My Marathon for Mom

At $3300 Today… going for $4000 now! Keep you posted!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE (60 people so far!) who donated to Rockville General Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program in memory of my Mom. I am currently at $3200 (which if you can’t see is because I somehow erased the thermometer but have asked tech-support/Simon to fix it in the morning!) and it keeps coming!

I am so so appreciative and grateful for the generous donations you’ve made and honestly cannot wait to present the check to the nursing staff.

I will be offline most likely until after the race, but will be sure to post some pictures and notes as soon as it is over!

Thank you so much for reading and sharing this journey with me. Stay tuned for the final chapter!

It seems very strange and fitting that my last run is my 100th DAY. Couldn’t have planned that better if I tried! I only ran 2 miles this morning (on purpose, that’s what Hal’s schedule called for), and it was fine. I was pretty tired after the festivities last night (oh I forgot to mention that we played apples to apples for HOURS and it was awesome), and it was a sleep, quick run. I wanted it to be this very special last day of training, but it just didn’t happen. Ah well, it’s technically not my last day of running- Sunday is!

I also had my company’s holiday party tonight (and yes stayed sober again). My company does a thanksgiving instead of christmas party because they really want to get together and share what we are thankful for. This year, we each submitted (if we wanted to) a little note about something we are thankful for, or something we care about, or something we enjoy. I’m going to type in mine since it relates to this run. I was pretty scared to write this knowing that I may have to read it in front of all 30 people, but I also feel like this whole process has taught me to be more open with my feelings and to let others in. I also LOVE my company and they make me feel very safe, so it felt ok to share it with them. Luckily, I didn’t have to read it -we all read each others which was a really fun twist! Anyways, here goes:

As some of you know, I have been training for my first marathon since August. I was not a runner at all before this, but after almost four long months, the marathon is finally here! It is on Sunday, and I am so ready to get this thing over with! What you might not know, is that I am running the marathon to support a local hospital where I grew up. I’ll try not to get too personal, but when I was in high school my Mom passed away from heart disease. She was actually diagnosed with heart failure when I was 11 and placed on the heart transplant list. The list was really long and it didn’t look like she’d get a new heart, so her doctor recommended that she start a cardiac rehabilitation program. My mom went to this program and lived five years longer then she was ’supposed to’. The nurses there helped change her diet, helped her learn how to exercise, and helped her strengthen her heart. They also became her friends and provided her with much needed emotional support. I couldn’t understand it then, but it must have been so hard for her to have to quit her job and make all these life changes (no more walking up stairs, parking in handicap spots, and sometimes using a wheel chair). We were all pretty scared, but they helped us through this time. They even made her laugh and joked with her about ‘being in rehab’ and she became the poster-woman for this program. I feel really grateful and thankful to the cardiac rehab program at rockville general hospital because they gave me extra time with my mom, and this year I am also thankful that I can give them something back. This whole process has also been really healing and I’ve gotten to reconnect with a lot of my mom’s friends and family members, which is probably the biggest thing I’m thankful for this year.

Well, I’m going to bed and heading to CT tomorrow to see the family, and then to PHILLY for the BIG day!!!!!!!!!

Day 99. 99 Days of my life have been devoted to running and training. That is quite possibly the longest I’ve stuck with anything. I actually didn’t tell a lot of my friends about the marathon/blog until a month or so in because they know me well enough to know that I often flake. I’m not sure if this time was different because I liked what I was doing, or because it was for a good cause, or if I was just more determined then usual, but I am really proud of myself for sticking with this for 99 days. That said, I was supposed to run 4 miles today but only had time to run 2 (ugh!). Jenny made me feel better though by telling me her friend took a whole week off before their marathon and still did fine.

