Huge Success :)

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WAS ABLE TO MAKE IT TO THE BENEFIT LAST NIGHT!!

WE RAISED $2,200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night was awesome! We had a great turn out and a lot of fun. If you would have told me I would be getting paid $70 to sing Aretha Franklin's 'Respect,' on stage I probably would have laughed in your face. But indeed I did it. We had two very competitive rounds of the Number game, a Chinese Auction, and a 50/50 Raffle. The food was ALL DONATED!!! as well as the HALL and my Aunt D and Geri even donated their tips from bar tending!! The 50/50 money was even donated back, which was amazing. It was $124!!! Thanks Eric.

I wanted to individually thank people last night but I know how I am and I would have probably forgotten to say some one's name. I may even now, but I do want to thank some people. Everyone who made food: Barbara Stahl donated all of the roast beef!! SO amazing!! My dad, my mom, Aunt Diane, Aunt Mary Esther, Aunt Rosemary, Aunt Bonnie, Lynne, Karen, Beth, Erin, and everyone else who made the food, donated baskets, helped setup, and clean up. All the food was delicious!!! Aunt D for the hall, it looked amazing!!! Ashley for working the door the entire night!!! Julie, Rachel, and Tam for setting up, running errands with me all day and selling tickets. Megan for DJing. Everyone and everything was great!

So with the money raised last night and the donations still left to be added to the website, I only need : $973 to meet my goal!!!

I have a couple more weeks and once I finalize the next fundraising event/idea I will post it. My mom has some pics from last night that I will add as soon as she emails me them.


Training: Yesterday morning I ran with the Team in Valley Forge. This was my first practice there and the team's second or third. I ran 10 miles. Valley Forge is A LOT different than running in Center City. HILLS! It was tough. My body was feeling it by the end. About 2 miles into the run we ran right by 10 deer. They were only 20 feet away from me and they weren't scared off. Just standing there, eating. It was so peaceful. I ran by myself, because there was no one who had a similar pace to me. I had no headphones, so it was just me and my mind. Taming my mind on a long run can be like taming a wild horse. I have to let the negative thoughts float right out without holding the thought in. Thankfully I get practice with letting thoughts go when I meditate, but no one is perfect. Sometimes the thoughts linger longer than comfortable but I got through it. The last three miles I had to think about each step, "Stay in this, just this step, loosen up, relax.." I have to train my mind to stay in the run and not think about tomorrow's run or next week, when it will be even Farther.. Anyway I find it best when I talk to myself like I am encouraging someone else who is running. Like every 5 or 10 minutes just telling myself I'm doing a good job. Volunteering with Back on My feet helped me to implement this thinking when I run by myself. I used to run with other women and it was inspiring to see them run their whole run and I know how good it feels to have some one vocally supporting you. It may seem silly that I do that, but it has been working so far. It's just the simple tactic of changing negative to positive. For example if I used to have the thought "Come on you gotta do this, just 4 more miles, you HAVE to do this, Don't STOP RUNNING, don't SLOW DOWN." It would make me drag and feel not so good about myself. But if I change those thoughts to something more positive like, "You are doing awesome! You have come so far. You feel great! Enjoy this moment, Feel this Run! Great JOB!" I would feel better about that moment.
It is so easy to miss your run by thinking about it being over. So I have to practice remembering how to enjoy every minute, every step, and every mile while I am in it.
I took today off and plan on running after work tomorrow. There is a nutrition clinic this Tuesday that I am going to try to make. I am interested to find out more about how I should be eating while training. Especially when it gets closer to the marathon. I don't want anything weighing me down and making me feel sluggish come crunch time.

OK time for me to get some rest. Thank you all again for everything last night. It was a Huge Success and a wonderful reminder how blessed I am to have such supportive family and friends. Oh and all those who could not make it, you were absolutely missed, especially Patrick and Sean. I love you guys and can't wait to visit :)

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. "~ Lou Holtz

T minus 4 days!!!

I always think of Garfield when I think of Lasagna...Not sure that will ever change :)

4 DAYS until the BENEFIT!!!!

I was so stoked over running 10 miles that I forgot to post about this Saturday!!! OK, big things are happening. We are all pulling together to have roast beef, vegetable lasagna, regular meat lovers lasagna, string bean casserole, salad, and DESSERTS galore. I am so excited!! And if you've talked to me over the past week or so I have told you I am. My Aunt Doris has worked her magic and the VFW is being DONATED for the whole night!!! That is so awesome!! The majority of the food and drinks are being donated too and I really believe that I will reach my goal on Saturday. I have been trying not to stress too much about the money because I know that it will work out if it is supposed to. But I will be so INCREDIBLY happy and relieved if I meet my goal. That will give me the next 3 months to solely worry about training.

