an aggregate of all things Johnson

I think I am nearly ready. My gear is all laid out. (Who knew I’d need so much stuff! And yes, candy IS my fuel of choice.) My number is pinned to my shirt. I am drinking Gatorade. Is the marathon really tomorrow?!

26.2 miles. 5 hours. 5 boroughs. 40,000+ runners. 1 million spectators. It should be an incredible day!

Right now, I am curled up on the couch surfing the web and trying to keep my mind off of my 4 am wake up call tomorrow morning. Travis has run about four thousand errands for me so that I can stay off my feet. (He is truly the best.) It seems impossible that the marathon is finally here. My brain is numb. I have been prepping and training so intensely over the last few months, it seems strange that it will all be finished in 24 hours. I am as prepared as I can be, and mostly, I just want to have fun and take in the city tomorrow. It will be one huge, long party, right?

More than 160 people donated to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my Team in Training page, which helped me surpass my fundraising goal of $5,000. I feel so blessed to have the support of so many people and am thrilled to have met that goal. It seemed so daunting at the beginning of the season. Thank you so much to everyone who donated. Your generosity has truly touched me and I promise to pay it forward.

Overall, the full New York City Team in Training raised over 1 million dollars for the LLS this year! Awesome. Three hundred TNT peeps will be running the NYC marathon tomorrow. Look for us in our purple shirts! Or better yet, come out and cheer with the team!

Tomorrow, I leave home at 5:30 am. I will get to Staten Island (the race start point) by 7 am. I don’t start running until 10:40! I will try to stay calm while also enjoying the crazy race atmosphere… then, I will line up on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge… and then, I will run!!

If you want to follow along with my adventure, I will be “live-tweeting” as much as I can. (Yes, including during the race!) Follow @rljart on Twitter for all the updates, or check out my Facebook page for only the most juicy stuff.

Lastly… I’ve been thinking about the fact that running a marathon is sort of a pointless endeavor… I mean, I am not going to win. ha. Not even close. There are many reasons I could give as to why I am doing this – exercise, to support the LLS, camaraderie – but I think the main reason is that I enjoy setting big goals. And, why not? Like Travis said, we will most likely remember November 7th, 2010 for the rest of our lives because of this crazy event. I don’t think I could say the same thing if I wasn’t running a marathon tomorrow. I just hope it will be remembered fondly!

Related posts:

1. Central Park road race
2. is this a marathon or social time?
3. NYC Marathon here I come!

These are just some of the supplies I’ve gathered to use in decorating my marathon singlet (tank top) for the race. Some of my teammates are coming over tonight to join in on the fun. Basically, everyone recommends putting your name on your race shirt so that spectators can cheer you on as you pass. I am taking things a step further and adding some rhinestones! I’ll try not to over-do it, but I have a feeling that the spectators will see #56908 (me) coming!

More NYC Marathon Stuff:

• Official Website
• There is a NYC Marathon iPhone App – the basic version is free, but you can upgrade for $3.99 and track up to five runners during the race.
• Asics has created a website, supportyourmarathoner.com, where you can upload encouraging messages and they will be played on big screens as your marathoner passes. cool!
• You can send marathon-themed e-cards from the ING Runner’s Nation Facebook page.

Any other marathon links I’m missing?

Related posts:

1. one half marathon down…
2. marathon of yesteryear
3. not much to say

I need your help! Because I am pretty much ridiculous, one of my biggest concerns about the day of the marathon is how I am going to do my hair. I need a hair-do that is totally secure, but also (hopefully) somewhat cute. We get official photos during the marathon! I want to look presentable at the very least.

It may be a lost cause, but here are my current options:

• Ponytail, no headband – easy, but can get messy as I run.
• Ponytail, thin headband – pretty cute, but the headband isn’t 100% secure.
• Visor – nearly ruled out because I can’t wear sunglasses with it.
• Pontytail, thick headband – I recently bought the matching purple headband with high hopes, but I’m not sure I love the look.
• [Not Pictured] French Braid – Untested and difficult, but potentially very secure and cute.

What do you think? I will most likely be wearing my sunglasses (which sadly make my ears stick out in an unattractive way), so any hair situation must be able to accommodate them. Right now, my mind is set on a french braid, maybe with the thin headband. But that option is dependent on my braiding skills and I will need to get some extensive french braiding practice in before now and the marathon. Plus, I need to test it on a long run… so… it may not be a realistic option. Ugh. Decisions, decisions!

Which is your favorite look? Do you have any other hair-do suggestions?

UPDATE: I tried out the french braid last night. It stayed in throughout my whole run, but it got a little too fluffy and the braid started to come apart and look messy. I think it will be too stressful to try to perfect the french braid before marathon time… boo.

Related posts:

1. i picked up my bag today…
2. Team In Training update
3. is this a marathon or social time?

I know this blog has been Running Central lately, and I apologize if I have gone overboard on the exercise-theme. I had wanted to scan the pages from this old scrapbook, but my scanner was sacrificed in the move to NY, so I took photos instead. They are a little wonky, but will have to do. I am running out of time before my current marathon adventure will be ending… so, without further ado, let’s travel back in time to a marathon long, long ago…

It was the year 2000. I was 19. I had just finished my first year of college and simultaneously trained for a marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training. My friend Jody joined the team with me. Well, I think I actually joined it with her…

We went to college in Lamoni, Iowa, but the closest TNT team was in Des Moines, over an hour away. Jody was kind enough to drive us there for our meetings and Saturday practices. That is us above at the very first info meeting on February 17th, 2000. (Fun fact: There is a bag sitting next to me in that photo that I still take to practice today!)

