Recap of Saturday's Run

I got up extra early on Saturday so that I would be sure to get to Boston College on time for the run! We were asked to arrive at 7:30AM at the Flynn Field House. With a bit of stretching, socializing and a few Dana Farber team announcements we were off on our run. From BC (approx mile 22) we took a left onto Comm Ave. running the course backwards. Running on the hills of Comm Ave were not a problem at all on Saturday morning as we all chatted about the warm weather, celebrity gossip and the logistics of marathon Monday. After running about 4 miles on Comm Ave, we took a sharp left at "the firehouse" onto Route 16/Washington St. going past the Woodland Golf Course, Wellesley Hospital, across I95 (128) through Newton and Wellesley.... Continuing up "Grossman's Hill", and past Wellesley College, and into Natick. This is my first time running past Woodland to Natick. My legs were feeling good as i was running with Deb, and running into fellow DFMC team member and old school Cincinnati neighbor Steve Boschert, and also running with other team member Susan. Most charities were training and running on the course Saturday which made for crowded sidewalks and lots of set up waterstops along the way. There was some cheering from the volunteers which was nice to see! Unfortunately Deb's leg was not cooperating from a nagging fibula situation. So around mile 10.25 we decided to turn back towards Boston and look for help/make a decision for what she should do. We ran for another mile or so when she decided she needed to walk and find Coach Jack. I wished her well and continued on back in running with Stephanie, a DFMC teammate i had just met, and then more with Susan. While running with Susan I learned what "Grossman's Hill" is, well, what is was named after... a hardware store at the bottom of the hill. Which I found sort of odd. There has got to be some more significance to that... but maybe not... as we pondered that running back through Wellesley and over I95, i caught up with Paul and Kevin at a waterstop. I decided to run back in with the two of them tackling the hills on Comm Ave. back to Boston College. These hills were different this time. Normally i categorize the "hills" into 3 hills. 2 medium sized hills and 1 last big hill- heartbreak hill. However, today after running 15/16 or whatever it was at that point, my mind was thinking I had already run 3 hills before we had even arrived to the final Heartbreak hill! One last waterstop at the bottom of the hill and as Kevin put it "Here goes nothing" we ran up the hill. I looked at my watch. it took us 4 minutes to run up it. Not to bad really. 4 minutes out of your full 4: XX marathon time, is nothing when you think about it! There were a few spectators giving out encouraging words at the top of the hill. i was thinking to myself how during marathon day, that crowd is going to carry me up that hill. no doubt about that. Once we hit the top, i noticed another bit of an incline that i had never even noticed before. I thought is this hill #5?!? Then i took it back, it wasn't even big enough to really be a hill... but I think i did officially change my count of these hills from 3- 4. I will go back and count again this weekend... :)

From BC to Natick and back

Tomorrow is the 22 mile run from Boston College (mile 21 on the Boston Marathon course) to Natick (mile 10)and back to Boston College. 22 Miles on the course tomorrow. It will be my first time on the earlier part of the course.

Preparing for a training run is almost like prepping for the marathon day. Stomach full of pasta, lots of water, rest & carefully choosing my running clothes for the day based on weather and distance.

pasta:
Today at lunch myself and two coworkers had planned to hit the Lexington Greater Boston Running Company for some shopping. I needed to buy some shot blocks for the 22 mile run, and also picked up some running socks, and my coworker Colleen needed new shoes badly. We picked up lunch across the street where the eggplant parm penne was on special, so i decided to carbo load at lunch time today. I also made some whole wheat spaghetti for dinner tonight.

Water:
I needed extra caffeine today at work, so i got started on the water later than i wanted to, but have been drinking a decent amount tonight. Between now and tomorrow before i leave i will drink at least a liter. I tend to drink water throughout the night (always have a bottle of water next to my bed).

Rest:
Fridays have become traditionally very busy at my job... trying to squeeze as much as possible in by the end of the week. Today was a bit overwhelming and stressful trying to meet deadlines multi tasting dozens of projects at once; with several fires to put out today. Did not make for a very restful day. however when i got home from work, i took Murray on a 2 mile walk; talked to a friend and my brother Tim on the phone for a bit; just before winding down with my pasta and Grey's Anatomy (it's so good right now!).

Carefully choosing my running clothes:
I picked my long sleeved dry knit 2006 NYC Marathon shirt and either my mid calf tights or a running skirt. Yes, i said running skirt! They have become a new popular running item, check the Runners World article here from the July 2008 issue by Kristin Armstrong (Lance's ex wife).

I have not worn it yet, which makes me not sure i want to wear it tomorrow for a 22 miler. i want to wear something i know will not rub the wrong way (the tights I wore during the NYC 06 Marathon & on many other runs). Although this skirt has very good reviews online. I bought it last fall, and i have been wanting to test it out! Check it out here.

