Fund raiser goal met!!! Thank you!

As of today I have met my fund raiser commitment ($3,900). Thank you all so much for your support, both in helping me reach my goal, and for the encouragement to keep going. I am still working on some matching gift donations, more could never hurt, right?

Congratulations to Melissa for winning the St. Augustine Get Away Raffle! I hope you and your husband have a fantastic time!

I can't believe how close to race day it is. When I first signed up with Team In Training, this marathon seemed so far away, and in the blink of an eye, it's coming upon us.

This has truly been an amazing experience and if any of you have ever considered joining Team In Training for an event, but had some hesitation, I strongly encourage you to take the leap of faith and do it. You will be able to meet your fund raising goals, you will be able to train and run a 1/2 marathon, marathon, triathlon, you can do it. And the biggest incentive of all, think of all the lives you will be touching and know you are doing an amazing thing for those with leukemia and lymphoma and their families.

Just Do It!!!

20 Miles! We did it!

We had our longest training run before the marathon this past Saturday. Twenty (that's right...20) miles!!!

It was muggy and hot out, the type of running conditions I absolutely hate, but we all did it. I'm not sure what the best part of it was.....actually completing it, or the mimosas awaiting us at the end.

Well, just a little over 2 weeks left, I'm so jazzed about this trip. I've never been to San Diego before, and to be going so I can be involved in something like this just makes it that much better. I was looking at the race course the other day, reading about the expo and the speakers that were going to be there, basically getting psyched over all.

I am just within a couple of hundred dollars of reaching my goal, I am super excited about that. I have to admit, when I started this journey, the thought of raising $3900 scared the crud out of me and I never thought I could do it. But, it's amazing how much people want to help out and be a part of raising funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I've also been surprised to meet so many who have had family members with a type of blood cancer, or they themselves have/had one. Cancer does not discriminate at all, young, old, friends, family, it doesn't care. I am so happy to have been able to do a very small part to help those people. Several have told me that they or family members have had great results with medications developed and funded by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, it is so obvious how vital they are in helping find a cure.

To those who have donated, thank you very much.

Almost a month????

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted. I'd be surprised if anyone is even looking on here anymore....yikes. Things have been super busy with the end of the school year coming up, so I apologize.

Well, this weekend we have an 18 mile run in store! I'm excited and nervous about it all at the same time. We did a 16 mile run 2 weeks ago, but then I missed our 13 mile run last week, so hopefully my body won't hate me too much. I've been doing other things in the meantime, like Body Combat. It's kick boxing taken up a notch. There's even part of the class where we are waving plastic machete's around...my kids get jealous when I tell them I got to play with a sword when I exercised...lol.

Just one more month...to the day! I am so excited, not just for doing the run, but for being part of such a great experience overall with Team In Training. This has really been an amazing journey up until now and I feel honored to be a part of it all.

We put together a Family Fair last Saturday to raise some funds. It went really well. My teammates were awesome with all of their help. We had music, popcorn, cotton candy, chicken, hot dogs, chips, drinks, moon bounces and 24 foot slides, it was a blast. Then Captain Character showed up. He set up a giant bounce house that looked like Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine. The kids all flipped out over it, and even more so when Scooby himself showed up to hang out with them. Many, many thank for that. Tina got some pictures of the team with Scooby and I can't wait to see them. I'll post it on here as soon as I get a chance.

Fundraising is still going full force. I've raised $2,900 so far and need another $1,000 by May 18th. I'm still selling those cookbooks, and we have a church garage sale coming up on the 12th, what a good incentive to purge all of the toys and items in my house that I don't even use.

Well, that's about it for now. Take care everyone.

Yikes, it's been a while!

I hadn't realized it had been so long since I posted on here. With 4 kiddos, sometimes it's hard to put the breaks on for things like this, I will try to be better about it.

Let's see, our team has done a 1/2 Marathon run...Go Team! This week we get a break with a 10 mile run. It's funny, years ago if someone had said I'd consider a 10 mile run a break, I'd have thought they were high. I am so happy to be able to run like this, it feels great.

I'm trying to get a Family Fun Fair put together for our team to host. Right now it is set for April 28th from 10-2pm at The Julington Creek Plantations. I'm having a hard time getting food together to have, so hopefully I can get it all finalized here in the next few days. I'll post all about it once we decide it's definitely a go.

I got an e-mail confirming my registration for The San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon, I'm so psyched for this. I made plane reservations and everything, it's getting closer! I'm really looking forward to the dinner the night before the marathon. I've been told it is a truly moving experience, meeting so many who have been touched by Leukemia and Lymphoma, it will no doubt energize us for our run and keep us focused on why we are doing this.

