Saturday morning was the first official "long run" on the training plan for LA Marathon. I had to use quotes because I don't consider 2 miles to be a long run, but I definitely don't knock anyone who does. I myself started with Couch to 5k a handful of years ago and at the time running for 2 miles continuously sounded just shy of impossible. I certainly would have laughed in the face of anyone who said I would one day run 2 miles as training for a marathon.
Although I'm not participating in Fleet Feet Encino's excellent training program this year because I live too far away, I attended this run because it was for all members of Team CATS and actually started at their facility in Van Nuys with a breakfast after! Once we were done running, Dr. Eddie of Body Dynamix in Tarzana led us in a cool down stretching session.
Once we were done stretching the CATS staff led team members on tours of the facility. Since I had my tour last year, I stayed back and helped team members set up their Crowdrise pages. In clicking around and showing someone my page, I discovered that I had received a donation overnight! I'm sure I've said this before, but I really feel better about receiving donations than if I was receiving the money myself... and that's saying a lot for someone who loves to shop! So now my cousin's in-laws are in position to choose my halloween costume for my half marathon at the end of the month.
Earlier this week, Gail, the Special Events Manager for CATS, asked Lauren and I to put on a short skit on fundraising since we were both so successful last time. We briefly discussed it on our Wednesday fun run and shot some ideas back and forth via text and email but never actually rehearsed. Luckily Lauren was the only one who had to do any acting since she played the person who knew nothing about the cause and I got to play myself, asking for a donation! Normally I would be scared to death to stand up in front of a group like that, but there really is something to be said for knowing your subject matter. That gave me the confidence to show my team mates just how easy it is to bring up fundraising in conversation and then to follow up via email with a link to the donation page.
Although I've been through this training/fundraising process before, there is still so much I don't know. In our training manuals that we received, I learned that $500 pays for one audio and videotaped forensic interview of a victim. The interview is conducted by an expert interviewer and used as evidence in the investigation of a suspect. I also learned that $1,000 pays for one medical evidentiary sexual assault examination for the purpose of collecting evidence to assist law enforcement and the District Attorney's Office with the investigation. So now that you know what the money is being used for, please consider donating any amount. It all adds up and helps CATS do amazing work! I was thrilled to see that my dad already donated too! Well on my way to the first goal of $500... by the end of October??
DONATE HERE
Sunday I had planned to run the Santa Monica 5000 which is the race that started it all when my cousin and her husband completed it two years ago and inspired me to train for a 10k. I did a bit of fundraising for iEmpathize which also does amazing work rescuing victims of child sex slavery and had created a running team for the race. Unfortunately this event was the same day as the Long Beach Marathon which many of my friends were running so I wanted to go down and support then. Since the 10k started at 8am there was no way to do both so Andreia and I hatched a plan to meet in Santa Monica at 7am and run the mostly closed 10k course before driving down to Long Beach. We eventually caught up to the 5k racers crossing the finish line but it didn't feel right to cross so we went around.
We got to mile 23 of the marathon which was also approximately mile 11 going the other direction. This was great because we got to see six of our fellow running buddies and cheer them on!
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