We're crossing the finish line as a Team... only 2 weeks left!

At our weekly Saturday morning DC Team Challenge running meetup, we posed for this terrific picture. Unfortunately, it only captured about half the team... but I thought this was a great picture to share. We all ran 2 hours last Saturday... we started at the Tidal Basin and ran for 2 hours returning to where we started... and then we took the picture!! Our awesome Running Coach Kevin is on the far left and Dani, our awesome Endurance coach, is taking the photo. Being part of this Team to cross the Finish Line in Miami is a great feeling - we're helping CCFA find a cure for Crohn's & Colitis!

And if you're wondering how great DC Team Challenge is doing meeting our Team Goal, check out our Team Fundraiser website here.

2 hours closer to Miami and closer to finding a cure!

This morning I woke up around 6am to get ready to meet DC Team Challenge @ Tidal Basin for our weekly long run. The weather forecast didn't have high winds or any terrible cold... sunny and in the 40s... but probably only in 30s when we met, but the sun felt good!!

There was about 10 or so of us who met this morning.... I ran with Elizabeth this time. We ran together a few other times and do great together. Our pace is about the same, too... and we also do a good job motivating each other. The team spirit definitely helps with long endurance runs. Kate didn't make it to this meeting, but I'm sure she'll be back running with us soon after her injury heals. Get Better, Kate!! :-)

We ran for a total of 2 HOURS!!! And here's a list of the places we covered during our run:
1. the National Mall - this place will be covered with lots of ppl in a few wks for the Inaugural Day.
2. Capitol Building - it's an awesome feeling running by the Botanical Garden and seeing the US Flag flying at the Capitol Bldg... the reflecting pool in front of Capitol Bldg was a bit frozen, but it didn't stop some birds, geese and ducks from being in there.
3. Museums we ran by: the Smithsonian Museums (including the castle), the Air & Space Museum, Natural History Museum, National Gallery of Art, Holocaust Museum, Bureau of Engraving & Printing
4. the Washington Monument - we ran around a couple times... last time was to finish off the last 15 mins of the run before we headed back to our meeting location near the Tidal Basin
5. Tidal Basin including the Jefferson Memorial and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
6. Lincoln Memorial
7. Arlington Cemetery - after crossing the Bridge behind Lincoln Memorial (Jeremy and I ran over the Bridge before during our lunch runs), we kept going... lol... all the way to the cemetery entrance!!
8. WWII Memorial - it is such a great feeling to run past the Washington Monument and head for the Lincoln Memorial as you run by the WWII Memorial and by the Reflecting Pool.

I believe we had cheerleaders along the run today, too. Every so often, I noticed a flock of geese settled on the grass as we ran by or in the pools or in the Tidal Basin... sometimes they were noisy as tho they were cheering us on. :-)

The mention of the geese is important in this post because geese are known to be used to symbolize team building situations. Here's an interesting fact: "As each goose flaps its wings in its place in the formation, it creates uplift for the goose following it. By flying in a “V” formation, scientists have calculated that the whole flock adds up to 71 % more flying range than if the geese flew separately."

So the Teambuilding Lesson: People who share a common direction and a sense of belonging to one another can go farther together than alone. Everyone in Team Challenge shares the common direction of preparing for a Half Marathon and raising awareness & money to find cures for horrible diseases!! Win- Win!! (we don't run in the V-formation tho lol)

Wow!! Running in downtown DC is really great and adds to the excitement of what we're running for. After running for 2 hours, I felt like I could have kept going... Elizabeth commented to me when we were running to the Arlington Cemetery (about an hour into our run), that she remembers it being a dig deal for us to get to 1 hour running... and now we're running 2 hours w/ no problem. So Miami is 2 hours closer now!!

120 mins of running means we probably ran about 12 miles today!! Click here to see how you can help... donations are accepted up until about Jan 16th. And the ING Half Marathon is January 25th in Miami!! (starts @ 6:15am - yeaa for morning runs lol)

Week 13 Summary - most miles!!

This is a short, quick post to keep record of reaching the most miles (22) I have run in one week time so far... and it all started with the Jingle All The Way 10K!!

•  Dec 14: Jingle All The Way 10K was awesome!
  
