Runner's Den/Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon 12/5/10 - for Michelle

I am dedicating the half marathon on Sunday to Michelle.  It is in honor of her upcoming graduation and being a slayer of demons.  She has persevered through so much and this is just my small way of celebrating all that she has accomplished so far in this life!

COURAGE - According to the dictionary: from the Latin cor: heart; firmness of spirit, energy before danger; intrepidness; cheerfulness; bravery; perseverance.

You rock, Michelle! It's courage time!  :) 

Women's Half Marathon - Scottsdale/Tempe Race Recap

I met my fundraising goal of $250 today because of all the fabulous people that donated to Komen Marathon for the Cure!  Thank you!  I really appreciate it!

So the race was a little over a week ago and very fun!  It was nice to run in pretty much perfect weather after the rain in Portland.  I did not take it for granted!  I was able to park at the start because I had made plans for K to meet me at the finish which allowed me to sleep in a little bit.  Yay!  It was still dark when I arrived about 6:30AM.  There were already long lines for the port-a-potties, but they moved fast.  I chatted with a nice woman who mostly did Ironman competitions.  Yes, you can even make friends with people in line for the bathroom when you are at a race.  :)

I went to find my friends at corral 3, but got worried I would never find them when I saw the sea of people.  I did end up chatting with the 2:45:00 pacer.  She was wearing a feather boa, butterfly wings and a wig.  I was very impressed and she promised a a good time to all that stayed with her. :)  Amy found me and I felt like I won the race because I really thought that I would not find them!

I usually speed up my pace at the beginning because I don't like to be in the middle of lots of people, but B caught up to me and we were able to run most of the race together which was really awesome and helped it go fast.  I loved the short section on the canal since that is what we train on and it was great.  I definitely got tired about mile 10 and told B to go for it.  I had to walk more those last few miles, but was able to pick it up around the 2:30 pacing group and finished with a time of 2:29:02 which is pretty good for me.  My new goal is to stay under 2:35:00 in the half marathons.

The medal with the charm inside is awesome and the brunch at Z Tejas was perfect especially the mimosa bar.  It was a great race and I was proud to run it in honor and in memory of some awesome ladies.

Women's Half Marathon - Breast Cancer Awareness

On November 7th, I will be running in the Women's Half Marathon in Tempe-Scottsdale to raise money to end breast cancer.  Unfortunately, I have many friends that have family members that have battled the disease.  One of my best friends, Nikki Severson, supported her mom in her battle when she was diagnosed in 2008.  Kristin (her mom) is doing good and I will be running in her honor as well as Michelle's mom, Carol.  She battled the disease years ago and is also doing well.  Kristin, Carol and Tree's mom are all survivors.  I will also be running in memory of Nikki's grandma, Molly's aunt and Mary Beth's mom.  There are so many people that have been affected by this disease and I will be dedicating this event to these lovely ladies while knowing there are so many others that I have not listed here.

I am also fundraising for Komen to find a cure and my donation page is at http://www.info-komen.org/goto/lkzell Thoughts and prayers on race day and beyond are just as awesome!

Oregon Race Report

My first full marathon was in Oregon in 2001 so it felt great to be there 9 years later to do the inaugural half marathon.  It was wet.  Really wet.  I have never run a half marathon in the rain until now.  I still had fun, but it was tough.  I was soooooo happy that I was not doing the full marathon.  I think that I prefer heat over the rain.  It was an honor to run in memory of JD.

Oregon - In Memory of JD

One of the first people that came to mind when I had this idea was Jim Drechsler. I knew him as Kristel's Dad and he loved to run, was good at it too.  He was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiform IV brain tumor which is the most aggressive type in the spring of 2008 and died in December of that same year.  Kristel is a very good friend of mine and I wish I could have done something to help her more during that time.  So this is my way of honoring Kristel and celebrating her dad's life.  His birthday is October 8th and I will be running the Portland Half Marathon in memory of Jim on 10/10/10.  If you would like to help end brain cancer, please donate to the National Brain Tumor Society at http://www.braintumor.org/ and click on the Donate button. Prayers and/or thoughts for their family, friends and people that struggle with this disease are powerful too.  This one is for you, KP and JD.

A Little Bit of History

I am on a new adventure!  I think most of us want to make a difference in the world.  Life goes by so fast and it is easy to forget what is important or lose focus on goals/wishes/dreams.  Someone is probably already doing what I decided to do, but I do not think that should stop me!  The real title of this blog should be "Running Rebel With Causes", but it does not sound as cool to me. Ha! My goal is to complete 50 half marathons before I'm 50 and dedicate each one to people and/or causes that are important to me.  I hope to bring awareness to diseases/conditions and honor people in my life.  If I raise money to end the diseases along the way, that would be awesome.  My main purpose is to celebrate life and people.

I figured that I would start out with a little bit of history.  I started running in 2001.  My first race was a 5K with my friend/coworker LEG and I had a great time.  For some reason, I thought I could then train for a full marathon on my own.  Crazy, right?  It was pretty silly how I trained, but I did my best with a schedule that I downloaded from a website.  I ran on the treadmill and then did my long runs outside in the middle of an ugly AZ summer.  It was pretty brutal.  The marathon was grueling, but I loved it and running became a passion of mine.  At this point, I have completed 2 full marathons and will be doing my 11th half marathon in October.  Half marathons are my favorite.  I am SLOW, but I love it and hope to run throughout my life.

I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter in my running journey and I am excited about it!