The Splits!

At the finish line this nice San Francisco Fireman was holding a silver platter loaded with Tiffany boxes. Since this was a women's marathon, no clunky heavy medals on a fat ribbon here! Every finisher got a pretty Tiffany's necklace handed by a cute fireman suited up in black tie complemented by Nike sneakers of course! And your pick! Honestly my brain was too shot from all the running especially the blurry last 10 miles to pick who I thought would be the cutest fireman, but looking back I don't think it was a bad choice! ;) Anyways more embarrassing moments to come in detail later! ;)

Total Time: 4:53:58

Mile 1&2: 21.40.88 (Embarcadero)
Mile 3&4: 21.55.89 (Fisherman's Wharf kinda like Times Square/South St. Seaport)
Mile 5: 10.30.41 (Marina with Golden Gate in the horizon/Presidio)
Mile 6: 11.24.86 (the beginning of the steepest UP hill EVER!)
Mile 7: 12.22.07 (Lincoln Blvd)
Mile 8: 9.52.71 (El Camino Del Mar - ha! the beginning of the steepest DOWN hill EVER!)
Mile 9: 11.31.46 (Clement St. and a sharp curve to breathtaking coastal views of the Pacific Ocean)
Mile 10: 10.29.26 (Pacific Ocean coastline)
Mile 11: 11.05.06 (Golden Gate Park)
Mile 12: 10.44.01
Mile 13: 10.24.76
Mile 14: 11.36.50
Mile 15: 10.18.41
Mile 16: 10.06.38 (Great Highway - The longest 10 mile highway EVER! And the worst pavement in the world! At least for me...)
Mile 17: 10.16.07
Mile 18: 12.32.46 (Premature text messages start coming in!)
Mile 19: 11.53.80 (Lake Merced but can't see it! It's all fenced in!)
Mile 20: 11.01.19
Mile 21: 11.31.85
Mile 22: 13.50.51 (Potty stop!)
Mile 23: 12.05.01 (Finally some pretty views again!)
Mile 24: 12.02.85 (Buff Do-Wrap and Pony-Tail holder thingy go off!)
Mile 25: 12.50.48 (My PT Mike finds me. Asks how I feel and runs with me for a bit! Thanks Mike!)
Mile 26.2: 12.05.12 (Yay! finally done! :)

3 days left! ... and I've run 228+ miles?!?!!

Holy smokes, so I just added all the miles I've done for my 'long runs' each weekend since I 'started' the 6-month training on 4/28/07 -- shortly after my birthday. :) And guess what? It's 228 freakin miles!!! That's like Yokozuna at least for me! ;)

1.7+4+3.1+4+6.2+8+10+4+6.2+3.1+5+3.1+5+6.2+8+11.3+13.1+9+12+12+6+15.4+18+13.1+21.4+13.1+6+all the short runs during the week=228+ miles!!!

04/28 1.7M (Parkinson's Walk)
04/29 4M Thomas Labrecque Run/Walk (My first 4M!)
05/05 5K/3.1M Revlon Run/Walk
05/13 New York Junior League Mother’s Day 4M
05/19 Healthy Kidney 10K/6.2M (My first 10K!)
05/26 8M - 2 4M loops in the Park
06/02 10M - CP (probably hurt my heel here!)
06/03 Japan Day 4M
06/09 NYRR New York Mini 10K/6.2M (Oh shit, literally crying afterwards. Must be something wrong)
06/10 RockNRun 5K/3.1M (Dummy still running!)
06/17 WABC Father's Day Fight Against Prostate Cancer 5M (Marsha beats me by 1 second! But now looking back, I had a stress fracture!)
06/20 5K/3.1M JP Corporate Challenge (Where's Nydia?!?!)
06/23 Las Vegas Baby!!! (Ok, sports MD and PT say it's a stress fracture! So a lot of Black Jack to let my heel heal!)
07/01 5M in Wilbraham, Massachusetts (Boston Red Sox rock!)
07/07 REST!!
07/14 10K/6.2M Naples to Naples (Marsha's first 10K)
07/21 8M
07/28 11.3M
08/05 13.1M/NYC Half Marathon! Central Park, Times Square, Battery Park! (My first Half!)
08/11 9M
08/18 12M (2 loops)
08/25 12M (2 loops)
09/02 6M (1 loop)
09/08 15.4M (2 big loops/12M plus 2 lower loops/3.4M!) Hurts...
09/15 18M (3 loops) Hurts more..
09/23 13.1M/Queens Half Marathon! College Point (Poor Lauren actually ran more like 15 miles as the cab driver dropped her off far from the starting line!)
09/30 21.4M/NYRR ING Marathon Tune-up (I can't extend my right leg. Something seriously wrong - quick trip to PT and Michael fixed it!)
10/06 13.1M/Grete Gallop Half and salmon bagel in the Park! (BPR for Half - 10:06 min/mile!)
10/12 6 miles/big loop (Boy, I miss pigging out after a long run as this didn't quite qualify!)

and finally very very soon...Sunday, 10/21 The Nike Marathon! Here is the 26.2 mile race course! And weather looks like a nice sunny low 54, high 65!

This doesn't even include the two short 3-4 mile runs I sometimes did during the week!!!

That's a motherload of miles.

That's like almost 4 hours in the car driving at 60/mph! A trip to Philly?! Although I've never been! Crazy!

Anyways, so am I ready? The sad news is I am not ready to chop my hair off, but the GREAT news is that I'm freakin ready for the marathon!! :) Sorry guys, super doubts about the hair chopping and was totally reinforced today when my coworker Shelley enacted a scissor chopping with her index and middle fingers on my hair. The semi-ticklish pretend hair cutting almost gave me a heart attack. Maybe someday in the future... But not now!

Hmmm what else? Extra motivation to finish as my sister Marsha will be there to greet me at the finish line. I am super proud of her efforts in training, but unfortunately she got injured twisting her ankle in a non-running activity. No worries though. She will try to run/walk it! Maybe we'll even finish together as she's doing the half and I'm doing the full! JK.

So what next?! I fly out Friday really early in the morning, something like 7am. I arrive in San Francisco at 10:30am and I guess I have the entire day to kill on my own until my girlfriend is done working. I'll pick up my bib and I guess chill out on my own. I hear San Fransisco is nice. Haven't been back in 5 years.

Then my sister Marsha arrives on Saturday. We'll hangout and walk around. Saturday night there is a pasta party but will try to avoid a pasta food coma. Then the race is on Sunday! It starts at 7am. I hope to finish - just finish - but maybe by lunch time will be done. :) Then Sunday night and Monday nothing but sightseeing and SF misbehaving. :)

Please say your prayers for me. I am certain I will cross that finish line, as I am dedicating my *very* first marathon in memory of my dear friend and work colleague Michael Feng who fought extremely strong and hard every step of the way before passing in February 2005 at the very young age of 26. My run is in honor of Mike's courageous living and strength!

Lastly, I want to thank my family, friends, friends of friends, and colleagues for their continued positive support -- the 13.1 red velvet cupcakes (yum!), bunch of bananas, one lost sumo returning as sumo triplets and their MMA buddies!, halfsie mascot, compression bandages, band-aids, ointment, ice packs, ibuprofen, standing appointments to my PT and sports MD, running maps but still getting lost in the Park, body glide & muscle cream, eating tips, jelly beans, yucky GU gels, tanks of all the Gatorade flavors, and TNT mentoring/training which I guess I will wear the ugly Barney Purple Singlet on Sunday, and so much more... -- all along the way during my 6 month training (from couch bar potato to now semi-runner!!!) as well as the super generous donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As of today there is only $97 left to reach my goal of $3900, and that's BEFORE my company match!!! That's amazingly incredible!!! Thanks again for your awesome generosity!!!