Well, that's about all for now. See ya!

The cookbooks are getting published.

I'm super excited about this. I put together a cookbook to sell, with all of the proceeds going to my TNT donations page. I included many of our families favorite recipes and recipes from many other friends. Actually, it's good for me too because my favorite recipes will be in one place and I won't have to search for them anymore.

I should have them by Friday, and I've already pre-sold 21...WooHoo! If anyone is interested in ordering one (or more), you can make the payment straight to my donations page ( http://www.active.com/donate/tntnofl/tntnoflANelson1 ), then e-mail me your confirmation and address to TNTCookbook@yahoo.com.

The books are $15, plus $2 for shipping, 75 cents for each additional book.

Running, it does a body good.

There are 2 things I learned while doing my 10K yesterday. One is that you really learn to appreciate life as you are running past a bunch of tombstones (yes, the run was through a cemetary...kind of creepy), and two, those places are hilly!!!!

Our team had done an 11 mile run the day before, and when I got to the race yesterday, I really had no desire to do it, but I signed up for it, so of course I went. At one point the course split with the 5K participants going one way, and the 10K going the other way. I told myself I had done enough and was going to jump onto the 5K path, but my legs wouldn't listen to reason, and they pulled me down the 10K path. I was super happy at the end though. I had a personal best having run the 6.2 miles in 1 hour 1 minute. When I first started running again, I was averaging a 11-12 minute mile, and that was for shorter runs. I did the same thing on Saturday's run, but I figured that was a fluke. That really made my day.

Then when I got home I decided to take my measurements, because I had noticed my clothes were fitting looser. From December 30th until now I have lost 15 lbs and 19 inches! WOOHOO! Talk about incentive to keep going!

There's no turning back now.

We had our re-commit meeting last night. It got me that much more excited about The Rock 'N Roll Marathon, and what we as a team are doing. I have no doubt that this will be one of those events you just don't forget.

We had the option of customizing a name on our bib for the race, I chose Penguinz, well, for obvious reasons. Plus some of my friends from one of the Mom boards I belong to will be there cheering me on, and I figured they would get a kick out of it since that's my name on the boards. I may try to see if I can swing staying out there for a couple of more days too since I've never been to San Diego, and I will be kid-free. I figured I'd take advantage of that situation for sure...lol.

Saturday is a 10 mile run, then on Sunday I have a 10K St. Patty's day run through a cemetary. Seems a little ghoulish, but it's not like we will be running on the grass or anything, and they say it's nice and cool because of all the trees.

Harley Davidson was nice enough to donate a $25 gift card and a cool collectors box with 6 small tank replicas inside, very cool looking. I can't wait to put that out for the silent auction at the Poker Tournament on the 24th.

Time to finish off the cookbook. I want to try to send it to the Publisher tomorrow.

<<<

Mini-Me

I am so proud of my daughter, Devon. She is 10 1/2 and is part of a great program called Girls On The Run here in Jacksonville. The goal of the 10 week program is for girls to train to run a 5K at the end, but to also learn about making healthy choices, to build their self esteem and to support each other along the way.

Today was her third meet, and she ran 3.25 miles. She was supposed to do 1.5, but after she did that she said she wanted to keep running, so several more laps later, she ran slightly beyond a 5K. That's my girl!

I hope she and I can start running races together, starting off slow and short, and building up to longer runs as she gets older. That is as long as she's not too embarrased to be seen with Mom.

The Gate River Run

Today myself and several members of Team In Training ran in the Jacksonville Gate River Run. It was a 15K, sounds straight forward enough, until the last 2 miles. That's when you have to run up the Hart Bridge (affectionately known as, "The Green Monster"). It was a 1/2 mile run to the top (141 feet up), and let me tell you, it kicked my rear! But, nonetheless, we all beat it and crossed that finish line.

This was my first time running a race with anyone I knew, let alone a whole group of great individuals. Every other time that I had crossed the finish line, I was happy, but lonely too. I used to watch friends gather around and congratulate each other and maybe go back to a tent to celebrate, whereas I used to just walk back to my car. Today was different. I got to experience what it was like to finish the race and find my teammates (yes, many were done before myself), and to wait happily for the others to meet us at the end as well. Some good food and drinks at a tailgate party was the perfect end to a great day. I honestly don't know how I ran all of those races by myself before. This was such a great experience.

Fundraising is moving along. I was concerned that I wouldn't make my 25% before recommit on the 21st, and some amazing ladies from one of my mom boards stepped up to the plate, and within a few hours I was above my 25% goal! Thank you...you all know who you are.

