A reality check today

My team manager, Jen, sent the following message to the team today from our honoree Maddie's mom, Christine.

“Maddie went in on Friday night to the emergency room with a very high fever. She was let out once the temp started going down at4:30am. Saturday morning at 7:30am she was back up at the hospital and is still up at Kaiser. They admitted her, and they are trying to figure out if she has a viral or bacterial infection. So far none of the tests are showing what is going on with her. Her fever is very high, and at this time she is in isolation to try and avoid any further infection. Chrissy asked that I contact you to send out an email to the team, and ask for everyone to pray and send positive energy to Maddie right now."

Maddie and Christine have both been such a huge part of Team Heart and I hope you all can take a moment and send the some positive energy this week so we can see them both soon, happy and healthy, at our runs. This email reminded me of why I am out there training and fundraising for this amazing cause.

GO TEAM! and GO MADDIE!

Sunshine, Sundaes, and Bowling, OH MY!

I just finished a fun-filled TNT weekend. Here is a wee re-cap:

Saturday Morning - Met the team at Lake Merritt for a 6-8 mile run. The run was... OK. I just felt ill afterwards and had to stop after 2 laps of the lake (6.3 miles). Firstly, it was hot out. Hot+sun+running=Bad for Lizzie. Secondly, the first lap around the lake I ran with someone who runs faster than me and I ran with her, not at my own speed. Lastly, I didn't take any electrolytes with me on the run. So, basically it was my bad. Twas sad because a group from the team went out to breakfast after the run and I was too ill to join them. Thankfully, a bottle of gatorade and a cold shower later I was feeling much better and ready to host my SUNDAES FUNDRAISER PARTY!!!

Saturday Night - I combined my new move with a fundraiser and held a housewarming/sundaes/fundraising/costume party. Yes, I said costumes. The theme was... ME! People had to come dressed as me, or any other Lizzie, Elizabeth, or Keenan. The grande prize winner was Sarah who came as Elizabeth City, North Carolina. I think the iron on image of Elizabeth City's doplar radar of their weather was the ticket for her.
Some other top contenders were Jessica as me at Emily's wedding last weekend. See the resemblance?
And Megan who came as me back in the day when I played soccer and was known as "Killer."
And yes, I dressed up too... as my favorite Elizabeth... Elizabeth Bennett from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. As you can see, I kept Mr. Darcy close at all times :)
Sunday Night - Michelle and I planned a team bowling night for Team Heart in hopes to get the team to take some time off of training and relax and get to know each other. While it ended up being a rather small turnout, it was still tons of fun and by game 2, I finally bowled over 100! YAY!

Crosstraining?

Do you think following along to this video would be considered adequate crosstraining?

Letter to myself...

Dear Lizzie,

This is a formal request that you please stop slamming your right knee into hard objects such as short tables, desks, and fire hydrants.

Respectfully Yours,
Your right knee

Did I shamROCK it? You betcha I did!

I actually ran a half marathon last weekend. CRAZAY. I used the half marathon as part of my marathon training. I wanted to prove to myself that I could run a half without feeling like death at the end. AND I DID IT! Don't get me wrong, there were some aches and pains, but nothing like my other 2 halves. Plus, a day after I was barely sore at all! Hallelujah!!! The race was fun. My mom and Rachel ran it as a relay, so I had them to buddy up with along the course. The weather was fantastic for running and the scenery... well it wasn't the best of what Sacramento has to offer, but it wasn't bad.

I think the worst part of run was the water they were serving. BLECH. It was straight up hose water. Thankfully I had planned on mixing my own gatorade on the course, so by the time I had to fill up on gross hose water, I was just about ready to turn it into gatorade.

Wait, I was wrong, that was the 2nd worst thing about the race. The worst thing was getting to the finish line, realizing I had beated my fasted 1/2 time, ready to grab my victory medal and instead was greeted by some lame guy who on his megaphone said in a monotone voice, "Good job Lizzie, and the person running with Lizzie (Rachel). There are no medals for you. We ran out. We will mail you one."

WHAT???????????????

So obviously I replied, "ARE YOU SERIOUS??????" "Yes" he said. Needless to say, I was fuming. I was not only angry I didn't get a medal, but all of the runners/walkers behind me who had worked hard at training for this event didn't get one. That is just not right. BTW, I have still not received my medal in the mail. I am sending Fleet Feet and angry email about this.

