Category Archives: Marathon

The 118th Boston Marathon

My very own marathon scarf

The 2014 Boston Marathon…it was a great day to cross that finish line, along with almost 99% of those who started! I want to be able to say that I loved every minute of the race and the course, but as a pretty average runner, it’s just hard to truly love every minute of running 26.2 miles. I also still stand by my belief that crazy sh*t happens after 20 miles (or even earlier when your body knows it’ll have to go longer than 20 miles). 

But there were lots of things I did love about the day: seeing Team Hoyt on the course, learning that an American male (Meb Keflezighi) won for the first time since 1983, passing the point where the runners were stopped last year, making the turn onto Hereford Street, and of course, finishing! I also loved seeing my liver teammates on the course and all of the spectators who were out cheering us on every step of the way, especially my very own cheerleaders who I looked forward to seeing at different points along the course.

Heading to the start!

Here are some highlights the Boston Athletic Association sent us earlier this week.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2014 BOSTON MARATHON


QUICK FACTS
  • 32,456 runners started the 118th running of the Boston Marathon.
  • 31,931 completed the race from Hopkinton to Boston, which is a finisher rate of more than 98%.
  • 54 push-rim wheelchair athletes started the day with 53 of them officially finishing.
  • 48 mobility impaired athletes started with 44 completing the event. 
  • 51 visually impaired athletes started with 48 finishing.
  • There were 80 countries, and all 50 states (plus six U.S. territories) represented in the race.
  • Meb Keflezighi (USA) became the first American man to win the event since Greg Meyer (1983), and the first American to win the open division since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach (1985).
  • Rita Jeptoo’s (KEN) time of 2:18:57 improved the course record set by Margaret Okayo in 2002. 
  • With victories from Ernst Van Dyk (RSA) and Tatyana McFadden (USA) in the push-rim wheelchair division, they both captured the men’s and women’s 2014 Boston-London Wheelchair Challenge competition respectively.
  • Joan Samuelson (two-time Boston Marathon champion) became the fastest 56-year-old woman in history with her time of 2:52:11. 1968 champion Amby Burfoot (4:42:48) and 1990 champion Gelindo Bordin (4:10:37) also ran.
Go liver!
Runnin…
Photo credit: Ashley Marie

Among my friends and teammates, the consensus is that it was a tough, hot run. After training in Boston this winter, race day proved to be like nothing we’d trained for. My plan was to take water every three miles and fuel every six miles, and I tried to stick to my plan despite the sun and heat because everyone talks so much about the risks of overhydration. I also had some pre-race GI distress (shocking) so I was even more conscious about what I was eating and drinking. Everything went great for about the first 16 miles, but I battled nausea for the last 10 miles. I walked more than I expected to and I willed myself not to vomit in front of all those spectators. After I finished, I willed myself not to vomit in the Copley Mall where I got turned around and had to ask for directions to the Westin, not once but twice! I couldn’t even drink the celebration beer my parents had waiting for me when I returned from taking a shower. And now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I’m pretty sure I was under-hydrated and under-fueled. Since I was trying not to throw up, I was scared to put anything other than water in my stomach. I finished the race with almost all of the fuel I had brought with me…no bueno.

Tired, but finished!

This year was my second marathon and second Boston. I PR’d by a little more than a minute, but I know I have/had a better race in me. And that’s why Boston is kind of like a bad relationship…one that you know you should quit but you can’t. Something keeps drawing you back…conquering those Newton hills or achieving that finish time. And this year, for me and some of my teammates, that also includes a finish line photo! The “what ifs” abound and that makes me contemplate another attempt in 2015.

I want to thank again all of my family and friends who helped me finish the race and race $5,129.70 for liver disease research and advocacy. Together, our team has raised more than $1.4 million! I also want to give a special thank you to my coworker Maureen for my marathon scarf and to the Wellesley girls for my fabulous sign (though I didn’t get to see it on race day).

