Another week, 7 days of running, GONE...

Hello World-

Another week has bitten the dust -- It is hard to believe -- and I've come to realize something, I'm not invincible!  The heat and humidity are kicking my b___, and I now recognize that if you can't breath, you can't run.  My interval workouts have been fine -- I can usually gut a mile or an 800 out -- and my long runs have been fine, it is the tempos that I start an uncontrollable wheezing at about mile 3 and then it is over.  My inhaler doesn't help...

Since last week, I've been to Cape May, NJ -- took the ferry over from Lewes, DE, tons of fun --and had a great time celebrating Mother-In-Law's 75th birthday.  Most of the clan was there and there was a lot of eating, being on the beach and in the surf.  Got the workouts in running along the historic Victorian manses. I think running on the beach is over rated...  The photo is outside of the gym where I did the track workout: 4X1000, 4X400.  Tough.  Can one trust the calibration on those things?!  It seamed way harder than it should...

Tried something new yesterday, hot yoga!  Running friend Sharon and I went for our second full body drench, the first was our tempo run, to Down Dog Yoga studio in Georgetown.  I didn't realize that it was possible for so much liquid to come out of me, really.  It was a lot of fun; great, hard workout with both strength and stretching elements in a 95+ degree room.  I noticed a big difference in the openness of my upper back today during this morning's long run.  We went out for 18 from Roosevelt Island at 6:30 and wound our way through Georgetown, up Rock Creek to recesses of the city where I have no idea where I was.  I'm just a follower on these ones through the city.  Rock creek was so swollen from last night's rains that it looked like an angry river raging through the city, also had a live deer spotting, not road kill like the week before.  Exciting stuff I know; sorry about the rambling...

Update on the fundraising: over $15,000.00 raised!  Thanks friends :)

Cheers and it was a beautiful - NOT - day for a run!  Still, I'd do it all over again.

RunningBrooke

One Run at a Time

Hello World!

So I look pretty happy after this run but this was not the case for last Friday's tempo!  I had planned to run 6 miles starting at 6:50ish and coming down to 6:30ish but it didn't happen.  Everything shut down at about mile 3 and I had to quit.  Difficult on the psyche!  The running confidence dipped to new lows and I couldn't understand why I couldn't gut it out, quitting is for losers...  Luckily coach talked me through it and he's right, somedays its just not your day and at that point, its better to throw in the towel and just get the miles in and not worry about the pace and not worry about the run because marathon training is all about building on many workouts and one bad one doesn't mean you're not fit.  It is all about getting to the finish line -- marathon day -- in one piece.

Today we had a GREAT long run (20 miles) starting at Fletcher's Boat House, winding up and through Rock Creek Park, through the zoo, up into Silver Spring and then over into and through Bethesda.  We then picked up the Crescent Trail and headed pack down to Fletcher's.  Because it was so hot and humid, coach wanted us to only run 16 as we have time for more 20s.

A renegade group of us didn't listen to his advice and I hope we don't pay the price...  He's usually right...

Cheers and it was a beautiful day for a run!

RunningBrooke

Track short?

Hello World!

I've been running in the Blue Ridge Mountains recently and the hills have been killing me.  I thought that my legs were going to be totally shot for this track workout because of the hills or maybe because I've been hauling canoes up and down river banks for the past two days, but the legs came through for me.  In fact was the track short or the mountain air so good?

This is the result....  5x1000 in 3:39, 3:35, 3:32, 3:31 and 3:26 with 2x400 in 81 and 80 seconds...  I had convinced myself that the track had to be a little short until the 400's when I was running pretty much as fast as I could and the numbers came out just like at home....

Finished the morning with a core workout in the shade of this sign and ended up talking with the Zion Baptist? minister and his wife newly transferred from Alabama -- very, very, very friendly...  Spent the rest of the day poolside helping parents around the house and garden... deer 150 peaches, papa, 20.  Let's hope that new netting helps.

Cheers and it's, or it will be -- I'm just about to head out -- a beautiful day for a run!

RunningBrooke

Canoeing on the James river

Hello World!

This image says it all...  gentle rapids, small mouth bass, splashing around when there are no fish to be caught and a picnic, riverside.

Cheers and it is a great day for a run (or a paddle), actually both!

RunningBrooke

Another week and 68 miles later!

Hello World!

Another week and 65 miles later and feeling great!  This photo was taken this morning after a five mile tempo run.   Got to the track this morning at 6:05 and I wasn't the first one there... fast Mike beat me through the gates and across the finish line too.  I'll keep up with you someday Mike  :)

I'm thinking about changing my tempo's to being longer efforts at around marathon pace so today I tried that out, subconsciously?,  and ran the miles in 7:00 to 6:40.  Negative splitted and felt decent; made me feel like I should have run 6 miles, coach?...  thoughts?...

Navigated 66 and 81 South today and am now in Fincastle, VA for a little mountainous running.  Beautiful!  Mom says dinner is ready and when someone else is making dinner and calls me to the table, I'm there!  I'll write more later as I have lots more to update...

My father wanted me to make it clear that the RunningBrooke party was possible last weekend because he and my mother took over the parental duties and visited the kids at camp last weekend for Parent's Weekend.  Thanks Dad  :)  I'm sure Draper's cafe at the Greenbrier are thankful that you were there too!  Ha ha....

