And so it begins...

I signed up for Team In Training 26 days ago. I've been to 3 team events, getting to know my team mates and have started my fund raising campaign. But it wasn't until yesterday we officially put the "Training" in "Team In Training"! I was excited but a little nervous about the rubber hitting the road or my butt hitting the spinning cycle as it was yesterday. Well, it turns out I should have been more concerned about when my butt wasn't hitting the cycle! I could ride, I could handle the gears and the increased resistance. What was hard was the jogging and climbing. Oh my aching quads! My muscles basically flipped out! Quite surprising to me, I thought my legs were stronger. I got quite concerned and filled with self-doubt during the class. I slowed down and was able to calm myself down. This was day one, there are going to be many many more days until I'm actually going to be climbing the real hills around Lake Tahoe. It will be okay, I will make it! I trust the coaches to train us to do it! We start keeping track of mileage we train on our own this week and I will ride every foot I'm told to. I'm also going to be sure to hit the YMCA and do squats to build up those climbing muscles! I've been reintroduced to my body and right now it doesn't like me very much... ;-) But someday soon we'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Women Unite!

Hello Ladies!
I have come up with a fund raiser just for us! When I was training for my last Team In Training event in 2006 I came up with this mantra. I would repeat it over and over to myself with every step I ran. It has continued to bring me power when I need it the most! I decided this would be a great way to share the girl power!
The t-shirt is a deep purple 50/50 cotton/poly blend 5.6 oz. standard fit t-shirt. The words and logos are screen printed in white on the front of the t-shirt. See model below.
I'm taking orders from now until February 28th. If you'd like to order a t-shirt, e-mail me at laurie1024@gmail.com. with your size.
The cost is $17 each with 100% of the proceeds going to my Team In Training fund raising goal. Payment will be accepted on my TNT fund raising website with a credit card or by mailing me a check. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions! Thanks for your support!

Oh crap, what did I do?

I've been hinting on Facebook this week that I signed up for a century ride.

What is that?

It is a 100 mile bike ride, one-hundred-miles people!

Ummm, yeah.

This IS something that I've always wanted to do, especially since 2006 when I did my first Team In Training event (a pretty short Triathlon). I liked the charity, LLS raises money for blood cancer research, and I like a challenge!
I excitedly turned in my paperwork on Tuesday evening. Yesterday I was driving back from a meeting in Merrillville, IN. Merrillville is northwest of Indy almost to Chicago. Not a bad jaunt, a little boring. How many miles away? 143.

Hmm.

Last week, I drove to Cincinnati for a meeting. Again, not a bad drive, more interesting than going to Merrillville. How many miles from Indy to Cincy? 114.

Oh crap, what have I done?

Why do I feel the need to be able to ride a bicycle from Indy to Cincinnati, I really don't know...

LUCKILY, I won't be riding from Indy to Cincy. I'll be participating in "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride" around...wait for it...Lake Tahoe!

http://hotrod.vox.com/library/post/americas-most-beautiful-bike-ride.html

(Notice the road in this picture, we aren't going to discuss the elevation or incline at this time...)

It is a great cause and a great challenge and the only reason I could think not to do is fear of not being able to meet the challenge. I decided last October that I wasn't going to make any more fear-based decisions so that reason doesn't count.
Here's to the team that I'll doing this challenge with and us all making it over the finish line! We had our kick off meeting last night and about half the Tahoe team was there. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better!
I'll be chronicling my "road to The Ride" here on my blog so check in often! (And leave comments if you feel inclined, getting a comment is like getting a birthday card in the mail!)
Also, my other portion of his challenge is to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I've posted a badge to the right to keep track of how close to my goal I am. More about that later too!

New Look, New Vibe

I loved the look of my blog (serene green, you remember) but decided it was time for a change. I was looking at all the different options out there and fell in love with one, but not this one. I downloaded it and couldn't get it to look right. This one was a close second though. I like the darkness with the pinks and purples. I'm still trying to get some little quirks worked out but it's getting there. What do you think? Like?