Jennie Duberstein's TNT Site:
Training Updates
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Athlete's Log Archives: 2010 Nation's Triathlon and El Tour de Tucson 2009 Nike Women's Marathon 2008 Nike Women's Marathon 2007 El Tour de Tucson: RACE REPORT 2007 Nike Women's Marathon 2006 Nike Women's Marathon Archives 2005 Nike Women's Marathon and 2006 P.F. Chang's Marathon 9 September 2010Dear Adoring Fans, I’ve been meaning to post an update for the past two weeks and just now am getting around to it. I’m writing this from my aunt’s house in Bethesda, Maryland. I and all of my copious triathlon gear flew out early this morning from Tucson (thanks for the ride to the airport, Rick!) Despite my best intentions, I was up late last night The last few weeks of training have gone well—three weekends ago we did our practice open water swim at Patagonia Lake State Park (see pictures below) and the last two Saturdays we did long bike ride/run combinations (28 miles on bike and a 6 mile run two weeks ago, 28 miles and 3 miles this past Saturday). I’m feeling as ready as I’ll ever be for the race and am excited for Sunday, despite reports of fishermen catching 300 lb. bull sharks in the Potomac. I figure I’ll just make like a wildebeest and stick near the center of the herd. (I’m not really worried about getting eaten by a shark, but it does make for a good conversation starter). I’ll post a detailed race report after the event, but in the meanwhile, here are a few entertaining pictures of our open water swim practice at Patagonia Lake State Park about three weekends ago. What I learned: I need an assistant to squeeze myself into a wetsuit!
Still to come: the race expo, a practice swim in the Potomac River, Saturday’s Inspiration Dinner with my Aunt Mary and cousins as my guests (my Uncle Kenny’s family)—so glad to have them be part of this, and…THE RACE! Stay tuned for more!
Triathlete’s Log
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packing. My tri bag is bigger and heavier than my regular luggage, which has clothes for the next ten days. Go figure. My bike was packed on a truck last Saturday, and hopefully I will meet up with it this Saturday, when I rendezvous with the rest of my team. I checked and re-checked my tri bag and am feeling a bit at loose ends, like I am going to forget something important. I’ve packed for plenty of TNT marathons, but a triathlon has three different sports and there is a lot more gear to keep track of. I think I’ve brought most everything I need, but time will tell! 
Jan was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and underwent a stem cell transplant in August 2007. A few weeks ago she sent me an email filling me in on how she is doing. Jan writes:
One of the things I remember best about my Uncle Kenny is that he was a runner, and it feels like such a fitting tribute to his memory to run for him. My Aunt Mary writes:
Finally, this year I run in memory of my childhood friend Robb Milacci (the picture is from our 1990 high school musical, Anything Goes). Robb passed away this past February after a short but hard-fought battle with an unrelenting brain tumor. I have many, many memories of Robb, from playing violin in the orchestra to joking around in French class with Madame Delsandro and doing extra-credit projects for Mr. Gentile’s history class. He was one of my best friends in high school. We lost touch after graduation but had reconnected in the summer of 2008 thanks to the wonders of Facebook. I am so grateful for that. About two months later Robb was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and only a handful of short months after that he lost his battle. Robb ran two marathons himself and was looking forward to trying his hand at triathlons, but unfortunately, this was not to be. On the same day as my marathon Robb’s wife and children will be participating in the ‘
Shortly after I last wrote, I flew to Lexington, Kentucky, to take part in a week-long short course on advanced methods in social network analysis. For those of you who are familiar with my research for grad school, this is the focus of my dissertation, so it was a great way to refresh my knowledge and learn a lot of new and extremely useful new tools and techniques. As long as I was in the Eastern Time Zone I decided to visit family, so from Kentucky I flew to Greensboro to visit John, Nina, and Freddy. The last time I had seen Fred-o (August 2007) he wasn’t quite crawling, and although I’ve kept up with him on his blog, it was still sort of jaw dropping to see this little person walking and talking. We had a great visit and just took it easy and enjoyed spending some quality time together. 
whose new immune system is busy conquering her multiple myeloma. The doctors are really pleased with her progress and she continues to feel and look great (she’s even had her hair cut a few times—woo hoo!) She says there are still low levels of the disease in her system, but that the hope is that everything will continue on its downward spiral until it the cancer is gone, gone, gone. BEFORE: |
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From Greensboro I flew on to Pittsburgh to be with my mother as she recovered from surgery for PMP. She was in the hospital the whole time I was there and feeling pretty miserable, unfortunately, but I was glad to be able to spend a few days there, and also to visit with my brother Matt, who had flown in from Washington to be there. The recovery from the surgery has been long and is ongoing, but she is feeling lots better and continues to improve every day.
From Pittsburgh I flew back to Tucson and had about three
days to touch base with folks at work and school before I drove up to the Grand Canyon to renew the “wilderness” component of my wilderness EMT certification. I have been an EMT for about ten years now and have gone through many, many recertification courses, and I have to say—the Grand Canyon is definitely one of the most spectacular locations for something like this. It was a three day workshop, but we had plenty of early morning time for running and hiking around and I even managed to see lots of California Condors this visit (you might remember when we visited the last time the condors gave us the slip).
I got back from the Grand Canyon, had a few days to regroup in Bisbee, and then I was off again, this time for a much anticipated trip to Chester, California, to visit Juan. Between my field season in Mexico this past spring and his summer job with Point Reyes Bird Observatory, by the end of June it had been three months since we had seen each other. I was only there for five days, so it was a quick visit, but we had a great time. Highlights included hiking, camping in our trusty little Westy, swimming in cold mountain lakes, seeing a bear (well, Juan saw the bear, I saw the dust the bear left behind), and lots of great 
birding, despite the incredible amounts of smoke from all of the forest fires. Alas, the visit came to an end far too quickly, but I had to be back in Arizona for my next adventure, which started six days later.
Victor Emmanuel Nature Tours had hired me to help out with Camp Chiricahua, their summer program for young birders that takes place in southeastern Arizona. What that basically translates into is that I got to spend ten days birding around southeastern Arizona with a group of young birders from around the country. We started out in Tucson and then spent 
about a week in Portal exploring the Chiricahuas. This was followed by several days in the San Pedro River valley (and a drive by of our house in Bisbee, actually) and one last birding-filled day that brought us back to Tucson. The kids were all amazing birders and a lot of fun to hang out with. We saw great birds, lots of amazing reptiles and amphibians, and had an overall good time.
Camp ended on the 17th and I found myself with three whole weeks here in Arizona, my longest stint in-state since, well, probably January
if you can believe it. I managed to get some running in during all of my travels, and these last three weeks have really kicked it into a higher gear. Marathon training is going really well, and we are starting to ratchet up the miles slowly. We ran 14 miles at practice two weeks ago, which was the furthest we’ve run this season. I have to tell you—it sucked. I was with my running partner-in-crime, Scott, who you may remember from last year’s marathon, and it was just hot and humid from the minute we started running at 5:45am. By mile five we were both pooped but kept pushing each other to keep running. We stopped for short breaks at each water station but somehow managed to keep moving forward at a pace that vaguely resembled running. At the end of the run we both turned to each other and said, “You know, I never would have run that whole way if you hadn’t been there.” There is something to be said for team work. The following week I ran 13 miles on my own, just to make sure that the bad 14-miler was a fluke. The 13 miles went better, although I still struggled a bit during the last few miles.
But the other exciting thing that happened last week is that I have again joined the TNT cycle team and am training to ride in El Tour de Tucson this November, about a month after my marathon. I know that most of you think that I am crazy for doing this, but before you make a final decision on my sanity, I will say that I will likely NOT be doing the full 109 miles this year, just because I have this other goal called, “Finish My Dissertation and Graduate” to contend with. At the moment I am planning on completing the 67-mile ride or possibly the 80-mile ride. But I have to say—I am having a blast doing my long runs on Saturday and then training with the cycle team on Sundays. This past Sunday we had planned a 35-mile ride that ended up being 54-miles. Whoops! We rode up to Oracle, where there is this little heath food store that sells raw, organic honey. When we realized that it was a little further to Oracle than we had anticipated we had gone too far to give up, so we just kept pushing on. My behind was somewhat sore afterwards (as I found out when I hopped on my mountain bike the next morning to ride over to campus) and my legs were a bit tired the next day, but overall I felt just fine, and was reminded how much I love my bike, which I haven’t really ridden much since El Tour last year.
This Friday I will fly to Reno and take a bus up to Quincy, California, where Juan will pick me up. His job wraps up this week and we are going to take a leisurely drive down the California coast, visiting friends and family along the way, and ending up back in Tucson just before my birthday and in time for the start of the semester. Stay tuned for dispaches from the road…
Fundraising update: Things are off to a great start. So far we have raised $1759.40 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which is fantastic! As you remember, my goal this season is to raise $5,000 to bring our total dollars raised since 2005 to a whopping $20,000. This means we have “just” $3240.60 to go. I am trying to reach this goal by 28 August 2008, so if you've been planning on making a donation but just haven't quite gotten around to it, there is no time like the present! (Of course, I am still very happy to take your donations after this date, as well).
Thank you to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising campaign. This is truly a team effort, and I absolutely couldn't do this without your support. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly running mileage: 18
Total mileage (since 1/1/2008): 180
Dear Adoring Fans,
Well, it is June, and that can mean only one thing--it is time for Jennie to start training for the Nike Women's Marathon! I am getting ready marathon #5 with Team In Training and my fourth appearance at the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 19, 2008.
Many of you may remember that it was just about this time last year when you got a message from me saying that I was training to run my first marathon and raising money to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) through their Team In Training program. Here's the proof, me and my teammates Meara and Scott at the finishers' tent of the Nike Women's Marathon last October:
If you missed reading my race report for my other races with Team In Training, you can still read them, and the rest of my archives by clicking here.
Each year our battle to raise funds to support the important work of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society grows more important. This past Monday, June 2, 2008, my Uncle Ken passed away after a long, painful battle with graft versus host disease that he struggled with as a result of a bone marrow transplant he received last fall in an effort to treat chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. On May 6, 2008 Howard Friday, the grandfather of my best friend from high school, lost his battle with lymphoma. I train and run this year in loving memory of both Ken and Howard, as well as for the memory of Alex Steutze and the sadly increasing list of other loved ones for whom you have asked me to run in honor or memory. On a much brighter note, I also am proud to run in honor of my friend Jan Riggs, who will celebrate one year in remission from multiple myeloma this August. Jan is the hope that we have for all cancer patients, and your generous donation will help fund the life saving research of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Blood cancer does not rest, and neither can we.
Since 2005 together we have raised over $15,000 to support LLS. This year is special for Team In Training: it is our twentieth anniversary. So in honor of twenty years of fighting blood cancers, my goal this season is to bring our total fundraising since 2005 to $20,000.
The Goal: Raise $5000 by 15 July 2008. Please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Just click here for a fillable form or to make a secure online donation by visiting my website. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly running mileage: 30
Weekly biking mileage: 123
Total mileage (running) (since 1/1/2007): 797
Total mileage (biking)(since 9/1/ 2007): 818
Dear Adoring Fans,
This update is long, long overdue. I wrote most of my marathon race report on 4 November and then got busy with final training for El Tour, then El Tour came and went and here it is December. The time has come. This is going to be a long, long post, so if you want to skip around to whatever part interests you the most, you can read about the Nike Women's Marathon, my Nike finish time, El Tour de Tucson, my El Tour Finish Time, my Honored Teammate Update, or my fundraising update by clicking on the link.
On October 21, 2007 I ran the Nike Women's Marathon with the other members of my Tucson Team In Training. Many of you know this is the third year in a row I've run this race, and it keeps getting better. Before I get started with my play-by-play I will remind you that my goal for this year was to try to break 4 hours 30 minutes.
Juan and I traveled separately to California this year. He left
about a week before I did and drove up in the Westy, meeting me at the airport on the Friday before the race. The folks at US Airways in Tucson were happy to help me photo-document my trip, though. I got to Oakland and we spent Friday night with Juan's parents and an aunt and uncle who were visiting from Colombia and on Saturday morning we hopped on BART 
and headed into the city. The set up was much the same as the last few years. After checking into our hotel (and stopping twice so Juan could get his pizza by the slice fix taken care of) we walked up to Union Square and the Expo so I could pick up my race packet (number, timing chip, etc). There were lots of people there, but since I wasn't interested in getting either a massage or a manicure, I didn't have to wait in any of the lines and quickly got my things. From there we headed across the street to Niketown, where they again had put together an amazing mural of the names of all 23,000 race participants. It 
took a minute or two, but we quickly found my name and took some pictures and went into the store to check out the 2007 gear. There were so many people trying to get into Niketown that they had reached capacity and there was actually a line and security guards outside the store, letting people in as others came out. There is always a mad rush for the marathon t-shirts 
and sweatshirts and I was getting there kind of late, so I didn't know what would be left--as usualy, there were lots of larges and extra larges but everything else was gone. Juan disappeared for a minute or two and then came back holding several different t-shirts in size small and medium. He'd found the "reject" pile by the changing room and sorted through it until he found my size--what a guy! There was a huge course map in the lobby of the store and it was neat to see the whole thing laid out--it somehow doesn't look quite as long as it feels!
From there we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the
evening's pasta party at the Moscone Center, which was the largest pasta party in TNT history--Go Team! John Bingham spoke and had us all laughing, we heard from an honored teammate from the California team who was going to run the half marathon the next day, and we basically got excited for the next day. I think that in an earlier post I mentioned that there are four of us who have been training together this season (see above picture). When we got back to the hotel I got all of my gear ready for the next morning and hit the hay.
RACE DAY
My alarm went off at 5:15am, not too early, and I quickly got up, got dressed, ate a banana, grabbed everything I'd need for the race, kissed a sleep Juan goodbye and headed down to the lobby to meet up with my team.
We walked over to the start together and Union Square was filled with 22,000 women (and 900 men) and lots of nervous energy. Each year the race has gotten bigger and this year I could definitely tell. We checked our gear, stretched a bit, I ate the rest of my breakfast, and Sarah, Scott, Meara, and I got in line. Juan came down to the start but there were so many people there we couldn't find each other. We had plans to see each other at miles 11 and 16, though, so I wasn't worried. Meara's husband and brother-
in-law were there to keep us company and then all of a sudden we hear a horn go off. "Was that the start?" we asked, because nothing seemed to be happening. A few minutes later we all started shuffling forward and 10 mintues later we crossed the start line and we were off!
Mile 1 (10 minutes 56.31 seconds)
The race starts at Union Square and we began with a zigzag down to the Embarcadero. We started at the front of the 10-12 minute mile corral, but it seems like lots of slower people were there, too, because it was really hard to get moving, with lots of walkers and, incredibly, a couple pushing jogging strollers. Scott, Sarah, Meara, and I all started together but pretty quickly into this first mile Scott and I left Sarah and Meara behind with words of luck. Our first mile was kind of slow, but we still had a lot of running ahead of us.
Mile 2 (10 minutes 12.43 seconds)
We make our way down the Embarcadero, passing people and trying to get a little space to settle into our pace.
Mile 3 (9 minutes 26.83 seconds)
We hit Fisherman's Wharf and start to make up for some of the time we lost that first mile--9.26 is a little fast and I make a mental note to make sure not to push it too much early on.
Mile 4 (10 minutes, 52.72 seconds)
I obviously take my own advice to slow down a little too seriously (we are shooting for an average of about 10 minute 20 second miles). A restaurant along the wharf is cooking up some really good smelling sausages and Scott and I take notice.
Mile 5 (9 minutes 20.75 seconds)
Just making our way along the marina, enjoying the view. The day is turing out to be really clear and the running weather is great. I look at my watch and realize we are going pretty fast and remind both myself and Scott to slow down a little.
Mile 6 (9 minues 11.34 seconds)
So much for slowing down. We run by the Presidio and enjoy amazing views of the sunrise hitting the Golden Gate Bridge. Beautiful!
Mile 7 (10 minutes 53.86 seconds)
Hill #1. This is the first big hill on the course but we make it up fine. Scott is really strong on the hills and I find myself falling slightly behind, but his knees slow him down on the downhills so I catch up quickly and we keep on going.
Mile 8 (8 minutes 56.04 seconds)
I do a double take as I check my watch--did we really run that in under 9 minutes? Can you tell this mile was downhill?
Mile 9 (10 minutes, 27.72 seconds)
Finally, a mile run at close to our goal pace! We are running through the neighborhood portion of the race, checking out the houses and talking about how much they must cost. There is some more uphill here but we keep moving through the crowd, passing people and feeling generally good. I've been feeling like I could use a bathroom stop and spot a port-a-john with no line. We are about to start a downhill stretch so I tell Scott to go ahead and I'll try to catch up with him. I open the door and it is immediately apparent why there was no line at this particular stop--two words: explosive diarrhea (no, not mine). Yuck. I manage to take care of business without touching ANYTHING and take off in a sprint downhill in an effort to catch up with Scott.
Mile 10 (10 minutes, 46.12 seconds)
It takes me a few minutes to find Scott, but the downhill gives me an advantage and I find him about a half mile later past the pit stop.
Mile 11 (9 minutes, 4.17 seconds)
This is a big downhill mile, so I'm not too worried that we've done it so quickly. It's a long, fairly steep descent and as you get to the bottom you see the Great Highway and runners stretching out before you. I realized that the last two years I ran the race it was getting foggy by this time, but this year it was clear as clear can be and the view was amazing. I was also, unfortunately, getting an idea that the lack of fog was going to make it a warm day for running.
Mile 12 (10 minutes, 1.88 seconds)
We find Juan just past the mile 11 marker. He was going to take pictures but shouts that he couldn't get the camera to work! We run by and up into the park. This is where the half marathoners split off from us and it really makes a huge difference--finally we have room to run.
Mile 13 (9 minutes, 36.02 seconds)
As we run up into the park I realize this is the first time I've seen it in the sun. We run past the spot where we saw buffalo last year but this year there is just a sign. This is about where Lauren left me behind last year, but I'm still feeling great and Scott and I keep on trucking.
They are handing out socks on the course and I grab a pair (hot pink), figuring I'll hand them off to Juan when I see him at mile 16.
Mile 14 (11 minutes, 1.53 seconds)
More than half way there! Somewhere around here they had this weird tunnel thing set up that was supposed to promote the Nike+ thing (it's something you put in your shoe and it talks to your iPod and tells you how far you've run, how fast, etc.) When we ran through we were surrounded by Lance Armstrong's voice, telling us how great we were. Strange.
Mile 15 (9 minutes, 44.55 seconds)
We're still in Golden Gate State Park here and the half marathoners join up with us again and it gets a little crowded again. Scott stopped somewhere around here to put on some more sunscreen--the sun is pretty strong and we were all feeling it a little bit--but quickly caught back up with me. I wasn't feeling all that hungry, but I force down a Luna bar (chocolate peppermint stick-flavored) because Juan is supposed to be waiting for me at mile 16 with a re-stock to get me through the rest of the race.
Mile 16 (9 minutes, 50.38 seconds)
I find Juan and the camera is working (the battery was in backwards, I found out later). Unfortunatley it was our little point and shoot and he only got one picture of us from kind of far away--before it could re-charge we were already past him. Note to self: next year bring the good camera. I throw the socks at Juan, who catches them in surprise, and completely forget to grab the Luna bar from him (I think he forgot he was going to give it to me, too). We get about a minute or two past Juan and I realize I forgot the bar. Scott asks, "Do you want to go back?" I just give him a silly look and we keep moving on.
Mile 17 (9 minutes, 43.00 seconds)
The run along the Great Highway begins. This is the first year it has been warm and sunny with a nice view of the ocean--in 2005 and 2006 we were really socked in. The view is breathtaking.
