20 Miles in the Texas Heat

So last weekend I successfully finished 20 miles. It was a great run and I feel more confident than ever to complete this marathon. We started an hour earlier, than normal as the weekend before we ran 18 miles and by 9am it was 90 degrees out. It was brutal! I started off extremely confident. I felt good, I ran faster, I ran longer. Instead of the 4:1 intervals, I was running 6:1 intervals. Our route started at the Lincoln heights HEB, ran through Alamo Heights, Olmos Park, Trinity University and headed downtown towards the river walk. We ran about a mile of the river walk and downtown towards the Alamo Dome. Once we got to the Alamo Dome, we ran around it once and headed back.

I broke from my pack early and headed out on my own. I really started getting tired around mile 17 and slowed it down a bit. I caught up with my friend Scott around mile 18, but passed him up in all of my focus.

The greatest thing about training with a team for a marathon is all of the support you get along the way. We have great water stops full of Gatorade, jellybeans, pretzels and even a rock 'n bunny or batman to greet you. At the last .25 mile I could see the finish line and I picked up my pace. I was almost done and my adrenaline was racing. I came around the corner to horns blowing, shouts and whistles, my husband on the side line clapping for me and my own finish line. I was done and I felt GREAT!
We had a great BBQ and a nice ice bath for our wonderful feet that carried us all this way. The sun was out and bright and I felt so good. It was a crazy, fun, exhilarating day and I can't wait to do this. Less than one week left!

On a side note, I still have $1500 to raise. Please consider donating. It is for a great cause...to help find a cure for cancer. For every $10 you donate, I will enter you in a drawing to win an iPod Touch.

Donate Here

I love you all and thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all of your encouraging words,
love and support!

Heidi

Wanna Win an iPod Touch for $10?

That's right, YOU could win an iPod Touch for a $10 donation to my Leukemia and Lymphoma fund raising website. For every $10 you donate, you will receive one (1) entry into the drawing. Then on Friday, May 15th**, we'll be drawing a name during the weekly Friday Sales By 5 Pity Party. Your donation is 100% tax deductible.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. (For more information please visit lls.org)

The research that is being done is working. In forty years the survival rate for children with Leukemia has gone from 4% to 85% - A phenomenal difference.

Donate to a great cause and help be apart of the blood cancer cure!

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Sweepstakes Rules/Disclaimer

• ELIGIBILITY: This Sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the U.S., including the District of Columbia (“United States”), except U.S. possessions, territories and commonwealths including Puerto Rico. Void in Puerto Rico and where prohibited.

• HOW TO ENTER: Sweepstakes begins at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 24, 2008 and ends at 4:11 p.m. Central Time on May 15, 2009 (the “Entry Period”). To enter, click here and follow the directions for entry. Entrants will be required to donate at least $10 to Heidi Gerhardt’s Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fund raising website to be qualified for the prize. **Heidi reserves the right to extend the due date out if at least 100 entries have not been made by May 15, 2009. The new due date will not exceed June 12, 2009 at which time a winner will be drawn. Please check blog regularly for updates.

• PRIZE: (1) Grand Prize: 8gb iPod Touch. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") is: $229.99.

• ODDS: The estimated odds of winning will depend upon the total number of eligible entries received.

• PRIZE RESTRICTIONS/CONDITIONS: Prizes are non-transferable. No substitution or cash equivalent of prize permitted except at Sponsor's discretion. Federal, state and local taxes, if any, and any other costs or expenses related to acceptance and use of the prize not specified, are the sole responsibility of the winner. iPod touch will be mailed to a winner's residence approximately 2-3 weeks after notification by Heidi Gerhardt. Winner must take delivery within 30 days of notification of availability or prize will be forfeited and may be awarded to an alternate winner.

• DRAWING: Prize will be awarded in a random drawing conducted on or about May 15, 2009, by @nanpalmero from among all eligible entries received unless the due date has been extended at which time the draw will happen no later than June 12, 2009.

