Twin Cities Marathon spectators wanted!!; Less than $200 left to reach fundraising goal!

I can't believe it. Less than $200 to my goal of $1750 to blast blood cancer!! That's only 14 folks giving $15 each. I can take contributions after the race on Sunday, but I can run much easier knowing that I've reached my LLS fundraising goal. If you can help, please contribute today!

Wow... once again I'm blown away by your generosity. Tremendous thanks to:

Elizabeth W., Madison, WI

Mark R., Madison, WI

Pete T., Madison, WI

Cristy DLC, New Brighton, MN (TWICE!! Thank you Cristy!!)

Michael and Patsy N., St. Paul

I can't believe how many wonderful folks I'm privileged to be surrounded by. Thank you very, very much.

RACE DAY - T MINUS FIVE DAYS!!

My race number is F2853. I have a massive case of the jitters - my hip/leg is still giving me trouble and I don't know what that's going to mean on race day. Lots of water, anti-inflammatories, physical therapy work, the stick, quality time with a foam roller and hopefully a little luck will pull me through. 

Race day is currently forecast to be 56*, but sunny. Not bad. Let's hope it holds.

There are 44 other Team In Training athletes that will be running the Twin Cities Marathon. Come on out and support my teammates as we run the most beautiful marathon in America!

Given my hip issues, I'm going to assume a 5:30 finish time - about three minutes faster than my last marathon time. If I'm feeling really good, I'll try for the 5:20 finish time. The race starts at 8am, but since I'm slower, my pace group can take up to 10 minutes to pass the starting mat. 

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE TEXTS AS I GET CLOSER TO THE FINISH LINE

Also - you can sign up to receive texts when I cross various points on the marathon course. You'll be notified when I pass the start line, 5k (3.2 miles), 10k (6.4 miles), 13.1 miles, 30k (18.64 miles) and an additional spot, as well as the finish line. Sign up here.

WHERE I'LL BE ON RACE DAY

Here's an approximate idea of when I'll be at various miles on the course, give or take a few minutes. If I'm able to run the 5:20 schedule, you'll see me a bit earlier - about 22 seconds every mile. West River Road on the Minneapolis side of the river is especially sparse and spectators are really helpful there!!

1 - 12:35 (12th St/Hennepin Av; 8:22am)
2 - 25:10 (Lyndale/Douglas Av; 8:35am)
3 - 37:45 (Douglas Av and Oliver Av?; 8:47am)
4 - 50:20 (Dean Parkway/Lake of the Isles Pkwy; 8:59am)
5 - 1:02:55 (West Calhoun Pkwy, between 32nd St & 36th St; 9:11am)
6 - 1:15:30 (West Calhoun Pkwy/Sheridan Av S; 9:25am)
7 - 1:28:05 (22nd/East Harriet Blvd; 9:38am)
8 - 1:40:40 (W Minnehaha Pkwy/Humboldt Av S; 9:50am)
9 - 1:53:15 (Minnehaha Pkwy/35W; 10:03am)
10 - 2:05:50 (Minnehaha Pkwy/Chicago Av; 10:15am)
11 - 2:18:25 (Minnehaha Pkwy/Cedar Av; 10:28am)
12 - 2:31:00 (Cedar Av S/E Nokomis Pkwy; 10:41am)
13 - 2:43:35 (E Nokomis Pkwy/52nd St; 10:53am)
14 - 2:56:10 (Minnehaha Pkwy/Nokomis Av; 11:06am)
15 - 3:08:45 (Godfrey Rd/Hwy 55; 11:18am)
16 - 3:21:20 (42nd St/W River Pkwy; 11:30am)
17 - 3:33:55 (West River Rd/36th St; 11:43am)
18 - 3:46:30 (West River Rd/28th St; 11:56am)
19 - 3:59:05 (West River Rd/Franklin Av; 12:09pm)
20 - 4:11:40 (East River Rd/St. Anthony Av; 12:21pm)
21 - 4:24:15 (East River Rd/Marshall St; 12:34pm)
22 - 4:36:50 (Summit Av/Cleveland Av; 12:46pm)
23 - 4:49:25 (Summit Av/Snelling Av; 12:50pm)
24 - 5:02:00 (Summit Av/Oxford; 1:12pm)
25 - 5:14:35 (Summit/Dale, 1:24pm)
26.2 - 5:30:00 (John Ireland Blvd & 12th St/Rice St, 1:40pm)

And, if you want to bust out your purple and green gear - here are the official TNT cheer stations!

