Well...
As you may have guessed, or if you can read my thermometer to the left, I have reached - nay, exceeded! - my goal! Thanks to each of you, my lofty goal of raising $1,500 was reached on Friday of last week. A very, very big THANK YOU to each of you who donated to help this cause. I know you won't regret it. As for me, I could not be more excited about this, and the realization that this is actually happening! I leave for my trip in a 8 weeks and 3 days - until then, I will keep y'all interested in my basically starting over training. As unfortunate as it is, some major setbacks have caused me to get way behind in my half marathon training - the way it stands right now, I doubt I will be running the Nashville half. I will keep you up to date with the goings-on of that. For now, the 33rd Annual Cooper River Bridge Run is this weekend here in Charleston, and 2 very dear friends are coming to town for it - Boe from ATL and Beckecky from Charlotte. So excited for their visits!!
Stay tuned :)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
So close!
Donations continue to keep rolling in - I'm now only $353 away from reaching my goal! I have 20 days to collect all my money - roughly $18.50/day. In other news, my plane ticket is officially booked!! It seems really real now, doesn't it? I leave at 7:30 Thursday morning, May 13th and arrive in Guatemala City at 11:45 am. The team leader, Mark Scully, will be meeting us at the airport and we'll all be traveling together - we were supposed to book our flights to arrive around the same time frame. My departure flight leaves Guatemala City at 12:45 pm on Sunday, May 23rd and I arrive back in Charleston at 9:30 pm. I am so excited about this trip, and so incredibly happy that things are falling into place so nicely! Spread the word to your friends that I'm begging for money :)
An update on the running - went to my ChiRunning workshop, where I learned some depressing news. Apparently, I am a very aggressive "heel-striker," which is what is causing my shin splints. It's going to take a lot of work to re-train my body and mind to "relax my ankles" (how do you even do that?!?!) and land with a mid-foot strike, putting MUCH less pressure and impact on my shins. I am committed to making this happen, because I really do enjoy the running, but I've been so hesitant to get back out there recently because of the pain. I have 6.5 weeks until Nashville, and am planning to start this weekend at 4 miles and work my way back up on my long runs. Bridge run is coming up in 2 weeks and Boe is coming to town! So excited, and it lines up perfectly with my 6-mile run :)
This weekend I am going out to a Habitat build with the Clemson Young Alumni and the Clemson Women's Alumni Council on Johns Island - should be a great time! Update on Sunday! Thanks again for all the support! Oh, and keep JAM in your thoughts and prayers - he and a missionary group are on a trip to Nicaragua this week - returning on Saturday. I'm sure they're doing some great work down there!
XOXO (Gossip Girl came back yesterday - who's excited??)
An update on the running - went to my ChiRunning workshop, where I learned some depressing news. Apparently, I am a very aggressive "heel-striker," which is what is causing my shin splints. It's going to take a lot of work to re-train my body and mind to "relax my ankles" (how do you even do that?!?!) and land with a mid-foot strike, putting MUCH less pressure and impact on my shins. I am committed to making this happen, because I really do enjoy the running, but I've been so hesitant to get back out there recently because of the pain. I have 6.5 weeks until Nashville, and am planning to start this weekend at 4 miles and work my way back up on my long runs. Bridge run is coming up in 2 weeks and Boe is coming to town! So excited, and it lines up perfectly with my 6-mile run :)
This weekend I am going out to a Habitat build with the Clemson Young Alumni and the Clemson Women's Alumni Council on Johns Island - should be a great time! Update on Sunday! Thanks again for all the support! Oh, and keep JAM in your thoughts and prayers - he and a missionary group are on a trip to Nicaragua this week - returning on Saturday. I'm sure they're doing some great work down there!
XOXO (Gossip Girl came back yesterday - who's excited??)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Blessed!
Well, as you can see by my trusty thermometer over there to the left, a lot has happened since my last post! My donations have nearly doubled, and I have y'all to thank! I so appreciate all the friends and family who are reaching out to help me reach my goal. I know you won't regret it.
An update on running: over the past months, I seem to have developed what we in the biz call "shin splints." This is painful. When I talked to JAM about it a while back, he said it probably had a lot to do with form, and I should really revisit the basics and think about my form while running. Honestly, I kind of brushed it off (no offense, buddy). But now, weeks later, I'm starting to think the guy who's run marathons and triathalons might be smarter than me...
Enter: ChiRunning.
Before you roll your eyes (heck, go ahead - I did), the cover of the book says "A revolutionary approach to effortless, injury-free running." Sounds pretty stinkin' awesome, right? Right. So, last week I went to my first Charleston Running Club meeting, where there was to be a panel of speakers discussing common injuries in running, their treatment, and most importantly, their prevention. The first speaker was Scott Smith, a Certified ChiRunning Instructor out of Mt. Pleasant's EcoFitness. I will spare you the details of his particular speech and point you to the website here instead, so you can read about on your own if you choose.
I bought the book on Tuesday and also signed up for an Intro to ChiRunning Workshop, taking place this Saturday from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. Ideally, I would like to be finished with the book and have tested out what I've learned before going to the workshop - I believe it can be done. The basic principles involve re-thinking your running strategy, as well as teaching new ways to run pain-free. I know it sounds like a bunch of new-age mumbo jumbo, but it actually makes sense. Better posture (which we all need anyway!), leaning forward to let gravity pull you, focused breathing and "body sensing" - all core ideas that, when grouped together as one, affect how you run, and how running affects you.
I'm very excited to get started ChiRunning - I have been practicing my posture, my breathing and even my walking for the last 2 days in preparation. Stay tuned for updates after the weekend. The Nashville run is 7 weeks from Saturday!!
XOXO!
An update on running: over the past months, I seem to have developed what we in the biz call "shin splints." This is painful. When I talked to JAM about it a while back, he said it probably had a lot to do with form, and I should really revisit the basics and think about my form while running. Honestly, I kind of brushed it off (no offense, buddy). But now, weeks later, I'm starting to think the guy who's run marathons and triathalons might be smarter than me...
Enter: ChiRunning.
Before you roll your eyes (heck, go ahead - I did), the cover of the book says "A revolutionary approach to effortless, injury-free running." Sounds pretty stinkin' awesome, right? Right. So, last week I went to my first Charleston Running Club meeting, where there was to be a panel of speakers discussing common injuries in running, their treatment, and most importantly, their prevention. The first speaker was Scott Smith, a Certified ChiRunning Instructor out of Mt. Pleasant's EcoFitness. I will spare you the details of his particular speech and point you to the website here instead, so you can read about on your own if you choose.
I bought the book on Tuesday and also signed up for an Intro to ChiRunning Workshop, taking place this Saturday from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. Ideally, I would like to be finished with the book and have tested out what I've learned before going to the workshop - I believe it can be done. The basic principles involve re-thinking your running strategy, as well as teaching new ways to run pain-free. I know it sounds like a bunch of new-age mumbo jumbo, but it actually makes sense. Better posture (which we all need anyway!), leaning forward to let gravity pull you, focused breathing and "body sensing" - all core ideas that, when grouped together as one, affect how you run, and how running affects you.
I'm very excited to get started ChiRunning - I have been practicing my posture, my breathing and even my walking for the last 2 days in preparation. Stay tuned for updates after the weekend. The Nashville run is 7 weeks from Saturday!!
XOXO!
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