Taco Tuesday Fundraising Challenge = My First-Ever Tattoo???

In keeping with the personal significance of Taco Tuesday, today starts my Taco Tuesday Fundraising Challenge. If I make my Team in Training fundraising minimum in time for my April 18th deadline, I PROMISE that I will get a smaller version of this tattoo emblazoned on my leg by year-end to honor those I race in honor/memory of. All donations welcome, no amount is too small! Every dollar helps save a life!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nj12/crawlcarolcrawl

Source: google.com via Carol on Pinterest

FREE BEER!!!

Beer Garden Fundraiser for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Astoria | Events | Yelp

When:

Saturday, February 18, 2012 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Where:

Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden

2919 24th Ave Astoria, NY 11102 (718) 274-4925

We're raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with the Team in Training Queens Team!

There will be lots of raffle prizes and a 50/50. Here's the best part: ALL GUESTS WILL GET A FREE BEER! So, come hang out with some of your favorite people and raise money for a great cause.

Donation at the door is $15.00. Please be sure to mention that Carol sent you, so I get credit for your donation and attendance!

If you can't make it, but would still like to make a donation, you may do so at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nj12/crawlcarolcrawl

Now is the Time on Sprockets When We Whine

I think we may all hit this point at some time during our fundraising and training efforts. I woke up yesterday having some serious doubts about this whole NJ Half Marathon thing. My fundraising's not going as well as planned, I'm worried about the finishing time limit for the race, and lately, I'm just not that into pushing it for some reason.

My final fundraising amount of $2,150.00 isn't due until mid-April. BUT... I need to commit to raising the full amount by mid-February. Once I re-commit, what a lot of people don't realize is that it's then on my head to either raise $2,150.00 in donations, or have any shortfall come out of my pocket. I think that's the part that I'm really not sure about at this point. I really can't take on another financial obligation, even a potential one.

According to the official info, there's also a strict 3:15 (that's 3 hours and 15 minutes for you non-runners) time limit on the half, otherwise you do not qualify as a finisher and do not get a medal. My current finishing time on a half is 3:31.

If I really run/walk the whole thing, the 3:15 shouldn't be a problem, but I'm just in a funky "I'm sick of asking people for money and getting up and out of the house before 7:30 on a Saturday morning in the cold" kind of a place.

Feelin' Groovy

I did manage to get off the pity pot long enough to get to Astoria Park for our 8 mile Queensboro Bridge Run/Walk/Whatever, which was followed by a group brunch at Sparrow Tavern. Walking across the bridge and back with my mentor, Susan, and team mate Nikki helped put things into a better perpective, but the jury's still out for me on this one.

Yesterday was definitely one of those "dark days of training". I'm seriously hoping it will pass. Now, if this had been Disney, it might've been a whole 'nother story.

Things That Make it All Worthwhile

Today ended up being a non-running, bag-watching kind of a morning, as I am among the slightly-injured. Nothing major - I must've turned my foot wrong yesterday or something. One minute, I was in the pet store paying for my cat food, and then when I turned to walk away from the register, I felt a pain in my left foot when I put weight on it. This is probably at least partially shoe-related, because the minute I got home, I took off the shoes I was wearing (which were running shoes, not heels) and that seemed to improve matters. It wasn't swollen or anything, so I wasn't too concerned. This morning when I woke up, it was a little sensitive, but I could walk on it. I decided not to push it any further than showing up at practice this morning. Based on past experience, that's when I end up making it worse. So, I decided to swap bag-watching duties with my Mentor Buddy, Jenna.

While we were waiting to get started, we saw what can only be described as one great, big, giant "EWWWWWWWWW!!!" - the woman below giving her pocketbook dog a bath, IN THE DRINKING FOUNTAIN. Of course, within minutes of her departure, a runner came up to the fountain to get a drink. About a dozen of us watched in horror as she ignored our frantic shouts of "NOOOOOOO!!! DON'T DRINK THE WATER!!!" It reminded me of when people watching a horror movie yell "DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!!!", and the person on-screen opens the door anyway.



