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!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
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
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Running Log
I wanted everyone to see that even though I am the worst blogger in the world, I am still getting my runs done! I inserted my training log to date below. Its a super spreadsheet! (says the accountant dork). Anyway I hope you can see it, I'm not sure how its going to come though. and PS 12 more days until the marathon!!!! YAYAYAY!!
I just checked it and you can see it pretty well if you click on it!
I just checked it and you can see it pretty well if you click on it!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The worst!
So I guess I am pretty much the worst blogger ever this year!! Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean that I haven't been running!!! Last night I ran 9 miles in the rain after work. It was the first time all season that I ran after work. It took a little longer than usual to get into it but I still managed to finish in a best time of 78 minutes!! I'm getting super excited for the marathon since I have been able to keep up my faster than normal pace through all my runs this month!
Backtracking to some past runs.....last weekend BFF Alli was here from Oregon so we went up to Waterville Valley and spend Saturday testing our snowboarding skills! Sunday we ran 6 miles and then headed home. Not as long as I should have run but sometimes I think it is nice to take a little break and I think my legs were happy with me for it.
Last Tuesday and Thursday I ran 10 miles and 9.5 miles (I think). I know I ran at least 9.5 miles each day. I keep the best track of my running on my paper training schedule that I keep at my desk because that is where I go after most of my runs! Tomorrow I will post a pic of my super training spreadsheet (which I found on the Cape Cod Athletic Club website). Its like a spreadsheet lovers dream!
Two Saturdays ago I ran 19 miles in the windy rain! I ran with another girl from the Dana Farber team again for 14 of the miles! You can't skip a run because of the weather because you never know what the weather is going to be on marathon day!! I really hope its not raining though because the yuckier the weather, the less people come out and if no one shows up to watch its going to be a long boring 26.2 miles!
This weekend is my last long run! Its a 20 mile race that starts in Maine and usually ends in Massachusetts. This year it ends in New Hampshire because of some bridge work. My Dad and I are going up Sunday morning and its great because the roads are open so my dad can drive ahead a few miles at a time! My goal for this race is to break 3 hours, which is my previous best time for this race!
Well I need to get some rest because I have a 10 mile run planned tomorrow before work!! Good night!
Backtracking to some past runs.....last weekend BFF Alli was here from Oregon so we went up to Waterville Valley and spend Saturday testing our snowboarding skills! Sunday we ran 6 miles and then headed home. Not as long as I should have run but sometimes I think it is nice to take a little break and I think my legs were happy with me for it.
Last Tuesday and Thursday I ran 10 miles and 9.5 miles (I think). I know I ran at least 9.5 miles each day. I keep the best track of my running on my paper training schedule that I keep at my desk because that is where I go after most of my runs! Tomorrow I will post a pic of my super training spreadsheet (which I found on the Cape Cod Athletic Club website). Its like a spreadsheet lovers dream!
Two Saturdays ago I ran 19 miles in the windy rain! I ran with another girl from the Dana Farber team again for 14 of the miles! You can't skip a run because of the weather because you never know what the weather is going to be on marathon day!! I really hope its not raining though because the yuckier the weather, the less people come out and if no one shows up to watch its going to be a long boring 26.2 miles!
This weekend is my last long run! Its a 20 mile race that starts in Maine and usually ends in Massachusetts. This year it ends in New Hampshire because of some bridge work. My Dad and I are going up Sunday morning and its great because the roads are open so my dad can drive ahead a few miles at a time! My goal for this race is to break 3 hours, which is my previous best time for this race!
Well I need to get some rest because I have a 10 mile run planned tomorrow before work!! Good night!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Hard Core?
Ok....I am a little behind on my blogging so I have a lot to say today.
