10 Days and Counting…

 

It’s been a while since my last update, but that doesn’t mean not much has gone on.

I finished my long run – a 22 miler – on a weekday no less. It’s one thing running 22 miles and crashing on a couch shortly thereafter, but it’s a completely different story when you have to get ready and go into work. Certainly not something I’d want to do again, but I’m so glad I did. I had a great run and felt very confident in myself going into the marathon taper.

This is my last weekend before the big marathon on 10/10 in Chicago, so we’ll do a leisurely 10 miler on Sunday. This followed up with a couple more short runs during next week and it’s time for the *real* fun!

This has been such a wonderful experience running with the goal in mind of raising money for Mercy For Animals. I’ve spoken with many people over the last several weeks over the phone or email that have given me such encouragement, it’s made the training (dare I say…) easy! Everyone’s support of MFA is simply mind-blowing and I’m so glad there are people out there that care for this cause as much as I do.

Now for the great news…

It was just recently announced that from now until October 31st, all MFA donations are being DOUBLED ! That means everyone’s donation contributed to my goal so far will be DOUBLED, and everyone’s donation for the next 10 days will be DOUBLED. So that’s going to make the animals DOUBLY happy for helping to end cruelty on factory farms.

So, for those of you that have already contributed – THANK YOU! – for everyone else, please consider making a donation to help me reach my $1000 goal (which ultimately will turn into $2000!). I’m only $230 shy of my goal – so that’s $23 per day or $1 per friend – either way, it’s certainly doable!

Thanks so much for your support, and I’ll see you across the finish line in Chicago!

Visit this link to help me reach my $1000 goal!

Tri Racing & Fun in Austin

I managed to get away this Labor Day weekend for some training (in  the form of an Olympic triathlon) and some fun (in the form of some great vegan food and great company). The Austin Triathlon went well – I met my target goal of 3 hours & 30 minutes. Not only that, but this was my first major race ever that I actually got to partake in the post-race food – they had vegan bean & potato tacos available at the finish line. How great is that?!

For the fun part, I was introduced to the food trailer craze that quite obviously has taken Austin by storm. There was Counter Culture, where I had a tasty vegan garbanzo “Tuna” salad sandwich, followed by Hey Cupcake, a – wait for it – cupcake trailer that carries a couple vegan options daily (which, to be honest, were just “okay”). Probably my favorite was Bananarchy (pictured right) – a frozen banana trailer – because honestly, is there a better name than Bananarchy?…the fact that you could dip your frozen banana in vegan chocolate & toppings didn’t hurt either.

 

frozen banana tastes better than it looks

Now that the triathlon is over, it’s back to focusing solely on the marathon – which is a bit of a relief. I’ll take one more day of rest on Wednesday, then it’s to the track on Thursday for speed-work. Chicago is just over a month away, but I’m still feeling confident of reaching my goal of collecting $1000 for MFA. I’m very honored to be running for this organization and can’t wait to meet the crew in Chicago!