So, remember back in June when I extended the invitation to y’all to join me on a big run? I told y’all I had caught the running bug and was dreaming of a bloggy meet-up in the form of a half marathon run in Memphis for the children of St. Jude Hospital.
Well.
I got a great response from y’all. Lots of interest in running dependent on logistics. Tons of support and encouragement from those of you who would love to join us but are limited by distance or circumstance (but sweetly on board for support, just the same!). And a sweet sixteen of you who have pulled the trigger and committed to going all the way to the finish line with me (and to all the other fun weekend activities we’ll have planned!)
Guys, we have a team! A real, true, working and training together team.
We’ve been pre-training during the month of July- all of us getting comfortable with 3-4 mile runs without dying. We’re learning technique and how to listen to our bodies and also how not to attempt a run after eating a plate of shrimp and grits.
Next Monday (August 8th), we’ll begin our official, 17-week training plan to prepare us to run 13.1 miles on a chilly morning in December.
And we’ve been having a splendid time holding each other accountable on Nike+ with a “Most Miles in a Month” challenge (which ended tonight with Keight’s 90.3 miles taking the gold and Olivia’s 87.39 miles taking an impressively close second) and a “Fastest Two Miles” race (I missed first place by 18 seconds to Jesse).
Bottom line: we’re getting the hang of this!
Aaaand… we think we like it!
And now that we’re all officially registered and running hard and hitting our respective strides, it’s time for team Finding My Feet to be introduced to the world!
(And by world, I mean all you lovely and faithful readers.) :)
May I introduce to you (with a photo and bio of each team member),
Team Finding My Feet 2011
{St. Jude Memphis Marathon/½ Marathon}
While there are sixteen of us running, we hope that the Finding My Feet/St. Jude team will ultimately be much larger. And, there are two great ways for you to get involved (one now and one in December):1. We have set a goal to raise $2000 for research for the kids of St. Jude. We’ve already raised $450 toward that goal just in donations from the sixteen of us, but now we need your help!
If you’d like to donate to St. Jude in support of our team, click here to go to our team site and hit the orange “Donate Now” button. Not only will it help us get closer to our fundraising goal, but your name will scroll on the side of our team page so we will be able to see who you are and feel the support of the community of people who stand behind what we’re doing.
2. Each person’s bio is clickable to their blog (if they have one) and I also included a link to each of their Twitter sites. Feel free to follow any of us you like to hear training updates. And, more specifically, on race day it would be amazing for each of us (since most of us will be running with mobile devices of some form) to be bombarded with encouraging tweets as we press through 13.1 miles, one foot in front of the other. I’ll remind you more about this later, but I definitely think it would be awesome to have all yall’s little messages of support as we run.
Go, team Finding My Feet!
And, as always, happy Monday, friends!
>Man, I really wish that I lived closer. I am running a 1/2 on December 11 but you know, since I live in California it'd be a little hard to join the team and run with you guys. But me and my training are with you in spirit!!!
>We have the "hottest team" gold medal in the bag! Ryan and y'alls cammie better stay away from me on race day. Cellulite in motion + a beet red pale girl doesn't photograph so well. Also, vomit. Go TEAM! Love this.
>Congrats guys…awesome that you are doing this. I ran for the 1st time on Sunday and now 2 days later am just able to walk again. Nice!
Anyways thought I would share a fun thing that a good friend and marathon runner does when she does a race. She writes the names of people she wants to pray for during the run on her arm and so when she needs something to keep her going she looks down and finds someone to pray for! I loved that idea!!
ANyways – good luck with the training!! :)
>This is going to be so fun to follow. I am not running with you but I did recently get back into running after breaking to have my two kids and it feels good. Thanks for all the introductions!
>You have an awesome team going! Loved the profile on Ryan, Project Runway…ha! I'll be there in spirit. I've put my running on hold due to sheen splints, a bum knee and sciatica. Yeah I'm a wimp. :) If I could hike the marathon I'd be there for sure though!
>WOW!!! What an amazing team! Wish I lived a little closer so I can join in all the fun!!
Can not wait to follow all of the adventures that you guys will be taking on!!
Lesley
http://www.kltfamily.blogspot.com
>Yay! I'm so nervous! I will also be actively avoiding the camera on race day!!!
>Raechel, I heard about Olivia & Zac's accident over the weekend (through Teda on Facebook). How scary! Hope she is (literally) back on her feet soon!
>I am SO SO jealous right now! I haven't been able to run in months! I miss catching up with your daily lives…our internet is very limited so my blog time is near nothing. So sad (although I am sure I have told you this before…)
Go team! How about you run another next year in California and I'll join you!! (although my shoes may not be near as pretty).
Tell the hubs Project Runway is my absolute fave.
Oh, and yes, Scarlett's hair is white. And yes, I am still miserable and sick, and yes, we are done with kids–and no, you didn't ask me the question to the final answer.
Sorry for the novel of a comment. Wishing you the best run… after the first race, you'll be hooked!!!
>What a great looking group! I soooo wish I would be able to join all of you…maybe next year!!??!?! My treadmill has arrived and I am getting used to running on it, but I don't enjoy running inside! It takes some getting used to.
Good luck to you all! I will be cheering you on from the sidelines.
Btw, I am praying for Olivia and Zac. I pray they are feeling more comfort each day.
Also, I ordered nourish baby balm and wash today. I can't wait to try it out.
Christine
>Ohhhkayyyyy just noticed the embarrassingly large number of exclamation marks in my bio. Sorry about that. I'm an early childhood ed major…and 21. Still, unacceptable. Bahaha. Love our team! I'm having so much fun getting to know everyone via twitter/email. Can't wait to all run together in December!