I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Hi everyone.  Yeah, it's been awhile since I've blogged.  Oops.  I am back on it today!  So there has been A LOT of running since my last blog.  In fact, since I've last blogged, I've ran 12 miles, 14 miles... and 20 miles (with a whole lot of other runs in between)!!!!  It may sound strange that I didn't write 16 or 18 miles, and that's becaused I missed those weeks.  I will explain further in the blog...

Okay, so let's do a quick re-cap on the last 2 months.  Last time I spoke with you I had ran 10 miles and was prepping for 12.  The 12 miles went great, FYI.  2 weeks later we did 14 miles and I definitely struggled on that run.  I won't go too into the details, but let's just say it really sucks to not have a bathroom sometimes on a run!  I know, I know, too much information, but I sure was thankful when that run was over.  Unfortunately another problem started on that run as well.  During the last three miles of the run, I felt like my knee was kind of numb and uncomfortable.  It did not hurt though.  Did not think too much of it at the time.

Well, then it was vacation time!  Literally that same day as the 14 miler, all my siblings came into town!!!  Jed, Aeravi, Ruth, and Aeravi's boyfriend Kentaro!!!  It was the start of a 2-week vacation that was phenomenal!  We were all over Montana and soaking up the beautiful scenery and sun!  A few day after the 14 mile run, I went on a run in Missoula.  It was about an hour long, and during most of the run I felt okay, but by the end my knee was really bugging me.  Consequently, I ended up limping around for the next few days, and wondering what the heck happened to my knee. 

As for running, I didn't do too much more for the next few weeks.  We were super active as a family, so I wasn't too worried about getting behind at this point, but I could not run.  My knee hurt too much.  I ended up missing the 16 mile run because my knee needed rest.

When I got back to Boise, I went to a Physical Therapist.  At this point I was starting to panic a little bit.  We were told after mile 14 that it was imperative to not miss the long training runs.  I had an 18 miler coming up and I still couldn't run 3 miles without pain.  I found out that I have IT Band issues.  The thing about the IT Band is that it sucks... but it's a treatable injury.  So I was given a plethora of exercises to do at home and sent on my merry way.  For the 18 miler, I ran for an hour and a half and mountain biked for an hour and a half.  It wasn't 18 miles of running, but it was working out for 3 hours, which is very important.  The whole point of training for a marathon is getting used to working out for long distances and time, not necesarilly the actual miles.  I felt okay!

The next week we had a 10 miler in which I had a ton of pain and didn't think I would be able to finish by mile 3.  Then all of a sudden after mile 3 I felt great!  The rest of the 10 miles was fine!

Last week I ran 20 miles... 20 MILES!!!!!!!!!!  Holey Moley, 20 miles!!!!  I still can't get over it.  And crazily enough, I had almost no knee pain!!!  I did however, have all kinds of other pain.  20 miles of running is HARD!  It just hurts everywhere after awhile!  After about mile 14 I just was like "one leg in front of the other".  Thank goodness I have a great running partner named Aimee.  We just kept talking and talking to keep our minds off our aches and pains.  It took us 3 hours and 23 minutes!  I was also pretty stoked about the time.  At this point I just want to finish this marathon.  I'm not sure I care too much about time right now.  But for all of you who know me, I'm pretty competitive, and I do want to run the entire race if I can.  But I will do whatever it takes to finish.

Yesterday I ran 12 miles.  For some reason it was really hard.  Really Hard.  I'm not sure why.  I was tired, everything hurt, my knee hurt, my body hurt, etc... We started our run at 7am, got done around 9am.  Was home and showered by 10am.  I crawled back into bed and did not wake back up until 3pm!  I'm still surprised by this.  I was just flat out exhausted...

I never thought I would be so challenged from this.  I have all these hurdles to get over and work through.  It has been much harder than I thought.  But that's how this race goes... and that's the point.  We are running this race for people who are battling and trying to survive cancer, day in and day out.  They don't get breaks.  They don't get to stop and take a break if they're tired.  They don't get to opt out if they don't want it anymore.  So, even though I have had some moments in training where I think I'm going to have to give up... I'm not going to.  I'm going to kick this marathon in the ass!  And it's going to be awesome!!!! 

FYI... I am soooooo close to my goal of $3200.  If you would like to help, I would be honored!!  My fundraising website is http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/nikesf11/rlink7.  You can donate with a credit card!  It's easy and fast!  And you'll be saving lives... that's kind of a big deal.

Thanks,
Rachel

Running in Park City Utah is FUN!!