One clean dog = one really gross drinking fountain

While I was bag-watching (which for you non-running folks means I sat on the bleachers and watched everyone else's stuff), I decided to play around with some of the camera apps on my phone and take a few pictures. Below is a shot of the Astoria Park track taken with my phone using the Toy Camera effect:





After practice, I met with two of my mentees, Yvonne and Andrea (who are both doing really awesome so far) to talk about fundraising, and go over a few things, since this is all new to them. The fundraising is possibly the most intimidating part of this whole journey, especially if you've never done it before (at least it was for me). A few other folks chimed in with ideas, suggestions, etc. which was very helpful! One of the things I'm finding so great about mentoring with the Team in Training group in Queens is that we have so many incredible people, and a really nice sense of camraderie fairly early on. When you consider that we officially started our training season two Saturdays ago, we're bonding really quickly.

On the way out of the park, I spotted this gentleman. I'm not quite sure why he was dressed this way, but from the front, it looked like he was carrying some sort of notebook or sketch pad.




While waiting for the train back, Jenna and I had this fantastic view:



The view from the Astoria Blvd subway platform this morning - how awesome is THIS???

No sooner had we put away the camera phones, than a female NYPD officer came up to thank us for all of the work and effort we put into what we do, as she put it, "in case nobody else has". Then she went back down the stairs to the station entrance. I'm guessing from the way she said, that she, or someone she knew had a connection to some form of leukemia, lymphoma or other cancer. It was a goosebump moment, and I'm glad Jenna was there with me to share in both the officer's thank you, AND witness the goosebumps that showed up on my arms within seconds.



The same view, using the Toy Camera effect

For Those of You Just Tuning in

Since many of my Team in Training friends and future mentees do not know "the old me", I figured I'd post a bit of back-story.  If this doesn't prove that yes, you can finish a full or half marathon, I'm not sure what will.

Seriously, I am not the poster child for endurance athlete. On 9/11/2001, I weighed in at roughly 305 lbs. As you can see from the picture below, hill repeats and strength training weren't even part of my vocabulary, much less a part of my life.

Fast-forward to late November, 2007 when, after having quit smoking just a few weeks before, I decided to further tort... improve my health and physical well-being, by joining Weight Watchers. Less than 2 years and over 70 lbs lost later, I received a mailing from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training about their upcoming Winter Season events, which included the Walt Disney World Marathon. What better way to celebrate "the new me" than by challenging myself even further by attempting to train and race walk a full 26.2 mile marathon in my happiest place on earth?

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time... Actually, it was not only a good idea, it turned out to be a great idea. I had all sorts of fun - training sessions in sub-freezing temperatures, long distance walks in torrential rain, developing an acquired taste for GU Espresso Love - the list goes on and on. I learned about proper endurance sport nutrition (which I still suck at), boot camp workouts (which I suck at even worse) and all sorts of cool running gear and gadgets. I've become really good at finding stuff for dirt cheap, too! Most importantly, I've come to know an absolutely fantastic and wonderful group of people, dedicated to a great cause. Many of them have become friends for life and like it or not, they're stuck with me.

And yes, I finished my first marathon, at the ripe old age of 46, and somehow managed to raise over $3,700.00 for cancer research and patient support programs. I managed to get through 23.5 miles of this past year's Walt Disney World Marathon, and all 13.1 miles of the MORE/Fitness Magazine Women's Half Marathon a few weeks ago.

I look pretty good, considering it's 5:30am.

 
In another few weeks, I'll begin training for the Hamptons Half Marathon as a mentor with Team in Training. In another few months, I'll be 48 years old. If I can do this, anyone can. Really! Plus, you get a medal when you finish - what's cooler than that?

If you're thinking about joining the NYC Chapter of Team in Training as a run/walker or walker, feel free to request me as a mentor if you'd like!

A Lovely Stroll Along the West Side Highway

If you would like to make a donation to support my Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training fund raising efforts, please go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw11/cmartzinek

Today, our training session consisted of a lovely stroll along the West Side Highway. For those of you who do not live in the New York City area, the West Side Highway runs along the Hudson River, and there's a very nice, scenic and most importantly, FLAT running and biking path that extends pretty much along the entire west side of Manhattan. It's a really great place to get out and go for a walk, run or run-walk. It is also right on the water, making it really cold out there on days like today, when the high temperature is 40 degrees or below. (NOT to be confused with 40 below - I think I'd kind of have to draw the line and say "NO WAY, José!" if that was the case!)

I went through this particular form of torture last winter season during training, so I had a pretty good idea of what I had to look forward to today. I started trying to get myself psyched into it around 7:00 PM last night. I made myself get my clothes, sports drinks, a change of warm clothes for afterwards, etc. ready, so that all I would need to do when the alarm went off at 5:30 AM would be to get dressed, wash my face, brush my teeth, throw some make up on my face (yes, I try to spare my team mates from seeing me without makeup), have some coffee and spend some quality time on facebook before I have to leave the house to catch the 7:20 AM bus to the Main Street Flushing subway station (more on that later). So, everything was all ready to rock-'n'-roll before "Judge Judy" time.

