Whew. The summer is flying by! First things first though:

HUGE thanks to my most recent contributors. I'm currently at $1205.80, or 68.9% of my goal to raise $1750 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That's only $544.20 to go. Good thing, because race day is a mere 66 days away (!!).

I am WAY behind in publicly acknowledging my most recent contributors' generosity. My tremendous apologies for this delay, and heartfelt thanks for your support.
Tremendous thanks to:
Linda and Greg T, Minneapolis
Sheila B., Minneapolis
Ann C., St. Paul
Aunt Julie, Fergus Falls, MN
Anonymous (whoever you are, you are awesome)
And fellow bloggers @brooksylite, @tomkeepstrying, and @fitnessyear
Aunt Bonnie (CO)
Cristy DLC, St. Paul, MN
Kecia P, Grand Forks, ND
Darrell G., Minneapolis
Michelle R., St. Paul
Kate E. and Pat S., Minneapolis
Rebecca A., MT
Phyllis and John N., Sioux Falls, SD

Thank you, thank you, thank you all again. Oh, and I did all of my pushups - and there's video evidence! 200 pushups and 46.2 lunges in all.

As far as a training update... our mileage continues to creep upwards. My schedule called for a 15 mile long run last Saturday. Good thing I got there early and got in a bit over 4 before we started, because about 1.5 miles from our starting point, a storm blew a tree down, which took a powerline with it - directly over our trail. Nobody was hurt, but here's a very blurry photo of those of us stranded at a gas station, waiting for a ride back to our cars. (I know it's not clear, but I'm crouching in front with the blue shirt.)

I'll be cutting back a little this week, but next week am scheduled for my first 18 miler of the season - always a tough training run. Hopefully I emerge without an injury. Whew!! Wish me luck!

Upping the ante: Through Wed 7/13, every dollar for blood cancer = I do one pushup

I'm upping the ante.

My guilty marathon training confession: I hate strength training. I find it boring and time-consuming. But I'm all about doing things I don't like to do for a great cause. Toward that end...

I’ll do a pushup (no knees) for every dollar contributed toward my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraising goal now through midnight this Wednesday, July 13. [Pushups will be completed on Thursday, July 14.]

So *gulp* $5 = 5 pushups. That means if 20 of my friends and family contribute $5 each, that’s 100 pushups. My current record for no-knees pushups is 20 (!!). YIKES!!

No contribution is too small. Thank you in advance for your consideration - it's greatly appreciated!

Thank yous, 29% towards goal (13 days to go, eek!), and today's 12-mile run

First things first - thank yous! I'm now at $513.40, or 29% towards my goal of raising $1750 by July 15 to beat blood cancers. Thank you for your support!

Special thanks go out to: 
Margit M., VA
Aunt Betsy and Uncle Paul M., MT

(But, of course, I've got a ways to go, and my deadline is only 13 days away! If you can contribute, I would be grateful. You could give a dollar for every race mile ($26.20); a dollar for every team training run this season ($48) or a dollar for every day I get out and train for the race ($120 for 120 days this season.) It's all helpful and appreciated!



I have to admit it was tough to get going this morning. But, as always, I was glad I did. Much of the route followed the Twin Cities Marathon route, which helped.

The first two miles were rough, as always, but the run was eventful. First, boats on Lake Harriet:



Then I cheered on runners on a 10k race. Go runners!!
A downed tree blocked the Minnehaha Parkway trail path, probably from the thunderstorms that came through last night.

So I had to take an off-road alternate route, below. We'll find out how much poison oak/ivy I found soon, I'm sure!

Then, I found a very friendly cat at a water fountain. After I petted him for a few minutes, he bit me. Nice guy.

(I don't think he really meant it; it was more of a I-love-petting-so-much-I-occasionally-lose-my senses type thing.)
Also, on recommendation from one of my teammates, I decided to try Honey Stinger Waffles (you can get them from REI.)

They look like this:

They were really hard to open (why no notch on the wrapper?) and mine got a bit crushed trying. Crinkling the package also attracted the attention of a hungry black lab (cute.) Verdict: Incredibly tasty. Well-tolerated. Will be using again.

Then I high-tailed it back to the car before my iPhone battery ran out and I lost my Nike+ run mileage. Made it back with about 5% of battery left!

Also win: I froze my water bottles and my post-run powerade zero bottle so that they thawed during the run. Perfect and worked especially well for the powerade zero bottle that stayed in the car. When I returned, it was about half thawed and SO COLD. Tasty!!