I ran 4 miles last night at the gym. My legs are sore but the kind of sore they used to feel when I was playing sports. Usually the first couple weeks of conditioning for a sport. The quads are burning a little and I forget until I bend down to pick something up and I look like a 85 yr old woman about to throw her back out. haha I'm jk, well sort of. My legs do hurt but a little pain never hurt anyone. I started new hours at work last week so I am going to be running at night from now on. I am glad I got that gym membership now. I don't want to run mainly on the treadmill but My membership is only for the next month and I am going to run outside at least three times a week. I don't really hate the treadmill anymore, because it is warm inside and I like TV. But I think my mind has a much better chance of checking out on me and wanting to quit when I am on the treadmill. Outside you have so many options as to where you can run. Like when I take a nice scenic route it's just a lot more enjoyable and I barely even realize I am running for the mileage. Inside I just stare at those bright red numbers and at times it's like waiting for water to boil. At least it hasn't come to the point where I think the numbers are standing still. When it comes to that I will know that's my cue to bundle up and hit the street.

The Benefit is at 34 Chestnut St, Berlin NJ 08009.. The VFW..It's right near Our Lady of Mt. Carmel school/church (there is actually another name now and I can't remember what it is)

If you want to bring anything, as I said above, Desserts galore. I have a handful of people bringing desserts right now and obviously there is no such thing as too many sweets..Just shoot me an email or give me a call and let me know what you're bringing.

"Joy is a heart full and a mind purified by gratitude."

~Marietta McCarty

I again want to thank everyone who has donated and who is planning on coming this Saturday. I am really excited and so Grateful to be able to be a part of this.

What a Week!

I took these pics on my run tonight. This is about the 1 mile marker on the path at Kelly Drive, just about Sunset.

OK so I have to admit that I have been feeling guilty about this past week and it has kept me from updating. But then...today happened :)

I went up to Massachusetts last week to visit some friends. I left on New Years Day and came back on Jan 6. And in just 6 short days, my running slacked hard. Thursday Night, New Years Ever 2010...I rang it in with a couple friends, running a 5 K at the Art Museum at the stroke of 12. It was freezing and Wet and I loved it. I got 29:30, which is good for me. Under a ten minute mile :) Since my latest eye adventures, I have been rocking the glasses which was pretty annoying with the rain. But luckily it was on the path that I have run multiple times so I didn't really NEED to see clearly. There was a DJ at the boathouse where they had registration and snacks. We hung out for a little bit but then headed home. After walking a few minutes we decided against the cab. I got home around 2am and my hands have never been so cold. When I got into the shower they felt ten degrees hotter than the water. I am pretty sure you aren't supposed to put hot water on freezing skin, but thankfully nothing catastrophic occurred.

Friday we shipped up to Boston. I ran Saturday morning at the hotel gym, which was gorgeous by the way. They had fancy lockers that were opened with a magnetic key. I could have stayed there, in the locker room, for days. But anyway, I ran 4 miles on Saturday while I watched High Fidelity on the TV. Sunday I took off and spent the day sight seeing. The aquarium is awesome. Anyway back to training. Sunday night I stayed at my friend from college's house in Salem, MA. She was going to her gym on Monday morning and said I could tag along. We went to Planet Fitness and I hit the treadmill once again, this time for my long run. I ran 7 miles. Mentally I checked out at 5.5 miles and struggled through the last 1.5 miles. The treadmill only allowed you to set the time at 60 minutes so I had to stop and restart the machine to get the last mile. Of course when I was finished and cooling down I knew I could have run another mile, had my mind stayed in it. Tuesday I intentionally took off. After my run Monday my pinky toe started to hurt a little but it was just the usual uncomfortable feeling. My feet have been getting tore up but nothing crucial. Wednesday I flew home and just went to bed without running. This is why I feel guilty, Friday I woke up and was willing to run. I wanted to. When I got out of bed, my left foot was not happy. The heel that had been acting up the past two weeks, I could tell was going to be trouble. I didn't know that my pinky toe would be why I would be limping by the end of the day. My toe got grosser and grosser as the day went on and I did not want to do anything while at work, but I did have one of the triage nurses bandage it up for me.

After being a baby all Friday night, limping around and complaining. I came home and went to sleep. Saturday the team met to run 9 miles. I did not think I would be able to run half that and so I didn't go. I feel horrible for not just showing up but I was babying my foot and I didn't want to stand there and not be able to run with every one else.

