I WON!

Oh my gosh, y'all! Good news! I just found out I won a SpiBelt from the Runners Lounge (And yes, I do realize this happened 2 whole days ago--but what can I say? I'm a bit behind on my Google reader account!) Now, I'd love to say this fine reward was based on the content of my brilliant marathoning tips, submitted as part of the "Knowledge Drive," but in reality, it was the result of pure dumb luck! Amy's kids picked my name out of a hat containing the aliases of the many knowledgeable authors who had contributed articles to the drive. Actually, now that I think about it--I'm starting to like the dumb luck explanation even better than the "cutting edge blogger" one . . . You see, before June 22, 2008, I had somehow managed to never IN MY ENTIRE LIFE win anything through any type of raffle-esque situation. NEVER. So yay! If you've never checked out the Runners Lounge before, make sure you do so! It's a great community--full of wonderful resources and even better people. And who knows? Maybe you'll be the next lucky winner! :)

In other news, I am officially in training for the Chicago Marathon. Now, this would be fine and dandy . . . was I not on FOUR soccer teams! Yep. You read that right. I am currently playing on four different soccer teams in various NYC leagues. This means that four nights a week, I have some kind of soccer game--generally taking place somewhere REALLY far from my apartment. Ay. It seems like everyone is short-handed these days--and as I'm obviously the best player since Pelé (ha, riiiight), everyone is begging me to play for them. I'm still trying to come up with a system to make this work (perhaps learning the word "No" would be a good place to start). An obvious solution would be to actually get up early and run in the mornings--but thus far, I haven't quite conquered this practice. We'll see. After I run 6 miles this evening, and then immediately proceed to play 45 minutes of indoor soccer (on a team with no subs nonetheless), I might just have the motivation I need to get my butt up in the mornings! Oh well . . . I might as well take advantage of my youth while I still have it, no?

I did attempt a long run this past weekend . . . unfortunately, I did so at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning, and it was already HOT and HUMID and GROSS. As it wasn't a REAL long run (I was just practicing for when I start my REAL long runs this weekend), I was a little lacking in the motivation department . . . so much so, that at one point during the run, I actually crawled into a shady wooded area and SAT DOWN ON A ROCK! Ha, it was a new low point in my running career. At any rate, I forced myself to finish 7.02 miles before finally calling it quits. I think my biggest issue (besides the late start and resulting conditions) was that I could not, for the life of me, get myself to SLOW DOWN. I kept glancing down at my Garmin and noticing 9:00/mile pace. Now I'm not going to kid myself . . . I know that I didn't magically get faster as a result of my three week hiatus from running. I think I really just have to get myself used to the idea of long runs again. It's been a while since I've run a REAL long run that I couldn't kind of just coast through.

Oh well, wish me luck tonight. Let's hope I can still walk when it's all over!