This was taken after we finished out FINAL track workout! Are we excited or what? "YESSSS" in unison. * high fives all around *
kiyah, meghan, natalie and me. (kelley ran it the day before)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
3 days until NYC!
This was taken after we finished out FINAL track workout! Are we excited or what? "YESSSS" in unison. * high fives all around *
kiyah, meghan, natalie and me. (kelley ran it the day before)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
counting down the days....
I recently finished Haruki Murakami's memoir entitled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, which recounts his training for the New York City Marathon (you may be familiar with his fiction, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, among others). He is an incredible novelist and an insightful, reflective runner.
He writes: "Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you're going to while away the years, it's far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive than in a fog, and I believe running helps you do that." (p 82-83).
I can tell you that this past weekend I was hardly in a fog at 7am when the Detroit Half Marathon started under the dark of night and dim glow of streetlights. My friend Sharad called me a "proper nutter" for battling the cold air and early morning hours, and warned me to be on the lookout for Detroit's notorious potholes along Michigan Avenue. While the latter was not so much a problem (no falls to report, teeth still in tact), the former made me laugh out loud. He's right!
Who does this?!?! I reminded myself that I had wanted to run this race since before I called myself a runner, and by the time I reached the Ambassador Bridge to Canada two miles into the race I felt awake and alive. I snapped a few photos along the way, including this one of Detroit from Windsor (okay, so THAT'S a little "nutter" but whateves, I document, yo). Besides, I couldn't run full force with NYC looming right around the corner.Murakami's goals for the New York Marathon were to reach the finish line, never walk, and enjoy the race. Sounds pretty good to me. See you in NYC.
(thanks bart, mary, melissa and arvind. You're the BEST.)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Fleet Feet - Carrboro
With less than 25 days left to the marathon, we have raised almost $1000 and need to raise another $2500 in the next 16 days.
The new owner of Fleet Feet-Carrboro, Trey Barnes, has offered to help us raise money to reach our goals. Currently, really nice, tech shirts are being sold at Fleet Feet with all proceeds going to Team for Kids on behalf of our team. These shirts are quite nice and I plan on purchasing a few more for me and my sisters. Also, on October 10th and October 17th, Fleet Feet will generously donate 5% of all sales to our Team. If you are in need of any shoes, clothes, nutritional supplements, or anything else, please consider buying on these days. If you don't live in the area or cannot make it to Fleet Feet on those days, but still want to purchase things, please let us know and we would be glad to pick up these items on your behalf.
The new owner of Fleet Feet-Carrboro, Trey Barnes, has offered to help us raise money to reach our goals. Currently, really nice, tech shirts are being sold at Fleet Feet with all proceeds going to Team for Kids on behalf of our team. These shirts are quite nice and I plan on purchasing a few more for me and my sisters. Also, on October 10th and October 17th, Fleet Feet will generously donate 5% of all sales to our Team. If you are in need of any shoes, clothes, nutritional supplements, or anything else, please consider buying on these days. If you don't live in the area or cannot make it to Fleet Feet on those days, but still want to purchase things, please let us know and we would be glad to pick up these items on your behalf.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Why I Run....
As Meghan and I were running in the Duke Forrest a few days ago, she mentioned how she fell in love with running while living in Germany because she would walk out her door and into the woods where she could run for hours. I immediately laughed and told her that not once in my life have I ever said, "I love running," or for that matter, "I fell in love with running". So the question is, if I don't love running, why do I run?.... Well, it's probably a complicated answer that requires you to get to know me a little.
TENNIS DAYS AND MY HATRED FOR RUNNING
From the time I was 10 years old until I graduated from college, I considered myself to be a "tennis player". I spent a lot of my childhood and college days practicing and competing in tennis tournaments or playing another college team. I loved training, having a goal, challenging myself, being part of a team and competing. While being a "tennis player" certainly requires running, this mostly consists of short sprints, agility drills and an occasional three mile run. I never enjoyed this part of training. In fact I hated this part. If you ask anyone I knew in college, they would all vouch for me about how much I hated running.....I hated it with a passion.
THE RUNNING JOURNEY BEGINS
So how do you go from hating running to wanting to run marathons? After college, I found exercising to be very mundane. I would run for 30 minutes or go to a 30 minute spin class and if I was feeling especially motivated I might do a few abs and lift some weights, but that would be it. Why else would I do more? I had no reason to be "in shape". My workout routines went on like this for about a year when my sister, Juliette, convinced me that she, my other sister (Angeline), and I should all run a marathon together. Both Juliette and Angeline enjoyed running and thought it would be a fun thing for us to do once in our lives. Somehow, I was convinced by this argument and in May 2004, I entered the NYC Marathon lottery. I rationalized that actually getting into the marathon would be a complete long shot, so there would be little chance that I would actually have to run the marathon. Knowing that entry into NYC via the lottery system is very difficult, I managed to convince my college friend, Erin, to sign up as well, just on the outside chance that I got in and neither of my sisters got in. I certainly did not want to run the NYC marathon by myself. Well, lo and behold neither of my sisters got into the marathon, but by some miracle Erin and I both did. Since I had convinced Erin to sign up, I felt obligated to run NYC with Erin. I figured I should just run one marathon once in my life. So my running journey began....
NYC MARATHON 2004
While Erin and I lived in different cities and ran very different speeds (she was much faster than me), we would call each other the day of a long run and commiserate about how our runs were: the aches and pains (tired muscles, chaffing, sunburn, etc.), the interesting people or lack of people who were also running, and how we felt. After the first few weeks of training, I began getting accustomed to running and could even identify days that I had a "good run" (I ran "fast" and effortlessly and totally forgotthat that I was running XX miles). Soon enough it was time for the real deal, the NYC Marathon. The NYC Marathon was an experience that no words could thoroughly describe. While I ran much slower than I had anticipated, it was my greatest sporting accomplishment up to that point. I was a decent collegiate tennis player, but I had always loved playing tennis. I had never loved running. I somehow was able to mentally push myself to keep running despite me wanting to quit on numerous occasions. I had somehow managed to run 26.2 miles, despite never running more than 5 miles prior to signing up for the marathon. I had succeeded in accomplishing my lofty goal.