First I want to talk about my run this morning. Yes as a matter of fact I did go running this morning. When the alarm first went off my gut reaction was to stay in bed, but the second time the alarm went off I figured the least I could do was peak out the window and see how it looked. I checked the backyard and it looked pretty clear so I went for it. I checked weather.com and it said 33 feels like 23 so I put on some extra clothes and wore my old ski jacket and walked out the door into a blizzarding wind storm. Maybe this was not the best idea. Nothing was icy though so it couldn't be that cold. And then Madison would not get in the car. I came very close to leaving her because she was being such a brat but instead we both walked inside and started over. This time I put her leash on before we went outside and then she went right into the car. The actually run wasn't too bad. We went 8 miles (I'm rounding up). I kept going back and forth between felling hard core for being out in this weather and feeling like a wus because I was wearing such an outrageous running outfit. I ended up decided that I was hard core after I got home and my pants were soaked to the knees and my shoes and socks were dripping with slush. I am definitely glad that I went though, just like I always am! :)
The next thing I want to talk about is my Half Marathon race that I did on Sunday. The weather was fabulous and so was the race! I went in with a goal of breaking 2 hours to run 13.1 miles. I was a little nervous in the beginning because it was very crowded and I am not very good at weaving through large crowds of people. In the end I think it might have been to my advantage though because every time I would go to pass through people I would speed up so that we wouldn't trip over each other. In my head every mile I would calculate out what time I wanted my watch to say (9 times # of miles ran) and then compare it to what my watch actually said. I was a little off in the beginning but by mile 5 I was right on target. Then I started getting ahead of target which was nice because I was running faster than I usually do so I wasn't sure if I was going to die (like legs stop moving not actually dying) at the end. I was building myself a nice little cushion in case I had to walk the last mile. Luckily I didn't have to! I finished in 1 hour and 53 minutes!! A new personal best from me and 7 minutes faster than my goal time. I was ecstatic! Even though I finished 1079th out of 2706 I felt like I won! It was great!
Now I had to figure out what that half marathon time meant to my potential new marathon time. I remembered that we got an email from our coach (Jack Fultz the 1976 Champion of the Boston Marathon) that included a formula to calculate your marathon time from races of other distances. So I open up the email and open up a spreadsheet (yes!) and try to figure out my expected finish time. The rule is that each time you double the distance you can expect your per mile pace to increase by 5%. So my pace for the Half was 8:39 per mile. Multiply that by 1.05 and my marathon pace should be 9:05. Multiply that by 26.2 miles and voila I am done with the marathon in 3 hours in 58 minutes!!!! If only it were that easy! :):)
First I want to talk about my run this morning. Yes as a matter of fact I did go running this morning. When the alarm first went off my gut reaction was to stay in bed, but the second time the alarm went off I figured the least I could do was peak out the window and see how it looked. I checked the backyard and it looked pretty clear so I went for it. I checked weather.com and it said 33 feels like 23 so I put on some extra clothes and wore my old ski jacket and walked out the door into a blizzarding wind storm. Maybe this was not the best idea. Nothing was icy though so it couldn't be that cold. And then Madison would not get in the car. I came very close to leaving her because she was being such a brat but instead we both walked inside and started over. This time I put her leash on before we went outside and then she went right into the car. The actually run wasn't too bad. We went 8 miles (I'm rounding up). I kept going back and forth between felling hard core for being out in this weather and feeling like a wus because I was wearing such an outrageous running outfit. I ended up decided that I was hard core after I got home and my pants were soaked to the knees and my shoes and socks were dripping with slush. I am definitely glad that I went though, just like I always am! :)
The next thing I want to talk about is my Half Marathon race that I did on Sunday. The weather was fabulous and so was the race! I went in with a goal of breaking 2 hours to run 13.1 miles. I was a little nervous in the beginning because it was very crowded and I am not very good at weaving through large crowds of people. In the end I think it might have been to my advantage though because every time I would go to pass through people I would speed up so that we wouldn't trip over each other. In my head every mile I would calculate out what time I wanted my watch to say (9 times # of miles ran) and then compare it to what my watch actually said. I was a little off in the beginning but by mile 5 I was right on target. Then I started getting ahead of target which was nice because I was running faster than I usually do so I wasn't sure if I was going to die (like legs stop moving not actually dying) at the end. I was building myself a nice little cushion in case I had to walk the last mile. Luckily I didn't have to! I finished in 1 hour and 53 minutes!! A new personal best from me and 7 minutes faster than my goal time. I was ecstatic! Even though I finished 1079th out of 2706 I felt like I won! It was great!
Now I had to figure out what that half marathon time meant to my potential new marathon time. I remembered that we got an email from our coach (Jack Fultz the 1976 Champion of the Boston Marathon) that included a formula to calculate your marathon time from races of other distances. So I open up the email and open up a spreadsheet (yes!) and try to figure out my expected finish time. The rule is that each time you double the distance you can expect your per mile pace to increase by 5%. So my pace for the Half was 8:39 per mile. Multiply that by 1.05 and my marathon pace should be 9:05. Multiply that by 26.2 miles and voila I am done with the marathon in 3 hours in 58 minutes!!!! If only it were that easy! :):)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
In My Head
There are a couple reasons to be pumped with this mornings run. First of all it was warm and not raining this morning like I was expecting. Second, Maddie and I ran a personal best time for our 7.5 miles this morning! We finished in 68 minutes and 29 seconds!! And that was with two bathroom stops (for her not me) and 12 street crossings. Now if I can just run the same pace for an additional 6 miles then I will be on track to run a super half marathon on Sunday!!
Recently someone asked me what I think about while I'm running. For the most part I spend my time doing calculations in my head (dork alert!). I can't help it. I am constantly trying to calculate my pace and how much I ran and how much more I have to run and how fast I have to run the rest of my run to finish in the time I am hoping.
Today my head sounded something like this while I was running this morning. "Wow its warm, I guess I didn't need so many layers. I feel good this morning so maybe I will try to kick up my pace a notch and see if I can keep it up for the whole run. Gosh its foggy. Hmmm what would I do if someone jumped out of the woods and tried to attack me right now?? Lets see are there any houses around? I think I would spray him with my pepper spray (you bet I run with pepper spray although usually I am more worried about coyotes than humans). Then I would run the nearest house and/or road. I can't be too far from civilization. I'm just on the bike path." (That went on for about a mile and a half). On to the next topic: "So I have run over 200 miles since January (say 210 for the sake of easy calculations in my head), if you average about 100 calories a mile then I have burned 20,000 calories in the past two months. If 3,500 calories are in a pound then I should have lost 6 pounds! (The calculating didn't happen that fast. It went more like well 3,500 and 3,500 is 7,000 that's 2 pounds and 7 times 3 is 21 so 2 times 3 is 6....6 pounds.) For the record I have not lost 6 pounds haha. Luckily I am running to help find a cure for cancer and not for weight loss!!
Recently someone asked me what I think about while I'm running. For the most part I spend my time doing calculations in my head (dork alert!). I can't help it. I am constantly trying to calculate my pace and how much I ran and how much more I have to run and how fast I have to run the rest of my run to finish in the time I am hoping.
Today my head sounded something like this while I was running this morning. "Wow its warm, I guess I didn't need so many layers. I feel good this morning so maybe I will try to kick up my pace a notch and see if I can keep it up for the whole run. Gosh its foggy. Hmmm what would I do if someone jumped out of the woods and tried to attack me right now?? Lets see are there any houses around? I think I would spray him with my pepper spray (you bet I run with pepper spray although usually I am more worried about coyotes than humans). Then I would run the nearest house and/or road. I can't be too far from civilization. I'm just on the bike path." (That went on for about a mile and a half). On to the next topic: "So I have run over 200 miles since January (say 210 for the sake of easy calculations in my head), if you average about 100 calories a mile then I have burned 20,000 calories in the past two months. If 3,500 calories are in a pound then I should have lost 6 pounds! (The calculating didn't happen that fast. It went more like well 3,500 and 3,500 is 7,000 that's 2 pounds and 7 times 3 is 21 so 2 times 3 is 6....6 pounds.) For the record I have not lost 6 pounds haha. Luckily I am running to help find a cure for cancer and not for weight loss!!
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