Fast-forward to when my alarm went off this morning. Now, any other morning, when I don't have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn, I am up, semi-alert and half-caffeinated usually before 6:00 AM. For some reason, whenever I have to be up at that hour, I need to set both alarms on my dual-alarm clock, and hit the snooze button several times before I actually get out of bed. This morning was no exception. The only difference this morning was that I allowed myself to chant "I hate this part, I HATE this part!" about twenty times OUT LOUD before getting out of bed. I scared the crap out of my cats, Tigger and Gateway! They just looked at me and ran out of the bedroom at about 90 mph. For some reason, it worked. I got out of bed, put the coffee on, fed Tigger and Gateway (not necessarily in that order), and turned on my computer and my cell phone. Sometime after I shut my phone off for the night, I had received a message from one of my coaches in response to something else and part of it said:

"...for what it's worth, you are earning a hell of a lot of respect this season. Well deserved, too, I might add. Keep up the good work."

I quote that text message not to pat myself on the back, but to illustrate the difference between how I see my training efforts vs. how others see them. That, and to show how, whenever I need an extra shot in the arm to keep going, one magically seems to appear at just the right time. How could I possibly not show up for this morning's tort... I mean trainining session after that???

The NYC Mass-Transit Gods were with me again this morning. Not that he reads this or anything, but I have to give a huge shout-out to the driver of the 7:20 AM Q65 bus on Saturday mornings. The man is always on time. He's like clockwork (and yes, I've thanked him for it!) Ditto for the MTA #7 train crews for keeping those running amazingly well on Saturday mornings. I can honestly say that mass-transit issues are not a regular part of my Saturday mornings. Everything runs like clockwork on Saturdays.

So, I made it to Central Park on time, and with a bit of trepidation, took off the fleece vest I had been wearing under my jacket and left it with the rest of my warm clothes at bag watch. Did I mention it was COLD outside??? At any rate, it all worked out amazingly well. I had basically decided that my goal this morning was to show up, and that anything else was a bonus. I had planned on walking this morning instead of run-walking, so I had two walking buddies, one of which was my fellow blog-buddy, Joanne. Having walking buddies really helped all of us keep our minds off of how cold it was and how much further we had to go. Surprisingly, it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, and didn't get that cold until we were on the way back and got near Chelsea Piers. I also surprised myself by run-walking a good portion of it, although my "run" was more like a slow jog today. I started run-walking it when I started feeling my hamstrings getting a bit tight, and it really helped. I'm still not sure what my goal is going to be in terms of run-walking for the Walt Disney World Marathon. Am I going to try to run-walk the entire thing, or just use it as a tool when I need it to keep me going? I may not know until that morning, and that's okay. I'll pack my Gymboss either way.

The end result was that we did it. Two and a half hours and 8.75 miles later, we were DONE!!! Now, I just have to decide if I want to attempt a 10K race tomorrow morning in Central Park, or be a total slug. Stay tuned...

I Think I May Be the Oldest Person on Our Team

For real. Seriously. Unless there's someone else on the Team in Training NYC Chapter Winter Season team who's over 47, I may very well be the oldest person on our team. I could possibly be old enough to be the mother of pretty much most members of our team. Actually, far from the age thing bothering me, I think it's pretty cool. I guess it kind of makes me a mascot of sorts.

The thing that I have to remember is that, especially after being 100+ lbs heavier for almost 20 years of my life, I am not 27 years old anymore. My body is not in the same shape as it was, and it will probably never be in the same shape as my much younger team mates. I sort of forget that occasionally, and have a habit of beating myself up over it. For example, as part of my Team in Training Fast Track mentor duties, I took a spin class back in the spring. I had to bail after about 40 minutes. I beat myself up over not finishing for a while. Then I realized something. Let's face it - taking your first spin class at the ripe old age of 46, after weighing over 300 lbs for a good part of your adult life is a lot different than taking your first spin class at 27, when you're in reasonably good shape. The fact that I survived 40 minutes of it is quite an achievement in itself! Three years ago, when I weighed in at somewhere around 275 lbs I don't think I would've lasted 5 minutes, let alone 40!