Hello my fellow friends, family, and followers of my blog!  I'm a few days past my last weekly report, so I better get everyone caught up!  Soooo, this past week I did something new!  Has anyone reading this ever done Hot Yoga before??? 

I have never attempted it and was talking to a friend who does it frequently.  She encouraged me to try it out even though I stressed to her that the reason I've never tried it is that I get bloody noses.  Yep...  I'm the dork that you may see every now and again with toilet paper stuck up my nose while running errands.  I get the kind of bloody noses where they just don't stop.  So, instead of waiting around impatiently hoping they'll slow down, I just push something up my nose (whatever it may be, but usually toilet paper), and go on my merry way.  I've gone grocery shopping, skiing, working, studying, you name it... all with a wad of you know what up my nose!  Here I am several years ago in my friends wedding as a bridesmaid... I know, right????  Thankfully it stopped before the actual ceremony!

I have found that I often get bloody noses when I sit in Sauna's or any hot/humid place.  So, you can guess my hesitation.  However, I am in this mood lately where I'm pretty much up for trying anything lately, so I tried Hot Yoga!  Not gonna lie, I absolutely love it!!!  I am going to throw it out on a limb and encourage everyone reading this to go try it!  It's awesome! 

I really like it for my training as I've been running and biking and stair-stepping my way through my workouts, and I've noticed that my muscles have gotten really tight.  I've always been hesitant to do yoga as I am the type of person that really like to "feel" the workout.  You know, sweat... breath hard... that kind of stuff.  Hot Yoga is a great middle ground as I sweat more than I have ever in my life, however you're doing all these hard movements that stretch your entire body.  I've done it 3 times now, and I'm still sore!  I'm in love!!! 

I will say that I did get a bloody nose after the second time I went.  But it wasn't bad, and stopped very soon after it started, so I'm gambling that it's going to be okay!  Woo hoo! 

Okay, so training is going good!  Before I get to that though, I must say that donations this past week were PHENOMENAL!!!!!  I raised about $600 last week!  You guys are all amazing!  I would not be able to do this journey without you, so thanks for ROCKIN' last week!  Keep it up:-)

Now, back to training.  Two Saturdays we had to run 10 miles.  Here's a picture of me as I'm finishing!

I know!  It's a horrible picture, but I mean... I had just ran 10 miles!!!  So I'm kinda diggin' the tired look!  This past week we were required to run 6 miles on our Saturday run.  I was not able to run with the normal Team in Training Group as I was out of town.  I drove down to Salt Lake City, UT to see some great friends of mind this weekend, both who just happened to be on my Freestyle Ski Team in college!

Their names are Kelly Hoerger and Heather McPhie.  If the second name sounds familiar to you, it may be because she's an amazing Olympic Athlete on the US Freestyle Ski Team.  Yeah, I hang out with cool people... I'm kind of a big deal:-)

Kelly and I had a great run on a trail on Friday afternoon.  We most likely ran about 4 and 1/2 to 5 miles. It was beautiful!  I wish I had my camera.  We were just running in the mountains, with a constant amazing view!  Then on Saturday, I drove over to Park City, UT and met up with Heather to run a 6 mile trail with her.  It was more hilly, which I love.  To make it even more difficult we talked to whole time, which is REALLY hard when you're running uphill!  It was worth it to get caught up with life though!

I also did some more mountain biking this week.  I think Mountain Biking is hard... but fun.  However, I still am not in love with going downhill.  I need to get a little braver.  However if you look at this next picture you'll see why mountain biking scares me sometimes...

If you look closely you can see a big 'ol cut on Travis' knee.  Yep, he had a mighty fall!  It looked pretty scary where I was at.  He was going up a really steep hill when instead of going up, he started to fall back/sideways, pretty much off a cliff (or hill, but it was steeeep!).  He gouged his knee and ankle pretty good, but I think he's all right!  Still, that is scary!  However, I like the challenge, so we're having fun riding together!

Okay, I'm rambling, so I'll end this blog here.  Except to say... duh, duh, duuuh... this Saturday I am running 12 miles... 12 MILES!!!!  That is almost a 1/2 marathon!!!!  I'm hitting the pavement, so if you feel the love, hit me up with some donations, and I'll see you on the flip side!!!!

Rachel

First 5 miles... Then 10! Go Team in Training!!!

(Last Years Marathon)

Well... sorry for the delayed blog.  My intention with this blog is to at least write once a week if not more, because I know my life is sooooo exciting that everyone wants to read about it... (sense my sarcasm:-).  However, you may have noticed that it has been 2 weeks since I've last blogged.  Oops!  I will try not to do this again.  I had a CRAZY busy week, and that's my excuse!  Seriously busy!  But, busy is excellent!  I'll take busy all day long over "boring", "slow", "monotonous" etc.

