Welcome and Rationale

Welcome to my first blog. If you've come here from a link I sent, many thanks. The reason for my creating this site is twofold: First, I want to add meaning to my training and racing by providing monetary support to one of my favorite organizations, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. Now, more than ever, PP is under attack for the much-needed services it provides to anyone and everyone. Siege of Planned Parenthood
PP is not *just* about abortion--PP is about family planning, about providing health facts and information to teens and others who don't receive information in school or from home, it's about providing a safe space for teens to ask questions about sex and sexuality, and it provides support groups and counseling for the underserved--be they underserved because of economics or because of location or marginalized by their sexual identity.

My second reason for creating this site is to share with friends and supporters my training progress and thoughts on running, injury prevention, nutrition, and the meditative benefits of sport. I registered for the San Francisco marathon, (July 31, 2011) yesterday. I hope to be running it with my brother and my husband. My preferred training plan is this one, Runner's World Marathon Training that focuses on speed and long runs. I like the freedom! I don't feel obligated to run everyday--or even more than three days a week. I'll do a race or speed workout, a mid-distance run, and a long run, and cross train or rest the other days. It worked for me for the Twin Cities marathon in 2010, where I ran a 3:53, a personal best!

That said...I am under no illusions about obtaining a PB for the SF marathon. I live in Iowa, and there aren't that many hills! But instead of focusing on me, I want to be inspired by a more selfless cause than personal bests--so I am soliciting donations to help out Planned Parenthood. This will not only inspire me to keep training, and to "pop the top" of those SF hills when I'm tired and ready to be done, but I hope it will also inspire my readers to push their own limits of physical fitness and selflessness.

If you want to support me and Planned Parenthood, please donate to Planned Parenthood directly via the link, or the permanent link at the right. If you prefer to send me a check, I will forward them to PP.
Thanks for checking out my first blog, and more soon!