Mile 18 (10 minutes, 17.24 seconds)
Scott has been struggling a little bit for the last few miles, and somewhere right around here he started feeling a little dizzy and decided he needed to stop at an aid station. After asking several times to make sure he was really all right, I decided to keep on going. Scott wishes me luck and I ease on down the road.
Mile 19 (10 minutes, 10.74 seconds)
We're getting closer and closer to Lake Merced, I know, and I am starting to remember how hard this was for me last year. I know that my time is pretty good up to this point, but around mile 20 is generally where I start to fall apart, so I am feeling cautious. In particular, I remember that much of the first half of the lake loop was a slow uphill that killed me last year, so I was dreading this. We get to the lake and start to go around...not too bad...
Mile 20 (10 minutes, 16.51 seconds)
...and keep going around and up. I am passing people all over the place and feel great. I am aware that this is uphill, but it's not bad at all. I thank the Luna bar that I ate for this.
Mile 21 (10 minutes, 10.46 seconds)
Here we hit the peak of the uphill and have some short downhill stretches. Still keeping it close to ten-minute miles and feeling good! All through the race I keep reminding myself to slow down and make sure I save something for those last six miles, and it is right about here that I realize that I don't need to worry about saving anything at this point and I should just go for it.
Mile 22 (9 minutes, 55.22 seconds)
I check my watch at the end of this mile and think I am hallucinating. A sub-10 minute mile at mile 22? Surely something is wrong! But no, I am still feeling good and keep pushing on.
Mile 23 (10 minutes, 22.78 seconds)
The last bit of the lake and back to the Great Highway. There is this hill as you come back on to the Great Highway that just kind of adds insult to injury at mile 23. It's not long and it's not really that steep, but at mile 23 it feels like it. Last year they had a water station here and I was counting on it, but to my dismay, there was no water this year and I really needed it. I power up the hill and keep my sights on the next aid station.
Mile 24 (11 minutes, 2.12 seconds)
Okay, I'm feeling tired now. And thirsty. Somewhere in this mile Coach Ashley finds me. All that euphoria I was feeling up to this point? All that bragging about how I felt great? Right out the window. Mile 24 hit me hard and I was feeling beat. Ashley had a water bottle with her and saved me by sharing. This revitalized me and got me through to the aid station at the end of the mile. I keep eating sport beans and plantain chips, too, which helped.
Mile 25 (11 minutes, 0.89 seconds)
Still feeling tired, but I'm so close to the end. I just keep pushing forward.
Mile 26.2 (12 minutes, 24.87 seconds)
Tired, but the end is in sight, both literally and figuratively. I forgot to push the button on my watch at mile 26, so this is a 1.2 mile time, but it comes out to about 10 minute mile speed, more or less (maybe a little less). I feel totally different coming up to the finish line this year than in the last two years--I'm tired, yes, but I have a little extra something in me to push me to run faster. I amp it up (relatively speaking) and head for the finish line. Juan sees me and takes some video, not wanting to risk missing me by taking a still picture. You can see from the video that he was screaming my name, but I was totally oblivious and didn't see anything. I show up about 10 seconds into the video, right after the cow bell starts clanging.
Official Finish Time:
4 hours, 25 minutes, 39 seconds
My goal had been to do this race in under 4 hours 30 minutes, so needless to say I was very, very pleased with this time. It is a full 15 minutes faster than I've ever run a marathon. Next year--dare I say it--4:15? We'll see...
The Aftermath
I crossed the finish line and am met by the tuxedoed men bearing platters of blue Tiffany boxes. I get my necklace, have my timing chip removed from my shoe, and get my race t-shirt, making my way to the Team In Training check-in tent, all the while looking for Juan.
I get my TNT marathon pin, grab some food, and do a little stretching, but still can't find Juan. About 20 minutes later I see Sarah, who has just finished, and then we find Scott and Meara. After borrowing a few cell phones 
from strangers, I get Juan on the phone and we manage to find each other in the crowd. We all sit around the finishers' tent for a bit, trading stories--we all finished within about 30 minutes of each other. Sarah was commenting that her feet had started to hurt her during the run. I look down at see that her shoes are bloody, a la Curt Schilling. I point this out to her (she hadn't noticed) and tell her it looks like she has had some issues--Sarah definitely gets the prize for running through the pain! After eating and stretching we make our way to the gear 
pick-up. Scott has taken my advice about bringing comfortable shoes for after the race to heart (see left). We all make our way to the bus and tiredly get on board and back to the hotel, where I have an ice bath, stretch some more, and then Juan and I head down to the sports bar to eat big, juicy burgers and fries (this is starting to be a post-marathon tradition for us) and watch some NFL.
The next day we get up and head back to Walnut Creek, where we spend time visiting family and friends before our return to Arizona. Highlights include:
A visit with my friend Jackie:
Dinner with the Vinograds in San Francisco:
A photo op with the Great Pumpkin (1300 pounds of great pumpkin!):
A visit with friend Moonie and his daughter Olivia:
Some amazing scenery at Point Reyes:
A trip to Bolinas to see our Prescott College friend Kirsten:
And lots of time with various members of Juan's family:
And this one I have to include just because it is so durn cute, and also because it is one of the only pictures in existence of Juan with his eyes open and smiling like an normal human being (the dog, Teddy, belongs to his cousins). Awwww:
We got back to Arizona the following Thursday and I had to get right back into training with my cycle team. I felt somewhat stiff for a few days after the race but mostly just felt good.
EL TOUR DE TUCSON
Which brings me to the second major event of this fall: El Tour de Tucson. I didn't have the luxury of taking much time off after the marathon. The Saturday after the race (6 days later) I found myself up bright and early with my cycle team, ready to tackle a 65 mile bike ride. I wasn't sore at all, but about 6 miles into the ride I found that soreness, or lack thereof, can be misleading. My coach had thoughtfully planned a route that took us up and over Gate's Pass (for those of you who aren't from Tucson, this is a fairly long, reasonably steep hill). Now, I am usually pretty strong on hills, so to find myself sucking wind so soon was really mentally discouraging. I fell behind the rest of the team (normally I pass people going uphill) and had to stop once to catch my breath. Finally I get to a plateau and see another steep climb in front of me and just decide I can't do it. We were seven miles into a 65-mile ride and I was ready to turn around and ride back to the cars. My team has all stopped at the top of the hill and I can hear them hollering for me, "Come on Jennie! You can do it!" but I just can't. One of my teammates, Ryan, rode back down and told me this was the last push, after this is was either downhill or pretty much flat. Then Coach Mike M. came down and we talked some more, and between their encouragement and my own sense of stubbornness, I decided to keep going, especially since Ryan said this was the last major hill of the ride. He was telling the truth, and while I was more tired than normal for the rest of the ride, I was able to do the whole thing. I definitely couldn't have done it without the other members of my team, who gave me encouragement the whole way, and especially Ryan--he is one of the stronger riders on our team but he held back and stuck with me the whole time, telling me what was coming up next and what to expect--thanks, Ryan.
I was discouraged after that ride, but it really was just fatigue from running a marathon 6 days earlier (go figure). The following Saturday we rode 92 miles, including some big hills, and I felt great the whole time, and definitely ready to tackle El Tour two weeks later. I knew I could complete the distance; my biggest concern was riding with so many other people.
We had our "send-off" party a week or so before the race--normally this is where everyone gets their plane tickets and other details about the event. Since El Tour was in Tucson, 
we didn't really need a "send-off," but it was great fun to all get together with our friends and families. We had a potluck dinner at Coach Mike W.'s house. The coaches had put their heads together and prepared gag gifts for us all. During the course of the season I had been dubbed "Hill Girl" because of the way I pushed myself up the hills (I figure I'd rather get them over with quickly, so I just go as fast and hard as I can). At the party I was given a pink tiara with the label "Princess of Mountains." This went right along with Coach Mike M's gift, a crown labeled "King of the Hill" (Mike took us up many a hill during practice.)
THE RACE
El Tour de Tucson 2007, for me, began the afternoon of 16 November, when I headed to the Expo to pick up my race packet and attend the pasta party. As pasta parties go, this one was pretty lame, except for the food, which was quite good. Greg LeMond spoke, but he talked to us about doping, which seemed like a weird thing to lecture about to a bunch of people who are about to ride 109 miles to raise money for cancer research, but mine is not to question why. There were other folks who spoke, but the only decent part of the program, in my humble opinion (except for the excellent company, of course), was when the Honored Teammate spoke, who happened to be one of our Leukemia and Lymphoma Society staff members from Phoenix.
The next morning our team met at a downtown parking garage at 6:15 am and rode over to the start--what a crush of people! The weather was a lot warmer than we were anticipating, and I ended up wearing arm warmers but leaving the leg warmers behind in the car. I got warmed up pretty quickly once we started riding. The gun went off at 7am, but it took us about 20 minutes to cross the start line. It was crowded, but there was plenty of room to ride. What was hard for me was staying together with my team. Don't worry--I'm not going to give you the play-by-play for all 109 miles, just some highlights.
The Santa Cruz River Crossing
El Tour de Tucson is unique in that there are two water crossings where you have to get off and carry your bike across. This was what I had been told. In retrospect, I would call them more "portages" than "carrying my bike across," but maybe it is just semantics. They were both dry this year, so that made it easier, but we were still hauling our bikes for what felt like a quarter mile. I took the above picture as we were entering the river--that big line of people stretching out into the distance--people carrying their bikes. #7252 is teammate Brian, and that white and gray Pearl Izumi jacket in the lower right of the picture is teammate Dave, who will factor into this story later.
Shortly after the river crossing I lost the team--they were going faster than was comfortable for me, so I just let them go ahead, figuring we'd catch up somewhere ahead on the course, when they were all pooped from going out too fast. I rode through the first aid station thinking that I'd catch up with them, but it turned out they had stopped there and I ended up in front of them. We all had cell phones, so I talked to Coach Mike W. (my coaches are Mike M. and Mike W.) and tried to figure out how to meet up, but eventually I just kept going. This was the theme of the ride, it turned out. And I found out that riding by myself is not so much fun. There were lots of other riders around, don't get me wrong, but I really missed riding with my team that I had trained with all season.
The Sabino Creek Crossing
At about mile 50 or so is the second water crossing, this time across Sabino Creek. It gets a little cross-country here, with a winding, sandy path through the creek bed (no water here, either). There was a food stop in the middle and then you kept carrying until you come out into a parking lot on the other side. Coach Mike W. called me while I was getting something to eat and it sounded like part of the team was just ahead of me and part was just behind me. I got to the parking lot and found Coach Mike M., along with Ryan, Jeff, and Brian. It was great to see some familiar faces. We took a few pictures and waited around for a bit for the rest of the team, but eventually decided to just keep moving. I rode with Coach Mike for a mile or so and then they all took off ahead of me again.
After the Sabino Creek crossing is the infamous Snyder Hill, the first major hill of the course. I had done it twice during training, including once on our 92-mile training ride, but I was still nervous about it, but it turned out to be nothing at all--I powered up it, passing people left and right, and just kept going. We got up to Sunrise Drive, which has three big-ish hills, but we had done this road so many times during training rides that I just rode through them. I caught up with Jeff at one point and we played cat and mouse for a bit going up and down the hills (I'd pass him going up, he'd pass me going down,) but then we got separated and I was on my own again. I stopped at some of the aid stations and tried to make sure I was eating and drinking enough and just kept going. I wasn't physically tired, but mentally it was challenging to ride so many miles on my own.
When we got onto Rancho Vistoso, somewhere around mile 70 or so, I heard from behind me someone hollering, "Jennie!" It was my teammate Dave and I was SO glad to see him. We rode together for a bit and then I needed to stop to work a cramp out of my foot. As we were stopped, up rides Shay, another teammate, who had done the 66-mile ride instead of the full 109 due to a knee injury (they had a different start time and location that the rest of us). He pulled over with us and then we all kept riding together for the last 30-40 miles of the ride. It made such a huge difference to me to be riding with these guys, talking and joking and just keeping each other company.
We rode together up the last major hill of the ride, which isn't all that major, and then stopped at the last aid station for oranges, crackers, water, and (for me) a melted Luna bar. We probably had about 15 more miles to go by this point and were getting tired, but everyone was feeling good and we quickly got back on our bikes to finish the ride.
Dave got ahead of us by a minute or two and we lost sight of him as we rode up Silverbell (uphill all the way, baby), but Shay and I crossed the finish line together and found Dave waiting for us at the end. We hugged and high-fived and walked our bikes over to the TNT finishers' tent, 
where Louanne, Cara, and Coach Ashley (my marathon coach), as well as few of my marathon teammates, were all waiting to congratulate us. We found out that from our team only Brian had finished before us, so we got some sandwiches (thanks to Eegees) and water and waited for everyone else to roll in. Within the next half hour everyone but one teammate made it in (the last person had knee problems and eventually made it, with Coach Mike W.'s encouragement and support). We got our finishers' medals and just hung out around the tent for awhile. Eventually Dave, Brian, and I hopped back on our bikes and rode back to the parking garage (it was about a block and a half away from the finish line). I went home, took a shower and a nap, and joined the team later that evening for our victory celebration. Everyone was tired, but I think we were all pretty happy with our ride.
Finish time: 7 hours, 41 minutes (actual riding time, 6 hours, 51 minutes)
THE VERDICT
I enjoyed doing El Tour, and I will definitely continue riding, but I am not sure that I will do another century ride. I think the only way I would do one again would be if I had someone to ride with the whole way. 109 miles is a long way to go when most of it is by yourself. The century ride was a challenge and I was definitely tired at the end of it, but I didn't think it was nearly as hard as a marathon, at least not at the speed that I rode.
So what's next? I would like to do a triathlon with Team In Training, but it probably won't be until after I finish school next year. However, Nike 2008 is definitely on the "To Do" list, so I'll keep you all posted! This will be my last update to the website for awhile, but have no fear--I will defintely continue to be involved with Team In Training, and you can look for me in May 2008 when I start training for Nike again.
Fundraising update: Well, Team Jan has raised an amazing $4832.20 this season to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I just did some quick math and since 2005, together we have raised $15,267.40 for this important cause. I can't thank you enough for your generosity and continued support over the past two years. You are the best!
Now what if you still want to make a donation? Is it too late? Of COURSE not! My events for 2007 may be over, but we still haven't found a cure for cancer. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly running mileage: 23
Weekly biking mileage: 137
Total mileage (running) (since 1/1/2007): 750
Total mileage (biking)(since 9/1/ 2007): 238
Dear Adoring Fans,
HONORED TEAMMATE UPDATE
I got an update about Jan from my sister-in-law and the news was good. Jan's counts are all looking great. She got her first in-depth post-transplant blood work back several weeks ago and it showed a great drop in the myeloma. They don't expect it to be eradicated right after the transplant - apparently it can take up to 6 months to really get rid of all the disease - but they want to see a big drop, and her levels halved, so that's great.
TRAINING UPDATE
Well, we did it. Fundraising? Check. Hundreds of miles run? Check. New shoes all broken in for the marathon? Check. This Friday I fly to California and on Sunday I will run the Nike Women's Marathon (for the third time!) with the other members of my Team In Training. I'm less nervous this year than in 2005, but just as excited. Every year I've found a few people on my team who run about the same speed as me. In 2005 Kathy and I tackled the whole marathon together. Last year I stuck with Lauren through mile 12 or so. This year Scott, Sarah, Meara, and I will probably start off together and if we don't finish together, it should be awfully close. I will do my darndest to put together a good race report for you and will post it as soon as I can after I get back.
The running is tapering, but the cycling miles are on the rise. Yesterday I rode 60 miles with my team (from Tucson up to Oracle, for those of you in the Tucson area). It's a pretty good uphill climb for 30 miles and then it's great coming back. I am finding that I'm a pretty good climber, maybe thanks to all of the running. I'm taking it easy with the cycling this week in an effort to keep rested for the marathon on Sunday, but I'll try to get a few 20-mile rides in just to keep my new cycling muscles on track. I'm going into this marathon feeling really strong and prepared and am hoping that this is the year I break 4 hours 30 minutes. But I'll be happy with just beating my PR, which is about 4 hours 39 minutes.
OTHER TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN THE LIFE OF JENNIE
In early October I had a meeting in Vermont and spent an extra day and a half in New York City, visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and Perdita the Cat. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip: on that Saturday morning I ran
20 miles with my team, rushed home, took a shower, and then drove to the airport. I got into La Guardia around 10:30 that night. I have been to New York lots of times, but it had probably been about eight years since I'd been to there, and it was my first time visiting Susan and Chris at their new apartment on Roosevelt Island. Chris had prepared a delicious dinner and we ate and talked into the wee hours of the morning (I had been up for close to 24 hours by the time I went to sleep, in addition to running 20 miles and flying across the country--I was pooped).
Susan and I had all day Sunday to visit, so we walked around the island, had lunch, and then took the train into
the city. The day before I left Tucson I had heard on NPR about a Joni Mitchell art exhibit that was opening in Little Italy, so we started out there and then walked to the Bowery. One of my favorite series of books as a kid was the All-Of-A-Kind Family books, by Sydney Taylor, several of which took place in the Bowery. When I asked Susan about this she got a little gleam in her eye and started walking. After much walking (some of it in the wrong direction, but who's counting), we ended up in front of the Henry Street Settlement House, which figures prominently in one of the All-Of-A-Kind Family books. It reminded me of when Juan and I visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in 2005--it's strange to realize places you've only read about in children's books actually exist.
When we got back to the house Chris was back from work and we watched the agony of defeat in the form of the final Mets game of the season and then ate another delicious dinner (seriously, I could have gotten myself a bowl of Chris' gravy and a spoon and eaten it like soup--yum). Susan had to get up at the crack of dawn on Monday to be at school and I had to be up a few hours later to get to the airport, but we still stayed up way too late talking. The next morning I flew up to Vermont, where I had a meeting all week. We were a little too soon to see the fall colors peak, but the place we were staying had lots of trails for running and hiking around, and it was really beautiful to be back in the east during the autumn.
Fundraising update: So Team Jan continues to exceed our fundraising goal and we have raised a fabulous $4696.20 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I can't thank you enough for your generosity and support of this very important cause. This is truly a team effort and I absolutely couldn't do this without your help.
Now what if you still want to make a donation? Is it too late? Of COURSE not! The marathon may be this Sunday, but my bike ride is still a month away, and I've always been a overachiever. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Runner's Log
21 September 2007
Weekly mileage: 26
Total mileage (running) (since 1/1/2007): 686
Total mileage (biking)(since 9/1/ 2007): 101
Dear Adoring Fans,
So much for promises to keep this blog current. It's been a month and a half since I last posted, but better late than never, I suppose...lots has happened in the last month and a half. The question is: where to start? I guess at the beginning. You can skip to the honored teammate update, the training update, the fundraising update, or the verbose description of where I've been lately, or just continue to scroll down and read it all.
HONORED TEAMMATE UPDATE
Actually, before I get into a long-winded description of what I've been up two in the last month and a half, I'll give you the quick Honored Teammate and Jennie's Training update. First things first--Jan has a new immune system!!! She had her stem cell transplant right after I flew to California in August and is now in the slow process of recovery. She says that some days she feels like she is going backwards but lately there has been some improvement. She's trying to walk every day (maybe we'll walk a marathon together in the future?) and has been spending lots of time with Freddy. Go Jan!
