26 miles for $26

I have always wanted to run a full marathon (well, I've always liked the IDEA of saying I've run a marathon..), however it has never been a reality - until now. I have officially signed up for the January 16th Rock 'N Roll marathon (26.2 miles) in Phoenix, Arizona. My motivation? Raising money to fight cancer. You may remember my efforts last year, as seen here.

This year I will continue last years fund-raising in my classroom, but am going even further with the running in hopes to raise more than I did last year. One problem. My training runs are getting longer, harder and hillier. I am getting more and more exhausted. Last Saturday I ran 16.1 miles (yes, I said 16.1 - OUCH!) and today I ran 18.8. Ouch x10!

This is where you come in. I'm in need of some motivation, as these runs are getting to be very, very hard. My body hurts .. pretty much ... ALL the time! If I know you're counting on me, well, I know I won't give up.

I am asking for a $26 donation to my Relay for Life team - that's only $1 per mile that I will run on January 16th. And the best part? YOU don't have to run those miles, I do. You can sleep in on Jan 16th and know you've made a difference and are helping find a cure for cancer.

You can donate here, or you can mail/give your donation to me and I can submit it.

Thanks everyone for your consideration, help and support! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mt. Lemmon Half [crazy] Marathon

A few weekends ago (WOW I've been bad at updating my blog lately..) I successfully completed the "Mt. Lemmon Half Marathon." 13.1 miles of grueling. uphill. running.

This marathon/half marathon has been named the worlds toughest road race.

The race began at 6:00am, and boy was it cold - I could see my breath. And it was still dark - my alarm went off at 4:45 that morning.

My only goal for this race was survival.


Here I am running the final mile, and MAN was I thrilled about that. Running like the wind, so fast I even blurred in the picture! ;)

To put in perspective -

My first half marathon (Vegas) I finished in 2:39
*(The most I'd ever run before this race was 6 miles.. I did not train. Yikes)

My second half marathon (Tucson) I finished in 2:12 - where I set my PR (personal record)
*This race I actually trained for - and trained hard.

This was my 3rd half marathon, and I trained for it as well - hard.
I finished in 2:48.

Hopefully that gives you just a small glimpse of how hard it was!


We were all SO glad to be finished!




I even got Bart Yasso's autograph (google his name) on my belly!


I survived this. Which lead me to believe... I can do a full marathon.

So with that, I have officially registered for the Phoenix Rock 'N Roll Marathon, which is on January 16th of next year.

That's right, a full 26.2 mile run.

I have been training for about 2 months so far, and my longest run so far has been 15 miles.

Next week is 16 miles - which is going to be pretttty crazy.

I'll keep you all posted :)