Week 4 - Day 9 - 05.31.10 - Monday (3.01 Miles)

Memorial Day and want to say thank you to all the past and current soldiers for all their hard work, dedication, and some their lives to our beloved country.

I had a great workout on Saturday and was spoiled by my friends Maddy and Gary to some good food and some great True Blood Season 2 watching late Saturday night. This all must have caught up with me along with my friend or should I say unwanted guest Mr. Bronchtis who decided to show up for my Monday run today.

I knew it was going to be rough because usually when I finish my first mile then my body goes on automatic pilot but not today. I had some breathing issues and some aches so decided to not push it to be fresh for Week 4.

I was able to finish my 3.01 miles at an average of 11:04 minutes/mile. I really wanted to run 4 or maybe 4.5 miles today but it wasn't in the cards.

Today score is Bronchitis = 1 and Mel = zero.

Oh well, Wednesday may be another day.

Week 3 - Day 8 - 05.29.10 - Saturday (4.22 Miles)

Hello Rain, you have overwelcomed your stay now please go away and don't come back any time soon.

Today was my second Saturday TNT group run and we were at another new location at Cedar Hills Rec off of Cedar Hills Blvd. I was a little early and was able to help Coach Heidi set up under the covered area before the rest of the runners arrived. I met another TNT participant Terri who just had her second child three months ago. Now that is an inspiration! I learned that she had run I believe a 10K several years ago but this will be her first half marathon and she is doing the Portland Marathon.


Coach Darrell was in Idaho training for his Ironman Triathalon and his better half Coach Heidi was sharing with us the next couple week's schedules since some of our TNT mentors/coaches would be running their own marathon in San Diego in a couple of weeks.


We started our second TNT Saturday run with our "Go Team" and headed for our first three miles. You gotta love Diane our team paparazzi capturing all these fabulous photo moments.






Thanks to one of my fabulous Mentor Tyler I am also learning the ins and outs of training for a marthon. For example...

Rule 1: Never ever say to yourself or other runners..."We're almost there" in a race. Mentor Tyler advised that once the brain/body hears that it almost automatically decides it's done. He shared with me that his first marathon was the Portland Marathon last year and some uncool Dude in the crowd thought he was helping and yelled "You're almost there" and Mentor Tyler or I should say his body was done. The Dude neglected to let him know that he was on mile 20 something of 26 so almost there was not just several yards/feet but several miles.

Rule 2: When going up a hill, look straight ahead and steady your pace. That helped me and believe you me we had two hills to tackle this day.



I know there are more rules to come and will share them with you as I learn them. Now the run, well it was wet and cold but I still did my 4.22 miles. This was a big milestone in my life because I have never ran 4 miles in my life pretty much all in one time. I did my first 3.1 miles with no problem talking to Mentor Tyler probably 3/4 of the way. I was very proud of my pace and that I pretty much kept up with the second half of the group. It was then when we finished mile 3.1 that my friend Brochitis decided to say hello. I wanted to do another 2 miles but listened to my body and did an additional 1.12 mile. I hope next week will be better and I will get my body back 100% of the time.

Week 3 - Day 7 - 05.27.10 - Thursday (3.53 Miles)

Hello Thursday and sorry I am on Cloud 9 right now!

Before I started my run this early morning I was a little bummed. The reason being was that I had to miss my first TNT track workout last night because I was traveling for work and couldn't be in two places at one time. I kept telling myself that I am going to try to run further and do the best I can.

Boy did I. I don't know if it's because I had a good night sleep, running in a beautiful city with the sun rising, or what but I not only ran my 3.53 miles but I did so FASTER!!!

It started out like my usual runs with the dreaded first mile and once that was over and my CardioTrainer saying that I did it less then my usual 11:20 minute average, then I was motivated. If you look at my CardioTrainer GPS map it looks like I was being chased by a psycho killer. I didn't know where I wanted to go but I just kept running. Here are my stats: Ran 3.53 miles in 34:51 minutes with an average pace of 9:51 min/mile. I still can't believe that, I've never ran A MILE under 10 minutes and now I'm psyched and I want to keep doing it.





To top off my high, my President stopped by this morning at the Bellevue office and said that he and my company support my efforts and will donate $500 to this fabulous cause. My very supportive VP and the CFO both mentioned their support of my efforts at the company all staff meeting today. Many kind folks from work stopped by and asked me about why I was doing this and what was TNT.

