Leaving the Blizzard Behind

Greetings from sunny LA!!

My name is Chelsea and I'm the fourth member of this running crew. I was able to get out of the DC-area blizzard last week and visit sunny LA, where my best friend Brea lives. Let me just say that I think she chose the better of the two places to live post college...her mid-70's, sunny, palm-tree land vs. my 40+ inches of snow, sleet, ice and overall-freezingness-until-at-least-March land.

With early sunsets and bitter cold, our team hasn't been able to run outside after work, so I've been forced to run on the treadmill - which i dread. It was SO nice to get out to California and run outside in leggings and a tshirt..and on the BEACH! Brea is training for a 1/2 marathon in September in Disneyland (WAHOO GO BREA GO!), so we happened to be right at the running mileage the weekend i visited: 4.25 miles. (YIKES)

At this point I had completed two 4-mile runs: one in Roanoke, VA (it was the land of hills and the hardest run I've ever experienced), and one on the national mall (from Abe to the Capitol Building and back on New Years Eve). Now, a full month later, i was very nervous about this run, even though the sun and the beach were involved.

But that's the thing about best friends - they push you because they know you can - and want - to do it.

We ran down the marina towards the beach, on the beach, and then back though the neighborhood. From the picture you can see it was gorgeous! it was a struggle for me as I was dealing with knee issues after the first mile, but Brea told me i could do it...and then i did! 4.25 for me and 4.4 for Brea!

It is so nice to have my best bud training for a race so now I have another person I can rely on to push me to my goal.

Speaking of those who are there to push me... Last year at this point I could not run the reflecting pool on the national mall (.75 miles) without getting tired and stopping, and now I'm at 4.25 miles and climbing! Thanks to Coach E, Kristen, and Kate, I have been able to reach my goals and push myself further than I ever have. So to my fantastic team: THANK YOU!