Monday, February 18, 2008

TNT Race Report: Week 2

Will Stop For Water

Welcome to Wk 2 of the Summer Season! It began with a 7:30 role call for the mentors. We chatted and caught up with Rachel, Coach Chris, Kevin and Christy (CM and Coaches) about the day ahead. Broke into our mentors groups for the beginning of the session. I love my group! Enthusiastic and bright-eyed in the face of early morning runs.

During the running mechanics clinic, Coach Kevin had me, Craig and Bre run around for the group. As I am one of a couple resident White Kenyans on the team, we demonstrated what it looks like when you run with a footstrike that hits mid- to toe-side. Quick cadence, yes. Easy on the calves, no.

I was in charge of the water stop this week. Talk about ebb and flow. For 15 minutes I sat in my chair and rocked out to Amy Winehouse and JLo. All of a sudden, all 80 participants showed up wanting water and grapes. I did my best to keep up with the demand. Five minutes later...tumbleweeds. Well, not tumbleweeds...more like other single and pair runners. It was SO GREAT to see everyone midrun, enjoying the day and getting the miles in. From first to show up (Jen) to last (the walkers), it was a unique perspective of TNT that I hadn't seen.

Post-practice breakfast was really enjoyable as well. Had the chance to take to Jolene, who works with longshorement down in Long Beach (She was in the army and toured Iraq), and Maia, one of my mentors (who is a Yale Grad and Professional Violinist). AND THE HIGHEST FUNDRAISER SO FAR! Javier and Chris - watch your backs, this girl is a fundraising wizard.

Post-breakfast, I hit the road for some biking, but Max seems tempramental these days. Another flat thanks to a newly installed tire liner. Was able to replace, but seeing as the valve did not fit the tire frame, I could not use the new tube. Riding on the rim again, I made it back to the car with only 8 miles under my belt.

Monday was a day off, thankfully!! Started the day with eggs, coffee and an 8 mile run around the neighborhood. I thought I'd be lackluster in spirit because of the 15 miles on Saturday. But I was surprisingly spry! It was an enjoyable 8 that took me around Toluca and Burbank, past a lot of old, rich people carrying their garbage out or coffee back to their mansions.

Tomorrow I will meet up with fellow TNTer Allegra to host a mid-week run at 6:30AM down the road from my apt. It's a 30 minute run. I plan to run to and from the meeting spot, so I am looking at a solid 5 miles before work. I don't get any luckier than having motivation to get out on the road before getting behind my desk.

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