A Moment of Thanks... Part II

(These pictures are from before digital cameras- I scanned these in!)

The second person I want to thank is my friend Leah from college.  We ran track together at American University in D.C.  We both ran middle distance, HOWEVER she has since gone on to run a 3:11 Boston Marathon.  Let me write that again.  Leah ran the Boston Marathon last year (2009) in 3:11.  Absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!  In college, we ran the 800 and the relays and did a lot of our training runs together.  We were very close in college but lost touch and then got back in touch in the last year.  Anyway, we started talking on gchat and I told her all about my goals of running a marathon.  Then I got injured.  Leah understood where I was coming from because she got injured last year too and also deferred her NY number until 2010.  So... she wanted to help me get a race out of the way before NY.

In January, Leah wrote me out my speed workouts for every Tuesday from January 8th until race day.  She made me feel better about doing most of my runs on the treadmill and really encouraged me throughout all my training.  When I would feel defeated (ex. after the 20 mile race) she would tell me "Most people can't even walk 20 miles."  She just always made me feel like I could do this... I could complete a marathon.  And along the way, I felt stronger and faster and more like a runner with the speed workouts she would provide.  I did repeat 400s, 800s, mile cutdowns, etc etc.  I went from running with no incline to 1.0.  I went from walking during the rest of the intervals, to jogging.  And although I didn't get to show ANY of my speed during my marathon (God- my legs wouldn't move fast AT ALL) I know the speed training helped tremendously.  Thank you Leah for not only writing those workouts but for supporting me throughout! Can't wait to run NY 2010 with you.  (Any by with you, I mean in spirit... like we can hang out before and after the race, haha)