Suck it up your in remission

Me before core work out :)

I love my team so much so I can even laugh and joke with my Honoree friends (people in the Team in Training group who have survived cancer or have been diagnosed). Recently during one of our track work outs I had the pleasure of training along side Mike who was on the summer team last year and who I was honored to run half of the Nike marathon with as well.

While we all were on the grass area of the track being tortured or enduring our core work out (upper body training). I along with Mike and some others were complaining about how hard and painful the planks were ( holding yourself up in a push-up position with your elbows and hands on the ground). Mike poked fun at us and himself about how hard this work out was and I said " oh come on your in remission suck it up, you should be glad you can do this" ( in a joking manner I might add) Mike replies with a huge smile " your right I am in remission " . I poke fun with Mike because we are friends and have trained together last summer.







Its little stories like this which make me smile because Mike can do this along with other things. Cancer sucks and I love when people like Mike are able to kick cancer to the curb and live to see another day. My sister Alex did not get a second chance like Mike did but you can give the gift of life by supporting me and my friends with the Leukemia and Lymphoma society today! Thank you to those who have donated and for those of you who would like to donate you still can by going to my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/nikesf09/vgonzales







Thanks for reading my update and I will keep you posted on how my training and my team is doing as we progress.

Gabby, Mike and Gabby's mentee.

Back to TNT for me this summer!

Aww the sound of an alarm on a Saturday morning. I open my eyes and say to my self " no it cant be true I really don't have to get up or do I?. After I wipe the sleep from my eyes I realize even though its the weekend I still must get up early to meet with other crazy people like me. Why must I get up by 7am or 6am you ask? well to fight cancer that's why!

I love being a mentor you know why? Because I get to encourage new heroes on their journey they are about to take. The journey is completing a half or full marathon and its so rewarding. I love hearing all the worries and the fears about fundraising or running because I once was in their position not knowing what was in store for me. over the next few months not only will I be posting my random stories about me but also of my job as a mentor on the TNT team.

keep a look out for inspiring stories and challenges completed by people who never thought they could accomplish something so great as a full or half marathon. Believe me it can be done!

I am so excited and cant wait for the big milers to come.

Its a Miracle we finished!

Team Camel Toes

8 of our 12 man team at the finish line with our medals and mascot Toe (he's the camel)

The relay race was unforgettable! what begin as just another year of insane running all through the night became a nightmare of runners getting lost and running routes being rerouted.

My brother Jerry and I drove up to Calistoga and I was dropped off with my team . I was assigned to van #2 which is the van that starts their run later in the day since van 2 starts off the race with runners 1-6. Needless to say we had plenty of rest time in the beginning but that is all we get.

The first part of the race went really well no one got lost and runners 1-6 were smoking the other teams we knew of. once my van began we did OK until runner #2 began her leg. Crystal just before we sent her off was joking along with us about getting lost and how its so easy to do. Little did we know we predicted exactly what was about to happen to Crystal. Crystal's route was simple so we thought. but the beginning of Crystal's route was through a trail our van could not follow her on and we had to wait at the end of it to meet up with her on the route. We waited 40minutes for her to finish her first 2 miles but she never came out! so we began to worry and sent the van a head to the exchange in case she passed us and we didn't see her . 20 minutes later we get a call saying van 2 found her and she got lost on the trail. needless to say we were put back in hour in our race. we didn't worry to much since the rest of us had good runs and finished faster then we thought.

After we exchanged with van #2 we left to go and rest before we began our 2nd legs . while we were resting during the middle of the night we received a call about 1:30am that runner #4 is lost and not only that he doesn't have his insulin with him since he is diabetic! yeah can you believe it? diabetic and didn't carry with him his insulin? so 2hours go by and he is finally found after receiving help from other vans and getting drinks and food to help bring up his blood sugar.

We then began to run our legs and were losing hope we would ever finish this race in time before 530pm. we then exchanged with van 1 again and there was word that many of the runners in van 1 wanted to quit. Jesse who is a friend of mine and in my van suggested we begin our legs early before van 1 can exchange with us for the final time. So to pick up time and get in by 530pm and not 9pm as we predicted with the lost time. we all agreed to start early on our last legs and meet up with van 1 at the finish.

During my last leg I had no idea how hard it was going to be. let me just say mile 1 of 6 miles was straight up hill and mile 2 all down hill. its not over yet ! miles 3-6 all up hill and just seemed to continue up forever. people from other teams and passing vans really kept me going. a runner who was running along side of me said to me " you have had enough time to walk and rest now lets go, start running I will even let you pass me" I whined of course and ran as he told me and did pass him for about 5 minutes until he passed me again. other vans would wait for me to pass to give me words of encouragement even if their runners had already passed. My van of course stopped a few times too to give me shouts of praise. once I reached my last .2 of my run which was down hill I screamed at a van that was parked in my way and said " get the hell out of my way, I want this over with, I want to be done, move that van" people looked at me and screamed too at the parked van and the van MOVED! I then handed off to the final runner Wendy and wished her good luck on our teams final leg of this extremely crazy race.

