Days Fifteen & Sixteen - Soggy Shoes

Just a quick update tonight.

Saturday woke up to the sound of rain. Lots of it. Headed up to Central Park for the weekend Team session. Coach Ramon's email on Friday informed (warned?) us that many of us would be running longer than we ever had before, so the fact that I was soaked the bone by the time I got to the 72nd St. Transverse was icing on the cake after a particularly long week. We found out that Ramon ran his 31st marathon the day before and seeing him there with us at 8:30 AM was inspiring to say the least. The rain cleared up as soon as everyone got there and it was actually nice to run in cooler weather. I've actually never minded a warm rain, so I guess I'm being a bit dramatic about the whole thing anyway. The intermediate group did the six mile loop (I was glad that I did it last week, as this time I was able to pace myself by landmark and knew exactly how much I had left and when to expect a hill). The run went well and for the first time in a couple of weeks I felt as though I could keep going by the time the workout ended. My knees hurt a bit for the rest of the day, but overall, it was a great run.

My girlfriend stayed over last night and this morning we woke up and decided to go running together. It was raining again, but it wasn't heavy. We ran a mile and a half down Central Park West and then back. It was a good, quick run and felt much shorter than half of what I did the day before. It's strange that in just over two weeks 3 - 4 miles has become an easy day, but it appears that is what has happened.

Just one short antecdote today. This afternoon my girlfriend and I went to get her some news sneakers. We went to the same place where I bought my running shoes a couple weeks back. As she was trying on a few different styles a couple of guys came in and one of them asked for help finding some running shoes. After the salesperson tried to give some advice the guy's friend said, "Um...he's actually just looking for something that looks good that he can walk around in mostly and sometimes run in. It's not like he's going to be running a marathon in these or something." And then I realized - I've become one of them. One of those people that trains to do something crazy like run a marathon. It felt kind of cool.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 15
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 6
TOTAL MILEAGE: 31.64

DAY 16
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 3
TOTAL MILEAGE: 34.64

Day Twelve - A Piece of Pie

Pie as in 3.14. As in I ran 3.14 miles yesterday. Get it? A piece of PIE? Instead of cake? GET IT?

Yeah, I've got a headcold and it's having an effect...obviously. In fact, I was debating attending last night's training session because I figured maybe my body was in need of some rest. But then I found some motivation in the whole cause that Team in Training supports and decided I would go and do what I could. I decided to do the "Beginner" training instead of the "Intermediate/Advanced" which turned out to be two times around The Resevoir. Towards the end of the second lap I was feeling like I should push it and go once more around, but that faded quickly and I think it was for the best that I took it relatively easy. Despite my clogged up nose I felt quite good after the run and was glad that I went. Today, however, I'm pretty run down and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do the 3 - 4 miles that I'm scheduled to run. This week is feeling like a bit of a wash as I missed Sunday and Tuesday already and while part of me feels guilty about that, the other part understands that with my work schedule, a wedding and 2 funerals in a 7 day span and now this cold - well, something had to give.

Some good news - I finished the first draft of my fundraising letter and set up my fundraising website, so I'm feeling good about that. As far as personal good news - my cousin Luke and his wife Karin gave birth to their 4th son yesterday (although I'm told Karin did most of the heavy lifting there). Matthew was born happy and healthy and that's about the best news I've had in a couple of weeks. One more and they've got a basketball team. Congrats to them and I can't wait to see the newest edition to the family.

I think that's about it for today.

Oh wait - one last thing - Jen confirmed that my run on Sunday was indeed 6 miles, so the asterisk is gone. Thanks Jen.

Now that really is it.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 12
TODAY's MILEAGE: 3.14
TOTAL MILEAGE: 25.64

Day Nine - 0 to 6 in Nine Days

I know, I know, it's been a while since my last update. It was a long weekend. Wrote a song about it, like to hear it here it go.