When I was getting ready in the morning on Saturday I re bandaged my foot and well, it's gross but I just drained the problem. I mean all runners deal with this but I cringe just thinking about it. Don't worry I won't post the pics of my foot, but I did take a pic. After walking on it a little I decided to go for a jog in the afternoon. I just wanted to get out there, so I had no goal in mind and just went. It was a slow go with just under a 12 min mile but I ran for an hour, 5.2 miles.

I was relieved when I came home and my toe was still there :o

Today I was feeling good and I went out again just hoping to knock out a few miles. Then I decided to do my long run I missed yesterday. I ran 10 miles today!!!!!!!!!

This is the longest that I have run since last January!!! I am so pumped. Again I had about an 11 min mile, but who cares?! I ran for an hour and 49 mins. I went through West Philly and then up the path at the Art Museum and just around town, it was great!!

I can't explain the guilt I felt the past few days, but the joy I feel right now having run 10 miles and not once during that time did a negative thought come in mind, that I couldn't do it. That is the real victory.

Life is too short to not be honest. I was so worried about being looked down upon for missing a few days running, but I'd much rather tell the truth and deal with the possible 'upsets' of people, than live a lie.

Run it Out

I am a horrible blogger. I apologize for not updating more.. Since Ive last written I joined the gym. At first it was because the snow and ice and I am not good at distinguishing cement and black ice, so I wanted to play it safe. But then the snow went away and I have still been going to the gym, pretty much being a pansy.

Let's talk Fundraising!!!! OK so Christmas was HUGE with my fundraising progress. My brothers were home for the holidays from Florida, which was great. My brother, Sean took a stack of tickets for the benefit (LESS THAN 3 WEEKS AWAY!!!) and went to it. Within 10 minutes he had sold ten tickets!!! So I left Christmas brunch with $250 cash!! They continued selling those tickets and we broke $1,000 total!! With the $200 in checks in the mail, and the $100 in cash still needing to be put through the site...our total is...drum roll...__----___----___------___----___----__----____-----____----___ $1,237!!!

We still have to raise $3,263 but we are moving toward it!!

Saturday at the Chance family Christmas get together, my aunts pulled us all together and we started brainstorming for the event. I am really lucky to have people who want to help and are good at organizing so they can just tell me what I need to do. Well by the end of the conversation, we established that there will be Veggie Lasagna as well as the meat option, a salad, and a side for the food. Plus we will have some dessert too. A few people volunteered to donate gift baskets so we can have a raffle, on top of a 50/50. I am really excited for the 16th!! And I can't wait to see everyone there!

Now down to business: TRAINING

Bad news, my ankle has been bothering me this week. Not so much that I haven't been running, but enough for me to know it's there. It started on Sunday. Sunday the team met at Kelly Drive. It rained Saturday so I was able to ride my bike in the morning, which was great...on the way there. We ran to Falls Bridge and back for 7 3/4 miles. There were a group of us girls that ran together. In the last mile I did pull off on my own but for the other 6, I was with about 5-6 other women. We had a good, very doable pace..

Let me rewind to last Wednesday- not running related. When I woke up my Left eye wouldn't open. I have been really sensitive to light for the past couple weeks but of course have let it go until I HAD to go to the doctor..which I decided needed to happen on Wednesday. They told me that my contacts have scratched BOTH eyes and the left eye was just More infected than the right but they were both not doing too well. It was PAINFUL when they were shinning the light, trying to give me an exam. It was the first time in my life they had to hold open my eye lids..So they give me drops to use and a gunk for my Left eye at night..Oh and they dilated my Left eye for 4 days! I didn't even know that was possible but, it is. So I have been sporting the glasses and following the instructions the doctors have been giving. I have another appointment today, which will be the third in 8 days. Its getting better though..

Back to Sunday: So I finished the run and did my sliders, then hopped on the bike for the ride home. Hello sunshine! There were a few puddles on the path and the sun's reflection with my sore eyes were not a good combination. I didn't fall over but I did have the thought 'You should probably not be riding your bike right now,' go through my head. And so I walked it a few blocks until I got to a little shadier Pine Street. Later on Sunday I met up with a couple friends and went to South Philly to hit up Target and Michael's, and that's when the pain started. I was wearing my Adidas Classics, so it wasn't one of my painful pairs of shoes. My left foot, the heel and the bottom started to hurt. Monday when I woke up, I felt it again. Since then I feel it mostly when I am walking. I actually don't feel pain at all when running. Yesterday I ran in the morning before work and I was fine all day. But today it is snowing so I wore my snow boots and they are not that comfy, so the heel was barking.

