04:38:07

Well, all of this training and fundraising came to it's conclusion on December 11th. The 2005 Honolulu Marathon started at 5am with a fireworks show and we were off and running!






Christina, and Rory & Me (In the hotel before leaving to catch the shuttle to the starting line):



I ran most of the race with my training buddies Rory and Christina, playing chase games as a way to dodge through the crowds. Then we lost Rory, but Christina and I were together almost all the way to the finish! Even though it didn't metter if I stayed with my training buddies in the actual marathon, I really enjoyed their company and it was great motivation to stay up with their pace!

Mile 5- still dark outside!(I'm the one with my hands in the air in the middle of the crowd, christina's right in front of me, and rory's right behind in the blue shorts):


The weather got pretty hot, especially after the sun came out. And it was humid, which was different from the weather we've been having in our training sessions in Santa Monica!

Mile 11:


Somthing funny: after about mile 11 or 12, I found ten dollars on the ground!

Coming in to the finish line!:


Thank you to everyone who supported me in this adventure. Your donations have gone to a fantastic organization that is doing wonders for people with AIDS. And I really appreciate the generosity you all have shown that helped me get to this point. This marathon was an amazing experience and YOU made it possible for me. THANK YOU!

After the Marathon:

Camilla, Me, Brent, and Sally!:

Christina and Me!:




Final Statistics:
Fundraising Total (THANK YOU!): $3,855.00
Total amount of Money raised for APLA by our training program: $1,061,646.00

Marathon Split Times:
10K: 01:10:15
Half Marathon: 02:23:18
30K: 03:19:41
Gun Time: 04:50:48
Finish Time: 04:38:07
Place Overall: 5355
Place Women: 1506
Place Women 20-24: 134
Approx. top 20% of total entrants, top 10% in age category (Courtesy of Casey Henkle)

Hawaiian Vacation!

After the Marathon, we were lucky enough to have some time to spend vacationing in Hawaii. Since my parents came along to watch the marathon, they planned a trip to Maui and some fun activities!

We drove through some of the jungle on the Hana coast






Did some hiking




Went Snorkeling at Molokini Crater






And ate some good food!




Overall, it was an awesome vacation and a great finish to a fun marathon!

"Celebration Run"

This week was our 26-mile celebration run. It was out in Griffith park, and it was all the training groups put together by our training program! Only one person from my group was there, Camilla, but the two of us really bonded, and when she couldn't stop anymore for the last 3 miles becasue her knee hurt, I ran with her to the finish, so we finished together! It was difficult, but good to know that we can run almost the full distance of a marathon, only .2 more miles in the real thing in 1 month!

it was also lots fo fun to run with the larger group of people, and meet some new people. It was really cold in teh morning, but after about a mile and a half, it was plenty warm, and as the day wore on, it got pretty HOT! They had set up a fun finish line for all of us, and we got little medals for finishing!

Afterward I took a nice long ice bath and watched the 2nd half of the USC/Cal football game on TV- Meghan, my sweet roommate and inspiration for doing this (she did it last year, and inspired me while we were in London) had driven out to Santa Monica to surprise me, but the run was in Griffith park, but she picked up a deli sandwich for me and we celebrated together in the bathroom- me in the ice bath, her sitting there- awesome.

I was pretty tired, but it's nice to know that a marathon is completely within reach.

AIDS Fact:
One quarter of people newly infected with HIV in the United States are age 21 or younger

FUNDRAISING TOTAL TO DATE:
$3,855.00(to help this great cause, click HERE)

Ten again...

This week was a recovery run of 10 miles; it was a perfect, clear day and nice for a run. Christina, Sally, and I did the run together and really enjoyed each other's company


AIDS Fact:
AIDS and HIV infection takes 8,200 lives per day

FUNDRAISING TOTAL TO DATE:
$3,855.00(to help this great cause, click HERE)

THANK YOU to:
Peter West

Running in Berkeley

This weekend we were in Northern California for soccer, but I was able to get away for a run with our assistant coach, Isabelle, and audio/video guy, Bob. We went up into the hills in the campus of UC Berkeley and ran around for a while, then went jogged back up to our hotel in Emeryville, about 9-10 miles in all, and it was great to get out and see some of the campus!


AIDS Fact:
There were an estimated 3.1 million deaths from AIDS in 2004

FUNDRAISING TOTAL TO DATE:
$3,805.00 (to help this great cause, click HERE)

Thank YOU!:
Meredith Benson

Whoopie: Twenty-Three!

Today was our 23-mile "Red Run". We all wore red to make a giant "AIDS Ribbon" through Santa Monica. It was cool to se everybody coordinated, and it made it easier to tell when we ran by the other people in our training program (usually there are so many runners in Santa Monica in the morning, it's hard to tell). It was an overcast morning, with rain when I woke up that turned into a light drizzle that continued for the whole morning. It was great running weather becasue it didn't get too hot,in fact we ran the 23-miler faster than we had run the 20-miler!



Christina was the only other person from my pace group who showed up today, but we had a lot of fun (including having fun with the "LA Leggers", another training program that runs in Santa Monica, and has enormous groups of people running in a huge pack, and some of them have their names printed on their shirts, so we'd run by and say "Hey! Larry! Looking Good!" or "Whoa, Eva! Too Fast!") and we had some really great conversation.

We're getting so close to the marathon, I can almost taste it; only 1 more long run before the actual marathon (26-Mile "Celebration Run" on November 12). I can't wait!

AIDS Fact:
More than 1,700 children under the age of 15 years are infected with HIV every day.

FUNDRAISING TOTAL TO DATE:
$3,780.00 (to donate, click HERE)

Thank You!:
Alice West

TERRIFIC TWENTY

This week we ran twenty miles! The 20-miler had been postponed from last week because of smoke from the fires in the area that was making the air quality bad. So we were all itching to get back out on the road! There we only 4 of us in my pace group, but we had some really great conversation as the run went along!

Rory, Sally, Me and Camilla

The week before last I participated in the Nike RunHitWonder 10k race around the USC area, it's a nike-sponsored race that has different Bands stationed all around the course. It was so much fun and the music and huge mass of people made the run seem to fly by!


AIDS Fact:
The number of AIDS cases among women in the U. S. doubles every one to two years.

FUNDRAISING TOTAL TO DATE:
$3,750.00 (to donate, click HERE)

Eighteen-Greateen!

It was a partly-cloudy day, and the weather was just right; pretty cool and a light off-shore breeze. My runing group mates Christina, Brent, Rory and Camilla (Rory, Camilla and I were the only ones who did the full distance- the other two are battling injuries) were great company and we talked about everything from TV to politics, and we all seem so excited about how close we’re getting to doing the full marathon!



This week was a big run: they say if you can run 18 miles, you can run a marathon! Well, in that case..we’re well on our way, because we ran all 18 miles today! It was weird, I didn’t feel tired on the run, but my joints started to ache- I think we’re at the mileage where it just wears on you. But I’m trying to keep stretching and taking ice baths- I really like running; and the marathon is only a few months away!


Ahh…ice bath; reminds me of winter in Minnesota…

Special thanks to Shruti and Meghan for donating their time this Saturday (and for waking up at 5:30 am Saturday morning- what fantastic friends I have!)

AIDS Fact:
By region, 39% of persons living with AIDS live in the South, 29% in the Northeast, 19% in the West, 10% in the Midwest, and 3% in U.S. Territories.

FUNDRAISING TOTAL TO DATE:
$3,640.00(to donate, click HERE)

Thank You again to everyone who has donated so generously, special thanks this week to:
Home Loan Consultants
Teena Gagne