Donors of the week
The Karr Family
Christine Colpitts
Barbara and Charlie Becker (again!!!)
Alan Ehrlich
Jamie McLellan
Kelly Brubaker

Remembering 4/19/13 – Claire’s story

Claire was my first call on Marathon Monday. She lives in Watertown and this is her story.

I went to bed early that night, maybe 10pm. I rolled over around 11:30 and checked facebook, as all good social media addicts do, and saw that a police officer had been shot at MIT. Keith was still awake but hadn’t heard yet that the officer had died. Then the sirens. So many sirens, and so loud. I wondered aloud if it was possible the sirens were carrying from across the river in Kendall Square right to our open bedroom window. A few more minutes went by, then POP, poppoppoppop, BOOM, pop pop POP POP. Like those fireworks that crackle, but it went on for several minutes, with a few LOUD explosions mixed in. I anxiously asked Keith if we could turn on the TV, just to see, in case the news had any information.
View from Claire’s window
Boston had not been the same all week. There was a LARGE police presence throughout the city with a uniformed officer or military guard on most street corners. Bomb threats and “suspicious packages” popped up throughout the city all week long. A family member who works in law enforcement emailed us to say, “Stay safe. They’re not telling you everything.” Despite this, I somehow didn’t make the connection that the shooting at MIT and the sirens blaring outside my window were associated with the marathon bombings. It took turning on the local news before I put the pieces together. I’ll never forget the visceral fear in Adam Williams’ voice, projected through my television as he huddled behind a parked car not two blocks from my house.
We didn’t go back to sleep that night. Keeping the news on was oddly comforting. We stayed in the bedroom with the shades pulled, afraid even to look out the window. Around 2:30am we discussed a strategy for where to hide if he broke in. Around 6am we grabbed the cat carrier out of the basement and packed a bag in case we got evacuated. Medication, water, granola bars, contact solution, cat food. They said not to open the door to anyone other than clearly marked officials. I wondered how we would know – turns out the full SWAT gear (with automatic weapons) was a good clue.
Watertown proud
They lifted the shutter indoors order at 6pm with no signs of the suspect, and I remember feeling more anxious than at any other point during the day – we kept you indoors all day while we searched for this dangerous criminal and we didn’t find him but we think it’s OK to go outside now. WHAT??? Minutes after the broadcast the sound of helicopters erupted; we figured they were heading back to Hanscom, or wherever helicopters live. About 10 minutes after that returned the sound I will never again mistake for fireworks. We were ahead of the news, since we could hear it before they could broadcast it, then finally the announcement from our new hero, Ed Davis: “We’re so grateful to bring justice to this case. To those families that lost loved ones, and from neighborhoods that lived in fear for an entire day, we have a suspect in custody.” The city celebrated, cheering at the ambulance that transported a murderer. I sat on the couch sobbing – the first time I had left my bedroom all day. To celebrate any part of this horrific tragedy simply felt inhumane.

Morning broke with eerie silence Saturday in Watertown. Love and support poured in to Boston from all over the world. And we laced up and began to heal.

Remembering 4/15/13 – My story

I sat down to write my story and it was harder than I thought it would be. What came out is not a play-by-play of my day, but I think everyone knows the chronology by now. I also looked back at what I posted last year, which was mostly my photos because I didn’t have words at the time.

I ran the Boston Marathon in 2010. It was a perfect day and I had not planned to run it again. It had been crossed off the proverbial bucket list. I knew that I had another marathon in me, but I had my sights set on NYC or Chicago, and a not-so-secret goal of a sub-four hour finish. That all changed on April 15, 2013 and I knew that I would do whatever it took to run the Boston Marathon in 2014. For better or for worse, the Liver team were my people last year, and that is why I chose to run for the American Liver Foundation this year. I’m so glad they chose me too! 

It’s hard to believe a whole year has passed. In some ways it still feels like yesterday, and at the same time it feels like even longer than one year. But I think that’s what happens in tragedy…you get stuck in the in between of wanting to go back in time and wanting to, having to move forward. You don’t want it to get easier because you don’t want to forget.

