Andrea's Team In Training Page
Racing to Save Lives
Hi Everyone and thank you for visiting my Team In Training home page.
I am training to participate in an endurance event (Honolulu, Dec. 10/2006) as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this marathon (that’s right, a whole 42.2km/26.2mi) in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers.
Now, for those of you thinking I’ve chosen this race for its exotic locale, I’d remind you that there are flatter places to run your first marathon that are just as beautiful. You can take a look at the course and elevation chart if you’d like. The rather large spikes you see at miles 8-11 and 24-26 are the volcanic crater I’ll be running (crawling?) up…twice.
My goal is to complete the distance running in order to raise a minimum of $5200 (…yikes!) before Nov. 22. Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission. Think big and give as generously as you can! Rememeber all donations are 100% tax deductible.
Be sure to check back often for updates and to see my progress. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at andreavictor@gmail.com
Thanks for your support!
Thanks to alll of the contributors: Arun Jolly, Mark Feffer, Hy and Myrna Rosen, Judith de los Santos, Alexander Volodarskiy, Carolyn Aronson, Dana Cyboski, Jarrett Skirball, Becki, Pradeep, Cason & Curran Jolly, Laura & Ed (Colonel) Palmer, Hongmei Yuan, Evan Gutwein, Dr. Xu, Chenhui Zhang, Daniel Ninburg & Ronnie Bush, Rita & Praveen Jolly, Peter Banner, John Sciarrino, Jenev Vahe, Barbara Tazon (aka Cantimplora Espadrilles), Aunt Sue Powell, Barry Z., Rita Varguez, Mary and Amalia Sandoval, Uncle Jim Blomgren, Steve and Kathy Bright, David & Wanida Osgood, Raghav Pasricha, Michelle Haase, Chad Powell, Natascha Steiner, Didi Shalet, Lisa Beckers, Kiren Jolly & Michael Leeds, Debbie, Uncle Sandy and Melanie, Yingjia & Steven Baker, Paul & Barb Aronson, Jack & Chris Healy, Gloria Grossman, Jennifer, Todd, Cole & Emma Jensen, John & Joan Giese, Aunt Bea Anderson, Carl & Lysanne Belke, Beatriz Blanco, Aunt Marcella & Uncle Bill, Robert Rothman, Pablo Landa, Aaron Choy, Lena Quek!
Updates:
October 23/06
This evening I met some of my running friends in Central Park for a bit of cross training. Squats, lunges, calf raises, step-downs, etc. Over and over and over again. We decided to run home after this (most people live near me Murray Hill/Gramercy area, so it was only 2 miles or so). We usually try to run in parks or along east/west river…anything to avoid the crowds. But for some reason we decided to run down 5th Avenue. We were just running as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. But I was thinking about it today and realized our run was actually terribly funny. We passed a movie set in action, a huge event at Tiffany’s with tons of paparazzi and fancy guests, the ice skaters at Rockefeller, followed by some window-shopping in the land of inflated prices...Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Barneys and Henri Bendel. You've gotta love NY.
October 21/06
Today I ran longer than I EVER have before! A grand total of 26.4km/16.5mi. It wasn’t exactly fun, per se, but I was awfully proud of myself for finishing. It's nice to be able to say "I ran 17 miles this morning," not to mention the fact that I did not feel guilty about sitting around the rest of my Saturday. It was a rough run, especially since the apple cinnamon goo I tried did not settle well at all! (For those of you saying ‘what?’ Goo is this terrible substance we force ourselves to swallow in order to replenish our carbs, electrolytes, and calories so we can keep on moving). Note to self: NO MORE APPLE CINNAMON GOO. This long run, like most, I started off exhausted and rather unhappy (wouldn’t you be knowing you had 16 miles ahead of you?). After about 4 miles I remembered why I was doing this and warmed up to the idea. When I finished I stretched, walked home, and sat down. They actually recommend taking an ice bath after our long Saturday runs….as in fill the tub with cold water and add bags of ice… umm yeah. I haven’t been that sore yet.
