#3 The Weekly Pep Talk - December 10 - 16, 2007

Ask About Running
The Weekly Pep Talk
Third Issue
This week is dedicated to Laurie N. (risk taker, brave spirit, breast cancer survivor)
Monday, December 10 – Sunday, December 16, 2007
Week 49 in 2007
Send comments to: Stephanie@AskAboutRunning.com

Hello to All!

BAH HUMBUG! No, not really. When I start to feel this way however, I force myself to go out for a walk (since I usually don’t feel like running when I’m in this kind of mood). And truthfully, it always makes me feel better. Even when nothing else is changed I feel good about the exercise I got. Give it a try.

A nice thing about walking is that you can do it pretty much ANYWHERE! When I had my full- on corporate office job with a one hour lunch, I would change heels for sneakers and head out to walk the hood. With a full 60 minutes of motion in me, I would arrive back at the office refreshed and feeling much better about the rest of the day. It made a huge difference in my attitude and, because I walked at lunch time, I avoided those heavy lunches with my co-workers. Sometimes I talked one of them into walking with me and I always enjoyed the company.

Walking alone, especially without music, opens my eyes and ears to all kinds of sounds and sights. I consider it one of those daily gifts I give myself that creates no guilt whatsoever and sometimes it makes me feel so darned good. I hope I can walk forever…I love it almost as much as running!

NO SATURDAY COACHING ANYMORE
Some of you have been coached by me on Saturdays. We had a lot of good times but, times change. I am moving my coaching to Sundays with my new program. I do hope to see you take advantage of this new venue called Ask About Running.

The goal, with our new team, is to provide on-going weekly runs in both the East Bay and San Francisco (or surroundings). Every Sunday, starting January 6, you will be able to join a 9:00 group in the East Bay or a 1:00 group in San Francisco to run or walk a measured 5K (3.1 miles) or 10K (6.2 mile) course. There will be mile markers and a finish line. This gives experienced runners and walkers the opportunity to push themselves to improve their competitive times. It gives novice women, or less competitive spirits, the chance to complete a 5K distance in whatever fashion you wish. If you’ve never run 3 miles before, finishing is a worthy goal. My team will support you to get there! If you’ve done lots of 3 mile runs, this can be used as a day for a few extra miles or for your tempo runs where you run HARD! The group atmosphere will make all of it more fun.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be sending out an official invitation soon.

THE BUDDY SYSTEM – 2 people sign up together for a 25% discount.
I want you to run with a buddy, or at least, share the responsibility of getting up every Sunday. So, sign up with a buddy and each of you pays 25% less. You must sign up and pay together under one credit card or check. This could be a good Christmas present, huh?

BREAST CANCER WOMEN JOIN FOR FREE
I am a breast cancer survivor. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about its potential recurrence. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t say to myself that I’m going out, one way or the other so, LIVE WELL while you’ve got it, baby!

It is documented that exercise and stress reduction both aid in the survival rate of cancer victims. What better way to get exercise and reduce stress than to join a women’s running/walking team? I offer free membership to any of you women who are breast cancer (or other cancer) victims. You will benefit from running/walking with us. I welcome you into our group and know how much exercise has helped me through hard times. Please join us! There will be a line on the application for you to indicate if you are a cancer victim and that’s all it takes for you to get into the group. Beyond that, there will be no sharing of information unless you wish to.

AS FOR THE REST OF YOU…
There is no fundraising involved in this running program. I believe strongly in volunteerism and charitable contributions. I also love my running and the simplicity of it. Take away as many obstacles as possible and give me plain and simple team support and exercise. If this works for you, come on out! I want to run with you on Sundays. I want to encourage you and share my enthusiasm and knowledge about running. I want you to attain your goals with as few barriers as possible. Join me for a lot of fun and some good, healthy work, too; nothing more, nothing less…

Of course, you’ll have other opportunities in life for fundraising so you don’t have to feel left out!

