To Each His(her) Own

Officially Week 3 of training. I looked at the schedule last night, I am following one of Hal Higdon marathon trainings, and when you look at the long run and scroll down…17 weeks is not really that long. Now 17 wks will bring me to Mid May or near the end of May so I will need to just continue with the long runs until July. My long run last week was a mile short :/ I didn’t map it out ahead of time so I figured if I ran to University City and back it would be close to 7, but it was just barely 6 miles. The snow had melted and it wasn’t too bad of a run actually. I went from my house to 33rd St made a Right then came back on Walnut. I went to Front St and then over to Bainbridge because I had a feeling it wasn’t long enough. This week on the schedule it says 5 miles for the long run but I am going to see how I feel and maybe get that 7 in there.

I went to the gym last night after work and NEVER again! There are WAY too many people there. I got a treadmill, then it was really loud when I was running and that always makes me feel like I am an elephant and the machine is about to break under my ginormous steps! So I stopped that one and went to another.. I ran 3 miles, my knee was bothering me a little but I stretched and it was ok.

Then I went into a room with a mat so I can do my squats, etc. So I laid down and was doing my crunches when this guy came over and gave me an overly loud sigh..OK I was taking up a large portion of the mat but I am not used to being in there with so many people. He gave me a bit of tude when I asked if he wanted me to move over and that is when I decided I love the gym…after 9 pm!

Then I had to listen to Mr. Tudey talk to his also grown male friend about Star Wars for a good 15 mins. And then my mind got mean to them, like I am some super cool kid or something, cause had I been with one of my girl friend’s and talking about Annie or Nsync I would have found nothing weird or dorky about that. However, don’t give me tude then talk about Chubaka like he’s your next door neighbor. And then I was reminded of when I had an internet dating profile and I was winked at by this guy….in a full Chubaka outfit. For real all the pics were him dressed as a giant Ape, what if one of them… Anyway, to each his own..and mine is the gym after 9PM!

This is super blurry because I took the pic when it was online... But I thought it was cool. I look like I am a real athlete, and I am smiling which is important too :)

Another cool link/ site Maggie found... Here is my profile on there, I have no shame in my slowness... I am the tourtist...I will get there eventually :D

http://www.athlinks.com/myresultsadv.aspx?rid=80623279

OK so since the last entry, before today...I ran two Half Marathons..

September Philly Half Marathon
http://running.competitor.com/cgiresults_list?eId=4&eiId=4&seId=24&page=1&rowCount=25&firstname=katie&lastname=chance&bib=&gender=&division=&submit=Search

Walt Disney World Half Marathon
http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=74486&BIB=32036&VLOC=Finish%20Line

I also got some sweet medals and will add those pics tonight.

Oh yes we (and by we I mean me and my computer and my sneakers) are back!
Here is the new excursion....50 miles...in 24 hours!

A few years ago I ran in the first ever 20 in 24 relay race at the Art Museum. I was a part of a relay team in the Bronze category. Which means that I was on a team of 5 runners and we each ran one loop at the Art Museum (8.4)miles. It is now the 4th year of the Back on My Feet 20 in 24 race (www.20in24.com) and I will be entering again, this time as a LONE RANGER. There have been more categories added over the last couple years. There is still the initial relay: bronze (team of 5 -1 lap ea), silver (5ppl x2 laps), gold (5 ppl x 3 laps), and platinum (5 ppl x 4 laps-*hence the name 20 (laps) in 24 (hours)).

Then the Lone Ranger; each runner has 24 hours to run as many miles as they can.
The Midnight Madness Loop (8.4m) at midnight...glow in the dark attire is encouraged
and the Pajama Loop (8.4m) at 5 am I think or 6am sunrise...
So alot goes on in these 24 hours, not to mention the July heat! Oh and one more thing persuaded me into doing this.....It's My BIRTHDAY!!!!! It will be day 1 of my 27th Year the day I run 50 miles!

My friend Maggie, who ran Nashville with me...well she ran far ahead of me but she was there :) She is going to run 100 miles!!!!!!!!! It is going to be one awesomely amazing day/night. We are already in the works of getting our support team situated. We want to have tents and music and birthday cake of course! One thing that is tricky with running for that long is making sure that you consume food! Maggie is going to have a specific person assigned to her food to make sure she eats every couple miles and hours. I am planning on walking alot so I can walk on over to the tent and grab the stuff I'll need. So with each lap equalling 8.4 miles, to reach my goal I will need to do 6 laps...It will be 50.4 miles actually. Maggie will have to do 12 laps...and it will actually be 100.8 miles. So big things people big things!!!!



