Rockin the City of Angels!

Exactly one week after Nike Women's half marathon, I ran the event that I've actually been training and fundraising for.

Jason & I trained for the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon as fundraising participants for Team In Training. As I've said before, this raises money for the LLS. They host an appreciation dinner for you the night before the event where you are cheered for as you enter, fed pastas and get to hear from some amazing people to encourage and advise and thank you for what you're doing. We got to sit at a table with and talk to Tracy Sundlan, former olympic marathon coach and the man behind the Rock 'n' Roll marathon series! So cool.
Start village: Griffith Park. 7:30 am. 54 degrees.

Our team is actually staying downtown at a hotel but we meet at 5:00 am and took a shuttle to the start line. That's right. We had to wake up at 4:00 am.

So here we are hanging out at the start, getting kinesio tape for the spots that hurt, filling our water belts, and goofing around. Coach Dave is a great coach and he was out there on the course to help and support us!

I liked having the porta-potties & bag check lined up in one direction and the start corrals in the other on a single road. Other event starts have a start village that is a little more confusing to navigate.

Course: Not the prettiest as we were in a construction area at one point? We did get to pass some good spots though and have some views of neat things like bison? Who knew there were bison living and eating in Los Angeles? The hills weren't that bad. With a little more hill training I could lick those suckers. I just finished the Nike Women's half in San Fran the weekend before this event so...hills 1, Tiffany 0...for now.

Finish Village: One of the best. L.A. Live is a great place to finish. LOVED having gear check immediately available upon getting your medal and exiting the finisher's shoot. Other events make you walk through the entire village to get to your comfy sandals, phone, and wallet, which is cruel and unusual and not good for the vendors.

I hear they might have to change the course next year as this one was adopted from the previous event owners. That'd be fine with me but I hope it still finishes at L.A. Live.

And here is the medal and pin that I love. Team in Training gives you a pin when you finish your event miles. I have a 26.2 pin also.

I do like the LA medal! Another to add to my collection.

Thank you Competitor!

This was my sixth? Rock 'n' Roll event. I am a big fan of this marathon series and am very happy to have a hometown event that I can include on my 2011 Rock Legend tour!

Let the training begin...

It's only July, but the training for the big 7 event year in 2011 is already beginning.

The Kick Off for the winter season of Team In Training was today. All these endurance sports teams from all over the Greater Los Angeles area met in Pasadena for a big pep rally, basically.

Two things are great about Team In Training:

1) This is for an unbelievably great cause. TNT raises funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which has helped fund research grants that are directly responsible for a lot of cancer patients still being alive today. They do this by offering endurance sports training for the volunteers who are individually raising money. And their training is amazing, which leads me to...

2) The training is amazing. It doesn't matter what level of runner/cycler/hiker/swimmer you are, their coaches have solid experience and know-how to help you step up your game while being healthy and helping you prevent injuries. I may be able to train myself for a half marathon, but when it comes to a full I doubt that I have yet to attain the level of motivation and discipline I would need to do it without my coaches and my team.

So we will be training with TNT for the inaugural Los Angeles half marathon in October. Yes, it's another Rock 'n' Roll event! And that also means that we'll be raising money for the LLS!

• My campaign site: http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/rnrla10/thenness

• Jason's campaign site: http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/rnrla10/jhenness

The winter season will carry on through to January as some members of our team will be training for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Phoenix Marathon! The very same marathon that I plan on making my #1 event of 2011!

Fortunately, we're able to continue training with the team through the end of the season and will be able to have our coaches helping us toward our full marathon goal.

UNfortunately, we slept in and missed kick off.

Friends Don't Let Friends Stop Running

Jason and I had the good fortune to be "forced" to run this last Sunday.

As we mentioned before, we're signed up for the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon because our friend, Nicole, is fund raising for that event with Team in Training. She was out visiting this weekend and needed to complete a 5 miler as part of her training so asked if we would do it with her.

Our training location of choice is the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale, CA. Pictured below is our "loop" route around the park.

This reminds me of the importance of a "team effort" mentality for those of us who aren't disciplined or seasoned runners, or at least need accountability. I know when it came to training with the team for our very first marathon, I needed my pace group's encouragement and I benefited from the challenge of pacing with faster runners. Now, Jason and I push each other on. I have never done well trying to run by myself. Maybe someday.

I know that we probably wouldn't have gone out for a 5 miler at 4-1 intervals had Nicole not asked and, without our interval watch and familiarity with where and how far to run, she would've had a more difficult time of it on her own.

I'm glad to say that I think Nicole has been improving in her pace and stamina since our last run together. This time we ran 4-1 intervals, she was conversational and kept pace to the end of each run interval. GO TEAM!