That you can officially start tracking the WEATHER for the Boston Marathon!! Yes, the 10-day forecast is up and running. Currently the forecast calls for 60% showers and 56 degrees as the high in Hopkinton, 54 as the high and 60% showers in Boston... Fifty-six degrees sounds PERFECT to me. Showers.. well, the weather forecast is never really accurate 10-days out, so we'll see what is says over the next week....
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The three most common questions as the marathon approaches:
How do you feel, are you ready?
I get this question a lot. Well, I have to say, it is 11 days until Marathon Monday and I would not be excited to run the marathon tomorrow. However with each passing day I feel a bit more motivated and excited for the run. When I look back over my training for Boston, I have logged over 500 miles since January (probably more weekly miles than I have ever run before a marathon), received over $6000.00 towards my fundraising for Dana Farber (also a PR for my fundraising efforts), and had many great running partners along the way. I have had a few nagging injuries here and there, but none that amounted to anything at this point in my training. I feel very fortunate, and I am starting to feel more and more ready for the marathon.
So, how much more do you run before the marathon?
All of us marathoners are in 'taper mode' now. When I say that to a non-marathon runner they kind of nod and smile. In other words, we are in rest and recovery mode, logging less miles than we have over the bulk of our training and allowing our bodies to get ready for the trek from Hopkinton to Boston. The funny part of this question is that when I tell a non-runner than we don't have any more long runs and that I will only run 8-10 miles this weekend, I get another look of yeah, right, that's not a long run?? However, when you put it in the context of how many miles we have been running on the weekends since January, 8-10 miles seems like a walk in the park.
This week I accidentally ran 8.5 miles in Newport on Monday because of construction on the Ocean Drive that made me reroute my run. Tuesday I did a great 4 miler with Betsy, last night, Wednesday, I did a great 5-miler with Dennis, tonight I will do 4 with Betsy with a little bit of tempo running thrown in, tomorrow-rest, Sat- 8-10, Sunday - rest.
Then next week I will try my hardest to stick to only a few short runs, mixed in with lots of reading and lots of rest.
Do you have a goal time?
I never answer this question. Mainly because I don't really ever have a goal time, I have a goal range. And, I often don't even like to admit what the range is, because most people automatically forget the range and focus on the lowest number. I will admit, I am not aiming for a PR (personal record). I am not feeling that this time around and I don't want that added pressure. This marathon is about running for my supporters and all of those people affected by cancer. My goal is to make them proud and to finish feeling strong and good!
I get this question a lot. Well, I have to say, it is 11 days until Marathon Monday and I would not be excited to run the marathon tomorrow. However with each passing day I feel a bit more motivated and excited for the run. When I look back over my training for Boston, I have logged over 500 miles since January (probably more weekly miles than I have ever run before a marathon), received over $6000.00 towards my fundraising for Dana Farber (also a PR for my fundraising efforts), and had many great running partners along the way. I have had a few nagging injuries here and there, but none that amounted to anything at this point in my training. I feel very fortunate, and I am starting to feel more and more ready for the marathon.
So, how much more do you run before the marathon?
All of us marathoners are in 'taper mode' now. When I say that to a non-marathon runner they kind of nod and smile. In other words, we are in rest and recovery mode, logging less miles than we have over the bulk of our training and allowing our bodies to get ready for the trek from Hopkinton to Boston. The funny part of this question is that when I tell a non-runner than we don't have any more long runs and that I will only run 8-10 miles this weekend, I get another look of yeah, right, that's not a long run?? However, when you put it in the context of how many miles we have been running on the weekends since January, 8-10 miles seems like a walk in the park.
This week I accidentally ran 8.5 miles in Newport on Monday because of construction on the Ocean Drive that made me reroute my run. Tuesday I did a great 4 miler with Betsy, last night, Wednesday, I did a great 5-miler with Dennis, tonight I will do 4 with Betsy with a little bit of tempo running thrown in, tomorrow-rest, Sat- 8-10, Sunday - rest.
Then next week I will try my hardest to stick to only a few short runs, mixed in with lots of reading and lots of rest.
Do you have a goal time?
I never answer this question. Mainly because I don't really ever have a goal time, I have a goal range. And, I often don't even like to admit what the range is, because most people automatically forget the range and focus on the lowest number. I will admit, I am not aiming for a PR (personal record). I am not feeling that this time around and I don't want that added pressure. This marathon is about running for my supporters and all of those people affected by cancer. My goal is to make them proud and to finish feeling strong and good!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Fire up for the Local 3!
