Guess who's back???

Let me begin by telling you it is not the wingnut in this photo that's back. And don't you just look great after a nice 15 mile run? It's funny, I bet you had no idea Bonnie was gone, but she was, kind of. For most people, running like Bonnie when she is "off" is running great, it's what I have been doing. And that kind of sums it up though doesn't it? I don't run with Bonnie!!! You all knew this, and yet no one said anything to me? Todd, anyone? I thought we were friends. I started thinking I could hang with the big boys and you all didn't say a word? Not one reply post of:

"Yeah Sean, good job running with Bonnie while she takes running siesta"
or
"Nice Sean, what's that, you beat Bonnie? Ohhhh, so right at the end you sprinted faster? Wow, awesome dude".

That's all fine and good, I was not completely naive to think I was a Bonner; a runner and Bonnie in one. But I will say it has been great running with her the last few weeks, it just doesn't happen often enough. And on Saturday, for the first time this year ladies and gents, Bonnie was on FIRE! Nearly perfect, well it was a perfect run for her, so yeah, it was perfect. She Krushed it Karl! Nothing is better than taking on your longest run, and making it your best run. Our girl kicked butt.

As for my run, it was interesting. 15 miles baby, no joke. We started at our coffee shop spot, perfect weather. Bonnie makes her way out the gates with Tyler, total stud runner, she's fast. And it was cool because I remember thinking, this will be perfect for Bonnie. She has been due to crush a run. But it's not like she has a lot going on or anything...I am running behind her with Marianne, and my run is going fine. Not great, not bad, it was just fine. Like you are floating in the ocean, and there's no sharks around, or at least you don't think there are.

So I start this game in my head of "how long can I run and still see Bonnie". Miles 1-10 were good, I could see her most of the time. Then at around mile 7, my left contact lense is driving me nuts. This goes on for about 5 annoying minutes, so I say adios. You only technically need one anyways. Bonnie and Tyler started waiting for me at the aid stations, and I kinda knew it, but I wasn't complaining. I ran solo pretty much. Sometimes you just wanna run alone, today I did. So around mile 9, my RIGHT contact starts bothering me. So I tried rubbing it and I knocked it out of my eye. I stop running and I see it on my finger, even though it's windy. I know I have one shot at this, and as I raise it, it blows away. I have no more contatcs. I swear I couldn't make this shit up.

Now this should not be that big of a deal, but "I can't see so good..." And it's so fun squinting as you are running long distance with sweat in your eyes, just to read street names linked to your routes, while running solo...At around mile 12 my right foot starts KILLING me. I am wearing brand new shoes for the first time. Every Keith Byars step I took at this point killed. So I drop to the curb, the shoe's gotta come off. I have never removed my shoe mid run before. You hope to never have to. I rub it and loosen the laces, and it was better, I could run again. The last aid station is at mile 13.25, but I know I will not see Bonnie at this last one, I was so far behind them now, and then I see her purple shirt ahead in front of me! I actually sprinted to the aid station, I was so pumped to see her after what just happened. I was really hoping to see her, and she was there waiting for me, of course. I ran with them for 30 seconds and said see you at the finish. So we finished the run in one piece, with a lot of help, our aid station workers ruled! I came into the parkling lot with guns in the air, like I just won a marathon. I was pumped to knock this one out. And my buddy Mike the cop knocked out his first 15 miler, on an ankle that looks like a grapefruit, unreal. Thanks for reading guys!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/rnr10/ssullivugm

Sean

Inspired

Wednesday:
Usually our Wednesday night endurance runs are not that exciting, but this one was. About a month ago, a girl named Shannon came and spoke to us before one of our Saturday runs. She talked to us about her special friend Natasha, a little girl she got matched up with through the Children's Cancer Association. Natasha lost her fight to cancer. Shannon was so touched by this little girl Natasha that she decided to run a marathon distance (26.2 miles) for her, after work on Wednesday. Imagine that, imagine running a marathons distance in the evening in someone's honor. These are the types of people we are blessed to interact with. So during our endurance run through downtown Portland, our Coaches made sure we met up with her along her route so that we all got to run with her for a bit. It was awesome, and we got to see Natasha's mom and other TNT people/friends rooting Shannon on while we ran with her for a bit, very emotional to say the least. I wondered what Shannon's water cooler chat was like on Thursday. I imagine it being something like this:

