post my training schedule soon!

Today, I started out with a big mug of green tea and large dose of entertainment law homework.



I had a nice run on my "low and slow" course. It's a 3-mile loop around my neighborhood that's about 2 miles of slow incline and then 1 mile of steep decline.

Post-run, I had half a cantaloupe, 1/2 a cup of uncooked oats, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, and a cup of soymilk. Does anyone else love uncooked oats besides me? I think I like them better than cooked oats!



Awesome refuel. A few hours later I had my usual raw protein smoothie (banana, frozen fruit, raw rice protein powder, chia seeds, soymilk, and spinach).



Yum, yum, yum. After some more entertainment law homework, I packed up and headed to the gym for a quick spin before class. That was a hot 45 minutes! My gym had the AC on, but it's no match for Georgia-summer-in-April! I don't think I've sweat so much in my life!

Before class, I had some coconut water, apple slices, and raw walnuts to get me through. Please excuse my dirty computer! I had no idea it was so dusty!



Now, I'm sitting in class called History of the American Constitution. Please save me! Ha!

Team in Training?

I'm considering joining my local Team in Training this fall. Team in Training is a project of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Participants fundraise for the LLS, and the LLS takes them to some of the biggest events in the country. My local Team in Training is currently recruiting for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in October, and I really want to do the half-marathon this fall!

The LLS is an organization close to my heart. My mom is a lymphoma survivor, and my family has participated in many of the LLS' other fundraising events over the years. We do the 2-mile walk--Light the Night--every year downtown at Centennial Olympic Park.

This is my family at Light the Night for the LLS in 2008...



...and this is my family in 2009.



This fall, though, I'm going a bit further than 2 miles! HALF-MARATHON! The only problem is that if I do the half-marathon in San Francisco, I won't be able to do the Light the Night walk with my family in Atlanta, which is kind of a big deal. I've been a team captain every year since my mom was diagnosed. Maybe one of my brothers can do it this year--I'd love for them to get more involved!

I wish I knew definitively whether I could go! I have a meeting with a recruiter on the 20th, so I guess I'll just have to be patient until then!

Editted to add: I will be able to do both the marathon and Light the Night! Light the Night is on the 10th, and the marathon is on the 17th! Yay!