Left work on Friday around 1:30. My dry cleaning wasn't ready when I tried to pick it up in the AM and since I basically have no big boy clothes I had to go and buy a shirt for the wedding that night. I bought two - one cost $150.00 and the other cost $50.00. Guess which one I'm returning? After shopping I headed down to Penn Station where I met up with my girlfriend and hopped on (in, actually) the train to Secaucus Junction. Met our friend there and he chauffered us up to...the town where the wedding was. Why I can never remember details like this is beyond me. It was a very nice town though. We checked into our hotel room and got ourselves ready for the wedding. Down in the lobby we met up with the rest of our friends and all drove over to the church together. The ceremony was nice and went off without a hitch except for the groom saying "I take you, as my husband" to the bride. Oh how we laughed. After church we hopped back into the cars and made our way back to the hotel for happy hour.

I'd just like to take a moment here to commend and thank the bride and groom for holding the reception in the same building where our beds were located. I don't think a finer idea has ever been had and I think it should be a rule with all weddings.

Happy hour was fantastic if only for the Swedish meatballs. But there was so much more. Soon enough however we moved into the main hall (with the rest of the 300 or so guests - this was quite the shin dig) and the party got started for reals. Magic Moments was providing the entertainment complete with a video tribute to the couple of honor, light up roses for the first dance and some other fantastic lighting effects throughout the evening. I'd like to say that the theme from The Natural was an especially nice touch just before the bride and groom were introduced.

Then we basically drank a lot and danced. Fortunately, I know my limits (super lightweight) and decided about an hour before the festivities ended to switch from Jack and Diet Coke to Diet Coke straight up and then right to water. Even the half a beer I muscled down at the hotel bar after the reception couldn't bring me back from the land of the sober at that point, which I was mighty thankful for on Saturday morning when I woke up surprisingly clear headed.

Oh, I forgot to mention. My girlfriend and I were sitting out front of the hotel at one point (her getting some fresh air, me, stinking it up with a cigar) and a shuttle bus full of guests at a different wedding pulls up. Suddenly I am surrounded by women screaming in surprise and delight. Apprently a friend of my girlfriend's from her hometown was at another wedding taking place in this very hotel on the same night and just happened to see us sitting on the bench as they got off of their bus. She was there with her husband (we actually attended their wedding upstate last year) and her parents. It was quite the scene. Small world, people. Small world.

On Saturday we went to brunch which was fantastic. Thanks to whoever invented that French Toast casserole thingy. That was scrumptious. After that we all checked out and headed back to NYC. Some friends from out of town who hadn't rocked enough ass at the wedding were staying at my girlfriend's place so about 10 of us wound up back there around noon waiting for the Yankees/Sox game (the absolute best part of this story is that the out of town friends were from Boston). So we watched the game and I realized that with each passing run the Yankees put up on the Sox that my plan of making up the group run I had missed that morning was basically the idea of a crazy person.

After the game everyone decided to go out to our local watering hole and continue the festivities there. Except for my girlfriend and I because we were basically half unconscious at this point. She was fighting a nasty cold all weekend and I'm basically very lame. Everyone wound up back at the apartment that night for a pizza party. We went to bed before Chico and Sarah from Italy showed up just to ensure that no one would forget that we are indeed the most uncool couple of the bunch.

Sunday morning, after saying goodbye to the Bostonians, I made my way back up to Harlem and went for a run (and you thought I wasn't going to talk about training for a whole entry). I've always heard that the main loop around all of Central Park is 6 miles, but outside of actually researching this piece of information I have absolutely no way to confirm that. So for now we'll call it 6 miles and I'll put an asterisk there until I can verify it (i.e. - someone who knows me can tell me whether or not this is the case). Knowing that the Team folks ran somewhere between 5 and 6 miles on Friday I decided to run the loop. I had never done so before and figured it would be pretty difficult. In fact, the longest I have ever run before is six miles (although I'm taking someone else's word on this as I never measured the distance). So as I started I kept reminding myself to keep my competitive nature in check and just worry about finishing and not all of the people that were bound to pass me.

After running the loop I can tell you this - if it's not 6 miles it should be. Or more. Because it feels like what I imagine running 6 miles should feel like.

And I can't even imagine what 26.2 must feel like.

By my calculations (checking the clock on my microwave when I left and when I came back in, minus estimated time to walk to the park, stretch after the run, then walk home) it took me about an hour to complete the 6* miles. That's 10 minutes a mile kids. Still a minute over the pace I want to set in the actual marathon in January. I know it's early in the training, but I can't imagine how it's going to happen.

