I did my first run around the new place today, and got rather lost. I'm still feeling sluggish, which I hope will pass by Saturday, since 12 miles while feeling sluggish is probably....2 worse than 10 miles while feeling sluggish.

I noticed that in one of the residential areas, there are two parallel streets named "Sajak Ave." and "Vanna Ct."

Speaking of "Big Money, Big Money!" thank you so much to everyone who has donated. You continue to blow me away with your generosity. I am now over half way to my goal!

Today I did a 12 mile run.

Man, I never thought I'd be saying those words.

Anyway, the run went quite well. The first mile was up a steep hill along the Great Highway past the Cliff House. I'm told that the view was quite nice, but I wouldn't know, as I spent the entire time trying not to die. Miles 2 and 3 weren't much better, as I was really feeling the fatigue in my legs. However, around miles 4 and 5, I really started to hit my stride (haha!) I'm not sure if it was the caffeinated gel or just my legs remembering how to run, but I felt great for the next 5 miles or so. Around mile 10 my legs tried to tell my head that they were about to fall off, but my head, being all big and stubborn, refused to listen. We finished strong, but about 15 minutes behind pace, which I'm not too worried about, given the killer first mile and an extended bathroom break (stupid women's bathrooms.)

Right now my knees are sore, my back aches, and I'm completely exhausted. But dang, 12 miles. Awesome.

Well, not yet. But this week I faxed in my travel forms for New Orleans. I signed up to stay for 5 days because, hey, if I'm going to be in New Orleans, may as well take advantage of it. I also sent in my recommittment form, which basically says that I won't drop out of the marathon without them charging me some phat cash money. Even though the marathon is still several months away, I'm really starting to get excited for it.

This week is a recovery run, so it's "only" 6 miles. Woohoo!

In other fantasmic news, I'm getting very close to the fundraising minimum, thanks to my very generous friends and family. Thank you!

I finally have something in the photos section! This weekend our program coordinator e-mailed me pictures of my pace group. The pictures are missing one member, but it should give you a good idea of the motley crew I'm running with.

I reached an important milestone today. No, not miles, but dollars: I reached the fundraising minimum! Thank you so much to everyone who donated! I wasn't sure that I'd be able to make the minimum, but my friends and family have really astounded me with their generousity.

Although I have reached the minimum, I still have a ways to go to reach my goal of $4000, so please don't let this stop you if you are still considering making a donation. Remember that the money will be supporting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which provides much needed services to those living with AIDS in the Bay Area.

Thank you everyone!

On the running front, things have been going well. I've felt really good on my two maintainence runs this week, and I'll be doing 14 miles this Saturday. I'm a little nervous, but excited. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Well run, actually. This past Saturday was our 14 mile run. The idea was more than a little daunting, but I was excited about it. This route was much nicer than our 12 mile run. We started out in the park, then exited the park onto Sunset. We ran for a couple miles down Sunset to Lake Merced, and then around the lake, which is a little over 4 miles. After we made the loop around the lake, we headed back the way we came. The sky was clear and the weather was beautiful, which almost made me forget that it was late November. Good ol' California. I was feeling good until about mile 11, when I really started to feel it in my legs. It hurt more to walk than it did to run, which was kind of strange. But we made it only 1 minute off of our target pace. Afterwards, we walked to the beach and waded in the ocean to ice down our feet and knees. I tried my best to keep my shorts dry, but I'm so short that I eventually gave up trying to keep them above water.

That night my left knee was really sore, so I had an Advil and iced it down. I had to use popsicles from our freezer because we don't have an icemaker. So you might want to avoid the popsicles if you ever come over...

It's pretty amazing to me that I've run 14 miles under my own will. Who'd a thunk it? Next week is an easy 8-mile recovery run. Looking forward to it!

I had been having knee pain last week after our 14 mile run, so I wanted to try to take it easy this week. I did my maintanence run yesterday and I was feeling good until about 30 minutes in, when the back of my left knee started to feel really sore. I stopped running and walked the rest of the way, and iced it when I came home. I'm a little bit worried about it since we'll be doing at 17 mile run next week and I really don't want to injure myself. Hopefully I will recover by then.

In better news, since I have reached the fundraising minimum, I now get essentially until the marathon date (and possibly beyond) to reach my fundraising goal! The donations are still coming in, and I continue to be overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. Thank you!

Edit: I found out Saturday that we can accept donations until April 15, 2005!