Mile 4.5 (8:00 a.m.) - Located in Minneapolis at the northwest corner of LakeCalhoun near the Calhoun Beach Club (corner of Lake St. & Dean Parkway).

Mile 10 (8:40 a.m.) - Located at the intersection of Portland Ave and 50th St.

Mile 17 (9:15 a.m.) - The TNT cheering section will be just prior to the official mile 17 water stop of the marathon. We will set up at about 34th Street and West River Road . Park along Edmund Blvd. It runs parallel to the River Road. You will need to walk down a small hill to get to the River Road. (It is about 4 blocks south of Lake St.)

Mile 22.75 - also mile 6.75 of the TC10 Miler - (9:35 a.m.) - Located at the intersection of Summit Ave. and Snelling Ave. (This is our official Honoree Cheer Station).

A few notes about cheering - first, cheering is AWESOME. You can't know how fantastic it is to be cheered on by hundreds of strangers! If you're planning to be cheering on runners on Sunday, or are a volunteer, you are a ROCKSTAR. 

As awesome as cheering is, though, remember one thing: 

- Don't say "you're almost there" unless you're at the St. Paul Cathedral. 26.2 miles is a really long way, even if you've already done 13, or 15, or even 20. : )

See you Sunday!!

77.5% toward goal; 12 days to race day!

Wow. I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. The good news is that my workload has increased quite a bit and involved a great deal more travel this year. I love my new portfolio, but it certainly has reduced my blogging time!

First things first - I have a TON of new donors. Thank you so much!! We are only $394 away from goal!! Big thank yous to:

Duane N., Ortonville, MN
Paul B., St. Paul
Jenny L, Madison
Carole L., Green Valley, AZ
Jane P. and Dave M., St. Paul
Ethan F., Minneapolis
Kecia P., Grand Forks, ND
Penny Ives, Minneapolis
John B., St. Paul

On a more positive note... training is going alright. I've gotten through a very warm summer - much warmer than last year - and missed only one long run the entire season. The midweek runs, though, have been a different story - it's been tough to balance the extreme heat and risk of heat stroke and our training schedule. Last season, a teammate had to drop his race because of heat stroke. A seasoned runner can tolerate heat more easily, but as I am only in my second year of running, I've been playing it safe - spending more time cross training in the pool on days when the heat was unbearable.

Last race, I finished in 5 hours and 33 minutes (5:33) and change. I'm hoping to run the same this time around, and if things go really well, finishing 15 minutes earlier. We'll see.

There are so many things to do! We just received our race jerseys today; I'll need to add my name and my honorees to mine. (This year, I'll be using iron-on letters, not the puffy paint. Last year's jersey looked... grass-rootsy : ) ). And I have my bib number - F2583.

FOLLOW ME ON RACE DAY VIA TEXT MESSAGE
Follow my progress on race day. Every time my race chip crosses a mat along the course, you'll receive a text message. Register here. 

RACE INFORMATION
Come on out and support my fellow runners on race day! We'll have 44 athletes besides myself running in the Twin Cities Marathon from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program. The race starts at 8am, but it's best to assume that I'll be starting around 8:10am (takes awhile for thousands of runners to get across that start line!)

The race is 26.2 miles between the Minneapolis Metrodome and the Capital in St. Paul.

Spectator guide [pdf].
Course map. 
Starting area map.
Finish area map.

More soon!

47% towards goal of $1750 by Aug 9; Thank yous! and 16 miles

Wow - training is going quickly! Only 61 more days until the race in October. And SIX DAYS before August 9. If you haven't already, please consider contributing today. I'm at 47% towards my goal of raising $1750 by August 9 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - but I need your help to get across that finish line!

Big thanks to most recent donors - you're great!

