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!

Running snacks are YUMMY

As a mentioned previous, my favorite running treat is the Cliff Shot Blok- Strawberry flavor, actually all flavors are delicious. I need to stop and buy a few more on my way home from work today, actually, i should look into buying in bulk! The ingredients sound sort of gross, but they give you what you need to keep running, and they taste good!

Ingredients:
CLIF Shot Bloks
Clif® SHOT® BLOKS™ are organic energy chews that naturally enhance your performance. Because they're chewable, they're easier to grab, store, handle, and consume than many energy options.

Features/Benefits
- Serving size: 3 pieces
- 2 servings per bag
- Consumer 3 - 6 SHOT BLOKS every hour during activity; always follow consumption with water
- Each serving contains 20 mg potassium, 24 g carb, 20 mg sodium
- Ingredients include organic brown rice syrup, organic evaporated cane juice, organic brown rice syrup solids
- Each bag weighs 2.1 ounces
- Multiple flavors available

Regarding GU, Chocolate was the only flavor I will buy. I have issues trying to eat them, so I try imagine that it's chocolate icing, and I can deal with it. For some reason I still buy them because I feel like I should mix GU and Shot Bloks throughout my runs. However, I could probably give up GU completely! I remember the first time I tried it when i was training for Chicago in 2000, I thought it was pretty gross. I avoided it as long as possible, but finally had to start eating them! I am so glad that now there are so many options that are also delicious! WOW- I am getting hungry!

Map My Run

I was checking out this website, pretty cool!! Maybe i'll run this soon:

Interactive Boston Marathon Map

I found this map: http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/map_interactive/

There are tabs on the top of the map that show you miles, communities, stages, start and finish... and discribes each of them. Click on the markers on the map to read the discription, and of course you can zoom into the map to view it larger.

I think this will help me as I become more familiar with the course, and also can help spectators, like my parents who will be here watching.

I like maps, if anyone knows of any other good ones, let me know!

DFMC Runs!

Just got home from running 14 miles this morning with the Dana Farber team. When i woke up i checked the weather, it said 20 degrees, feels like 6 degrees, so i put on all of my layers, hat, neck warmer, gloves, etc. It's a sunny day, so once we got started it felt ok, i felt a little warm actually. However, stopping for water and snacks (strawberry shot blocks are yummy!!) makes you feel the cold air. On a few hills i could feel the wind more than others. We did the marathon route backwards out to mile 17 marker and then back in to watertown, 7 each way. the hills are rough in spots, but do-able. however after 17 miles of running i don't know how i will feel about getting through those hills. the crowd will be a big help i think. I ran w/ Deb the entire way, and caught up w/ Meg and Beth. The 4 of us were together the second half. Going back over bridge above the Mass Pike was tough. we had about a half mile, and gusts of cold wind go right through you running over the bridge. there are times i want to take my hat off b/c it's feeling warm, but when you feel those winds you're glad you have a hat on for sure! we fininshed around 2 hours and 10 minutes or so, none of us had the exact timing on our watch. I felt good the whole time until that last 1/2 mile, it really did me in.. plus the cars/snow banks/traffic right at the Brighton/Watertown intersections were a bit scary. Of course we had a few angry drivers honking and gesturing. but, we were running single file, just on the white line on the side of the road, there is no where else to go when the sidewalks are covered i snow and ice.. i have to admit, i was glad for this run to be over and to be back in the warm Mt. Auburn Club for the post race buffet!!

Let it Snow!

It has been a snowy few weeks... and i have been running in it. However, a second sunday now that i have missed my running plans due to snow. I was planning to drive down to Reynam mass for the frostbite 15k this morning. however, the roads were too bad, lots and lots of snow coming down all morning. it finally stopped around 1pm, and i went out to shovel, dig out my car, and take murray on a walk. Finally got my Yak Trax and tried them! I tried them as i walked murray, they were great!! except for when the snow was higher than my heal of my foot... snow then creeped into my shoe/sock area. I came back dropped Murray off and then went back out for a run. Again, i thought they were great, except for in the higher snow areas b/c my ankles got wet and it was hard to run in the deep snow... maybe someday they will come out w/ running boots for snow?? :)

I was very frustrated this morning with the snow situation and not going to the race... but it felt great getting out there to run this afternoon. Not only did i try out my new yak trax, but also a new running jacket, hat and tights. I got all 3 at the Lexington Greater Boston Running Company. they were extremely helpful there! They have alot to choose from as well. I highly recommend going there to buy your running gear or to go on a scheduled group run!

Well, it's almost midnight, and it's been snowing again, another few inches were on my car when i just pulled it in my driveway. Not sure how much snow we got today, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a foot total!

I have attached a few pics from today!