My recent training sessions have also proven that I'm in better shape this year than I was last year. I've had this feeling for the past few weeks that I'm nowhere near where I should be at this point in my training. Two weekends or so ago, I took Harlem Hill in Central Park uphill at under 14:45/mile, mostly around 14:30/mile. Last year when I did Harlem Hill for the first time, I was somewhere around 16:30/mile. I'm also not wimping out on hill repeats. This past week, thanks to some great motivation from a couple of mentees, I pushed it for an extra repeat up the hill, and it felt great!

I just have to watch that I don't start getting too cocky about my ability to finish the marathon because I've done it already. I think that's going to be the biggest mental challenge. Last year it was the fear and panic that I wouldn't finish. But I've been there, done that and know that I can do it now - even at the ripe old age of 47!

Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! - The Sequel: I'm Doing it AGAIN!!!

Forget “Run, Forrest, RUN!” I’m doing it AGAIN!!!

LAST YEAR: I DID IT!!! I walked all 26.2 miles in the Walt Disney World Marathon on 1/10/2010. It only took me 7:23:03 (that's 7 hours, 23 minutes and 3 seconds) to do it, too!

YOU DID IT!!! You helped me cross that finish line! Your generous donations and moral support were what kept me going after around mile 18, when things got a bit tough. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

THIS YEAR: Not only am I doing it again, I've also signed up as a Team Disney Mentor! I’ll be training to race walk the full marathon in Walt Disney World to support The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, AND helping new team members get the most out of their Team in Training experience. I'm committing to walking 26.2 miles in this event, and beating last year's time. I may even attempt the “Goofy Challenge” – a 13.1 mile half marathon on Saturday, followed by a full 26.2 mile marathon on Sunday.

In doing so, my goal is to raise $3,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by November 15th to help bring hope and at least some ease of mind to people facing blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma.
 
Your donation can make such a huge difference. It funds research, assists patients with small reimbursements for treatment expenses, provides training for peer support programs, and most important- it brings hope to so many. Please donate what you can. I know the economy is tough on us all, but please think as big and dig as deep as you're able. Every dollar counts, and at least 75% of your donation goes directly into cancer research and patient support programs. Also, your donation is 100% tax deductible.

Every single dollar makes a difference!

Please visit my website to donate:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw11/cmartzinek

If you're not able to donate, there are loads of other ways you can help me make this happen. I've listed them below. They're equally important and greatly appreciated.

Some other ways you can help me Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!!:

• If you have a blog or website, if you could post a link to my Team in Training website with a small blurb like the one below, it will help tremendously:

Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! - Please support Carol as she trains to walk in her first marathon to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.  http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wdw11/cmartzinek

• Visit the Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!! Shop at http://www.cafepress.com/crawlcarolcrawl - all profits benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

Thanks for taking the time to read and for anything you can do to help me
Crawl, Carol, CRAWL!!!

I Got My Butt Kicked at Bootcamp!

I'm now mentoring a group of participants in the New York City chapter of Team in Training's Fast Track program, which culminates in a 4 mile "Run for the Parks" race in April.

As part of my mentoring, I get to endure the same tortu... I mean enjoy the same workouts and training sessions as my mentees! Sunday's was a bootcamp workout with Jasmine Graham of Pace4Success.com Jasmine does a GREAT workout with fantastic music. She really gets you working hard (and you really find out "how LOW can you GO?") I wimped out after about 36 minutes, but I managed to survive and felt all the muscles I had worked when I woke up Monday morning. However, I realized that I was probably the oldest person in the room, so I didn't beat myself up too badly for wimping out.

This week, I get to enjoy a fun spin class. I've never been to one, and I haven't been on an exercise bike in years, so this should be quite an experience!

26.2 Miles Later...

I did it! I crossed the finish line of my first (and possibly last) full marathon. (Yeah, I know - I say that now.)

I think one of the most amazing things (besides actually being able to see and cross the finish line) was that I did it all with only one pit stop during the race at Mile 9, without another one until I got back to my hotel room after the marathon. We're talking almost 6 hours without a pee break. Considering the amount of water and Power Ade that I drank at each station, and the fact that it was freezing-ass COLD out there, that's nothing short of miraculous!