Kris & Britta, Moorehead, MN
Stacey K., Minneapolis

As far as a training update - we're getting up there in mileage! Last weekend, we ran 16 miles, much of it along the marathon route along Minnehaha Parkway, Lake Calhoun and Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. Some exciting news there. I had been having trouble with getting enough electrolytes and fluid in, especially when it was warm (like it has been), without upsetting my stomach. On a friend's and coach's advice, I tried a salt tablet (only for the long runs), and lo and behold, I wasn't nauseated. Not once. Couple that with the fact that my right leg felt good - only hurt at the beginning until mile 1, then after mile 3, then after 6 it felt great - and that's a successful run in my book! We'll be doing 16-17 miles in the next couple of weeks, and jumping up to 18 soon.

Quick marathon training fact: we never actually run 26.2 miles for a training run. The longest we'll run will be around 20 miles.

PT is going well. It seems my right leg, which is apparently weaker than the left, is finally starting to respond to the series of strengthening exercises I've been directed to do.

Finally, a mission moment. Here's a little bit more about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

44.7% towards goal; 15 miles this weekend!

Whew! What a week it's already been. First things first - we're now 44.7% towards our goal of $1750. I can't believe it - how great is that? Only three weeks and a half weeks left to go. Donate by clicking here.

BIG THANK YOUS to our most recent donors: 
- Alison L, St. Paul
- Dalton & Anna, Ohio
- Brad B., St. Paul

"Mini mission moment", or why I'm running: Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. Every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer.

Training update
We did hills for our mid-week team run - 8 of them, with each hill being a half mile! That's four miles of hills, two miles just going up. And my midweek runs seem to be going a bit faster... I completed today's 5 mile run at a pace of 10:21, which is so hard to believe. This time last year, I was doing sporadic runs at everywhere from 14 to 10:30 paces - mostly toward the 12-13 minute pace mark.

I can't believe we're doing 15 miles this weekend already! Whoa! Going to try out the salt tablet strategy and see how that goes. Thanks again for all the support and encouragement from everyone. We'll get there yet!

42% towards goal, thank yous and trip to the physical therapist!

HOLY COW! In one day, we managed another 10% towards our goal - so far we've raised $732.40. That's almost 42% towards the goal of $1,750 by Monday, August 9. Woohoo!! Pretty awesome. If you haven't already, you can donate here. Less than four weeks left, and every little bit counts and is very appreciated.
BIG THANKS, my-awesome-colleagues edition:
- Kate E. and Pat S., Minneapolis
- Ruth P., Minneapolis
- Sheila B., Minneapolis
- Bob F., Boyceville, WI.

Training update
Went to the physical therapist this morning recommended by my coach. If you've been following my DailyMile posts (and if you haven't, I can't blame you - interesting to me and maybe four other people), you'll know that my right IT band has been giving me trouble AGAIN. #$#$%!! This was the same injury that jeapordized my participation last year. This year, I have been so careful to stretch after running and dedicate about 30-45 min after each run to core and hip flexor strengthening. So when I started to feel that familiar migrating pain on my right leg again - quad to IT band to glute and back to IT band - I was pretty disappointed and frustrated. After icing, treating with anti-inflammatories and taking it easy for a week didn't work, the next stop was the PT.

Boy, am I glad I did.  Talk about a valuable lesson in going to the doctor when the pain doesn't clear up after a week and not waiting longer. Turns out my right side is weaker than my left, something I found odd since I'm right-handed. And since we caught it with about eight weeks left in the training schedule, there's still time to do strengthening exercises to make things workable for the race in October. In other words - not only do I know now what's causing this persistent injury, I can actually do something to to fix it. Hooray!!

Well, we'll be doing 15 miles for the long run this weekend. On Coach Jan's suggestion, I will be experimenting with salt tablets for this long run to see if they help with the cramping I experienced at last year's marathon in mile 21/22ish.

PSA - Walk or run your first marathon, half marathon, triathlon or century ride and be part of a great cause. Join Team In Training!
More generally, this post is a stellar example of the support that Team In Training offers its participants as they work to support the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Most folks who are part of TNT are first-time endurance event participants. When I first started Team In Training last year, I hadn't done anything more than a 5k (3.1 miles), and I was hardly alone. This season there are plenty of folks on the team who at this point in the season are running and walking farther than they've ever gone in their lives. It's pretty cool.