TRAINING UPDATE
Which brings me to my training. I hate to say that the marathon is old hat, but to be honest, riding my NEW BIKE is the exciting thing in my life these days. That's right, not to be outdone by Jan and her new immune system, I went out and got a new-to-me (i.e., used) road bike, which I've been riding all over the place. This week we'll do a 40 mile ride and my body is starting to get used to things. Being in good shape from running has definitely helped, but biking uses different muscles, for sure. Plus, I'm still working on getting used to clipless pedals (note: why do they call them clipless and then talk about "being clipped in"?) I've only fallen once, which I gather is sort of a right of passage when you're trying to use clipless pedals, and it happened under the best possible circumstances. I'd just gotten back from a ride down in Bisbee and was coasting up to my car, which was parked on some sand in a parking lot. I'd unclipped one foot but when my bike got to the sand it stopped instantly (where I'd counted on coasting for a few more feet). My body tipped toward the side that was still clipped in and down I went. It felt like it was in slow motion--my mind was saying, "Whoa! Here we go!" and the next thing I knew I was tangled with my bike in the sand. I got a big bruise on my thigh for my troubles, but other than that both I and my bike were unhurt. I figure now I've gotten the fall out of the way and can move on to other things. I'm used to riding my clunky old mountain bike, which has a "granny gear," so when I was riding up a hill the other week, I turned and said to my coach, who was riding along side of me, "Mike, I think there is something wrong with my bike--I can't get it to go into the easiest gear." He looked down and said, "Jennie, that IS the easiest gear. Now you have to work on your legs." Blush. Anyway, the long story short is that while combining marathon training with bike riding (last Saturday I ran 18 miles and then rode 33 on Sunday) is a challenge, so far it is going great. But I still love running. Next week is the pinnacle of our training--twenty big ones--and then we'll be tapering for the marathon, which, unbelievably, is one month from today. Yikes!
THE TRIP
The last time I wrote I was just about to leave on a three-
week trip. For the past six months or so Juan has been looking to by a Vanagon camper. After a few false alarms he found one that looked promising in Dana Point, California. I was still down in Kino at the time (this was the end of July) but he flew out, checked it out in person, and bought it. He drove it up the California Coast to his parent's house in the east Bay and a few weeks later, when I had finished up my field work in Kino for the summer, I flew out to meet him. We spent a few days with his family in the Bay Area and then embarked on a three week journey that would take us through five states and over 1000 miles.
We started out in Quincy, California, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where Juan went to school at Feather River College. He hadn't been back since he graduated many years ago, so it was a real trip down memory lane for him. Our first night camping in the Westy (we were still working on a name) was here in Quincy. The funny thing was that we pulled up to the spot where we planned on camping and there was ANOTHER white Westy parked there already, camper popped, ready to go. We talked to the owner for a few minutes, who was on a road trip of his own, and settled in to cook dinner and get ready for our first night of in the new ride. For the uninitiated, our Westy (a 1990) comes equipped with a two-burner gas stove, a refridgerator (which, to be honest, works better as a cupboard than a fridge), a sink, and has room to sleep four adults--two in the upper pop top, which you can see in the picture, and two down below (the back bench seat folds down). It also has two tables and all sorts of little cupboards, nooks, and crannies. Plus, Juan, his dad, and his uncle had spent two weeks going over her with a fine-toothed comb, so OUR Westy had been tricked out with all sorts of fun things, like a power inverter that lets us fire up the handheld blender I'd gotten Juan as an early birthday present so we could make smoothies for breakfast--suffice it to say, we were stylin'.
The next morning we got up and made tea/coffee (for 
Jennie/Juan) and walked down a trail a short distance to some beautiful falls on the Feather River. We spent the day visiting some old birding haunts of Juan's, visiting campus, and tracking down some of Juan's old friends. We left town in the early afternoon and headed down the east side of the Sierras toward Nevada. The only place I'd ever been in Nevada was the Las Vegas airport, so driving across the state on Highway 50 was going to be a new experience for both of us.
Our first night we made it about an hour or so into western Nevada and spent the night at some BLM-managed sand dunes. We were really surprised to 
find out that they charged something like $25/night to stay at this very rustic camping area (I'm hesitant to call it an actual campground) so we just drove back to a side road, parked the Westy, and called it good. We went on a great run that evening, up to the sand dunes and then up to the lowest one of the ridges. Running on soft sand uphill is hard! It was all we could do to just walk to the top by the time we got to the last 100 feet. The view from the top was amazing, and we 
were there just in time to see an incredible sunset. And running back down sand dunes is fun! The next morning we explored the area's other attraction--an old Pony Express station. We had camped in the parking area for the walk out to the ruins. We did some exploring of the ruins, read the signs, and headed east. The drive across Nevada was a lot prettier than I'd expected it to me. I had thought of Nevada the way I imagine a lot of people who've never 
been there think about Arizona--they picture saguaros, sand, and hot sun. My image of Nevada was sort of like this, minus the saguaro--scorching sun and barren landscapes. This was definitely the case for parts of it, but there was a lot of beauty was we drove across the basin and range, up and over one mountain, down through a wide valley, and then up and over the next mountain. One of the other highlights of the trip was the Shoe Tree (I came up with that startlingly original name all by myself). It was just a huge cottonwood by the side of the highway and people had apparently been throwing shoes of all shapes, styles, and sizes for quite some time. It definitely warranted a picture, if not a mention on the old blog.
We made it to Great Basin National Park by the evening and drove up to the campground at the top, where we spent a beautiful night sleeping out under the stars. The next morning we did some hiking and birdwatching up to a few subalpine lakes and a bristlecone pine grove, where we saw 4000+ year-old pine trees. Amazing! From Great Basin we crossed over into Utah and entered a completely new world. Utah is definitely one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I've been. The entire drive was full of one of us saying,
"Wait just a second, I want to take a picture of this!" Despite this, we spent our first night in Utah at a less-than-memorable state park (Green River State Park, I think), on the banks of the Green River. It was located along side a golf course and was definitely geared towards people who came to run their motor boats on the river. Nonetheless, there were showers there, which were very welcome after a week on the road. I got in a nice run in the morning and we kept moving east, toward Arches National Park. It wasn't too far from the state park, so we got there by late morning, in plenty of time to spend the day seeing the sights. It was a hot day, but, happily, many of the Park's amazing sights are visible either directly from your car or a reasonably short walk away. We spent most of the day driving through the park and/or walking to see the different sights. It's a place 
everyone should visit, and I'll leave it at that. From Arches we headed into Moab (because Juan had never been there) where we got some delicious and sorely needed lemonades (did I mention it was hot?) and took the scenic route up to Highway 70, which would take us all the way to Boulder, our next destination. We got an hour or so into Colorado that night, spending the night at a Colorado State Park on the Colorado River. We were underwhelmed with this campground, too--it was prettier than the one in Utah, but it cost $24 to spend the night, plus at this one you had to pay for the showers. We got up early the next morning and went for a nice run, coming across a group of about twenty-five wild turkeys on the way, and headed east towards Boulder.
We were headed to visit Rochelle, Bryan, Samuel, Alani, 
Linus, Milo, and Baby Alice (try saying that ten times fast) and to celebrate Samuel and Alani's bar mitzvah. We got there in time to shower and get ready for a Friday night service at the temple, followed by dinner in Boulder. The bar mitzvah was the next day, followed by a kickin' party at a restaurant in Lafayette that then moved to Ro and Bryan's house. One short paragraph doesn't do much to sum up the events of the weekend, but suffice it to say that there was lots of family and tons of kids running all over the place, and it was fun to see faces that I hadn't seen in a long time.
From Boulder we took a small side trip and flew to Massachusetts to spend some time with my brother, sister-in-law, and new nephew. The nephew was born in January and I hadn't seen him since March, so he had changed a lot. We had a really relaxing time hiking, birding, kayaking, and just visiting. Freddy is getting big so quickly that I was really glad to have the chance to see him. We spent five days with them and then flew back to Colorado, where the Westy (who by then I'd begun to call Trixie, much to Juan's chagrin) was waiting for us patiently in the airport parking lot. We spent the night in the cul-de-sac in front of 
Ro and Bryan's house and tried to get a reasonably early start the next morning. We drove about a 1/2 mile down the road to the gas station and while Juan was checking the oil and coolant, he noticed that the coolant reservoir, which he'd refilled just before we headed to Massachusetts, was nearly empty and dripping on the ground. Bad. Long story short: we needed a new water pump. Welcome to the wonderful world of 
owning a Westy. We found a fantastic mechanic (Lafayette Import Car Care for those of you in the Boulder area--this is the second time they've rescued me in a time of need and I highly recommend them) who had us on the road by late the next afternoon. Our plan was to return to Arizona from Boulder and fortunately, we'd built some extra padding into our schedule, so although we lost a day, we were still able to do everything we wanted on our way back. We left Boulder on the 27th and spent the night near the Princeton Hot Springs, just north of Salida, Colorado. It was dark when we got there and the springs were just about to close, but the lovely woman who was working there let us in for free for the last 15 minutes of the night. Nicely warmed up, we drove down the road until we found an area to pull off and camp for the night. When we woke up the next morning we saw a big US Forest Service sign that said "NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING." Ahh, well. So this was my 34th birthday! We started it off with some smooties followed by a nice run--I ended up doing about 11 miles, I think, and it felt great after doing so much driving and sitting. After the run we headed back to the hot springs. They had two pools where hot water was piped in and then there was the river. The water on the surface was freezing, but they piped some hot water in in a few spots and once you lay down in the water, you realized that hot water was bubbling up from the river bed. We found a spot where they'd built up some rocks to make shallow pools and spent the morning soaking, splashing in the cold water when it got too hot and then returning to our hot pool. It was the perfect way to spend a birthday. We got out around lunch time, ate, and headed down the road to Durango, where we had a delicious dinner and then met up with our friend John. We watched the sunset and had great conversation with John and his parents and then spent the night with them. The next morning we got up reasonably 
early and headed down to Arizona via Utah, down the eastern side of the state through the Navajo Reservation. I'd never been in this part of Arizona before, so it was all new to me. We spent the night in front of the entrance gate to the Hubbell Trading Post (look it up--he's distantly related to the telescope guy) and after visiting it in the morning, made our way south to Canyon de Chelly. We had planned on spending the night at the Canyon de Chelly campground but ended up making our way a bit further south. The next day was our second-to-last and we took our 
time going through the White Mountains, where Juan had done his orientation for Prescott College. It's just a beautiful part of Arizona and it's really not all that far from Bisbee. I was amazed that we'd been in Arizona for seven years and hadn't been there before. We spent our last night in a campground north of Clifton-Morenci. It was a nice campground (and free!), still up high enough that it was cool at night. We did some late afternoon birding (one of my favorite birds was the Painted Redstart that was flycatching around the vent of the outhouse--yum) and just enjoyed our last night on the road. The next morning we birded some more and made our way out of the mountains toward Morenci and Clifton, two mining towns that you can read all about in the Barbara Kingsolver book "Holding the Line." Phelps Dodge still operates an enormous copper mine here. I knew this, but I was unprepared for the enormity of the operation. It was hugmongous. Gigantic. Of monumental proportions. In stark contrast to the sheer size of the mine, the towns were very small, run down, like something out of the past. Morenci is a company town in every sense of the word--they even proudly proclaim in on the sign as you drive into town. Clifton seemed to have some more busineses but it was still like something out of the past--old run down buildings in a historic-looking downtown that had been ravaged by flooding twenty years before, when the miners took on Phelps Dodge in an 18-month strike. I'd read the Kingsolver book and it was really eye-opening for me to see the town in person. We drove around Clifton and then made our way to Safford, where we had lunch. By this time we were close enough to Tucson (I had to be in Tucson the next day, so we headed there instead of Bisbee) that we were starting to feel ready to get there, so we drove directly from Safford, getting into Tucson around mid-day.
Since getting back I've been dropped into a whirlwind of school and work, plus marathon and century ride training, hence my woefully neglected website. I'd promise to do better in the future, but I'm beginning to know better. So on to the really exciting stuff:
Fundraising update: WE DID IT!!! Team Jan has exceeded our fundraising goal and has raised a stupendous $4470.20 so far. I can't thank you enough for your generosity and support of this very important cause. This is truly a team effort and I absolutely couldn't do this without your support.
Now what if you still want to make a donation? Is it too late? Of COURSE not! As my cycle training will prove, I'm not one to stop at "good enough." If you haven't yet made a donation but would still like to, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 19
Total mileage (since 1 January 2007): 566
Dear Adoring Fans,
I've done a pretty lousy job of keeping this website updated over the summer, but I promise to do better in the coming months. Training is going great. Yesterday we ran 12 miles at Sabino Canyon, a beautiful spot north of Tucson with great Sonoran desert habitat. The monsoons have started in southern Arizona and so the creek was running at Sabino. The trail that we run on crosses the creek about ten different times, so we ran through water (some of it was about reasonably deep and had some serious current) quite a bit during the run. Except for getting sand in my shoes, the cool water was actually pretty refreshing and we had a great run. I ran with my teammate Scott, who kept me on my toes and moving faster than I would have if I'd been on my own.
But on to the real news:
What do you get when you take a girl who is training for marathon #4 and add an amazing bunch of amazing people who donate lots and lots of money to her fundraising campaign to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society?
Answer: a fruit loop who has decided to add a Century Ride to her ambitions agenda of endurance sports events for this fall. (For those of you who were wondering, the loop picuture (above) is the old Laser Loop from Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh.)
Translation: Thanks to your amazing support, Team Jan has already surpassed our fundraising goal for the Nike Women's Marathon, which I will run on October 21, 2007. It is with some trepidation that I say this, but because your wonderful support and donations keep rolling in, as crazy as it sounds, I am planning on participating in El Tour de Tucson, a 109-mile bike ride (aka, a Century Ride) on November 17, 2007 with my Tucson Team In Training. I know that training for a marathon and a century ride at the same time will be something of a challenge, but I've talked to my coaches, who have given me four enthusiastic thumbs up (there are two of them). So although my bike riding ability currently consists of riding the 1/2 mile between my apartment and campus on days when it is not too hot, I have signed up to participate in El Tour a month after my marathon in San Francisco this fall.
Crazy? Perhaps. But this week, on August 9th, my Honored Teammate Jan, diagnosed with multiple myeloma, heads to the hospital in Durham to undergo a stem cell transplant. This summer another family member was diagnosed a type of leukemia and is preparing for a bone marrow transplant. Last year my Honored Teammate Alex, who loved riding her bike around the halls of the hospital, lost her battle with lymphoma at age 13. Can I add a 109-mile bike ride to my marathon plans for the fall if it means raising money to help find a cure for these diseases? Sure I can. It's the least I can do.
A marathon and a century ride are difficult and challenging. At times, they really, really suck and I will find myself wondering why I am putting myself through this, and doing so voluntarily. But then I think about my Honored Teammates and I remember: I do this because I can, because it IS voluntary and I have the choice. Cancer takes away a lot of choices. The pain I will feel is temporary. I cross the finish line and can stop running or riding. But cancer does not rest, and so neither can we. We need to keep running it down until we find a cure.
When I asked Jan if she would be my Honored Teammate, she wrote back and said that she loved the thought of all of our Team In Training energy behind her. I love that that she loves that thought, and the energy and positive thoughts of all of you on my email list (nearly 250 people) will surely help her get through this transplant and come out healthy on the other side. I can only say that it is truly my honor to run in Jan's name and in the names of all of the people you have asked me to honor. I thank you for your continued generosity in supporting me and my Honored Teammates in this effort.
Fundraising update: Folks, you are truly amazing. To date Team Jan has raised an incredible $4201.20. That leaves us with a piddly $119.40 left to raise to reach my fundraising goals for both the Nike Marathon and El Tour de Tucson! Donate now and you can have the distinction of making the donation that puts us over the top (past winners of this honor include my sister Susan and brother-in-law Chris--donate now for a chance to receive this coveted honor in 2007!) Since I joined Team In Training in May 2005 together we have raised over $11,000 to help find a cure for blood cancers. Every single dollar counts, and when you add them all up, that's a significant amount of the green stuff. I'm continually amazed and humbled by the outpouring of support you have all given me over the past two years.
This is truly a team effort and I absolutely couldn't do this without your support. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 26.2 (a marathon!)
Total mileage (since 1 January 2007): 395
Dear Adoring Fans,
Why run a marathon? Why make a donation to someone running a marathon? I bring your attention to the List of Honor. Unfortunately, the List has continued to grow since I started training for my first marathon in 2005. This week we add Frederic Green to the list of people I run in memory of and Lisa Harris' name is moved from the "In Honor Of" list to the "In Memory Of" list. She lost her battle with cancer this past April. Although as long as all of us are out there raising funds for research and fighting to find a cure, the battle is far from lost.
Honored Teammate Update: Jan wrote the other week with
the disappointing news that she has to have another two cycles of chemo before her stem cell transplant. It sounds like her doctors aren't too concerned that she needs these additional cycles, but she is just anxious to finish the chemo and move forward. I think her she has a treatment today, actually, so send positive vibes to North Carolina when you think of it. Go Jan Go!!
My other Honored Teammate is Alex, who would have turned 14 this past week. I am mentoring her mother, Betsy, and this week has been understandably difficult for her. You can read more about both Jan and Alex on my Honored Teammate page. Your donation, at any level, will help make sure that more people reach their fourteenth birthdays (or get to see their grandchildren reach their fourteenth birthdays).
So, on to me, me, me. I drove up from Mexico last week, spent a 
few days in Bisbee, and then flew up to Portland to visit my mom and see my brother graduate from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, last Friday. It was a nice ceremony, if a little on the long side (think 1000+ graduates, all called by name and in random order so you have no idea of knowing when your particular graduate is going to be called 
up on stage). But it was nice to be there to see Matt graduate. On Saturday there was a huge festival on the Evergreen campus with live music, lots of arts and crafts booths, food, and even, for reasons best kept to themselves, a group of Klingons (strange? Yes.) They even had their own Klingon schedule of activities. Matt's band, Fungus Riot (he is the singer and plays guitar) was the headliner on the Local Musician's stage and we got to hear him rockin' the house, which was great--look for them at a venue near you! After the festivities we all drove back to mom's new house in Portland and I flew back to AZ on Sunday.
I almost forgot to tell you about our new houseguests. Ever since we moved into our house in Kino there have been a couple of feral adult cats running through the yard. When I got back from our island trip the other week, all of a sudden there were eight kittens, 
along with about 4 adult cats, all lounging on our front porch. They are all feral and run whenever I see them and take shelter in our garage, but they are awfully cute. I was going to feed them and try to tame them, but the adults started hissing at me whenever I walked out the front door of the house, so now the goal is to keep them off the front porch. I've been gone for about ten days, so we'll see how many of them are still around when I get back to town. Anybody want a kitten?
*Jennie gets up on her soapbox*
When I was in Portland I learned that another of my family members was just diagnosed with a kind of leukemia and is in need of a bone marrow transplant. I'm getting up on my soapbox for a moment to ask you all to register yourselves with the National Marrow Donor Program. Research conducted by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has led to advances and treatments in fighting blood cancers and other diseases. Things that were experimental in 1980, like bone marrow and stem cell transplants, have now saved countless lives, thanks to organizations like LLS. But although bone marrow and stem cell transplants are reasonably common, there is still a desperate need for potential donors, particularly from minorities. If you are not already on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, please consider adding yourself to the list.
*Jennie steps down from her soapbox*
I've been taking care of some school and work stuff for the last few days and head back down to Mexico later this morning. I'd invite folks down to visit me, but it's basically hot and miserable in Kino Bay this time of year, so although I'd love to see you, I highly recommend waiting until I'm back down there this fall. My training is going really well and I'm feeling optimistic that this will be the year I break the 4 hour 30 minute barrier for the marathon. I'm feeling great, although the hot weather means early mornings. Juan and I also started swimming at the Bisbee pool, so that has been a good way to get some cross-training in.
Fundraising update: The ball that was just getting started rolling the last time I updated this website is whizzing right along. It seems like every year I send out my fundraising letters/emails and then head out of town for awhile. This is the third year that I've returned home to a huge stack of envelopes in the ol' PO Box, full of donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To date Team Jan has raised an incredible $1809.40 toward our goal of $2700 by 1 July 2007! That leaves us with a measly $890.60 left to raise! 