THE FEE
This will be broken down so that everyone can afford it. In addition to the ongoing Buddy System, there are several choices:

Months
1 Person
Buddy System
Comments
1
$20
$30
Begins with first Sunday of each month
6 Months
$110
$165
Jan – June or
Jul – Dec 2008
12 Months
Jan – Dec 2008
$200
$300
Best price!

CARPOOLING
As you have noticed by now, this week’s edition is dealing with a lot of pragmatic issues related to running. I take the environment pretty seriously and additionally, how can we avoid noticing the crunch of increased costs on almost everything. We’re reducing bridge tolls and driving distances for you by giving you running sites on both sides of the bridge. But there is definitely more that can be done.

I want to encourage you to car pool to our running sites specifically but, more generally, think about how you can reduce your impact by changing transportation habits. I love the concept of “treading gently on this earth”. To me the phrase combines respect, humility, pragmatism, and a love for this wonderful planet that we inhabit.

Please use the yahoo groups site AskStephanieAboutSports@yahoogroups.com to arrange for carpooling. It’s an opportunity right out there saying “Take advantage, do a good thing”. I’ll be on it. I’m happy to share driving!

UPCOMING EVENTS…
Christmas Classic and Miracle Mile, Sunday, December 23, 2007, Sponsored by Ohana Road Runners. This is a great time to get a PR on your mile! The course is DOWNHILL! If you’re up to it you can also run the 5K. I have run with this group before and always have a lot of fun. You May Run Or Walk. You may sign up on the day of the race (or in advance). All is well organized, low key and their races always benefit a local charity. http://www.ohanarrca.org/
Details are also listed on the AskStephanieAboutSports@yahoogroups.com Calendar.

As mentioned in the first issue, I offer training schedules for the runs listed below. To know when to start your training and to view the schedules go to AskStephanieAboutRunning@yahoogroups.com and look under Files. Presently the schedule for the Kaiser Permanente in February is listed for both the half marathon and the 5 K. Also look at the Calendar for upcoming events and the starting training dates for these other runs.

The Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon & 5K February 3, 2008
xnet.kp.org/sanfrancisco/index.html
The London Marathon April 13, 2008
http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/
16 week training begins December 24
The Boston Marathon April 21, 2008 http://www.bostonmarathon.org/
16 week training begins December 31
The Bay to Breakers/San Francisco May 18, 2008
http://www.ingbaytobreakers.com/main.html
See Jane Run Women’s Half Marathon & 5K May 31, 2008
http://www.seejanerun.com/t-See-Jane-Run-Half-Marathon-and-5K.aspx
The San Francisco Half & Full Marathon & 5K August 3, 2008 http://www.runsfm.com/home.html
The Disneyland Half Marathon and 5K August 30/31, 2008 www.disneylandhalfmarathon.com
The Chicago Marathon October 12, 2008 http://www.chicagomarathon.com/
The Nike Women’s Half and Full Marathon October? (couldn’t find)
www.nike.com
The New York City Marathon November 2008?
www.ingnycmarathon.org
The Honolulu Marathon December 14, 2008
www.honolulumarathon.org


Please send me information on other runs. I’ll check into them. I especially want to know if the runs are for women only and, if they are well organized!

How is the training going for the Kaiser? I know some of you are preparing for the half marathon. The 5K would be a great new year’s resolution to start working on now for you new runners or holiday partiers. You still need some motivation to get out there and run! Entry fee goes up after 1/11/08 and there is a limit to the number of participants. All race details are on the official website http://xnet.kp.org/sanfrancisco/index.html.

Send me your stories, comments, and questions about life and running. My E-mail is Stephanie@AskAboutRunning.com.

If you haven’t already joined the group website, please go to AskStephanieAboutSports@yahoogroups.com and join! I would love to have you as a part of this group of active, interesting women, who live a life style that includes giving themselves time for activity. The site offers articles, tools, and encouragement to keep up the good work!

The Sunday walking/running program will launch on January 6. Full details out soon!

Start thinking running tours. We’ll do one this summer and one in fall/winter. Details are coming soon…

Hold on for the official launch of the Ask About Running Website



Best,
Stephanie Atwood

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