All in all, I held up pretty well physically. Some minor annoyances like a small blister at the bottom of my little toe that started at around Mile 23, and my left knee started to bother me a little bit after Mile 10, probably due to the pitch in the road. Mentally was another story altogether. There were some long stretches of highway walking - particularly between the starting line at EpCot and the Magic Kingdom. On the plus side, they were flat. On the minus side, they were B-O-R-I-N-G! They were also just a bit windy in spots. Just a bit. I think my worst stretch mentally and physically was between miles 18-24, especially between miles 20-21! (Those of you who were there know what I mean:-) My best miles pace-wise were miles 1-10.

My best miles mentally were miles 24-26.2, when one of my coaches met me and walked through EpCot's World Showcase with me as far as mile 26. It was like strolling through my "home away from home" at Disney. The best part (aside from crossing the Finish Line) was having an unplanned cheering section made up of my friends, the fabulous and wonderful World Showcase Players, who were starting a show right as I passed the United Kingdom pavillion. That was AWESOME!!! Talk about perfect timing!

More to follow a bit later (because there's SO MUCH more great stuff to tell), but I wanted to write at least this much down before I forgot it all. It was a great experience!

Less Than 10 Days to Go!

I can't believe it's almost here! After all this training and fund raising, the day of reckoning is quickly approaching.

I've already started packing for the trip, although I'll probably re-pack and re-organize my stuff several times between now and when I actually leave for the airport. My race day clothes are picked out and ready to put in my carry-on, along with a backup outfit just in case. My Disney park pass "will call" confirmation is printed out in triplicate, and with copies stored in my wallet, my carry-on and my suitcase, again "just in case". I've printed out two copies of my marathon waiver, packed my iPod charger and Blackberry charger, and am charging up my camera batteries as I type this. My plan is to take both my iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle with my Nike+ Sportband as my "Plan B".

I know I've over-packed some clothes, and I'll be narrowing them down within the next few days, so that I have two outfits for each day of my trip - one warm weather outfit, and one for chillier weather. I have a set of "dispose-a-clothes" to wear in the chillier early-morning temps on race day while I wait for the race to start. I have a checklist a half a mile long to make sure I don't forget anything. I think I'll relax once I'm actually in the airport with the rest of my team!

I'm Not a WIMP!!! I'm a ...

SERIOUS BAD-ASS!!!
(and quite modest about it, too, as you can see:-)

Things I learned today:

• AccuWeather is definitely less-than-Accu-Weather! It was nowhere a "real feel" of 9 degrees this morning! Fortunately, it actually felt warmer than it did last night!
• If you do the absolutely most hated, "I can't deal with this" part of your training workout first, everything else is downhill - in some cases quite literally!
• One reverse upper loop up the West Side of Central Park in the freezing cold makes you a bad-ass. Two reverse upper loops up the West Side of Central Park in the freezing cold makes you a SERIOUS BAD-ASS! The added bonus is that nothing else in the park is anywhere near as torturous and the rest of the workout is a piece of cake!
• Even after walking over 14 miles, I am still faster than half the tourists on Fifth Avenue! Holy crap, those people walk SLOW! Amazingly, I did not mow anyone down, although I came close on more than one occasion.

My walk coach, Barb, was very helpful during my "meltdown moment" yesterday. The "staying in the park instead of going up Riverside to the Little Red Lighthouse" idea was a good one and it really worked out well for me. It went so well, that instead of my usual walk to the subway station at Fifth Avenue and West 59th, I walked all the way down to Fifth Avenue and West 42nd Street! Total miles on my pedometer at the end of it all was...

17.25 miles!!!

Another interesting by-product of all this is that "The Great Broccoli Mystery", which I originally wrote about here has been SOLVED!!! It grows on the trees in the area! No joke! If you look at the picture below, you can see round objects on the tree branches in the lower left, and upper middle sections. (They're a bit larger up close - about the size of a tennis ball.)

Those aren't nuts or apples or cherries. They are broccoli-like things that are look like the thing in the center of this picture:


Had we not been doing a reverse loop this morning, we might never have solved the mystery!

I Made it Through the Rain...