I'll see you all next week for the 'Elaine Misbehaving' Post-Victory Party(s)! Ciao ciao y adios adios! :)

11 days left! Salmon Sandwich and The "Taper"...

Hmmm so I "only" ran 13.1 miles during Saturday's 10/6 Norwegian Half Marathon. The best thing about this half marathon compared to the other two official ones (NYC and Queens) I did during this training is that all the finishing runners got a yummy salmon and Norwegian cream cheese bagel at the end. Running for Norway has definitely been one of my favorites. :) Norwegian waffles were served as well but we didn't want to wait in line. :/

My net time was surprisingly my best time for a half considering the humidity and heat - 2:12:29 like a 10:06 min/mile. I am happy with that. Don't want to die out there... I swear around mile 8 I had to stop and walk for a minute though and a few more times. It was too hot and humid, and there were only fluid stations every 3 miles. I feel bad for the Chicago Marathoners. It must have been really hot there. Hopefully it won't be as hot in San Francisco and they'll have plenty of fluid stations.

Anyways, now this is part of the "taper" from that ridiculous 21.4 mile long run. I let my body, rest, repair as I prepare for the marathon which is only in 11 days! I promise to eat and drink well. :)

OMG - 21.4 miles on Sunday, 9/29!! 20 days left!!

I am wasted but I feel like I could do a few more miles at the end. My right leg is a little messed up - stiff to straighten out this morning! I will have to find my sports doctor and physical therapist this week! Am I ready for the marathon in 3 weeks?!! I feel ready! ;) This last run was the "peak" of my long training runs meaning it's as close as you get to the full marathon distance of 26.2 miles and then you start to taper with your long runs before the event. I really wanted to sleep in and unpack from my move but I got out there bright and early and did it! 3 big loops + 2 lower loops all counter-clockwise. I started at 8:15am and finished at 12:30pm. 21.4 miles in 4:15, so an average of 11:45.6 minute/mile?!

What did I learn from this run?
* The hill at the top of the loop never stunk more than it ever did, especially on the third loop.
* I had to walk for some parts towards the end to not force a muscle cramp on the top of my right foot the last 2 to 3 miles.
* I need one more jelly bean packet (originally brought two packets eating a one before).
* Realized tucking jelly bean packet under sports bra is handier than holding on to it by hand while running for 15 miles.

What's in store for the next 3 weeks before 10/21 Marathon Day?!!
10/6 Norwegian Half Marathon/13.1 miles in Central Park!
10/13 6 miles
10/21 SF Marathon/26.2 miles!!! Here's the course!

Queens Half Marathon/13.1 miles on Sunday, 9/23!

2:23:15!!! And I didn't forget my chip this time!! ;)

The race was fun, but early at 7am and in Queens! I guess I got spoiled by having Central Park so close. Lauren ran the race with me, but we didn't see each other until after the race. We took separate cabs to McNeil Park in College Point Queens which was a good half hour away. Was kinda fun traveling but since we weren't so familiar with the area, the cab drivers dropped us off "near the park". For me it wasn't so bad, but for Lauren, she said her cab driver dropped her off about 1 to 2 miles away from the start line! She says she probably actually ran more like 15 miles rather than 13.1 miles!

Anyways, the course was nice. A lot of turns and houses! Felt like running in someone's backyard. Shooting for 20 miles this weekend. Wish me luck!! ;)

30 days & $888 left?!?!!!

Hola hola.

I'd like to thank all of you for your generous donations and support during both our marathon training and fund raising efforts! I was just looking at how much is left for the fund raising page.

Looks like the most recent donation (Thanks Lauren!!!) put us over the $3K mark at $3012!!!

Strangely the difference left is $888?!?!!!! (To reach my fund raising goal of $3900!) What are the chances the numbers would work out that way?

I am a lucky person.

Also don't forget should we reach our fund raising goal, after finishing da marathon I'll chop off my hair and donate it to Locks of Love! My hair will go to a little kid who has lost his/her hair due to cancer treatment.

34 days left. I did 18 miles yesterday!

18 miles biaaaaatches!!! (3 big/6 mile loops counterclockwise in the Park) I couldn't believe I finished it. I woke up intending to do the long training run with NYRR but they started really early at 7am. The long training run is for anyone running a long race and the course is 18 miles and you do whatever length you feel like. I decided to just do the 3 big/6 mile loops to get my 18 mile run in. The benefit with the training run is that they had fluid stations along the course.

So 18 miles?!? Yah, that's insane right? Here's the breakdown:

Pre-run Banana, Water
09:05-10:10am First Loop/0-6M (Water, Fruit Roll-up thingy)
10:10-11:18am Second Loop/7-12M (Water, Fruit Roll-up thingy)
11:18-12:40pm Third Loop/13-18M (Orange Gatorade and a lot of inspiration)
Post-run Red Gatorade
Post-run Workout on the tummy and stretching

That's something like a 11:56.4 minute/mile over 18 miles.

Highlights of this run?
* Dampness. First time for me running on wet pavement. Had to be careful to not slip.
* Around mile 5 and 10 I decided to "eat and run" by nibbling on my Fruit-Rollups. I thought I'd give it a try since I saw a guy running while eating a banana. It wasn't that bad no worse than running while drinking water.
* Around mile 9 it started to drizzle and lightly rain which prior to this run was totally foreign to me. Good thing I had my orange Adidas shades with me to shield me from the rain. I was more concerned about my shuffle buzzing out which was clipped to my bra strap all exposed to the rain. So I decided to clip it on the waistband of my running shorts and protect it underneath my tank.
* Hmm around mile 15 my legs felt like they were burning. I was still amazed at how much my body could take without dying. I also thought about how to prepare myself for when I cross that marathon finish line. I heard some people cry from tears of joy... or pain. I had a semi-preview of that around mile 16. It was something like "*#&@! Why the #@^* am I doing this again? This is ^&@(ing insane!" And then I thought about my family and friends and all the reasons to push through it. That was inspirational. I guess that's why most people only do up to 20 miles before the race. The last 6 miles are inspirational.
* Post-run I felt very cold. While I ran it was hot, but since it was 60something degrees outside (similar to what the SF Marathon climate will be) I'll have to think about what to wear while I'm not running.
* Injuries? A little sore on the legs, but I feel like someone really chubby stepped on the top of my feets. Not good. Like when I curl my toes in and out like to make a foot fist the top of my feet muscles are sore. I don't think it's a show stopper though.

Now to the exciting part of what did I eat after burning 1800 calories?!? :) (I heard from my PT it's about 100 calories per mile burned.) Considering my not-so-good diet from last weekend's 15.4M long run, I tried to be "healthier" by picking up 2 Burger Joint Cheeseburgers (med. rare) w/ the "Works" immediately after my Post-run Workout. ;) Then later in the day I had a green apple. Then chilled out and watched the Bosox game (which Yankees got their butts majorly kicked after that stupid Giambi incident the night before) over sirloin steak sandwich, mashed potatoes, prosciutto wrapped greens (yum!) and beer. Oh and for dessert apple crisp pie with vanilla ice cream, Frito chips, and Reese's Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies. :) That was only for Saturday. Sunday was even better. I had 4 eggs (two poached, two sunny side up, sausage and porcini mushrooms sauteed in a yummy red wine sauce, black coffee, bread, 2 ice cream cones, creamy goat cheese profiteroles, soup dimplings, udon beef noodles, cheezits, veggie/potatoe chips in mango habenero salsa! Oh yea and a diet coke!