POST NYC MARATHON
Immediately after the marathon, I swore that I would never do another one again. But after my whole body soreness slowly wore off, I began to appreciate the journey of running and training for a marathon (my college coach would be so proud). I loved having a goal and something to work towards. Most importantly, I loved pushing myself beyond my comfort level.
To this day, I still don't love running, but I will say that I don't hate it anymore. In fact there are some days that I enjoy it (but not everyday). I don't wake up every morning looking forward to my run, but at the end of the day, I am always glad that I did it. In the end, I guess what keeps me running is the journey.
- Natalie
TENNIS DAYS AND MY HATRED FOR RUNNING
From the time I was 10 years old until I graduated from college, I considered myself to be a "tennis player". I spent a lot of my childhood and college days practicing and competing in tennis tournaments or playing another college team. I loved training, having a goal, challenging myself, being part of a team and competing. While being a "tennis player" certainly requires running, this mostly consists of short sprints, agility drills and an occasional three mile run. I never enjoyed this part of training. In fact I hated this part. If you ask anyone I knew in college, they would all vouch for me about how much I hated running.....I hated it with a passion.
THE RUNNING JOURNEY BEGINS
So how do you go from hating running to wanting to run marathons? After college, I found exercising to be very mundane. I would run for 30 minutes or go to a 30 minute spin class and if I was feeling especially motivated I might do a few abs and lift some weights, but that would be it. Why else would I do more? I had no reason to be "in shape". My workout routines went on like this for about a year when my sister, Juliette, convinced me that she, my other sister (Angeline), and I should all run a marathon together. Both Juliette and Angeline enjoyed running and thought it would be a fun thing for us to do once in our lives. Somehow, I was convinced by this argument and in May 2004, I entered the NYC Marathon lottery. I rationalized that actually getting into the marathon would be a complete long shot, so there would be little chance that I would actually have to run the marathon. Knowing that entry into NYC via the lottery system is very difficult, I managed to convince my college friend, Erin, to sign up as well, just on the outside chance that I got in and neither of my sisters got in. I certainly did not want to run the NYC marathon by myself. Well, lo and behold neither of my sisters got into the marathon, but by some miracle Erin and I both did. Since I had convinced Erin to sign up, I felt obligated to run NYC with Erin. I figured I should just run one marathon once in my life. So my running journey began....
NYC MARATHON 2004
While Erin and I lived in different cities and ran very different speeds (she was much faster than me), we would call each other the day of a long run and commiserate about how our runs were: the aches and pains (tired muscles, chaffing, sunburn, etc.), the interesting people or lack of people who were also running, and how we felt. After the first few weeks of training, I began getting accustomed to running and could even identify days that I had a "good run" (I ran "fast" and effortlessly and totally forgotthat that I was running XX miles). Soon enough it was time for the real deal, the NYC Marathon. The NYC Marathon was an experience that no words could thoroughly describe. While I ran much slower than I had anticipated, it was my greatest sporting accomplishment up to that point. I was a decent collegiate tennis player, but I had always loved playing tennis. I had never loved running. I somehow was able to mentally push myself to keep running despite me wanting to quit on numerous occasions. I had somehow managed to run 26.2 miles, despite never running more than 5 miles prior to signing up for the marathon. I had succeeded in accomplishing my lofty goal.
POST NYC MARATHON
Immediately after the marathon, I swore that I would never do another one again. But after my whole body soreness slowly wore off, I began to appreciate the journey of running and training for a marathon (my college coach would be so proud). I loved having a goal and something to work towards. Most importantly, I loved pushing myself beyond my comfort level.
To this day, I still don't love running, but I will say that I don't hate it anymore. In fact there are some days that I enjoy it (but not everyday). I don't wake up every morning looking forward to my run, but at the end of the day, I am always glad that I did it. In the end, I guess what keeps me running is the journey.
- Natalie
Monday, September 1, 2008
I heart toe protectors!!!
Thus far, my main "training injury" has been a recurring blister on my second left toe. It sounds relatively minor, but it nearly took me down on our 14-mile training run last Friday (I''ll the story of the fabled 14-mile run for another day--it did, however, involve traversing water). I'd tried everything to get rid of this blister--moleskin, body glide, vaseline--but, nothing had worked. So, while at the store to buy yet another pair of running shoes, I asked for tips. It turns out that the answer to my blister problems could be found not at the fancy running store I'd been frequenting, but at Harris Teeter, CVS, and Rite Aid. Meet the toe protector:
For just $3.00, my toe problems are solved. I just ran 6 miles using this little guy and the feeling of knives stabbing my toe that I was previously dealing with is no more.
I heart toe protectors!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
But, really - I feel great.
No really. I feel good.
And I want to tell people that I feel great. That I feel strong. And that I'm enjoying my training. But I've noticed that some people give me funny looks when I tell them this. I guess some think that this training for a marathon should be painful. That I should wake up dreading my track workout. That I should be exhausted. Of course there are still 75 days for that to happen, but for now -- I feel great.
meg
And I want to tell people that I feel great. That I feel strong. And that I'm enjoying my training. But I've noticed that some people give me funny looks when I tell them this. I guess some think that this training for a marathon should be painful. That I should wake up dreading my track workout. That I should be exhausted. Of course there are still 75 days for that to happen, but for now -- I feel great.
meg
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