So, many of you already know this, but for those of you who don't, I have two businesses.  I am a Financial Representative for a firm called Northern Rockies Financial Group, and I own retail store called Helly Hansen.  It's a lot sometimes... but like I said, I love being busy.  Soooo when my lovely friend Christina told me about a huge commitment call Team in Training I thought, "What the heck!"  Actually, I didn't think that at all.  I thought "Should I do this?  Am I over committing myself?  Train 6 months diligently for a full marathon AND raise a minimum of $3200 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society???"  But after about 2 weeks of thinking about it, I just felt that this was something I really wanted to do.  And I am soooooo glad that I have made this decision!  It has been so rewarding!

As I have said in an earlier blog, the running has so far not been the intimidating part to me as much as the fundraising.  But the fundraising has turned out to be... fun!  I can't believe I'm saying this, but it is true!  I am currently at $1905.00 in my fundraising!!!  I want to take a second to say thank all of you who have donated so far.  It is seriously like a Christmas present everytime I open my mailbox and see the little "Team in Training" return letters, or open my email to see a "Someone has Donated" email for those who have donated online.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  You are truly saving lives with your donations.  You are all heroes...

So, let's talk about my last 2 weeks.  Last Saturday (July 2nd), we ran 5 miles.  It was actually harder than you would think as half of it was climbing a demonstrous hill (is that a word???  If not, it should be, and either way, you get the point!)  I think that 5 miles was actually harder than the 8 miles the previous week.  I was also a little tired from my workouts that week.  I was pretty intense... running, mountain biking, tennis.  I think I was just tired.  I have to say though, this has been such a good thing in my life.  This marathon is forcing me to get out and DO.  Otherwise, I'd probably just go home and watch some cable thinking I'm too tired to work out, but the thought of not being prepared for a marathon scares me too much.  So, I have been getting in shape!

Yesterday was crazy!  We did 10 miles!  Woo hoo!  10 miles!!!  You know, I like to think of myself as hardcore, but if I'm going to be honest, I can probably count on one hand the number of times in my life that I have run 10 miles or more.  It is a loooooong way!  But I did it, and I am proud of myself.  Go Me!!!

I can't do this alone though.  As I was finishing the 10 miles, I thought, "Holy Moley... a full marathon is 10 times 2 plus 6..."  Say what?!!?  I can't even imagine that yet...  I need your help.  All your words of encouragement have been unreal.  But more importantly are your donations...  This race is not about me.  I am healthy, I am strong, I am lucky.

After our 10 miler, we had a potluck, and at that potluck we had 5 survivors and 1 spouse of a non survivor speak to all of us runners.  I wish everyone could hear what these amazing people had to say, but the best I can do is tell you from my perspective.  These 5 people are alive because of Team in Training and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I'm not stretching the truth here.  Every survivor is alive because of the treatments and medication that has been discovered through the money that has been donated through LLS!  For instance, there is a medication called Rituxan which is used along with chemo-therapy to treat Leukemia and Lymphoma cancers.  It is used when the cancer is resistant to normal types of chemo.  It has saved many lives, including all of the survivors that spoke, and was discovered through the funds of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society!  Here we are, listening to these amazing people, telling us "Thank you for trees... and butterflies... and chores!"  That was the actual quote of one of the survivors who wanted us to know that without LLS and people raising money for it, she would not be alive to enjoy the simplest of life's pleasures... 

Okay!  I hope you enjoyed this loooong blog!  I want to once again thank all those who have donated so far, and if you haven't, I hope that this blog makes you re-consider.  Every dollar helps!!!  You can donate on my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/nikesf11/rlink7

Till next time! 

Rachel

8 Miles! Check it off the list!

Hi all!  Thanks for checking out my blog again.  Gosh, I'm getting so good at this!  Just wanted to update everyone on my status for training for this Nike Women's Marathon.  Today we ran 8 miles! 

I really couldn't have asked for a better day.  It's gorgeous in Boise right now.  I've actually been thinking about my brother a lot lately.  He and his wife have not had a chance to make it out to Boise since I've lived here, and I think he will be coming to Boise this August!!!  Unfortunately his wife, Tiffany, won't be able to make it since she is doing her Residency.  I'm very bummed about that because I secretly want her to come here because I KNOW she'll just fall in love with it, and then Jed (my brother) and her will move here!!!  Well, it's an idea, right???  Jed!  I know you're reading this blog!  I'm really excited to show off Boise to you!!!  You're going to love it!

