First 13 mile run tomorrow morning

So tomorrow morning we will have our first 13 mile run -- basically a half marathon. As of right now I'm looking forward to it and not too nervous. The training runs have been going really well and I'm meeting a bunch of great people.

At our training run last Wednesday, we had a birthday celebration for two of our honored team mates. I especially liked having them at the workout because we were doing hill repeats at Lock & Dam, and the extra inspiration really helped. This is a picture we took with the team before we started.

Last Saturday after our run at Gateway Trail, I went to the Carp's Cancer Crushers (CCC) golf fundraising event. CCC is my family's White Bear Lake - Relay for Life team. We've been doing a golf tournament fundraiser for the last several years and it's always a wonderful success. Last year our team was the top fundraising team for the WBL Relay with over $22,000 raised. This year has been extra special because my Uncle Jeff (one of my personal honorees) is celebrating 10 years cancer free!

Finally, any one interested in coming to dinner/silent auction fundraiser at Gastoff's in Northeast a the end of August should let me know so I can get you tickets. It's a blast and I can certainly get you more information if you want.

GO TEAM!

That's right, I'm back for more.

I just finished my first year of law school and realized I wanted to do something again that would hopefully benefit others in this world. Since my experience with Team in Training (TNT) was so amazing last time, I decided to return once again. This time I am a mentor, so there is no fund raising requirement for me. My main duty is to help my mentees meet their own training and fund raising goals.

On October 18th I will be running the Nike Women's Full Marathon in San Francisco. This is the same race I ran back in 2007 with TNT. There are a couple pictures posted on the sidebar of me running with Grace. We ran the entire marathon together and I'm hoping I'll find a partner to run with this time around as well. I don't know if I would've enjoyed the experience as much if Grace hadn't been there to help me through.

I am running in honor of my Uncle Jeff and in memory of Doug, the father of my best friend Kayley. Doug passed away about a month before I ran the 2007 marathon, and this year's race will be especially emotional for me because Kayley is going to be in San Francisco the weekend of the race and will get to see me running for her dad.

The trainings actually have me more nervous this year than the first time around. Mainly because I am not in as good of shape as when I started training in 2007 (thanks to all the time I spend sitting in the law library). Also because I had problems with my knees and right foot after the last marathon. I'll need to be extra diligent this time around about doing cross training and stretching exercises.

Also, part of being a mentor is covering water stops on our long runs. The dates I need to cover are Saturday, July 25th, September 5th, and October 3rd. If you feel like getting up early on any of these dates to come hand out water, don't be shy - all the runners will really appreciate your help.