Ok I think with this post I will be all caught up!! I was a little sore on Sunday from my 2 seconds of sprinting in the Brew Run. I was supposed to run 11 miles per my schedule, but I instead decided to take the day off. Next weekend the schedule calls for 11 miles or a 10k so I just swapped weekends because I ran just a miles short of a 10k race. I’ll do the 11 miles this weekend.
Monday is a no running day, but it is a gym day! So I was off to Koko FitClub, where I logged another perfect score!
This week there is no track workouts but my schedule upped the mileage a little. Tuesday my Maddie girl and I ran 7 miles. I felt really good! I think my body appreciated the little break Sunday. And we even ran into some puppies so Maddie made some new friends and was very happy when we got home.
Which brings us to actual today (Wednesday)! Today I got up and ran 6 miles with my Madison before work and then hit the gym at lunch where I got another perfect score! Two in a row! Yay me!
I’m feeling really good about my running and my health in general lately. I have been going to Koko FitClub fairly consistently 3 times a week since the beginning of June. I have been following my half marathon training plan since the end of July (not THAT impressive but I’m still proud!). I have also been tracking my food and drink intake in the Loseit! calorie counter app, which is making me be much more conscious of what I am eating and I am attempting to control my compulsive eating problem!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Brew Run
Saturday was the Brew Run, a 5.2 mile run in Brewster, the next town over from me. I have lived on the lower Cape since I was 8 years old (that would be approximately 22 years ago but not quite because I am still a few months away from the big 3-0) and have never run the Brew Run before! I’m shocked at myself! I guess I have never been much of a summer runner before. Most of my running usually occurs between January and April.
Back to my first Brew Run! It was so fun! We got there early and picked up our numbers!
I roped Glenn’s friend Danny, who recently re-found the joys of running, into running the race too! The race started at 4PM and it was still pretty hot then.
And we are off!! It was VERY crowded at the start and I felt like everyone was dragging. I held back for maybe a half mile and then I just couldn’t take it anymore! I had to start aggressively weaving. I passed the first mile marker and it said 10:45. Whoa way to slow….so I picked it up a little bit and weaved some more. They had water set up every mile and it was hot so I think I stopped at 3 of them, just for a quick sip. At one point in mile 4 I overheard a dad say to his son “We just have to go around the corner there and the rest is downhill.” Sounds great to me so I picked it up some more! Unfortunately, the downhill was not right around the corner but I tried to keep my pace up. Once I finally saw the finish line I ran as fast as I could and crossed in 44:22. Not too shabby! Here are some post race pics!
Me and my honey!
We made it! YAY! And now time to celebrate!
I even ran into some friends from the 413!! Overall it was a great day! I will definitely be signing up for this one again!
I roped Glenn’s friend Danny, who recently re-found the joys of running, into running the race too! The race started at 4PM and it was still pretty hot then.
And we are off!! It was VERY crowded at the start and I felt like everyone was dragging. I held back for maybe a half mile and then I just couldn’t take it anymore! I had to start aggressively weaving. I passed the first mile marker and it said 10:45. Whoa way to slow….so I picked it up a little bit and weaved some more. They had water set up every mile and it was hot so I think I stopped at 3 of them, just for a quick sip. At one point in mile 4 I overheard a dad say to his son “We just have to go around the corner there and the rest is downhill.” Sounds great to me so I picked it up some more! Unfortunately, the downhill was not right around the corner but I tried to keep my pace up. Once I finally saw the finish line I ran as fast as I could and crossed in 44:22. Not too shabby! Here are some post race pics!
I even ran into some friends from the 413!! Overall it was a great day! I will definitely be signing up for this one again!
Recapper!
Ok I am trying really hard to be better at posting on my blog, but I’m still not doing so great. It’s not that I don’t want to…. I am even getting more pictures to add to make my posts more exciting. I just can’t seem to get into a routine with it yet. Summer on Cape Cod is busy!! I’m going to keep at it though!!
