GO TEAM AHEARN

Run the Marathon!

2009-10-25T12:13:00.001-07:00

Copy and paste the following link and run the 2009 New York City Marathon in 7 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnxknAnBVk0

One Week To Go

2009-10-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

One week from today we will run the 40th ING NYC Marathon. Check out the track below:

ING New York Marathon
Find more Runs in New York, New York

Donation Deadline is Friday, October 16, 2009

2009-10-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Whoa, only 19 more days until Terry and I run the NYC Marathon.

Each of us pledged to raise $2500. While Terry has surpassed his pledge, I am just $370 short.

Please donate any amount you can. It is for a wonderful charity based in NYC but effective the world over.

Team for Kids teaches kids fitness and well being through running based fitness programs.

These programs are helping to battle childhood obesity and Diabetes.

I am proud to be associated with such a wonderful organization and will be thrilled to say I met my pledge.

Thank you so much in advance for your donation to Team for Kids on my behalf!

Wendy

23 Miler!

2009-10-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe we have made it this far!

This was our longest training run and will be the farthest we go until marathon day!

We strategized this run even better than our 20 to try to head off any bonkiness at the pass.

We ran two 11.5 mile loops. We parked one car at the start and one car at mile 15.5.

This is us at 15.5 taking a 30 second banana break.

Here I am after the run putting on my compression sleeves. These things are awesome and I highly recommend them to my dancer friends. They get the blood to the calves and shins and they feel so good. They make full leg ones too!

Here's Terry stretching in his sleeves after. Despite the new pain I'm feeling and Terry's injury, I think this was our best long run. We really did feel good and had tons of energy and it was a great confidence booster. We have been running slightly slower than we were pre injury and I like it because we don't get bonky at all.

It was the day before my birthday so that night we celebrated at a nice restaurant in Saratoga called the Plumed Horse. We had champagne and the tasting menu, wine and dessert. We deserved the splurge.

Here are some videos from our run! Enjoy!

20 Mile Run

2009-09-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

September 20, 2009

This was a major milestone for us. We have never run this far before and we are pumped to have completed such a feat. I am so happy for Terry since nursing his hip has kept him from the last 2 long runs. It was great to have my teammate back. I literally could not have done this alone.

I have never had so many conversations, I mean arguments with myself in my life. The first 10 was a piece of cake and I was so high I was giddy. I said to Terry, "I can totally do ALL of that again!" Until mile 14, all was great. At that point we wished we had kept our enthusiasm dialed back. It made us go faster than we needed to and that's a fuel suck. Just after mile 18, we both felt that our bodies were trying to tell us to stop. This is when the arguing inside my head started.

"You are not stopping, you easily have a mile in you." "But my legs are so tired and my back hurts and 18 is good enough isn't it?" "NO! You came out here to run 20 and that's what you're going to do!" "Can't we just walk?" "NO! Stop arguing and just put one foot in front of the other until you get to the car." "Whimper, whimper, sigh." "You did it! Good job! See, I told you." "But I want to throw up." "Throw up then, after 20 miles you deserve to throw up if you want to."

Here are some pics and video. Enjoy.

After 10 miles, we are feeling great at this point.

Nice legs!

Donation Deadline is October 16, 2009

2009-09-18T13:15:00.001-07:00

Thank you for visiting.

Hopefully this means you are a fan of Team Ahearn AND want to help reach out to kids through fitness programs that promote health and wellness.

If you are considering making a donation, large or small, please don't wait.

Our deadline is October 16th and we just can't let down our Team for Kids!

W&T

Fun facts about Terry

2009-09-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Fun Facts About Terry since starting Marathon training:

I have run more than 500 miles this year; I have swam and biked many miles; and I have spent many hours in the gym both on my own and with my trainer

I have raised $1595 dollars for TFK and need to raise $905 more

I have sprained my ankle, torn my hip labrum and have a bulging disk

I have seen a chiropractor, orthopedic doctor and have had x-rays and an MRI

I have spent more money on shoes and exercise clothes than I have on anything else, including food

I have run some of the best races in the country this year and I have had many more wonderful training runs with friends and family

And I have remembered why I married my wife and team mate, the many early mornings and late nights running with her have been more fulfilling and rewarding than running the final race will ever be.

Fun facts about Wendy

2009-09-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

Since I began officially training for the NYC Marathon I:

*have run 515.04 miles=83 hours, 34 minutes and 48 seconds.