What's up for the rest of Elaine's training schedule? :)
09/23 Queens Half/13.1mile Marathon!
09/30 20 miles or NYRR ING Marathon Tune-up/18M
10/06 12 miles/2 big loops
10/12 6 miles/big loop
10/21 The Marathon/26.2! (I hope it doesn't rain!)

40 days left til Oct 21st! Still alive! How am I doing? 15.4 miles baby!

Sorry it's been a while since I've blogged, but my training is going well. We may have that run if I have enough energy left to coordinate! This is hard work! P.S. I am not in the hospital, and my ankle is recovering well, although there is still a lingering pain it's not a show stopper. ;) Also please don't forget donations for my fund raising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are still accepted here! I'm still short of my fund raising goal of $3900 ($2282 to date), so any bit you can help is much appreciated! Thank you for your generosity and much much support!!!

If you help my sister and I reach it, I promise to donate 10 inches of my hair to Locks of Love. FYI, I've never had short hair before except for when I was "Little Elaine", so this is a huge sacrifice and actually makes me a little more nervous than running the marathon itself! :S I've been told I am an excellent candidate and have actually been offered mucho dinero (several thousand dollars) by wig salons for my hair. Apparently you can donate hair as long as it's in the form of a ponytail, and it's not bleached, been on the floor, synthetic or in dreadlocks. Da rules here. Where does my hair go? To little kids with cancer who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment. Here are some of them and they look happier. On a side note, did you know it takes 6 human hair pony tails to make one wig? Amazing.

So how am I doing? Insanely OK since the Half/13.1M on August 5th. And despite forgetting my race chip I did ok! I think I did it in 2:30. Since then it's been 3-4M for my short runs during the week. Thanks to those of you that come do the short runs with me! Makes it less boring! :)

My long runs:
8/05 - 13.1M (NYC Half)
8/11 - 9M
8/18 - 12M
8/25 - 12M
9/02 - 6M
9/08 - 15.4M (2 big loops/12M plus 2 lower loops/3.4M!)

The 15.4M was crazy. I wanted to quit after 12M. I had one of those disgusting GU gels (Strawberry Banana Flavor) about 15 minutes before the run. I got to the Park and started around 9:30am and finished at 12:40pm. Thank God iPhone has a timer and logs laps. I did:

1st big loop/6M - 1:08:55.4 (Wawa and Jelley Belleys)
2nd big loop/6M - 1:12:38.3 (Wawa and Gu #2)
3rd lower loop/1.7M - 29:18.8 (Wawa and Gatorade)
4th lower loop/1.7M - 20:16.6 (Inspiration)

So the total time was about 3:10 with an average 12:20 minute/mile.

I was wasted. Things I learned about this run:
* The hill at the top of the park REALLY DOES suqk especially when you do it twice AND counter-clockwise!!!
* 15 jelly belley beans in running short pocket can turn into ONE jelly bean quickly, I think around mile 4. And if you're not careful, could possibly get lost in your shorts...riiiight.
* I need to sew some more food/fuel pockets into my running shorts!
* Around mile 8 it was so freakin hot, I took my tank off. I was one of those jerks in the park running semi-naked, but who cares? It was hot! So as I was running I tried to tuck the shirt that felt like a pound from the sweat collection into the back of my running shorts. I pulled my right shoulder muscle in the process and had to roll out the pain WHILE I CONTINUED TO RUN. Stupid. Not trying that again ever! Who would have thought running expends all your energy you can't risk pulling a muscle in doing simple tasks like tucking a shirt into the side of your running shorts?!?
* Around mile 13 I literally was dying. I stopped and bought an orange Gatorade on the East Drive and chilled out for about 10 minutes. Yea..1.7M in just under 30 minutes is lame, but who cares? I needed some energy and stretched for a bit - made sure I could still see my ankle. But this is the ridiculous thing. I pulled my right chest muscle OPENING up the Gatorade bottle. My God it hurt. I had to massage out the knot before finishing the run. I'm definitely not opening any bottles between now and the race. :P
* Lastly when I finally finished all 15.4 miles I was in the little area in Columbus Circle chugging ANOTHER Gatorade, this time Red. Gotta change it up. And mental note to self, I'm looking forward to NOT drinking Gatorade for a while after this insanity is finally over! This guy who was bike riding and took a stop looked over at me and said, "You look wasted." Awesome. I told him how far I run, and he said he had to bike another 50M. I don't know what that means but sounds like a lot. The point is I was in the middle of stretching my quad when he bothered me, and ended up almost pulling my hamstring when he made that comment. Had to stretch that out quickly before it tightened up and got worse.
* Post-run I am Ibuprofen 400mg _minimum_ junkie.

Other than that it wasn't bad. I stretched and did some tummy exercises a good hour after that. I bumped into my fan club at the gym. My trainer says I look awesome! ;) Sunday I felt good and could still walk around without help. I also ate a bunch of crap on Sunday including chocolate mouse cheesecake, fried seafood, crab meat cheese dip, beer, gummy bears, gummy coke bears, sour gummies, runts (remember those?), chocolate cheesecake brownie ice cream on a wafer cone (my favorite!), black coffee (which I never drink!), glazed dunkin' donut, pad thai, lychee fried rice, pasta marinara... AND the amazing thing is that I woke up the next day and was still hungry... :)

What's in store for the next long runs?
9/15 - 15-18M
9/22 - 15-18M or Queens Half Marathon/13.1M
9/29 - 20M
10/6 - 13M
10/13 - 6M
10/21 - The Freakin Marathon/26.2M

It's highly personal at this point. You go out there and see how you feel. I think I'm a lot more in tune with my body in that I can figure out when I need to go to the hospital versus it's sore muscles and comes with the territory... Thank you all for your continued support and positive attitude! I'm really amazed at how far I've come along! :)

All My Sumo Season 1 - Season Finale!

Is Sumo's destiny to be with Claude? Enter Bunny for the Season Finale!

My NYC Half Marathon/13.1M Day (& how I won a free post-race ride!)

Elaine's "Part 1" NYC Half Marathon Day Photos here! Did Elaine make it? Stay tune for more pics!!!

pow POW! pow POW! pow!

Run for Elaine! Awesome Fund Raiser! What better way to show Elaine your "stuff" AND help raise funds AND support her marathon training by volunteering your spirit and athleticism by running in the Park? Yah, I've been listening for several months now about demanding 5-minute miles from me! Now it's time for YOU to show ME how it's done! Spectators and hecklers welcomed!!!

Your "registration" (and if you just wanna watch then "spectator") fee/donation/generosity will help towards my fund raising goal here for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

Very very very special prizes for the fastest runners, and most of all Goodiieee Bags for everyone! And yours truly will be the "Gun Girl".

Worried that you may not be fast enough? Spectator, wondering what's in it for you? No sweat. We will have extremely competitive categories of the following levels of endurance and trash talking:

+ I'm taking it Easy! (speed walking)
+ I'm a tempo runner. Endurance is my middle name! (10-12 min/mi)
+ I use to run in high school! No sweat! (8-10 min/mi)
+ I run every day. Morning, noon, and night. I run to win! (6-8 min/mi)
+ I am #1 Running Heckler!!!
+ and much much MUCH MORE!!!

Lastly you vote for the course length and propose any new games we can do!

Stay tune for more details here!!!

#1 Marathon Running Fan

Sumo is Elaine's #1 Marathon Running Fan. Sadly, Elaine lost Sumo somewhere during her work commute from Midtown West to Midtown East. Building Security checked for Sumo, but he was no where to be found. Luckily, Sumo was found by a young British boy vacationing in NY. He took it back to his parents home in Notting Hill, but he himself dropped it while skipping down to the Picadilly line. The Sumo was then found again and put on Ebay.