Now i should really get more rest and go to bed. More to come tomorrow!

26.2 Days until the Boston Marathon!

It's officially 26.2 days until the Boston Marathon! Wow, it's coming fast!

I am feeling good about training! On March 15 I did a long run of 20 miles out in Wayland, MA. It was a very rural run through winding roads, various wildlife reserves, all the way to route 2, where we turned around at mile 10 to head back. I have been running steadily with Deb, Meg and Beth during team runs, and we were quite excited to run back at that point. However, around mile 12 we didn't realize how much uphill we had going back, and we all got very quiet. with the cars going by on the street we had to run single file, we didn't have much conversation going. so... we tried to come up with some new topics of conversations to keep our minds off how many miles we had to go. once we hit the next water stop i think we all felt much better. we finished strong at 3 hours and 5 minutes (not counting our chatty time at the waterstops w/ the volunteers)!! so we ran a steady 9:25 pace. I felt good about it. Thanks to these girls who helped me keep going, and of course the volunteers at the water stops!

Last weekend we locked in a 13 mile run. It seemed to go pretty quick for me. i felt better than i thought i would, considering i didn't sleep well. I didn't want to get up for the run, but knowing that i would have my running girls to run with.. it made me get up and go. we did a out an back from BSC Waltham. Chatting it up through winding roads of Lincoln to who knows where.... and back (not familiar with this area!), past horses and some beautiful homes, we logged our long run for the week!

This saturday is the last LONG run. it's a 20-22 mile run starting at Boston College out to Wellseley and back to Boston College. we will run the course backwards to Wellseley and back again... it will be tough, but definetly do-able. you may even say i'm looking forward to it!! :)

I attended Deb's Wine Tasting Fundraiser at Gordon's on Saturday. I have included a pictures of myself, Beth, Meg and Deb!


26.2 days and counting!


PS. we got our bib numbers. I am # 22472!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you so much for coming my Dana Farber Marathon Challenge fundraiser event last Thursday at Vlora.

I really appreciate your attendance at the event and for your very generous donations to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The Dana Farber Marathon Challenge directs 100% of funds raised to the Barr Program, which enables gifted young scientists at the leading edge of discovery to achieve better cure rates and to enhance patients' quality of life. Through your donation, you have personally been able to help these scientists find a cure.

The past few months have been a real eye opener for me. When i took on this challenge, i looked at is as an equal two part project: fundraising $6,500 & training to run 26.2 miles. I knew both would be tough, and i wasn't sure which would be more challenging than the other. Initially i started to focus on my fundraising plan and once i got that underway i started to focus on the running. On the fundraising front, I am almost at 75% of my goal! Just the other night at the fundraising event, i received over $1000 in donations! It really amazes me that each each one of you is willing to reach into your wallet/bank account and give money. I want you to know how much I appreciate your donation to cancer research through my fundraising program. I am truly touched by what you have given.

It's 6 weeks to Marathon Monday, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your help!

The best of luck to each of you who bought a square on my "Guess Anne's Marathon Time" Board. I will be in touch with the winner the day after the race. I will look for your on the course!

Thank you once again for your continued support!

Fundraiser - TONIGHT!

I am keeping my fingers crossed for a very successful fundraising event tonight at Vlora. See you there!

Hyannis Half Marathon

Back on Feb 22 I ran the Hyannis Half Marathon! Hyannis is about an hour and a half south on the Cape. I drove down with fellow DFMC team member Paul that morning. The weather was warmer than predicted... there was snow/rain in the forcast. Setting out to run the half marathon i was nervous! i get nervous of the unknown. Not knowing what the weather will be, if i will have a cramp, or a tight muscle, anything can throw off the race. My goal is to feel good, finish strong and hopefully beat my PR. The last half i ran was in Oct. 2007, the Boston Half Marathon that I hardly trained for. I finished in 2:10. I know i have finished one of the Cincinnati Flying Pig Half marathons in 2:05, so close to 2 hours was going to be my goal, even better if it was under 2hours. I ran the course, sort of bored, i had no running pals with me! Paul ran ahead, and Beth, another DFMCer, was going to be there, but i didn't end up seeing her until mile 12 when she tapped me on the shoulder to say hi (and then she sped up the hill- Beth is good at uphill!). I ran by my lonesome... and actually listened to my iPod, which i don't think i have EVER done during a race. I don't prefer it, but it gave me some good distraction over the 13.1 miles. My preference is to take in the race and talk with fellow running friends.

I finised at 1:58, just in time to miss the oncoming rain!

The map of the course is below. The full marathon runners had to run the same 13.1 route twice! I think that would be tough!