$306.20

That's how much money I've raised so far for Run to Stop MS. It's pretty awesome. I still have some little events planned and haven't even sent out letters/emails to family and friends asking for money. That's all from posting on Facebook, baby! It's still a far cry away from the $1000 I'm required to raise, not to mention the $2000 I'd like to raise. If you'd like to help me get to my goal, you can click on this link to do so.

The MS Society uses the money collected in so many different ways. Research, financial assistance and programs for people with MS as well as their families. My favorite program has become MS Youth Camp. It's a week-long camp for kids who live with someone who has MS, usually a parent. I attended Youth Camp last year as a counselor, because we were short volunteers. The programs side of our organization is not my area, so this was pretty exciting. I loved camp as a kid so I was stoked when I got to go. Being there was fantastic. So fantastic, that I requested to go again this year. Luckily for me, the MS Society sees fit to allow people to help out across departments and I was approved to go back again in June. I'm really excited for the opportunity to return and spend time with the kids and form new bonds. I loved summer camp as a kid so it's pretty much the perfect setting for me. I'll be gone June 19-25 and simply cannot wait.

In training news, I haven't had much to share, thus my posting hiatus. It's not that I haven't been doing any training but the workouts have all been fairly similar and boring. Winter decided to return after a couple of weeks of teasing with warm weather. That means I was back inside on the treadmill. Funny how I didn't used to mind it all that much until I ran outside in nice weather. Now it's pretty dull. But, I can still make it on there for a pretty good chunk of time without completely losing it.

Last Saturday I did a 45 minute run. During the week it's usually only about 30 minutes because we're lifting too. I thought I'd try listening to music again. Bad choice. I spent so much time fiddling with the earphones, I just got really annoyed. Today I ran for an hour (6 miles total) and didn't have the music on. It was much more enjoyable. I just listened to myself in my head. I tend to space out and think about all sorts of things. I get caught up in everything going on around me too. The gym is an interesting place to observe human social behavior. I've also noticed that I have a really big urge to encourage the people on the treadmills next to me. Weird, I know. But, people are really putting in effort for some sort of goal, and I feel like they should be given a pat on the back. I've never actually spoken a word to anyone but I really have to fight the urge to. Maybe some day I will. For now I just try to encourage Jill when we're together. This past week, Jill and I did a pretty intense workout of biceps, back, and abs. We were doing 1-minute planks and Jill was struggling a bit. Her arms were shaking, no doubt due to the brutal curls and lifts that I'd just put her through. So I made it a point to keep her going, although her shaking made me tired just to watch. But, I'm very proud of her because she made it through three 1-minute planks and didn't break once! Go Jill!

Today I took time to be at the gym alone. I went around 10:30 a.m. and easily found a treadmill. That's pretty common for a Saturday. Not as many people are motivated on the weekends. My plan was to run for an hour and I was really hoping to keep up an average 10 minute mile speed, to put me at 6 miles. I did. Now, it's easy for me to run under a 10 minute mile speed when I'm only running for a half hour, but an hour is a different story. It gets trickier but I'd really like to keep a 10 minute average for the marathon. This will put me in about the middle of the pack. I think it's totally achievable. If I think I can, I will.

Now, I'm working on replenishing my calories. That's definitely the fun part. I went to Annie's Parlor for lunch with some people I haven't seen in a while. Yay for a bacon cheeseburger and hand cut french fries. I just took a pan of brownies out of the oven. Yes I made them out of a box but, no judgement. I think box brownies taste awesome. They're for Jill who had a rough day yesterday because of some car trouble. Something tells me that she'll enjoy them tonight with the wine and cheese girl time we'll be having.

I am now off to work at the Division III Men's Hockey Championships being played at the U of M. Hopefully it's not a long shift because I really want to dig into those brownies and have a glass of wine. Hopefully I don't have so much that it impedes with my bike workout scheduled for tomorrow.