So my leg seems to be on the mend. After a massage on Tuesday morning, taking Tuesday night off and then swimming and elliptical on Wednesday, I seem to have allowed my quad ample time to heal. Last night I ran Crossroads with Betsy. She pushed my pace, which felt good, and we ran all the way into town over the finish line of the marathon. Man would it be nice to feel that good crossing the finish line on marathon day!
Tonight Glen is having a fundraiser at Game On! for all of us to hang out before Shifter's race tomorrow at the Local Bar in Newton. The race tomorrow is a 3-miler, so Fred, Aimee, Betsy and I are going to go out and do a solid 9-mile run right before the race itself.
And the countdown continues to the Boston Marathon - 16 days, $5,301.00 raised, and $2,619.00 left to go towards my fundraising goal.
Tonight Glen is having a fundraiser at Game On! for all of us to hang out before Shifter's race tomorrow at the Local Bar in Newton. The race tomorrow is a 3-miler, so Fred, Aimee, Betsy and I are going to go out and do a solid 9-mile run right before the race itself.
And the countdown continues to the Boston Marathon - 16 days, $5,301.00 raised, and $2,619.00 left to go towards my fundraising goal.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thank you!
Thank you for all of those who came out to support Betsy and me at The Place this weekend. It was a great party and it was great to see everyone who made it out! THANK YOU! We had a great showing of Dana Farber runners (and coaches!).
I am pretty sure my tapering is beginning now. After the final really long run of the season, I think I may have minorly strained my left quad. It is not so bad that I cannot run, but it definitely hurts more than a regular sore muscle. As Jack said, the name of the game at this point is "less is more". Tonight I am going to head over to the Belmont track for the last track workout, however I think I am going to maybe jog a few miles and then just wait for everyone else to finish up and head over to 21 Nickels for drinks :).
On a side note, I have always enjoyed running because it helps me to think through different things going on in my life. The biggest topic I have been thinking about on my runs recently has been where I will end up moving in August, when I embark upon the path to becoming an MD. I have officially been accepted to three medical schools and have some hard decisions to make by May 15. Last night my interviewer from BU School of Medicine called me to Congratulate me on being accepted into their program. I also hold acceptances at (my original first choice) University of Vermont in Burlington and at the new Tufts/Maine Medical Center program (which is 2 years in Boston and two years in Portland Maine). To most, May 15 might sound like I have all the time in the world to decide - however I have been debating about my first choice Vermont versus staying in Boston since October of last fall... Regardless, I think I'll have plenty to think about in the miles ahead while I taper towards marathon week.
Enjoy the great weather today, and get outside!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Last twenty miler down! Dance for a Cure tonight!
When would you say training for Boston officially begins? Is it in October when you start to put in a few miles per week to build a base? Or is it in November, when you do an 8 miler on one weekend, maybe a 10 miler on the next? Or is it early December when you really start committing to one long run a week, building from 10 to 11.... 20... 15...20.... I think you get the idea. The only reason I was thinking about this is because I have noticed some people actually track how many miles they have put into their training. I have a training log, and have been fairly diligent about logging my miles since September. However, I have never gone beyond counting the miles I did in one week. After running my final 22 mile run this morning, I decided I would look into how many miles I actually have logged for my training for Boston...
The problem is, I don't know when I went from recovering from my fall marathons to training for Boston. If you count the second week of December (a week after the Philadelphia marathon) as my first week of training, then I have run 623 miles so far in my training. If you count January 1st as my first day of official training, I have done 480. Regardless of what I consider to be my total training mileage, it makes me feel good to know I have that many miles logged on these legs as I enter into the three week taper to Boston.
As for today, today was a great day. I was hesitant about how I would feel running 21.5 miles, after logging quite a few miles this week and coming off a "week of mai tai's on the deck" as Jackson commented on in one of my posts. Aimee, Betsy and I met up to head to the Joints in Motion bus this morning at 6:40AM. Victor, the Joints in Motion organizer, was dressed in a overweight hula dancer body suit directing us on to the bus and letting us know all about the run. There were many different charities heading out to Hopkinton to drop off their runners and then set up water stops along the way back into Boston. Children's Hospital, Team in Training, Liver Foundation and Joints in Motion are only a few of the many different support groups and volunteers who were out there with water, Gatorade and snacks for us along the entire course. It is amazing how supportive the volunteers of all of these groups are. We had water stops at every mile!
We started the run around 8:30AM, Betsy, Aimee and I, and we kept a great, consistent pace throughout the whole run! We did not take it too fast down the hills so that we were burnt out come the fire station where the real hills start. Around mile 13, Sarah Nixon showed up and ran the last 8.5 miles with us. She was super energetic and a great addition to our group, helping pull us up the hills and into BC. My legs are sore now - no doubt about that - but my confidence in running has returned. After 10-days in the Caribbean without logging even one mile in my running log, I still managed to pull out a strong effort for my last long run - a lot of that is thanks to my supporters, my donors, and my training partners (especially Aimee, Betsy and Sarah). THANK YOU!