Tonight I am running a 5K at Midnight!!! Now it is snowing out so I am not sure what will happen. It is the first year they are doing it at the Art Museum. I remember reading about the one in NYC last year and I thought it was so cool. Now I get to do it!!!

My miles are on the incline. Our short runs are about 3 miles and the steady are between 4 and 6 now. I will be going away this weekend to Boston, so I am going to have to do the long run Solo this week. 8 miles, I believe..maybe a little more. Yesterday morning I was watching the news and it was 20 degrees here, then the bottom of the screen said 'Boston 11' Nice!! The good news is I will be able to run at any time during the day, because I will have off..The bad news is; the cold and snow.. I am sure I will survive :)

I had a great Christmas and am looking forward to 2010!!! Thank you all for continuing to support me. Have a great New Year!!! Oh and Go EAGLES!!!! Let's get that bye..



“The key to success is often the ability to adapt” ~Unknown

Let it Snow..

I wish that I had the determination this woman above does. I woke yesterday morning to see a Winter Wonderland. And it kept on coming. All day yesterday it snowed to cover the streets and cars totalling 22 inches. I think that was the number they were using on the news this morning. I woke at 7am when my alarm went off to let me know it was time for the team practice. When I looked outside I decided not to go. I haven't talked with anyone who was at the practice yet but from what I heard of their training in the past, I think that they ran regardless. After contemplating all morning on whether I would pay to go to a local gym for the day or just take a day off, I decided to rest and run the long run today.
I talked to my friend Caitlin, who has the same pace, and she offered to run her long run at the gym with me. I hate the treadmill so I was excited to know that someone else would be there too. We went to her gym by the Art Museum this afternoon. She was nice enough to use a guest pass so I didn't have to pay. Thankfully because they range from $10-$25 just for the day. Not sure how they sleep at night.
Tuesday night when I ran at the gym, it was perfect timing. I started running with about 30 minutes left of 'The Devil Wears Prada." Today it was the same. "Grease" was on AMC and it had about an hour and 20 minutes left. I had to run 7 miles and Caitlin had to run 8 so she finished right as they were singing, "we'll always be together." TV is the only good thing about the treadmill/gym situation. I was really into Grease though and kept running into the bar. It's like I forgot I was running. And I would speed up when the Hand Jive or something upbeat came on and want to slow down when the sappy songs played. I finished my 7 miles in 68mins and 20 seconds. I was under the 10 minute pace, which is pretty exciting.
Because of the snow, the buses are slower than usual. I ended up walking all the way to the gym before a bus even passed me. On the way back, Caitlin was meeting someone in Rittenhouse so I walked with her. I stopped in to grab a Dunkaccino as my little gift to me. I was feeling all hyper when I got home, it was the mixture of endorphins and caffeine. Now I am showered and watching the Eagles, I just got kind of sleepy though. I think my body wants to take a nap. I am not in pain though which is great. Just sleepy.

I baked cookies yesterday and will probably bake more today. I am debating selling 3 for $1 as a fundraiser the next week or so. I think I may just be packing a backpack of cookies. So if you see me around, buy some. For a good cause :) It is hitting crunch time for fundraising. I am going to take the next two weeks to see if any local businesses would be willing to donate a gift certificate or something similar to go toward the auction we will be having at the benefit on the 16th. If you know anyone who would want to do that, please let me know.
I hope that everyone is having a safe, snowy weekend. Thanks for reading :) Go Birds!

A little pain never hurt anyone

Okay so I have not been as good with the blogging as I had hoped. A patient asked me yesterday if I blogged frequently. I stuttered and said about once a week. I have stuff to write I have just been to busy to get it out there. So I apologize to you four dedicated followers for keeping you waiting, haha.

I was unable to make it to Valley Forge on Sunday for the team practice and when I woke up and looked out the window, I wished that I had a team to run with. The rain continued for awhile. I figured I would wait it out by watching some TV. It didn't let up so finally at 2:30, I got out there. After about 3 minutes it really wasn't that bad, because I was already soaking wet. I was supposed to run 5-6 miles ( I have a feeling the team may have run 6 or 7, even though the schedule says 5). I got in almost 5 before coming home. I decided it would be better to run on Monday when it wouldn't be so wet.