Okay... back to my run.  Today I was fortunate enough to run with someone who ran about the same speed as me.  It made it go a lot faster!  I'd recommend that to anyone once your mileage numbers start to go up a little.  I have to say, I'm still at a point where these runs are more fun than challenging.  I am actually excited to get up to some higher miles just to say, "oh, you know, I ran 18 miles yesterday... no biggie!"  :-)  Ha ha, secretly, I'll be really proud!  But I have to say I am so impressed by this group I'm running with.  They are all amazing!  I've never had a "running group" before, so this is pretty cool!
Yesterday I met with one of the employees, Lynne Wieland, who works at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Her son, Grant, was diagnosed with Leukemia 8 years ago when he was only 7 years old.  For 3 years he went through chemo and radiation, and has now been cancer free for 5 years.  He's only 15 years old, but without the treatments that were made by the donations of so many giving people, he may not be alive today.  It's overwhelming to think about, but your donations truly save lives!!!

So, something else totally cool about Lynne... she was a pro skier in the 80's and early 90's!  She was in the movie HOT DOG!!!  She was also in two Warren Miller movies, as well as several others!!!  Okay, for all of you who know me, you know I'm all about Freestyle Skiing.  It's my favorite sport, and I live and breath it in the winter.  It was so cool to meet someone who paved the way for so many other athletes to learn and grow in this sport.  Especially women!!!  She knew I was really into skiing, so for our meeting she brought her collection of pictures and articles that she was in.  I mean, she was on the cover of all these magazines and editorials galore, you name it, and she did it!  I'm truly honored to be able to run with people like this!!!

How cool is that picture!!!!

Hey!  If you haven't donated yet, and you plan to, Get on it!!!!  :-)  Thanks for all your support and I'll talk to you soon!!!

Rachel

Today is the BEST DAY EVER!!!

Well, I have never blogged in my life before, but there is always a time and a place to try new things!  As you can see by my title, "Today is the BEST DAY EVER!!!", there is no time like the present to start this blog. 

As an introduction, this blog is going to be mostly about my Nike Team in Training Marathon that I am running on October 16, 2011.  I officially decided that I would do this about 4 weeks ago.  I did a half marathon about 3 years ago, and remember when I finished thinking, "It would be crazy to do double this amount of running!!"  That being said, enough time has passed, and the "crazy" in me is saying time to try for the FULL marathon...26.2 miles...

Funnily enough, so far, the running has not been the scariest part.  For those of you who have not gotten my letters, I am not running just for the sake of putting foot on pavement.  I'm actually running for a cause.  And an AMAZING cause at that.  I am running in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which raises money and awareness towards beating this horrible thing called cancer.  To be able to race in this marathon, I first have to raise a minimum of $3200!!!  That's the minimum!  However, my goal is $4500!  This has been the scariest part for me so far.  I mean, that's a lot of money!!!

That being said, I want to share why today is the BEST DAY EVER!  I just had lunch with a friend who did Team in Training last year.  I spent the majority of lunch asking her creative ways to help raise the funds for TNT.  I have to admit, I'm starting to stress a little...  And then, I get back to my office, all motivated to start putting together some of those ideas and I go to my little TNT website and VOILA!  Someone anonymously just donated to my race $1000!!!!  ARE YOU KIDDING!!!  NO... WAIT... ARE YOU KIDDING???!!!  I'm jumping up and down as I write this!!!!  It's anonymous... so whoever donated that $1000, if you are reading this, I just want to say the biggest THANK YOU I've ever said.  I cannot show my appreciation enough, and I hope that in some way I can repay you in the future.  I am so appreciative of this that I don't feel that I can express this in words.  Thank you...

But... the funding is not done.  I don't know one person who has not been affected by cancer.  My sister, Ruth, was actually diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer in 2005.  I remember when she called me, I remember that feeling of ice and dread going down my back when she said the word c-a-n-c-e-r, and I remember us both crying and reassuring each other.  My sister is alive and well 6 years later, but many are not so lucky.  So, I run for them and for all who have been affected this horrible disease.  If you would like to donate, you can go to my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/nikesf11/rlink7 .

Okay... I'm signing off.  I should apologize now if there are some weird sentences and spelling errors.  I want to have this blog be semi free-flowing with my thoughts as I continue this journey to run this race.  This Saturday I'm running 8 miles with the group.  The training has been really fun so far.  I'm kind of interested to see at what mile I won't think it's so fun... I'll let you know:-)  Talk to you soon!!!