Since my last post (my super awesome track workout) I have kept up with the gist of my training schedule. I did a 10 mile run that Sunday in the rain and felt a little tired in the final mile or two. Monday I did not do any workouts, but I did go to the Britney Spears concert!! Oh how I heart her! She was amazing! And of course I had to buy myself a t-shirt!
Because I got home really late on Monday night, I gave myself another break on Tuesday. Wednesday was double workout Wednesday! I got up and ran 6 miles with my favorite running partner.
And then I stopped at the gym on the way home. I will have to post about the awesomeness that is Koko FitClub sometime soon because it is really the best thing that has ever happened to strength training. I even managed to get a perfect score!!
Thursday it was back to the track!! And I even got some amazing new summer running clothes in the mail Wednesday night to make me even more motivated to get up and head to the track.
Yes I did get another running skirt!! They were on sale! I had to! Back to the track workout, in store was 6 x 800 meters (2 laps around the track) at 3:36 each with 400 meters recovery jog (one lap). I was a little nervous but tried to convince myself that if I could do the mile repeats then I could do 800 repeats. And you know what?? I DID IT! I ran them all in 3:36 or under except for one I did in 3:37, close enough. I even did my last one in 3:33! So I think I have some speed in me yet. I just need to use the speed for more than a mile at a time.
Friday was another double workout day. I ran six miles in the AM with my Maddie girl and then hit the gym after work for some strength training. I did indulge a little bit at lunch so the double workouts were definitely needed.
Box Office Pizza!! And yes there were 4 pieces of pizza on my plate but I couldn’t even wait to eat it!
Well I think that is plenty for one post. I will continue on in a new post later about the Brew Run!
Since my last post (my super awesome track workout) I have kept up with the gist of my training schedule. I did a 10 mile run that Sunday in the rain and felt a little tired in the final mile or two. Monday I did not do any workouts, but I did go to the Britney Spears concert!! Oh how I heart her! She was amazing! And of course I had to buy myself a t-shirt!
Because I got home really late on Monday night, I gave myself another break on Tuesday. Wednesday was double workout Wednesday! I got up and ran 6 miles with my favorite running partner.
And then I stopped at the gym on the way home. I will have to post about the awesomeness that is Koko FitClub sometime soon because it is really the best thing that has ever happened to strength training. I even managed to get a perfect score!!
Thursday it was back to the track!! And I even got some amazing new summer running clothes in the mail Wednesday night to make me even more motivated to get up and head to the track.
Yes I did get another running skirt!! They were on sale! I had to! Back to the track workout, in store was 6 x 800 meters (2 laps around the track) at 3:36 each with 400 meters recovery jog (one lap). I was a little nervous but tried to convince myself that if I could do the mile repeats then I could do 800 repeats. And you know what?? I DID IT! I ran them all in 3:36 or under except for one I did in 3:37, close enough. I even did my last one in 3:33! So I think I have some speed in me yet. I just need to use the speed for more than a mile at a time.
Friday was another double workout day. I ran six miles in the AM with my Maddie girl and then hit the gym after work for some strength training. I did indulge a little bit at lunch so the double workouts were definitely needed.
Box Office Pizza!! And yes there were 4 pieces of pizza on my plate but I couldn’t even wait to eat it!
Well I think that is plenty for one post. I will continue on in a new post later about the Brew Run!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Take That Track!!
Ok I was really nervous going into today’s work. The schedule called for a mile warmup followed by 3 x 1 mile repeats at 7:21 pace jogging an 800m (2 laps around the track) for recovery and finishing with a mile cooldown. EEK! First of all, I can’t even remember the last time I did a track workout. I think I was in high school (because I have blocked my very short lived college track career out of my mind). So that was 12 years ago *cough*. Needless to say I did not know what to expect nor did I think I was capable of running a mile faster than 8 minutes. I’ve always thought of myself as having one speed, let’s call it a brisk jog. So I told myself as long as a ran all three of the miles faster than 8 minutes I would be happy (which I knew might have been a lie, I would definitely be a little bit disappointed).