Shannon: "Hey Tina, how was your night last night?"
Tina: "Oh it was good, I made some dinner and watched Modern Family. How about you Shannon?"
Shannon: "Well I got out of here and went and ripped off a personal marathon around Portland."

Are you kidding me???

So my actual training on this night was just go run 6 miles, and again, I ran with "the fast kids", but this run got interesting for me about halfway though. I pushed myself on this run harder than I have on any previous run. I thought I just wanted to push myself, but I realize now, as I type this blog that I did it because I was inspired, inspired by Shannon. Oh and just to set the scene, I had this sharp, sucky pain in my side as soon I started running, probably bc I didn't drink enough water, and that pain never went away during my run, awesome. And then, at around mile 3, I find myself running next to Maryann, the fastest girl we train with. You have to see this girl run, it is beyond effortless, and beyond impressive. And before I knew it, her and I were pulling away from Bonnie and the gang. And then we pulled even further away , and there was no letting up now, so I said what the fu*#. I knew we had about 2.5 miles to go, and I just hauled ass with her for the rest of the run. I was one level away from sprinting, and before I knew it, we were easily running an 8 minute mile speed, probably faster, and we were conversing! Well, I conversed and sucked wind while Maryann casually conversed and trotted along. And at one point, she even tells me that I am pushing her, I couldn't believe it, nor could I believe I was still keeping up with her. And I almost finished the run with her, but I was either going to throw up or pass out, so I slowed down right at the end. Oh the things we do for the cause.

Saturday's run (our long run) started off rough, weather-wise. It was raining pretty good and it was just raw as hell. We have been so lucky on our long runs, so I knew this day would come. But it was a fall back day, so we were only running 10 miles, last week we ran 12. I love that I am already saying "only 10 miles". Bon and I said we would run together, nice and slow. I was committed to that cause. We have both pushed pretty hard on our long runs up until now, so I LOVED taking this one easy. And I have to say, it was an easy 10. It seems like such an oxymoron but sometimes you have these good runs, you wish they were all this good. And Bonnie and I got to run with this great couple Mike and Kelly. Mike is a cop, and he and Kelly are running the San Diego marathon with us in June. I got to find out why they signed up for TNT. Mike lost one of his fellow cops/friends on the job to cancer, and they are both running in his honor. It is amazing what these people we train with do to themselves for other people. The time this training takes out of your lives is unprecedented, and what it does to your body is mind blowing. The aches and the pains are all worth it though when you have a purpose. But the ones that really blow me away are the ones that are training with us and are raising thousands of dollars just because they are amazing people. Happy Easter everyone, and thanks for reading.

And by the way, we are a country mile away from our fundraising goal, so if anyone feels inspired to help by donating a small amount, please do so. Thanks!


http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/rnr10/ssullivugm

Sean

12, is the magic number

Tuesday:
I finally ran on my own, finally. I was really holding out, I mean it's been almost 2 full months of training, and I have not run on my own once, until today. Tonight Bonnie and I set out to do a 40 minute run. We knew the run would be short, so we pushed. We ran hills and tried to run hard. It was hard, but fun running with just Bonnie, and we both did pretty good.

Wednesday:
Wednesday night is when we do our endurance workouts. Tonight was fun, we met at a pizza place downtown and ran over the bridges of Portland. If you do not live here, you would be impressed with the bridges. There are about 10 of them heading into Portland, and you can run back on forth over them all day. That was our run tonight: run a mile, and then for 15 minutes, run 30 seconds hard & then 30 seconds light, I loved it. Bon & I ran it together, so yes, I kept up with Bonnie. We take on 12 this Saturday, and I know I feel ready. I like the new challenge of the new longest distance run, bring it.

