Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Sorry for the delay folks, but congratulations to my local running Twitter pal JennRuns winner of the $50 gift certificate to CSN Stores!

It was tempted to be sneaky and award it to my Nana since she vowed to buy things for ME with it, but I went fair & chose a random number.

Jen was one of the two who were given 100 entries for donating! :) THANK YOU Jen for being a TNT supporter, two years in a row! You should all go follow her on Twitter, she's a riot! Her husband is also a serious inspiration as he is running his first one-footed marathon in January. You can read more about his story here.

Jen, you should be contacted by CSN Stores soon!

Thanks everyone for playing! I appreciate your continued support on this fundraising journey.

Week 7 of 18: Huh?

As I took last weekend off (including my 9 miler) because I was out of town, I was supposed to step things up a bit this week. Which, didn't really happen. But nevertheless...

Sunday: Lots of TV watching and then a 5 hour drive home from North Carolina.

Monday: 45 minute 6 AM spin class! My favorite way to start the week.

Tuesday: Trash Tuesday!! Err, Track Tuesday. On the agenda? 10 x 400s. We met up on the Daniel Island track to knock these out. Participants: Shannon, Katy, Sarah, me. We started out the first half between 6:30 and 7:30 pace (eeek) and then finished up between 7:30 and 8:30. Was really glad to have Shannon there when the speedier gals left us in the dust on 6-10.

Wednesday: Off. Was hoping to do AM spin, but my legs were beat.

Thursday: Was supposed to do my tempo run, but happy hour with these ladies sounded more fun :)

Friday: Although not a tempo run, got in 4 miles on the dreadmill + 10 minutes on that weirdo machine Cyvex? Not sure. A good cardio workout.

Saturday: LONG RUN DAY! 14 miles on the agenda. Of which I ended up doing about 13.5. My Garmin messed up so I'm not totally sure of the mileage. I was feeling okay until about mile 8, then my leg started to hurt and I started getting tired. Hopefully next week's run will be better. I'm hoping to step up my training a bit from here on out to be adequately prepared. I also am working on a fundraiser this week so hopefully I can fit it all in!

Winner of the giveaway to be announced later this morning!

Week 2 of 16: Marathon Training Take THREE

Marathon training? Take THREE.

Ever since my first marathon I have had a love/hate relationship with the marathon. I love it for how strong and accomplished it makes me feel, but I hate it for the pain/agony/time etc. that it takes to train & to actually run the race. I just don't think I was meant for long distance races like that.

I love the half marathon, and oddly, have yet to run a decent 1/2 that I was proud of. It's on my list for this fall.

So while this year's 26.2 may be my last (for a while) I'm trying to also make it my best.

Katy & I are training via the Runner's World Run Less, Run Faster training plan. Basically, you run three times a week but you make each workout really count, plus you're definitely well rested for each run. Tuesday is track work, Thursday is a tempo run and Saturday is your long run. I love it so far because I have time for yoga & spinning yet I'm still getting in the miles necessary to train for the big race. I'm a firm believer that you don't have to log 40-50 miles a week just to prepare for the marathon. Of course, it can't really hurt either as long as you're going about it smart.

This week's training (officially week 2 on our 16 week plan):
Monday: AM spin class <--It was tough! But love how strong spinning makes me feel.

Tuesday: Track Tuesday! We did 1 mile warm up, then 4 x 1200 with 200 walks in between. Sarah & Katy kicked my a$$. I love Track Tuesday's though because the Charleston Running Club comes out there mid way through our workout and they're always speedy & inspiring.

Wednesday: Off. Was planning on yoga or spinning but was feeling a bit under the weather. Which was okay by me because I was well rested for this morning's run!

Thursday: 5 mile tempo run in 45:00. I was aiming for my 10k race pace + 30 seconds (which would be about a 9 minute mile) so I came out perfect! This was a great treadmill run, one of the best runs I have had in a while. I was pretty pleased with my speed because lately, I have been lingering over the 10:00 min/mile pace...which I don't love.

TOMORROW: Would love to get some yoga in, but will probably take the day off because I have friends coming into town! Will be drinking tons of water and eating well in preparation for....

Saturday: Long run with the TNT team, 11 miles on the docket. It should be cooler than past weeks (in the 80s) so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Happy 4th of July!