•  Dec 15: Ran 4 miles to Lincoln
  
•  Dec 17: Ran 4 miles to Lincoln
•  Dec 18: Ran 50 mins all over downtown DC
•  Dec 20: Ran > 9 miles @ Burke Lake Park

I believe my previous post back in October, was right about banking miles help you in future.  It's great to be able to see my progress since I started in September.  Thanks to everyone for your support and help!  Miami is only 3 weeks away, and I'm only $600 away from the required minimum to run!!

I was so happy and proud when I saw an advertisement for Team Challenge - ING Direct Miami Half Marathon in CCFA Take Charge monthly newsletter.  It emphasized the importance of who is behind Team Challenge.  For the past 40 years, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) has paved the way to find a cure for Crohn's and Colitis.  CCFA created the first dedicated research program to change the course of treatments and search for a cure.  The future has never been brighter and new breakthroughs our on the horizon.  

Thank you for supporting me with DC Team Challenge so we can get to the finish line and find a cure!

Change really does make a difference!

I'm not referring to Obama's campaign slogan... I saved 2 Jack Daniel's bottles with change and that turned into $269.35!!  I couldn't wait to get home and enter the amount into my fundraiser page and to top it all off with some help from friends' donations today... 

I hit the 75% mark!!  Thanks EVERYONE that helped me reach 75% !!!

The last few days have been great for me - Running my first 10K, saving over $200 with spare change, and hitting the 75% mark!!  I'm almost there.... thanks for everyone's support and cheers!  It's a lot of fun when you know friends & family care about something that means so much to you.  Colitis isn't the most fun disease to have, but it's given me the opportunity to help raise awareness to people, raise money for a great organization CCFA, and truly feel great running with others who suffer the same disease as me or know someone who does.  Turning something negative into positive is what it's all about! :-)

Crossing the finish line in Miami is all about finding a cure for a really horrible disease that so many children and people shouldn't have to live with.  I probably should have done it earlier, but here's a link to CCFA that provides information about the diseases - Crohn's and Colitis.

8am, 30F degrees, & Jingle Bells on all our shoes

It was a great run... It was my first 10K run!!  I'm so excited how I great I felt before, during and after.  There was about 10 of us from the Team Challenge that met to run the Jingle All The Way 10K today.

I was surprised when I learned there were over 4,000 runners in the race and was even more surprised when we all lined up at the Start Line with no problems.  Of  course it was a mob of people all gathered... this was the best way to start - all of us huddled together, blocking the wind and chill from each other.  Everyone was wearing their jingle bells on their shoes... so it was great to hear us all start to run.  

Every kilometer was marked, which proved to be very motivating.  And as you can see from the course map on the left, we ran so far and then circled back to return to the Start Line, which was now the FINISH LINE.  I found this to be great for my first run.  We ran along the Potomac River, which was pretty with the sun shining, but also was chilly by the water.  It was an even, flat course, with a minor hill to cross a small bridge... but nothing like Jeremy & I run during lunchtime like over the 14th St Bridge or behind Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  So I was ready - Thanks, Jeremy! lol

I ran with my friend, Kate, during the race.... funny how I planned to run with Elizabeth, but with so many people there it just didn't work out.  Anyway, the object of the race was to just have fun and enjoy the experience!! Thanks to Sherry for my 1st Race Great Advice... I jogged some before the race, so my body was ready to go and I also made sure I had fun - thanks Nichole!  And it looks like my next visit to DK, might include a race - so that will be exicting... maybe I'll get Kelli & Mads to run, too. :-)

I felt more than prepared for this race - so thanks to Team Challenge Coaches for great training and Jeremy for all my lunchtime runs.  I didn't break any records, unless there's record for happiness! haha Kate & I crossed the finish line at the same exact time and it's a funny time, too.  We completed the 10K in under 70 mins exactly... 69:59!!  Now, I have my first race time recorded to keep improving.  I remember crossing the 5K line at 37 mins, so I would say I had a good consistent, evenly paced first run.  I'm still learning about things I should pay attention to so I can improve my runs, but I can't do anything wrong if I'm having fun!! :-)

I'm really looking forward to Miami... the warmth, the extra distance (so should be double the fun - ha ha!), and the great cause we're supporting - Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.  I'm still trying my best to reach the fundraising goal and with only $1,000 left; I believe we'll achieve it.... don't forget every donation helps!!

Here's something that one of our coaches shared with us that puts the remaining $1,000 left in perspective and what an impact everyone can have with a small donation ...

If 100 people donated $10 that would be 1,000 bucks for a great cause!! $1,000 can send one child with Crohn's or Colitis to Camp Oasis who may otherwise not be able to go!

