Make it a Great Day

Good news!!! I think I found the half that I can race in without it conflicting with my regatta schedule.  Today we received a tentative spring schedule, and my only free weekend was May 18-19th.  So I went on a website that I had used before that lists all the half marathons by date, and found that the nearest is in Brunswick, NY.  That's near Albany and about 3 1/2 hours away.  Not ideal, but not too bad.  It's called "Make it a Great Day" half marathon and benefits NYOH's Cancer Resource Foundation.

I had my second mentor meeting today, and it was a success!  I had completed all the tasks I said I would by this meeting, which were to contact one point of reference, look into training plans, get new running shoes, and continue to cross-train and run.  Ms. Maddren is full of great information and contacts for me to reach out to.  One idea we came up with was for me to interview a few of the elite runners who are on my resource list and ask them all the same questions (or very similar) and then see how their answers differ based on experiences and techniques.

Ms. Bullard couldn't meet today, but we may try to reschedule for the day when we have our next mentor meeting.  Instead, we went to see Ms. Gates, the school's lifeguard, because she is a runner herself.  She keeps a very detailed and up to date running journal that she let me take a look at.  I will be getting one myself because it seems like a very organized way to keep track of nutrition information, miles logged, and get tips each week. 

One question I have (and I think other WISE students do to) is- How much research do we need to do beyond what is necessary for us to complete our projects? 

Timeline and dates: (by my next mentor meeting I will...)

• ...have signed up for a race, hopefully the Brunswick one
• ...have set up a calendar and training plan
• ...have met with Mr. Bernstein to get advice on my training plan
• ...have gone to Barnes and Nobel to get my own running journal
• ...have started to break my new shoes in

I will start on these tasks and keep up with my journal entries in the meantime!  I think the 11 for a D was a wake up call for a lot of people, but more just motivation for me to keep doin' what I'm doin'.
My practice was cancelled for tonight, so I"m off to the gym!