+58: Brr!

It's Saturday and it's 6:15 am and it's freezing cold. It October for Pete's sake! It should be a tad warmer than 40 degrees. I should not have had to look for gloves last night. I really want to go back to bed, but thankfully there will be a team of people waiting for me at the park to run. That sense of obligation makes it a little easier. Hopefully it stays dry, 10 wet miles would longer than 10 dry ones.

Till later.

My own new school

In a few months I will be finally graduating college. What will I do when I graduate, well dude we just don't know. I thought about graduate school, it would be nice. To be honest with you I am quite tired of school and need something different.

Seeing as being a housewife does not pay the bills, although Matt says it pays in kisses but Verizon recently informed me that 113.45 kisses will not cover our bill, I will probably find myself working in an office somewhere. Hopefully a job where I can do my own thing at work.

I do intend to keep my education going though. While attending my own new school. I think I will take classes on beer, wine, cooking, baking, cheese, and other edibles. I'll work on my cooking and writing about it. And I will work so that I can also afford myself some travel. I will freelance for myself. Maybe one day I will land myself a cook book deal, or open my own brewery.

+52: A little while

Oh it has been a little while hasn't it. It's been quite a hectic two weeks. Where to start...

First we put my dog Sandi down last week. She was 16 and sick. A very tough decision but it was for the better. We will miss our little Puppy Girl.

After running Cow Harbour I came down with either allergies or a cold. I ran that Monday on the treadmill and took a few days off. I stayed home from school and had planned to run eight miles at home since I had to work. When I woke up, it was pouring. Normally I would go out still, but I thought that since being sick I should pass.

Running on Sunday was the plan instead. I hope up with a unhappy stomach waited a bit then went out to run. I was four miles out and uh-oh, I knew what that feeling in my stomach meant and it was not good. I got back home after five miles and that was the end of it.

Monday I picked up back on to the schedule, until Thursday. By Thursday I was so stressed out about the entire week of mid-terms and projects, and my fundraiser which was on Saturday.

Saturday, what a day. Emily was in Arizona so I went to practice with out her. I ran with mentor Carrie and Sheryl the walking coach. I was happy to have them there because I was very cranky and did not want to run eight miles. Especially once I found out that we were doing cardiac hill and snake hill. Cardiac hill sounds too much like cardiac kill. It was also the first time I ran on dirt and sand. My ankles and knee have been killing me all day today.

Then was drinking for a cure. Three hours of open bar, friends, and Royal City Riot! It was fantastic and I am so thankful for everyone who helped out and came. I can't thank you all enough. While we were setting up a guy at the bar donated a 17" Flat screen to raffle off and then Kim's boss stopped by later and gave me a check from one of her customer's for $100! Someone I have never met. The generosity of strangers is amazing!

The fundraising update: $3,308! Yupp, that's correct only $692 left.

+40: Ugh!

What a cruddy day. We put my dog Sandi down today. She was a good girl, but she was sick and pretty sick. It was for the better.

With that was also a cruddy run. I have a break from 11:40 am to 12:50pm, with classes and and starting at those times. So I thought I would get 4 miles in at the gym at school. By the time I got there and what not it was 11:50 am, I though okay I can still make it in time.

This was just poor planning and setting my self up to not do well. I thought that through some magic that the treadmill has I could run 10 minute miles. I know that is not in the cards for me now. But I thought oh this can be speed training, plus I always work well under pressure. Clearly that doesn't translate well to running. I got in 3 miles, wanted to die, washed my self up (since i decided to wear my running clothes to school and not bring something to change into)and went to class thinking about my dog.

Where I went wrong:

-The gym, it was hot and I felt like I was suffocating while I was there.

-Wearing nice plush, fuzzy sweatpants, they stuck to me like leeches.

-Cotton sock, yuck

-Coors Light Promo tank top I got from the bar, also made from cotton, also stuck to me.

-THINKING I could go from running 13 minute miles to 10 minute miles!!!

-Running with a cold.

It wouldn't have been so bad otherwise if It had only been one of these things, but all together= recipe for disaster.

Actually my stuffy nose felt better while running since it was humid in there and my nose tends to run with me (ha!)

Fundraising Update: $1839.00!

+38: Gimme 5!