Now, there are only ten shopping days left until my 1 July deadline, so if you've been planning on making a donation but just haven't quite gotten around to it, there is no time like the present! (Of course, I am still very happy to take your donations after 1 July, as well).
Thank you to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising campaign. This is truly a team effort, and I absolutely couldn't do this without your support. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 26
Total mileage (since 1 January 2007): 370
Dear Adoring Fans,
Greetings from Kino Bay, Sonora! The excitement this week
has nothing to do with running, so I'll just start this installment by saying that my training is going really well. I've started getting up at 4:15am in order to have time to get my run in before it gest too hot, but the desert is beautiful early in the morning. If you've ever been to Arizona during the monsoons, you've probably smelled the creosote when it gets wet--the phrase "the desert smells like rain" comes from this unique smell. Well, the humidity in Kino in the mornings gets the the creosote damp and makes the desert smell like rain--it is one of my very favorite smells in the world and it makes up for having to get up so early. I've been running in "New Kino," up by the Prescott College field station, where there are miles and miles of dirt roads and canyons to run up and along.
But on to the excitement of this past week. The Prescott College Seabird Ecology course that is currently here in Kino invited me along on their four-day island trip. The trip started on 29 May, when we left the Prescott College field station and headed in the panga (boat) up to Ensenada Blanca, on the northwest side of Isla Tiburon. We had the campsite to ourselves (it is a frequently-used fishing camp, but there weren't any fishers there when we arrived) so we had our choice of sites to set up camp. The water in the bay at Ensenada Blanca was wonderfully clear and not too cold, so we enjoyed a snorkel before getting some dinner. And the view from Ensenada Blanca looks northwest, so we had a beautiful view of the sunset that evening. The only
drawback to the campsite were the bees. The beach was full of them, and the descended upon us almost as soon as we arrived, in search of fresh water. We put about four inches of water in a bucket and set it off to the side, which definitely helped, but before the end of the trip 7 of us (including yours truly) would be stung, some of us multiple times (not yours truly). The picture of the budket (right) does not do justice to the number of bees that there were. If you were to look inside of the bucket you would find a 4" thick carpet of bees. There were literally thousands of them. Truly incredible.
30 May 2007 dawned clear and calm and after breakfast we loaded into the panga and headed toward Isla Rasa, the big reason I was on this trip. Isla Rasa is located closer to Baja California than Sonora and is a critical island for nesting seabirds in the Gulf of California. Nintey-five percent of the world's population of Elegant Terns and 95% of the world's population of Heerman's Gulls nest there, and this is the peak of their breeding season. To give you an idea of what those numbers mean, last year biologists estimated 350,000 nesting Heerman's Gulls, 240,000 Elegant Terns, and just to mix it up, 16,000 Royal Terns nesting on the island. I've been wanting to visit Isla Rasa since I lived in Kino in 2000, so I was thrilled to finally have the opportunity, to say the very least.
There is a small research station on the island and biologists have been conducting long-term studies on the birds on the island since the 1980s. Getting from the panga to shore is a bit tricky. You have to get into the water and make your way across a very slippery boulder field that is partially submerged in the water. Although I'd brought an old pair of running shoes for once I got on the island, I foolishly was trying to keep them dry. [Note to self: do not wear flip-flops next time you disembark on Isla Rasa.] Suffice it to say I got wet and slightly bloody, but no permanent or serious damage was done. We made our way along a lagoon (where I got my sneakers wet through and through, anyway) and
up the hill to the field station, where we were met by resident biologist Leticia, as well as Sarah, an American who was there making a documentary about the island. The field station was surrounded by nesting Heerman's Gulls and the lagoon we'd just skirted on our way up was also lined with them. Hundreds of them. No, thousands of them. Everywhere you looked, you saw Heerman's Gulls standing around and squawking at you (in the picture above, all of those black dots are gulls). And if it wasn't a Heerman's Gull, it was an Elegant Tern giving you a buzz as it flew out to see in search of food for its nestlings.
Leticia has been working on the island since the mid-1990s and was an excellent tour guide. After giving us a brief overview of the work they were doing on the island, she led us through part of the Heerman's Gull colony to an overlook where we could see the largest part of the Elegant Tern colony. I'm including some pictures here and I even took a little video, because words and even pictures can never describe the scene. I have never, ever seen so many birds at the same time. It was truly incredible, from the sheer number of birds to the deafening calls of both the terns and gulls. The picture above was taken from far above the colony--the patch of white outlined in green is thousands and thousands of Elegant Terns (and this was just one part of the colony--it was so large that I couldn't get it all in the same frame of the camera), and the black dots above and below the outlined area are Heerman's Gulls. It was definitely one of the most amazing things I've had the good fortune to see.
After spending several hours on the island observing the birds and talking with Leticia and Sarah, we loaded back up into the panga motored down to Isla Salsipuedes, Islote Cuervos, and eventually over to Isla Las Animas, where we had lunch and went for a snorkel. Our lunch spot was just to the side of a Brown Pelican colony and we could see lots of the fluffy white chicks standing in the hot sun waiting for their parents to bring them food, fluttering their gular sacks to try to keep cool.
After our snorkel, we made our way back to the panga and headed back to our camp. Not content to just wow us with Isla Rasa, the Gulf of California
had one more surprise in store for us. We'd been seeing groups of common dolphins around throughout the day, and as we were paused to look for some, Tad, the field station manager, said, "Whale!" Sure enough, we'd happened upon a group of four fin whales who were very accomodating about giving us amazing views. One of them was very curious about us and just cruised along with the panga, turning over on its side and gazing up out of the water at us with it's eye. Tad, who has probably spent more time observing fin whales in the Gulf of California than just about anyone, said he'd never seen behavior like that before. The picture above shows the whale's head on one of it's close approaches. It's lower jaw is the white part at the top of the screen and it's eye is just out of the shot, at the extreme right-hand side of the picture.
30 May 2007: The goal for this day was to get out to Isla San Esteban, part of the Seri's traditional territory (the Seri are an indigenous group that lives on the central Sonoran Coast, north of Kino Bay). We had a Seri guide with us, Manuelito Flores, and he was going to take us on a hike to the interior of the island. On our way to the island we started seeing some bottlenose dolphins. We paused to look at them and one of the students says, "I think I just heard a whale!" Sure enough, we'd chanced upon a group of Sperm Whales,
who were being accompanied by the bottlenose dolphins. The whales were a little skittish and didn't want much to do with us, but we did get some nice looks before we continued on our way to the island. We disembarked on the island and made our way inland. I was acting as translator for Manuelito, who led us up the canyon, telling us about his ancestors who had lived on the island in the past. There are several endemic reptiles on San Esteban and Manuelito was something of an expert in locating one of them: the San Esteban chuckwalla. At first only the first few people behind Manuelito would catch a glimpse of these large iguanas as they scattered into the Sonoran desert, but it soon became apparent that they were everywhere--we must have seen 15 of them in the few hours we were on the island. We walked up the main canyon of the island, enjoying things like blooming ironwood trees, limberbush, and elephant tree. At our turn around point we all sat in the shade of an old ironwood tree and Tom, the professor, asked me to ask Manuelito if he could sing us some traditional Seri songs. Manuelito is an accomplished traditional Seri singer and it gives him great 
pride to share his songs, so he sang us a number of them about the island and making the crossing to San Esteban from Isla Tiburon or from the mainland. We made our way back to the beach, where we had lunch and loaded back up into the panga and went around to the other side of the island for a snorkel with some sea lions before heading back towards camp. We saw more bottlenose dolphins on the way back and not too far from where we'd seen the sperm whales in the morning, sure enough, we came upon another group of them. This time they were really relaxed and came right up to the boat, giving us great looks at them. That night Manuelito treated us to more Seri songs at sunset, and the next day we broke camp and headed back to Kino. It was the complete Gulf of California experience--we couldn't have had a better trip if you had requested it mail order from the Wells Fargo Wagon.
I got back to Kino with a thump, though, and have been working hard every since. I head back up to Arizona on Sunday for a stint and will be rotating back and forth between AZ and Mexico until mid-July, most likely.
Fundraising update: The ball is rolling, but it's still gathering speed! To date we have raised $490 toward our goal of $2700 by 1 July 2007. That's a great start that leaves us with just $2210 left to raise! If we get $500 by 25 June I'll get a snazzy new Team In Training hat, so get those donations in the mail (or online) while there is still time so Jennie can protect her delicate complexion from the harsh Sonoran sun!
Thank you to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising campaign. This is truly a team effort, and I absolutely couldn't do this without your support. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 28
Total mileage (since 1 January 2007): 297
Dear Adoring Fans,
If this is your first visit to my website, please take a minute to read my message to you. This explains in more detail what I am doing and why I am doing it.
For those of you who are already familiar with my website, well, I’m at it again and am training for my fourth marathon! I'm renewing my commitment to keep this blog updated and full of exciting news, so sit back and get ready to read about our epic journey to the marathon and beyond. If you missed reading my race reports for past Nike Marathons, you can still read them, and the rest of my archives by clicking here.
Running update: Running is going well. I just got a snazzy new pair of shoes from Fleet Feet which always makes early morning runs more exciting. This past Friday I did my own personal half marathon (~13.1 miles) and it felt great!
I am currently living in Kino Bay, Sonora, getting started on my fieldwork for my dissertation. Kino is a small town on the central coast of Sonora, Mexico (see the red arrow in the photo to the left), and I lived here for about a year in 2000-2001. Kino is a beautiful little town, right on the ocean and full of many miles of dirt roads and trails in the hills surrounding the town, so I haven't had any trouble finding good running spots. I am living with some other students from the University of Arizona (Ana and Marcia) and we have a little house in "Old Kino." It's not much to look at, but it's home. It is missing a few windows, has no screens, for the first 3 weeks we were there had a toilet that would only flush by pouring water into the pot, has plenty of "family-sized" cockroaches, and only has water pressure from about 6pm-6am. On the other hand, we are paying $300/month for a 3 bedroom house, so what can you expect? I'm actually making it sound a lot worse than it is. It's got a huge yard and a nice front porch for sitting, the refrigerator works well, and the landlord came and fixed the toilet and promised to come back and fix the windows and put in screens, so what more could a girl want?
As I write this I am temporarily back in Bisbee for some meetings, but I'll head back to Kino on Thursday and will be there pretty much through the end of July. Visitors are more than welcome, although summer in Kino is hot, muggy, and full of mosquitoes.
Fundraising update: The ball is rolling! So far was have raised $140 toward our goal of $2700 by 1 July 2007. That leaves a mere $2560 left to raise!
Thank you to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising campaign. This is truly a team effort, and I absolutely couldn't do this without your support. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And if you are unable to make a financial donation, your moral support is just as welcome!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 31.2
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 436.7
Dear Adoring Fans,
It's been a week full of highs and lows. Juan and I left for California and the marathon on Friday, October 20th. Before we left for the airport I got online to check my email and had a message with the devastating news that Alex, our Honored Teammate, had passed away on 19 October. Although it was not unexpected, it was still a shock to read, and particularly ironic that it happened on the morning my team was flying to San Francisco to run a marathon in her honor. She was a beautiful, brave little girl who gave courage, inspiration, and hope to all who knew her or heard her story. I know that she touched thousands of lives in her too-short time on this planet, and it gave our run in San Francisco a very special purpose; we all dedicated our race to the memory of this very special little girl, and Alex was in everyone's minds and hearts every single step of the way. Visit the website that Betsy set up to read more, leave a message in the guestbook, or make a donation in Alex's memory to one of the worthy organizations Betsy has listed.
So when we boarded the plane in Tucson we were definitely excited about the race and the trip, but I think everyone was feeling a little bit sad. My plan was to try to document this trip in as much detail as last year...let's see how I did.
Before I get started with the trip, however, I just wanted
to show you a picture of a little friend that showed up in our garden last week (see right). I walked outside in the morning to see if the plants needed water and saw a big, hairy tarantula mincing across the yarrow. It was one of those things that gives you goosebumps but you still want to get closer and look at it.
On to the marathon! Juan and I flew into Oakland and his dad picked us up at the airport. We had an easy flight and even got in a little early. We spent Friday night with Juan's parents in Walnut Creek and got up the next morning and took Bart into the city. The hotel we stayed at this year was different than last year's. We were right on the water, which was beautiful, but had to take a bus to the start instead of 
being able to walk, which wasn't as convenient. Our room overlooked the water and had a beautiful view. Bart let us off pretty much right in front of the hotel, so we were able to quickly check in and head over to Niketown so I could pick up my race packet and peruse the marathon gear. I'd been warned to expect lines, but I was quickly able to register. On the outside wall of Niketown they had set up what I can best describe as a piece of installation art that included the names of all 15,000 people in the race. It took a few minutes, but Juan and I eventually found my name:
After snapping a few pictures we headed over to the Moscone Center for the Pasta Party, where we met up with 
my team. The Pasta Party was similar to the others that I've attended. A representative from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society gave us some impressive statistics: There were 15,000 participants in the race, 150 men and the rest women, & 4500 Team In Training participants, who together had raised a jaw-dropping $16 million! This was met with loud applause, hooting, and hollering all around. At every Pasta Party an
Honored Teammate makes a speech, sharing his or her experience and what TNT has meant to them. This year a man called Chris walked up on stage with his two young children and began to talk about his wife, who had lymphoma. He shared their struggle and then said that in July his wife, Stephanie, went into remission. We all started cheering, but Chris wasn't done. It turned out that her remission was short-lived, and she had passed away in September. Chris had become involved with TNT early in his wife's illness, and made the decision to keep on training and run in the Nike Marathon, as was his plan before she died. He was a fantastic speaker, bringing us all to tears and then, just as quickly, saying something funny and making us all laugh out loud.
Our Pasta Party was at lunch time, so we had the rest of the day to relax and get ready for the next day. I got my race jersey ready, attached the timing chip on to my shoe, and just took it easy for the rest of the night.
Race Day
Wake up time came early. In order to have enough time to eat and digest things, I got up at 4:15. After eating my usual race day breakfast of Cheerios with skim milk and a banana, along with a salt packet, I kissed a sleepy Juan goodbye, grabbed my stuff, and headed down to the hotel lobby, where I took a shuttle to the start line at Union Square. My team had gone earlier, but I opted to sleep in a bit more. I got there just in time to see the early start (for people who need a bit more time to complete the race) and cheer on two of my teammates who had started with that group and then met up with the rest of my team. We stretched, adorned our bodies with TNT temporary tattoos, checked our gear, and headed for the start line. My plan was to run with Lauren, who I think you have all "met" in previous log entries. We found each other at the start and, along with Jill, another of my mentees, started the race. Last year Kathy and I got off to a bit of a slow start because we'd started with the 10-12 minute mile group. This year Lauren and I decided we'd start in the 9-9:59 minute mile group, figuring that the worst that would happen is that we'd get passed alot. This turned out to be the perfect group and right on pace with us.
The race started at 7am and it took us about 4 minutes to cross the start line. It seemed to be a lot less crowded, even though there were the same number of participants in the race--I guess being closer to the front makes a difference.
Mile 1 (10 minutes 53.04 seconds)
The race starts at Union Square. This first mile zig-zaggs its way through downtown, heading toward the Embarcadero. The sun is starting to come up as we start, but it is still kind of dark. As we run by a park behind our hotel I hear a raucaus squawking--"Parrots!" I say to Lauren. Juan and I had been walking there the evening before and had seen a big flock of them in the same area. Neat! Our time is slightly slower than our target time, but still a good start.
Mile 2 (9 minutes 58.62 seconds)
We hit the Embarcadero and start to settle in to our normal pace. The weather is pretty warm and I quickly decide to ditch the plastic garbage bag I am wearing. It is a bit crowded and we work our way through the crowd, passing those who are slower than us and being passed by those who are faster than us. Somewhere early in this mile someone had the bright idea to hand out those glowing red-blue-green bracelets you see kids wearing at Halloween and on the 4th of July. It was a neat idea, but it caused a real traffic jam in the middle of the street. People stop to pick up dropped bracelets and cause those running behind to crash into them. Bright.
Mile 3 (9 minutes 24.35 seconds)
We keep running down the Embarcadero, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the water as the sun starts to rise. Now we're going at a good clip, maybe even a little faster than usual (but not so fast that I'm worried about tiring myself out later on). We run past Fisherman's Wharf and I hope to smell that fresh bread (which, it turns out, came from the Boudin Bakery), but they didn't seem to be baking this morning. We have an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge this year, with fog rolling under the bridge but still giving a breathtaking view of the bridge. I eat TJ's fruit wrap #1.
Mile 4 (9 minutes 52.96 seconds)
Jill drops behind us somewhere around here and Lauren and I continue along our way. We continue to oooh and aaaah at the Golden Gate and listen to foghorns in the distance.
Mile 5 (9 minutes 21.33 seconds)
We make our way along the Marina and admire the fancy houses. I munch of TJ's Inca Chips (baked plantain chips). Yummy!
Mile 6 (9 minutes 37.64 seconds)
This is probably our best view of the Golden Gate--just when we think it can't get more picturesque, it does.
Mile 7 (~10 minutes)
Our first hill. I'd been remembering two big hills from last year's race, and this was the first one. Lauren starts to pull ahead of me and I let her go. In my memory, this hill was followed by a big downhill.
Mile 8 (~ 10 minutes)
In reality, it is followed by a slight downhill. I use the downhill to catch up with Lauren. We run through a park with with signs that say, "No organized sports on the grass." "I guess you can only play disorganized sports here," I say with a giggle to Lauren. I eat TJ's fruit wrap #2.
Mile 9 (10 minutes 39.31 seconds)
And another big, fat uphill.
Lauren pulls away from me again. We see Coach Ashley somewhere around here and get words of encouragement.
Mile 10 (9 minutes 52.53 seconds)
Downhill...I speed up and catch up with Lauren again.
Mile 11 (10 minutes 17.11 seconds)
We look for and find Juan! We don't see each other until the last second, though, so the only picture he is able to take is one of our backs and we head into mile 12 and
Golden Gate Park. I eat 1/2 of a banana.
Mile 12 (10 minutes 5.48 seconds)
Most of the run in Golden Gate Park is uphill. I had conveniently forgotten this. Nonetheless, we keep a pretty good time and I even manage to keep up with Lauren. Shortly before the half-marathoners split off from us I hear someone coming up behind me muttering to himself, "Come ON! Keep GOING!" I turn around and it is a man from a South Carolina team who Lauren and I have been playing tag with all morning. He's having a rough time. I slow down just a hair and strike up a conversation. He is doing the half (in honor of his father, who passed away from leukemia just a few months ago), which means he has just over a mile to go until he's finished. I give him a big pep talk and try to take his mind of his obviously hurting body. At one point in this mile I look to the left and see, in the mist, a herd of buffalo. "Buffalo!" I exclaimed to Lauren and the South Carolina man. Neither responds. About 5 seconds later Lauren says, "Look! Buffalo!" I laugh to myself. Then 5 seconds after that the man looks over and says, "Hey! Buffalo!" I guess we were all in our own zones. We get to the split and send him on his way, a much happier camper. I think the pedicure station was somewhere along this mile. We opt not to stop and this year I don't take the free socks (there is still a lot of race to go to be carrying socks!)
Mile 13 (10 minutes 58.13 seconds)
By the time we got to Golden Gate Park the clear weather we'd been enjoying along the Embarcadero had turned into fog, much like last year's race. The run through the park was beautiful and slightly eerie, dark, and misty. Somewhere in the middle of this mile it becomes apparent to me that it is fruitless for me to try to keep up with Lauren. She surges ahead in quest of a sub 4:30 marathon, although for the next few miles I continue to catch glimpses of her bright orange shorts. I take salt packet #2, and eat more Inca Chips and a few gummy bears.