 April 15, 2013. Tax day. Patriot’s day. Marathon Monday. It was a perfect morning for the marathon…it almost felt like my perfect day back in 2010. My biggest worry that morning was about getting Dave’s parents to the Liver team cheering station in front of Newton-Wellesley Hospital and then back to the Westin. I don’t know what compelled me to throw my phone charger in my bag at the last minute. Thank goodness for that phone charger.

We got to see the lead pack of men and women at mile 16. We high-fived and hugged Jerel and Dave. We got back in the car and headed toward the Westin. The timing was close and Kendrin and I had to run to the finish line from the Westin. We were at the finish line, on the grandstand side of Boylston Street, trying to push our way toward Hereford Street. We weren’t making much progress, so we decided it would be faster to run around, and it was. We made our way to the west side of Hereford Street, between Newbury and Boylston. 

We had gotten to Hereford Street just in time. Just in time, we thought, to see both Jerel and Dave. As it turns out, we were just in time for other reasons as well. We had probably been there for less than five minutes when we heard the noise. I can’t say that I knew in that moment that it was an explosion or a bomb, but I remember we looked at each other and said “that’s not normal”. We looked to the sky to see if there was some type of flyover, but we knew the Sox game was already over. Then we heard the second one. There were two things that made me realize that something was very very wrong – every cop had their head tilted to their shoulder, listening to their radios. And then we saw people starting to run.

We looked at each other again, and we knew we also needed to run. We didn’t know which direction to go, but we chose the right one – we wanted to find our runners. As we ran west on Newbury, we passed a Hubway station and decided in a split second that bikes would help us get away faster. We knew we both had Hubway keys. According to my Hubway account, I rented the bike at 2:52 PM that day. It is the only time I’ve been charged for having a bike out for more than 30 minutes.

We made our way to Comm Ave where they were stopping the runners from making that infamous right on Hereford, and almost immediately found both Jerel and Dave. We were the ones to break the news to many of the runners – about the explosions and that the race was over. I lent Dave my jacket, and wished I had more clothes that I could give to the cold, exhausted, and confused runners. I managed to get one phone call in, before phone calls stopped going through. It was a call to Claire, who I knew was at home that day, with a plea to turn on the news and please keep me updated via text. I was able to send and receive texts so I lent my phone to anyone who wanted to send a text, but many people did not know a cell phone number. I learned that day to always run with my phone and to memorize a couple of emergency cell phone numbers. I sent a message to someone on behalf of Diane from Texas. A few months later she texted me to say thank you and we still text back and forth occasionally. I hope she is returning this year. I remember talking to a woman, who I later found out would have been the first woman with dwarfism to complete the Boston Marathon. She will also be back this year.

I had the news on in the morning when I was getting ready, and I remember seeing an interview with a woman who was going to push her daughter in a wheelchair à la Team Hoyt. She became my “main extra” that day. I saw her at mile 16 and again on Hereford Street. And then she was on every news station across the country and the world that day and forever more – she was just crossing the finish line as the bombs went off.

I don’t remember what time I finally got home after being locked in the Westin, and the next few days are also a blur. I couldn’t stop watching the news, even though there was nothing “new”. Nothing, of course, until the events of Thursday night and Friday. And then it was over…or it was just beginning. I think both are true. In some ways my life has gone back to “normal” (and I am grateful to live in a place where these types of events are not the norm), but I and the Boston Marathon have been forever changed. And I can’t wait to take back the finish line on April 21.

See also

Remembering 4/15/13 – Michael’s story

Michael Sullivan was a spectator last year with his daughter Cora. This is his story.