The rest of Sunday had it's ups and downs. A bunch of us headed out to Jersey City to see our friends' new apartment. The place is very cool - a renovated warehouse with a very raw and industrial feel. High ceilings, big windows, the works. Had a nice time out there and the night was looking great until on the way home I realized I had left my keys in Jersey City. Yeah. So we hopped out of our friend's car forgoing the ride up to Harlem, got back on the Path, headed BACK to JC, retrieved the keys and then took the Path BACK to Manhattan. A short hour and half after realizing my mistake we were home safe and sound in Harlem.

Idiot.

Today is a day off from training according to the Team schedule, but I had planned to make up the 4 miles I missed yesterday when I was making the 6* I missed the day before. Unfortunately I'm going to have to miss a day however, as I am headed for a train to Connecticut as a good friend of mine lost his father over the weekend and the services are tonight and tomorrow. I've known Matt and his family for as long as I can remember and his dad was always so welcoming and generous to all of us. There were times in high school where all of our parents must have felt like they had half a dozen sons with the amount of time we spent just hanging out at eachother's homes. After high school Matt was in a serious car accident and his father kept us all connected despite the miles we had travelled with his daily, then weekly email updates as Matt recovered. Mr. C. was a good man and I know that he was a VERY good father and he'll definitely be missed. I'll always remember seeing Matt and his parents at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and knowing that no matter how long it had been since I saw them last that they'd have a smile and a hug for me.

It's been a tumultuous week or so and I'm feeling a bit frayed, but then I just keep thinking about the friend I have who lost his son and now the one who just lost his father and I realize how good I have things. But whenever things want to get a whole lot more boring and uneventful, I'm ready.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 9
TODAY's MILEAGE: 6*
TOTAL MILEAGE: 22.5*

CONTRAVERSY~!

BILL: MILEAGE
JEN: MILAGE

Who's dumber?

Day Six - Going Nowhere

Not really much to report tonight, just wanted to post an update after today's run.

Wanted to go to the gym on my lunch hour and run on the treadmill, but work has been a bear this week. We usually have six people in my department - the director of production, three line producers and two coordinators. There are a couple other folks too - the director of production's personal assistant is a great guy and our accountant is a huge help too, but strictly production speaking, we'll go with six. Anyway, for a whole laundry list of reasons (ranging from the birth of a child to the death of another) we have several staff members out of the office this week. Four actually (well, five including the personal assistant who is down with some sort of face...thing going on) which leaves two of us, and somehow things are just really busy right now. Really busy. It's like The Perfect Storm in there right now and keeping the emotion that this week has brought with it to the side, it's tough enough to keep all the plates spinning.

Which is just a really long and drawn out way for me to tell you all that I couldn't get out of work today to go for a run. So I waited until after sending the last email of the day and everyone had gone home and headed down to the second floor. There were a few people in the gym, but there was one treadmill open. Now, generally speaking I don't like running on treadmills. It's not so much the running part that bothers me, it's the aftermath. I feel like I used to feel after roller skating. You take the skates off but something inside your body still feels like you're rolling forward...or falling down, which was my forte the few times I strapped on a pair of skates. I also got my thumb run over once, but that is a whole other story. Although now that I think about it, that's pretty much the whole story right there. And you thought this was going to be a boring entry.

So I ran on the treadmill. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I forgot my iPod. Actually, I'll be honest, it's not really an iPod - it's a Dell Jukebox. For the sake of argument we'll call it an iPod the same way we call all tissues Kleenex, deal? But between you and I, it's a Dell Jukebox. Regardless, it was a run without music, which, generally speaking, I don't really dig. Although Ramon mentioned yesterday that there were no iPod's allowed during group runs (I'll go ahead and assume he means Dell Jukebox's too), so I suppose it's good for me to get used to running without.

After 3.29 miles (and you'll see why I chose that number when I add up my totals at the bottom of the post - aka I'm anal) I stretched, took a shower and then headed home. Run was OK, although I felt pretty sluggish. I was running at a pace of a mile every 10 minutes with no incline and I was trying to picture myself running 26.2 miles at a pace of a mile every 9 minutes (the pace if you want to finish a marathon in 4 hours) and it was making me depressed because I can't imagine that every being a reality.