Anyways... in Lizzie form, I made a video about the race so you can feel like you were then along with me. ENJOY!

Over the river and through the woods...

Saturday's long team run was at the Berkeley Marina. There was a great turnout from Team Heart. We have a lot of dedicated people on our team this season... YAY!

Marathoners were supposed to run 7-9 miles but since I had been off of running for a bit because of my butt muscle woes, I opted for just 8 miles. And it was AWESOME! Truthfully, I was rather shocked. I haven't run 8 miles since the Nike Half Marathon last year and assumed the last mile or 2 would be rough. Not the case. I even ran faster than my average pace. Go me, go me.

The best part about the run was at the very end. I was pretty sure I was among the last runners coming in, if not the last, since most of the team was running around 5-6 miles. So, I assumed most people would have headed home by the time I came to the finish line. Not the case! I would say at least 90% of the runners were at the end cheering me in! What rock stars! It was an awesome site at I rounded the last corner of the run.

Now, with all the good news, there was one bad part of the run. After my running buddy Michelle turned around and I was left running on my own, I got a song stuck in my head...

"Over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go..."

Over and over again it went. And those are basically the only lyrics in the song I know, so you can imagine how repetitive and awful it was. I tried thinking of other songs, but it was like there was an evil block on my music knowledge and I could only think of grandmas house.

I took some photos and videos from the Saturday run that I will hopefully get posted tonight.

On another note, the Shamrock'n Half Marathon is this weekend. I just received an email with my bib pick-up info. I am super excited. The weather should be nice and cool. As long as I can get my mom and Rachel to take the run super slow and easy, I am going to try to run the whole thing even though I haven't quite trained enough for it yet. Otherwise, my goal will be to run 10 miles and walk the last 3, then run the last .1 mile because the race ends in the baseball stadium... FUN! I met up with Felix and Burke last night and Felix is also running the half on Sunday. He ran 12 miles yesterday and is def up for completing the whole race. Shout out to Felix!

Over and out,
Lizzie

R.I.C.E.

Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

Last week, whilst packing up for my recent move, I tweaked a lil some-something in my butt/hamstring area. I didn't think much of it until the next day when I went for a run and only got about .25 miles out and realized I was in pain. So... with a little R.I.C.E for a week I successfully started back running on Tuesday this week. Yay!

Tomorrow's run will be a doozy. I am supposed to do 6-9 miles. I am thinking I'll go for 8... unless I am feeling really good. I am still signed up to run the Shamrock'n half marathon next weekend... EEP! Not sure how that will go down. I don't want to push me or my butt muscles too far so I might walk part of it. We shall see.

Cajones!

Ya that's right. I have cajones! Last weekend I ventured out to the Berkeley Marina on a wet and wild sunday morning. When I left my apartment it was only sprinkling, so I thought the run would not be that bad... I was planning to do 8 miles. But, as I pulled into the Seabreeze parking lot where I like to start my runs... the rain picked up. BUT, I had the cajones to get out of the car and do that damn thing.

(view from car pre-run)

The run started OK. I got used to the rain and fogged up glasses. A bonus to running in the rain is that it seems only hot young men and me run in the rain! Holler! I ran past 4-5 guys along the trail, all of whom waved and said hi to me with big smiles on their faces. All I could think about was "I am so running in the rain all the time now!" So the run was going great. I was feeling good and even going at a faster pace than usual. I think when its cold and rainy out it helps cool down my body and my biggest enemy has always been overheating. So I ran a 4 mile loop which took me back to my car to fill up on water and have a gu. At this point the sprinkling was getting a little heavier... but nothing I couldn't handle. So after filling up my liquids I headed off in the other direction, towards Golden Gate Fields.

This is when things got tricky. At about a mile and a half out the moderate rain turned to POURING rain! Instantly I was drenched to bone. Seriously... think wet underwear. Gross. So I quickly turned around and headed back to my car. This is when the wind started to pick up. So not only was a soaked... I was running against the current. It's my cajones that got me back to the car in lickety split time. Thankfully I had a towel in the car to put on my seat so I didnt get it totally soaked when I got inside. Please note. Water resistance is useless in a downpour.