Day Before The Fieldtrip

First, I want to start by introducing myself and the reason for starting this blog.

My name is Ali Piacente and I am a former tennis player turned marathon runner. I've completed 2 marathons so far and recently qualified for Boston 2010. Like most people, I've been touched by cancer and recently lost a cousin who passed away after fighting the disease for several years. My boyfriend Dave and I decided we would honor lost family members by raising money for the American Cancer Society during our training for the Marine Corps Marathon this fall. So, I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog to log our training regimine for the following months.

So, to kick things off this spring we are both running the GW Parkway Classic, a 10 mile point-to-point race from Mt.Vernon to Old Town. The race is really fun because they close the GW Parkway and we get to run on the pavement. It's a beautiful course even on the trail but the road is much less hilly - plus the cool factor of running on a major road.

I have a few concerns for the race - one of which is the weather. Out of no where we skipped from winter to summer and tomorrow it is expected to be close to 90 degrees! When we start the race it should be closer to 70 degrees - which is still a lot hotter than we're used to.

I've also been struggling with some nerve issues in both shoulders - so whenever I move my arms a nerve pinches and it rings up through my neck. Not fun. I haven't done much running this week to try not to aggrivate it so I'm hoping race-day adrenaline plus telling myself to suck it up will help put it out of my mind.

I also want to give a huge thanks to everyone who has donated to us so far. We've already received $1,075 and we've only had the site up for around two weeks! I know money is tight for most of us right now so it really means a lot that people are donating to our cause. Huge thanks to everyone!

I'll check back in tomorrow after the race - think speedy thoughts for us!

-Ali