Otherwise, it was weird (as it always is) to end the run and realize that I hadn't actually gone anywhere. Not that running around a man-made body of water 3 times is something out of Forrest Gump, but you know what I'm saying. Plus, treadmills always make me think of The Jetsons. Although I'm sure I'll be thanking God for them on the first 15 degree day in December (or even November...ugh).

Tomorrow is a day off from running and it will be a day off from updating this blog as well. I'm off to a wedding tomorrow night and on Saturday will try to run through what is sure to be hangover of some sort. Have a great Friday and I'll be back later this weekend.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 6
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 3.29
TOTAL MILEAGE: 16.5

Day Five - The First OFFICIAL Workout

Apparently last Saturday was just a casual run. That's according to our head coach Ramon. So I guess I was just casually putting all of my weight on the banister and praying that my legs would not collapse from under me on Monday. Good to know.

Jen's rundraising update: she's over a thousand bucks. I'm happy for her and hate her a little bit all at the same time. Seriously though, way to go Jen. Anything over 5 grand goes right to me, right? I mean, that was the deal we made when I decided to run, wasn't it?

OK, so yesterday I didn't think I was going to make it to the Team session but I ended up making it back into the city earlier than anticipated. I got back to my apartment at about 6:00, quickly changed and walked down to Madison and 92nd where we checked in and then headed to Central Park for the actual work out. Wednesday sessions will be focused mainly on form, technique and sort of whipping our asses into shape. Saturdays will be for longer runs and building endurance. Last night we got a tutorial on upper body form while running. The most positive thing I took from all of this is that I already have decent form - who knew? Well...as far as my arms are concerned that is. I do have to remember to keep my back a little more straight and my shoulders back. Oh and my wrists need to be loose - gotta work on that. But everything else - everything between my shoulders and my wrists - that's spot on. Hooray for me.

We (the intermediate/advanced group) did 3 laps around The Resevoir (1.57 miles per lap) while everyone's hero Jen and the rest of her group did two laps. So you probably want to go and send her more money now or something. The trick was that we had to alternate between running normally and running with really exaggerated arm movements. So basically there were about 100 people running around The Resevoir last night like complete lunatics in the midst of some kind of spasm. I got a pretty nifty cramp in my side on the second lap and for a second thought I was done for but then remembered that I'm all man and just decided to run through it. When that didn't work I started doing some crazy lamaze breathing, which I might have been doing wrong because I got really lightheaded and sort of blacked out. The rest of the run is a blur. I'll be honest, it was a nice way to end the day.

By the time I dragged my ass around for the third time everyone was already stretching. I was just glad they were still there. After the stretching Jen and I walked back to the meeting point with Ramon and she was so boring that he ran away from us at the first opportunity. Way to go Jen.

Oh yeah, I keep meaning to tell you guys - my Mentor's name is Dragan. Fucking Dragan. That's pretty rad, you've gotta admit. Mentor's have teams made up of like 10 - 12 people and they basically answer questions for us and train with us for the specific run that we are signed up for. I think our whole team should shave our heads and get dragons tattooed on the back, but that idea hasn't caught on yet. Pansies.

All right, that's about it for day 5 (even though I'm technically posting this on day 6). After the run last night my calves got really tight and I was a little worried about how I'd feel this morning when I woke up, but to tell the truth, I actually feel pretty good.

Right up until I think about how much money I have to raise for this to actually happen.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 5
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 4.7
TOTAL MILEAGE: 13.21

Day Four - A Little Overwhelmed

I just went to Jen's blog and noticed that she has raised over 600 bucks already. I don't even have my letter written yet or my fundraising website set up. Ugh. This is what happens. I get overwhelmed with shit like that and find other things to do with myself. Not that I'm blowing it off or anything, it's just that I tried to set up my website earlier this week and found out I couldn't do so without reading some of the valuable information that Team gave us and then I put it off because it seems like a much bigger task than it really is.

I dunno, I'm just a little out of sorts right now for several reasons, most of which I've already gone into over the past couple of days.

I had some nice conversations with some good friends today though who are being very supportive of this venture and of other things. which helped put my head at ease a bit.