Mile 14 (10 minutes 44.28 seconds)
This is the turn-around in the park and the end of the uphill section. Lauren and I see each other as I'm heading in and she's heading out and exchange high-fives.
Mile 15 (10 minutes 4.06 seconds)
Downhill, back through the other side of the park. A really, really bad rock and roll band is playing at one point, making a valiant attempt to sing Hit Me With Your Best Shot. It makes me run faster to get away from the noise!
Mile 16 (10 minutes 25.16 seconds)
I see Juan for the second time. This is where we head out of the park and along the coast. The half-marathoners join our course for the second half of the mile but get to go to the finish while we head down the Great Highway toward Lake Merced. Unfortunately, it is so foggy that we can't really see much of the ocean. From this mile on I begin to feel like the end is in sight. All I have left to do is head out the Great Highway, run around the lake, and run back the Great Highway to the finish line at Golden Gate Park. A cinch, right? Right...
Mile 17 (10 minutes 28.19 seconds)
Still on the Great Highway. I find one of my mentees here, who'd started out too fast and was feeling it. We run together for a little bit and I give her some encouragement. At this point I am still feeling great. I pass a few of my teammates who did the early start and continue along my way, eating some Inca Chips and gummy bears.
Mile 18 (11 minutes 1.62 seconds)
Still plugging along...there's a great group of drummers playing somewhere along this mile.
Mile 19 (10 minutes 51.77 seconds)
They hand out animal crackers as we pass the zoo, but htis year they also hand out water and gatorade. I gratefully take both. And then...Lake Merced! Finally! There is an AMAZING salsa band playing when we get to the lake. I am starting to feel tired and the next few miles are a slow uphill climb.
Mile 20 (11 minutes 8.81 seconds)
Working my way around the lake. I don't remember all of this uphill last year!
Mile 21 (11 minutes 15.68 seconds)
Ye gods! Still going up!
Mile 22 (11 minutes 48.88 seconds)
And a little downhill (very little!) These uphills aren't huge, like the earlier hills, but they are definitely enough to challenge a pair of very tired legs.
Mile 23 (12 minutes 50.48 seconds)
We've turned the bend in the lake, and although it's still slightly uphill, I know that I'm close to being around.
Mile 24 (13 minutes 16.11 seconds)
The Chocolate Mile. They hand out squares of Ghiradelli Chocolate. I pass and keep on moving. As we get to the end of the lake they are handing out flowers. Flowers! To people who have just run 24 miles and still have 2.2 more to go! They were pretty, but still! To my amazement, some people take them, although I notice a lot of dropped flowers along the road for the next few miles. The salsa band is still playing as I finish my loop of the lake and head back out the Great Highway. I am Tired, with a capital T by this point. I munch of gummy bears, which make me feel better.
Mile 25 (12 minutes 21.53 seconds)
Now all I have is 2.2 more miles, down the Great Highway and to the finish line. There are lots of runners and walkers heading out toward the lake and I am happy to be almost finished. I hear someone holler my name and see her jump across the divider. It's Coach Ashley! Remember last year, when I saw Coach Bryan right about here and it was my "Bite Me" mile? This year it was a whole different experience. I was never so glad to see a familiar face in all my life! She runs with me for a bit and we chat, completely taking my mind off of the physical pain and tiredness I am feeling. After a few minutes we see a few of my teammates heading out toward the lake, so Ashley leaves me to check in with them. I feel, if not exactly rejuvenated, like I have my second wind and can finish the race.
Mile 26 (11 minutes 40.68 seconds)
So close...I keep pushing. I know by this point that I'm not anywhere close to breaking 4:30, but I want to see if I can beat my time from last year.
Mile 26.2 (2 minutes 10.41 seconds)
This is it! I push for the finish and cross the line, arms triumphantly in the air. Like last year, although I felt like I was running my fastest, the picture below tells a different story. This year I see Juan watching me and even manage to smile for a picture or two.
The clocks are a little weird, and I'm not sure why, but the time reflected in the picture below is NOT my finish time.
About 20 minutes before I crossed the finish line, Juan caught Lauren running across. Look at this hard-core runner!
After crossing the finish line I am greeted by men in tuxedos and Nike sneakers, holding tray's of blue Tiffany boxes. I am handed one, which contains my Finisher's "Medal" (really a silver necklace designed by Tiffany) and make my way to the chutes where they cut my timing chip off and give me a mylar blanket to ward off the chill. I get meet up with Juan, get some water, get my gear from the gear check (it took them about ten minutes to find my bag--I was sure they'd lost it), checked in at the TNT tent, and got something to eat. Lauren and I reunited in the TNT tent.
Final Time: 4 hours, 41 minutes, 14 seconds
I didn't do it in under 4:30 and I didn't beat my PR of 4 hours, 40 minutes 19 seconds, but I did beat my time from last year, so it wasn't a complete flop. I have lots of ideas for improving my performance for next year, so watch out! You can see all of my stats, as well as photos the professional photographers took of me, at www.nikemarathon.com. Just enter my bib number (7655).
After some stretches and getting food and water into my system, Juan and I headed back to the hotel, where I took an ice bath. I was feeling tired, yes, but much better than this time last year. My body is definitely getting used to these long distances. We had big, juicy hamburgers and fries for lunch and I took a nap for a few hours in the afternoon. In the evening Juan watched Game 1 of the World Series and I headed down to the Victory Party, which was conveniently located in our hotel. Everyone on my team finished and there was a definite feeling of festivity in the air.
Epilogue:
The next day Juan and I took a trolley down to Fisherman's Wharf and walked around (just the fact that I was able to comfortably walk the day after the race is proof that I was feeling WAY better this year than last year). We saw the sea lions on Pier 39 and ended up going to the aquarium, which was a lot better than I expected it to be. After lunch downtown we decided to take the ferry across the bay to Oakland and catch Bart from there.
As we were waiting for the ferry we wandered down to the water, where a fisherman offered to take our picture.
The day was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures, and the ferry ride was a fun way to get home.
We got back to Walnut Creek on Monday afternoon and spend the next few days doing some birding (we drove up Mount Diablo) and visiting family and friends. On Wednesday I took Bart into the city and met up with my cousins, Kate, Jay, and Meghan, and my Uncle Rick.
Our flight left Oakland in the afternoon on Thursday. Juan's brother and girlfriend (the brother's girlfriend, not Juan's!) drove us in their new ride, a snazzy Subaru Forester. We got there in plenty of time, but the flight was delayed about an hour. We knew that we were going to miss our connection in Phoenix, so the woman at the counter in Oakland said she would reserve us seats on the next flight. We got to Phoenix at 6pm and, as expected, missed our connection, but when we tried to get boarding passes for the next flight, at 7pm, we found that they'd booked me on the flight but it was overbooked so I didn't have a seat and they'd given Juan a seat on the 10pm flight, three hours later. What?? The long story short is that I didn't get on the 7pm flight, so they gave me a free ticket. Because Juan had, for whatever reason, been given a seat on the later flight (which was also overbooked), he would have to wait until then if he wanted a chance at a free ticket. We opt to go standby on the 9pm flight and both manage to get on. We arrived back in Tucson around 10pm and I'm starting to feel a tell-tale scratchiness in my throat.
I woke up the next morning with a full-fledged cold, which, at the time of this writing, is happily on its way out. Except for that, my body feels great (no linger aches, pains, strains, or soreness), and as soon as I kick this cold I'm ready to start running again.
I will be taking a bit of a break from Team In Training after this season. I have very mixed feelings about this, because TNT has been such a wonderful, positive experience for me, and such an important part of my life for the past year and a half. But it's important to have time to recharge, and I'll be starting field work for my dissertation sometime in early 2007 and need to focus my attention a bit more on school and work. I am planning on running the Tucson Half Marathon on 10 December, just on my own, and may do another half this spring, depending on where I find myself, but at the moment I'm not sure when my next marathon will be with Team In Training--probably next October, for the Nike Marathon again. What this means is that you'll be getting a respite from requests for money from me, at least for the next little bit (but I'll be back, never fear!) But in the meanwhile, just take a minute to think about what we have accomplished together over the course of the past year and a half: altogether we have raised $7517.60 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. That's a pretty significant chunk of change, and I could not have done it alone, on so many different levels.
Fundraising update: Together we have raised an incredible $2917.60 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in it's mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Many, many thanks to you all for your support, both financial and moral, in helping reach this goal. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is truly a team effort, in many ways, and there is no way I could have done this without your help.
For those of you who meant to donate but just haven't yet, do not despair! It is not too late to join the Jennie Duberstein Marathon Club (or renew your membership!!) I am more than happy to continue to accept donations, at any time. You can make an online donation at my website through 22 November, and I will happily accept checks at any time. No amount is too small, so if you haven't already (or even if you have), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 18.5
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 405.5
Dear Adoring Fans,
A lot of you have been asking about my Honored Teammate Alex and how she is doing. She is having a rough time. I try to keep my website updated, but the best thing to do is just visit the website her mom has set up to keep us all posted. She posts pretty regularly and there are also some wonderful pictures of Alex and her family. You can also visit www.alexneedshelp.com.
On to running news: The final countdown has begun! This Friday Juan and I fly to San Francisco, and on Sunday I will run in the Nike Women's Marathon. I am feeling strong, very prepared, and excited to try to blow my time from last year right out of the water. Lauren and I (see photo to the left) are shooting to run the race in under 4 hours, 30 minutes. Based on our times on our long runs, we should be able to do it easily, but you never know. So I'm going into the race with two goals: (1) beat my personal record for a marathon (4 hours, 40 minutes, 19 seconds); and (2) run a sub 4:30 marathon. Either way, I know we're going to have a great time and I'm really looking forward to the race.
Just about two weeks ago Lauren and I did our big 20-mile run together. Neither of us were able to be there when the rest of the team did it, so we got together early in the morning in the middle of the week. Juan rode along side on a bike provided support in the form of water, gatorade, snacks, and encouraging words, and we had a fantastic run. It was almost a full ten minutes faster than I'd ever run 20 miles before (we did it in 3 hours, 19 minutes, and 51 seconds), and although we were definitely tired at the end, I think we both felt pretty good. Hopefully this is a sign of how the marathon will go.
So, for any of you who will be in or around the San Francisco area this weekend and feel like taking in a marathon, I would love the support! Let me know if you will be around! There are lots of great places to watch the race!
I will try to document my journey to the marathon much as I did last year and will post my race report when I get back. In the meanwhile, I'm going to load up on pasta, stay hydrated, get plenty of sleep, go on some short runs to stay loose, and get plenty excited for the Nike Women's Marathon! For those of you who have never visited my Active.com website (where you can convienently make an online donation), go check it out--there is a fun countdown timer there that started out at >100 days to my event--as I type this there are 5 days, 9 hours, 53 minutes, and 39 seconds...whoops, 38 seconds, 37 seconds...to the marathon. It's kind of hypnotic...
Fundraising update: Together we have raised an incredible $2775.60 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in it's mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Many, many thanks to you all for your support, both financial and moral, in helping reach this goal. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is truly a team effort, in many ways, and there is no way I could have done this without your help.
For those of you who meant to donate but just haven't yet, do not despair! It is not too late to join the Jennie Duberstein Marathon Club (or renew your membership!!) I am more than happy to continue to accept donations, at any time. No amount is too small, so if you haven't already (or even if you have), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Runner's Log
23 September 2006
Weekly mileage: 42
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 384
Dear Adoring Fans,
I'm back from our adventure in Colombia and this website is in desperate need of an update. All is well in marathon training land; I did the first of two 20-mile training runs last week (I'll do the second next week) After my next 20-miler I'll just be tapering off in preparation for the marathon in San Francisco, on 22 October 2006. The picture above/to the left is me with the city of Bogota behind me. NOTE: SEE MORE PHOTOS BY CLICKING HERE!
Before I fill you in on where I've been and what I've been doing, I want to take a minute to update you on what is going on with my Honored Teammate Alex. The last time I updated my website I shared with you that Alex's lymphoma had become resistant to chemotherapy and they were going to try radiation. They did, but unfortunately that didn't seem to help. To add insult to injury, Alex was diagnosed with leukemia, in addition to lymphoma. A bone marrow transplant is now her only hope for survival. We recently had a bone marrow drive in Tucson and I encourage each and every one of you to get yourselves listed on the registry if you are not already. It is painless (they just take a swab from your mouth, no needles involved). Find out more here: http://marrow.org.
A friend of the family has put together a great website to keep everyone updated about Alex's progress: www.alexneedshelp.com . There are some beautiful pictures of this amazing little girl, information on what is happening with her treatment, and details about how you can help her and her family. The Make-A-Wish Foundation just sent Alex and her family to Disneyland and there are some wonderful photos. Your donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society goes directly to help people like Alex and her family-thank you for your generous support!
I arrived in Bogota on 14 August 2006 with no problems at all. Juan was at the airport waiting for me and we headed back to his cousin's house in Bogota , which was our home base for the trip. We spent some time in the city, seeing things like the Museo de Oro (the Gold Museum ), La Candelaria (the historic part of town), and Monserate, but we were also able to take some side trips and see the countryside and lots and lots of 
amazing birds. Highlights include: a two-day trip to Parque Natural Chicaque, a private nature reserve outside of Soacha, about 1 hour from Bogota; a day at Parque Nacional Chingaza, where we saw a pair of Andean Condors; a three-day driving trip north of the city where we saw the salt mine at 
Zipaquira (see above picture), the Festival de las Cometas (the Kite Festival) at Villa de Leyva; a birthday on top of Monserate (see picture with Juan to left); and spending time with lots and lots of Juan's cousins, aunts, and uncles (and their dogs, like Max, above), who were all great. It was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to go back and see more of the country.
We got back from Colombia and I've hit the ground running, both literally and figuratively. Although I brought all of my running gear to Colombia , I didn't get a single run in, so I had some catching up to do once we got home. My training has been going really well, especially the last few weeks. I've been having a little trouble motivating myself this summer for some reason, but my runs recently have felt really good. School has started, and although I'm not taking any classes this semester I am working on my research 
proposal, so that is keeping my hands full. A friend of Juan's from Colombia was in Scottsdale a few weeks ago and we did a whirlwind, overnight trip with him to the Grand Canyon-I've lived in Arizona for over 5 years and this was the first time I'd been there. It was a fast trip, but well worth it. [California Condors are really tame at the Grand Canyon--this one came right in and landed on my arm--imagine!]
Fundraising update: Together we have raised an incredible $2672.60 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in it's mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Many, many thanks to you all for your support, both financial and moral, in helping reach this goal. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is truly a team effort, in many ways, and there is no way I could have done this without your help.
For those of you who meant to donate but just haven't yet, do not despair! It is not too late to join the Jennie Duberstein Marathon Club (or renew your membership!!) I am more than happy to continue to accept donations, at any time. No amount is too small, so if you haven't already (or even if you have), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 38
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 257
Dear Adoring Fans,
I'm back from another successful week of interviewing small-scale fishermen in the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico! We spent the week of 24 July in the community of El Golfo de Santa Clara. Over the course of six days we (seven of us) conducted 60 interviews with local fishers. It was a tiring week but things went really well. We were expecting horribly hot, humid weather, but it really wasn't that bad. The A/C in our hotel room was very cold (although there was so much sulphur in the water that it turned my silver jewelry (temporarily) black) and there was a good bit of wind every day, so that cooled things off considerably.
Because it wasn't oppressively hot you'd think that I 
would have been able to get at least one run in during the week we were there. Alas, no. I dutifully brought all of my running gear and proceeded to not run a single mile. In my defense, we were knackered by the end of each day after tracking down fishermen and doing 2-3 interviews, each of which lasted 1-2 hours. After that there were field notes to write up and plans to make for the next morning, so getting up to go for a run just wasn't that appealing. It's too bad, though, because there are some gorgeous beaches there that would make a fantastic route.
On our last day there we realized we'd been so focused on the interviews that we hadn't even been to the beach, despite the fact that our hotel was about 2 blocks away from it. So before heading back north we took a drive down the beach, where we enjoyed an amazing sunset and beautiful views of Baja.
The other reason I've been taking it a little easy the last few weeks is because I've been having some upper back issues. It is slowly getting better, but it's been a long process. The week we were in El Golfo was the worst, although running and moving around actually makes it feel better. I've been on more of a regular running schedule the past two weeks and got in some good long runs, which felt great. We've been having a lot of rain in Arizona lately, which has translated into somewhat cooler weather, so I am really enjoying that. Yesterday my friend Lauren and I did our own little half-marathon (sounds more impressive than 13 miles) and I'm going to try to get in one more run early tomorrow morning because on Monday at 10:30am...(drum roll, please)...
...I fly to Colombia!! As many of you know, Juan has been in Colombia all summer, traveling and visiting family. I am flying down this coming Monday. Juan will meet me in Bogota and we're going to spend about two weeks down there and come home together on 29 August (we will celebrate my 33rd birthday down there). I've never been to Colombia or anywhere in South America before and Juan has been down there for just about two months, so I'm really excited about the trip. I will optimistically bring my running gear and am sure that I will do some running while I'm there, but long runs might prove to be a challenge. So I'm going to really try to get that 14-miler in before I leave. We're going to spend our time in and around the Bogota area, doing lots of birding, visiting museums, and just enjoying the area. Let me know if you'd like a post card with a Colombian stamp!
Fundraising update: Last time I updated this website I announced that we were over the top and had reached my original goal of $2500. Donations continue to trickle in and I'm proud and excited to let you know that together we have raised an incredible $2615.60 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in it's mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Many, many thanks to you all for your support, both financial and moral, in helping reach this goal. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is truly a team effort, in many ways, and there is no way I could have done this without your help.
For those of you who meant to donate but just haven't yet, do not despair! It is not too late to join the Jennie Duberstein Marathon Club (or renew your membership!!) I am more than happy to continue to accept donations, at any time. No amount is too small, so if you haven't already (or even if you have), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 15.4
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 204
Dear Adoring Fans,
I'm just back from a week in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, doing field work for PANGAS, the project I am working on for graduate school (read more about it and see some of my web design handiwork by clicking here).
As expected, it was very hot and, unfortunately, although I optimistically brought my running gear with me, I just 
couldn't make myself run. So I had a week off, which wasn't entirely a bad thing. I was there with my fellow students Marcia, Ana, and Martin. We were there to interview small-scale fishermen, asking them about different aspects of their work, including what they catch and where and when they catch it. Some researchers from Ensenada, Baja California, were also there doing oceanographic work, and we got to go out with them in the panga (a small, fiberglass outboard motor 
boat, for those of you not familiar with the lingo) to lend a hand. It was a busy week, but we did find a little time to jump in the ocean. The fact of the matter, however, was that the water wasn't really that much cooler than the air, and so swimming wasn't particularly refreshing. But at least we weren't sweating.
You can see more goofy pictures of me, Ana, and Marcia by clicking here.
We got back to Tucson 
last last Sunday and are heading back to Mexico tomorrow, this time to El Golfo de Santa Clara, in the Colorado River delta, to interview more fishermen. It promises to be even hotter and more humid in the delta than it was in Peñasco, so I'm resigned to the fact that I will likely be taking another week off from running. I did get some nice runs in this past week, though, so that was good.
Yesterday the Team ran in Sabino Canyon, which is one of my favorite runs. I'm not sure if you have been following the weather in Tucson, but it has been hot, to put it mildly. Yesterday morning at 5am the sun was just starting to come up. I opened the door of my house and was hit with a hot blast of air. It ususally cools off at night in Tucson, at least somewhat, but yesterday at 5am it felt like it was already 10am. Ick. So it was a hard run. I ran the first half of the canyon (i.e., to the top) with my teammates Lauren and Jill, and at the top I ran (no pun intended) into my friend Mark, one of our coaches who is taking this season off, and he and I ran back together. He pushed me to run a little faster than I normally do, but we were talking the whole way, so I hardly noticed it (okay, let's be honest, I definitely noticed it, but I was too macho to tell him to slow down.) And it was so hot that I figured, well, the faster I run, the sooner I will finish. Thanks, Mark!