Yesterday was a 15-miler from West 72nd Street in Central Park, down the West Side Highway to Chambers Street, across Chambers Street to the Brooklyn Bridge, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and then back. Everything was fine up until the return trip over the Brooklyn Bridge. That's when the rain started.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate walking in the rain? Especially so when it's only around 45 degrees out or less, along the windy West Side Highway with the rain blowing my face! We're not talking a sprinkle or a bit of drizzle, either! It was pouring! So much so, that I was soaked even with my hat, GoreTex jacket and "Emergency Rain Poncho" on! My pants were so wet that they started to stretch out at the bottom, and they were dragging along the pavement. Both pairs of socks were completely soaked through, as were my shoes. Amazingly, I was still more or less a happy camper as I trudged up the West Side Highway towards my pit stop goal of Christopher Street, which would be about the 10.5 mile mark. I felt like George Clooney in "The Perfect Storm". But, I made it to the wonderful restroom at Christopher Street, and decided to check my Blackberry while I was there. I had a voice mail from one of my coaches, who was walking down the West Side Highway, looking for me, in the hopes of meeting me to walk back with me.

We met up at 14th Street, and continued uptown until we hit West 34th Street, which was about the 13 mile mark. At that point, it had started to turn into pouring freezing rain, and my coach decided it was time to detour off the windy West Side Highway, and head over to Penn Station to take the C train the rest of the way to West 72nd Street. The walk to Penn Station was easily at least another quarter mile, and by the time we made it back to bag watch, changed into dry clothes and got to the subway at 68th and Lexington Avenue, walked from the bus stop to my apartment, etc. I figure I hit the 15 miles easily.

You can see some pictures of yesterday's training walk at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mscarolm/sets/72157622769299271/ Be sure to check out the one of me in my oh-so-fashionable "Emergency Rain Poncho"!

Aside from feeling like I wanted to go to bed at 7 o'clock, I felt pretty good once I got into warm, dry clothes and put my big fluffy robe on.

Tonight Will Be Our Last Hill Workout - YAY!!!

Great news! Tonight will be our last hill workout in Central Park!!! We're going to be tackling Northern Hill tonight, but then the hills are DONE!!! WOOHOO!!!

Of course, our long walks are going to get even longer on the weekends to make up for that. This weekend, we're looking at 15 miles. YIKES! If past experience is any indication, this will mean about 4 hours of walking. I'm thinking I may need to switch my shoes, and have ordered a pair of New Balance 768 to try out this week. The ASICS are a bit heavy after 10-13 miles, and I may have a slight issue with the arch support in them on longer distances. But, other than that, they're fine. I can definitely use them for walks of 10 miles or under. Hopefully, the New Balance pair will arrive today, so I can try them out during tonight's training session.

On a related note, I've sent in my info to be a shoe tester for FitnessMagazine.com during December, and am waiting to hear back from them. Wish me luck, as this would give me a few new pairs of shoes to test-drive during my December miles!

What's Broccoli Got to Do With It?

Yesterday's training walk was a 12-miler... in the rain! Last week, I had a very rough time finishing 10 miles, so I wasn't too sure that I'd make it the full 12 miles. But, I did, and with energy to spare, surprisingly! (I promise I'll get to the the broccoli part eventually.) So, what was different this week from last week? What worked this time around? This is what I did differently:

• Wore my "Emergency Rain Poncho" to keep dry. This had little or no effect on my actual walk, other than to make me a real fashion statement. Also, if you ever need to rely on an "Emergency Rain Poncho" in an actual weather emergency, by the time you got the thing opened and on, the storm would've passed six times over. Seriously, they're like trying to un-stick Saran Wrap. Do yourself a favor, and use a large trash bag or recycling bag instead. I've since bid on, and won, a GoreTex jacket on eBay.
  
• Ate my whole wheat bagel with peanut butter about a half hour before walking. This worked! Last week, I ate my whole wheat Arnold Sandwich Thin with peanut butter before I left the house, which I guess was way too early. On previous walks, I'd get a bagel at the cart on my way out of the subway, and that has worked as well. So, now I know to have my bagel and coffee about a half hour before I walk.
• Brought two different types of sports drink, one high in carbs and one high in potassium and with bit more sodium - both from PowerBar. This worked! I alternated between the two, and it seems to have worked out fine.
• Brought a second whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and ate half after about 5 miles, and half after about 8 miles. This worked! I wasn't lightheaded after my walk at all, nor was my stomach growling. I think I need to have some sort of solid food in my belly after a while.
• Walked at a slower pace. This worked, but I'm not sure I'm all that happy about it. I started off slower (still under a 16 minute mile) and didn't really push myself too hard to go faster. However, by the time we finished 12 miles, I still felt good enough to walk about another half mile to the subway station, and then walked another half mile from the bus to my mother's house afterwards. I did not feel like I wanted to die or kill my coaches. This is a good thing!
• I walked with someone else. This really worked well for me mentally. It was nice to focus on a conversation, rather than how far I still had to walk. Plus, I got to learn a bit more about one of my team mates.

