Who wants to run with me? Feeling lucky?

In the words of Dashboard Confessional:
"SO LONG SWEET SUMMER"

Yup, summer unfortunately is coming to an end (#womp #womp @AixaTorregrosa). While I'm super sad my pool/tanning days are numbered, my body is super stoked to be running in cooler weather. I ran through lots of hot summer days this year and things are only looking better from here on out (until you hear me bitch about how cold it is in November and December...hey at least I am giving you fair warning now.) But enough of the Debbi Downer stuff...

Training has been going awesome! My runs have been going well. I have been on schedule (Last week I slacked a little bit, but I can't go back now.) Today I ran 6 miles after work around Lansdale. It was nice to go on a different route for a change. Lots of hills though, by the end I was beat.

So I am reaching out to everyone because I am trying to set up a half marathon I need to run before my marathon. I'm looking towards the end of October or early November. One that I found is on

Sunday, Oct. 16: the Atlantic City Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K and 5k

Being that it has a 5k and 10k, if you are a beginner runner, you could also do it! If anyone is up for it, please let me know! I'd love to have someone with me!

You stay classy, friends!

The day the earth caught fire

Jackie and I with essential running gear: water bottle fanny pack, hand held water bottle,shades and music.

Good afternoon readers:

Wanted to drop by with a quick blog entry after promising I’d get back on my blogging game. On Saturday my cousin Jackie and I went on a 6 mile run around Lansdale. It was a big loop from Sumneytown Pike, Broad Street, Hancock St., Church St., and back up Sumneytown to Valley Forge. Not going to lie, I think I could have run forever on Saturday. I was in the mind set, I was feeling great. My calves were tight the first few miles, but when I stretched my stride a little, I was off for the races. Jackie and I started together but by about mile 2.5 we split in speed a little bit. She was only maybe 20 seconds behind me, she had a great run herself. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure she was there. I also gave a little random yell back to her to keep going and to keep pushing her. I’d wait at every street corner, give her a high five when she arrived, then back to running. I think I could have gone 8 miles…I really do. Had to get home though because I have to cover two events for work.

Currently at work right now, Erica who is our mobile director in our corporate office, is at our office giving an SMS seminar to people here at The Reporter and a few neighboring newspapers. She overheard me talking to Andy about my blog today. She ran a marathon out in San Diego a few years ago and I loved listing to her journey. She gave me a few tips for my journey. Talking about it gets me so excited. Wahooo. By the way, the title of this blog is a song I am obsessed with when I run. I recommend it to alllll people who like techno/upbeat songs. Great stuff!

That is all for now. Everyone have a great hump day!!!

P.S. This picture below, I would just like to say thank you to the 45 year old man wearing bright yellow cleats (that usually cocky 12 year olds wear) in last night’s indoor game for taking me out not only once, but TWICE. I know you think you’re so good and talented old man, but pulling wrestling moves on me was unnecessary and this bruise hurts. Jerk. 

 Yes, for those of you who do not know, I have a tattoo on my arm.

Taco dip, beer and a baby pool

^Above: Me playing in the good old days^

Hello followers!
My appologies for being a MAJOR slacker and not blogging lately. I am however, not being a slacker on the running! There are 145 days till the marathon... I know you are all thinking, wow that is sooooo far away, but wake up call, IT'S NOT. Little over 5 months to get my booty rockin. It's gonna be here before I know it. AHHH!!!

I'm on week 5 of my training schedule, averaging about 6-7 miles, with a longer run on the weekend. Some days are great, some days not so great (like when I ran last Sunday at Peace Valley Park at 3:30 p.m. with temps about 90 degrees because I was stupid enough to say yes to Matt Miller's request.) Not only did the heat kill me that day but I got smoked by a scrony tall white boy who does not run which completely mentally killed me. We are however even because last time we ran together I killed him. Like I've said before running during the day = major failure for me. Early bird gets the worm.


I luckily am out of my FUNK which my last post was about. I'm not going to go into full detail but the Amanda a lot of you knew from about 7 years ago is back and I'm so happy about that!

Soccer on Thursday nights has been a great mix during the week because it is getting me on a difference surface (my right knee is not my friend these past few weeks) and it also is more sprint, jog, sprint running, working my lungs a different way. We have playoffs next week and on the list for post game game fun = beer, taco dip and a baby pool. {Derek better come through with the baby pool :) } It nice that I finally feel comforatable with the team and really enjoy myself with them. If you are reading this guys, I'm having a blast!

Biggest excitement in my running world is finding out that my brother-in-law Andy has been running a few nights a week. He found this app on his iPhone that takes him on a weekly program and makes him walk, jog, walk and it progressively gets tougher with shorter walks and rest periods. I am looking to find a 5K in October that we both will run together. I'm really proud of him and I think this is something that would be really special for the two of us to do together. :)

That is all for now...I promise I won't leave you guys hanging this long again.
P.S.- Everyone send my cousin Jackie some love...She needs a little kick in her butt and I'm tired of it being just from me.