24 weeks to go!
I officially started my training 8 days ago. Last week I ran 16 miles.. 2 x 3 mile runs, 1 x 4 mile run and my long run was 6 miles.I am run/walking with training because I want to be able to in the race. And it makes going to the gym alot easier. Sometimes in the first mile I want to quit but if I just walk for a min or two I usually want to run again. Last night they had College Basketball on TV and I kept hitting my stomach on the bar because I was getting to excited and speeding up. I've also been doing lunges, squats, and crunches because I decided I want to actually tone up. And I am writing that as I eat cookies sitting at my desk, but you know what you have to start somewhere. It is probably 70-80% your diet that helps you lose weight...I will get there. I have heard a couple people I know talking about the p90x workout that is supposed to really work. I was thinking about it, not sure I have money to do the food part but there are 11 DVDs and its a crazy 90 day program that the people I talked to about it saw results. I want to try but make sure whatever I am doing doesnt make me too tired to run, because running has to be first!

(This was written last week*)

Every Day's Another Chance to Turn it All Around

Two days in a ROW...Holy Moly! OK I didn't bring any work with me to work (school work to the work that pays the bills) because I needed to take a break.. from carrying my book bag around everywhere. I am not a graceful presence in the summer by any means and the book bag makes me have sweat marks even if it's like 70 degrees, so 90...forget about it! So I have been surfing the net and writing to friends, so why not write here too?

I ran 3 miles last night outside in the dark. well, its never really that dark when you live in the city...actually its not dark on the route I chose to run at night in the city. I ditched the headphones and just ran. It felt good, I felt like I was running faster then usual but I forgot to check the time when I left, I probably was about a ten minute mile like usual. I am switching the days off this week, because I want to meet up with some people after work without having to run, shower, change and it be 8 oclock. But I have thought about running today and not like "Uggg I have to run" But like "where should I run? Oh wait tomorrow, not today" Not sure what has happened to me mentally but I sure hope it stays.

"To reach a port, we must sail—Sail, not tie at anchor—Sail, not drift." ~Franklin Roosevelt

Week Two...Going Strong

Friday I ran the farthest since the Marathon- 10 miles!!! I went from my house down the Locust Path to the 2 mile mark right before the St. Joe’s boathouse and back. Even though it wasn’t as crazy hot as it has been, I still brought my own water bottle. I drank 3 bottles of water during the run, which is probably more than I should have but I felt good. I walked some of that too and it took about 2 hours which I was figuring it would. It is harder to schedule the walking when I don’t have the treadmill telling me the exact time and distance. I do have a Nike plus, I actually have two and Maggie gave me the watch too. But I have been too lazy to take the time to configure the sensors. I usually map out the longer runs before hand and map out the shorter ones afterwards on Maymyrun.com It’s nice to live in a city grid…blocks and squares to map. Yeah I was surprised that I wasn’t hurting or anything after the ten. I went to see John Mayer about an hour after I ran. I took the train to Camden and then was standing the whole show. By the time I got back to the city I felt like my legs were on fire. Not sore though, if that makes sense but like they had done their job for the day.

The next morning, Saturday, I got up and ran 2 miles. It was good to just get the blood flowing. It’s weird and I don’t want to jinx this feeling but I missed running on my days off this week. Sunday I was even thinking about going for an evening run but I convinced myself I needed workout clothes for the rest of the week. I have been pretty strapped with cash lately so I am mainly doing laundry once a week, I have to plan ahead.

Last night I went to the gym after class and ran 6 miles. I was listening to Pandora on my Phone..
Evanescence was the station of the evening. I hate that they always have ABC on and you don’t have an individual TV at Ballys. I think PSC spoiled me a bit. The Bachelor or Bachelorette was on and I can’t even watch that. Last week I saw some of it when I was there and it was like a reunion of all the guys that didn’t win and well it’s just ridiculous, the whole concept of that show. I mean I don’t think, at least for me that I would be able to A fall in love in 6 weeks, B especially when there are multiple choices, and C want to get married by the end. They are all actors! Come on Lady, you are kind of asking to be cheated on or have your money taken.. But that is why I am not on TV, thank God. So anyway, I did walk for 60 seconds every mile- mile and a half last night and I finished in 58 minutes! This means I had under a ten minute mile, even with the walking! That is great! I think I am getting faster. On Saturday, my short run, my mom showed up early to my apartment and was waiting for me so I think I was at about an 8 minute mile running home.. That never happens. I saw my reflection in the Kimmel Center doors and I was like “Holy Crap I am flying” ha it looked like I knew what I was doing :) The training is going well right now, it is only day 8 but I feel really good about it. I think it helps A LOT to know that Ashley and Maggie are training too and I think Colleen and Francesca, I gotta touch base with them too. Get some pointers from everyone. Even though running is an individual sport, I need to know there are other’s where I am. I make up my own team in my mind lol even though I am not always with them it still keeps me going.

“Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.” ~Unknown

Not sure whether I have used this in a previous post but I am too lazy to check. If I have any religious leaders you’ve probably forgot by now too, so here it is. Tonight is 3 miles, outside and tomorrow will be some Strength and Conditioning.. Feeling good today feelings very good :)