October 15/06
Today I ran my first half-marathon ever: The Staten Island Grand Prix (21km/13.1mi). Now, granted this is not the farthest I have run, but it was soo difficult. It’s different running in a real race setting. With an official looking number and people actually cheering for you on the sidelines…very cool. It’s easy to get carried away with the few thousand people around you. I had to buckle down to make sure I didn’t burn all of my energy being speedy the first few miles. My time ended up being just over 2hrs; a time of 1hr5min would have been nice…but I’m okay with it…maybe next time. You can take a look at the pictures where I am sporting my new running fancy pants. (I really look like a crazy person in all of them! I’ve decided the key to running pictures is big gestures…I’ll test it out the next race). Also, the time you see at the finish line in the pictures is the “general clock” time. My official time didn’t start until my feet actually crossed the starting line (we wear this chip on our shoe to record our exact time). Since a few thousand people are pushing through the start line at once, it takes a few minutes to get moving. Here is a post-race picture with some of my Team in Training Honolulu running pals (from left to right: Allison, Jenny, Rebecca, myself, Aviva, Laurie).
October 11/06
So, as many of you may not know, we have group training sessions on Saturday mornings (EARLY...I've had to write off my Friday evenings for a few months) and Wednesday evenings. For the past few weeks our Wednesday sessions have been what they call “hill training” a.k.a. workouts that kick my butt. This Wednesday (the few crazy people that actually showed – myself included), were running in a torrential downpour. I seriously felt like I was in Merida, MX in one of those tropical-ish storms that always hit right when you are walking from the store to your car…serious sheets of rain...made me homesick. So anyways, we got to run up and down hills for a good hour in the rain, just for kicks! And surprisingly the workout wasn’t soo bad. I'm still surprised (pleasantly) none of us caught the flu after. Everyone in the subway on the way home thought we were nuts...we left a sizable pool in the subway car.
October 7/06
Today we all left the lovely island of Manhattan for Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. A well needed change- I never thought I’d say this, but I am actually getting tired of Central Park! I prefer running in places I don’t know so I’m not quite sure where I am, how far I have run and how much I have to go. I ran 4 loops, and then- for added fun- we ran up and down the large hill in the park twice. This added up to 23.8km/14.9mi! My longest run so far…and quite a large jump from the previous weeks 19km/12mi. Today we were introduced to GOO, an incredibly unpleasant substance that we need to eat for energy (calories, carbohydrates, electrolytes, etc.). Since we burn around 100 calories per mile (per 1.6km), we need to replenish our supply so we don’t melt away. That’s where the goo comes in. It is truly disgusting. The consistency is terrible, half liquid/half solid, and not only does it make people gag, it doesn’t seem to settle well. And believe me when I tell you, not a good thing when you’re running around a park where bathrooms are few and far between.
September 20/06
Today we had our first “test.” We timed just how fast we could run 1 mile, as fastfast as we could, without holding back. We ran many miles, but timed 3 different ones. Ideally, each timed mile should be the same, or similar, (within 10-20 seconds of each other), and if this is not the case, you are not expending energy efficiently…or something like that. (I can’t remember exactly what they said). I apparently have to work on this, my fastest mile was 8min7sec. My second and third miles were 8min21sec and 8min32sec. We’ll have another test in 6 weeks after we complete our “hill training” regiment that is beginning next Wed. More on that later…I’m not quite sure what to expect, but supposedly our miles will be much faster after this...this...special training.
September 9/06
Today I participated in my first ever timed race! (Since high school…or middle school…or whenever else we did that). It was so much fun; wearing a number, looking all official like a real runner. It was only 4 miles, but I got a little carried away at the beginning and ran WAY to fast! I feel like this will be the most difficult aspect for me to manage during the actual event…not getting carried away with the loads of people and using all of my energy at the beginning of everything. I finished in 36minutes and change, which is about 9min miles, not too shabby. After the race we had a yummy bagel breakfast with some of our honored teammates at an event called “Connection to the Cause.” I know it sounds strange, but it was really amazing. I didn’t realize that many people I have been training with this past month or so, my running buddies, are cancer survivors. Some of them shared their treatment stories with us which I found very inspiring. I am honored to be running alongside them in the Honolulu Marathon.