Monday, I slept in because the Eagles played late on Sunday. So I ran at night. I felt good, went for 5.72 miles in about an hour.
Tuesday Night I met up with my friend, Maggie, who just ran the Philly Marathon and is running Nashville too.. We worked out for 2 hours. She showed me different strength training things I could after I run at home. It was good to have someone there to make sure I was actually doing it. I am going to look into getting some dumbbells for my apartment, but she was sure to remind me not to overdue it. And to just focus on my running for the last few weeks before the Marathon. The Team in Training coach had told us that the first night too. I am pretty sure that I will be too tired to do anything else but run, but I am glad I was told.
Yesterday I was feeling the strength training!!! And I started to think about this blog. I wanted to write about the pain (which is really not too bad, but it is the first pain that I am feeling since I started training a month ago). Maggie gave me a book about Marathons that I have been reading. It says in there that most people go to watch a marathon to watch the runners suffer. Like not in a sick 'I hope this is killing you' way, but just to see how much a person can put themselves through. I never thought of it that way but I do now. The pain is a part of the victory. Just like training is a part of the race. I played with the schedule and took yesterday off.
This morning I ran 4.5 miles. It is getting Chilly! 27 degrees when I went out there. I had two pairs of pants and three layers on top. I need to find my snow hat because my ears were a little chilly. But other than that it was a good run. I started slower than usual because I was cold and groggy but by the last mile I had hit my flow. Not to say that I can imagine running another 22 at this point in time, but it felt good.
I am glad that I will be able to get to the team practice on Saturday at Kelly Drive. I have a feeling he may make us run the loop. That will be the longest I have run. I ran 7 miles two weeks ago, and the loop is 8.4. I don't know the coach very well but I think I am on to his plan.

Fundraising:
There is one check in the mail waiting to be added to the page that I know of. Thanks Wallace :) And I am about to add a $10 contribution I received today from a patient. Which would bring us to........ $687!!! Which is awesome. However there are only about 6 weeks left until the deadline. I am hoping that most of the money will come from the fundraiser on Jan 16th, but I am thinking of doing a mini bake sale or something similar before then.

Today a woman saw my flier and she told me that she had Leukemia and thanked me for doing what I am doing. I wanted to thank her because I see her often and she is always smiling. I actually did not know she had leukemia, and it was really cool that she shared that with me.
I was talking to someone last night about how grateful I am. Even though my legs were sore yesterday and I was chilly this morning, the thing I need to remember is that I CAN run. And have nothing physically restricting me from it. Several people do not have choice in the matter.

To sum up:
Training is coming along...slowly but surely. It has been a MONTH already!! Time is flying by!!
Fundraising: $687 and counting.. throw me some ideas if you have any because I really need to make this deadline! oh and if you aren't already planning on it, COME JAN 16!! It's going to be a lot of fun. I am working on the details still and once I know more I will post.

Motivation for today:

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength. "
~ St. Francis De Sales

Peace Valley

So many runs have happened since I've last written, lol. The main one being this past Saturday Morning when our team practice was at Peace Valley Park in Bucks County, PA. The park was about an hour away from the city. It was dark and freezing, but still really pretty. I was picked up a little before 7am and we made it there right before 8. After last week's team run I was trying to just relax and be easy on myself mentally. I already decided to just let it go, no need to get worked up over anything before it even happens.

The park was so pretty, it was literally freezing outside and it rained on the drive up, but somehow still beautiful. The path around the lake is a 6 mile path, so my group had to run around once. The Paris group had to run around and then run an additional mile. After talking about my pace and how I want it to be a 10, the whole car ride there. Caitlin, the girl who gave me a ride, told me she was a 10 minute too. We started running together, even though she is Paris and I am Country Music. About a mile or two in (I think around there, no mile markers. Which I think helped me too) I felt great. I finally found someone with my pace!!!! And it was weird because I was even able to say tiny words like 'Great' when we approached the sign that said '8 degree increase' and had a picture of a walker going uphill. Maybe it was because it was new scenery to look at, or maybe because I had someone who ran my pace.. but I ran so good and it felt amazing! I ran the 7th mile with Caitlin and it was just great. We didn't time ourselves but we think we were about a 10 minute. We were finished at 9:20am and I don't think we started running until 8:10. They had to do the mission moment and such in the beginning.

This week it was just stories of people getting donations, simply because they were wearing their Team in Training shirt. It is such a cool thing.

Sunday morning I ran 4 miles. Up to 22nd and down the Parkway, it was a good run. Again I would say about a ten minute mile. Yesterday was a rest day. This morning I ran another 4 miles. I went down to Front st, up Market to 18th and back on South. I think I might need some help with coming up with different routes, because I don't want to get bored with the same routine.

I am really glad that Team in Training changes the location of the practices so we can get a different feel for everything. This week it is Valley Forge. That is where the first practice was but I wasn't able to make that one. I heard there were a lot of hills there, so this should be an interesting one.

GREAT NEWS** I got my friend, Megan, to DJ the benefit!! She is awesome and I now KNOW it will be a wonderful time :) Oldies!!! Yes!