 Thanks to all my friends and family supporting me with this great & important cause!!

Happy Hour Success & Running Update

I'll start with letting everyone know how the Happy Hour went for Chris & I on this past Thurs, Nov 20.  It was a big success for us!!  I believe we both needed that to help w/ our fundraising.  Both of our fundraising seemed to plateaued from all the support we were receiving from our friends & family.... so I was trying to look at the Happy Hour as a way for Chris & I to celebrate all of our hard work so far - running and organizing an event together.

It started out slow... Happy Hour began @ 5pm, but as many know lots of ppl are just leaving work at 5pm.  After the first two ppl arrived (Thanks, Jill for being Numero Uno!), it picked up as time went on.  Crystal City Sports Pub provided great drink specials and Half-off Appetizers... plus we had great door prizes from Victoria Secret, Gotta Run, Starbucks, and some cool labeled wines.

So how did we do?  We raised about $900 total!!!  Thanks to everyone that came out and supported Chris & I with running ING Half Marathon for Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA).

So now the running updates....

This past wkend I didn't feel that great, so I didn't want to push myself with the running, but at the same time I was starting to disappoint myself if I didn't get out there and run soon!  Jeremy was off this week... so I didn't have his motivation, but I got out and ran 3 miles on Friday!!  It was so cold & windy!!  But I didn't run alone... and no I didn't replace Jeremy for skipping out all week (Hope his moving to his new home went well btw), but it's pretty nice how I met a friend on Friday.

I had just started my run around the National Mall to the Washington Monument... and I hear, "Rachel, Rachel."  It was my friend, Lisa..... she was like an angel to be there I told her.  We ran together and toughed out the cold winter weather.  We're going to keep in touch and maybe meet up again, since we both don't work too far from the National Mall.

Now for today's DC Team Challenge run meetup.... I woke around 6am and enjoyed my stuffed egg sandwich for breakfast.  I made sure I had on as much blue & orange + my Team Challenge tshirt for the Team Challenge Spirit contest for this meetup.  I'll mention it now though... next time, I'm not running in a heavy sweatshirt.  I don't believe I'm finding excuses for feeling sluggish today, but it really did feel heavy... and I might be tempted to leave my gloves home next time, too.  But all the running I'm doing each time, helps me get ready for Miami!!

We ran about 7 miles today.... which I felt pretty good about.  I know I can run 6 miles comfortably, so it looks like I'm breaking through to 7 now!!!  And Elizabeth & Lynn were great to run with today... I really liked how we looked out for each other this run.  Also, Lynn let us try something new half way through our run... she shared Starburst chew gummies... not sure of exact name, but they gave us a boost/burst of energy!! Thanks, Lynn!

Thanks again for everyone's support and donations.... I've started to count up and organize how many entries everyone has for the $50 Amazon Gift Card.  I don't know yet if there'll be an extension from Dec 1, bc with the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching I'm not sure how many ppl will be interested in reading my running blog lol  So I might extend it a couple weeks, but I'll post the official decision on  or before Dec 1.  I want to have the drawing soon enough before the holidays, so the winner can utilize it for holiday shopping.  Oh, and I believe I'm going to do it as an e-certificate, so you'll get it really quick! :-)

Yesterday 3 and Today 4... Become my Virtual Running Partner!

Yesterday I got a surprise invite to run with a friend from the Team Challenge, Chris, who is an avid runner and she's running in the ING Half Marathon for CCFA, too. I thought it was funny and actually very impressive when she told me that this is first Half Marathon.... but she's ran a Marathon before!! So when she asked me to run last nite, I was really excited and even more excited that we have arranged a Happy Hour @ Crystal City Sports Pub on November 20.

So yesterday we ran a 3 mile loop through Arlington and on the Mt. Vernon Trail. The trail is where I ride my bike to work... this was the first time I ran on the trail and might give it another try this wkend. It really is a great place to run & bike or walk!

Today, I met Jeremy to run @ lunchtime and he and I agreed on running just to and around the Washington Monument.... but when we got to the backside of the Monument, Jeremy kept running along the path but toward the Lincoln Memorial. I asked where he was going... he said we're running to Lincoln. So today was a surprise 4 mile run. I felt much better than I thought I would having just ran last nite... but glad Jeremy was there to encourage me to run a little more today.