On another note, if you do not already have plans tonight, head on over to The Place in Boston for Betsy and My fundraiser "Dancing for a Cure"!! It should be a great party, with some free drinks until 10pm and an open dance floor! Hope to see you there!
The problem is, I don't know when I went from recovering from my fall marathons to training for Boston. If you count the second week of December (a week after the Philadelphia marathon) as my first week of training, then I have run 623 miles so far in my training. If you count January 1st as my first day of official training, I have done 480. Regardless of what I consider to be my total training mileage, it makes me feel good to know I have that many miles logged on these legs as I enter into the three week taper to Boston.
As for today, today was a great day. I was hesitant about how I would feel running 21.5 miles, after logging quite a few miles this week and coming off a "week of mai tai's on the deck" as Jackson commented on in one of my posts. Aimee, Betsy and I met up to head to the Joints in Motion bus this morning at 6:40AM. Victor, the Joints in Motion organizer, was dressed in a overweight hula dancer body suit directing us on to the bus and letting us know all about the run. There were many different charities heading out to Hopkinton to drop off their runners and then set up water stops along the way back into Boston. Children's Hospital, Team in Training, Liver Foundation and Joints in Motion are only a few of the many different support groups and volunteers who were out there with water, Gatorade and snacks for us along the entire course. It is amazing how supportive the volunteers of all of these groups are. We had water stops at every mile!
We started the run around 8:30AM, Betsy, Aimee and I, and we kept a great, consistent pace throughout the whole run! We did not take it too fast down the hills so that we were burnt out come the fire station where the real hills start. Around mile 13, Sarah Nixon showed up and ran the last 8.5 miles with us. She was super energetic and a great addition to our group, helping pull us up the hills and into BC. My legs are sore now - no doubt about that - but my confidence in running has returned. After 10-days in the Caribbean without logging even one mile in my running log, I still managed to pull out a strong effort for my last long run - a lot of that is thanks to my supporters, my donors, and my training partners (especially Aimee, Betsy and Sarah). THANK YOU!
On another note, if you do not already have plans tonight, head on over to The Place in Boston for Betsy and My fundraiser "Dancing for a Cure"!! It should be a great party, with some free drinks until 10pm and an open dance floor! Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Back from the Caribbean!
I got back from an amazing vacation in the Caribbean on Monday. It could not have been more relaxing and rejuvenating. My family and Fred headed down to Tortola to charter a catamaran for 10 full days.
We island hopped every day and saw some great fish, a few sea turtles and ate at some amazing restaurants.
We island hopped every day and saw some great fish, a few sea turtles and ate at some amazing restaurants.I even got Fred to aqua jog (also known as "zooming") with me five of the days we were down there. I think aqua jogging in Caribbean waters with amazing views is far more enjoyable (although still pretty monotonous and boring) than jogging in a pool.
Since I have been back, my fundraising has bumped up from $3700.00 to $5302.00!!!! Thank you so much for all of your support! I am so excited to have bypassed the $5000.00 mark. Betsy and I are throwing our Dancing for a Cure fundraising event at The Place in Boston this weekend, which hopefully will be a great success and a great time!
As for my training, I jumped full swing back into running right off the plane... I was feeling a bit antsy after taking so many days off. (A full 10 days!) Monday night I did 8.5 miles from my apartment. It was chilly out, but felt surprisingly good to be out running. Last night was a bit more difficult. I decided to head to the track and the workout was a bit more than my legs were willing to handle after having had some time off. My goal was to get through at least half of the workout (or until I started to feel myself really slowing down) and then to run the portion I was unable to do at a moderate pace. I was able to do just that. Aimee and Betsy pulled me along through our first six 800's and then I pulled back for the last 6. It was hard, but felt good all the same.
Today I did my first lunch run! It is BEAUTIFUL out, so I headed out to the river for a very easy 5.5 miles. I was jogging the whole way, trying to keep my pace down and just enjoy being outside and not sitting in front of a computer for an hour. The temperature seems to be going up here in Boston.
