it's official...

...i am a long-distance runner. : ) yay!

i completed last saturday's 10 miler alongside my friend and running buddy sam and felt really good. going to bed early and not drinking at all the night before no doubt helped! : ) but my body felt good, my breathing felt good, i took in fluids and gels as i'm supposed to, and i felt good (not completely wiped out) when we finished. very exciting, and certainly bodes well for race day. now we have 8 mi this saturday, 6 miles the following saturday...and then race weekend is upon me! when i hear myself using the words "only" and "8 miles" in the same sentence, i know i've truly come a long way.

just did about 3.5 mi or so on a nice running trail here in valencia, ca where i am for a meeting tomorrow. running by myself in an unfamiliar place in temperatures higher than i'm used to made me realize that race day will have its benefits: water and gatorade stops! bands! people cheering! other people running the race with me, including sam! friends and family at the finish line! chocolate and coffee power gels! such happy thoughts and the ongoing encouragement of everyone makes this easier than i ever imagined.

and, by the way, I'VE MET MY FUNDRAISING GOAL! thanks to all of you (and many folks who i'm sure aren't reading this), i've raised over $1700 in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. that feels like a huge accomplishment and it definitely keeps me going to race day full force. so very cool.

guess that's it for now...time to shower, change, and eat whatever the heck i want in the hotel restaurant downstairs! : ) ~j

fear is a great motivator

this evening i completed three miles at a 12 minute pace by the bay. this makes me happy for a number of reasons: 1) i had kind of a crappy run back east last weekend (i made a few wrong turns, took an inadvertent short cut, and was a bit hung over or at least dehydrated), 2) i'd like to run about 12 min miles on race day, though i expect my overall pace to be a bit slower for walking through some aid stations and possible bathroom stops, and 3) i'm staring down the barrel at 10 mi on saturday morning, so i'm glad this felt relatively "easy" as it should.

as i've taken to telling people lately, never have i spent so much time doing something i don't necessarily love and that i'm definitely not great at. but it's helping me learn some patience and persistence and overall it's cool to see that i can do things that at one time seemed absolutely impossible.

so i'm nervous but excited for saturday...and hope to report back that i've succesfully hit the double-digit mark for the first time. stay tuned!