Will Sumo make it back to Elaine?

Find out here for "All My Sumo" Episodes specially delivered by Sue May Resslar.

"All your sumo are belong to us."

11.3 miles! Thank God for Gatorade!

So the NYC Half is in less than one week. I thought for my Saturday long run, I would do some variation of the loops in Central Park. The day before I had e-mailed chat with Wade, my TNT mentor. I've only met him once but through the various email conversations we've had I feel like we've known each other much longer. He is awesome and has been great support! He told me to take it easy and it was ok that I run solo since I was still recovering from my kankle episode. I also think he suspected I like being the loner I have always been at least when it comes to gym time.

The goal for this week was to run an "easy" 9-11 miles. That is "easy - try not to hyperventilate" pace, not "easy" run. I think by pure mileage definition no 9 to 11 mile run is considered "easy" by normal human being standards. My plan was to do the big loop (6.2 miles) and the lower loop two or three times (1.7 miles is one lower loop). Much like the previous week, I should have started my run EARLIER.

I started at noon. (I know. I later got yelled at by my running fans at the NY Running Company, but they are serious runners. I'll try to listen for next time. I got high-fives anyways and they even volunteered to run in my fundraising run in the park for a "Dinner Date with Elaine". More to come about that later! IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME AND YOURS TRULY WILL BE THE GUN GIRL!)

The big loop was not too bad. I finished in an hour and fifteen, which was expected since it was hot. I stopped at every concrete structure that resembled a water fountain which is pretty much ever mile or two. I told myself that there is nothing disgraceful about stopping to rest every few miles. :) Also, note to all you runners out there. An impostor water fountain exists in the park. It looks like a water fountain but it's actually a dog's p*ssing ground or fire hydrant? Beware of impostor water fountains. They are so mean. Anyways, you would think that if it took me an hour and change to do 6.2 miles then doubling that time would be about 12 something miles, so I should be done in about 2 hrs total, right?

WRONG. I was famished. I thought I was going to die and quit right there. I was hungry, thirsty, and wanted to go home. I decided to push myself and do the lower loop atleast twice to get the requested mileage in. I got to 72nd St and there was a man selling Gatorade. I stopped completely and did a quadruple-double-take between the cart man and the beverages he was selling. I also was checking my body much like when race car drivers pull over during a lap in a race to make sure the car is in check. Tire wheels are like my legs. I made sure I could still see my knee and ankles. Everything was sore, but my self medical diagnosis was that I was in check to continue running. The measurement to pass? I could still see my ankle bones. :)

Fuel though? Fuel is like electrolytes. The cart man had like red, orange, blue, and yucky lime-green Gatorade flavors. I think my foul experience with a lime-green gel has had major life repercussions because I have not consumed anything lime-green since then. That is the most nasty sh*t I have ever consumed, but if I would describe how nasty and foul both the taste AND texture was and draw similar analogies I would probably get flagged by fellow bloggers so I will not get into it.

I got orange Gatorade? Why orange? Because much the running nerd I have become the orange Gatorade matches my new running shades that never fog up like my old ones because there are little holes in for air ventilation for the speedy runner that I am! Not to mention it resembles the amber branding for my work! More vital matters though it is not like the nasty foul lime-green gewy gel. I downed it as in the Gatorade commercials like you wouldn't believe. I was the Gatorade commercial. I don't think I've ever funneled anything that fast in my life - under 30 seconds flat I'm sure. Anyways, I felt refreshed and revived. At that point I guess it was around mile 8?

As I approached mile 9, although the Buff headgear totally kept the beads of sweat from trickling down into my eyes and nose, I was still hot, sweaty and the thought of stripping down naked became more appealing during the last mile even though there were plenty of people in the park at this point I didn't care.

No, I didn't get denuda... I had this annoying shoulder strap on my tank that kept falling down over my right shoulder. I must run lop-sided? I guess it would have been sexy if I was doing anything else but running. It was utterly annoying. So I did what I thought about for an entire loop - I took my tank off. The tank is supposedly made out of "Dry Fit" material that wicks moisture and dries quickly, but I am most positive I could have wringed a cup of sweat out of that... Then I started to think that I wish I ran faster so I could be over this already. Note to self, that will be my goal next year... Running faster at this point I may just pass out.

The last loop that brought me to 11.3+ some change to Columbus Circle felt very promising like I may actually be able to finish the NYC Half the following Sunday! I conserved my energy so I could try to look good getting to the water fountain. Much to my dismay there were about 4 college dudes huddling around the only water fountain at the Columbus Circle entrance. I patiently stood in line waiting for them to finish taking water. What I really wanted to do was to knock them all down and dive for the water fountain. I hate waiting especially when I am thirsty for agua! One guy was taking a sip of water, then the next guy was about to take it. Then one of them saw me either sweating from workout exhaustion or more simply annoyed I had to wait. After he took his sip of water, he yelled at his Gap-wearing friend and said I deserve it more than he does and then proceeded to ask him what he's ever accomplished in life. I think they were like 21 or 22 Abercrombie & Fitch types. I felt bad, but who cared at that point. I'm sure they could wait 20 seconds as I replenished my body water.

After that I proceeded with my usual ritual of stretching out and stuff. I thought about if I could loose 5 or 10 lbs that's less weight to run with. Running without the tank made me see I have love handles! Running love handles! I needed a picture to prove it, kinda like those Body for Life before and after photo shoots? I asked this nice family to take my picture for me after the stretching was done. Turns out they were European - mother and father with son - and they didn't understand a word of English coming out of my mouth. Although they didn't understand me, I gestured snapping a photo, and they got it. See, the world can get along if we all try!

So here I am in my undies pretty much and finished my run. I don't think I would noticed if we were on a beach though so no harm done to the Central Park Community. If the guy in the background of the pic can go topless, I should be able to as well! He's hairy!

Ok, wish me luck on Sunday! It's my "Plan B Race"! B for backup in case I decide to resign from Plan A the Full!

P.S. I found out what a "double" is in terms of running. So NY Running Company is a cool running store I discovered during the Honeymoon Phase of my marathon training back in April where I pretty much dropped a gazillion dollars on various running things from The Shoes to Pepper Spray of which I have not yet tried. Most importantly they have smart staff who know how to pick out running shoes for you. They watch you walk to observe your arch and any pronation that may occur.

Jarode can contest that I am a huge fan of their running shorts. Anyways the store is in Columbus Circle Shops and is my "home base" after each run I have in the park. The mall has cleaner bathrooms, water foutains, and of course, the store! Anyways, a "double" is when you run in both the morning and afternoon. A "triple" is when you do am, pm, and pm+. Why on earth would anyone want to do that? They are hardcore. Oh yes, and I promised to give a shout out to both Jarode and Matt. Thank you guys for letting me sit on your couch reserved for customers trying on running shoes! You guys promised to participate in my fund raising run for a date with me. Don't forget it! I will be the gun girl. ;) We'll do it after the Half... Peace out!

"I don't like either of the mascots...

...I have attached the one I think you should use." -S

Wat the..?!?!? So wrong!!!

To the left to the left...