Tomorrow there is a scheduled group workout which I am going to miss because I'm headed up to the memorial service. I'm sorta numb about the whole thing and know that the actual service will make something crack and am both looking forward to the release and dreading it at the same time.

On Friday night I put on a suit for an unprecedented second time in one week as I head out of town for a wedding. This will cause me to miss Saturday's group run as well, but I plan to definitely make that one up on my own later in the day Saturday. I'll just have G-Rocks let me know how far to go and let er rip.

Part of me feels bad about missing some early training, but part of me understands that the reasons are completely valid and that this early on it won't do too much damage. I just like to start out strong and am worried about developing bad habits. Although I'm actually really looking forward to Friday night, especially after this week. It will be nice to have something to celebrate with some friends and a night in a hotel is always fun for me. My girlfriend and I have both had hectic schedules the past week or so, so a night out all dressed up will be fun for us. Let's just hope I don't drop a gravy soaked utensil all over myself like last time.

Today was a cross training day and I took my lunch break to hit the gym at work. Did a relatively light session on the trainer, 30 minutes (25 + a 5 minute cool down) with the resistance set at 10. Felt good to get my muscles warmed up again and to sweat a little bit.

New goal: have my website set up and my fundraising letter sent out by Sunday night. Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 4
TIME CROSS TRAINING: 30 minutes
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 0
TOTAL MILEAGE: 8.5

Day Three - And We're Off

As in a day off. From running. Which is good. Because I'm sore.

Very, very sore.

Here's something I learned: when you're 30 your body tends to recover a little bit slower from things like running 5 miles after leading a completely sedentary lifestyle for the better part of a year.

Of course, it's all relative. I'm sure that at 30 your body recovers faster from brainless exertion than it does at age 40, but I've never been 40, so I don't know for sure. I just know that it's taking longer than it did when I was 20 and decided that I was in much better shape than I really was when I decided to start exercising.

All of this is just a fancy way for me to say that I shouldn't have run the 5 miles on Saturday. I know you're probably getting sick of hearing me complain about that, but be patient because Wednesday is just around the corner and that is our next hardcore training session. I'll be sure to be full of all new complaints after that.

Basically today's entry is just taking up some space because I told myself that I would make daily contributions to this blog when I had the time and the opportunity to do so. And seeing as the most interesting thing I have done tonight is pull a tiny little piece of glass out of my foot after stepping on it while cooking dinner, I figured I had both.

Tomorrow I hit the gym for some cross training, as recommended by the Team In Training people and while I may be a bit too trusting, I'm gonna take their word for it.

Oh yeah, this is what I wanted to tell you (I knew I should have posted earlier). When I decided to run a marathon I bought some books, because really, how better to train than by reading? Seriously though, I figured I could pick up a thing or two and didn't really have a full understanding of how hands on Team would be. Anyway, I got two books, one was really small and looked like it could be read on a short flight while the other resembled a text book of some sort. I'll let you guess which one I read. According to this book it is very important not to overtrain for a marathon. You need to take days off on schedule and even if you are feeling particularly great on a rest day you MUST give your body that time to recover from your last run.

No worries there.

I know that Training Wheels is about the marathon and the training process, but I feel as though I should follow up on yesterday's entry. I don't really know anything else about the death of my colleague's son. A few people took part of the day to make a trip up to his house so I'm sure they'll have details on what happened and a memorial service tomorrow. It's just all kinds of horrible and no one has any words to help make sense of it all. Everyone at the office today was very somber and the sadness hung heavy in the hallways. I found out tonight through total and complete coincidence that the boyfriend of my girlfriend's roommate (take a second to figure that one out) was actually one of the boy's teachers last year.

The world is a strange place. I guess we just all try to help eachother through when things get especially unfair and hope that someone will be there to do the same for us when it's our turn.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 3
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 0
TOTAL MILEAGE: 8.5

Day Two - Here Comes The Pain?

Getting out of bed this morning was...difficult. My thigh muscles feel as though they have been tied in knots, my shins are sore and my feet ache. The first few steps to the bathroom were not graceful. I started wondering how I was going to possibly run today. Strangely I never considered blowing it off, I just tried to comprehend HOW I would make it happen.