Fundraising update: On to the exciting news: WE DID IT! I am very excited to announce that together, so far, we have raised an amazing $2545.60 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in it's mission to find a cure for blood cancers. This is $45.60 over my original goal of $2500. Many, many thanks to you all for your support, both financial and moral, in helping reach this goal. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is truly a team effort, in many ways, and there is no way I could have done this without your help.
Now, some of you may be thinking, "Oh, I was going to make a donation, but I'm too late--we've reached the goal." I've never been one to leave well enough alone, as many of you know, and I am, of course, more than happy to continue to accept donations, at any time. No amount is too small, so if you haven't already (or even if you have), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 30.5
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 182.6
Dear Adoring Fans,
Last year, right about this time, I was in the midst of training for my first-ever marathon. I had sent out fundraising letters to everyone I knew and some people that I didn't really know and was slowly getting my body used to running. Shortly after sending out my letters I went up to Tucson for a few weeks to dog/house sit for friends. When I made it back to Bisbee my PO Box was overflowing with donations totaling over $1200.
One year and two marathons later, I found myself in pretty much the same position. I sent out my fundraising letters and then went out of town for two weeks. I got back to Bisbee yesterday. We get our mail delivered to a PO Box, and the post office in Bisbee is only open Monday-Friday. I got up bright and early this morning and ran six miles. After my run I drove up to the post office, only to realize that it was only 8:05 and the office didn't open until 8:30. At about 8:10 and one of the employees walked in and saw me standing there. "You had a hold on your mail, didn't you?" he asked me? "Yes," I answered. "Hang on just a sec, I'll get your stuff," he told me (he didn't ask my name or my PO Box number; he just knew it-I love Bisbee!) He quickly returned with an armful of mail and handed it to me. I walked over to the counter and started sorting through it, making two piles: (1) donations and (2) other. I have to tell you: there was $731 worth of donations in that stack of mail! Woo hoo! This brings our total to a whopping $1946, a mere $554 short of our $2500 goal. Go Team!! Your generosity continues to inspire and awe me.
One of the things that took me out of town these last two
weeks was a visit to Pittsburgh to see friends and family. I wasn't able to hook up with Team In Training in Pittsburgh, but I did find the Montour Trail, right around the corner from my parents' house, so I was able to get in all of my runs, including a nice thirteen-miler two Saturdays ago. I also got some great company for one of my six mile runs in the form of Appel road neighbor Ralph Valentino (see photo). The weather in Pittsburgh was fantastic. I'm so used to getting up at the crack of dawn to run here in Arizona before it gets too hot that I couldn't break myself of the habit, even though I could go out in Pittsburgh at 8 or even 9am and be fine. I got back to Tucson on the 4 th (got to enjoy some fireworks from the airplane) and spent the rest of the week up there. My Team ran in Sabino Canyon this week, which is one of my favorite runs, so that was a nice way to wrap up the week.
I head back up to Tucson tomorrow morning and will spend the rest of the week in Puerto Peñasco, interviewing fishermen for the PANGAS project (i.e., for school). All I know is that as hot as it is in Tucson , Peñasco is going to be hotter, more humid, and more miserable, so getting any running in will be interesting. Fun!
You may have noticed a 1 July deadline on the donation card you received in the mail-although I was shooting to reach my goal by 1 July, I will still HAPPILY accept your donations. My new goal: raise $554 between now and 1 August 2006. No amount is too small, so if you haven't already (or even if you have), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 25
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 119.1
Dear Adoring Fans,
Mark, one my coaches (in the white hat kneeling to Alex's left), recently ran in the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, and just sent me some pictures of Alex and this message:
"When the last person crossed the finish line I spent a little time at the finisher's tent talking to the race director about [our Honored Teammate] Alex. He gave me the "last finishers medal" to pass on to Alex. During the trip back to Tucson the Phoenix team gave us a TEAM bracelet and stuffed moose for Alex as well. We put them 
all together and what you'll see in the photos is Alex holding onto the Moose with the bracelet (now a necklace) & the finisher's medal around it's neck. This was a fun and rewarding way to finish our Alaska adventure."
Several of you have written to me to ask about Alex and Daniela. I have created a special section of my website to keep you posted about their progress. Just click on the "Honored Teammates" button on the menu bar to the left. I will post any new details as soon as I hear them.
My training went well this week. I did about 10.5 miles on Saturday for my long run and will slowly begin to ratchet the mileage up from there. This morning I did a nice 6 miler that felt good all the way through, even on the steep Bisbee uphills. I'm heading to Pittsburgh to visit my family on Wednesday and hope to train with the Pittsburgh team this coming Saturday.
Last week I was idly flipping through the channels when I stopped kind of randomly on the PBS station. They were showing a documentary called A LION IN THE HOUSE. This amazing film offers an unprecedented look at the cancer journeys of five young people and their families over a six-year period. Award-winning filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert bring audiences face to face with the uncertainty of the entire cancer experience and its rippling effects on family, community and professional caregivers. At the core of A LION IN THE HOUSE is the resilience, courage and wisdom of five extraordinary young people.
All of the children in the film are battling some form of blood cancer. For me, it was extraordinarily moving, heartbreaking, and motivational. I won't kid you--getting up at 4am to run isn't always easy. Sometimes I worry that I am getting on everyone's nerves, badgering you all to make a donation. But after watching this film I have a renewed sense of committment to this cause and realize, even more than before, the importance of what we, together, can do. Take a minute and look at the film's website (the link is above) and if they re-show it in your community, please make the time to watch it.
And speaking of what we can do together, our fundraising is comming along swimmingly: so far we have raised $1129.20, nearly 50% of our $2500 goal! Go Team!
That leaves us with a mere $1370.80 left to raise. No amount is too small and every dollar helps bring us one step closer to finding a cure. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. I am aiming to reach the $2500 mark by 1 July (although I will happily accept your donation after this date), so don't wait! Make your donation today! I was having some issues with my online donation site, so if you tried to visit in the last week or so and got an error message, please visit again--everything is working now.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 22.5
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 94.1
Dear Adoring Fans,
Thanks for taking the time to read the latest installment of this blog, in which Jennie packs her boyfriend off to South America for the summer, runs eight miles, and the big bucks start rolling in.
For those of you who don't already know this, Juan is spending his summer in Colombia, visiting his abundant cousins, aunts, and uncles who live there. I dropped him off at the airport last Thursday morning and he arrived safe and sound. He just called this morning and it sounds like his trip is off to a great start. He gave me a quick list of some of the birds he'd been seeing--very tropical sounding. He'll be down there until the end of August, returning just in time for my 33rd birthday. So with no Juan around, what else do I have to do but train for my marathon! Oh, yeah, school and work need to factor into the equation somewhere, too...I'm planning on heading down to Colombia myself for the last two weeks of Juan's trip and after talking to him this afternoon, I'm really getting excited about it.
Which brings me to the eight mile run, which I did with my team up in Tucson yesterday. This is the longest I've run since about April, so it felt good to start to get the miles up there a bit more. Here I am after the run, stretching out.
The purple hat I'm wearing is the one that you all helped me win last year, by making enough donations so that I was one of the first on my team to reach the $500 mark. It's still going strong. And on my left arm is my best friend, my iPod. I have over 600 songs on it and, believe it or not, I am already sick and tired of almost all of them. So if you have a good running song to recommend (nothing slow, please), send in your suggestions!
My honored teammate Alex will celebrate her 13th birthday on Wednesday, 21 June 2006. I know that I am getting this message out a bit late, but if you would like to send her anything, from get well wishes to a card to something bigger, you can send it to me and I will make sure it gets to her. Her family is putting together an outdoor movie theater for her to watch a movie. They are bringing in a popcorn machine and are trying to create a Disney theme. They aren't sure how she will be feeling so they thought a movie, popcorn, and cake and ice cream would be easy for her to tolerate. Her mom things that lounging on a bean bag watching a movie she can handle. Her mom also says that anything anyone can do to make this birthday special would be appreciated. She loves horses, unicorns, and anything Disney, especially Tinkerbell.
Fundraising update: As you know, I'm trying to raise $2500 by 1 July 2006. Most of you probably received a letter from me in the mail last week, or if not, you should be getting one soon. Our fundraising is moving right along, and to date we are already up to $708. Only $1792 more to go! Please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 13
Total mileage (since 1 May 2006): 61.6
Dear Adoring Fans,
The rumors are true. I’m at it again and am training for my third marathon with Team In Training. Many of you may remember that it was just about this time last year when you got a message from me saying that I was training to run my first marathon and raising money to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) through their Team In Training program.Here's the proof, me and my running partner, Kathy, at the finish line of the Nike Women's Marathon last October:
You might also remember that together we raised a truly incredible $4600 to support LLS. It turns out that running marathons with Team In Training is something of an addiction and now I’m training for #3, a repeat performance in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco this October.
I've been a terrible slacker about keeping this journal updated, but I'm renewing my commitment, so sit back and get ready to read about my epic journey to the marathon and beyond. Although I haven't run any marathons since last January, I have continued in my role as a mentor for new TNTers and have more or less kept up with my running (the last month or so it's been more "less" than "more", but who's counting). If you missed reading my race report for last year’s Nike Marathon, you can still read it, and the rest of my archives by clicking here.
The Goal: Raise $2500 by 1 July 2006. Please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Just click here for a fillable form or to make a secure online donation by visiting my website.
Why:
Reason #1: Alex’s Story
Alex Steutze is a beautiful 12-year-old little girl who, in her short time on this earth, has seen more doctors than most people see in a lifetime. She was born with a rare metabolic disorder that required her to have a liver transplant at age 6. As if this wasn’t enough for one person to endure, five years later, in 2004, she was diagnosed with lymphoma. She underwent treatment, including chemotherapy, which put her cancer in remission, but it came back. In May 2005 she began treatment again. I met Alex a few months after this.
I joined Team In Training just a little over a year ago. I spent the long, hot Tucson summer getting up early and running. When I wasn’t running, I was updating my website and badgering you all into making a donation to help me meet my fundraising goal. It was definitely a challenge, both physically and mentally. The day of our 20 mile run arrived. This was the longest run we would do before beginning our “taper” period leading up to the race. It was a long, hard twenty miles. I remember getting to about mile 17 and having to sit down on the side of the trail, completely winded, feeling like I wanted to throw-up because I was so tired. I would get up and push myself to continue, telling myself, “Okay, Jennie, you can do this. Run for just one minute and then you can walk again. Run until you get to that tree and then you can walk again.” Little by little, I somehow got myself through those last three miles.
As I came up on the end of the run, I could hear the theme from Chariots of Fire blasting out of someone’s boom box and all of my coaches were hooting and hollering for me, clapping and cheering me on. As I got a little closer, I could see that there was an impromptu finish line made of green crepe paper, held on one end by one of our mentors and on the other end by a little girl with no hair, dressed from head to toe in pink. I ran through the finish line and collapsed in a tired heap next to the water cooler. Mary Jane, our Honored Teammate Mentor, brought me water and a wonderful wet washcloth to wipe my face. After getting something to drink and eat I was feeling much better and started stretching to make sure I would be able to walk the next day. The little girl in pink came up to me. Although we’d never met before, it was clear that she was one of our Honored Teammates. Her bald head told me she was undergoing chemotherapy. She didn’t know me from Adam, but she walked right up to me, squatted down, and asked, “Will you push me on the swing?” “In just a minute,” I replied, “I have to finish stretching first.” She waited about fifteen seconds and then asked, “Will you push me on the swing now?” This was Alex—outgoing, fun-loving, and ready to take advangage of any opportunity to enjoy herself.
Since that day that day last summer I have gotten to know Alex and her family a bit better. Her mother, Betsy, is an inspiring and motivational speaker who welcomes new TNT members at our kick-off party at the beginning of each season by telling us about Alex, their experience with lymphoma, and what TNT has meant to them.
The treatment Alex received last year worked for awhile, but on 13 May 2006, just a few weeks ago, I and my teammates received the following message:
“Our honored teammate Alex’s lymphoma has returned - she is currently in pediatric ICU. It’s in her brain - they drained the fluid yesterday and have put in a shunt to relieve the pressure so at least Alex’s head isn’t hurting as badly as it had been. Betsy expects Alex to be hospitalized for the next three and a half months. She will keep us posted on how we can help. Chemo and radiation are the current treatment plan.”
Then, on 16 May, Alex’s doctor told Betsy that they found a cancerous mass behind Alex’s collarbone and were running tests on her bone marrow. On 26 May we received the following message from Betsy:
"Wanted to update you on Alex. She is now out of PICU and down on the third floor. She is in isolation due to her counts being virtually non-existent but she is much happier here. She is currently having some breathing trouble and is bothered by a pretty awful cough. Please pray for this to get better, she is very prone to pneumonia and that is definetly not what we need right now. Please pass on to everyone how blessed we feel by what they are doing. Chris and I are constantly feeling so overwhelmed by ya’lls generosity. We feel very undeserving. I can’t really tell you the emotions we are feeling because we can’t even untangle them all for ourselves, but I can say that what you all have done and are doing, in a strange way makes me believe that anything is possible. Hope is a very powerful thing. Thank you! Alex isn’t quite ready for en mas visitors but as soon as she is I will let you know. Nothing makes her happier than having friends visit."
And on 9 June I received the following update: "Alex is struggling. She has had a high fever probably due to the medications she is on. Betsy hopes they can go home for a few days at some point, but for now they’re still at UMC. Alex’s birthday is coming up soon, so we will have a card at marathon practice on Saturday for everyone to sign."
Reason #2: Daniela’s Story
My second reason for running is a cuddly two-year-old named Daniela Garcia. She was diagnosed with histiocytosis at the age of one. She underwent biweekly chemotherapy treatments and went into remission in December 2005. Unfortunately, her cancer recently returned and she is now undergoing chemotherapy every week. During the time she was in remission, researchers funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society developed a new drug protocol that prevents Daniela from getting so sick from the chemotherapy itself. The chemotherapy has damaged her hearing but her parents are thankful that she is alive and they have a lot of hope that Daniela can beat this thing. Unfortunately, on 9 June I received the folliwng update: Daniela is also struggling. She has more lesions on her skull, is getting headaches often, and the medication she is taking makes her feel nauseous, but she is able to be at home with her family instead of in the hospital.
As you can see, the need has taken on a renewed sense of urgency. We are racing against the clock, both literally and figuratively, to find a cure for Alex, Daniela, and the many others like them. Your donation, at any level, will help find a cure.
Reason #3: Our Stories
My third reason for running is the growing list of names of people that YOU have asked me to run in honor of or in memory of. Cancer has, in some way, touched the lives of nearly everyone I know. One young leukemia patient, put it really well when she said, “When I grow up I want to run marathons for Team In Training, but hopefully by then there won’t be any cancer.” That is our goal—to raise enough money to fund the life-saving research of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society so that one day there won’t be any more cancer. I’m running this marathon in honor of Alex Steutz and Daniela Garcia, my Honored Teammates, as well as Joel Zopletal, Brooke Gebow, Nancy Zisook, Lina DiGregorio, Lisa Harris, and Lillian Houser. I am also running in memory of my grandfather, Arthur Vinograd, who died after a long battle with Hodgkin’s disease in 1959, when my mother was 15 and long before I had the chance to meet him, my great aunt, Ruth Vinograd, who lost her battle with lymphoma in 1995, Jeffrey Valentino, Alana Birchim, Kate Wolf, Steve Goodman, Michael Fujimoto, D.J. Herbert, Lillian Aiello, Sherry Brown, Fran Perry, Diane Dhruv, Risa, Karen Collins, Tom Peterson, Scott Lee, Carlos Valencia, and Gloria M. Harris. Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees.
Thank you for your support!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 26.2
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 550.0
Dear Adoring Fans,
I DID IT!!! Last Sunday, 23 October 2005, I and the other members of my Team In Training completed the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco! And holy cow do I have a lot to tell you.
Juan and I left Tucson on schedule after my classes on Thursday. The plan was to try to take as many pictures as possible so you, dear readers, could feel like you were there with me. A picture of me at the America West counter in Tucson might be a little more detailed than necessary, but this was where it all began. We got into Oakland Thursday night and spent the next day and a half with Juan's family and friends in Walnut Creek. One of the fun things about TNT is that we all decorate our shirts for our events. What I decided to do
was write the names of each of my honorees on a piece of ribbon and run with those ribbons attached to my shirt, as a reminder of why I am doing this. I also had laminated pictures of Alex, Carlos, and Gabbi (left to right), three of our honored teammates. I was a little concerned that things would be bother me flapping around on my back, but I really didn't even notice anything was there once I got going, and I was glad for the inspiration. I will be mailing these ribbons to each of you who asked me to run in honor of someone.
On Saturday morning Juan's brother Andres dropped us off at the BART station in Pleasant Hill and we were off to San Francisco to meet up with the rest of my team. It was a quick trip, and once in the city we headed to Niketown by Union Square to pick up my race packet (number and timing chip), check into the hotel, and see who we could find. After having lunch with Kathy and her family, we headed back to our room to get settled and rest before the pasta party that evening.
Our team met in the hotel lobby that evening and walked
down the street to the Moscone Center, where the evening event would be held. When we got there, a line of TNTers from across the US and Canada snaked around the block as far as the eye could see, waiting to be let into the building. The line slowly started to move and we followed the line into the building and up the escalator.
The food at the pasta party was pretty mediocre, but the program was amazing. John "The Penguin" Bingham was the emcee. For those of you who are not familiar with him, he writes a column for Runner's World magazine and has written a number of books on running, mostly with the "anyone can run" theme. His philosophy of running a marathon is to "start slow and taper off from there." In addition to being a very inspirational speaker, he is also darn funny and had us all laughing so hard we were crying. The president of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society spoke to us, as well as a representative from Nike, who shared a very touching personal story about her family's struggle with leukemia. Olympian Carol Lewis spoke to us, as well, but the most inspirational speaker of the evening was an Honored Teammate from a California team, who was also going to participate in the marathon the next day. This woman was battling lymphoma as well as a number of other major challenges in her life and spoke eloquently about what she had gone through and what Team In Training meant to her (what the efforts of all of us meant to her, actually). There weren't many dry eyes in the house by the time she was finished. She ended by telling us that she was currently in remission, an announcement that was met by a great round of cheering and applause.
There were 15,000 people registered for the race (all women except for 150 men), including 4,100 Team In Training members. The most amazing fact that we learned at the Pasta Party was that those 4,100 TNTers together had raised $14 million dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. After the dinner my team (which, in addition to my Tucson teammates, now included folks from Tucson and Utah, which are all part of the Desert Mountain States Chapter of TNT), gathered for last minute instructions from our coaches and for a team picture:
Race Day
The race started at 7am and we were supposed to be there an hour before the start, so our team planned to meet in the hotel lobby at 5:45. I got up at 4:45 so I had enough time to eat and get dressed in leisure. I had my normal "long run" breakfast of Cheerios and a banana, as well as a salt packet, got my things together, and headed down to the lobby to meet everyone. The lobby was filled with nervous energy and lots of women in dark purple shirts. The race started at Union Square, just a few blocks away from our hotel, so the Tucson team headed out the door together and walked up the street to the start. For a race with 15,000 people, things were pretty well organized. Kathy and I were together, as well as two other teammates, Jessica and Daniela. We checked belongings that we wanted to have at the end of the race (you put things in a bag with your bib number and they bring them to the finish for you), did our looseners, and went to find our start corral. Kathy and I figured we'd average 10-11 minute miles, so we got into the 10-12 minute mile corral. As we were standing in the crush waiting for the start, I looked up into Union Square and saw a Southwest Wings Birding Festival shirt. "Hmmm," I thought. "That person has the same shirt as Juan." I moved my gaze up to the face of the person wearing the shirt and it was Juan! I'd left him asleep in the
bed in the hotel room and wasn't expecting to see him until mile 11, where he was going to try to find me. I hollered his name as loud as I could and waved madly. His face broke into a huge smile when he saw me standing there. Juan took some pictures of us as best he could as we waited for the race to start.