Oh yah. Please make sure you vote for my Halfsie Mascot by Aug 4th. Do it now otherwise you know you'll forget! ;) Even if you have been slacking and haven't (yet!) donated your generosity away to my fundraising page or maybe simply because you weren't so sure I could do it, I forgive you! At least get your vote in now on which mascot will help inspire me to the finish line!!! :)

Where did I find these awesome characters? Today, I found this cute girl tank tee and a doggie tank tee dress at the 7th Ave Street Festival. It was like love at first sight - twice! I spotted them at first glance walking down 7th Ave but good thing the "Angel" on my right shoulder told me to stop being so selfish! Don't interrupt your date's birthday and keep on walking! You know it's going to take you an hour to try them on and figure out which one is most adorable! Yes, I know! I am such a good human being! I kept quiet and continued walking... However, coming back up 7th Ave I saw them again! They were both so adorable I couldn't resist, so as soon as I had a chance to be alone I made it just in time before the festival ended. Both Doggie and Red-She-Devil fit perfectly and destined to be with mii! :)

So who will be my Halfsie Mascot on Sunday, August 5th?!?!? As long as you cast your vote by August 4th, your vote just may make a difference!!! See poll to the left! To the left to the left (fade out)...

P.F.S. In Mac Firefox, the lame Blogger Template (yes, I confess I cheated but who has time to create a website from scratch?!?) appears to be cutting off the text for my voting options in both the label and the tooltip! Lame! So here it is cut and paste manually! Make your vote count now!

Who should I wear for the Halfsie? Please cast your anonymous vote by August 4th! I don't want to be figuring out what I'll be wearing the morning of the race!!!
* Duh, the freakin Doggie! He looks loyal to his owner. Besides who could resist such a cute puppy if you pass out and need medical assistance!
* Obviously the Red-She-Devil! She's hot, and her radiant emerald eyes will hypnotize all obstacles that get in your way through those 13.1 miles!!!
* Boring TNT-shirt! It's Barney purple and not even worthy of posting to the blog! And they don't even have a mascot (I think!)...

I promise to wear something purple for the team though!

14 days left until the NYC Halfsie!

3.4 mile runs on Tuesday and Thursday last week (2 lower loops in the park). Man on Saturdays I do my long run and I missed the 8:30am 4M race in the park due to some Friday night hanging out. Thanks Rick! I would avoid crazy nights before a long run the next day. The next day I was so slow. I normally do my runs at the crack of dawn. Before I knew it the clock read 4:15pm. 4:15!!! I dragged my butt out of the apartment to the park. It was hot. It was the first time I used the iPod portion of my iPhone and it is very cool. I was on about mile 5 when Allen called. The music literally "fades" out, and the call "rings" in. I answer the call. I must have ran another 1 miles with Allen on speaker phone. Thanks Allen! You are now my official honorary running partner! After we hungup, the music "fades" back in. Totally off the hook!

So how far did I run? Who knows but I'll do the calculations shortly. I know I was suppose to do 8-10 miles though. Here it goes:

1.0000 miles = Columbus Circle counter-clockwise to East 72nd St.
0.9936 mile = E72nd Street north to E90th Street
3.32 mile = E90th Street hopped on bridle path loop around reservoir (counter-clockwise twice)
2.00 miles = E90th/5th south to 59th/Lexington for some water and OJ
------------
8 miles (ok so I am rounding up and hopefully there are some under estimates here! I think I finished around 6pm, so my slow 12 minute mile for 1hr 45min is like 8-10 miles right? Gotta figure out how to calibrate the Nike iPod.)

The good news is that I feel sore but still healthy. No major pains. Next Saturday will be 9-11miles. Then you know what happens the following Sunday? The Half! Only 14 days left until the Halfsie!

My legs are precious! Does 10K run + 10K walk = 20K long run? :S

So after all that calcaneous injury nonsense, I have come to realize that my legs are precious and need to be taken care of very well before, during, and after my runs. Otherwise I will end up at the hospital.

I suppose every runner has their own ritual of non-running activities revolving around their long runs. See, people don't just window-shop a marathon. Eh hum let me say most people because I have heard of people entering a marathon cold turkey. That's 26.2 miles to run/walk/crawl/whatever you have to do to finish. That's when people's toe nails turn black and fall off. Lose hair in all the wrong places. Really bad stuff.

To put things in perspective, to do a full 26.2 miles which BTW is the rough equivalent of driving a car for 1/2 an hour at 60mph.

During my resting time I did tummy exercises, strength trained, balanced myself on stability pods, and rolled out my calves and a bunch of other cross-training cardio stuff like the eliptical machine and swimming. I even started massaging my own poor legs with special cream that's suppose to penetrate and soothe the muscles. At traffic lights I find myself doing calf raises, and if I'm sitting down toe raises and stretches. Someone had recommended an ice bath, but the thought of 0 degrees anywhere near you know what is a bit petrifying still. I'll have to work my way up to it, but I have found taking a cold shower (like the knob all the way to the right for maximum coldness) after the long run helping a lot. Normally I am a hot shower type of person. The coldness must be numbing the pain away. :)

So how am I doing? My July training schedule goes something like this:

7/14 7-9 miles
7/21 8-10 miles
7/28 9-11 miles
8/4 20 Mins Run
8/5 NYC Freakin Half Marathon! Starts at 7:00am but you must be in the corral by 6:15am! Nutz!

with Sunday 30-40 Mins recovery run, and Tuesday/Thursday 30-60 Min cardio workouts or cross-training.

I did 2 10Ks so far! And the good news is that I didn't die! And today I did my first "recovery run" back into my training and I feel good. I didn't believe in "recovery runs" at all a few months ago. The thought of after your long run like 7-9 miles and the next day you run another 3-4 miles easy is unfathomable to me. But I did it! Yesterday I did a 10K race with my sister. And today I did the lower loop twice - that's 3.4 miles. Booyah! So that's good progress.

I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but for one race on June 18th which was a 5M, for some reason she claims she beat me in the Father's Day race. If you read her blog entry and see the NYRR results:

Marsha's BS June 23rd Entry

WABC Father s Day Fight Against...
June 17, 2007 Kwong, Marsha F31 Jersey City,
NJ 5.0 54:03 10:48 4305 1323 544 44.8 %
WABC Father s Day Fight Against...
June 17, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York,
NY 5.0 54:04 10:48 4308 1326 418 44.7 %

she did beat me by one second! Watever!!!! I was waiting at the finish line to do what I think would be sibling victory dance with my sister, but the competitive dork she is she had to speed past me. Good thing she didn't collapse from her asthma!

So for the 7/14 Naples Park to Park race which is her first 10K ever, I had to kick her butt!

Naples-New York Park to Park
July 14, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York,
NY 6.2 1:13:01 10:57 4224 1755 728 44.6 %

Naples-New York Park to Park
July 14, 2007 Kwong, Marsha F31 Jersey City,
NJ 6.2 1:17:02 11:36 4471 1930 768 42.2 %

I beat her by practically 5 minutes and just under 200 runners! All jokes aside, I am proud that she finished! Good job Marsha! :P

Lastly I want to say the 10K on Saturday started and ended on 102nd St on the Eastside Dr. Here's an excerpt from my sister's blog, as I am too tired to write it in my own words, but question for you runners out there. Does 10K run + 10K walk = 20K long run? :S I was suppose to do 7-9 miles on Saturday but ended up running 10K then walking about another 10K to get home. Oh yea and I saw Stu and his family (Sammy and Benji are so cute!!!) as well as Ali in the park, so they are my first hand witnesses that I am running! :)

...So the ridiculous thing is that after the run, we decided to walk back to her apartment on the lower west side of the park. The finish line was all the way at the upper east side of the park. Somehow along the way we decide to walk around the resevoir for a change of scenery. We're walking and walking, and somehow ended up walking past the lower part of the resevoir and ended up walking right back up the east side again before we realized we were in the 70s again on the wrong side. So we turn around and walk down museum mile. We're STARVING at this point and go into the Met to eat in there.

Both of us have free admission due to our kick-ass companies we work for. So we walk around in there hunting for food, half wanting to look at the cool stuff inside, and half just need to stuff our faces with food. We evenually get food in the cafeteria in there. I eat too much, and even have a chocolate cupcake... the eating healthy thing has been really hard for me. I am so starving after a run I overindulge which is not good. I also have bad cravings for bad food for some reason.