Tomorrow I plan to do Crossroads and bypass my early morning swim. I think getting a good night sleep and not overdoing my training will be the name of the game for me for the next three and a half weeks leading up to the marathon. This weekend is our 22 miler from Hopkinton to BC which I am really excited about and want to feel refreshed and ready!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Three 20 miler's down... a vacation and one to go
The name of my run this morning was poor preparation. I woke up at 5:15AM so that I would have a good 45 minutes to prepare myself to head out on my 20 miler. I was not looking forward to running at all, but the warmish air last night when I went to bed made me think the run would not be as bad as some runs over this season that have been in freezing cold temperatures.
My Internet was not working so I did not check the temperature before heading out. I assumed it would be just as nice as yesterday. I put on my running skirt, a long sleeve shirt, gloves, a hat and my camel back. I had my Garmin all set up and charged and I headed out the door by 6:15.
Everything started to go down hill after about 1.5 miles into my run. I felt tired, which of course had me convinced that I have low iron and that it had nothing to do with the fact that it was dark out and 6:30 in the morning. My legs were also FREEZING. When I stepped outside of my apartment I recognized it was cold, although I was not sure how cold it really was and I assumed I would quickly warm up. That was definitely not the case. With no sun, and bare legs, I felt as if my legs were slowly becoming ice cubes. By the time I made it up to Cleveland Circle (1.5 miles into my run), I was debating as to whether or not I should run home to change! I decided against that, in hopes that when the sun finally came out I may warm up.
The next problem I encountered was that my Garmin stopped working at about 1.9 miles. In some ways this was a blessing because I was feeling a bit lethargic and it was nice to not be able to see the pace that I was running. On the other hand, I was depending on my little electronic device to let me know when I could turn around - when ten miles had passed. Now all I had was the time, no record of distance. At that point I decided I would run out for about 1 hour and a half and then turn around. I was feeling fairly tired so I figured I couldn't have been running all that fast but that I should still be able to make it to 10 miles within 1.5 hours.
I ran out on Beacon Street into Wellesley and a little bit past a turn around point for one of the Dana Farber group run 20 milers. I decided to turn around at 1 hour 28 minutes because I assumed at that point I had to have run the initial 10 miles. My route back was directly down the marathon course, over heartbreak hill and into Coolidge corner.
The name of the game for me for the past couple of weeks has been that running has been a bit tougher than usual. I am not feeling the normal bounce in my feet. Today made me feel a bit better though. My energy level ebbed and flowed throughout the run but overall I felt pretty good. And, I thought I had only done 20, only to find out that I actually did 21.8!
At work now I am definitely feeling a bit exhausted and extremely excited by the prospect of warm weather and vacation. I'll be back in 10 days to fill you in on my last four weeks of training before the 2009 Boston Marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!
My Internet was not working so I did not check the temperature before heading out. I assumed it would be just as nice as yesterday. I put on my running skirt, a long sleeve shirt, gloves, a hat and my camel back. I had my Garmin all set up and charged and I headed out the door by 6:15.
Everything started to go down hill after about 1.5 miles into my run. I felt tired, which of course had me convinced that I have low iron and that it had nothing to do with the fact that it was dark out and 6:30 in the morning. My legs were also FREEZING. When I stepped outside of my apartment I recognized it was cold, although I was not sure how cold it really was and I assumed I would quickly warm up. That was definitely not the case. With no sun, and bare legs, I felt as if my legs were slowly becoming ice cubes. By the time I made it up to Cleveland Circle (1.5 miles into my run), I was debating as to whether or not I should run home to change! I decided against that, in hopes that when the sun finally came out I may warm up.
The next problem I encountered was that my Garmin stopped working at about 1.9 miles. In some ways this was a blessing because I was feeling a bit lethargic and it was nice to not be able to see the pace that I was running. On the other hand, I was depending on my little electronic device to let me know when I could turn around - when ten miles had passed. Now all I had was the time, no record of distance. At that point I decided I would run out for about 1 hour and a half and then turn around. I was feeling fairly tired so I figured I couldn't have been running all that fast but that I should still be able to make it to 10 miles within 1.5 hours.
I ran out on Beacon Street into Wellesley and a little bit past a turn around point for one of the Dana Farber group run 20 milers. I decided to turn around at 1 hour 28 minutes because I assumed at that point I had to have run the initial 10 miles. My route back was directly down the marathon course, over heartbreak hill and into Coolidge corner.
The name of the game for me for the past couple of weeks has been that running has been a bit tougher than usual. I am not feeling the normal bounce in my feet. Today made me feel a bit better though. My energy level ebbed and flowed throughout the run but overall I felt pretty good. And, I thought I had only done 20, only to find out that I actually did 21.8!
At work now I am definitely feeling a bit exhausted and extremely excited by the prospect of warm weather and vacation. I'll be back in 10 days to fill you in on my last four weeks of training before the 2009 Boston Marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!
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