10k run

This morning the team met at Upper Landing Park in St. Paul for our weekend run.  I planned on doing six miles, since I am training on the Twin Cities Marathon schedule.  But I ended up going a little bit past the turn-around point and so I probably did about 6.2 total, which is equal to a 10k.  This was the farthest I've run since my half ironman event last July.  I can tell that my legs are tired but I think overall it was a good run.  I used the stick on my legs just a little while ago, which hurt in a good way, and so I'm hoping I won't be too sore tomorrow.  Usually tomorrow would be a "rest" day, but I told someone that I would do a short run and some hills/stairs with them - so I guess I will have to "rest" on Monday.

Also, my fundraising is going pretty well.  With the offline donations that still need to be processed and posted, I should now be over 50% of the way to my goal of raising $5,000.  I'm really proud that I've been able to raise so much money is just a month and I'm very grateful to all of the people who have donated and are supporting me in this crazy endeavor.  But I still have a long way to go in order to meet my goal of $5,000 and so I will be continuing to fundraise past my June 9th goal.

Hill Repeats

One of the staples of training for Nike Women's Marathon in San Fran, or the Twin Cities Marathon, is to do some hill training.  On the Nike marathon course there are a couple tough hills, mostly within the first 6-7 miles of the course, but there are also some more hills around miles 18 and 20.  I haven't done TCM before, but based on what I hear, there is a steep hill on Mississippi River Blvd. as you near Summit Ave, and then Summit Ave is a steady climb for a couple miles - all of which is within the last 6 miles of the marathon.  So if you haven't done hill training, you could really be in for some trouble during both these races.

Team in Training helps prepare us by doing hill repeats at the Lock and Dam near Ford Parkway.  Tonight was our first session of hill training, and we started out strong with five hill repeats.  For those that have never tried running up and down this road, it is not easy - especially with the humidity that we had tonight.  Luckily I have been doing some hill training for the past couple weeks near our house.  There is a specific pathway that leads out of the creek bottom and it is even steeper than the Lock and Dam road.  Usually when I've tried running up the creek pathway hill I hit my absolute maximum heart rate.  That came in handy tonight because in the past a session of five hill repeats has been very difficult, with multiple breaks.  Tonight it was tough but bearable, and I didn't take any breaks between doing the repeats.

Our next group training is on Saturday and I think we are bumping up our mileage from 4 miles to 6 miles.  That is basically a 10k, which is 6.2 miles.  That will be the farthest I have run since last July, and I'm looking forward to running it with the team.  I'm already meeting some really cool teammates that I enjoy running with and it helps make the runs more enjoyable, which is part of the benefit of training with Team in Training.  In the meantime, I will need to do a session of cross training and a shorter run (2 to 3 miles) - so hopefully the weather cooperates!

First Team Training

Yesterday was the first official team training for the fall season of Team in Training.  We ran once around Lake Calhoun and it was very windy.  The high temperature for the day was supposed to be 50 degrees, so it was not the most pleasant run, but it definitely could have been worse. Our next group run will be Wednesday night.  We are doing some "try-it-out trainings", so if you think you might be interested let me know and you can come run with us and see what Team in Training is all about.

Graduation Countdown

In less than one month I will be done with law school and have my J.D. degree. The reality hasn't fully hit me yet, but I have been starting to realize it in bits and pieces. For instance, tomorrow begins the last full week of classes and today was my last day of Legal Bowling.

Overall I'm really excited to be graduating and starting the next phase of my life. It will be nice to once again be a full-time worker and not carry around a ton of books in a backpack. No matter how old you are, people don't quite take you seriously when you have a backpack.

But there admittedly are quite a few things I'm going to miss about law school.

The people. I've made some amazing friends and acquaintances over these three years. While a number of them will be staying in the area, many are moving to other parts of the country. Even with those remaining local, proximity does not necessarily mean actual time spent together. It's sad to think that many of these relationships will dwindle to simple updates through Facebook posts.

