Catching up - AKA a LONG post

This past week was VERY busy. Every night after work and going for my run, I would stay up in my room collecting family addresses and writing a letter. In the end I printed out 73 letters. I stayed up till almost midnight before our 7am group training printing and stuffing envelopes. FORTUNATELY I had help from my boyfriend, roommate and friends. I actually wanted 100 letters and was a little bummed I didn't have enough time, but I can still send them out.

Anyway, I've now had TWO group training sessions and both have been great. The TNT support staff are AWESOME. They actually run with us and encourage us the whole way.

GTS #1: pace assessment. I was nervous for this as I'm sure everyone else was, but it turned out really well. I ended up running the entire 3 miles with my teammate Elisa. We started out at pretty much the same pace. She ended up being a little faster than me, but I wanted to try to stick with her. That ended up working out really well because I ran about 3mins faster than I normally do. The staff was great because they had someone at every turn around the rose bowl to direct us and cheer us on. It's nice to have such a genuinely supportive staff. It was a good session, got to finally meet teammates, the full staff and see Virginia again.

GTS #2: 40 minute run at Hahamonga Park. This place was really neat. It feels hidden away and from what I saw has some really cool trails. it was FREEZING in the morning (although not as bad as first practice) but warmed up a little later. Based off of our times we were broken up into pace groups and given a pace. I am in a group with three other girls and right now we are at a 3:1 pace. This is for interval running which means we run for three minutes and then walk one minute. I have NEVER done this. It was actually kind of neat and I felt great afterward. I also met with my mentor afterward and we discussed different ways to fundraise. I was really stressing about that this past week, but I think now I have a general idea of what I would like to do.

In general I've been doing really well so far. I like running once I get out there, but am not at the point where I am looking forward to a run. My run on Thursday night though wasn't so great. My arch in my right foot started to hurt and I had to walk a couple times. I was disappointed, but started thinking maybe I was pushing a little more than I thought and our coaches keep saying to really watch that we don't do that. Right now we are "building our base", getting our bodies used to the pounding on the pavement, getting us used to the schedule, etc. I have plenty of time to run faster, longer and for more miles. I don't need to pile it on my first month. I think tomorrow when I go running I will take it a little easier and not be so hard on myself. After all my goal is to just COMPLETE a marathon and I don't want to get injured in the process.

Today is my rest day and I LOVE it. Now to go enjoy the little that's left of it. =)