im back!


thank you so much to everyone who donated this season to my event. the nyc nike team in training team (130 of us) raised $525.085 for the leukemia & lymphoma society! amazing!

so, now, dont you want to know how it was?!!

leading up to my flight to california my nerves were a wreck. with lindsay no longer coming along i was terrified. yes i was traveling with my team but it i didnt really know anyone including my roommate and fear of the unknown was making me crazy. i didnt know what to pack, i had no idea how to get to newark airport and even though i had a packet with outlined details of my adventure ahead it might as well have been written in japanese.

i left my apartment at the butt crack of dawn on friday morning. (our flight wasnt until 11:30 but what if i got lost in new jersey and missed the flight?!) to my great surprise getting to newark from penn station is easy as pie and i made it safely to the continental group check-in 3 hours before departure. i met an equally neurotic traveler and fellow teammate and the check-in area and began to calm down- a little.

our flight was long but smooth and continental made those 5 hours less brutal by serving a real meal and having tv's in each seat with direct tv and on demand movies! we finally arrived around 3 in the afternoon in sunny san francisco. we all refreshed and regrouped then headed to the Nike Women's Marathon expo in Union Square to pick up our official race packets.

we spent a few hours exploring the marathon expo and got to test drive some pretty cool things like spin bikes that made smoothies and flavored air. there were stations to make signs and stickers for race day and lots of food samples. to my surprise nike flew my friend paul to sanfran for the weekend to work the event. i ran into him at the lunar glide shoe trials!











once we left the expo, the girls and i headed over to the niketown store to buy some race souveniers and to find our names on the wall. the store transforms its exterior during marathon weekend and lists every participants name. lucky for me, my name was closer to the bottom and easy to find!

T-5 days!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nikesf09/aolear

1 week and 1 day until marathon day and still no running for this girl. im trying to keep my attitude positive and rerouting my energy into other activities.

throughout my training i always felt that my upper body and abdominals could use a little more attention but never gave them the time they deserved. keeping off my feet doesnt mean keeping out of the gym entirely. and my apartment building has been sans hot water for a few days now so i had to go there anyway, might as well workout! ive been concentrating on my arms, chest, and abdominals and hitting the female friendly weight room at my new york sports club.

core strength is important in athletes, it involves your supportive muscles in your trunk and hips. it provides a solid base which is key to supporting a strong stride... aka running faster with less effort. sweet. maybe this time off will benefit my running once im back on my feet.

in other news, my roommate for san fransico might not be able to go at all! she had an MRI on thursday evening and received the results this morning, stress fracture! that means absolutely no running for miss lindsey. 2 weeks on crutches and 2-4 weeks after that in a boot. im thankful that my injury is less serious than what shes going through. fingers crossed for speedy recoveries for the both of us.

bad new bears my friends. i made it to Queens for the half marathon 2 weeks ago. but i only saw mile 13 from the side lines. after my run on tuesday, i woke up wednesday morning barely being able to walk. i figured i had just done something funky the previous night and id have to walk it off and then id be fine. well- ive been hobbling it off for over two weeks now and, finally, today (18 days later) has been the first day im walking like a human and not a neanderthal.

ive been seeing a chiropractor since last monday. so ive only been in active treatment for about a week. i guess im healing quickly...? either way its frustrating. the marathon is 15 days short days away and my training has come to a complete hault. im trying to keep as positive as i can but as you can imagine i just want to run!

prayers and positive energy are greatly appreciated ( as are donations!) whether ill be running or dragging myself 26.2 miles in san fran, im crossing the finish line.