I decided that my new running skirt was the perfect attire for my first track workout in over a decade. I grabbed my water bottle to bring with me as well and headed out the door to the local high school track, which is conveniently 1 mile from my house. I was a little nervous when I got there but I picked a spot on the nearest straightaway, put my water bottle down and just jumped right in. I ran in the 3rd lane, thinking that each mile repeat I could move in a lane and effectively run a little bit shorter each time. I had previously calculated in my head (on the warm up jog) how fast I should run each of the laps and what time my watch should say when I finished each lap: 1 – 1:50, 2 – 3:40, 3 – 5:30, and 4 – 7:20. After my lap 1:56 I was starting to think maybe I could do this, then the next two laps were pretty close to my target numbers so I was really excited! I ended up finishing my first mile in 7:25!!! I was in shock! I grabbed my water bottle and started jogging my two recovery laps VERY slowly. I figured that first super mile would have tired me out and the next one would surely suffer but no!! I finished that one exactly on target at 7:21!! I took my two recovery laps and then the craziest thing happened. I ran my last mile in 7:20!!! I couldn’t even believe it so when I got home I had to take a picture to share!! (Please excuse the grossly sweaty arm!)
YAYAY! Take that track! Now I can’t wait for the next track workout!!
I decided that my new running skirt was the perfect attire for my first track workout in over a decade. I grabbed my water bottle to bring with me as well and headed out the door to the local high school track, which is conveniently 1 mile from my house. I was a little nervous when I got there but I picked a spot on the nearest straightaway, put my water bottle down and just jumped right in. I ran in the 3rd lane, thinking that each mile repeat I could move in a lane and effectively run a little bit shorter each time. I had previously calculated in my head (on the warm up jog) how fast I should run each of the laps and what time my watch should say when I finished each lap: 1 – 1:50, 2 – 3:40, 3 – 5:30, and 4 – 7:20. After my lap 1:56 I was starting to think maybe I could do this, then the next two laps were pretty close to my target numbers so I was really excited! I ended up finishing my first mile in 7:25!!! I was in shock! I grabbed my water bottle and started jogging my two recovery laps VERY slowly. I figured that first super mile would have tired me out and the next one would surely suffer but no!! I finished that one exactly on target at 7:21!! I took my two recovery laps and then the craziest thing happened. I ran my last mile in 7:20!!! I couldn’t even believe it so when I got home I had to take a picture to share!! (Please excuse the grossly sweaty arm!)
YAYAY! Take that track! Now I can’t wait for the next track workout!!
Monday, August 1, 2011
My First Running Skirt
I finally did it! I bought a running skirt. I have been tossing the idea around for awhile and haven't been able to find anything that was cute and reasonably priced. Just recently I fell in love with this skirt from lululemon which was completely sold out at the store and is now going for around $80 on ebay....as much as I want it I cannot justify spending that much.
Isn't it beautiful??
Instead, I scoured the racks at TJ Maxx and managed to find a cute navy blue running skirt for $12.99. That's more like it!
I took it for its first test drive on Sunday. I left with intentions of running 10 miles, but it was quite hot out. Well....not crazy hot but hot for the girl that only usually runs from January through April! I ended up running only 7 miles and probably wouldn't have even made that far if it wasn't for my friend Maggie who I met 3 miles in. The good news though is that the running skirt is amazing! My shorts always seem to ride up when I am running (darn you thighs!) and I have to tug them down every 5 minutes (or whenever a car is driving by). With the skirt, which has spandex shorts underneath, my legs stay covered even if the underneath shorts ride up a little! Just one less thing to worry about while I am running. Here a couple of pics of my first running skirt! Disclaimer: These are my first attempts at photo taking. I am hoping I will get much better soon or I will have to enlist a photographer :). Also, this is post run so pardon the sweat!
I was pretty skeptical about running skirts at first but now I think I may have to take a trip back to TJ Maxx and sift through the rack to find a few more!!
Isn't it beautiful??
