news!

Hola, my quiet readers!

I know I still need to blog my Run Like Hell half marathon experience from mid-Oct... and it was a VERY fun run, so I will be doing that.

... BUT I just wanted to update people on my running news.

A couple of things:

• I've discovered pool running. Or rather, I gave it a spin once a couple weeks back, and it went really well. My dad is getting me a waterproofing kit for my ipod, so that I can pool run with tunes (which I think will make it more interesting), but I think this could also be my secret weapon for training from now on... especially since it is literally a zero impact workout which works all your muscles, including your abs and upper body. It's crazy cool.
  
• After the Run Like Hell, I kinda had the goal of a 2 hour half hanging over me unfulfilled... and I'd like to try to reach that goal in 2009, but I really didn't have any specific races ear-marked yet. I knew I wanted to do PPP instead of Hippy Chick, so that was kinda decided, but other than that I really hadn't decided on anything. I was kinda seeking my next whatever.
  
• I got an email about the upcoming events for TNT's spring season, and the call for mentor applications. One event really caught my eye, the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage Alaska on the solstice. After volunteering for the 2008 Portland Marathon at the TNT aid station at mile 9 (also need to blog that), I started having jealousy pangs for the runners... and realized I might be ready to consider my next marathon now. I found this running calculator where you input your best time for any distance, and it calculates what you should be capable of at other distances. According to the calculations, at my current half marathon pace, I SHOULD be able to manage a 4:26 marathon!!! That's an hour and a half off my last attempt!! Now I'm just curious whether I can do it. I went ahead and applied to be a TNT non-fundraising mentor for the Mayor's Marathon. I've been kinda leaving the choice of running a full marathon in 2009 up to the selection process of TNT... leaving it up to fate. If not selected, I'd dedicate 2009 to halves again.
  
• I was considering running Race for the Roses again in 2009 too, just cause it's a good time of year to run a half, and if I'm training for a full in Summer it's probably good for me to run a couple halves in the Spring. Also, I think some of my friends AND my mom are thinking about doing it for 2009, and I'm a joiner. hehehe.
  
• We aren't supposed to find out about who the chosen mentors for the Spring Season are until Friday this week (emails out on Friday night, info session for chosen mentors on Saturday morning). However, I just got a voicemail from the TNT run coord, Lindsay. She said basically: "So I see you are interested in the Alaska Marathon, but we were wondering how you would feel about being a mentor for Race for the Roses, and then, once that event is over you could continue training with the team, as a participant, and we'd pay your race entry to Alaska, but you'd have to pay for the stuff you would as a non-fundraising mentor, you know, your airfare and hotel stay... would you be interested in that?"
  So, I guess what they are saying is: I'd only have to mentor runners from Jan until early April, and then after that I get to be a non-fundraising freeloader for the next 3 months training with the team, and also get my race entry paid for!?! What am I missing here? Cause, it sounds like I'm getting the better deal here....
  
  Cause like, I was asking for the same benefits but where I'd have to like, mentor runners from Jan-June. This sounds MUCH better. :)
  
• I left Lindsay a voicemail just now that I'd like to take her up on her offer... so I think I'm running a marathon in 2009!! in ALASKA!!! :D