My plan was to run a mile and a half downtown and then a mile and a half back up to my apartment. Easy enough, right? For non New Yorkers, 20 city blocks here (short blocks, mind you) translates roughly into a mile, so it's easy to keep track of your distance when running on the streets.

Being an egomaniac I decided to take a peak at the blog before I left and notice that G-Rocks had left me a comment saying that she wanted to run together today. A few short text messages later and we decided to meet at the South end of Central Park.

Aside from the soreness, of which there was plenty, the run was fairly uneventful. Two times around the lower loop. We did the first lap together and then split up for the second but finished at roughly the same time. After we stretched (we came the conclusion that if it hurts and makes you look like an idiot, you're probably stretching properly) we sat down and talked for a bit over Gatorade (me), water and coffee (both her). We talked for about and hour about nothing inparticular. It was my favorite part of this so far. I don't see G-Rocks face to face all that often and while I'm sure we'll be sick of the sight of eachother by January, right now I feel very lucky to be sharing this with her.

I hobbled home around 11:00AM (the stairs leading down the subway are a cruel joke) and when I got back to my apartment I noticed a new message on my cell. It was one of the producers from work asking me to give him a ring today. I almost didn't phone back. It's Sunday, couldn't whatever it was wait until tomorrow? Clearly it wasn't THAT important if he hadn't told me what the call was about in the message. I ended up calling back. He told me that one of our colleagues lost his son to a tragic drowning accident yesterday.

I am in shock. Total and complete shock. I felt and feel terrible for my co-worker's loss. He's someone that I would consider a friend and trying to comprehend what he is going through is impossible. I just shake my head when I think about it, knowing how much he loves his kids and how they are the center of his life. There is never anything to say in situations like this - or if there is, I can never find the words.

As cliche as it sounds, something like this brings things into sharp focus. I've made phone calls today just to hear peoples' voices. The pile of work waiting for me on my desk tomorrow doesn't seem as terrible. Most of all, my sore legs don't seem quite as much of a tragedy as they did a few hours ago.

I hate that it takes things like this to shake me out of the self centered rutts I tend to work myself into. I hate that this feeling of appreciation for life will dull with time and I will allow myself to be caught up with the little things all over again. More than all of that though, I just feel sad that my friend is in so much pain tonight.

Part of joining Team In Training was always going to be learning an appreciation for the fact that while all of this running may be difficult, it's something that I CAN do while others can only wish they could. That thought was resting in the back of my mind, shaken to life whenever one of the Honor Teammates (runners in remission or currently fighting cancer) would speak to us as a group, but otherwise dormant. This has brought that to the forefront.

I thought I was in pain when I woke up this morning. Now I realize that my legs are just sore.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 2
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 3.4
TOTAL MILEAGE: 8.5

G-Rocks' Blog: http://girlyoubetterrun.blogspot.com
Team In Training's Site: www.teamintraining.com

Day One - And Away We Go...

Here's the short version:

A couple weeks back my friend Jen (you may know her as G-Rocks) asked me if I'd be interested in running a marathon with her. I told her I was busy that day but to ask me again the next. I said that because I'm pretty funny. No one really knows that Iv'e always wanted to run a marathon because I didn't want to get laughed at so I never told anyone. But I have. The only problem is that I don't run so well.

I just realized that this isn't really the short version. You'll live.

As much as I have always said that I want to run a marathon someday, I always figured that someday was far far away and I wouldn't actually have to actually make that happen for myself any time soon. But Jen's question got me thinking. I went on vacation the next day (I don't remember if it was really the next day, but that's a detail you shouldn't really be worried about right now) and gave myself the week to think about it. I talked to my mom who said that I should probably not undertake this right now. Not so much because she doesn't believe in me - she's my mom, I think she still believes I could be president if I wanted it bad enough - but rather because of something I haven't told you yet.

You're DYING to know what that is, aren't you?

Now I think I've built this up too much. The thing is, Jen is training for the marathon with a group called "Team In Training." I totally suck at the internet, but if you are interested in just what Team In Training (they call themselves TNT, but clearly the more logical acronym is TIT and I plan to suggest it to them, not because they are a boob-like organization, but because I love the English language), I'll take a wild guess and say that you can learn more about them at www.teamintraining.com. I'll verify that tomorrow when I post again.