I was waiting with my three-year-old daughter Cora at the family waiting area when we heard the two explosions. We were sitting down on a curb on Stuart Street at the family waiting area. Cora was exhausted. When I heard the explosions, I remember thinking that it didn’t sound like normal city noise; like a truck tire popping or something like that. A few minutes later several people came running down the street shouting something about a bomb. A bomb? At the marathon? My fellow spectators and I looked around at each other. No way. Why would someone bomb the marathon?
Then I looked down at my phone and realized there was no signal. A couple minutes pass and a dozen messages all come through at once from various people. My friend Stacey who I had not spoken to in over a year asked me if I was OK. My brother told me that CNN was reporting a bomb went off at the finish line. I told him to text me updates as no data was going through the phone.
For the next two-plus hours I carried Cora on my hip all over the surrounding blocks looking for information. No word of Jerel at the medical tent. I was tracking him with text updates and I knew he would have been crossing the finish line at around the time of the explosions. I became more and more frantic. Seemingly out of nowhere dozens of military hummers and police with automatic weapons descended on the Back Bay. When my eyes started watering, Cora asked me what was wrong. I told her that someone had done something very bad and that many people were hurt and I couldn’t find Jerel. She said, “I miss Jerel. I want to see Jerel.” At one BAA information tent, a kind volunteer noticed my distress and gave me a couple bottles of vitamin water and kindly reminded me to stay calm.
At one point I went into Turner Fisheries at the corner of Stuart and Dartmouth to use their phone. Inside I was met with the sounds of runners and spectators sipping cocktails and eating shrimp staring at televisions with live shots of the street right outside. It was surreal. Outside I went up to one of the guys with the automatic weapons and asked him if anyone was seriously hurt. “Yes.” Did he know names? “You know I can’t tell you that.”
Eventually Jerel was able to call me and I told him to meet me at Club Cafe, a gay bar a few blocks south of the finish line. I went in with Cora and asked the waiter if he could make a hot chocolate for her. “Well this is a bar.. but we have some chocolate milk we can heat up.” I thanked him and ordered something for Cora to eat. About 20 minutes later Jerel came in and I hugged him tight. I had already been in touch with Lucy, Cora’s mom, who offered to come and pick us up. When she arrived we paid and left, Lucy and I walking briskly through the crowded sidewalk; Jerel had to remind us to slow down – he had just run a marathon after all. I had almost forgotten that was the point of us being there. 
We walked passed an absurdly long line of parked ambulances. I didn’t realize there were so many ambulances in the city. Lucy had parked very illegally in some tow zone area on some street in the South End but didn’t get ticketed or towed. The police had bigger fish to fry. She dropped us off at home and offered to take Cora back to her house. I was grateful to her and her partner Elizabeth for keeping Cora safe and looking after her. Jerel and I trudged up to our apartment on the third floor, Jerel sorted through the 80 or so Facebook posts to his wall, and, dazed, we turned off the TV. 

This year I am running the marathon. I am not a runner. I took up running partly because of the bombings and partly because its difficult to be a non-runner in a relationship with a runner. Boston is this city that people love to hate. As a native Bostonian I’m used to the complaints about Boston, about people saying it’s small, that the people are unfriendly, and that train closes too early. I’m proud of my city. I’ve walked down Hereford Street and Boylston Street probably a thousand times in my life. There’s something sacred about this time. I’m looking forward to crossing the finish line and putting the bombings squarely in the past. 

See also

Remembering 4/15/13 – Jerel’s story

Jerel Calzo was a runner last year. He was stopped on Comm Ave just before the turn onto Hereford Street. This is his story.