The varied opportunities to learn something new. I have no doubt that a career in law will be a continuing learning experience. However, the learning opportunities in law school came from so many different avenues. There were numerous course offerings available, and not just limited to law classes. Several of my friends took a Reiki Healing class - something I had never even heard of before. There were also the blackboards continually filled with postings of all the speakers, presentations, debates, and seminars being hosted by the various student groups. And then there were simply the conversations going on within and outside the classrooms. Every student at the school is special and unique, providing their own perspective on things and introducing others to something they didn't know before. The things I've learned through talking with and listening to my fellow students and the professors have been invaluable.

Spring/Summer breaks. Really, who doesn't love vacations?

There are tons of other things I'll miss, but I wasn't really intending this to be a sentimental/reflective post. There are still too many fun things planned between now and graduation to start the grieving process already. Plus whenever I think of "graduation countdown," I end up with the chorus of Europe's "The Final Countdown" song in my head.

Springtime!

With my final "Spring Break" being next week and the weather (which, despite rumored forecasts of a blizzard for today, is markedly feeling like springtime - with the sun shining and snow melting), I am suddenly feeling very ready for spring and getting back into the outdoors.

While I finally managed to appreciate the winter by learning to ski, I am now in the mindset for spring to begin. I've started breaking out my dresses and skirts without the fear of my legs going numb from the windchill. Today I went shopping for more bike shorts and have been doing research to purchase a road bike online. I'm starting to think about what endurance events I might train for and participate in. And I'm definitely looking forward to bonfires and pool parties.

Steve, the boys, and I have also started more seriously talking about what breed of dog we'd like to get in the next couple months. Mostly we're looking at Poodle-mixes because of their low-shedding coat and temperament.

I will admit that I'm a bit disappointed right now though that I don't actually have any travel plans for Spring Break. For the past couple years I've been fortunate enough to join my mom on some amazing trips to Italy and Australia during Break. I realize that I just spent 4 months abroad in Ireland, but I guess I have the "travel bug" like my mother.

Just can't escape the snow storms

My law school has a "Winter Break" and so I didn't have any classes last Friday or yesterday. Steve and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend by flying out to Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday night and visiting his parents in Sun City West.

Our days were filled with activities like visiting estate sales, going to the 2011 Arizona Wheels of Italy, driving around the streets in a golf cart, consuming yummy food and drinks, playing the slug-bug game, and a lot of hiking (White Tank and McDowell Sonoran Preserve).

Steve was the camera master, so unfortunately I don't have any photos to post yet. But there were some amazing views from the hiking trails.

We originally planned on going up to the Grand Canyon on Sunday, but turns out Minnesota wasn't the only state having a snow storm. We got to around Sedona and the highway troopers closed the roads. The drivers out there really did not know how to deal with snow on the road and there were a couple times when I worried we were going to be hit by some out-of-control car. Finally we decided to just turn around and save the Grand Canyon experience for another trip.

On Monday evening we flew back and arrived home at about 12:30 a.m. It was a great surprise to discover that one of our neighbors had snow plowed the driveway! Though we had to deal with the Arizona snow storm, it was clearly nothing compared to what had happened back home.

Pizza and Fries in skiing?

Last weekend I went skiing with Steve and the boys. Just to give some perspective, I've skied probably a total of three or four times in my life - two of these instances were in middle school and the last time was about three years ago. So to say the least, I was a bit nervous about my ability to stay upright and return home without any broken bones. However, I am happy to report that it all went really well and was a great trip!

Both Saturday and Sunday we went skiing in the morning for a couple hours, took a lunch break, and then skied a couple more hours in the afternoon. I'll fully admit that the boys and I spent the entire time on the same hill, which had various green and blue runs. It was nice though because I was able to spend time developing my stopping skills and moved past the "pizza"/snow plow technique to the "fries"/parallel turn style.

Hopefully we'll get to go again before the skiing season ends!