I am in the process of finishing up a cookbook that I put together and I am hoping to send it to the publisher this next week. I will let everyone know when I have the finished product to sell. The cost will be $15, with all of the proceeds of course going to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I can't wait to get the finished product. The recipes are tried and true by myself and my family, and many recipes were submitted by friends...their tried and true favorites.

Well, I'm off to relax and have a brownie, I think I deserve it...lol.

Yummy ice cream

A bunch of members of Team In Training met at Friendly's on Wednesday night. I took my 2 older kids with me, and of course they wanted the massive, monster, 12 scoop, 8 toppings sundae. Well, of course I caved....lol. I did steal a few bites, it was pretty good. But alas, even they could not finish it, but they sure had fun trying.

It's been raining here, so I have done some running on the treadmill. It's not the same, but better than nothing I suppose.

I'm playing hooky on our team run tomorrow, as we are taking the kids to Disney. But I figured I'll be walking all day long, and easily put in 8 miles that way.

Fundraising is a bit nerve wracking. I had hoped to have had more donations by now, since re-commit is just around the corner (March 12). I am trying to work on possibly putting together a cookbook that I can sell. I've also received some donations I am going to try to include in the silent auction at a poker fundraiser that is being put on in one of the local hotels. I know I will eventually get the donations, I just need to get a little more aggressive I suppose.

Off to get ready for Disney!

Yikes, I've been gone a while, haven't I?

I hadn't realized that I hadn't posted in 10 days...oops. The last week or so have been a little crazy in general, but hopefully things have died down enough that I can get back on track. We were in Tampa for the weekend last week, and I did some running on the beach. Even though the sand was packed pretty hard, I was surprised that my calves were sore the next day. Makes me wish I had access to the beach everyday.

We had a 7 mile run on Saturday morning. It was pretty cold, but I love running in the cold, so it felt great. This Saturday will be an 8 mile run, as we get ready for The Gate River Run here in Jacksonville, the following weekend. I'm looking forward to that race, I've heard it's a "must run" here in the area.

Fundraising is moving along slowly, but I'm starting to sell raffle tickets, so hopefully that will pick things up. I have to admit, I wouldn't mind buying some raffle tickets myself to try for some of these prizes, but it just doesn't seem right for me to do that. I guess I'll just have to see if someone else is doing something similar and buy some tickets from them.

I set up a table to sell tickets this past Saturday. I had spoken with the owner of a shop and he said I could do it Saturday morning. Well, when I drove up, there were a bunch of Girl Scouts selling their cookies just a couple of stores away from me. Talk about tough competition! They were super cute though, and having been a Girl Scout troop leader for many years myself, I couldn't resist buying some boxes. I thought it was amusing to be raising funds and talking about training for the marathon with people, with an open box of Dosido's next to me.


If I can somehow detach this 2 yr old, 35 pound leech from my hip, I will try to get some running in on the treadmill later.

I guess that's it for now.

Waddle On!

Heading out of town for a few days

I had to miss our team run yesterday, so I'm off for a quick one now. We are heading out of town to visit some friends and family, and I will make sure to pack my running gear. Hopefully I'll actually put the stuff on and run....it's so hard when you're on vacation, but after all the chocolate I've had this week (thanks Cupid), I'd better make sure I get out there.

Not much else to add, I guess today is just a boring little blog. Hopefully I'll have more to report later this week.

Running has it's advantages.

As of this morning I am officially down the 10 lbs I put on over the Holiday's. Woohoo! If that's not motivation to keep running, I don't know what is.

I'm still getting over this lousy cold. I don't remember the last time I was hit this hard, but.....it is getting better, so that's a good thing.

Today is Valentine's Day, so I'm not sure how realistic it is to think I'm going to make it out to run. Maybe if my little guy snoozes I can hop on the treadmill for a little. I'll need to do something, as I see plenty of chocolate in my immediate future. I should never have bought my husband that big old box of chocolates that I love.

Thank you again to all of those who have donated, it's for a great cause, and means a lot to me that you have all been so great.

I guess that's it for today.

"Waddle on".

Hi, my name is Ali and I'm a running gear junkie.

I don't know what it is about the stuff, but I love it. I swear I must do all of the runs just to get the t-shirts! I have enough cool max shirts, shorts, hats, and really do I need anymore socks? But I just love the stuff. I love the shirts with the different sayings on them, such as the one I wore today, 'Running is my Prozac'. I just think it's funny. I wonder if there's a support group out there for people like me.....or am I alone in this obsession....a total freak...lol. Oh well.

