Donating Blood

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One of my goals for the year is to donate blood (read my goals for 2011 here), and I am VERY excited to say I signed up for a blood drive on February 25th and plan of pumping out a pint. Not sure how this is going to play out for the rest of my day because I am donating in the middle of the school day, but I am hoping since I am more fit/healthy than last time I gave blood, I won't have the same experience. I am also going to be very conscious of what I eat before I go so hopefully I won't wake up on the floor surrounded by students.

Has anyone donated blood while training for a marathon? Not literally while training, but maybe on an easy run, cross train, or rest day? I am probably going to take it easy the day I donate (or take the day off from training entirely), but wanted to see what blogger land had to say. 

For many people, donating blood is not a big deal. But it is really hard for me to be in the same room where a needle is in someone's arm, so this is HUGE for me to go back and try this again. Sitting in the room with JF when he donated stem cells for the marrow donor program was extremely difficult. I had to get up and almost had to take a step outside. My mom was so proud of me for not letting my phobia trump my role as cheerleader/supporter. Here's hoping we can take the next step towards beating this irrational fear by becoming a regular blood donor!

(as far as Boston Training goes, today is an off day. Terrible migraine and to make sure I don't push it too far, I am going to have today be pure rest, tomorrow hill repeats on the elliptical, and Sunday the long run 10 miles. Let's keep those knees and feet happy for April 18th!)