The Secret to Summer Running

I have figured it out and I am now ready to share it with fellow runners, family, and friends. To beat the heat, you must....literally beat the heat. As in get up early. MYSTERY SOLVED!!!

Of course, easier said than done! I have been blessed with some weeks of true vacation to return back East and visit with family and friends I've missed living in Michigan this past year. That being said, maintaining a semi-regular routine has been challenging and while for some people, vacation = throw the routine out the window, that poses some problems for me. I do better with structure.

This became all too clear when Ryan and I decided to sleep in a little on Tuesday and paid for it in the WORST WAY with what felt like the hottest run of my life. It was a rude awakening and definitely made me think about my approach to training, particularly in this summer of freedom. The hour-by-hour weather forecast has always been a good friend of mine, so it's time I bump our relationship up to the next level and settle down. Commit. Make it official.

When I trained for Philly two summer ago, I definitely made major adjustments to my schedule based on the weather, and I honestly just need to get back there. It could be for a whole variety of reasons, but I don't feel like I had as gradual of an adjustment this summer. Either way, if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen (so you can go to bed and wake up early!).

Anyway, I didn't need to get up "real people early" this AM, but setting my alarm DEFINITELY helped to make this morning's run more enjoyable/less like a close encounter with the devil.....AND if I was too hot, I got a nice cool-off when it started to downpour. It was more funny than anything else, until I walked into my garage and my phone stopped working. It's soaking in a nice rice/jambalaya mix as we speak, so fingers crossed he'll be resurrected!

Olympic Warm Fuzzies

My excitement has been building and the moments are almost here....SUMMER OLYMPICS 2012! I have always been a big fan of the Olympics and I would say my more recent interest in running/reading of Runner's World has only increased my excitement for the next few weeks. Not surprisingly, I LOVE the personal backstories and beautifully edited montages that summarize athletes journeys and struggles to make it to the Games. Today, Marni shared this one - The man with no country: Runner plans to compete at London Games under Olympic flag. Dreamers everywhere - get excited!

Serious Fun Network/North Star Reach

"I wish I could recall with clarity the impulse the compelled me to help bring camp into being. I'd be pleased if I could announce a motive of lofty purpose. I've been accused of compassion, of altruism, of devotion to Christian, Hebrew, and Moslem ethic, but however desperate I am to claim ownership of a high ideal, I cannot. I wanted, I think, to acknowledge Luck: the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in lives of others: made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it." - Paul Newman 


A few years ago, I had the good fortune of getting involved with the Serious Fun Network (then known as the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps) and since 2007, these amazing camps have only further inched their way into my heart. Paul Newman founded the first camp in Connecticut in the very year I was founded, and the network has continued to grow since then. The camps are designed to give children with life-altering conditions and illnesses the chance to simply be kids in a safe and loving environment.  Spending a week at The Painted Turtle and a week at Hole in the Wall Gang Camp left such an imprint that I wanted to do my part to help send children to camp (because yes, it's free!). This was the push I needed to commit to my first half-marathon, which I ran as part of Team Hole in the Wall. 


About a month after I moved out to Michigan last summer, I learned of North Star Reach, a provisional member of the Serious Fun Network, being built just 30 miles from where I live! Last month, before leaving for New Orleans, I had the wonderful honor of accompanying 3 kids to their first week of magic at Hole in the Wall Gang Camp as part of the Camp on the Move program. This initiative sends deserving children to a camp already in existence while one closer to them is being built. This summer, 30+ kids were sent from Michigan to three different Hole in the Wall camps - Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, Victory Junction in North Carolina, and Double H in New York. As a travel chaperone, my job was to help the kids get to the fun....and then sadly turn around and come back! Due to the craziness of this summer, I'm not able to spend a full week at camp, but I still wanted to be involved and even if it was only for about an hour (the length of a very tasty lunch, thank you very much!), it was so great being back at Hole in the Wall and it made me want to share the love with all those I love....so expect forceful invitations to get involved and volunteer in summers to come!