• NOTIFICATION OF WINNER/AWARDING OF PRIZE: The winner will be notified by e-mail, twitter and/or a traceable form of delivery.

• LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: Heidi Gerhardt is not responsible for any late, lost, illegible, incomplete or misdirected entries or responsible for incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Web site users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Sweepstakes.

16 Miles, Oh My!

On Saturday I got up at 6am dreading my 16 mile run. Feeling this way on a Saturday morning is not a good thing, I normally enjoy Saturday long runs. And to make my attitude worse, I walked out side to soupiness. For those of you who do not live in the south, that is another word for humidity. I was sweating before I even go to the car.

This week we added another 2 miles to our run. I told my running partners that I was going to take it easy today because I knew that my attitude was not in the right place and that I wanted to quit before I had even started. So the first 4 miles were tough, like I want to turn around and go home, tough. But at the 4 mile water stop, I drank some gatorade, had a conversation about how I was feeling with Matt and I was off and running, this time in higher spirits. I was reminded that I am doing this for a mission, for a purpose, for a cure and I had a blast for about 10 miles. I ran so well and with confidence and a great pace.

Now the last 2 miles (damn the last 2 miles) were a killer...and it doesn't matter if it's 10 miles, 12 miles, 14 miles or 16 miles. Those last 2 miles kill me every time. At this point I know it is all mental but I was glad to see the horizon of my finish line...HEB in Lincoln Height. I love you HEB, you are my start and my finish.

I went home to my ritualistically ice bath. They work like a charm EVERY time. No soreness, no achiness. I'm glad I stuck it out and finished. I would have been disappointed if I had chosen differently.

Much Love,
Heidi

I might be slacking on blog post, but not in running

So it's been WAY too long since the last time I did updating and I apologize. I've been so busy with work, fund raising, volunteering and running that when I come home, I crash. I have not made the time to do any sort of updates.

Long story short, I've been consistently running hills on Mondays, running at the local university on Tuesdays, work out on Wednesdays and pace training on Thursdays and our long runs on Saturdays.

Last Saturday's practice was canceled due to the crazy thunder and lightning, so we had to do our long run by ourselves. YIKES. I can handle 12 miles by myself, but anything else I really enjoy having someone with me. So on Sunday I met up with a few people to get my long run in. We did 16 miles and boy was I glad when I was done. I did really good until the end. Chafing is NO fun and it hurt (still does) so badly. I went home for a quick show and then off to the Sam's Club to stand in front of the doors and ask for donations. I would have been fine had I not just run 16 miles the same day, but my legs were aching so badly from standing on concrete for 7 hours straight. Needless to say, I was glad when 5:30 rolled around. I was ready to go home! Tom (another runner) and I went to EZ for some pizza and money counting. As much pain as I was in, it was worth the day. I needed it.

When I got home after running, begging for cash, eating pizza, counting a lot of money, I crashed. I did wake up later in the night and the rest of the night was miserable and so after work on Monday, I proceeded to have a little bit of a breakdown. Nothing major, just a few tears here and there. I guess the pressure of other things going on in life and then running 40+ miles a week is taking its tole on me. I guess I'm not 23 anymore. Well shoot! That sucks :)

Part of me is having a hard time defining the line between slacking and taking a needed rest and recharge? I'm not sure if I'm being lazy or my body is telling me that I need to take some downtime. So, in the end, I've decided that I'd take a few days off from running and see how I feel after that. A few days off won't hurt my training any. So no running, no volunteering and no fund raising during this week. I'm just going to work and come home and get things around the house done.

Thank you for listening to my whiny "I'm tired, stressed out, too much on my plate" blog. It really is lame in comparison to what someone with cancer has to go though, but I will pick up on Saturday and rock out another 16 miles!

Much love to you all,

Heidi

p.s. some good and cheery news: check back later in the week for my ipod touch give away. All money donated to my fundraising site from April 24th until May 8th will enter you in a drawing for the ipod touch! Tickets are $10 each!

