Almost here...

May 122010

In 10 days, I will be running a half marathon…

Holy crap!

I’m super excited, but nervous as all hell.  I know I can do the mileage, and I know that ANYTHING I do is going to be a personal best, but I’d still like to have a decent time.  No matter how much (or how little, recently) I run, races still make me nervous :-P

They’ve announced the official starters for the race.  Nine year old Sierra, and twelve year old Taylor, who you can see in the video below.

Watching that video choked me up a little bit.  Those two girls are about the age of my sisters, and have gone through so much.  I’m glad that I’m running to help benefit them and so many others.

Speaking of which, I’ve made goal, but donations are still more than welcome and GREATLY appreciated.  All of your donations benefit the University of Maryland Cancer Center.

You can check out my donation page here.

That’s all I got.  Hope you have a great day :)

Thank you!

Apr 302010

As I’ve mentioned before, I am running in the Maryland Half Marathon on May 23rd.

The race benefits the University of Maryland Cancer Center, and along with running, I have also been trying to raise money via my fundraising page.

I set my goal at $500.  I thought this was a reasonable number, and I wasn’t really sure what to push for because I’ve never really attempted ANY fundraising before.

I am happy to say that I have reached that goal, and then some! 

Donations currently stand at $520 $530!! That. Is. Awesome.

I owe you all a huge debt of gratitude of helping to make this possible.  I wasn’t sure I would recieve much of ANYTHING, and I ended up reaching my goal in about two weeks.  You are all awesome, you’ve given to a great cause, and you’ve given me so much motivation to run my ass off in this race.

While I have reached my goal, donations are still being accepted, and are more than welcome.  Every little bit at this point means a little bit more for cancer research, and a little bit more motivation for me :)

There are other great causes out there too!  Some of my fellow blogger friends are currently raising money as well:

  • Scott, at Your Inner Skinny is participating in the Walk to Fight Arthritis, and is trying to raise at least $500 for the cause.  You can check out his donation page here.
  • Steve, at NerdFitness is working alongside Camp Sunshine to send kids with cancer to summer camp.  He is doing this to coincide with his running in the Warrior Dash, and the amount of money he raises determines the costume he and his friends will wear in the race.  You can find out more about the craziness here!

Stop on over and show some support if you can, every little bit helps :)

So again, I say thanks.  Once again you’ve proven just how awesome this community can be!

Finksburg 5k and more!

Apr 192010

What’s up everyone? 

Overall my weekend went pretty well, with one event in particular being the highlight…

I RAN ANOTHER 5K!

I swear, from what I saw on Twitter on Friday, it seemed like EVERYONE was running in a 5k this weekend.  Kat was, David was, Craig was, Ryan was, and I’m sure plenty of other people were!  CRAZY! 

I began to feel a little left out, and may or may not have even cried a tear or two…

…so I went and looked for a race, and lo and behold, I found one!

The race was the Finksburg 5k, put together by the Westminster Road Runners Club (who also did the Mighty Medford 5k).  I found the race, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to run it at first.  I hadn’t really been preparing myself to run another 5k, but hey, any running will only benefit my training efforts for the Half Marathon, so why not?

The race took place on the grounds of Gerstell Academy, which is a private school in the area.  It began with two laps around their track, and then you proceeded to run the grounds of the school.  It was a bit hilly, but no evil death hills like at Mighty Medford, which was nice.  Overall…I did okay.  My time was 32:07, which would be great, if it wasn’t 1:08 slower than my 5k in January.  The official results haven’t been posted yet, but I think I came in 34th place out of…45 maybe?  I’m not sure.  I placed 35th in Mighty Medford so I least I moved up a spot. WooT!

I was a bit discouraged about my time, until yesterday.  I went to the gym in the morning to get some cardio in, and I was able to knock two miles out on the treadmill.  In most cases, not a big deal, except that after my first 5k I couldn’t run, and could barely walk, for about a week.  This time I was able to get back to my regular routine with little issue.  So while my time may have been slower, I feel like that’s a sure sign of progress.

And if it’s not, well, don’t harsh my mellow.  I’m going to keep telling myself that :)

In a bit of other news, I’ve decided to incorporate some C25K training into my running routine.  I’m doing this along with Jess and Anthony, and the primary goal is to try to increase our speeds, so we’ll be mostly sprinting during the “running” portions of the program.  I don’t know if I’ll be doing C25K as 100% prescribed, because I’m going to need to get some more running in as well, but I feel like it’d be a nice addition and that I can do it without “overdoing” it.

ALSO!…I’m up to $280 in my fundraising goal for the Maryland Half Marathon!  Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far (Erin, my mom, my Aunt Carolyn). You guys rock!  There is plenty of time to help, and you can do so by visiting my fundraising page here.  Donations go towards the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. Thanks :)

That’s all I got for now.  Hope everyone had a good weekend!  Feel free to share anything awesome that went down, I’d love to hear about it :)