*have raised $890 ($500 is a personal donation I made) for Team for Kids STILL NEED TO RAISE $1610.00

*became the owner of the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch, tells me how far I've run, how fast I'm going, and if I wear a heart rate monitor, how many calories I am burning.

*have been through 3 personal trainers, current one rocks!

*have seen a nutritionist for 30 days and completely changed the way I eat for the better, ie no sugar, 80 oz. water/day, hardly any fat, 40% of my diet is now protein, I don't eat salad dressing, I don't eat ice cream, french fries or red meat. These are just a few of the changes I have made.

*can leg press a little over 100 pounds

*have purchased 8 pairs of running shoes

*consider my medicine ball and foam core roller part of my living room decor

*have a better butt than when I danced!

*subscribed to Runner's World Magazine

*willingly get up on Saturdays at 6am to do our long runs

There are many more but I don't want to take too much of your time, you have a donation to make!

Sad truths

2009-09-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Our charity Team for Kids has published some statistics that are staggering and keep us motivated to reach our goal of raising $5000 to help children all over the US find a love of fitness and health through running:

Inactivity and poor diet will soon overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the

United States. And, obesity related illnesses causes 300,000 deaths a year.



Health care expenses and productivity losses related to obesity problems cost Americans more than

100 billion dollars annually. Currently, the annual hospital tab for juvenile obesity is over $127,000,000.



Type 2 diabetes is expected to afflict one in three children born in 2000 due to a lack of physical activity

and a poor diet.

To read more about how Team for Kids strives to battle these stats, visit their website by clicking it in our links sections.

Consider making a donation of any amount.

NYC Marathon 1996

2009-09-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

November 05, 2006

This is my Dad, aka Mike D. about 5 miles from the finish of the '96 NYC Marathon.

It was such an honor to be able to meet him along the course and cheer him on and give him bananas and band-aids.

Here is my brother Jeff meeting him along the course.

And here we are after the run celebrating. Funny story. We had Levi and were supposed to meet him at two spots on the course as well as the finish. We met him at the two spots but on our way to the finish we were just pooped and Levi was getting tired. We decided to get in a cab but Levi is car sick. What a disaster and there weren't cell phones back then...

After a while waiting at the finish knowing he must have been done, we got him at his hotel.

"You weren't there so I got a cup of coffee and a cigar and walked to the hotel."

WHAT?

Bummer In The Summer

2009-09-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of August, a day after our 14.25 mile run, Terry felt a sharp pain in his left hip. Over the next several weeks of training, the pain increased and the muscles in the area began to lock up. An MRI revealed that he had torn the labrum in his left hip, among other secondary issues being caused by the injury. He took 14 days off from running but maintained his cardio and endurance by deep water running and biking. Although hobbled, he is not deterred, he is on prescription NSAIDs and told his doctor HE WILL RUN....

NYC Recovery Reservoir Run

2009-09-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

August 17, 2009

The day after the half marathon, we needed to do a 3 mile recovery run.

I had never run The Reservoir before and so there we went. We brought Atticus and so we took turns running while she partook in the delicacies of Park Carts.

Here she is eating a "dirty water dog" while we wait for Terry to finish his run.

Another posed shot by Atticus. this is after our runs, she wanted the victory arm!

While I took my run, Atticus ate a Sponge Bob ice cream with black bubble gum for eyes.

We must have had serious runner's high to give her this crap!

Some fun video of our post run run.

NYC Half Marathon August 2009

2009-09-14T09:29:00.001-07:00

August 16, 2009

These are Terry's famous black toenails.

After the NYC Half, icing the backs of my knees as well as an inflamed bunion sac from a klutz move totally not related to running. Still clumsy after all these years @#%$

This is photo directed by Atticus, who by the way is our number one fan and awesome cheerleader.

Here we are after the NYC Half Marathon.

I was so proud to have finished this race so strong.

It was brutally hot and we do look a little haggard here, but seeing Attie at the finish, running for an awesome charity in NYC. Totally pumped us up.

The big finish!

From Terry: "We felt great about the race. We ran 2:14 start to finish. Not our fastest half but it was extremely hot and extremely humid and I was running with a torn labrum in my hip (didn't know it yet). Wendy carried us through the race, especially up and over the hills of Central Park. I was very proud (and grateful) to have Wendy with me. She is such a natural athlete and great team mate."

This is my favorite picture of Terry so far!

This Marathon experience has really highlighted for me all the traits in Terry that I admire.

He NEVER quits. He has so much determination and willpower that blows my mind.

Although he feels I "carried him" through this particular event, many days I would not have gotten my ass off the couch if it weren't for his encouragement and example of the kind of commitment it takes to do something so challenging. Plus, I just think this pic is hot :)

This is at 5:45a, before the race.

This was the most nervous we have been before any event.

We did not sleep the night before.

I think because we were in NYC, with our Team it just brought home the reality of what we're doing.

The night before my very organized husband/coach gets us all organized and ready to go.

Pre-race dinner:

Whole wheat pasta, vegetables and no-sodium pasta sauce.

Carbo loading is yummy!

Another posed shot by Atticus.

Our Team held a reception the day before to get us pumped and inspired for the event.

Even though Terry and I are achieving a personal goal, we are part of a bigger endeavor.

We are so proud to be bringing the love of running, health, fitness and wellness, not to mention self-esteem to the youth of NYC and CA.

Picking up our shwag-bags. Everyone loves a bag full of chap stick, snacks and random coupons.

The bag itself is adorable though!

Jungle Run Half Marathon Los Gatos July 2009

2009-09-14T09:25:00.001-07:00

July 19, 2009

This was our first half marathon on our home trail.

It was a mellow race, not a lot of hoopla along the course.

Everyone said it was hot, but we had just returned from FL and so we were like, "

"Hot, Schmot!"

This is the start line, we are in there somewhere.

The race started and finished at Los Gatos High School and some parts were on the road, but much was on the Los Gatos Creek Trail including a couple miles at the end on gravel.

We determined very quickly, we don't like gravel. It's dusty and unstable.

Bay to Breakers San Francisco May 2009

2009-09-14T09:21:00.001-07:00

May 17, 2009

This was one of the most exciting races we have run.

For me it was the first time doing this race, Terry's second.

I was extremely nervous because 12K would be the longest since we started training but there were so many distractions starting with tortilla throwing at the start, nudity throughout, and ending with a spectacular ocean view.

This race was put on by ING, same as the NYC Marathon and was very organized so points for that. It was good practice because we spent the night before in a hotel.

They had a great after party too with buses just for racers taking us back to the start.

Pat's Run San Jose April 2009

2009-09-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

April 25, 2009

Our Marathon training has officially begun and this is our first race since we started logging miles. Pat's Run, 4.2 miles, is one of our favorite races. What a fun atmosphere in a beautiful neighborhood with a great crowd. Our favorite part is the Firemen singing there chants.

"If you wanna be a firefighter yo gotta be thin, left, left, left right left!"

Actually, our favorite favorite part of Pat's run is the kids' run.

Attie trained and killed it!!!

She ran .42 miles without stopping. Her first race. So proud.

Go Team Ahearn!

Manatee River Run December 2008

2009-09-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

December 27, 2008

That sexy gal in orange is my sister Rebecca, a NYC Marathon finisher.

This was a beautiful 5 miler through a park in my hometown of Bradenton, FL.

Most of the run was on crushed shell, nice.

So that's me and my Dad finishing together. He kept a steady lead over me and around the last mile the course u-turned on itself. Seeing my Dad loop back I thought I could maybe catch up. It was a load of fun to finish together. More in the next post about how he inspires me.

This is not a Saturday Night Live skit although it should be!

Brother in law, Danny thinks he is passing Terry and says, "Sorry to be the asshole brother-in-law." He doesn't know what kind of reserves Terry carries at all times. He always has more and was not about to let Danny pass him. So they hoofed it out and even the announcer made mention of the "foot race" going on.

CLASSIC!

Ventura Turkey Trot 2008

2009-09-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

November 27, 2008

On our Thanksgiving trip to Ventura we teamed up with Terry's 3 beautiful sisters, Susie, Rebecca and Chrystina for a lovely morning 5K. Is there a better way to enjoy your turkey and pie and wine than by knowing you ran it all off already???

Welcome!

2009-05-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog!

As you can see, we have been so busy training that we haven't blogged much.

We will update soon though with highlights from the 4 races we have run recently.

Everything you need to know about sponsoring us is over there on the right.

Thank you for supporting us and Team for Kids.

Wendy