I still can't believe it's only been three weeks ago when I started this journey and am pleasantly pleased of my progress. I only pray that good health and all this positive energy stays with me throughout my journey.

Thank you all.

Week 3 - Day 6 - 05.24.10 - Monday (3.03 Miles)

Week 3 started out with a bang!

Did my 3.03 miles all at one time with no stopping and my average minutes per mile even improved by several seconds at 11:20 min/mile. Remember when I started this adventure 6 workout days ago I was averaging about 15:00 min/mile.

There are two things that I have learned:
1. Coach Darrell said that the first mile is always one of the hardest and I agree. I am always not feeling the best and once I hear from my CardioTrainer that I have finished mile 1 it's like a switch goes off in my head and says to my body..."It's all good rockstar...keep running."
2. I am as my brother puts it a loner runner. I like to stay at my own pace and have all the stresses of the day kind of melt away without having to worry to keep pace with another runner. I understand little bro, I understand.

I also want to give a shout out to one of my dear friend and colleague Laron for donating $50.00 towards the cause. We are now at a whopping $300.00 as of today. How awesome!

Here are my stats today and a big pat on the back to myself, now it's bootcamp for tomorrow for a little cross training, I must be insane.

Week 2 - Day 5 - 05.22.10 - Saturday (3.41 Miles)

What a great second week for fundraising and training!

First a quick shout out to two ladies Liz and Jolene who unselfishly donated some much needed money for this cause. Thank you gals!

Now the training. Saturday was our first TNT official Westside group training at the Portland Running Company located on Scholls Ferry Road.



Prior to today's training, I visted the same Portland Running Company yesterday to get my gait/running evaluated and to purchase new shoes and gear. I got the rockstar treatment from both Mike and Lisa at the shop and left there dropping some serious cash but I think much needed gear.

Saturday, 5/22/2010:

I got there bright and early and before the clinic began I met Tina who had done her first marathon with TNT last year and signed up for more. I also met a lovely gal by the name of Diane, whom I found out quickly loves to take photos as much as I do. She asked me to write my name on a dry erase board and took a photo of me for team prosperity.


Before the run we had a shoe clinic presented by the Portland Running Company owner and founder David Harkin. David was both information and funny and shared his secret that he loves running capris too. Here is the quick shot taken by Diane of him modeling his running capris.


Then it was off to the run, not before we did the GO TEAM send off!


Well let me say the bad news is that I got lost and didn't exactly follow the intended trail but thanks to my Droid and the CardioTrainer application I was able to run over and beyond my required 2 miles and then an additional 1 mile after a short break. I did my first 3 miles, actually 3.42miles, granted with my modified trail.

Check out the stats:




After that I met two inspirational ladies by the name of Andrea and Linda and shared experiences today and our excitement to get to the finish line in 5 months.


I ended this eventful day getting to know my mentor Jodi later that night at of course one of my favorite kinds of places a local karaoke bar. Both my husband had a good time watching Jodi and Kat doing some "musical tables" and then headed home for a much needed rest. Week 2 complete, bring it on Week 3!

Week 2 - Day 4 - 05.18.10 - Tuesday (2.55 Miles)

My quote for today, “I went for a run and unexpectedly went for a swim instead.”

I have been sick since my last run on Wednesday, 5/12/2010 but was determined to get some running in come Hell or high water and man there was enough of it.

There are two things that you can count on living in Oregon:

First that it RAINS and second…….that it RAINS A LOT!

My workout pants were totally drenched from my run today and as you can assume my underwear underneath it was just as wet…hey at least I wear underwear unlike those young starlets out there who are wanting a cheap magazine cover to grace. My co-workers looked in horror and with some laughter when I came sopping in but I ran…dammit!

Now for the good news because there is so much of it!