Funk. Big Funk

For a few months now I've been in a funk. A BIG funk to be honest. It's affecting my everyday life, it's affecting my running, it's affecting me mentally in all means.

It's times like these when the littlest bit of inspiration helps you go on. It helps push you. It helps lift your spirits. It help put a smile on your face even if it is for a split second.

This article I have attached is one I read in Runner's World this past month. It was inspriting, motivational and made me think that life is not THAT bad. Just like the tattoo I have "La Dolce Vita"...the good life.

Life is good....I am blessed I am alive and breathing. But as much as looking at my tattoo puts me in persceptive, I'm a human and funks happen.

For everyone else out there who is in a bit of a mess, I really hope this article makes you happy like it did for me, even if it is for the 5 minutes you took to read it.

(special thanks for my cousin Jackie who listens to my complaining on a daily basis....I love you.)

Fast Friends (article link and citing: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--14007-1-1-2,00.html)
Two high schoolers stick together—even on runs. By Steve Howe Image by Tom Bear From the August 2011 issue of Runner's World
It's a warm March day, and the Copper Hills High School track team is holding practice on its athletic field, surrounded by the Wasatch Mountains above Salt Lake Valley. Seniors Mack Bawden and Cameron Judd, both 18, line up with about 30 teammates for a mile run, and crank Eminem on a pair of iPod speakers. The gun cracks and the pack takes off. "Music's not legal," coach Garth Rushforth yells after the pair, laughing. He lets it slide because wheelchairs aren't legal, either.

Cameron was born with cerebral palsy (or CP), a neurological disorder that affects muscle control in nearly 800,000 Americans. His case is severe; he can't walk, talk, or use his hands for complex tasks. His mind, though, is unaffected, and he has a 3.6 grade point average. Most people with CP can only imagine what it's like to run a race, surrounded by a pack of burning legs and heaving lungs, but thanks to Mack, Cameron experiences something close to the real thing. For over a year, Mack has pushed Cameron in his wheelchair during their track and cross-country meets. "This way the training and races are more fun for both of us," says Mack.

The best friends met when they were 4, when Mack's family moved to the Judds' neighborhood in West Jordan, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. "Mack was nice to me, and really funny," types Cameron, communicating with a computer controlled by his eye movement.

"We laugh at the same things," says Mack, "but we're also different. Cam's into following sports, while I'm more nerdy and into good grades. He's fun to be around, so we find things we can do together." Lately, that's included running races.

Before their junior year, Cameron had never been to a track meet. But Mack, who knew his friend was often bored after school, thought he'd enjoy trying something new. "I really wanted Cam to have the experience," says the 18:20 5-K cross-country runner. Not long after approaching his coach with the idea to race with Cameron, Mack saw a video at his church that sealed the deal. "It was about Team Hoyt, where the father, Dick, pushes his son Rick, who has CP, in races," says Mack. But doing so meant that Mack—one of his school's top 10 runners—wouldn't be able to earn points at meets. "I just felt like it needed to be done," he says, "so I did it."
For their first two races in March 2010, they used a standard wheelchair; for their third they got a racing chair. Mack was sprinting to the finish when the chair popped a wheelie and he went down, bloodying his hand. A few yards later the front tire fell off and Mack flew over the chair, crashing on his shoulder. He got up, unharnessed Cameron, and carried him across the finish. "It was crazy," says Rushforth. "There were students and parents cheering and bawling their eyes out."

After that, Cameron became a fixture on the team. In the 4 x 400-meter relay, he held the baton while Mack and others passed his chair off at each exchange. During cross-country, teammates helped Mack push Cameron across the hilly courses. "Every meet I have parents come up and say, 'This is how high school athletics should be,'" says Rushforth.

While their track days are ending, the friends will keep running after graduation this June; they've entered October's St. George Marathon, and will run the Snow Canyon Half-Marathon the following month. They'll go to college nearby, Mack at Utah Valley University, and Cameron at Salt Lake Community College.

Right now, though, on this spring day, everyone at Copper Hills is focused on the present. Runners drop by Cameron's wheelchair for some high fives and weekend planning. The prom is tomorrow. Cameron and Mack both have dates. It's all a revelation in how accepted a physically challenged person can be, even in the harsh environment of high school. No matter what changes may await the two friends down the road, Cameron is sure his future will involve sports. "I want to be a coach," he types. "I know I can do anything, like I don't have CP."


LAST NOVEMBER, MACK AND CAMERON RACED THE SNOW CANYON HALF-MARATHON TOGETHER (THEIR FIRST), FINISHING IN 1:28.