Cheers and it was a beautiful day for a run.

Success!

Hello World!

The RunningBrooke kick off party was a success!  The last thunderstorm passed through Alexandria about 5 and it poured and poured until 5:30 then, we could see sudden blue skies.  So we dried everything off, brought the patio cushions back out and set up the bar.  Ready by 6!

65+ friends and neighbors came over and RunningBrooke now seems official with the party behind me and even more money raised.  I'll update my website when I get the next fundraising total from Alexandria Community Trust(ACT).  But I know the numbers are growing; with 2 recent $1000.00 checks and many more of other generous amounts!

For those of you weren't able to make the party and for those of your who loved my speech so much that you want to read it this time  :)  here it is...

RunningBrooke Speech

Hi Everybody!  I'd like to make a few remarks.  First, I'm so pleased that you are all here and so excited about the RunningBrooke fund.  As you know, I've tried to transform my passion for running into a fundraising effort to benefit charities in Alexandria.  So far, it's gone very well, with over $10,000 raised.  Thanks for your support.  I appreciate it very much.  Let me give you a little background.

Basically, I've committed to running a marathon on every continent, each of the 50 states and the 5 marathon majors, all to raise money for needy Alexandrians and to bring awareness to what each of us could be doing to help.  I'm so excited to be putting my passion to good use.  But let me back up a bit...  I started running because, at the time, I had three little kids at home and I just had to get out of the house and go somewhere no could follow me!  Sometime later, a friend -- who knew running a marathon was on my life list -- go me into the the Marine Corps Marathon.  I remember my initial goal was just to finish without hurting myself!  And I remember finishing that marathon with 'gas in the tank' and a desire to do it better and faster the next time...  Then the goal was qualifying for Boston and when that became not such a big deal, I began to look for a new reason to run; and that was where the idea for RunningBrooke came from.  Since 2002, I've run the Marine Corps Marathon twice, Boston four times, Chicago, New York and Richmond, VA marathons and now with the inception of RunningBrooke, two international ones, Berlin, Germany and Easter Island, Chile -- where I was the female winner and 5th overall!  These were some of the best experiences, ever.  Next on the calendar is the Steamtown, PA marathon in October, the JFK 50 miler in November, the Goofy Challenge at Disney in January -- it is a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday, and if you register and complete both, you'll get 3 medals.  I'll go anywhere to get 3 medals in one weekend!  And finally, the London marathon in April.  I haven't planned any further out than that, but the London marathon will complete the 5 marathon category:  London, Berlin, Boston, New York and Chicago.

Essentially, I am asking supporters to  match my commitment to running with their own commitment to charity.  All the money I raise goes to Alexandria Community Trust called ACT.  I pay all of my own expenses.  A board member of ACT is here.  Jean, would you mind saying a few words about ACT?

Thanks Jean and thank you everybody for being here and supporting my program.  I have some additional RunningBrooke materials here if you are curious.  Now it is time for a little food and drink.  Cheers and it is a beautiful day for a run!

The group all ran hard today  (20 miler)  along the C & O canal through high humidity, drizzle then downpour.  We got 'er in though!  Cheers and it was a beautiful day for a run!

RunningBrooke

Kick Off Par-Tay!

Hello World!

Okay, I wish it were December so I'd have writing here in this blog more often than once a week as my New Year's resolution.  Oh well...   Summer isn't supposed to be this busy and especially with no kids in the house for three weeks, YES, I said that there were NO kids in the house right now!  It has been fun doing other things; walking 18 holes of golf, seeing the Washington Kastles win in the last game of ladies singles, going out to dinners...  Life will be complete if I can get a movie in  :)  

Updates!

The RunningBrooke kick-off Party is tomorrow...  The number coming keeps rising as people are getting back into town and getting to their stack of mail or -- and this is the best one -- people are reading their magazines and finding the invitation inside.  I'm so pleased that 65+ people are going to be here and I keep calling Rockland's Bar-B-Cue to up the numbers.  Now just hoping that the weather holds up so it is poolside and not inside...

The Crystal City Twilight race was a success for Pacer's Running Stores.  They doubled their running entrants from last year and of course, that works for me too as I had a RunningBrooke information card that went out in every race packet.  And thanks to my friends who volunteered to man the beer truck for the thirsty runners.  Kathy over at Pacer's will now be donating some money to my fund and I can't thank her enough for that but also for the exposure she gave my fund in this race!  I hung my banners proudly.  It's amazing what a little duct tape and a little sweat can accomplish...

Training Update

Up to about 65 miles a week now with 6 days of running and 1 day of swimming.  Feeling good running through the Washington heat and humidity.  Now it feels like summer!  The last track workout (Tuesday) was Yasso 800's -- which (supposedly) predicts your marathon time.  Averaging the 800's ( 2x around a track), we did 8, time indicates your total marathon time.  This hasn't worked out for me yet but I am hopeful as that would have me running pretty fast!  The long run the Sunday before that had us going 18, fine, no problem...  Tomorrow is our tempo run so we'll see how that goes.  I'd like to do a 5 mile tempo starting at about a 6:40ish pace and coming down from there, but we'll see.

Okay, that's it for now!  I'll plan to take plenty of pictures tomorrow at the kick-off party and I'll feature one on my next post.  Cheers, and it is a beautiful day for a run.  RunningBrooke