There are not a lot of people who can say they spent their Tuesday night doing sit-ups and sprints in Central Park while being laughed at by a drunken man, but I can.

There are a lot of people who would stay home in preparation for NYC's first HUGE blizzard instead of running 5 miles, but I don't.

There aren't a lot of people doing interval training in 27 degree weather in their free time, but I do.

And I do it because every time I enter the park preparing to run, I know that I am doing it for the person in remission next to me, or the person who lost her friend and her grandmother to leukemia in the same year.

I have met a lot of amazing people. I have heard some heart wrenching stories. It makes every freezing, uncomfortable minute worthwhile.

Really?

2010. The year I will run a half marathon. The year I turn 30. The year I figure out I can blog from my mobile. Who knew?

Am riding the train home from NYE celebration. The mid afternoon mimosas are catching up with me, and I'm already wondering how on earth I am going to handle 5 miles of running tomorrow, when I have only had one other bout of exercise in the past week. Oy.

And now the real training starts!

Alright. No more holiday turkey dinners, practice or otherwise. No more holiday cocktail parties or choir rehearsals as an excuse.

124 Days and 13 Hours until I run a half marathon in Vancouver, BC.

That means I have 17 weeks of training sessions to prepare for 13.1 miles.

And you can keep track of it here!

I am raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, whose mission is to support blood cancer research. I will be updating my fundraising page weekly with stories from my training. The old entries will be found here.

So I hope you stay tuned for the blood, sweat and tears.

Here is an update from earlier this month:

I should probably apologize to the occupants of Fifth Avenue whose apartments face Central Park. Because I was most definitely singing Christmas carols at 9AM Saturday morning with my TNT running mates, trying to stay motivated in the 43 degree weather!


The caroling stopped after a 1.5 miles - we could't remember the words to Frosty - and the breathless chatting turned to our reasons for joining. One girl's father had passed away three months ago from leukemia. Her response was: After all he went through, I can run.

It was that response that got me through my last mile.