It’s 9:46pm on 4/15/14. A year ago today, probably at this same time, I was lying in bed, unsure of how I felt about my Boston Marathon experience, feeling too exhausted physically, mentally, and spiritually to organize that mixture of emotions into something meaningful. A year later I’m still not sure how to process the events of last year. I wore my marathon jacket today in solidarity on the anniversary of this tragedy, but I still feel ambivalent about whether I’ve earned the right to wear it. I didn’t finish that race that I had spent so many weeks fundraising and training for. I expected to feel triumphant today, but instead the feeling I kept returning to was that sickening, two-hour-long period where I waited and wandered through the eerily still, but packed streets of Back Bay and the South End wondering when I would ever get to see Michael and Cora again.
But I also remember beautiful little snapshots from throughout that day. The nervous excitement of boarding the buses in Boston Common and how lucky I felt to sit next to a four-time Boston Marathon runner who urged me to just enjoy the race. My surprise at being able to find and sit with Fred and Gina in Athlete’s village as we waited for our waves to get called into the corrals. Realizing that people weren’t joking when they said that there would be spectators every inch of the course. How the first 10 miles passed in a blink. That perfect combination of 50-degree weather and abundant sunshine. The joy of seeing Kara and Kendrin at mile 17. That minor heartbreak of missing Michael, Cora, and Deborah on that same stretch of the course. I remember feeling so disappointed at that point, and somewhat angry at Michael for not being where I thought he should be (even though I never told him exactly where to wait). That resentment probably contributed to the horrible cramping I experienced on the Newton Hills, and that terrible moment of self-doubt when I thought that I might not be able to finish the race. Then I remembered the crowds, the unbelievable number of people who cheered my name (and said it correctly!) and all those children who gave me candy, bananas, and Dixie cups of water to renew my leg muscles and my resolve to finish the race. I remember the BC college students who were surprisingly supportive and who encouraged me to press on despite my humbling run-walk. And then I remember seeing the CITGO sign and feeling that sense of pride that I was actually going to finish. But I didn’t.
When I finally got in touch with Michael he told me that he and Cora were at Club Café. I was so delirious I didn’t even remember where it was. I felt so guilty for having those negative thoughts about him on the course. The relief I felt when I saw Michael and Cora is something that I still can’t describe. Looking back on it now, though, it’s a reminder of how running isn’t a solitary sport, and that the Boston Marathon is really about love, family, and community. The tragedy brought Bostonians (stereotypically cold and hard to read) together. Although I know the “Boston Strong” sentiment has since received criticism, this one-year anniversary was an opportunity to remember how we all united in our compassion for the victims and our courage to press on. Preparing for the Boston Marathon helped me reconnect with so many people and to forge new friendships. And this process continues as I prepare to run again this year. This year I will be running with close friends. This year I will be running with Michael.

In the taper madness leading up to 4/21/14, I find myself watching footage of last year’s events, reading the testimonies of survivors, and praying that everyone is able to run a safe race Monday.  I know it’s a new year and a new marathon, but I feel like this year will give me closure. Who knows how I’ll feel when I run that final .40 miles of the course. I’ll be an emotional mess, most likely. I’ll probably be so dehydrated I won’t shed any tears. I’ve also accepted that I may never feel closure about 4/15/13. Healing is a process. Luckily, running is a great way to work through pain, growth, and complicated emotions. Running makes you stronger in every respect. And running helps you connect.

See also Kendrin’s story.

Remembering 4/15/13 – Kendrin’s story

Kendrin and I were together on Marathon Monday last year. This is her story.

I was spectating at the corner of Hereford and Newbury with my friend Kara when I heard the first explosion.  A stranger standing next to us nervously asked, “What was that?”. I assumed the noise was related to the festivities of the day and responded, “Don’t know, it’s too late in the day for a flyover.” Just moments later, we heard the second explosion.  This time we were silent.  Within seconds we knew something was terribly wrong. Spectators were fleeing from Boylston and police officers were waving for us to clear the area.  A feeling of terror set in. I feared the worst and worried that our city was under attack, that the two explosions may have been the first of many more to come. In an effort to escape the area quickly, Kara and I got on Hubway bikes that were parked nearby. We biked away from the smoke and the panic, desperate to find the runners we had been waiting to cheer on, our friend Jerel and my boyfriend Dave. We biked along the course and I seemed to have superhuman vision as we approached the sea of runners who had been stopped at Mass Ave. Among the masses, I quickly spotted Jerel and another friend I didn’t even know would be running as a bandit that day.  I called out for them and told them there had been explosions. I continued to bike along the course frantically yelling for Dave until I spotted him as he approached the bottleneck of runners, all 25.7 miles into their journey at that point. As more runners accumulated, they questioned why the race was at a standstill. Although Kara and I were mostly clueless about what had happened, we were more informed than most, so we notified the runners that there had been explosions at the finish–our announcements met with anger, confusion, and tears. 