Saturday was a good day for us, just not an easy day at all. The Portland half marathon is in two weeks, and this course we ran was similar to that. Like I was saying last week, you love the fall back (in distance) runs, but the next week it's hard. We did 10, 10 again, 7 last week and 12 this week. That jump from 7 to 12 is hard. The run went pretty good though, it just took everything I had to finish it, same as Bonnie. I did tell John at around mile 7 that I was going to beat Bonnie on this run, he laughed at me. I ran my 12 miles at 9.3 minute miles, which is pretty good for me. Our Coaches were telling us to pull back on speed because we should run slower on longer runs. But it was funny, John and Bonnie and I started off the run with "the fast kids", and I was determined to try to finish with them. We ran with them for about 11 of the 12 miles, not bad. So we didn't finish with them, but I did beat Bonnie. Granted it was by about 5 steps, but you have to take those small victories when you get them. Just the fact that John & I kept up with Bonnie til the end was impressive.

That's about it, good run, logged 12 more, and ready for more. Thanks for reading.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/rnr10/ssullivugm


Sean

Did you hear that???

In case any of you were wondering what that sound was on Saturday, it was the sound of me Krushing it. And Timmy, you may have heard Bonnie as well, because she krushed it too. What a day to say the least. The stage was set for a couple of small town kids that are trying to do the right thing, to absolutely krush it, and that is what we did.

As you can guess, both Bonnie & I had great runs on Saturday. Weather-wise, it was one of the best days of the year. It was in the low 70's at it's warmest, just stellar running weather. We start our run at 8am, and by 8:45 it was already a perfect temperature. And we ran my favorite route, the good ol' OMSI route, along the trail, for the first time this year. I slap Bon on the butt and said bye to her before we even left the gates, I know whats up. It's funny I usually do not even start with Bon anymore because it lasts for such a short amount of time.

So John & I (picture above) make our way out and we are not even 2 minutes in and he asks me if we want to try to run with Kate today, and I was kinda laughing, til I realized he was serious. Oh yeah John, great idea. Let's attempt to run with Kate; one of the fastest girl we train with, ha. I go "nah Johnny, I am perfectly fine running at my regular pace, but she's right there 20 runners up near Bonnie if YOU feel catching up". We both silently agreed that was a bad idea, but it was kind of funny to hear John even throw that out there. I even remember telling John how, "I don't like to train faster than I normally do bc it could screw up my training". What a wuss statement. Playing it a little too safe sometimes Seanie boy, because you have to step it up once in awhile, don't you?

So John always has his GPS, which is awesome. And on today's menu we are only running 7, sweet. And it's the second to last time we ever pull back on our mileage, everyone loves these days. So John tells me about 3 miles in we are clipping like a 9 minute mile, I say "no shit". And what do you know, we were. That's really good for us snails who normally run 10 min. miles. But then I start wondering if we are running this fast, why don't we see Bonnie? I will tell you that in a bit now.

So it's a 3.5 out and back. So we hit the aid station and our friend Jan is there, and we were running with her for a bit and she runs like a 9.20 mile or so. And Jan says "man you guys were flying". I saw Bon at the station and I realized if I was flying, Bon must have really been flying. So we make our way back and John and I started running a little faster. I remember John saying "you need a nice hill to chill you out". Now keep in mind, John & I are the poster boys of the 10 min. mile guys, we could wear T shirts that said that. So we hit about the 5 mile mark and I am not feeling the affects at all. And I realize that I have the chance to put together a legit run for once, goddamn! I keep pushing it and John is starting to fall off a bit. I really want to finish this run with John, us two slugs don't ever run this fast, except for today.

Coach Karl pulls up out of nowhere and starts running with us on his phone, while possibly finishing up his coffee. It's so funny how effortless running is for Karl, he could juggle and run with us two. So John's a few feet behind me with Karl and I start yelling things to Karl like:

"Dude don't even bother trying to keep up with me today"
and
"Stay on that phone pal, because you don't want none of this today son!"