Anyways, we leave there to walk off our lunch. We got a ways to walk and our feet and legs are REALLY starting to ache. We walk and walk, and it's neverending. I think by the time we get back to her apartment we had walked another 10k in distance between going down the length of the park (the lost and scenic route), and all the looping we did at the Met.

Dr. Roth gives the GO! Yay! Do I hear a "go1go"! ;)

Saw Dr. Roth today. I told him I ran 5M yesterday and he kinda looked at me like I was mentally challenged.

Then he says if I feel ok to cross-train during the week, continue PT, and do my long runs on the weekend to prepare for the half.

At least that's my interpretation of what he told me during the typical wait 30 minutes in the patient room to have him see you for 3 minutes. All jokes aside. I am happy he gave the go1go! Yay! :)

My heel is healing! :) First run after a week plus of rest!

5 Miles with my sister in Massachusetts over the weekend at my parents. We did my parents' neighborhood 5 times. That's right. There is a loop there that is about 1 mile if you add a house. In the boondocks of Massachusetts, it was actually quite nice to run there. The air is cleaner. Seriously no traffic, no people. I think we saw a total of 5 moving cars on the road during the entire run. The best part is that the houses are like New England style. Each house has a yard, with shutters, and mailboxes. Yup that's MAILBOXES with the little flag that goes up signaling the mail lady or man that you have mail for them to pick up.

We used my parents' mailbox to stash bottles of water. ;)

The good news is I felt good. The neighborhood is mostly flat. It wasn't humid. Oh yea, my parents have lived in the same house for the last 30 years, so it was quite inspiring seeing that my sister and I could actually do it 5x when growing up we could barely do it once or twice - that's 2 miles flat.

I am also changing my running style to strike mid- to front-. I didn't think I was a heel striker, but I want to take all pressure off my right heel. The slightly bad news is that I have a shin splint in my left leg. It's lingering. I think I was compensating for it when the whole calcaneus accident happened. I will have to ask Michael the PT about that when I get back to New York. :|

Ok, I'll take resting and a table in Vegas! ;)

6/22 till 6/25 I am in Vegas baby! Nydia was nice enough to invite me last minute to her work thing in Vegas one of her coworkers could not make the trip. Thanks Carlos! :) And work was kind enough to take a few days off with a few weeks notice. Pics of lots of fun in the sun below and my newfound Korean friends from Korea! Rest is good. The highlights of the trip were the ridiculous BJ hands and of course the Grand Canyon. Back to BJ for all you madly addictive degenerate gamblers out there. You know who you are. ;) Ok, so a three-card split on an Ace with two BJs and 20! The dealer busted with 6 up. Then the next day a three-card split on a 7! The first hand the dude gave me a 4, so now I had 11. Double-down. The second hand I got something high. Then the third hand (this is the kicker) the dude gave me another 4, so I doubled down again and I hit a 10! two 21s and an 18 - dealer busted. I ended the last day with a pair of 7s, split, and hellzyah won! :D Did I say I did that. No Dad, I meant my friend...

My date with Vegas!

Grand Canyon with my new Korean friends!

So what does this have to do with running? This post is not totally not running-related. Double negative, confusing huh? So here it goes...I see why people retire in warm climates. My heel felt much better in the 115 degree weather. Very theraputic. I also feel really good about the training I've been doing - all that not including the running. Part of this training is not just running, but nutrition and hydration as well as cross-training activities. I felt that I endured the heat pretty well while I noticed others having a hard time bearing the heat. They were tired and cranky lifting a finger. I was happy and relaxed. :) Must be all the freakin water I drink. My p*ss is clearer than Evian water from the French Alps.

June Races... What did you call me? Kankle?!?!?!?! Um what's a "Kankle"? What the heck is a "Calcaneus"? Who has an extra patella for me?

WTF is a "Kankle"?

I found out it is what rude people say about fat people who are overweight (or pregnant women) when their ankles are so swollen you cannot see their ankle.

That's what my good dear friend Rick called me the other night. Great friend, huh? So I walked into the bar restaurant, and Rick is like some sort of bad-as* martial arts guy who has a "trained" eye for looking at the human body. He said my ankle is seriously swollen (can't see the ankle bone), called me "Kankle", and told me to get it checked out. Well, no sh*t.

Anyways in all seriousness, my right ankle is bothering me MAJORLY. My coworkers are saying I am walking funny. Grrrr.

I had a watchacallit. X-ray done last week. They said both my legs are fine. They being doctors at Columbia Presbyterian. Good thing the doctors are 2 blocks from my office. I love Manhattan. Anyways, I emailed my TNT mentor Wade and asked him what he thought. He recommended I see a sports doctor and/or physical therapist. I also asked Ramon the head TNT coach, and btw both of these guys have done like a gazillion Marathons and Iron Man events, so they are normally USE to pain. I on the other hand AM NOT USE TO ANY TYPE OF PAIN, other than perhaps a wax at the salon. I bruise very easily. Anyways they are nutz. They told me to run it off, but it really does hurt.

So Wade recommended Michael who is my physical therapist. Thank God I have a great medical plan. And Michael just happened to be another TNT running coach! Man, these runners are everywhere! It's like a secret hobby that people do in their spare time. Who would have known? Anyways, I see Michael, and luckily his office is VERY close to my office. Like less than 2 blocks! And he is very nice, patient and good with the therapy.

My right heel continued to hurt, so obviously I am concerned. So many of my friends and acquaintances have already donated it would really sad if I had to give their money back because I can't finish the season! Worse yet, it's like you set your mind to do something and you get blocked. I was not happy but not stupid. I emailed my medical at the work to find a good sports doctor recommendation. So I saw Dr. Roth who was a bit far - on the Upper Eastside - but I managed to go see him. (Look at me complaining about traveling from East Midtown to UES!). Anyways, I see him and we schedule the bone scan. He told me he is concerned that I have a "stress fracture" in my right heel. It's like a hairline crack in your bone that cannot be detected via an X-Ray and hurts like a biaaatch.

So here's the schedule:
6/15 Bone Scan
6/20 5K Corp Challenge
6/21 Call for Bone Scan Results

And...boooooooooooooooooOOOOOOooooOOOOOOooooooo!

Dr. Roth was on vacation, so the backup doctor or someone read the report. She paused and I have this sick sense of knowing when sh*t is not right. Silence. Then proceeds to ask me: "Well the important thing is how do you feel?" I told her it's still bothering me a little, but the peak of the pain was when I literally cried home like a baby after the 10K race on 6/9.

Faster than Velocity

WABC Father s Day Fight Against...June 17, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York, NY
5.0 54:04 10:48 4308 1326 418 44.7 %

NYRR New York Mini 10K June 9, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York, NY
6.2 1:14:30 12:00 3033 3033 1036 40.7 %

Japan Day June 3, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York, NY
4.0 40:23 10:05 3362 1228 431 47.6 %

Let's put it this way. When I finished the 6/9 race, I was on 67th St. right infront of Tavern on the Green. It took me 45 minutes to walk back to 50s/Broadway. Good thing I had my shades on so nobody could see I was literally drowning in my own tears from the pain.

Every step hurt. The best part was when this couple was pushing their baby's cart and I didn't even notice they were right behind me - on my a**.

Anyways, a "stress fracture of the right calcaneus" meant I had a crack in my right heel which would finally explain why my right heel hurt so damn much. So I read up on all I could find on what better than Google what's out there. They say rest is 4-6 weeks from injury. I also found out that stress fractures happen when your muscles give out and your bones start working. Scary. So I must be a lot mentally stronger than I am physcially. I hope I can still do the race!