Instead, I scoured the racks at TJ Maxx and managed to find a cute navy blue running skirt for $12.99. That's more like it!
I took it for its first test drive on Sunday. I left with intentions of running 10 miles, but it was quite hot out. Well....not crazy hot but hot for the girl that only usually runs from January through April! I ended up running only 7 miles and probably wouldn't have even made that far if it wasn't for my friend Maggie who I met 3 miles in. The good news though is that the running skirt is amazing! My shorts always seem to ride up when I am running (darn you thighs!) and I have to tug them down every 5 minutes (or whenever a car is driving by). With the skirt, which has spandex shorts underneath, my legs stay covered even if the underneath shorts ride up a little! Just one less thing to worry about while I am running. Here a couple of pics of my first running skirt! Disclaimer: These are my first attempts at photo taking. I am hoping I will get much better soon or I will have to enlist a photographer :). Also, this is post run so pardon the sweat!
I was pretty skeptical about running skirts at first but now I think I may have to take a trip back to TJ Maxx and sift through the rack to find a few more!!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Kick it into Half Marathon Training
Last year around this same time, I downloaded a half marathon training plan that had a goal time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Very ambitious yes I know, but I have big goals! Plus I already know how to run a 1 hour 53 minute half marathon (2010 Hyannis Half Marathon) so if I am going to plop down some money for a training plan, I might as well make it something I am going to have to work my butt off for!
When the alarm went off this morning I shut it off as usual and contemplated going back to sleep. Luckily I have been living by the thought that I will NEVER regret going for a run or to the gym but I always regret not going. It really is so true and actually helps me get out the door every morning to workout before work.
The weather was perfect and the run well pretty well! A 2 mile warm up, followed by 3 miles at race pace (8 min/mile per the super ambitious training schedule) and a 1 mile cool down. I didn't wear a watch, but I am pretty certain I was not running 8 min miles at any point but I may have gotten as fast as 9 minute miles. So I have 10 (well basically 9 now) weeks to knock a minute off my per mile pace....should be interesting.
In other news, I finally ordered myself a Garmin watch!! I haven't run in a watch at all for over a year, but I think now is the time for me to get back into it. Especially is the watch is going to track my miles, time, pace, heart rate, calories burned, and whether or not I am beating a little virtual race partner who is running at exactly the pace I want to run at! It's a number cruncher's dream!! I wish it would get here yesterday so I can start testing it out!
When the alarm went off this morning I shut it off as usual and contemplated going back to sleep. Luckily I have been living by the thought that I will NEVER regret going for a run or to the gym but I always regret not going. It really is so true and actually helps me get out the door every morning to workout before work.
The weather was perfect and the run well pretty well! A 2 mile warm up, followed by 3 miles at race pace (8 min/mile per the super ambitious training schedule) and a 1 mile cool down. I didn't wear a watch, but I am pretty certain I was not running 8 min miles at any point but I may have gotten as fast as 9 minute miles. So I have 10 (well basically 9 now) weeks to knock a minute off my per mile pace....should be interesting.
In other news, I finally ordered myself a Garmin watch!! I haven't run in a watch at all for over a year, but I think now is the time for me to get back into it. Especially is the watch is going to track my miles, time, pace, heart rate, calories burned, and whether or not I am beating a little virtual race partner who is running at exactly the pace I want to run at! It's a number cruncher's dream!! I wish it would get here yesterday so I can start testing it out!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Some Things
I started this blog a few years ago to document my training to run the Bosotn Marathon for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The point was that people would be able to track how I was doing and it would motivate me to keep up the training. Unfortunately, with the exception of that first year, I am pretty terrible at posting. Lately though, I have been reading a bunch of different running blogs and got to thinking that I should try to make this more of a regular occurance. Instead of just using it during my four months of Boston Marathon training, I am going to take a stab at blogging year round about running, fitness in general, and whatever else I feel like!