Karl finishes making a sandwich while running with us and leaves us. I was psyched though that Karl got to see Johnny & I crushing it though. But then I was thinking "he was on the phone, he has no clue how fast we are running, damn it".

So I am at about mile 6 and I decide to go Hulk Hogan on the route; the shirt's coming off for this victory lap in! Hulkamania is going to run wild today! I look behind me and John's tailing off further, and I am bummed, but I can't slow down now. So I keep running at my pace and I turn around about 100 ft from the finish and guess who's pulling up? My man John!!! I am so stoked, and he is flying by the way. I am just laughing right now so hard writing this bc I think my man surprised the hell out of himself, shit he surprised the HELL out of me. I tell John how stoked I am he caught up, and he is as well. I was psyched he wanted to finish this run with me as much as I did with him. So we are about 50 ft from the finish and I say "you know how I like to finish these", which is full on sprinting. And John says "dude, I just sprinted to catch you". I say "come on, let's be famous today" and we both bolted.

We finished the run at 8.38 per mile! Hands down a personal best for John & I. Oh and by the way, Bonnie ran the entire run with that fast girl Kate, and Bonnie ran at 8.15 per mile, wow. Bonnie usually hovers right around a 9 min. mile so this was a personal best for her as well. So it was an amazing day for the TNT crew.

Thanks for reading everyone!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/rnr10/ssullivugm

Sean

10 more fillmore

Today was our second 10 miler, in a row. We knew before our run it was going to be emotional, as there was an incredibly sad loss for TNT this past week: we lost one of our honored teamates, Hunter, and he was 4 years old. Each season for TNT we honor cancer victims, so we run for them, and it is pretty powerful. But can you imagine losing your child at the age of 4? And Hunter fought the fight of fights, but sadly lost in the end. The coaches passed out Hunter's picture and safety pins so we could all run with Hunter on this run. I would need his inspiration later.

So the first 6 miles we just ran 3 miles out and back. So I hit the TNT aid station and took off to run my last 4 miles. Well the first 6 were ok for me, and then it was almost all hills for the last 4. I don't know if it is the bh's or the lack of personal training during the week, but the last four miles were rufffffff. A few times on the last four miles, I couldn't catch my frigging breath at all. And I was running with my friends Kurt & John, which always helps, as running alone blows. My kankle started bothering me again, probably 'cause I've sprained it three or four times. At about mile 8 I am in pain, I can't catch my breath, and I was just struggling. So I rubbed Hunter's picture on my chest and was like "do it for the man". It helped me focus and get my breathing down. It's crazy how hard it is to run in any type of rhythm when you are sucking wind. So John runs with his his GPS, and as we pull in to finish our run, John assures Kurt and I that we only ran 9.7 and that we need to run another .3 to hit 10 miles. I told John he was going in the lake, I was half kidding. But the run did end good for me and of course Bonnie crushed it, even the hills. She is so much cooler than me nowadays...

Now two years ago when we trained together, we were one less in the Sullivan Clan. So when we got home we both could just crash. Now when we get home, we have to take care of Taylor. Normally I don't even take naps, but these post-run naps aren't even an option. Your legs are so tight, and you are physically exhausted. I am walking like Frankenstein already. Bonnie said to me at one point "now begins the lazy Saturdays", and man is she right. Because even after your siesta you are just out of it, and sore as hell. Feeling "screwed up" seems to sum it up nicely I think. So we let our babysitter go home and we both hit the wall. I am so tired I can't even change out of my smelly running clothes, oh and Taylor is sick with conjunctivitis and one hell of a cold. Fun I tell ya for two exhausted parents. So I plead with her to let me nap first, and to be honest I wasn't really even asking. I was going down hard. So I pass out for about an hr and Bon wakes me up for second duty. So we got through it but as these runs get longer and we get home even more exhausted, this is going to get more and more difficult. But we will manage, we always do. Maybe we will keep the sitter sround while we sleep, who knows.