Oh yea, and I hope my parents don't read this. I know Mom won't because she's not exactly computer savvy. Dad will kill me. Sorry Dad! :)

The "Honeymoon" Phase is over! My fundraising page is up!

Dear God! Ok, so the "Honeymoon" Phase is over. I've decided that all this training is insane and I am going to need a lot of help and inspiration and support from family and friends to get through this mentally and physically! I must have a reason, so I had been thinking about this long and hard and here is my story but in all essence I need something larger to inspire me through this arduous effort and literally long road ahead!

I need compliments! TONS of freakin compliments from all of you! Even if they are negative compliments like demanding 5-minute miles, it'll make me smile! ;) Ok nuff said. Here is my story. (I had to paste it here after my sister decided to take over my donation page and call us "Kwong Powaaaah!") Hehe. I already feel I won't hear the end of this mantra in the office. ;) Ok seriously, now if you have time, here is my story to the full marathon training!!! :)

Fundraising Page Here!!! And now My Story! :)

If I haven't already spoken to you about how I committed myself to run the San Francisco Nike Women's Marathon/26.2 miles in October 2007 and how it all started, I will now but promise to keep it short. :) Basically my sister (who is also participating this October but in the Nike Women's Half Marathon/13.1 miles) tried to convince me to sign up for it too in the beginning of 2007. Those of you that know me well know I'd rather be anywhere else other than running on a treadmill let alone running outside! So I delayed registration for both the early and regular deadlines even with multiple reminders from my sister - sorry Marsha! Well, by the time I got around it was way too late and waaaay too full - like waiting list full. I entered the lottery and luckily won race entry for the Half Marathon. So I started to "train" by making frequent visits to the gym, seeing my personal trainer Rafael more regularly (who can also vouch in the beginning I could barely run for more than ten minutes straight!) and doing a few 3 and 5K races as well as my first 10K race!!! This started back in March or April until now - end of May. Even though I had been working and training very hard, I didn't feel 1000% fulfilled given all the effort involved. Something was missing... I needed a reason more than just completing a marathon and a much needed vacation to beautiful San Francisco...

I realized what was missing was running for a cause larger than life. Even though I had guaranteed race entry, I decided to join Team in Training and raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with a fundraising target of $3900. I also decided to go beyond my original goal of 13.1 miles and train for the *full* 26.2 mile marathon! If you're going to do it, you might as well try to do all of it, right?!? ;) You are a probably asking yourself: "Ok Elaine... so where does my donation go?" About 25% of my goal amount covers team expense stuff like hotel share, air travel, professional guidance with nutrition and physical training from team running coaches 2x/week - soooo important so I don't accidentally hurt myself! Man that would be embarrassing!!! But the totally awesome part is that 75% of the $3900 PLUS any donations beyond $3900 go directly to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society toward research, patient services, education, advocacy and community service. I know it seems like a lot of dough and reminded me of the Run Lola Run scene when Lola needed to "raise" 100,000 Deutsche Marks in 20 minutes. She starts running through her head all her friends and family that could help her out. That's exaaaactly how I felt as I thought of you guys!!! ;) Well, I will literally be "running" and am confident that my target goal is totally doable with your help! Maybe think of it as the $1 per mile run? That's all I'm asking! I'll be thinking rather "Run Elaine Run"! :)

So what is the cause? All of us gals (and boyz too!) on Team in Training are dedicated to raise funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. Team in Training is the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's signature fundraising event. In 2006, 35,000 participants worldwide raised $114 million as they trained for marathons, 100-mile cycle rides and triathlons. Over its history, the number of particpants trained has reached 305,000+! I am excited to be part the New York City Chapter - one of the Society's largest chapters - in this valiant effort.

I would also like to dedicate my *very* first marathon in memory of my dear friend and work colleague Michael Feng who fought extremely strong and hard every step of the way before passing in February 2005 at the very young age of 26. If you knew Mike whether at Bloomberg or personally he kept it healthy going to the gym and running regularly and would have definitely done this run with me! :) I remember Mike and I had a bet once - no pizza of any kind for an entire month before the JP Morgan 5K Corporate Challenge. We both loooooved pizza! So I cheated and never told, and Mike won but never knew! I promise no pizza one month before the marathon! ;)

So please, please, please consider making a donation to support my hard work and participation in Team In Training, help advance the Society's mission for blood cancer research, and honor Mike's courageous living and strength! No worries about the dollar amount! Whatever you can afford is totally fine! And remember all donations are 100% tax deductible! You can write it off! :)

Lastly, for most of you that I've chatted with already, I confess! I am not a runner, unathletic by nature, and seriously could barely run 400 meters without stopping in April, but I've gotten better and promise you incremental improvements as we approach race day!!! As a benchmark for those of you who are suspicious whether I can complete a full marathon, I am doing the NYC Half Marathon in August! I am thinking of the whole thing as a bicoastal run - cool huh? And again, even just a $1 per mile would be great!!! I'll let you all know how I do when I finish. With training and dedication I am sure that I'll be thinking of each and everyone of you during my final 26.2 mile run! ;)

Ok, I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress!

Thank you all again for reading this! I really appreciate your kindness, generosity, and support!

-elaine

"Faster than Velocity?" What's a chip? And my 4-, 6.2-, and 3-Mile races this month!

So now that I have become a NYRR member, I go to this place on 89th and Madison. That is the official office of the NYRR club. A few days before a race they have what is called a "bib packet". You go there and pick it up between certain times when the club is open. They give you the bib which is this sorta cardboard/paper with your race number on it and on each corner there is a hole. You pick up saftey pins to attach it to yourself on race day. They also give you what I found out is called a "chip". These are yellow thingymajigs that you strap onto your sneaker. There's a sensor in it that can tell you what your "net time" is for the race. So like if you are not running a 6.5 minute mile or less and in the first five rows of the race, chances are if you are like me and starting at a 12 minute mile mark, you don't actually CROSS the start line until a good ten minutes after gun time.

Anyways, the chip is cool because not only does it know when you crossed the start and finish line, it almost immediately gets updated to:

Faster than Velocity

with all the vital stats on how you did on your race! I did my first 6.2 miles this month. Totally mental. I feel very tired. This training is harder than I originally thought. :( You bergers will get the "Faster than Velocity" joke. Blinding one year at the Corp...hehe.

AHA Start! Wall Street Run May 22, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York, NY
3.0 28:59 9:39 4215 1442 749

Healthy Kidney 10K May 19, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York, NY
6.2 1:04:25 10:23 4705 1822 733 47.0 %

New York Junior League Mother s... May 13, 2007 Kwong, Elaine F28 New York, NY
4.0 41:51 10:27 2367 1011 304 45.9 %

Another race! Revlon Run/Walk 5K!

My work rocks and is sponsoring another race. The Revlon Run/Walk 5K today Sunday, 5/5. That's CInco de Mayo! So many people. 40,000+ will run/walk 5K which is about 3.5 miles. Insane.

So the start line was in Times Square. How convenient. It's only about 10 blocks from where I live. So I walk down there and as the race begins up 7th Avenue, I notice I am running back to my apartment. I was thinking I could have just hopped on the race from 56th St.!!! Oh well.

So I finished it. Was a bit tired and eh hum dehydrated, because I was out the night before. Note to self, do not go out the day before running or do something low key.

I am now a NYRR member!

I am now a NYRR member! I found out there are a lot of benefits to be a NYRR (New York Road Runners) member! You get discounts at local running stores, special rates on race entry for events sponsored by NYRR, and if you run enough races you have guaranteed race entry int the NYC Marathon the following year!

