One Week to Go!

Only one week until I take my cause to DC!

Monday's Run:

Distance: 3.57 miles

Time: 37:45

Pace: 10:34 per mile

Monday's run did not go well. My ankles were sore from Saturday's 12 miler, and I realized about halfway through that I should have given them an extra day of rest. Tuesday and Wednesday, my left ankle was sore and swollen. I continued icing it and decided I needed to figure out a way to give it a break before next week's race but still stay in shape. Luckily, the gym around the corner from our house offers a free week trial.

Thursday's Workout:

Bike: 30 minutes, 7 miles

Elliptical-like contraption: 20 minutes, 1.5 miles

Thursday I read about surveillance and terror for my theory colloquium class. I was learning about how I have something called a "data double" that could be constructed based on all the bits of information floating out in the world that someone who never met me could use to construct my identity. This blog would obviously provide quite a bit of information, as would my facebook page, and my bank account (which records every transaction Billy and I make to the web). Internet activity, medical records, telephone records, credit card history, bill payments- all of that is recorded out there. It's supposed to be "private," but someone could use it to construct a large percentage of the things I "do" on a daily basis, and I have no way of ensuring that it's all accurate. Thinking about all this, in addition to the times you walk into a place like 7-11 and your likeness is captured on surveillance video, or how practically anyone could capture your image on the street at any time with a camera phone, is enough to make anyone feel like Britney Spears for a minute.

So, I was thinking about all of this as I walked into the gym-around-the-corner, and I had a classmate's paper (about how surveillance can be used to terrorize) in hand. The first thing the woman working there tells me? "Our gym is under 24 hour surveillance." Cue the twilight zone music. Anyhow, I looked around, and I think I was the only one reading a paper based on an argument made by Foucault. One woman was reading The Last Lecture, though, so that reminded me why I was there. The workout was fine, although boring, and my ankle feels much better today. I'm busy all day Saturday with Billy, Vickie, and Brett, so I can't get in my 8 miles, and this gym is closed to non-members on Sundays, so I am not yet sure how I'm going to substitute that workout, but we will see how I'm feeling. I'm starting to get excited for the race! I got a notification that I'm in starting corral number 7-- a number close to my heart besides being lucky.

Related News:

Congratulations are due for my Aunt Carrie! When I announced this plan a few months ago, she had been running to get in shape for a ski trip. She decided to continue and try to qualify for the half marathon so she could come out and run it with me. She won't be able to do so, because the race filled up and she has had a lot come up at work, but she ran a 5k with a time that qualified! She actually finished in 29:45-- faster than I did!! She has caught the "running bug" after participating in a few 5k races and is looking for other races in her area. I am hoping we will be able to get together to run a race one of these days! Thanks for training with me, Aunt Carrie, albeit on the opposite coast!

Donations Update:

Danielle, thanks so much for your donation! Your support ever since my dad got re-diagnosed has meant so much to me. I miss how easy it used to be to just pop into each other's classrooms!

Nick and Amber, I really appreciate you getting involved in my cause! I can't wait to see you in a few months to celebrate your wedding!

Also, I'm almost to 500 views for my blog! It's a little mind boggling that on 500 different occasions, someone has thought, "I wonder how Liz's training is going." I am thankful for the support you all have given with your donations, words of encouragement, and interest in this adventure!