So stay tuned! I have been doing some strength training at Koko FitClub and am just beginning to train for the Harwich Half Marathon (as in I am going to start training tomorrow). I'll also try to incoporate more pictures and other things (like mile trackers and links to other blogs) once I get a grip on this whole blogging thing.
Thanks for reading!!
So stay tuned! I have been doing some strength training at Koko FitClub and am just beginning to train for the Harwich Half Marathon (as in I am going to start training tomorrow). I'll also try to incoporate more pictures and other things (like mile trackers and links to other blogs) once I get a grip on this whole blogging thing.
Thanks for reading!!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Letter!
This weekend I finally got my letters together and ready to deposited in the mail tomorrow morning! Everyone keep your eye on the mail. I don't know where the winter went this year! One day its February and its snowing and the next minute its 50 degrees out and there are only 14 days until the marathon! I apologize for getting these out so late this year, but on the bright side, the marathon is right around the corner so you will want to respond right away and not wait until it gets closer to race time! :) I did have a few technical difficulties so please forgive the donation sheet where the box was covering a sentence. I just hand wrote it over because I couldn't bear to waste all of that paper.
Next on the agenda is emails!
If you would like to get on my fundraising mailing list (email or regular mail) send me an email at hspearston@yahoo.com with either your mailing address or your email address!
Or if you are ready to donate right now head to ! (I can't tell if that is going to work so if it doesn't the website is www.runDFMC.org/2011/heatherp).
Thank you very much in advance for your generous donation!
Next on the agenda is emails!
If you would like to get on my fundraising mailing list (email or regular mail) send me an email at hspearston@yahoo.com with either your mailing address or your email address!
Or if you are ready to donate right now head to ! (I can't tell if that is going to work so if it doesn't the website is www.runDFMC.org/2011/heatherp).
Thank you very much in advance for your generous donation!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Final long run weekend!
Saturday is the last long run before taper! I cannot believe it's here already! (Especially because I woke up to a snowy winter wonderland this morning.) It seems like just yesterday I was kicking off my training. Those long training runs that I dread never seem so bad in retrospect. Last Sunday I ran 17 miles around Harwich. That has been my new weekend run routine. I leave Maddie at home for this one, grab my iPod, turn on the Spanish lessons, and hit the road for 16 to 19 miles! So if you see me running around hola-ing to myself, I'm not crazy! Just trying to multi-task!
Oh! Some other great news! I got my bib number and it is fabulous! It is 22336! Super, right? Now you can all use it to track my progress on marathon day at bostonmarathon.org!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Oh! Some other great news! I got my bib number and it is fabulous! It is 22336! Super, right? Now you can all use it to track my progress on marathon day at bostonmarathon.org!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Number Nine!
I'm deep in the heart of training for my ninth Boston Marathon as part of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge team! Yay!
Last year I raised just shy of $6,000 for this great cause. I finally managed to achieve my goal of finishing under 4 hours. It only took me 8 years!
This year I am approaching my training with a more laid back attitude. My secret? I got rid of my watch. It's great! No more checking my arm at every mile to see if I am on pace. It's working out quite well for me so far.
Now for a training recap. I started a little late this year. I kicked it off the beginning of February, but have been on my game since then. Maddie (my super goldendoodle running buddy) and I have been getting up before work on Tuesdays and Thursdays and running 7 or 10 miles. Then a long run of between 13 and 19 miles on the weekend and that's a wrap! Bring on the marathon!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Last year I raised just shy of $6,000 for this great cause. I finally managed to achieve my goal of finishing under 4 hours. It only took me 8 years!
This year I am approaching my training with a more laid back attitude. My secret? I got rid of my watch. It's great! No more checking my arm at every mile to see if I am on pace. It's working out quite well for me so far.
Now for a training recap. I started a little late this year. I kicked it off the beginning of February, but have been on my game since then. Maddie (my super goldendoodle running buddy) and I have been getting up before work on Tuesdays and Thursdays and running 7 or 10 miles. Then a long run of between 13 and 19 miles on the weekend and that's a wrap! Bring on the marathon!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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