The Gimme 5 Project

Hey all! So as many of you know from my updates, I'm still training for the Disney FULL marathon, to stomp out cancer and support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have just about $2,200 left to reach my fundraising goal! To help get me there and beyond, I am instituting a friendly challenge called the Gimme 5 Campaign to all of you Facebook friends out there! 5 minutes, 5 reasons, 5 bucks. That's all it takes.

1. Gimme 5 minutes of your time:go to my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/li/wdw10/SeeLauriRun, and read about what I'm doing.
2. Gimme 5 bucks - just donate online: five dollars for a great cause - and if you want to donate more, fantastic!
3. Gimme 5 friends - pass the word to five friends and help spread the word!
4. 5 is the number of years that some blood cancer patients have to stay in remission in order to be considered cured.
5. Every 5 minutes someone new is diagnosed with a blood cancer - money for research is desperately needed - so PLEASE donate now.

I'm doing the hard part, running over 20 miles a EVRY WEEK! I saved the easy part for you! Just make a quick painless(much less painless compared to a spinal tap.) $5 donation!

$5 can get you a few lottery tickets, a latte at Starbucks or a beer at the local bar. But to see how $5 makes an impact on cancer patients, check out these cool notes on how every dollar really does count

If 2 people gimme 5....
$10 provides two hours of microscope use to determine if a new medicine will stop a life-threatening lung infection in a bone marrow transplant patient.
4 people....
$20 pays for a bottle of nutrients that will nourish 10 million leukemia cells grown in the laboratory for a week, enabling scientists to test whether a new anti-cancer drug halts their growth.
8 people....
$40 purchases enough razor-sharp blades to prepare bone-marrow biopsy samples from 200 patients, enabling doctors to make accurate cancer diagnoses.
20 people....
$100 pays for the cost of an antibody used to determine the precise characteristics of lymphoma cells, allowing doctors to determine the best treatment for a patient.
50 people....
$250 buys an instrument to measure tiny volumes of liquid, which allows scientists to accurately measure the solutions needed to prepare a patient sample for a diagnostic test.
100 people.....
$500 purchases 10 hours of time on a flow cytometer, a machine that reveals a multitude of characteristics of blood cancer cells that could be developed into effective diagnostic tests.

As I put in the milage, step up and stand up to cancer with me. See the amazing things The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society does with your donation at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Website. Thank you for your support!
Lauri

+37: ~Post

Post race report

I finished in 1:22:33

Not the best time but Saturday is my slow day. Plus I finished!

Good-I woke up on time, early actually. Good-I was not over dressed for running Not so good-I was pretty cold before hand. Good- Didn't get caught up with the excitement of the starting gun by tearing ass across the line. We walked just like we do every run in the beginning. Not so good- We were definitely at the end of the pack, and catching up was not really too much of an option. Good-The James St. hill was not as offensive as I thought, even after driving it the night before and cursing at it. Not so good-I wish I trained on hills more, I was much more shot halfway than if I did 6 miles on flat ground. Good-I had a good idea to put my cell phone in a zip lock bag in the key pocket of my pants. Probably not good- I learned that running up hill and texting is not so hard. Good- Myself, Emily and my friend Kate playing going on a picnic during the painful parts of the run, as a distraction. Not so good- People telling me "You're almost there!" at mile 2, or "It's all down hill from here!" as I start see a hill ahead. Good- People cheering us on, Knuckle bumping with 5 year olds, high fives, words of encouragement, water stops, free tissues, and misting stations to run through. Not so good- Jammed my knee running down hill. Good- The beer truck. This was my first race ever and an eye opener to what's ahead. I need to make sure I keep on my training, look into what the Disney course is like elevation wise and train appropriately. Something interesting: Usually on the Sunday after the Saturday run, I feel fine. Monday however is when I feel the run. This time was different, Sunday I felt terrible (and had developed a cold) and Monday I felt fine (excpet for the cold) Overall- Big win! Glad I did it, and I will do it again next year. My husband even wants to run it next year too!

+37: Pre~

I'm up. Cow Harbor is today and I can't wait! I had a dream last night that I had to run the 6 miles around my kitchen table, number fell off, I forgot my chip and had no sense of time or distance that I had accomplished. Quite scary! I'm sure it will be much better than that today! Time to get ready and pick up Kate. I hope it's not too cold out today.