I love sprinting up hills and bee stings

It’s been a while since I last wrote, but the running is going so well. I love the feeling of the runner’s high (I guess my “drug” of choice). It gives me such a great time to think things through and figure out life decision(s) (though I have none going on right now). Still, it gives me a chance to ponder things.

I had to run my 8 miles last Wednesday as I had a birthday bash to attend Friday night (that would be my own :) ). It felt really good because it was so cold outside. That is the weather I am used to running in. I thrive in it. The Texas heat sure had wrecked havoc on my running. The heat is hard for me to handle. Well, after my run, I was sore. I could tell I needed a nice ice bath to sooth my legs. I think that with the combination on my morning leg workout and then my 8 miles was not the smartest move. The next day I was Gumby and tried to stay at my desk all day. I did run 3 miles the next night and was glad I did. IT surely helped stretch out my legs.

Yesterday was our hill run. As I mentioned before, heat and Heidi don’t mix well and yesterday was a little warm (minus the humidity thank goodness). Our same crew met up and we did our hills. As we started the first couple of hill sprints a bee or some bug flew up my shorts and stung, I mean kissed my cheek…and that would be my butt cheek. I haven’t been stung in so long, I forgot what it felt like. The bug not only stung me once, but twice. I had two swollen bites on my butt and they hurt. But I didn’t let that little hurdle stop me. I did all of my hill repeats, but must admit that I was burned out. I ran about half way back and Caro and I walked the other half.

I was proud I even made it up the hills. It’s amazing how I see my progress grow every week. The “monster” hill doesn’t get any better, but the other hills do. I just have to keep in mind that I am doing this for a purpose, not for me. I am helping the fight against cancer. I do it for Sarah, I do it for Betty, I do it for your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister and your children and your friends. Lets join together and help find a cure.

Much Love,

Heidi

p.s. wanna donate to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society? Check out my fund raising site

http://pages.teamintraining.org/stx/rnr09/hgerhardt

Roller Durby Running

Today was our pace run. For those who might not know, a pace run is when you run about 90% of what you can handle - Not a full sprint, but faster than normal. I have to admit, it hurt. I had a really hard time. I see why people don't work out after work and being a morning person, I truly just wanted to go home a veg out. That being said, I am glad I did go. I always am.

So today we ran the first mile at a comfortable pace then for the next two miles we ran 1/2 a mile fast and 1/2 a mile comfortable. It was so hard, but I find that when I have a goal in mind (the water fountain), I hauled butt to get there on the fast paces.

While I was running there was a girl in hot pink pants and a lime green shirt on old school roller skates. She was so funny, off in her own world. Needless to say, being on skates, she passed me a lot. Sometimes she was texting on her cell phone, sometimes she was on the phone and the last mile she was singing. It was so out of tune that Simon Cowell would have asked her to leave on the second note. But it was cool to keep seeing her go round and round and round, off in her own thoughts.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. I'll get to run on my own, at my own pace and figure out all of the worlds problems while I am at it. I guess I'll be thinking about America's piling debt that my grandchildern will being paying off :)

Much Love,
Heidi

--
Be kinder than necessary becuase everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle

Dear DeZavala Wal-Mart Customers...

Today I spent the morning outside your Wal-Mart and in a sense, panhandled, asked, solicited and begged for your small change to help with cancer research and those fighting cancer.

I wanted to publicly tell you thank you! Even when we as a nation hear day in and day out, the economy this, the economy that, bail out this, bail out that, you were gracious enough to give. I am so impressed with humanity today. It doesn't matter if you gave me .10c or $20 dollars, your donation will help in our country's fight to find a cure for cancer.

Today, being such an eye opening experience, I took the time to reflect and I learned a little bit about myself. I believe that I am a good person, but I am also the person who a lot of times will say, no thank you, I don't have change, good luck...Never again will I pass someone up working for a cause. You'll get something from me...it might be change, it might be a dollar, it might be $20, but I will now take the time to say hi and give you a little something.

Again, thank you. YOU make our world great and you are beautiful.

Heidi

p.s. a little quote someone told me a few weeks ago that has totally inspired me...

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle