Training Kick off!

Yesterday was my official training kick off day. My original plan was to get up at 5AM and run about 3.5 miles down the street just to practice gettin gup and running in the dark. That then got changed when I remembered that I was a little bit afraid of the dark. The new plan was that I would run around my street for 45 minutes. I figured I could do that since the street was pretty short. So I get up at 5AM, get all bundled up in my running clothes and go outside to run. I get past the neighbor's house and realize that I am actually terrified of the dark! SO I turned around and ended up using the elliptical machine for 45 minutes.

Now I need a new plan because it does not even start to get light out until like 6:15 and that does not jive with my work schedule. I will keep you posted on what I come up with. Right now my plan is that I can drive to work and then run and get ready at work. Another option would be that I can convince someone to run with me in Harwich twice a week at 5AM. Any takers??

Best Boston Ever!

Marathon Monday was absolutely perfect! I seriously don’t think I would have changed anything. I met my parents down on the common where I had to catch the buses around 7AM Monday morning. The line was very long but it moved pretty quickly. The bus ride to Hopkinton always seems a bit long and this year was no exception. We were stuck in traffic to get off the exit for soo long!! People kept jumping off the buses to go pee on the side of the road!! There were butts everywhere! Even our bus drive stopped the bus so he could get out and go!! By the time I got to Hopkinton it was almost 9:30 so I rushed around got my act together put my bag on the bus and headed to the starting line.

The actual race was fantastic. I had such a blast I think I was smiling the entire time! I started off a little slower than I had hope but still was doing pretty good. The weather was gorgeous, which meant tons of spectators!! At mile 12, I stopped for a quick pee break. At 14, I saw my BFFs! At mile 17 I stopped to see my parents and got some much needed sunscreen! After that I kicked up Heartbreak Hill! When I got to the top (mile 21), I picked up the pace a little bit. At 25 I high-fived every single Dana-Farber supports and the patient partners. I saw my again at the corner of Boylston and Hereford and then sprinted (well I felt like I was sprinting) to the finish line. I ended up with my best time ever, 4 hours and 17 minutes! Yay!! The best part is that the next day I was barely even sore at all! I guess all those dark snowy freezing morning really did pay off! And to top it off, I have raised over $5,000 so far!!!

Tomorrow's the day!

So tomorrow is the big day!! I am very excited!! I have carefully gathered everything I need for tomorrow throughout the weekend: a new pair of running pants, my number, my Dana-Farber packet and bracelet, 2 bottles of Gatorade Rain, 2 peanut butter Powerbars, one balance bar, some t shirts to cut fabric out to write on and pin to my shirt, an armband for my cellphone (thanks Dad!), and a pretty new good luck necklace (thanks Mom!). So now I think I am ready to go! I just have to eat some pancakes for dinner and pick up a sesame bagel with cream cheese on the way to the bus.

Tomorrow I will get on the bus around 7 and head out to Hopkinton. The race starts at 10:30AM. After that, you can check on me throughout the day online at bostonmarathon.org using my name or bib number 22314!!

Weather and Numbers

2 of my favorite things!





Number


I have been assigned my bib number. It is 22314. I have decided that is a very good number because 2 + 2 is 4 and 3 + 1 is 4 and the last number is 4 haha. So now I am extra pumped! You can use this number to track me on Monday on http://www.bostonmarathon.org/ . (I think you could probably track me with just my name too, but its much more fun to type in that super awesome number.) Ok I'm done raving about what a great bib number I have haha what do you expect? I look at numbers all day.

Weather


On Monday there were 15 days until the marathon. Do you know what that means?? You can check the weather on http://www.accuweather.com/ and find out what the weather is going to be on the marathon day!! Weather.com only goes 10 days into the future but accuweather goes 15. Yes I know that the probability of the weather being predicted 15 days in advance has almost zero chance of actually occurring, but its still fun to check. As of Monday it was going to be partly cloudy and 50 degress. Perfect! Oh wait, not perfect because there is no way they can guess the weather so early!! So I checked every day through yesterday and it was saying rainy, boo. I just checked right now though and its supposed to be 70 degrees and partly sunny!! Hopefully it keeps at that because that is my perfect race weather. Most people probably like it a little cooler, like around 50. I have come to terms with the fact that I am terrible about what to wear. If its 50, I get confused. I think I may be chilly and then put too many clothes on and that's bad. If its going to be 70 then its perfect! I get to wear my DFMC shirt (see above for this years shirt) and shorts and there is no question!

Playing Catch-up

Ok I knew it was just a matter of time before that happened. All of a sudden a month has passed and I have not written one thing!!! So I'll just give a quick recap of the weeks I missed:

March 10 - March 16: I ran 10.5 miles on Tuesday and 6 miles on Friday and I think I might have worked every other minute of the week.

March 16 - 23: Glenn and I went to Costa Rica for a well deserved break. We walked a lot every day however I did not run at all the whole week. My excuse is that my running clothes were in the suitcase that we checked and did not receive until we were back at the airport to come home. Costa Rica was amazing! We went on zip lines through the rainforests and everything.