Kendrin and Dave at the liver walk
to the finish line

For every story of tragedy and loss, there are thousands more stories of near misses, people who made last minute decisions that kept them out of harm’s way that day. On our way to Hereford, Kara and I had walked along the course on Boylston, pushing through the crowds near the finish line and both bombing sites. The walk along the crowded sidewalk was slow-going, though, so we made a decision to backtrack to get to an alley near the finish line, which allowed us to run along the back of the buildings to get to Hereford. We had been waiting less than 5 minutes when we heard the first explosion. By all accounts, I was extremely lucky that day, but that hasn’t made the healing easy.  Although I have never run a marathon before, running has always been therapeutic to me and I can’t think of a better way to heal from the events of that day than to “run it out.” I am so honored to be running the 2014 Boston Marathon with the American Liver Foundation’s Run for Research team. I will run those 26.2 miles to support an amazing cause and also as a tribute to the awesome strength of the City of Boston and to honor those who lost life and limb that day. 


There is a superstition among Boston Marathon runners that, although you can train on the course, you should not run across the finish line on Boylston until race day. I, respectfully, do not abide by this superstition. I like to think that the finish line belongs to all of us who were forever changed that day—victims, survivors, first responders, spectators, Bostonians, the running community at large, and so many others. Something was taken from us on April 15, 2013 and I like to think that I take a little bit of it back every time I run across that finish line on a training run. I am counting the days until I, along with the other 35,999 runners and the City of Boston, get to proudly take back that finish line for real on April 21, 2014.

Boston Marathon training – Week 19

SI cover models!
Photo credit: James Lin

The countdown to the Boston Marathon is in single digits…holy moly! On Saturday, my Liver teammates and what looked like hundreds of other runners and supporters had the opportunity to be part of the Sports Illustrated cover photo shoot at the finish line on Boylston Street. Don’t they look like fantastic cover models?

Boylston Street
Photo credit: James Lin


I did my last long run (10 miles) in NY this weekend. I was there for a family visit and for a wedding. It was fun to see that the wedding colors just so happened to be “Boston Strong”. The favors were also one of my favorite running snacks – M&Ms.

Boston Strong wedding favors


I also ordered my official Adidas “celebration jacket”. There has been some controversy about this jacket in the running community, but I will still wear it proudly (but not until after the race).

In the final week of taper madness I plan to put my feet up as much as possible, wear only flat shoes, and not drink (or maybe just drink less). Here is what else is on my to do list:

  • Take my orange Run for Research singlet out for a test run (must open my mail first)
  • Arts and crafts with iron-on letters
  • Stalk the Wellesley FB page for the sign I requested
  • Figure out a spectator plan for B&C (here’s a good spectator guide)
  • BAA 5K, followed by team brunch, followed by picking up bib on Saturday

My bib number is 25751 and I will be in Wave 3 (start time 11 AM) and Corral 8 (which means I will be starting well after 11 AM). You can follow me on the BAA web site or through the AT&T Athlete Alert. 

  • Text 26752 to 345678 using your US mobile phone and follow the instructions
  • Email: Go to the registration page and enter an email address for updates

Wish me luck!

Total distance covered
19.5 miles

Donors of the week
The Lebowitz Family
The Lawson Family
Carol Sullivan
Ruthie Chiasson

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 18

My Liver team people!
Photo credit: Maria Kontos

Hello taper! I am taking this very seriously, as in “whoops I may have skipped a couple of runs this week”. Here’s a few articles I found on tapering – like life, it’s all about moderation. Too much or too little is no bueno.

Pretty day on the Chestnut Hill Reservoir

In other news this week, Taper Madness (the party) was a great success. Huge kudos goes out to Lisa Linard, Royale, Bearfight, and the American Liver Foundation for putting on such a fantastic event. I do love me a good cover band, and we realized that Kendrin and I shared our birthday cupcakes with the same band five years ago at the Landsdowne Pub. Thanks to Facebook for helping us remember just how long ago that was!

