3 days and counting....

The marathon is this Sunday! Yikes!! For those interested, you can sign up to receive text message alerts about where I've made it on the course at this website: http://live.activeresult.com/msg/MSG-signup.tcl?event_id=25 or if that doesn't work you can go to www.inggeorgiamarathon.com and sign up for runner tracking alerts.

My Hay is in the Barn

I had never heard of that saying until today...apparently "the hay is in the barn" is an expression used when the big training build is complete and all that remains is to taper and rest up for the big race. Apparently each workout completed in training is like a bale of hay and each time you complete the workout it's like stacking the hay in a barn...anyway...I must admit this is one of the dumbest expressions I've heard...but I'm really glad my hay is in the barn. :)

The big day is near...only 10 more days until my marathon on March 29th. I'm really proud of myself for sticking to the training and hopefully I'll finish my first marathon in 10 more days. I've raised over $2000 for LLS during this time, which I'm also really proud of. :)

I'm very nervous and very excited at the same time. I just hope I can finish it!! My only goal is to finish the race before they open the streets back up to the cars...so keep yr fingers crossed for me!

3.11.09

Wow...it's been a while since I updated this site...sorry...not like anyone is reading it anyway. Haha :) So my marathon is coming up in about 2 weeks...I must admit that I'm quite nervous about it. I have reached my fundraising goal...actually I've passed it so I'm really happy about that! We're tapering down our runs now, we don't do any runs longer than 8 miles for the next 2 weeks until the big day.

1.16.09 Update

Happy Birthday Daddy! Today would have been my dad's 53rd b-day.

In fundraising news...I reached my fundraising goal!!! Yay!! I've actually passed it by $152!! No worries if you haven't donated yet but still want to, you most certainly can! There's no limit on how much I can raise once I pass my goal, so keep it coming!! Thanks to everyone who has donated!!

I ran 14.2 miles in Albany on Saturday in the rain and in the middle of nowhere. I must say it was a lot more boring than my runs here in Athens, even though it was a flat course, it was a lot more difficult mentally because there was nothing to look at except trees!! I didn't even hardly have any turns, I just ran down one road forever and then turned around. It took me longer than normal to do it too...I did it in 3 hours and 23 minutes. But oh well, I did it and it's done! On to 16 miles this weekend...

2.11.09 Update

Had a 4 mile run yesterday afternoon...did it in 50 minutes. Weather was beautiful! I'm so ready for spring! I've got 6 miles to do tonight and then 4 more tomorrow night then I move up to 14 this weekend! I'll be in Albany this weekend to get my taxes done and to celebrate my dad's birthday (his b-day is Feb 16th) so I know it will be a very flat course, nothing like the courses up here in Athens...so that will be a nice change, although I will miss running with the team and having water stops set out for me...guess I can throw some gatorade in a bush and hope no one steals it. :)

Hooray for 12!!

I moved up to running 12 miles today! I did it in 2:38:21. The weather was great today! Well it started out quite chilly at 8:00 AM, ice on the windshield and everything but by 10AM or so it had warmed up considerably and is now in the mid 50's. I feel good too, not too sore or worn down. Alright, have a good weekend!!

Quickie

I just had a short 4 mile run this evening...did it in 50 minutes and 41 seconds. Not too shabby :)

Brrrrr

I ran 6.44 miles today in the freezing cold!! The wind is crazy fierce right now and just cut right through me, but once I got going I warmed up a bit. I did it in an hour and 24 minutes though.

Well, unfortunately, I can add one more name to the list of people I run in memory or honor of. One of my coworkers was diagnosed with lymphoma this week. She's one of the few people at work that I truly enjoy and it has come as quite a shock to her and everyone. I hate that I am adding people to this list of people I run for. I hope to not add anyone else to it for quite sometime.

The picture I added is a picture of the team I train with from back in November at our very first group training session(GTS). Some of these people have dropped out since then and some people are now on the team that weren't pictured. The guy in the very back is our Coach, Hugh. The guy in the purple shirt is our Team Captain, Vann. The woman that is standing to my left is the Honored Hero for the team. She had lymphoma and is 4 years cancer free.

DOUBLE DIGITS!! WOOT WOOT!!

Well, I did 10 miles today! Yay for double digits!! :) I did it in 2:15:47. It was an extremely hilly course, but I did it. I tried using some sport beans today, which were pretty helpful I think. I've also got some gels and things to try out too. They recommend using something every hour of exercise, so...

We had our recommitment party this afternoon for those of us who recommitted to the team. Several teammates have had to drop out for various reasons. It was nice to see the team together. Usually we all run at our own paces so I won't see some people during training.

Most of the runners on the team are doing an interval type of run and they have special timers to help them with this. For example, they run 4 minutes and then walk 1 minute for the entire time. They say it's the best way to do it and not get injured so I may look into this. Right now I've just been running the entire time.