These are photos from our first 20 mile practice run on April Fools Day, 2000. I ran with a woman named Carrie at most of the practices. My 19-year-old self thought all of the women on the team were so old… ugh. They were probably all younger than I am now…. teenagers are so judgemental!

On April 29th, 2000, we ran the Drake Relays half marathon. I think that was the best race of my life. I finished in 2:07 (you can still find my results here under Rachel Lamble) and got 5th in my age group. Nice. Then, on June 3rd, we left for San Diego for the Rock N Roll Marathon!

That year, Team In Training raised $12.5 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (I just learned that the NYC marathon team alone has raised over $1 million in 2010.) The pasta party the night before the race was inspiring!

These are photos from the morning of the race. All I remember is being extremely nervous and not wanting to finish a full bagel because it had too many calories… but I did it anyway and ate a banana. I was so dumb when it came to food. I don’t think I ate anything at all during the race…

I carried a disposable camera with during the race – a disposable FILM camera. (These were the days before digital. I didn’t even HAVE a cell phone.) I was so glad that I had the camera with me, though. I remember being blown away by the number of people in the race. The group of runners stretched for miles! (There were 21,000 runners in that race – there will be twice that number in the NYC marathon this year!) We ran along the ocean, on the highways, and through Balboa Park. It was beautiful.

This is my bib and official portrait. I carried a photo of Travis with me while I ran (we were so in love!) and people thought he was my honor patient…

Finally the finish line. I had broken down at about mile 22. I stopped and cried and had to walk. It was disappointing. One of my teammates found me (I can’t even remember his name now, isn’t that awful?!) and we ran the rest of the race together. Having a team out there with you really makes it so much more fun. I don’t know if I could do a marathon without Team in Training.

It was so awesome to cross the finish line! They give you medals and blankets and bags of loot. I remember I was most impressed by the giant size bottles of Fiji water that they were handing out. (Designer bottled water was new to me.)

I finished the marathon in 5:09:11. (You can search the official results here.) I was disappointed because I had wanted to get in under five hours, but finishing the race still felt like a huge accomplishment!

So… that is the story of my first marathon. In some ways it feels so long ago, and then in other ways the memories feel so vivid. It was definitely one of the most exciting experiences of my life. Just thinking about how much fun it was makes me feel even more excited about running the NYC marathon!

Related posts:

1. NYC Marathon here I come!
2. not much to say
3. Central Park road race

I have a new obsession: lululemon athletica.

Lululemon is a Canadian athletic clothing company that I was aware of before but always dismissed as being too fashion and yoga-centered. Also, living in Eugene, Oregon, the birthplace of Nike, meant that I was exclusively loyal to Nike for all of my running apparel needs. I have a sizable collection of Nike running tights, sports bras, etc, but it has all been heavily used and some of the gear has gotten way too thin and stretched out from endless washing. Pretty gross. This season I really needed some new shorts and tights (plus a few new shirts wouldn’t hurt), but the Nike love isn’t as prevalent here on the East Coast. I had to broaden my athletic apparel horizons…

My running friend (and near twin), Lauren, always has super-cute running clothes on at practice, so I thought I would copy her and give lululemon another chance. I first visited the Soho location for shorts and was amazed with the selection – lots of styles (maybe a dozen) and colors all divided by size. I chose two pairs: the speed short (seen above) and the reverse groove short, both in grey because I am practical like that. Both pairs have wide waist bands which make them super-comfortable, and they have secret pockets for keys/money/food. The tighter reverse groove shorts worked great on a 12 mile run, but the speed shorts are better for my cross training workouts. I really love both pairs and I think they look very cute. That is the amazing thing about lululemon – the balance of technical performance and good looks. The prices are definitely NOT low, but I was sold on their running gear!

So… on Friday I went a little crazy. I decided that it was imperative that I get a new pair of running tights for my long Saturday run. The weather was going to be a little cooler on Saturday and I was convinced that my two trusty pairs of short running tights had become way too stretched out and loose to even be considered “tights” anymore, so I headed to the Park Slope lululemon “show room.” I ended up loving just about everything I tried on and bought most of the stuff pictured above:

• Personal Best Singlet
• Revitalize Tech Short Sleeve Tee
• Inspire Pullover
• Run Fast Crop
• and a pack of socks because they were cute and on sale…

I definitely broke my budget and wearing a brand new outfit on my longest run of the season was probably a horrible idea, but it was all worth it!! I wore the tights, tech tee, and new socks on the run and they were all amazing! No chaffing, no shifting around, no problems at all. I love the cute tee and cute socks, but I most highly recommend the tights! They were nice and tight, but totally comfortable. Plus, they had a perfect pocket for my phone and two pockets for my food (sugar goo). I was truly blown away by how well they worked out and am determined to purchase another pair. I am a lululemon convert!

Do you wear lululemon athletic apparel? What are you favorites? I’d love suggestions for cold weather gear…

Related posts:

1. my running/temperature system
2. exercise
3. fantasy shopping spree – anthropologie