Thanks again for everyone's support and contributions to CCFA for me so I can run. I'm almost at the 50% mark, so getting more and more excited! I have to meet this $3,600 minimum goal to be able to run... so you're literally helping me cross the finish line when you donate!!

I'll do all the running... just become my virtual running partner by contributing to my run :-)
(Click Here to be my Virtual Running Partner!!)

3, 4, now 5 Miles!... & the "345" ticket!

Today was our DC Team Challenge Meetup training run @ Arlington, VA.  We meet every Saturday at various places throughout the DC Metro area at 8am for a long run and today it was 5 miles at least.  I don't have an exact calculation, but some team members wearing GPS said it was 5 miles.  We ran 30 minutes and then turned around for 30 more mins ... so it was a good run.  I found another running partner, Elizabeth, who shares similar pace with me and she's great at saying encouragements at the right times!

We met at Washington-Lee High School and headed for a run/bike trail called, Custis Trail.  There were plenty of hills and windy paths on the trail, but Elizabeth and I kept going for the 60 min run.  We only had to briefly stop for a traffic light to wait for traffic to pass, so this is a great trail to run without stops.

After the run we all met back @ Washington-Lee High School and Kevin (our Team Coach) answered any questions.  Then our fundraising clinic, presented by Dani our Team Manager took place.  She shared some insight on how we're (DC Team) doing compared to the other at least 50 (I believe it was a # high like that) Regional Teams are doing.  Team DC was in 2nd place last Saturday, but Team Long Island has surpassed us.... we'll catch up again I'm sure.  Dani made sure to congratulate on our great Team work so far and it's only the beginning!

Next was the fun surprise part.  Every Saturday, Dani acknowledges the Team Memeber who has raised the most donations during the week, she also awards the most creative websites, and Team members are invited to enter into a Raffle for a few dollars.  The winning you receive is then for you to place towards your Fundraising Goal.  I bought a ticket for $5 and 20 minutes later Dani pulled the winning ticket - Ticket #345.  I reached into my pocket and at first I couldn't find it, thinking no problem, because I never win anyway. lol  I found my ticket and it was #345!! I won :-)  I've only been home for 20 or so minutes and I already recorded the winning amount on my website.  Thanks DC Team Challenge!! :-)

I can't wait to continue running this week.... my last post is correct.  I keep feeling better the more I run! :-)

You're part of the Team & My Fundraising Update

I found a fellow Team Member's fundraising page and she says something that really puts all of this Training & Fundraising into perspective for me and I thought it was a great point to share with my Blog Readers!

Be a part of Team Challenge with me... No, you don't have to run... I'll do it on your behalf with your donation & support.

This is a good way to let my supporters know that even a donation of $13 (a dollar per mile) is appreciated!

Thanks for everyone's support & donations!  All your support and help means a lot for me to be able to cross the Finish Line in Jan 2009.  Thanks to you, I'm 39% of achieving the required fundraising  - this is exciting!

13.1 miles is far, but finding a cure for Chron's & Colitis is getting closer for us!

Thank you for your support & I'm going to keep running!!!

Here's a quick update how I'm doing with my donations. I need to reach the goal before the recommitment date on December 11 or even with all the training I'm doing I won't be permitted to race @ the ING Half Marathon. But I know I'm going to cross that finish line!! :-)

Thanks for everyone's donations, so far!! It definitely is keeping me motivated to know you support me & CCFA!

Click here or on the right to donate. --->

Total Donations Collected:$1,184

Goal: $3,600

$0 33% $3,600 Goal

Ready, Set, Go!

Thanks for visiting my training blog for the Miami ING Half Marathon. I'm completing the race through the CCFA Team Challenge. I'm a member of the Greater Washington DC Chapter and each one of us has committed to raising at least $3,600 and running the Miami ING Half Marathon.

More than 80% of the donations goes toward medical research toward a cure and mission-critical programs. CCFA consistently meets the standards of organizations that monitor charities, including Better Business Bureau's Wising Giving Alliance (give.org) and American Institute for Philanthropy (charitywatch.org).

Although this is a Team Challenge, it's also a personal challenge for me. About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with Colitis, but have been in remission for 3+ years now thanks to new medicines from CCFA research. Besides the personal connection to the organization, I am also using this great opportunity to challenge myself to complete a half marathon.

I'll record my progress and training here for the Miami ING Half Marathon. Feel free to leave comments and notes of encouragement. Also, check out my Team Challenge Support Page.