• I found this fabulous free application for my Droid while perusing my Entertainment Weekly magazine on Saturday morning.
• The application is free and called “CardioTrainer” and works as not only a pretty fancy pedometer but also maps via GPS my runs, walks, or my skipping for that matter.
• After days being sick I was proud to see that my new CardioTrainer application worked beautifully with my downloaded music on my phone.
• Every 10 minutes or so it would tell me my pace per mile and the distance that I ran.
• I was proud of myself today because I was able to run about 2.55 miles with an average pace of 11:21 min/mile (Average speed: 5.28mph, Max speed: 8.29mph, and Min Speed: 3.11mph)
• Both feats better than my last day of workout before getting this creeping crud.
• What was the cherry on the top of my running cake was heading back to my office, totally drenched when I clicked on the “History” feature of my recent run to show that the GPS tracked via satellite where I ran (see photo above).
• CardioTrainer also has a website that keeps tracks of your run that you can refer back to anytime with the special Access Code they gave me with my free app. TOTAL GENIUS!!!
• They also give you the option to share your running results with friends via Facebook and see how your results with other fellow runners with this app.

I also want to tell my very supportive and loving husband Tim that I love the new $28 pair Thorlo running socks he so unselfishly bought for me this weekend from his favorite store REI. They were very light and of all things were the only things dry from the Northwest liquid sunshine run.

All in all a productive running day for week 2 and hope my next running day won’t be as wet. I tell you what behind every storm cloud there is sunshine and maybe if we are lucky a rainbow. Speaking of rainbows, a horns up shout out to rocker Ronnie James Dio, formerly of Black Sabbath and then Dio, who passed away on Sunday, 5/16/2010. He was a rainbow in the dark indeed.

Week 1 - Day 3 - 05.12.10 - Wednesday (2 Miles)

OK, note to self: DO NOT EAT SALTY SNACKS HOURS BEFORE RUNNING.
I thought I was being so healthy having some protein from my nuts and instead I kept tasting salt on my lips whilst I was running. That was not a good combination.

Anyway, I digress, I was able to run my two miles today at the 10:54 minutes and 5.5 MPH average, however I was distracted. The distractions was in the form of both my salty lips and this runner on the treadmill before me. He was obviously "in the moment" and was probably running about 6-7 MPH. Every quarter mile he would throw out his right hand with the horns up symbol and then play air drums as if he was the drummer for an '80's hair band like Warrant or Dokken. I guess it doesn't matter because he was definitely hauling arse with a vengance and hey a little Sister Christian cheering you on isn't a bad thing...is it?

I want to give a shout out to my STAR donors! As soon as wrote my fundraiser letter and hit sent yesterday to all of my friends and family about my cause, these four ladies were the first to donate. Thanks again to Georgia, Reine', Liz, and Tracy.

I also want to acknowlege our first Blog follower "kstaylo". We love our supporters and followers.

Rawk on air drummer runner, Rawk on!

Week 1 - Day 2 - 05.10.10 - Monday (2 Miles)

Drove back to the high school track and found the entire track team was on the track. There was no way I was going to do my second practice in front of these young and nimble athletes.

I decided to drive to the local 24 Hour Fitness and found a nice, new, fancy treadmill in the back.

I felt good running on the treadmill and was able to run the first mile comfortably even though I didn't have the right running shoes on (forgot them at home) so had to run in my stylish Pumas but not so comfy for running.

I was keeping a steady 5.5 MPH and after two miles got my average mile down to 10:54 minutes/mile. I know I need to get to at least three miles and down to 8:00 minutes/mile...but as I had to tell myself baby steps.

Week 1 - Day 1 - 05.09.10 - Sunday (2 Miles)

I surprised myself. My hubby came with me to Sunset High School's track to see how far I can run without killing myself. I stayed on the center lane #4 and ran for about 30 minutes and 8 laps. I was suprised that I could finish 2 miles the first time out. I know they were a slow 15 minute miles, but baby steps....baby steps.

I made sure I drank plenty of water that day to avoid the killer leg cramps I usually get, hence my husband's ominous quote in the background of the video.

Check out the video below:

Running Log - Week 1

First I would like to stay I am not a runner, nor do I look pretty when I run.

The reason I decided to do Team In Training is to get fit but I know in my heart it will be more than just that. It will be a chance for me to learn more about what I can do physically and emotionally and most importantly to help fight leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

I will be capturing my words and video of this journey to my first marathon on 10/17/2010. The word MARATHON just leaves me feeling breathless just saying and writing it. I want to cross that finish line in San Francisco with all those women and to let's face it ladies get my blue Tiffany box from that handsome SF firefighter in the tux. A girl has to have some kind of carrot right?