All I have to say is I am sooooo happy to be done and not running right now. whats next for me is Team in Training mentoring and maybe a half marathon in July but I will keep you posted. until next time thanks for your support .

Wendy (team captain),Lester with team mascot Toe, me and Jesse

Pat's Run

me and Gabby waiting to start Hugh and Scott

I know I know a bit late since I am running in a relay race this weekend and will probably be late with that update as well. anyways I ran in the recent Pat's run on April 25th along with my love Scott and Gabby with her hubby. we started out the race all together but it didn't take us long to lose each other. me and Gabby of course took off and I tried to stay with in eye shot of Scott but failed. While me and Gabby ran we got to see some awesome people such as a fire dept. running together and shouting songs to keep each other motivated.

As for Scott he ran with Gabby's hubby for about a mile and then left him when Hugh (Gabby's husband) couldn't run anymore due to his foot hurting. Once me and Gabby finished our race we told each other we could so run more! we waited at the finish line for our guys and cheered when we saw Scott run in! I was so proud of Scott knowing he had a soccer game the night before this run would really be hard for him.

All in all we had a good time and ran for a good cause !

Relay here I come... well almost

Alright its been a while since my lost post but what can I say I am planning a wedding you know :)

So as far as the training is going I am doing well for preparing for a relay this May 2nd which is in about three weeks. I have hills I will be running on during this relay but am I preparing for those hills? NO why am I not preapring for those hills? cause I Hate hills! Just the other day my running buddy Gabby tells me as we are running up a baby hill and says to me " oh Victoria we need to get you to train on more hills so you can move quicker up them" my answer " yeah I know I really should but do I? no unless I have someone to push me" I know Gabby will push me to train on hills as we get closer to the TNT season, oh joy.

As for the wedding planning we are checking off our list and getting stuff done. I am so proud of me and Scott we are working as a team and making room for what really counts " what we want and not what everyone else thinks we want" hmm go figure people hear you are getting married and you think they were when they start talking about what we should do. ah well in the end it will be beautiful and me and Scott will tie the knot!

until next time .... I will update you all as the season goes on

Im Engaged

It all happen president's Day weekend and this is how the story goes...

Scott and I went to South Lake Tahoe and a friend of Scott's named Lisa was able to get us a room where they were staying for a good price. So we stayed the weekend in a timeshare at StarDust Lodge. After we arrived and unloaded the car we were going to relax and sit back. I was lying on the bed and Scott was sitting on the floor. Scott started playing with my ring that my mother gave me. I hate it when he teases me like that because he would place the ring on my left hand and pretend to ask me to marry him . At first I wouldn't let him play with my ring, but I finally gave in not even thinking of getting an engagement ring I thought he would just tease me again. But this time, he took out the engagement ring and slipped it onto my finger. my eyes lit up in surprise that it was actually the real engagement ring. He told me, "there you go." and I looked at him and said, "you have to ask me!"and he asked me"Will you marry me?"And I said "YES."

After Scott asked me I asked him "how do you feel?" and he said relieved now the stress of asking is over" my reply was " oh it has just begun, now we have a wedding to plan!"

The best part about this weekend is my closes friends were in Tahoe too and I was able to share with them first the great news. It was a great weekend to get engaged and share it with my friends who will even be in the wedding!

I am so excited for what is a head of us and can't wait to walk down the aile and become Scott's wife.

My fastest 1/2 marathon time!

wow! even with a little voice and recovering from a cold I beat my last years time by 7 minutes! Last year I ran the Kasier 1/2 marathon in 2hr :14min but this year I came in at 2hr :7 min! I ran the whole way and watched my speed and made sure I didn't push myself until I saw the finish line.

During the whole race I kept thinking " am I really doing this? can I really run this whole thing with out a walk break? I think I can, I know I can, I have trained myself to do this very event." I saw my past coaches and teammates along the route such as captain Steve, Mike at the end of the race and Simone toward the finish. Best of all I had two great people cheering me on at the beginning, middle and end of my race and those two people were Gabby ( a person I mentored in the summer who is awesome) and of course my man Scott. what a team! I saw them at mile 6 I believe and they were so proud to see me making great time and I nearly fell at the excitement when I saw them and thought I hurt my ankle in the process. I ended up tripping on a small pot hole but didn't hurt myself too bad and managed to keep a good pace.




I felt so good to have run in at 2hr:07 minutes and was so excited to share that moment with my friend and my love Scott. Many have asked what the next race is and I am not sure yet but I think it will be a relay race in early May. Anyone want to join me?

Gabby is in the red coat, the picture of the crowd see if you can spot me, the last picture is of me finally sitting down after the race.