I love my new hobby!

My fundraising webpage: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/pfchangs09/ayates

Woohoo, no tropical storm this weekend! This morning's run went really well. Erin and I left for Bethesda at about 7:00 this morning. Andrea was at that wedding and Keri was home sick, but I ran most of the way with Kate, who's office is only a few blocks from where I work! Kate definitely had me going at a really fast pace, and I talked so much that I got a bit winded by the end, so I let her go on ahead of me. Still, I was only about the 6th person to get back to our starting point, since the fastest people mainly do the marathon and therefore had to run three miles longer than me.

I chatted with people as they came in, and then changed in the car once Erin came back. She has since showed me which set of keys in the key box are hers, so now I don't have to wait for her in order to grab my stuff. Once everyone was present and accounted for, a bunch of us went and got bagels at the place across the street. We crowded around a sidewalk bench and chatted as we ate. I got to hear about different runs and fundraising ideas, and Erin and I decided that we're going to do a bake sale at a nearby Giant to try and raise some extra funds. So many people have these great ideas that will probably put them way over what they need to raise, so I really need to step it up to meet the minimum requirement. My donors have been so generous, though, and I definitely can't complain. Thank you so much to all of you who pushed my fundraising total into four digits!

All in all, I enjoyed my five mile run this morning, and I'm having a great time with the new company I'm keeping. Every training makes me fall more in love with Team in Training and it's mission, and I can see why people come back year after year. Good friends, good health, a good cause, and good food afterwards - it's addicting! Next week's six mile run will be a distance record for me, and I'm so excited. Wish me luck!