The race started at 7am, but because there were so many people, it took about ten minutes for my group to actually cross the start line. It was crowded, but we all started jogging along together, vying for position, slowly weaving around slower runners, trying to find some space to get moving at our regular pace.
Mile 1 (11 min 34.83 sec):
The race started at Union Square and ran through down town toward the Embarcadero. For the first 1/2 mile Kathy and I ran wearing large, black, plastic garbage bags to keep us warm until we had a chance to get moving. It actually wasn't that cold, so before too long we took off the bags and left them by the side of the road. We ran this mile slower than our normal pace just because there were so many people. We started out trying to run ten minutes and walk one minute, but the math soon became too much for us, so after doing the ten/one thing for the first four miles or so, we ended up stopping to walk for about a minute when we got water and gatorade at each aid station, about every two miles (twenty minutes).
Mile 2 (10 min 49.98 sec):
As we made our way around slower runners along the Embarcadero, we were able to pick up some speed. We separated from Jessica and Daniela here, leaving them behind as we started to pick up the pace.
Mile 3 (9 min 53.21 sec):
Now we were going at our normal pace, down past Fisherman's Wharf, along Marina Boulevard. Somewhere around here we ran past a bakery and the smell of freshly baked bread wafted across the street. You could hear every runner sniff appreciatively.
Mile 4 (10 min 44.19 sec):
As we ran past the Marina, we slowed down a little, still working our way around other runners.
Mile 5 (about 10 minutes):
Our run continued along the water, past the Presidio. This mile marker was misplaced. I remember looking at my watch at about thirteen minutes into the mile and asking Kathy if we'd missed a mile marker, but then we came up on the Mile 5 marker). Hmmm....I ate my first Trader Joe's fruit wrap of the day, my energy food of choice.
Mile 6 (about 10 minutes):
The mystery was solved when about six minutes later we came upon the 6 Mile Marker. Now, I know we were trying to pick up some speed, but there is no way we ran a 6 minute mile. Turns out the 5 mile marker was actually at mile 5.5.
Mile 7 (11 min 43.09 sec):
At the beginning of mile seven I looked out to the water and saw a little bit of a bridge through the fog--the Golden Gate. Fairly anti-climactic, though, because of the poor visibility. Mile 7 was our first hill--a full mile up Lincoln Boulevard. It was here that Kathy and I were able to really move ahead of a lot of the slower runners. Our hill practice at Sabino Canyon and my running in Bisbee really paid off. Although the hill was long, we were able to easily make it up and felt pretty good at the top. Right before the top of the hill we saw Coach Bryan waiting for us. He fell into stride beside us and asked how we were and told us we were looking good. Once we got to the top he dropped to the side to wait for more of our teammates.
Mile 8 (9 min 30.07 seconds):
Can you tell this mile was downhill?
Mile 9 (11 min 15.12 seconds):
This was the other major hill in the race, running through a posh neighborhood on El Camino del Mar to Clement Street.
Mile 10 (10 min 10.81 seconds):
There were some college cheerleaders here, getting tossed up in the air to dizzying heights and they cheered us on. Kathy and I pause at a water station and take our second salt packet, per our coaches instructions.
Mile 11 (10 min 46.16 seconds):
This was the start of Golden Gate Park and the first time I saw Juan on the course. I eat TJ's fruit wrap #2.
Mile 12 (10 min 41.93 seconds):
Just before mile 12 the half marathoners split off from us, so things really started to thin out.
Mile 13 (11 min 29.59 seconds):
Uphill...
Mile 14 (10 min 53.50 seconds):
This was part of the out and back loop in the park, so as we were running out, we were passing people on the other side of the street who were working on mile 15.
Mile 15 (10 min 26.81 seconds):
It was nice to be on the other side of the road.
Mile 16 (10 min 11.98 seconds):
The half marathoners rejoined our course for the second half of this mile, but while they went to the finish, we headed south along the Great Highway toward Lake Merced. This was the second time I saw Juan (he snapped the picture below of me and Kathy just before giving me a high-five). I can assure that the big smile on my face was because I saw Juan, not because I was feeling particularly chipper at mile 16!
Mile 17 (10 min 24.36 seconds):
Miles 17-19 were along the Great Highway, and it was another case of out and back. We were on one side of the divided highway and people who were eight miles ahead of us (!!!) were running back the other way. This is also where we encounter the "Cell Phone Zone." If you want, you can stop here and use provided cell phones free of charge to call your friends and family to say, "Only ten more miles to go!" Kathy and I opt to not stop. I eat TJ's fruit wrap #3.
Mile 18 (10 min 36.43 seconds):
I'm not sure if the picture below is actually mile 18, but it was somewhere around there. That's me with the grey shorts with the white stripe, and Kathy is to my left.
Mile 19 (11 min 27.21 seconds):
This is where I was really starting to feel a bit tired. As we ran past the San Francisco Zoo, there was an aid station with young people handing out animal crackers. It was a cute idea, but the next water/gatorade station wasn't until about another mile down the road. Animal crackers don't go well without water to wash them down under the best of circumstances, and running a marthon emphasized that fact. I ate one or two, but mostly just had a fistful that I was trying to hold onto until I could get to some water. My hands were sweaty, so the crackers got a little soggy. I transferred them from one hand to the other in an effort to keep the crackers relatively edible, but mostly I just ended up dropping them. I did manage to save a few for the next water station, and I think they helped me make it through the next 6.2 miles.
Since mile 16 we'd been running along the Great Highway, watching the fast runners head toward home, and in the back of my mind I was telling myself that we were really close to the turn around, and pretty soon I'd be heading back toward the finish. Alas, when we finished mile 19, I found myself looking at Lake Merced, remembering that we had to run all the way around the lake (a little more than 4 miles) before we began the run back toward the finish. Sigh.
Mile 20 (11 min 04.42 seconds):
Feeling pretty tired here, but glad that I ate those animal crackers.
Mile 21 (10 min 50.70 seconds):
Running on the highway, with the lake on one side and traffic on the other. TJ's fruit wrap #4 got consumed somewhere around here.
Mile 22 (11 min 50.03 seconds):
Still on the lake...will it ever end? Yes! We are turning!
Mile 23 (11 min 22.21 seconds):
I realize that we are more than 1/2 around the lake and am starting to feel like it's all downhill (figuratively speaking) from here. At some point around here we run past a shooting range. Some nitwit had the bright idea that it would be nice to hand out Ghiradelli chocolate to the marathoners at mile 23.5. Kathy and I run through without stopping, although, unbelievably, many are taking the proffered sweets. The thought of chocolate at that point makes me physically ill.
Mile 24 (11 min 28.18 seconds):
Now we're the ones on the Great Highway running the other direction. It feels GREAT. We see my fundraising mentor Lauren running the other way as well as our teammates Jessica and Amy, with whom we share high-fives and words of encouragement as we pass.
Mile 25 (11 min 04.77 seconds):
Still running along the Great Highway...this seemed slightly uphill on the way down the Great Highway, and somehow it seems slightly uphill on the way back to the finish line. Explain that to me.
Mile 26 (11 min 40.44 seconds):
So close...we run past Coach Bryan about 1/2 through this mile and he falls into step beside us, telling us how great we look and how close we are to finishing. Ahead we can see the white tent that we know is the finish line, but although it seems close, it also feels so very far away. At the pasta party John Bingham told us how at one point in the marathon we'd find ourselves at the "Bite Me" mile. At this point, no matter how much we liked the person we were running with, when they said something to us all we would want to do was turn to them and scream, "BITE ME!!" Well, this was my "Bite Me" mile (sorry Bryan!).
Bryan asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," I answered tersely, running on.
What I was thinking, though, was, "Will you please shut the !$*& up and let me finish this damn race? I barely have the energy to put one foot in front of the other and you want me to ANSWER you? Are you nuts?"
Bryan was so encouraging, though, and put the amount of the race left in terms of the trail we run at practice for our long runs in Tucson. "Imagine you are on the River Path--from here to the finish like is like you are at the yellow railing." I have to say, that image really helped me (Thanks, Bryan!!!)
He dropped back to the sidelines to wait for the next runners from our team and Kathy and I pushed on, so close to the finish. Right about here was a man standing in the middle of the road holding a hand-made sign that said "1/4 mile to go". I wanted to hug him, but instead kept running.
Mile 26.2 (2 minutes 05.1 seconds):
This was IT! Kathy and I looked at each other and smiled and tried to put a little extra oomph into our running. I didn't see Juan, although (see pictures below) he saw me. We kept running and then, suddenly, we had finished our first marathon! My memory of the finish is somewhat hazy.
Kathy and I ran across the finish line together, greeted by men in tuxedos holding trays with pyramids of bright blue Tiffany and Co. boxes tied with white ribbons. I was handed a box and passed on to the chute where my timing chip was removed. Then a kid handed me a silver mylar space blanket, which I promptly wrapped around my shoulders (wet, sweaty clothes do not go well with a cool San Francisco afternoon). As I was waiting to get my blanket I heard Juan calling my name and went over to fence where he was standing. He reached across and gave me a big hug and kiss of congratulations. As Kathy and I made our way through the finish line commotion, we were handed a bigger Tiffany bag to put our things in. There were also bagels, bananas, water, and similar things that we could grab. I snagged a bagel and a bottle of water and we went to find Juan and Kathy's husband and daughter (Greg and 
Samantha), who were waiting just beyond the fence that separated the finishing racers from the rest of the crowd. We got our finisher's t-shirt and the items we'd checked at the start of the race and went to find Juan, Greg, and Sam. After getting warmer clothes on and doing some stretches, Kathy opened her Tiffany box to see the finisher's necklace we'd received. It's a beautiful silver pendant of a woman running with the Nike emblem and the year engraved on the front.
Final Time: 4 hours, 44 minutes, 12 seconds
Kathy and I had two goals: 1) finish the marathon; 2) finish the marathon in under 5 hours. I knew we would do #1, but I really had no idea if we could do it in under 5 hours, so we were really, really proud of ourselves when we realized how well we'd done. You can see all of my stats, as well as photos the professional photographers took of me, at www.nikemarathon.com. Just enter my bib number (4231).
The big thing that I don't think I've done a good job of explaining is the amazing support for all of us TNTers. A little less than 1/3 of the runners in the race were part of TNT, but it seemed like there was a sea of purple race jerseys out there. And all along the way, the whole 26.2 miles, there were TNT supporters, hollering out to me and Kathy and we ran by (our names were on the front of our jerseys, so in addition to general, "Go TNT! Go Team!", we also heard, "Go Kathy! Go Jennie! Great job, looking fantastic!" through out the race. So special thanks to EVERYONE who stood out there in the cool, damp weather to cheer us all on, whether you knew us or not. It made a huge difference.
After the race:
Kathy and I took the TNT shuttle back to the hotel (an excruciating 1/2 hour trip that felt like a week, in which our muscles tightened up and we cursed the bus driver who didn't seem to know his way out of a paper bag, much less around San Francisco). Juan, Greg, and Sam had to take the "regular" shuttle back with the non-TNT marathoners (there was a huge line and they had to wait a long time; despite our long-ish bus ride, I was very glad to be part of TNT and able to get right on a bus instead of waiting in line forever first). Back at the hotel, I got ice from the ice machine, filled the tub with cold water, and got it, slowly adding ice. I sat in the tub for about ten minutes, until the ice had melted and the water had warmed up. After a quick, cool shower, I stretched again and waited for Juan. He walked into the hotel room carrying a beautiful, enormous bouquet of flowers which he handed to me, along with a big hug and a kiss. After putting the flowers in water, we went and got lunch and then returned to the hotel room to sleep for a few hours before the victory party that night. It was pretty funny--there were women hobbling all over the place. You didn't have to do much guessing to see who had run the marathon. Other than being a bit stiff, I was feeling pretty good.
The party was held at the Moscone Center, and the food, 
again, was pretty mediocre, but emotion and excitement were high. We were all wearing our necklaces and many of us had our finisher's t-shirts on.
The day after the race Jessica and I met in the hotel lobby and went for a slow one mile jog (very, very slow), just in an effort to keep things moving. We were both pretty stiff and sore, but once we got moving it felt a lot better.
Epilogue:
On Monday Juan and I went back to Walnut Creek to spend one more night with his family and we flew back to Tucson on Tuesday, just in time for my second class. I was pretty darn sore on Monday and Tuesday, especially, but by the end of the week I was feeling mostly normal. I hurt my left ankle somehow (it feels like a strain), and that has been slow to heal, but I'm trying to stay off of it as much as I can so I can stay on track for the P.F. Chang's marathon in January. I did another short run on Thursday (about a mile), but I don't think I'll be doing much more until my ankle feels all the way better.
I'm very proud to say that so far, together we have raised an amazing $4500.00 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As you know, my goal is $4600, so I'm still trying to find about $100 more (just $100!). It's not too late to donate, so if you have been meaning to but just haven't gotten around to it, you can have the distinction of being the donor to put me over the top! How can you say no!? If you haven't already (or heck, even if you have!), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 20.0
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 511.5
Dear Adoring Fans,
This coming Sunday I will run 26.2 miles in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. Back when I started training for the marathon in May, it seemed like October would never come. Well, here it is! Thanks to my fantastic coaches, inspiring teammates, and the Team In Training program, I feel as ready as I will ever be to run a marathon and am excited to get out there and just do it (appropriate for a marathon sponsored by Nike, no?)
Juan and I fly to Oakland this Thursday after my classes and will spend a few days with his family before meeting up with the rest of the Team in San Francisco on Saturday. On Saturday I'll pick up my registration packet (number, timing chip, etc.) and we'll spend some time at the Expo before the Team Pasta Party that evening. Then it'll be early to bed, and the race starts at 7am on Sunday morning. We will have a victory party on Sunday evening after the race and then Juan and I will head back to Walnut Creek on Monday to spend one more day with his family. We'll get back to Tucson just in time for me to get to class next Tuesday afternoon. Phew!
I will update my site with a race report and photos as soon as possible after the race, so stay tuned for more details.
For those of you in the San Francisco area, please give me a call or email me if you want to come and cheer me on. There are a number of spots for spectators, and I can use all of the encouragement I can get, especially after mile 18 or so.
Training for this marathon has been a major physical challenge, but the other challenge that I've taken on, and the whole point of Team In Training, is to raise money to find a cure for blood cancers. I'm very proud to say that so far, together we have raised an amazing $4089.40 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As you know, my goal is $4600, so I'm still trying to find about $500 more. If you haven't already (or heck, even if you have!), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Every little bit makes a difference! After the Nike marathon on Sunday I will continue my training and will run in the P.F. Chang's Marathon in Phoenix this coming January, so even if you aren't able to make a donation before my race on Sunday, it's DEFINITELY not too late.
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support. To date, I and the other members of my team have raised over $75,000 dollars to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. That is pretty amazing.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 32.0
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 467.5
Dear Adoring Fans,
Before I let you know about the amazing thing I did this week, I want to just take a second to let you know that we only need $560.60 more to reach my fundraising goal of $4600. Only $560 more! That's nothing compared to the over $4000 we've already raised! If you've been waiting to make a donation, now is the time. My marathon in San Francisco is coming up in just two weeks, and I am really trying to reach $4600 before I go.
I also wanted to let you know about our new Honored Teammate, Alex, a beautiful little girl who is battling lymphoma. If you need another reason to donate, just look at this smile. The money you contribute to my fundraising efforts goes directly to help find a cure for kids like Alex.
Okay, on to the amazing thing...I ran twenty miles last Saturday!!! It's really true! (And I have the pictures to prove it). This is the pinnacle of our training. Everything we've done since we began training last May has been to work toward this long run (and the marathon, of course). For the next two weeks we'll taper off and concentrate on being strong and prepared for the actual marathon, which is on 23 October. I can't believe how quickly the past five months have gone by.
The run was long. It was hard. But I did it! The last mile or so was the hardest, but as I came around the corner of the last bit, I heard people yelling my name, clapping, hooting, and hollering. The theme to Chariots of Fire was blaring from a boombox and I looked up to see my coaches and various other team members waiting to celebrate with me as I crossed a crepe paper finish line, held by Coach Bryan and one of our Honored Teammates, Alex. It definitely gave me an extra burst of energy (enough to hold up my hands victoriously as I crossed the line, anyway). Our Team support staff had gone all out: Mary Jane was there to take off our shoes and socks so we
could put our feet in an ice bath (brrr), there were PB&J sandwiches and all sorts of stuff to eat and drink, and hugs and laughter everywhere. I have to tell you, if you are ever planning on running twenty miles, this is the way to do it. Kathy and I ran together for the first fifteen and then split up, but we got together at the finish line for a picture.
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support. To date, I and the other members of my team have raised over $58,000 dollars to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. That is pretty amazing.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE: We are almost there! After I sent out my message last week you all sent in about $100 in donations, so we only have to raise $560.60 more to meet my overall goal of $4600 for the Nike Marathon and the P.F. Chang's Marathon. If you haven't already (or heck, even if you have!), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Every little bit makes a difference!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Runner's Log
20 September 2005
Weekly mileage: 32.5
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 408.5
Eighteen miles! I ran eighteen miles this past Saturday! In celebration, Kathy and I tried to imitate the number eighteen. Apart from the lovely view of my belly button, I think I do a mighty find impression of the number eight, and Kathy makes a most charming number one.
The weather here in Tucson has finally started to cool off a little (the high temperatures lately are only around 95!), so it's been making running a lot more enjoyable for me. Eighteen miles! It was long and I was definitely tired at the end, but I really felt pretty great the whole way through and by the next morning felt just fine. I wasn't even sore. Let's hear it for the TNT training program! This Saturday we drop back to twelve miles and the week after that it's up to twenty--watch out!
This next picture (see below) would have been better from a little higher up, but here are seven of us making the number 18 after our run (we have the most fun in TNT!)
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support. To date, I and the other members of my team have raised over $57,000 dollars to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. That is pretty amazing.
Hurricane Katrina lies heavy on the minds of people throughout the world, and many are donating money to relief efforts to help those affected by this catastrophic event. I thought you might be interested to hear how the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (and your donations to the Society) have helped:
On September 6, 2005, after reviewing the devastation in the Gulf Coast Region caused by Hurricane Katrina The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society took the following actions:
. Committed $1 million to help get blood cancer treatment centers and patient support services in the devastated areas up and running again.
. Provided additional financial support to overburdened cancer centers in Texas that are caring for patients displaced by the hurricane.
. Ensured the availability of oncology professionals, through the Society's free Information Resource Center (800-955-4572), to help support patients and their families during these difficult times.
Your donation to my fundraising effort helps make sure that the Society is able to provide this support and assistance.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE: We are almost there! After I sent out my message last week you all sent in about $200 in donations, so we only have to raise $660.60 more to meet my overall goal of $4600 for the Nike Marathon and the P.F. Chang's Marathon. If you haven't already (or heck, even if you have!), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Every little bit makes a difference!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Runner's Log
11 September 2005
Weekly mileage: 25.0
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 376.0
Well, I've done it again. Shamefully neglected my website and adoring fans. Things have been pretty busy ever since mid-July, and they only promise to get busier, but I really, truly will make more of an effort to keep my website updated and let you all know how things are going. A few of you wrote to ask if anything was wrong, as you hadn't heard from me in so long--thanks for your good thoughts! Everything is just fine and I'm still having a great time training with my team.