Yesterday, I started reading Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good, written by Paul Newman and his partner, A. E. Hotchner, about the start of mass producing salad dressing, the creation of Newman's Own, and the beginning of Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and its related camps. While I knew funding for each camp did not solely come from Newman's Own, I didn't know that to this day, 100% of all profit is donated to charity - WOWZAS! The book was an easy, quick read (did I mention I finished it today?), and it made me feel all the emotions of a good book - happiness, hopeful, love, and appreciation - and I would recommend it to all. It's a good reminder of the importance of giving to others, as well as eating quality pasta sauce. 

Time of your life: GO!

ahh - so many things I could post about after being completely MIA. In a dream world, I will catch up/fill in/cover it all over the next few weeks, but we'll see how well that goes. While the rest of the summer will afford me with more free time (=time to start training!), the traveling/visiting will be ongoing...which is great! I'm ecstatic and grateful for the time and flexibility to visit with family and friends back home after a year of mid-west living.

This morning was what I can call the first run on the training calendar for October's half and aside from the undeniable fact that it was pretty brutal, it felt (mentally) great to be back out there, slowly easing back into a familiar routine. While running and I continue to be swing back-and-forth on this continuum of absolute love and completely loathing, there's something comforting about it.

As for the past month, it has been madness, in the most wonderful of ways - Camp on the Move for North Star Reach/Serious Fun Network; 2 weeks of service learning with a group of 27 amazing teens  in New Orleans + a few days of vacationing down there with Ryan.  I will need to blog about it all just just so I can be sure I didn't just dream it up a few months from now :O).

Marathon Crasher

This morning was the first Ann Arbor Marathon. I had originally wanted to volunteer/check it out in some capacity, but with this past week being so crazy, it just wasn't feasible. I had forgotten about it until last night, and when I set out on my run this morning, I wondered if I would cross paths with the course at any point. A favorite run of mine is through the Arboretum, which is just .5 miles from my apartment, and I learned quickly after I set out that it served as the first leg of the second half of the marathon. WOOF.

Now, this totals THREE races that I have crashed, but the other two were more intentional. Two years ago, I happened to run the course of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which was amazing (and not obvious - there were thousands of runners jammed into those streets!). Several months later, I had the honor of running one of the last miles of the NYC Marathon with Sindy. It was so many things, but one of them was guilt ridden. Knowing what I look like after 13 miles, I can't even imagine what mile 24 would look like (think uncanny side-by-side between me and the crypt keeper?), so I felt terrible when sideliners were telling me to "keep it up!" and that I "look great!" (because yes, I take those things very personally when I am running a race and people say them to me!). It was such a cool experience to run with my running guru, especially on such a milestone run for her, but I felt deceitful that these people thought I had run 24 miles!

Anyway, today was quite a challenge (I use that word verrryyyy generously). I just couldn't win! When I gave encouragement to another runner actually running in the marathon, I felt like a jerk for breezing past them. When I ran past the water stations because it wasn't for me, I looked cocky for not needing water on a hot and humid day (I was saved a teeny bit on this one because I had my own water bottle - phew!). At the top of a hill, three volunteers were cheering me on and I finally had to come clean to someone, because I felt like a fake! Yes I did look good...I had been running for 10 minutes. Yes I could keep it up, because 1.5 miles = halfway.

If nothing else, it reminded me of how fun and exciting races are and that I don't need to just wait for 13.1 miles to run them.

Detroit Half!

Ryan and I have signed up for the Detroit's International Half for October 21 - AH!

Yes, it was just weeks ago that I was eager to not have a half hanging out my head, but after spending well over an hour at the bottom of the Ambassador Bridge on Sunday at customs, I got to thinking about what a cool run it would be....and even more awesome now that Ryan will be joining in for his FIRST HALF! WOOOOO!!

What is Running?

"Games require skill. Running requires endurance, character, pride, physical strength, and mental toughness. Running is a test, not a game. A test of faith, belief, will, and trust in one's self. So hardcore that it needs a category all to itself to define the pain. When game players criticize, it's because they aren't willing to understand, not because they're stronger. Running is more than a sport; it's a lifestyle. If you have to ask us why we run, you'll never understand, so just accept." - Jessica Propst