Well, I'm about to go watch a documentary about marathons called The Spirit of the Marathon. Have a good weekend!!!

1.30.09 Update

Just a short note to let you know how I'm doing. We had a short run yesterday, just 3.7 miles but I finally wore my watch so I can keep up with my time. I did it in 45:15. See, not a fast runner by any means but I'm faster than a 17 minute mile which is what I'll have to do in order to finish the race before the open the course back up to traffic. We move up to doing 10 miles tomorrow. Yikes! One of the perks though is that I've lost 8 pounds so far. Which is great considering I'd like to lose about 60 total. So just 52 more pounds to go! :) Will update you tomorrow on how the 10 miles goes.

9 Miles!!

This past Saturday I moved up to running 9 miles. It wasn't too bad really except for the rain. And of course, wouldn't you know it, I step in a giant puddle about 1/4 mile into the run and get my socks soaked, so I had to run 8 3/4 more miles with wet feet...so I got a nice little blister from that. Mark bought me some brand new running shoes that got broken in rather quickly that day. I needed some new shoes desperately, so thanks Mark!! :) I did buy a watch this weekend so I can time myself. I run as fast as an old lady walks, so it should be interesting to see how long it takes me to do the runs. :)

1.20.09 Update

Well, I can't let this day pass by without mentioning how excited I am about our new president!! Here's a pic of me and my coworkers while we watched the inauguration in the family waiting room here at the hospital. Okay, it' not a political blog, it's a running blog...so that's all I'll say. :)

I ran 4 miles after work this evening. The temperature was 33 degrees and very windy. It's not so bad if the wind isn't blowing, but the wind can really make it not very fun. I haven't been keeping up with my times on my runs too much, but I'm going to start wearing a watch so I can give you guys an idea of just how slow I'm running. :) My goal for the marathon is just to finish it before they close down the course, which means I have to do it in 7 hours or less. So that equals to about a 17 minute mile I believe. I think I have been averaging about a 14 minute mile or so. But I'll try to start posting my times because I'd be interested in knowing how long it's taking me too.

I'm getting close to meeting my fundraising goal too. I only have $330 left to raise! I can't believe how supportive and giving everyone has been, raising the money has actually not been very hard at all. I've really appreciated all of the support. Well, it's getting close to my bedtime, so goodnight!!

1/17/2009 Update

Last week in training we moved up to 7 miles. I have never run more than 6 miles at one time before. I was nervous about this run all week. But I did the run, never had to walk. I was so excited after I got done. This week we moved up to running 8 miles. I was less nervous about this run because I just kept telling myself that it was just one more mile over the 7 I did last week. It was so cold this morning. The Coach pushed the run back an hour to 9:00 AM so it had warmed up to 22 degrees at that point. But once I got started running, I warmed right up. I did the run fine. I haven't had to stop during a run to walk yet so far in training. I find that during these runs I tend to think about my dad a lot. We aren't allowed to run with our ipods/headphones on the team runs due to liability/safety reasons, so I have a lot of time with just me and my thoughts. When left with my thoughts, they always seem to turn to my dad. I've actually started enjoying this time to myself rather than dreading the running. We'll see if I say the same thing once the mileage goes up more! I go up to running 9 miles next week, so stay tuned to see how that goes. :)
I've also added a couple of pics of my dad in the post. Just cuz I can :) The top pic is a pic of my Uncle Walt, my dad and my brother.

1/1/2009 Update

1/1/2009

Happy New Year! 2008 was a challenging year and I'm looking forward to a new year. Training is going well so far. We're up to running 6 miles right now and next week it moves up to 7! The most I've ever ran in my entire life is 6 miles, so going past 6 miles makes me nervous. So far I'm doing okay though. I'm a slow runner but I am able to complete the runs. Thanks for all of your support!! I hope you all have a wonderful 2009!

12/2/2008 Update

12/2/2008

It is week 3 of my training and boy are my legs getting sore! Training is going well. I run 5 days a week now, each run right now is about 2 or 3 miles. The mileage will start increasing soon and that is making me a little nervous! It's definitely a challenge to stay motivated to keep training since the days are shorter and it's getting much colder out. All I want to do is hibernate in my warm house! Having the team helps and thinking about people living with these diseases and what they have to go through on a daily basis helps. If they can do what they do, then certainly I can run a few miles. Thanks so much for all of your support!!

I'm running a marathon

I've decided to create this blog to document my experience in training for a marathon. I joined The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training in November and began training for a marathon. You can see my TNT webpage here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/Georgia09/jmitchekun. The TNT website doesn't really allow me to do a lot of journaling/blogging about my traning so I will use this site to do keep people updated on how my training is going. I will copy the first updates from my TNT to this website and then try to keep it updated on a regular basis. Thanks for checking out my blog!