So I signed up for a bunch of races. That should be fun! Also tonight, Lauren and I went to a Team in Training info. session at Wild Salmon after work. Lauren's one of this happy runners. She's done a ton of races plus the half and full marathon. Anyways, Wild Salmon is a fancy restaurant with free wine and food as the people tell you about racing with TNT and raising funds for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I found out they want you to raise $3900. Seems like a lot of money but they have wise runners that will help coach you properly and get you out to your event. That seems cool. Thinking about it... Lauren says she can't do the race in SF because her sister is getting married. Oh well. Wine was good. She and I had a few glasses. Thanks TNT!

"The key to marathon training is to sign up for as many NYRR races possible."

"The key to marathon training is to sign up for as many NYRR races possible." - Fellow colleague from the office.

WTF? Sounds about right though. So I told a few select individuals that I am doing the half marathon in October. Most responses I get is "Great!...How far is that again?" And I have to tell them it's 13.1 miles. Then they have this blank stare look - and they typically respond with "Wow, that's far! You're crazy! Good luck!" Oh yea, and most of the people I work with are computer nerds, so most are unathletic or are like me and aspire at post-college time to be the hard-core athlete we never were as a child because we were too busy studying! :)

Anyways, one of my colleagues Sal did the NYC marathon a few years ago. He looks like he's in shape and knew what he was doing, so I asked him for any tips. He said to sign up for as many races possible.

SoIdidthat.

As it turns out my work sponsors some races held in Central Park, and there was one on Sunday, 4/29. I love my job.

So I had a really hot date on Saturday night and before I left for it, I tried to be a good aspiring runner - atleast mentally and check the "gun time". For those of you non-runners, I found out that's what they call the start time for the race - GUN TIME is at...get this...are you ready? 8:30am!!!!!!!! That's a date killer. I was a little late to the race in the AM. I was a little concerned I would not find it. No worries. I discovered that there is a cult of runners in NYC who LOVE to run on Sunday mornings. It was like a beehive of runners all anxious for the race and the season to start. Must have been several thousand people.

Good thing I live so freakin close to the Park.

So how did I do? I reached my goal which was not to collapse and die before the finish line and do the entire 4 miles.

I finished my first ever 4 mile run!!! Before that I think I had only done a 5K for a corporate challege one year. Yay me! :)

My birthday!!! In Pittsburgh?!?!?

So work has sent me to my lovely school CMU in Pittsburgh. SWE (Society of Women Engineers) has a CMU Chapter for undergrad and graduate students. Work wanted me to talk about my life as a "woman engineer" and all my hard work in being where I am today. So that sounds kinda cool. I love helping people and always wanted to be a teacher if the college thing didn't work out. ;)

Oh yea...did I mention this SWE event falled on April 17th??? That is for my freakin' birthday?

I am a good dedicated devout employee.

Been here since Saturday. This is actually draining. That is across talking to faculty, interviewing new blood...I mean students, and visiting Pittsburgh now as a working professional - Pittsburgh is kinda fun. A bit oxymoron-ish - Pittsburgh fun. So I have been so busy there was no time to run. And the SWE event went fantastically. They are like sponges and I really felt my colleague and I eased some of their questions and concerns about working in a male dominated field. I was happy.

So, the highlight of the work trip besides walking down memory lane was the Monteray Bay Fish Grotto. It is a super fancy restaurant that I could never afford while being a so poor student at CMU! I always only heard about it, so I figured I must go there for my birthday dinner if there's time...so I did! It has a spectactular view of downtown Pittsburgh and Three Rivers. I had Alaskan Halibut(sp?) cheeks! That's head cheeks, not butt cheeks! ;) They were huge and so yummy. My birthday cake was a slice of key lime pie. So yummy!

No running yet. In fact no working out at all other than going to the gym once a week to meet my trainer Rafael. I am soooo bad, but I promise to run soon!

Ok..I'll do it!!!

I had secretly kept this little information to myself for two whole days! I normally cannot keep a secret for the life of me, but this particular secret needed much thought and consideration. I mean how lame would it be if I told people I am doing 13.1 miles, and then change my mind? I tend to say what you mean...mean what you say, you know?

So I told my trainer who totally supported me in doing it. He's great. He's seen me from my fattest to fittest days. Then I proceeded to email my sister and childhood friend Anita who did the Half last year and this year will be doing the full. I call Anita Neater as in Ant Eater. Neater is in LA, I think so will be good to see her in SF. It'll be like a fun trip.

Won't tell the parents yet. Growing up, they were not the athletic/active type and by no means tried to instill this in my sister and me. Only after Marsha and I left the house, they started exercising. Dad does tennis, badminton, and swimming. Although Mom has turned into a major gym rat in her late 40s and 50s - she does back to back classes of step aerobics and strength training. Good thing she joined that YMCA back in the day it was a nasty public gym. The little town I am from decided to build a brand new facility and carried all the "founding members" to the new one with membership for life! Oh yea, and she's also a hard-core Asian Belly Dancer for the last few years! But they won't understand the running thing. I'll keep it to myself from them for now.

Oh craaaap!

With much anticipation of the very soon to be my pre-week birthday celebrations (and already happening as I'll be away to fun in the sun Pittsburgh Saturday through Wednesday), I get home to find this email below...oh craaaaap! I mean what a nice, pleasant surprise... I had been behind with my personal e-mail, and the letter was actually emailed two days ago, 4/9. I had originally entered the lottery to appease my sister who is going through something like a one-third-life crisis and decided to do a half marathon - 13.1 miles in October. She's nutz and tried to drag me into it. Unlike the NYC Full and Half, San Francisoians like to have their Full/Half on the same day. That's 26.2 or 13.1 miles! I told her I would think about it and of course I delayed and missed open registration which sold out in a few days, oh yea and the top-secret early registration too. So I entered the lottery (almost missed the deadline then too, but good think Marsha reminded me).

So I think I had entered the lottery some time in February? It was a long-ass time ago, so I kinda had already forgotten about it, until I saw a reminder in my schedule that lottery drawing was coming up.

Who would have freakin thought that I would be lucky enough to be chosen to this sold out event?!?!? I heard getting into the SF Half/Full is like getting into the NYC Marathon - hard but highly coveted! It felt kinda good to be so lucky, but the last time I ran was so long ago, I don't remember. And I believe it was no more than 2 or 3 miles. And by the way, that's 2 or 3 miles EVER in my entire soon to be 28 year old life! Oh and I am slow too as well as clumsy tripping on sand gravel back in the summer of 2004? Reminiscing now back to that lovely summer fall now...it was hot and I was trying to be a "runner" incorporating running into my weekly routine. I must be super clutzy because I tripped on sand gravel. My right knee and heels of my hand hit the concrete pavement hard. Knee hit first. I bled and have a war scar still to prove it on my right knee. Definitely was traumatized by that accident, and haven't really run since! I told myself I must not be destined to run. Good thing that day I was near my sister's and she and her boyfriend cleaned me up and gave me beer. :)

I wonder if there's still time to back out and get my money back. If not, I'll sell my race entry to someone else who REALLY wants it. It's sold out, right? :)

Dear Elaine,

Congratulations!

Your name was chosen in the special random drawing for one of the remaining spots in The Nike Women's Half Marathon on Sunday, October 21, 2007.

Your credit card has already been charged the $75 registration fee, and your confirmation number and information are below.

Confirmation Number: 22207854-031207063146
If you live near California's Bay Area and would like to train with us, official Nike Club Run SF training runs begin July 7th. Click here to learn more.

We're excited for you to join us!

RUN TOGETHER,
The Nike Women's Marathon