run a marathon

Entry number: 347503

Dear Thao Nguyen,

We have received your guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon 2009.

Awesome! All of those Sat & Sun mornings, dragging myself out of bed to run and volunteer paid off. It’s official, if all goes well by Nov 1st, then I’ll be running and hopefully finishing 26.2 miles. I kind of want to pass out just thinking about it.

Now I just need to round up some supportive friends to cheer me on.

I hope that it doesn’t rain this year. So far, the major physical events that I’ve done have been rained on (Hamptons Half Marathon and TD 5 borough bike tour).

This is going to be exciting and challenging. Just 2-3 years ago, I wouldn’t have thought about doing this. But after working at the water station and seeing the diverse group of runners from all walks of life, all over the country do the marathon, I’m pretty sure I could do it too.

The rain barely let up all morning but I made it in under 3hours! The most I had run before this was a 10k. It was tough but after finishing, it’s a wonderful feeling. Seeing and hugging your friends at the finish line was great.

Gotta thank my friends Angela and Mary, their support really helped me near the end. :)

Did five miles with Angela today in Astoria Park. Simone was there too but she only did 1 1/2 mile which wasn’t bad for her first time. Slowly building up to 10k, then half marathon then marathon.

12/15/07: finished the 4mile holiday run today. Final net time for the entire run: 45:15mins and 11:18mins per mile. I bought new running shoes yesterday at Super Runners and it made such a difference because I ran completely for the first mile. This one was a helluva lot easier though. :)

of all the things on my todo list, this one is the most challenging, physically and mentally.

11/18/07: ran a 4mile run in 49.50mins. Not bad considering my only source of exercise was walking to and from the subway.

11/22/07: gobble gobble! I woke up at 8am and ran/walked 2.23miles around woodside/sunnyside. Discovered Sunnyside gardens and a tennis court around that area. I love it when I find new things around my area. Having lived here over 6 years, I’m always finding something new.