But it's all so worth it, every bit of it. As much as we hurt and struggle as we train, it pales one million percent to what all cancer victims endure, and their families. And so everyone reading knows, I do not plan on always asking people reading this to donate on my blogs, but if you are planning on donating, our recommittment deadline is this Friday. We need to have 25% of our fundraising goal to stay in the TNT trainig, and we are a ways away from that. So if you are planning on donating (thank you!), could you try to donate by Thursday? We will be extremely thankful. And guys a $20 donation will go a long way for us, thanks.

We love you guys and thanks for reading!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/rnr10/ssullivugm

Sean & Bonnie

Jumping right back in with a nice long one...

Saturday was interesting to say the least, but I think a little morning chaos can be good for you. We were told we were going to be running 100 minutes on Saturday, on the steepest street in Portland called Terwilliger. So some basic math here, I run about ten minute miles, so I am looking at running 10 hilly miles. Last week I only ran 5, so I was a little unnerved about running this far, and the route. And a slight piece of history here with this street: This is the street the infamous "Shamrock Run" takes place on, the one I ran 2 years ago the day after getting annilated with my brother Mark on St Patty's. I thought I was going to collapse on that run, It is the run that made me start writing my blog. I was still drunk that year and ran 9 miles. Not a good idea.

So every weekend has been funny for Bonnie & I, as we try to figure out who will watch Taylor for our Saturday long runs. Well, we had no one this weekend, but we got the ok from Coach Karl that we could bring Taylor to the workout. Now Bonnie is a Mentor for our running group, so she was going to skip our group run, and just hang out with Taylor, and maybe work one of the aid stations. We figured when we got home she could run on her own, but that's just no fun.

We arrived right at 8am and at around 8:10 I was off. The route for today is run up this huge hill and down the other side, and then come on back. The run was intimidating for me also because on the way to the car I was carrying Taylor in her car seat, and I feel this tweak in my back. Unreal, right before this long run. The whole ride there I was nervous about how much it was going to affect my run. The good news is it didn't at all. I ended up having an unbelievable run, I was so pumped. And it was one of the nicest days we've had all winter, and my back never bothered me at all.

So I am on my way back down Terwilliger and I see Bonnie running up the hill, and no Taylor. Bonnie did bring our jogging stroller but she wasn't supposed to be running. I guess Bonnie got antzy and got the ok to take Taylor for her run. So Bonnie loads up Taylor and starts running up this insane hill with her. You would laugh if you saw how steep this street is by the way. So Bonnie gets about 40 minutes into her run and Linda, one of the running captains, was on her way down the hill and thought Bonnie was insane pushing Taylor up this mountain of a street, so she took Taylor back to our home base. So I pass Bonnie on my way down and I see her, but no Taylor. Bonnie runs by me and says "Linda has Taylor", and then Bonnie's gone. I say to myself, ok, but who the hell is Linda? I have no clue.

One of the best things about doing our marathon with Team in Training is it really is like one big family. I met Linda at the bottom and she was great. Taylor was in great hands and Bonnie ended up having a kick ass run as well. And knowing that we are raising money for cancer research makes every long run worthwhile. That being said, if everyone reading this could find a way to donate just $20, we would come close to our goal of $2,900 that we need to raise. And if you donate on our website, it's so easy, and your name will scroll by on our website, very cool.

You can copy & paste the website below. Bonnie & I are running the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon for cancer, and we need your help. Thanks everyone!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/rnr10/ssullivugm

I'm Back...

Bonnie and I decided that we didn't nearly kill ourselves enough 2 years ago doing the marathon up in Anchorage, AK, so why not do another one? We are running the San Diego Rock-n-Roll in June. Training to me is already funny. I am like Jennifer Anniston in Office Space, really just getting by on minimum flare. I only run when I am forced to and I am yet to even jog a mile on my own. So last week's 7 miler was really easy....Training could be interesting for anyone who is bored and feels like a laugh from time to time. Here we go...