Bullseye!!

Fundraising target reached!

In the past week, I have had donations from the O'Connor's of Toorcladane, my brother Colm, the Ryan's of Direen and a little girl by the name of Amanda Sue raised $500 in NYC!

Amanda & Dad having the craic in Dallas

Amanda is my dearest cousin who's almost like a sister to me.. I changed a few nappies (diapers) in my day (sorry Sue!). She took it upon herself to start her own little fundraising campaign on my behalf and raised all that money. Once again, my family have gone above and beyond to help me reach what seemed like a lofty goal. I really can't believe we actually have raised this much money.. thank you all!

I really believe this is a great cause (I'm sure you've gathered at this stage!) and this money will do great things for those who currently face no cure for Crohn's and Colitis.

So I guess all I have to do now is run the race!! Oh and make 24 pairs of earrings but I'll focus on the running for now. One week today I leave for Napa.. yipeeeeee! I'm more excited than nervous.. I've been training hard for a long time so I'm as ready as I'm gonna be. 

Here's what my training has looked like over the past few weeks:

getting fancy making pictures.. just pretend I didn't crop off the end of last week please :)

(Oh if you're wondering what the injury was it was so bum trouble.. I'll leave it at that!). 

Workouts:

Rugby legs: intervals on the elliptical

Sexy arse: really steep walking intervals on the treadmill

Tempo run: 10 min easy warm-up, 2.5 miles at ''easy end of hard'' pace, 0.5 miles easy, 1.5 miles at ''hard end of hard'' pace, 1 mile. cool down.

Tempo runs are supposed to be great for getting faster and I've increased my speed every week. Fingers crossed all this has got me ready to run a 7:30 minute mile.

I mostly can't wait to run in cooler weather.. on my last long run my two main thoughts were ''It would be a really good idea to get stick-on super-hairy eyebrows so sweat wasn't pouring in my eyes'' and ''IF I manage to finish this run I'm getting a Snickers Ice Cream''. No idea why I was craving that, I haven't had one in years. I finished the run, bought the ice-cream and I'm letting my eyebrows grow ;)

Since I started writing this at 4AM when I couldn't sleep, I will love ye and leave ye for now. But not before I share this ridiculous photo from our drive in the Texas countryside on 4th of July. Nick forwarded it on to me saying: ''conundrum: to show off the monstrosity of this truck, but face the ridicule regarding the hair? The decision is yours''. Lucky for you guys I made the right decision.

bam-bam hair due to scalp burning susceptibility.. that's my excuse & sticking to it ;)

Happy friday y'all!!!

P.S don't forget it's not too late to donate, right here. I still have 2 miles left to dedicate for people who donate over $100 and there's plenty room on my arm.. I've been growing my biceps especially :)

COUNTDOWN FOR WEBSITE

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Week two

It's been a busy week.. between training, working, volunteering and fundraising!

The Half Marathon is a few months away (July 21st) but I'm taking my training pretty seriously since I have a goal time in mind. I ran a 10 mile race in October and I honestly had no clue what I was capable of. I ran just over an 8 minute mile.. so for the half, my goal is 7.30 minute mile. I have no idea what the course is like with hills and whatnot but this is the figure in my head and I find it easier to stick to a plan when I have a goal in mind.  Half marathon in 1.38, it's gonna happen (if it doesn't don't remind me I said this!)

I write out a loose plan every Sunday and stick it on my fridge. Here's what I did this week:

Monday: Treadmill..... 5 miles in 41:42; focus on hills, (incline 1% for 3 mins, 3% 2 min @ 7.5) x repeats, with warmup and cooldown

Tuesday: 30 mins elliptical, followed by 15 min Nike Training Club app workout 'Arm Definer'

Wednesday: Treadmill..... 6 miles in 48:04

Thursday: Gillian Michael's DVD workout, 'week 3'

Friday: Off

Town Lake trail.. pwetty eh?

Saturday: Team Challenge Group Run: 4 mile loop of Town Lake trail.

Sunday (yet to do): easy 3 miles + 30 min Nike Training Club 'Gladiator' workout


Any of you runners got any tips for increasing speed?

I know a lot of people are very anti-treadmill, but truth be told, I don't feel very safe in my neighbourhood (I did see a dead body cycling to work one day so I have good reason!) so I'll be sticking to the gym during the week until it gets brighter outside in the mornings.


On Saturday mornings, we meet at 7:30 AM. Austin gets really hot in the Summer so that's why we will be training so early... in just one week it went from 41F (5C) to 63F (17C). Man, is it tough to get up at 5:45AM on a Saturday morning! Out 'Endurance Manager' Meredith does a great job at motivating us and yesterday before we took off, she reminded us of the reasons why we are doing this. She told us of a little girl who died of Crohn's related complications just a few weeks ago... awful. My other motivation comes from reading two of my favourite running/lifestyle blogs; Tina of Carrots 'N' Cake, and Ali of Ali on the Run. Ali is going through a pretty bad Crohn's flare -up at the moment, yet still manages to run! The money I raise goes towards helping these people suffer less....finding a cause and cure. If you can help this cause in any way then please give as generously as you can.

Thanks to Shona, Karen, Jon and Aaron who donated this week.. I have $275 thanks to you guys! As I mentioned last week, I am sending earrings to the gals. Here's a few examples of what I can make:

Clearly I'm not the gifted photographer but I hope that one of these tickles your fancy (if you're a girl that is!). The earrings are custom made, and I have lots of supplies so if you have a colour/ size/ style in mind let me know! I'm gonna get working on my bbq rub recipes for you guys this week. $20 or more of a donation and they will be on their way to ya!

For donations over $100 I will be dedicating a mile of my run to you.. your choice which mile.. an writing it down my arm.. temporary tattoo kinda thang! My arms are not stretchy so that's why it's over $100.

Thumbs up to you guys for supporting me!

Here is the link to my fundraising page: http://www.active.com/donate/napaSTXA13/atxHOConn1

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