March 24 - March 28: So our flight home was delayed and ended up getting back to Boston around 3:30 and I had to be to work for 8AM. There's nothing like jumping right back into it. I put in a solid 3 super long days at work and all of a sudden it was 12 days since my last run!! I start to panic so Michelle and I run 6 miles that Thursday.

March 30: I had to borrow my dad's car because my was at the shop so I decided that I would run on the bike path from my house in Harwich to my parent's house in Eastham, 18.5 miles. I was a little nervous because it had been so long since I had done any distance but the weather was pretty nice and my mom told me she had baked me cookies so I just tried to run as fast as I could! The run went absolutely amazing!! I could not believe how fast I was able to run. I got there in a shade under 3 hours (which is fast for me.) I was instantly super pumped up about the marathon again.

March 31 - April 5: Another whole week of not running. I'm not really sure why I didn't go at all but I didn't and there is nothing I can do about it now.

April 6: I ran 13 miles and it was cold and windy and dark and terrible outside and for some reason I hated every second of my run. It was totally boring!! I did however run really fast again so that it would be over sooner.

Yesterday: Yesterday Michelle and I got up and ran 6 miles. It was good to get back into it again. I feel much better when I get my legs moving!!

So there! Now you are up to date!! I will try to be a better poster in the future!!!

This is not a joke.

Ok so I haven’t written in awhile and I haven’t run since Thursday I ran 6 miles. Instead since Thursday I have been having a bit of an unlucky streak. So now I am going to get it all out! It started Thursday morning…. I was up at 5:45 for the morning run and then by the time I left the house to go to work is was about 8:00AM. I walk down the street to where I parked my car last night. Well its not there anymore. Obviously I parked in the one place in all of Beacon Hill that is resident parking from 6PM to 7AM and my car got towed. Every other sign says 6PM to 8AM, but I guess that’s beside the point. Anyway, I call Michelle who thank goodness, finds my car for me. What would I do without her! It’s in South Boston so I hop in a cab. I end up at work around 9:30. It was actually pretty painless except for the $93 I had to pay to get my car out and the $75 ticket that was on my car when I picked it up. I think they must have put the ticket on my car as they were towing it away because really, there wasn’t enough time for all that to happen.

Ok so we worked really late on Thursday too (almost midnight again) and I just parked in a meter spot when I got home because it was all I could find. I knew I just had to get there by 8AM…of course I am maybe 10 minutes late in the morning and I get down there to find a $25 ticket on my car already!! Seriously the meter person must have all the tickets made up beforehand and then just run down the street putting them on the cars as fast as they can…..so in the past 2 days I have spent $200 on my car….awesome…one of the perks of working nonstop is that you are supposed to be able to save a lot of money but no not me, I find a way. Then on Friday I leave one assignment to go to the office to finish another assignment and I end up working until 4AM on a Friday night!! I got a lot of stuff done that urgently needed to be done but it was still pretty terrible……

Saturday I have a breakdown haha…I am so tired from weeks of 14 hour days and I have this whole assignment on top of the one I am working on that needs to be done by Monday and I just lose it….I go into work on Saturday and just start working hoping for a small miracle and I get one. My super BFFs (the best BFFs in the whole world totally bail me out. They spent 7 hours on Saturday night helping me finish up all of my work. It was really the greatest thing that could have ever happened. I am forever grateful to them!!

Sunday I head back into the office to finish up some more work. I’ve got coffees for me and Michelle and I hop into the elevator like normal but when I get to the 24th floor, the doors don’t open. I push a few buttons and wait another minute or two and nothing…..so now its 3:30 on Sunday and I am trying to finish up my work and I am stuck in the elevator!! I push the call button and they have to have someone come in to help me. I end up stuck in the elevator for half an hour!! Then it just bounced and the doors opened... I grabbed my stuff and got out of there as fast as I could!! I end up working until about 9 and made sure that I did not take that elevator down!

Now it’s Monday and so far nothing bad has happened. I really disappointed that I didn’t have any time to run this weekend since I had to spend the whole weekend doing work. Oh and now I am getting sick again!! I decided though that starting to day I was going to start being really positive and optimistic about everything and hope that it will turn my luck around! I just have to make it until Sunday and then Glenn and I will be on a plane to Costa Rica!!

Heat wave

I still just can’t get it right! I am getting ready to go running this morning and its still winter and it’s still dark out so of course I assume it must cold out. I mean it almost always is these days. So I put on my warm tights, my polar fleece winter hat, my gloves, a long sleeve shirt, and a jacket…..a little excessive I see now looking back and knowing that it was actually 50 degrees out and I probably could have worn a tee shirt and shorts, but by the time I got outside it was too late (plus I was still in disbelief that it could be so warm out), but it was that warm out. Shell and I were already overheating I think by the time we got to the end of the street, but it was like 5:20 in the morning and we were awake and outside already so you just keep running. We ended up doing 8 miles! And I realized when we were done that I was so distracted by how warm it was I didn’t start my watch timer or my ipod thing!! Such a bummer for the dork that has all of her runs documented in like 6 different places!!