SIDE NOTE: I HAVE been to the TNT website, I just don't remember the address right now. Again, a detail you shouldn't really care about right now.

Anyway, Team In Training, I have learned over the past couple weeks, is an amazing organization. Basically they let slobs like me sign up to run marathons, help us train, and then fly us to exotic locations and put us up in hotels and then cheer us on as we actually run a marathon. I think there is probably some kind of pasta party involved too, but that's sort of a guess. Also they do a lot of clapping. That's not a complaint. I'm down with the clapping.

And what does Team In Training ask for in return?

Money.

But it's cool. They don't want my money. They want yours. It's just that they're kinda busy with the running and the exotic locations and the slobs so they want me to ask you for it instead of doing it themselves. Flying people to different locations and feeding them pasta costs money, that's where you come in. But this is where things get kinda cool. Because for every dollar you donate, they only use like 25% on exotic locations and pasta. The other 75% goes to cancer research. Not just researching a cure, but researching treatments. It's totally noble and selfless and alternately makes me feel like a good person for trying to chip in and a total scumbag for not selling my TV and moving to Sri Lanka to...build something...

...with my soft and ladylike hands.

I should say that I've never been to Sri Lanka and I don't mean to assume they need stuff built. Sorry if that's offensive.

So yeah, that's the catch here. I've gotta do some fundraising (kind of a lot of it - not like selling a box of 30 candybars for a buck a piece in little league...more like selling 130 boxes...which I've never done before) before I can go run the marathon. So if you're reading this, odds are you've been (or will be) asked for money. And you will be again. If you give once, that's all you gotta do, but you'll still get the reminder emails because I'm way too lazy to change the distribution list. I'll make you a deal though - if you donate to me I will thank you personally in an email that I send to everyone, which you can then forward to your mom and she'll be proud of you - and maybe she'll donate some money too.

So don't be a jerk because I'm gonna train really really hard for this thing and a measly $3800.00 shouldn't keep me from realizing my dream. Well...it's sort of a dream. More like something I am daring myself to do. But hey if it takes daring yourself to do something cool like run a marathon and raise four grand for cancer research, that can't be all bad, right?

Oh yeah...my friend Jen has a really fancy blog that is tracking her progress. I should also say that she is running for a friend of hers that passed away last year after a battle with cancer, which is what inspired her to get involved. But then again, if you know Jen, she's always been involved in pretty much anything good you can imagine. Now she's just got a more personal connection and as endlessly impressed as I have always been with her, she now gets yet another standing ovation from me for lighting the fire here.

Anyway, Jen's blog is much prettier than mine complete with pictures and links that she has researched. She's also much smarter than I am, more informative, as well as easier on the eyes, so maybe you should just go and read her entries if you like her so much. There's pictures of me too. I'll definitely link to her tomorrow when I can remember the address. It's here on blogspot and it's called "girlyoubetterrun" so that might be a good starting point.

Finally, we started our training today so here's the update:

Day 1
Met the "Winter Season" runners and coaches in Central Park at 8:30 this morning. They split us into walkers, beginners and intermediate/advanced runners. Being an idiot I decided to run with the intermediate/advanced team. Why not? I mean, last time I ran I did a 5K with no problems. Never mind that it was last Thanksgiving after training for months. Yeah, like I said, I'm an idiot.

So my group was told to take three laps around the lower loop in Central Park which is 1.7 miles around. Quick math will tell you that equals 5.1 miles. So, I did it. And it sucked. It felt really really bad. There was a lot of pain, a lot of self doubt and definitely more than one moment when I knew for sure that I will never run a marathon. But I countered that saying that this is only day one and that I've got until January 14 to turn things around. However, while we were stretching after the run (I have no idea how long it took me, but I think it was a while, and for whatever it's worth I was definitely bringing up the rear) I thought several times that if these people train me well enough to finish a real honest to goodness marathon then they are miracle workers.

So there you go. The first five miles under my belt and about 12 hours later I feel OK about it. Despite the fact that I can't really make it down the one flight of stairs from my apartment to the street I am planning on running 3 more tomorrow. I even bought some real running sneakers today. Hopefully I'm on my way to someplace good. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading. More later...

DAY 1
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 5.1
TOTAL MILEAGE: 5.1