Now, I promised I'd get to where the broccoli fits in eventually. Maybe one of you can solve this mystery. For the past three Saturdays, right before we get to Harlem Hill in Central Park, there has been broccoli on the jogging path. There are no horses or anything in sight, just heads of broccoli, sometimes whole and sometimes squished all over the path. I haven't been able to find a reason for this. I've asked my coaches, and I've Googled "Central Park broccoli" to no avail. Does anyone know why there is always broccoli on the jogging path just past East 105th Street in Central Park? Enquiring mind wants to know!

A very brief update...

Today we hit the DOUBLE-DIGITS! Official training walk today was 10 miles. I not only survived, I walked a bit extra thanks to losing my sense of direction entirely and starting of walking the wrong way on the last 4 mile loop:-) By the time I got home at 2:30pm, my pedometer read 14.01 miles!

On another note entirely, special thanks to my friend Mary Anne Gruen, of Starlight Blog who has given me two very nice awards for this blog, which I will eventually get around to putting up at some point this weekend - I PROMISE!

Also in the works - I will be adding a Twitter gadget so that my tweets and pictures from my training sessions, etc. will show up in the sidebar of this blog. I hope to get this done tonight.

On the fundraising front... I am past the halfway point!!! Any and all donations are still being very gratefully and cheerfully accepted at http://tinyurl.com/crawlcarolcrawl, which is a shortened web address for my Team In Training fundraising page. Seriously, every dollar helps! Those $5 donations really do add up! I'm halfway there, can you help me cross the finish line? Heck, if you want to give me $5 just to get me to shut up about my fundraising, that's cool too - I'll take it! :-)

Map of Saturday's Training Walk

This is more or less a map of yesterday's training walk. It's not exact, but it's close enough to give everyone an idea of the torture our coaches put us through:-)

WOW! This was pretty AMAZING!

As one of the winners of a recent Team in Training fundraising contest, I received an exclusive invitation to tour the cancer research lab of Dr. Chen-Kiang, a recipient of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society funding. She is currently researching a new treatment for myeloma aimed at halting cancerous cell division to more effectively treat the cancer. If successful, these treatment methods could eventually be applied to many other types of cancer.

First of all, I have to admit that at first, I wasn't exactly sure just how interesting a lab tour would be. I thought it might be highly and possibly boringly over-scientific. Boy, was I wrong! First of all, they fed us! They had ordered these absolutely delicious organic sandwiches, bottled water, and best of all, coffee!!! (Thank you, Deidra!) Not only that, but at several points during her presentation, Dr. Chen-Kiang stopped and made us feel guilty about the number of sandwiches still on the trays, so we had to eat some more!

If there is one thing Dr. Chen-Kiang is not, it is boring! Her enthusiasm and the joy that she finds in her work was obvious. You could tell that she totally loves what she's doing by the way her face completely lit up as she told us about some of the important discoveries they've made in blood cancer research. This was second only to the way her face lit up when she talked about her daughter, who is currently attending medical school there. Her passion for her work is infectious. Far from being overly-technical, Dr. Chen-Kiang has an amazing gift of explaining very complex cancer research and biology to a room full of total non-scientists (seriously, we weren't even close!) To top it all off, she is funny! She has a great sense of humor, particularly when it comes to stereotypes about scientists being a bit like Dr. Frankenstein.

The lab tour was really incredible. We were able to see actual living myeloma cells that are being used to test various treatments, and to see the effects on cells that were treated. What I found really amazing, other than how well some of these treatments are doing what they're supposed to do, was how tiny cancer cells are. Under a microscope, they were about the size of the head of a pin. It's really hard to imagine how something so small can kill a person, but they do.

The research that Dr. Chen-Kiang is doing is aimed at a combination of targeting only the cancer cells, stopping their growth and cell division, and then killing them before they start another growth and division cycle. Dr. Chen-Kiang started working on this back in 1997, and they are on a very encouraging path. One of their treatments is now also being used successfully with breast cancer patients. So, the work her team is doing benefits not only those with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, but with other types of cancer as well.

It is really amazing, and it definitely added something very concrete and very personal to my mission to raise funds for blood cancer research. This is where my fundraising dollars are going, to support the research of cancer biologists like Dr. Cheng-Kiang. To be able to see my fundraising dollars at work was really pretty incredible!