I also like winning stuff! I won a dinner for two to Barcelona Wine Bar! Who wants to be my date? Our crew also won a registration for Reach the Beach, a pair of Red Sox tickets, and a few cases of Hint water. Thanks to Dylan for donating his Sox tickets to me…it was a fun, but COLD night for the game.

Let’s make excellent happen

Saturday was my last long run with the team. It was a pretty day for a run, and I was excited that I “only” had to run 13 miles. That was a piece of cake compared to last week’s distance! Boston is definitely starting to get marathon-ready…I am loving the New Balance advertisements.

Total distance covered
21 miles

Donors of the week
Paetra Sampson
EBSCO Information Services
Michael Woods

Goals for next week
Just the right amount of taper

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 17

#BostonFire

This week there are a few things to celebrate and some brave firefighters to honor and remember. On Wednesday, March 26, Engine 33/Ladder 15 responded to a 9-alarm fire in the Back Bay and Boston lost two heroes: Firefighter Michael R. Kennedy and Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh Jr. Kennedy was planning to run the Boston Marathon this year (#29384). It was so touching to see so many runners out on the course honoring these brave men. 

The Liver team surpassed the $1 million fundraising mark, which is such an amazing accomplishment! I am so proud to be part of this team. I also surpassed my $4K fundraising minimum. But who wants to go through life achieving the minimum? I’m still reaching toward my goal of $5K!

Team photo in Hopkinton – can you find me?
Photo credit: Run for Research

Oh yeah, and I completed my longest training run ever…ever ever. In 2010 I only went up to 20 miles during training. I am also super proud of Jimmy and Kendrin for rocking their longest runs ever! Here are a few lessons I learned:

  1. Probably not smart to go out drinking Thursday night (but super fun!)
  2. Cut your toenails as short as possible; blister block is your friend
  3. Basta Pasta is open the day before the marathon (had to check since it’s Easter Sunday) and my pre-race meal is definitely going to be Bolognese with homemade fusilli and garlic bread with cheese! I was picking up a to go order on Friday night and met another girl who always orders Basta Pasta before long runs and the marathon. Her favorite meal is chicken Marsala with penne.
  4. I should have taken more photos!
    5. Where are all the goldfish?
  5. Goldfish are a hot commodity these days!
It was a lot of fun to be out on the course on Saturday – a big thank you to all of the volunteers (from all of the teams) and cheerleaders! I loved the DJ and “10 miles to taper sign” at mile 10 and high-fiving kids from cars as they drove by. And that’s just a fraction of the energy that will be out there in just 21 days!

Total distance covered
36 miles

Donors of the week
The Laffeys
Jamie Sheldon
The Wiese Family
Vanessa Cavallaro

Goals for next week
Taper Madness on April 3

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!

Boston Marathon training – Week 16

Jamaica Pond
What did I do with my unexpected week of rest? Well, I slept a lot, and then had insomnia. I ate an entire bag of almond M&M’s…no rhyme or reason for that, they just sounded good at the time of my Rite Aid tissue/medication visit. I studied for and took a midterm in a DayQuil/Mucinex haze. I did a little cooking (red lentil, tomato, spinach soup, Eggplant “pizza”, and a quick weeknight penne). 

What did I not do? I did not run or do any PA. On one hand it was amazing how easy it was to slip back into a habit of non-activity. On the other hand, I found myself starting to get a little jealous of people who I saw out running. A bit of a contradiction, I know.

Liver love on the marathon banners
Today was my first day back out there and other than having a constantly drippy nose and wishing I had brought gloves, no major complaints. I took my run out to the Jamaica Pond and once back in the city, I made the infamous “right on Hereford, left on Boylston” to see the marathon banners that went up this week. 

I also received a fantastic care package this week, full of my favorite running snacks (Honey Stingers, Probar energy chews, and Swedish fish). Thanks so much Kir!

Total distance covered
14 miles (supposed to be 33!)

Donors of the week
Helen and Jack Dong

Goals for next week
21-miler with the team, Hopkinton to BC

Visit my web site for more information or if you’d like to make a donation!