Soccer fever

Today at work I was juggling work and watching the U.S. women's national soccer team play against France in the World Cup semi-final. It was a great victory and I'm so excited to see the ladies advance to the final (which at the current moments seems as though they will be playing Japan.)

Watching the World Cup has made me think about how fit I use to be when I was playing soccer and how I wish I still had the endurance from my good old college days, or even high school days. But as we all know, there is no turning back in time, only moving forward and to get there again.

I am currently playing in a co-ed adult soccer league and it's nice to do "disguised fitness" as we use to call it in college rather than just running down Sumneytown Pike and back. When you're playing soccer you're so focused on the ball you don't think about the fact that you are running non-stop for 90 minutes. (Granted I was NOT running for 90 minutes because I was a goalkeeper, but my fitness level was sure much better than what it is now as an old, washed up, has been.)

Studies show that a competitive midfielder in a soccer match averages 6 to 7 miles per game. That length of distance is something not many average people can do. One of my best friends from college, Lea Day, was an outside midfielder for our soccer team in college and she is the quickest person I have ever met in my life. I would put money down and say that she ran more than that per game....jog, sprint, jog, sprint. Go to a neighborhood and jog to one mailbox and sprint to the next for 90 minutes straight. You will then know how Lea Day felt for 4 years.


I've decided that when I play in my adult league this week (which I'm a field player, not a goalkeeper) I am going to put on my pedometer and see how far I run. In college we use to wear heartrate monitors to indiciate how hard, or lack-there-of, each player was working at practice. Because we were wearing them, it was hard to slack off. I hope wearing my pedometer will make me realize if I am or am not working as hard as I possible can. If I find out I'm not getting many miles in...I'm going to boost up my effort and push myself a little farther.

The time has arrived

Well everyone...the time has finally arrived. Tomorrow is the start of my 26-week training schedule for my marathon on January 8, 2012 in Walt Disney World.

I am using the New York ING Marathon training schedule my friend Kristian Johnson used when she ran it last year. She was very successful so I figured why not give it a try.

I feel as though I am pretty prepared to do this after talking with Kristian and my friend Bryan who is a crazy runner. I've been given tips and advice over the months.

While I feel like I'm ready, I think this journey is going to be something I've never experienced in my life:  physically, mentally and emotionally I am going to be pushed to my limits.  I believe I'm ready and deep down I KNOW I'm ready.

To all my family members and friends- I'm thanking you now in advance for supporting me and encouraging me on this journey. I am asking you that as I forgo these next 5 1/2 months, please push me and encourage me to get out there and ran. I can't afford to slack off. I will need every single one of you to help me get through this. Xox

Jackie, I am so excited to share this experience with you. You carry me, I carry you. <3

See you on the road

A bike fairytale

Once upon a time there was a girl named Amanda who lived in downtown Baltimore. She was a happy lady who loved riding her mint-condition cherry red 1970's Schwinn Traveler III bicycle throughout the city (especially when her roommate Anne would ride along with her on a Schwinn beach cruiser had had a baller basket and bell on it.)

That bike meant a lot to Amanda because it was her mom's bike and she loved that she was given a part of history and giving it a new life again.

One night in November, a Baltimore hoodrat decided to jump over the backyard wall and STEAL Amanda's bike AND Anne's bike from their property.

Their roommate Tristan must sleep like a freight train because she did not hear the hoodrat(s) at all in the back yard despite having her window face the backyard.

Amanda noticed the bikes were missing, called the police and checked to see if they were being sold on Craigslist... all of that effort and the bikes was never seen again.

Here is Amanda with her old bike

Still bitter to this day, Amanda decided that she would start looking at bikes again because while training for her marathon she will need to do some cross training. (what better way then biking!!)

Her cool boss, Aixa, told her about a group called "freecycle"- people who offer items to other individuals FOR FREE.

Amanda thought joining the group can't hurt and maybe she'll be able to find a bike for free on there because a journalist's paycheck won't cut it for a nice bike.

Amanda joined the group and sent out an email saying she was looking for a bike, how her's was stolen..blah blah...she got no response.

Despite feeling down, she tried again one more time. Luckily this time God sent an angel to Amanda and his name was Dennis.

Last night Amanda traveled to Telford to meet Dennis and this bike he was willing to give to her.

Not knowing what to expect, Amanda was hoping for the best and happy to take it in for any repairs it needed. A free bike is a free bike. Shush Amanda!

Pulling up to the house, there he was....a beautiful 1970's Schwinn World Traveler...almost exactly like her old one but in Loyola green.

She knew it was fate and Dennis was an angel sent from above. The bike was in great condition, minimal damage, all orginal parts. Amanda is planning on taking it to Bike Works in Harleysville this evening and getting any repairs it needs.

She shook Dennis' hand and he waived good-bye to the bike saying "Bye baby!"

In his honor, Amanda named her new bike "Dennis" because without him she would be bikeless and hopeless.