Today the team got together and had a great run. We were supposed to do 5 miles, but due to some mix up with the name of the street that we were supposed to run to, we actually ended up doing more than 6. It's funny, I was keeping pace with another runner, and we did the run in 1:02. We thought it had been 5 miles and were bummed, thinking it wasn't great time for us. Then someone pointed out it was closer to a 6.5 mile, and we were happy because it was better than our usual time for that distance, and we high fived each other. It was pretty funny.

I tell you, there are some pretty strong and amazing people on the team. Without revealing details, let me just say that I am so proud to be running with this group. Everyone has their own personal reasons for doing this, and some of them are just so profound. It goes beyond just getting out there and running.

As far as fundraising is going.....it's going. I was able to set up a table outside of Blockbuster's last night for an hour and collected $40. I thought that was pretty great. I had chocolate set out for anyone who wanted some.....mental note: Next time don't get the kind I like! I'm glad I did a longer run than expected today.

Well, that's about it for today...."Waddle on".

This is the cold that never ends.......

I haven't done any running since Sunday's 10 miler. I pushed myself, and I knew it, and now I'm paying for it with the cold that never ends. I was starting to get better, but have taken 2 steps back. Hopefully I will be feeling better for our team run this Saturday morning.

I am excited to have received a donation of a boat excursion to add to my St. Augustine getaway basket. I could leave it at what I have and start the raffle, but I put in one last request of a donation of a bottle of wine from a St. Augustine winery. I think that would be the icing on the cake. If I don't hear back by tomorrow afternoon, I'll start working on the raffle tickets and selling them.

I also ordered my Allie pin to wear in her honor (link to her website to the right), and a Friends of Allie bear to display when I set up donation tables and such.

I've received another donation on my web site, thank you to all who have donated so far.

I've only started this whole process a couple of weeks ago, and I can't imagine what it will feel like to cross the finish line in June. All I know is that when this run is done, I'm signing up for the next one.

People are awesome!

I was very happy today to receive a call from a local bed and breakfast, responding to an e-mail I had sent them, requesting a donation for a one night stay. They are sending me the certificate in the mail...woohoo! I am going to combine it with some gift certificates at other local restaurants, working on a bottle of wine from a local grower, and I will create a weekend getaway to St. Augustine for a raffle.

I also have a friend who is helping me try to put together another fund raising idea that I have....a Team In Training Cookbook. I already have recipes compiled for a cookbook I was never able to complete in time for my family for the holidays. I would like to have other teammates add some of theirs, and spotlight our local honoree and some others in the area who have been affected by leukemia and lymphoma, and add their stories to the cookbook, as well as some facts on Team in Training and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I think if we can actually get this in print, it will make for a nice fund raiser. Keeping fingers crossed that we can get a printer to sponsor it.

Other than that, I'm recovering from my cold. I'm pretty sure my run on Sunday pushed me back in my recovery a little, so I'm taking it easy on runs for a few days.

My kids have been in prime form this week too. I have a new motto:

My kids inspire me to run. They make me want to run away from home every day!

Ah well, it's a good thing they are cute or they would have been on E-bay a long time ago.

As John Bingham would say, "Waddle on".

Weekend runs

I met up with my team yesterday morning, and we did a nice 3.1 mile run. It was nice running with a group of people, versus by myself, as I usually do. Everyone was encouraging each other, and the faster runners were doubling back to give everyone high fives and telling them what a great job they were doing.

One member of the team was telling everyone that her husband has just been diagnosed with cancer again. She said last time she dealt with the stress by eating and gaining weight, but that this time she wanted to release her stress in a more positive way, by doing something healthy, and something proactive for her husband all at the same time. She may not be the fastest runner on the team, but I tell you what, she's the strongest in my book.

Today was my 10 mile beach run. I had signed up for it a few weeks ago, and although I am getting over a nasty cold, I am stubborn and did the run anyway. I agree, not the best idea, but I am hard headed that way. My time wasn't great (1 hour 55 minutes) averaging around 11.30 minute mile, but given that I was pumped full of cold meds, I am happy that I completed it...lol. I feel fine now, but by mile 6 I was wondering what the heck I was doing.

I've received a few more donations around town, including a $50 gift certificate from Hooters. I should start a thread to acknowledge those who are helping out with their donations. It's been great to see such generosity.

I signed up for what???

I received an e-mail reminding me to pick up my race packet tomorrow for the 10 mile beach run I registered for several weeks ago.

Ooops!

I'm feeling better, as far as my cold goes, but I'm not sure that I'll be able to crank out 10 miles on Sunday, especially given the fact that the team will be meeting at 6:45 Saturday morning for a 3 mile run.