Our Minnesota run/walk marathon and half marathon TNT teams have a coaching team. Not just one coach, but three - a head coach, running coach and walking coach. They give you a schedule and you're able to run with the team twice a week. There are informative clinics about various endurance sport issues, like nutrition, injury prevention and gear. TNT has two team shops per season where the weekly long team run is held at a local running store, and afterwards, the store can determine the best shoes for you, and gives a generous day-long discount to team members - 25-30%. Even better, you get a personal mentor to help you with fundraising, not to mention support from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society staff. It's pretty awesome. And of course you get to be part of making the mission of a great organization possible. Can you ask for more? I can't! If you're interested in learning more, check out Team In Training, and if you're in Minnesota, check out TNT Minnesota.

31% towards goal; belated thank yous!

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged! My apologies. I've been working a great deal on training. I have several belated thank yous because we are actually 31% towards our goal! You won't see it yet in the "badge" on the right-hand side of the page, but I've just submitted a few checks that should be showing up in about a week. GO TEAM!

A HUGE thank you to the latest folks who have contributed:
- Sarah K., St. Paul
- Maria SM and Joram M, St. Paul
- John and Phyllis N, Sioux Falls, SD
- Aunt Julie, Fergus Falls, MN

On the training side of things, we just completed a 13 mile run last weekend on Saturday. Next weekend 15 miles is on the schedule. My IT band, like last year, has been acting up and on the advice of my coach I've scheduled an appointment with a physical therapist to see what we can figure out.

Overall - more soon, I promise!

Raise $367.60 by Monday?; Thank you, 29% towards $1750 by July 2!; Meet Robert, our honored teammate

Looking at the "progress meter" on my official TNT webpage, you'd think we're doing pretty well. You're right - but owing to a few check contributions not reflected in that total, we're making even more progress than you know! So far, we have raised 29% ($507.40) towards the $1750 by July 2 goal. Holy cats - you are all amazing. We can absolutely achieve this goal by July 2 - a little over two weeks away - but we'll have to keep up the pace (an unforgiveable pun, I know, but there you have it.)

My challenge to you: Can we make 50% of the goal - that's an additional $367.60 - by Monday?

I think we can do it. But, again, I'll need your help! If you haven't already, you can contribute here.

Big "thank yous" to the most recent donors...

Bill S., Moorehead, MN
Mark S., Minneapolis, MN
Cristy D., St. Paul, MN
Margit M., DC
John and Carolyn R., St. Paul, MN
Linda and Greg T., Minneapolis
Ann C., St. Paul
Carin S. and Ross A, Minneapolis
Linda A., CA
Miranda and Paul G., St. Paul
Jannette S., NY

Wow... I know I've said it before, but it clearly bears saying again... I'm pretty lucky to be surrounded by such supportive folks. Thank you, so much, again.

Meet Robert, 2010 Minnesota Team In Training Marathon & Half Marathon Honored Teammate
As you probably know, many of my teammates have chosen personal honorees in whose name they will train this season. My personal honorees are my dad, Ned Jimmerson, and my colleague, Sam Weis.

In addition, each year the Minnesota chapter picks an honoree for each endurance event team. This year, the Minnesota TNT marathon and half marathon folks (these are teammates training for Dublin, Nike full and half marathons in San Francisco in October, and Twin Cities Marathon) are running for (and with!) honored teammate Robert.

Robert was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in February of 1990.  He officially went into remission on March 3, 1990.  This year marks his  20th year in remission from leukemia.  On his 10th year in remission he ran the Twin Cities Marathon with Team In Training.

Get this - this year Robert is not only back as our marathon Honored Teammate, but will run both the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon & the Adidas Dublin Marathon. (He's going to run TWO marathons this season! Holy crap! I am officially an under-achiever.) To say it's pretty cool to be able to train with someone who's overcome so much - and who is now running TWO marathons within about a month of each other - is a bit of an understatement.  Go, Robert, go!!