Hi everyone

Thank you for visiting my Personal Fundraising Page.  I really appreciate your on-going support in both fundraising and running. It has been a great motivating factor in my training, which, unfortunately, does not get any easier the second time around. But as they say - no pain, no gain...

I invite you to periodically check this site to track my progress (below). And if you feel like am slacking make sure you cal me or email me. After all, you want to get your money's worth!  

Speaking of money, please note that donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to make a contribution to my fundraising efforts. Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Monika

8/13 - getting ready for the chicago distance classic - 13.1 miles, on sunday. my left foot is starting to hurt. a lot. temporarily stop wearing heels. needless to say the fashion consequences are even more painful than the injury itself. struggle at the race for first few miles then pull through to finish in 1 hour and 50 minutes. wearing the running skirt, obviously. 28 miles for  the week.   

8/6 - back to mileage building. 28 miles for the week with the longest run of 14 miles. ran a 5k on saturday at kevin's fest as a speed training for the week. bad choice. first, i was ridiculed for wearing a skirt. apparently it takes longer for the fashion trends to get to the south side... secon, the advertised 5k turned to be 6k! not fun at all. the good news is i kicked ass, won gold in my age group and received an apology from all of those who doubted my skirt.  it's good to be a trend setter!

7/30 - recovery week. no, i am not slacking,  recovery weeks are an importqant part of the program. ok, perhaps i took the recovery requirement  too far with mere 15 miles this week. it was hot and i went away for  trip and it was supposed to be an easy week. hopefully all this recovery will make for strong upcoming weeks.  

7/16 - starting to slack. 13 miles a week is not going to do it under any circumstances but i do have some (good) excuses. first (excuse), i was trying to get some rest before my 5k bastille day race on thursday. it was really hot and humid that day so i finished  at 24.13, about a minute slower than i was planning on. i do need to step up the speed training. second (excuse), i went to atlanta for the weekend and had best intentions to run over there. ok, maybe not the best intentions but i was thinking about it. anyway, it was really really hot there so i decided to skip my long run. shame on me.   

7/9- didn't run most of the week due to my oregon vacation and subsequent recovery from the vacation. lots of carbo loading there - mostly from beer. not sure if that qualifies as a proper nutrition but what's the hell - i still have 14 weeks to get on track. ran 22 miles with the longest run of 14 miles. had some funky tapaz the night before the long run, and, ... the rest of the story was deleted based on your recommendation ( "too much information"). all i will say is that i really need to reconsider the nutrition part asap!

7/2 - 2nd week of training. time to set some goals. since i am planning on shaving 20 minutes from my last year's time i have to modify my training accordingly. attended my first ever speed workout. reinforced my already strong feeling that i am a total rookie - had a hard time keeping up with the slowest group (sub 4hrs) there. Run 22 miles and am off to oregon for a short vacation.   

6/25 - completed firt week of training. 17 more to go. run a total of 19 miles this week which a modest but still a good start.