But, it's paid for, so I'll head out and do my best. Worst case scenario, I'll have another t-shirt for my collection, and I'll look for shells along the way. I'm hoping to talk my hubby into bringing a the 4 kidlets along, since they will have a blast looking for shells. It's just so hard to keep track of them all, especially in situations with crowds. We'll see how adventurous he's feeling that day.

I received a donation of one month free membership from Gold's Gym, which was very cool. I sent out some e-mails to the big boys (Nike, Garmin, Powerade, Gatorade, etc), we'll see if I hear back from any of them. I know it's a stretch, as they must get thousands of requests a day, but I figured I had nothing to lose in asking, right?

No running tonight, it is storming pretty intensely right now....rain, wind, thunder lightening, I feel like I'm back in New Orleans again.

Team in Training Kick off is tonight!

I am so excited about this.

Tonight we will meet with out teammates, team leaders, coaches and honoree. This is the official start of this journey, and I'm totally jazzed.

I'm also so amazed by people's generosity. I have had several restaurants donate dinners and gift certificates, t-shirts, you name it, so that I can raffle them off or do a silent auction with them for TnT. I just received a call back from a local chiropractor who is donating a certificate for an hour long massage. His sister won her battle with leukemia, so it is something close to his heart. The thing that amazes me, is HOW many people that I've run across who have similar stories to share with me. Some are stories of victory, and sadly some are not. But, I suppose that is what this is all about. Hopefully one day all of the stories will be stories of victories.

To all of you who have donated so far, thank you very much.

Still sick....

All I have to say is thank goodness for Dayquil and Nyquil!!! I can't remember the last time I have been hit with a cold like this. I've been eating so much chicken noodle soup, I feel like I'm going to cluck at any moment. And we all know that penguins should NOT cluck!

So, no running today...again. I have a 5K that I really want to run on Saturday, as it looks like it will be a lot of fun, plus I already registered for it, so hopefully I will feel better by then.

I the meantime, I'm excited to see a couple of donations have come in, and I've gathered many items from local stores (shirts, gift certificates for dinner, etc) which I hope to put together into baskets to raffle off in the next few months. It is amazing how many people are willing to reach out and help, once they find out what Team in Training is all about. For all these people know, I could be scamming them (which I obviously am not...too many years of catholic school guilt for that), but they are still willing to assume the best and just give.

The official season hasn't kicked off yet (that happens tomorrow night), but I feel confident that I will reach my donations goal, and perhaps will exceed it.

Ok, time to crawl back under the blankets and watch The Wiggles.

Blech!

Well, I now know why my 5K wasn't so hot the other day. I woke up sick as a dog with a nasty cold. Hopefully I can shake this thing soon so I can get back to running.

I am looking forward to our kickoff meeting this Wednesday night. It will be nice to meet the team, our coach, as well as everyone else who will be there too.

Here's to feeling better, and not passing this onto any of the other kids!

And so the journey begins.

I am so excited to get started on this journey. I can't tell you all how touching it was to see all of those purple singlets on the road with me during the Disney Marathon. People running in memory of loved ones, in honor of loved ones, and for those they have never met. The team spirit of all of those who participated with Team in Training was contagious and inspiring, and I am honored to be able to say that I am now going to be running with such amazing people.

This morning I decided I needed to run away for a little bit (some weeks are more stressful than others when you have 4 little kids), so I popped on the computer and found a 5K in St.Augustine. It's about a 45 minute drive from here, but oh the joy of not having to listen to The Wiggles while I drove (sorry guys, love you, but one can only sing, 'Toot-Toot, Chugga-Chugga so many times).

My time wasn't great (32 minutes), but it wasn't my worst either, so I'll leave it at that. It just felt nice to get out and run.

There are some amazing people out there. There were runners in their late 70's (who totally whooped me I might add), and as young as 6 (also whooped me). There was one adorable 7 year old, blond pigtailed little girl who won an award for her time. When they presented it to her, the gentleman handing it to her told us a story about what happened to her before the race started. She was at the front of the pack, and a man told her she should move towards the back. She informed him that she ran a 19 minute time. He said, "Yeah, 19 minutes a mile!" Well, I am thrilled to report that she got plenty of egg on his face, as she completed all 3.1 miles in slightly over 19 minutes!!!!! I hope whoever said that was there at the awards presentation and felt thouroughly humbled.

If there is anything that I have learned in the year since I started running, it's that size and age has NOTHING to do with ones running skills and endurance. Never judge a book by it's cover, that's for sure.

I guess that's it for now. Please check back, and I'll update as often as I can.

Thanks!