So! It's been over a month since I last updated my site, so
I have a lot to catch up on. Training continues to go really well. Last Saturday at practice we ran sixteen miles! 16!!! Can you believe that? It took me 2 hours and 50 minutes, which is right on track for my marathon goal of under 5 hours. It was hard and I was definitely ready to stop at the end, but I felt pretty good the whole way through the run and recovered pretty quickly afterwards. Yesterday we dropped back down to ten miles, but then we move up to 18 next week and will work our way up to 20 in a few weeks.
My fundraising efforts are going well. We are just $900 away from our goal of $4600 ($3200 for the Nike marathon in October plus $1400 for the PF Chang's marathon in January). See below for more details about this.
So where have I been? Let's see...(warning: this is not even vaguely running-related). Juan and I flew to Pittsburgh in the beginning of August to visit my family and for a memorial service for my father. We spent about a week in Pittsburgh and then drove cross-country to 
Colorado, taking a scenic route through West Virginia, Kentucky, a bit of Virginia, back into and all the way across Kentucky, Tennessee for about two minutes, Missouri, Kansas, and finally into Colorado. It was an amazing trip for many reasons, but especially since neither Juan nor I had seen most of the spots we visited. We stayed in little town across the way, and I was able to keep with my training schedule and see a little of each of the towns we stayed in by getting up early each morning to run before we hit the road. It would take a long time to tell you about the whole trip, so I'll just give you the highlights.
One of my favorite stops on the trip was Paradise, in western Kentucky. Those of you who know me well know that I am a huge John Prine fan, so when we realized that we were going to be more or less going right through Muhlenberg County and the Green River, we just had to stop to see what Mr. Peabody's coal train had left behind (if that doesn't make any sense to you, go listen to Paradise by John Prine). When we got there, we were expecting to maybe see the remnants of a town. Imagine our surprise to find nothing but a huge electric plant run by the Tennessee Valley Authority! Hideous! Big trucks roared past us coming and going on the road into the plant. We followed the signs saying "Visitors" and ended up in the heart of the beast. We parked our car and walked into the security office, where a lone Pinkerton guard sat at a desk.
"Can we get a tour?" I naievely asked.
"No," she answered, with a kind of snort and a disbelieving look on her face, as if she couldn't imagine why anyone in his or her right mind would want to tour Paradise. "Ever since 9/11
we stopped doing tours, except maybe for school groups. You'd need to call to set that up ahead of time, though".
She proceeded to give us the name and number of the woman to call should we decide to ask for a tour, and we started peppering her with questions. How long had the plant been there and the town been gone? (Since the 1960s). How big of an area did the plan supply electricity to? (She didn't know). Could we walk around outside and take pictures? (Yes). In retrospect, had I been the guard I would have been a little suspicious of two people showing up, asking all kinds of questions about the operation of the plant, and then asking if we could take pictures, but she told us we could take pictures of 
whatever we wanted, as long as we stayed outside. So we proceeded to snap away, getting pictures of the monstrosity that was once a little town called Paradise.
I still had another mission, which was to get out my guitar and sing Paradise on the banks of the Green River, so we got back in the car and followed the signs to the boat ramp, just off the property owned by the TVA. Paradise (the song) has a special meaning for me because it was one of my dad's favorite songs. I, with some help from my siblings, sang it at my dad's memorial service just two days before finding myself sitting on the edge of the Green River, with the coal-fired electric plant behind me. It was a fairly emotional moment. I pulled my guitar out of the car, sat down on a rock, and began to sing while Juan listened and took some pictures. As soon as I began to sing, a beautiful green dragonfly landed on the ground
directly in front of me and just sat there. At one point it moved closer, until it was about a foot away from me. The instant I finished singing it flew away. I'm not sure what it meant, but it was beautiful. We gathered a few small pieces of coal from the river bank to give to my family, packed up the guitar, and drove back into Drakesboro, the nearest town. Once there, we got a surprise when we looked at the name of the main drag:
I'm sure I'm not the first John Prine pilgram to make it to Paradise, but it was still an amazing and wonderful thing to have done.
We saw lots of really great things on the rest of the trip, but probably my other favorite stop was at the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in Mansfield, Missouri. I love the Little House books when I was a kid (and still do, to be honest). In addition to being able to tour the house, they have a really nice little museum filled with all sorts of pictures and pieces of history from Laura's life and that she wrote about in her books. It was like
making a visit to see an old, true friend that I had never met before.
We eventually ended up in Lyons, Colorado, with Rochelle, Bryan, Samuel, Alaní, Milo, and Linus, for the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. This account is already long enough, so I'll just say that it was amazing, with three days full of great music and great company (Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Todd Snider, Loudon Wainwright III, Taj Mahal, and Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Craven, to name a few). Amazing!
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE: Although I've reached my goal for the Nike Women's Marathon in October, I'm still trying to raise another $900 to support the Society and run in the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January. Just to put things in perspective, there are about 150 names on my email list, and if everyone who has not yet donated gives just $10, we will more than reach my fundraising goal. (But don't let that stop you from giving more than $10!) So if you haven't already (or heck, even if you have!), please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. Every little bit makes a difference!
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 24.0
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 223.5
Sorry for the gap in communication. Last week was the American Birding Association's annual convention here in Tucson, and I was busy coordinating a special track for young birders. We had ten kids from across the country come to go birding with some fantastic expert guides (thanks Louise, Michael, Jon, and Steve!) Here is a picture of us on Mount Lemmon. The good lookin' one in the middle of the middle row wearing the cowgirl hat is Yours Truly. The convention was really great, but I was getting up somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 every morning, all week, either to go on field trips with the kids or to help get other convention participants sorted out and onto their own field trips. Suffice it to say, I got a lot less sleep than normal and didn't have much time for things like updating my website, unfortunately. Between getting up so early and being out in the field all day, it was a challenge finding the time for my runs during the week. I met up with my running partner Kathy on Tuesday for a 6 mile run around Reid Park, but the rest of the time I was on the treadmill at the hotel. Treadmills are bad enough, but the only time I had to run was at night, after convention activities were over, so I found myself starting a run at 9pm, a time when I'm normally in bed.
Last Saturday was a major milestone for me, though. 
Despite the lack of sleep, Kathy and I ran ten miles! Wait, that deserves to be in capital letters, with a few extra exclamation points. TEN MILES!!! By the time we hit 5 miles and the turn around point I was feeling pretty tired, and if it hadn't been for Kathy, I would have been doing a lot of walking, but we pushed each other on and did it in one hour 51 minutes. That's a little slower than I would have liked, but considering the circumstances of the preceeding week, I'm fairly content. When we got back from the run Coach Brian was there, handing out red carnations that someone had donated. This past Saturday we dropped back down to 8 miles, which I ran in just under an hour and a half (1 hour 27 minutes). Kathy deserted me this week, but for a great cause--she was running a half marathon in San Francisco.
July 23rd was the kick-off party for the winter season. If you remember from my last runner's log entry, I am going to be a fundraising mentor for this new team. I have eleven "mentees" who I will be working with to help reach their fundraising goals for either the PF Chang's Marathon in Phoenix or the Honolulu Marathon.
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support. FUNDRAISING UPDATE: Although I've reached my goal for the Nike Women's Marathon in October, I'm still trying to raise another $1143 to support the Society and run in the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January. So if you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 25.5
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 150.5
Riddle: What has two thumbs and is now training to run in not one, but TWO marathons to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society?
THIS GIRL!!!!!
It is true. My fundraising for the Nike marathon in October is going REALLY well (WE DID IT!! So far we've raised an amazing $3,223.40, which is 101% of my original goal!!! Words cannot express how grateful and excited I am about this. Thank you!) After I updated my website last week with the good news that I was so close to my goal, Lauren, my fundraising mentor emailed me and asked if I had considered fundraising for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll Marathon in Phoenix on 15 January 2006. "Hmmm," I thought. Then I got another email, this time from Louanne, asking if I'd considered becoming a fundraising mentor for the P.F. Chang's team, in addition to training to run in the race. "Hmmm," I thought again. I read through a bunch of information that Louanne sent me about being a mentor and Lauren, who has been a TNT mentor for the past four seasons, told me a bit about her experiences. I then thought about how quickly we were able to raise $3200 for the Nike marathon. As a mentor, I get a "discount" on the amount of money I have to raise to run and train with the team, so we'd only need to raise another $1400. "Hmmm," I thought a third time. We already have $100 of that (see writing in red above), so it would really only be another $1300 to raise. And I have a whole big list of people who said they were going to donate but just haven't gotten around to it yet..."I can do this!" I thought.
So Jennie, who certainly never counted the word "runner" among the list of words that described who she was, is now training for two, count 'em, two (uno, dos) marathons. I can scarcely believe it myself, but I'm really excited and am looking forward to mentoring new TNT team members and helping them reach their fundraising goals. If any of you Tucsonans out there are interested in joining TNT, we are having informational meetings on the following dates:
Tuesday, July 12, 6:30 pm
Dusenberry-River Center Library
5605. E. River Road
Wednesday, July 13, 6:30 pm
Joel D. Valdez Main Library
Lower Level Meeting Room
Saturday, July 23, 10:30 am
Kick-off Party to follow at Noon
Chuy's Tanque Verde
6310 E. Tanque Verde (at Pima)
Participants for this winter season will be training for the following events:
- El Tour de Tucson Century Ride (100 mile bike ride)
- Honolulu Full Marathon (run or walk)
- P.F. Chang's Full/Half Marathon in Phoenix (run or walk)
Fundraising minimums are very reasonable (ranging from just $1500 for P.F. Chang's or El Tour de Tucson if TNT doesn't pay for your lodging ($2000 if they do) to $4700 for the Honolulu marathon (which includes all expenses, including airfare). Please email me if you think you are interested. Or just come to an informational meeting to learn more.
Enough about the fundraising. Want to hear about the running? Training continues to go well. We ran about 8 miles on Saturday, up to the top of Sabino Canyon and back. It was such a beautiful place to run, and that really helped make the uphill parts a little less of a challenge. I ran with my new friend Kathy, and that also made the run a lot more fun. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to do the whole thing--I forgot to stop my watch at the top, where we took a quick breather, so I'm not sure of the exact time. The way back down is, as you might expect, mostly downhill, except for one last uphill right before the end. As we got to the bottom of the hill, Kathy and I were both pretty tired. Coach Mark caught up to us (he spends the days running heaven knows how many miles as he moves from teammate to teammate, giving advice and encouragement). He showed us a new way to run up steep hills, sort of running sideways. It looks a little funny, I imagine, but it really works. I put it into practice this morning on my nemesis Bisbee hill and it was amazing. I was breathing hard by the time I got to the top, sure, but I was able to run up the whole thing without feeling like I was going to keel over (which was my experience last week). I was dreading this hill on my runs and was almost starting to be afraid of it, but after today, I have a whole new perspective.
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support. Although I've reached my goal for the Nike Women's Marathon in October, I'm still trying to raise another $1300 to support the Society and run in the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January. So if you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 25.5
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 125
I've been housesitting in Tucson for the past two and a half weeks, so I hadn't been able to check our mail in Bisbee for quite awhile. This morning Juan and I went down to the post office to pick up the backlog, hoping that there would be a few donations. As it turned out, "a few" was an understatement. There were seventeen envelopes with donations in them, totaling over $1200. I was awestruck! This brings my total to $2675, just $525 short 
of my $3200 goal. Suffice it to say that I am excited, to say the very least. It is an amazing thing--in just over a month, together we have raised over $2500 to help support a wonderful cause: a cure for blood cancers. I have no doubt that we will reach or even exceed my $3200 goal by 1 August. Words truly cannot express my gratitude for your support and encouragement. I've never really stopped feeling excited about this whole adventure, but after opening all of those envelopes and seeing my "team" grow, I have new incentive and inspiration to continue my training.
Some of you have sent me the names of loved ones who have been touched by cancer, and I am honored to add them to the list of those I honor by running this marathon. I run in honor of Gabbi Martin, Tyler Smith, and Joel Zopletal. I run in memory of Arthur Vinograd, Ruth Vinograd, Alana Birchim, Kate Wolf, Steve Goodman, Michael Fujimoto, Lillian Aiello, Sherry Brown, Fran Perry, Risa, and Karen Collins.
In preparation for this Saturday's run in Sabino Canyon (all the way to the top, about 8 miles total), I decided to vary my route in Bisbee and try some hills. It took me 40 minutes to run 3.5 miles on Monday, which wasn't bad considering there were one or two pretty steep hills involved. I was more out of breath than I am used to being by the time I got to the top, but overall I felt pretty good and didn't have to stop to walk. Today (Tuesday) was my day off from running, so Juan, Pinta, and I headed down to the Bisbee pool for some swimming (well, Juan and I swam, Pinta chased pine cones). Even though I'm starting to feel nominaly "in shape" from all of this running, it rapidly became apparent that swimming uses quite a few different muscles than running. I would swim a lap and then hang on to the edge of the pool, trying to catch my breath before starting the next lap. I definitely felt like somewhat of a wimp. At least I didn't know anyone there, I told myself. Or so I thought. At the very end, as I pulled my weary body out of the pool, the lifeguard hollers, "Hey, Jennie! How's the house?" Turns out he was one of the high school kids that helped Juan with our foundation project last fall. Ah, well.
My body is dealing pretty well with all of the excercise. My left ankle gets a little sore after each run (I think I may be kicking myself, believe it or not) and I had a wicked blister UNDER one of my toenails (which I was able to resolve by making a small hole in my toenail with a pin and a lighter--say it with me, people: ick. But all in all, I'm feeling great. Tomorrow I head out for 60 minutes of running (hills and all), so wish me luck!
Thank you again to all who have made a contribution to my fundraising efforts. This is truly a team effort, and I really couldn't do this without your support. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Weekly mileage: 22.5
Total mileage (since 20 May 2005): 99.5
(This is me stretching right after our 8-mile run this past Saturday. Still smiling...)
We ran 8 miles this past Saturday! I've run this far before, but not in many, many years. I ended up walking for a minute or two here and there throughout the run, but all in all, I felt pretty good about things.
Way back in May, when this whole adventure started, I was unable to attend the Kick-off Party, where apparently they announced that there was a "First to 500" prize for the TNT participant(s) from our team to reach $500 in their fundraising efforts by a certain date. At our fundraising workshop the other week, Louanne, one of the
TNT staff and also one of my personal cheerleaders, reminded us of this incentive and then announced that there were three team members who had accomplished this--two others and ME! I got a great hat (non-cotton, of course, and in purple, the official color of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) from the Running Shop as a prize (above). I went back to the Cudney's house, where I am house and dogsitting, and showed Pinta my hat. She was very excited, too, as you can see (below).
Thanks so much to all of you who have already contributed to my fundraising efforts. THINGS ARE GOING REALLY WELL!!! We made it past the $1000 mark and have raised just over $1100 so far. Thanks for helping me make my mini-goal of $1000 by 24 June. We're now 34% of the way there. I have another mini-goal of raising $2000 by 15 July--only $900 more to go to reach it! Although we're doing great so far, there is still a ways to go before I reach my overall goal of raising $3200 by 1 August 2005. If you haven't already, now is a great time to go online and make a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
(Here's a picture of me and Pinta, my honorary dog for the summer, after today's run. It doesn't work very well to take her with me on my training runs (because she has to stop and sniff something every five seconds or so), but after my run we went on a walk/jog, just for her, so everyone was happy. You can tell because she was kissing me).
I'm into week 4 of training--hard to believe it's already been almost a month since I started this journey. Things continue to go well. We ran 4 miles at our group training last Saturday, and I did it in 43 minutes, so I was feeling pretty good about that. My total mileage for the week was about 19 miles. This week we start increasing our shorter runs during the week. Today I ran 45 minutes (instead of the 30 minutes I'd been doing up to this point). And on the 18th we do a 6 mile group run! The weather, especially in Tucson, is getting hot so I've been having to get up earlier and earlier for my morning runs.
I'm really starting to feel stronger. I was telling one of my teammates the other day that I feel like I am actually running instead of jogging. I don't feel like this every day, but it's starting to be a more regular feeling. This past week was also full of workshops. We had a fundraising workshop last Sunday to help give us ideas for meeting our fundraising goals. On Monday evening we had a injury prevention clinic. Coach Mark taught us about Chi Running, an approach to running that is supposed to keep you injury-free (always a good thing). One of the main things we discussed was correct posture and form while running. On my run this morning I tried to put into practice some of what we learned and I did feel like it made a difference, like I didn't have to work as hard to do what I was trying to do. I had to make a conscious effort to keep my form correct, but I think it will become second nature with a little bit of time.
One of the amazing parts of this experience for me is hearing from my friends about how cancer and other similar diseases have affected their lives. I want to share with you a note that a friend sent me, along with a $50 donation:
Hi Jennie
This is a wonderful, spiritual, and admirable endeavor. No matter how you do in this race, you have done well.
Please add my dad to your list [of honorees]. He died of aplastic anemia in 1980 at the age of 57. At that time bone marrow transplant was very experimental and he did not qualify as a test subject. It would be great if you could also encourage people to add their names to the bone marrow donor registry as matches, especially for minority groups, are hard to find.
Best of luck with this challenge.
Research conducted by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has led to advances and treatments in fighting blood cancers and other diseases. Things that were experimental in 1980, like bone marrow transplants, are now common practice, thanks to organizations like LLS. But although bone marrow transplants are fairly common today, there is still a desperate need for donors, particularly from minorities.If you are not already on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, please consider adding yourself to the list. You can learn more by clicking here.
Thanks so much to all of you who have already contributed to my fundraising efforts. To date, we have raised nearly $950 towards my total goal of $3200 by 1 August (we're 30% of the way there!). In addition to my 1 August goal, I'm trying to reach the $1000 mark by 24 June 2005, so if you've been procrastinating, now is a great time to go online and make a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers.
Please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Week 2 of training is over and things are going pretty well. We've started out slow and steady, building up endurance and strength before increasing the mileage. I've continued running about 3 miles/day during the week and joined the rest of my TNT teammates on Saturday for a 3-mile training workout in Tucson. My total mileage this week was about 18 miles, a little higher than last week (but not as high as next week!). The city pool here in Bisbee opened up last weekend and I'm looking forward to throwing some swimming in with my running, just to ring the changes a little.
I definitely feel a difference between running at over 5,000 feet in Bisbee and running down in Tucson--I can go farther and faster in Tucson, without a doubt. I've been having a few run-ins with blisters, but a new pair of running shoes seems to have taken care of that problem, and other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. Birdwatching while running is a bit of a challenge, but I did see and hear some Black-throated Sparrows the other morning. Today I startled a Gambel's Quail sitting on top of a mesquite tree and the Barn Swallows put on quite the aerial display as I run along the road, swooping and diving ahead of me.
Thanks so much to all of you who have already contributed to my fundraising efforts. We have already raised $750, which is almost 1/4 of my total goal of $3200. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to help support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in its mission to find a cure for blood cancers. And please let me know if you have a special person on whose behalf you are donating and I will gladly add them to my list of honorees. If this is your first visit to my website, take a moment to read my message to you to learn more about what I am doing.
Until next week!
Today marked the end of my first week in training and I celebrated it with a 3 mile run this morning. Each Saturday I will be increasing my mileage until I reach the Big Practice Run--20 miles--before tapering back down before the REALLY Big Run in San Francisco on 23 October.
The runs have definitely been getting somewhat easier as the week has gone on. I've been running somewhere between 2.5 and 3 miles each day this past week (except for Tuesday, my Day of Rest). I'm also learning more about how my body works and what and when I need to eat to get the best results. Bananas seem to be key...
Other highlights of the week were a very informative shoe clinic at The Running Shop in Tucson, where very knowledgeable and friendly staff taught us what to look for in shoes and other running equipment. I feel excited to be a part of such a great group of people and am really looking forward to training in the coming months.
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