I had to work a bit late and then I was having Jenny, Beth, Novak (guy friend from PC) and my brother/his roommate Casey over for a friend thanksgiving! It was awesome. I had such a good time and it was definitely worth only getting a quick 2 miles in. We were going to have a vegetarian thanksgiving, since we like the sides the best anyways, but my brother and casey showed up with a roasted chicken from stop n shop and an open bottle of chardonnay- classy guys Beth made carrot/turnip/butter mash and delicious cranberry stuffing, Jenny brought these sweet potatoes with cranberries and almonds (amazing!) and an apple cake and I got potatoes, soup, and raviolis from whole foods (lame I know but I just didn’t have enough time!). Novak brought the booze and we had ourselves a FEAST! We all went around the room and said what we were thankful for (while holding hands, it was a bit creepy) and I said that I was thankful for having such good friends and family that have supported me during this training period, helped me raise money for my cause, AND are going down to philly with me! I feel like the luckiest girl! The marathon support group: Simon, brother Matt, Matt’s gf Jess, Dad, Aunt Choo Choo, Cousin Paul, Jenny, Beth, Ame and Vickey, Brother Rob and his wife Judith, daughter Alex (whose birthday is tomorrow!), and son Zane. My two friends from high school Katie and Jared are also running and will have families/friends, my friend Kristen from NYC is running the half, and friends Sabrina and Antranig are running the half. My friend Kaitlin will also be there race day! Did I forget anyone? I am SO thankful to all of you for making the trek to Philly and love you all!

here’s some pics of our thanksgiving!

I forgot to mention, I also did Yoga on Sunday (after the run) so I did get cross training in! Simon and I did power yoga which was pretty intense. Lot’s of core work which is always hard, but feels good.

Monday was a rest day and I needed it after getting 5 hours of sleep and taking an early bus back to Boston. Peter pan is just not that comfortable! I did some errands/chores, got a haircut (and went back to blond!), and just relaxed it was wonderful.

Today I woke up early and ran 3 miles. I ran up Beacon Hill (still trying to prepare for the hills!) and around back bay. 3 miles just isn’t enough to get yourself into the groove though. It felt nice to get it over with in the morning though and I hopefully will do that again tomorrow! I also went to a real estate/networking gala tonight and had only cranberry juice! I was a little nervous because usually these events are total shitshows but I know I really don’t want to drink this week to prepare for the race and I had the willpower to do it!

I really can’t believe in 5 days I’m going to run a marathon. It seems crazy, like this is someone else’s life. The anticipation is killing me! I just want to get there and get going! 5 more days, ahh!

Well I was supposed to run 8 miles on Saturday – my last long run. I woke up, went to the food bank and sorted cans for 3 hours (a blast and Beth came!) and it was POURING. Not raining, pouring. Storrow drive was flooded and it was chaos. I totally understand that it may rain on marathon day (actually it is supposed to rain on marathon day, kill me), but I don’t think running this 8 miles in a downpour would really prepare me. If race day is a downpour day, I actually don’t want to know what it is like beforehand because I might not do it again. Instead, I went to lunch with Beth – bartleys burgers in harvard sq, amazing- and then my Dad drove me back to CT. It was really nice to just be with my dad in the car. He played me a new CD that he got (it is folky love music and I told him he was turning into a lesbian), and we just chatted which was nice. Another good thing that has come out of this training has been talking to my dad a lot more. He reads my blog (hi dad) which at first was weird, but now I like it because I feel like he’s more in touch with what is going on in my life. He has always been an amazing dad, but now he gets to be a friend too. After the drive, we hung out for a bit, had a pizza dinner with Simon and then I went back to Hartford for a relaxing movie night in.

This meant, however, that I had to run on Sunday. I went to bed kind of dreading it because I really wanted to have a nice stress-free day but when I woke up it was beautiful! I ran in shorts and a t-shirt! It was so beautiful, and I was running through gorgeous West Hartford that I just kept going. I didn’t want to stop running (and I finally had a hard-ish run to do after all these wimpy ones) so I let myself do 10. I know I am tapering/resting but I just needed to know I could do 10 again. I really think I needed to run 10 because I’ve been feeling out of shape lately. This ‘down time’ has made me feel like the muscles aren’t as intense and I don’t want to be nervous that I’m not going to make it. The rest of the week is super easy (3,4,2) and I promise to take it slow, eat well and rest. I also ran a few hills which felt good. I’m not so panicked about the marathon hills after this. They are hard, but I can do it. I can’t believe the race is only ONE WEEK AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you even say about 3 miles? I ran after work and it took less than half an hour. I ran around the Boston Common and down to Mass ave and then ran back. I feel like I could do these runs in my sleep, which I guess is the point. I know when I get to mile 23, 3 miles is going to feel like a LOT, but I will have little runs like these to remind myself that it’s nothing. After work I went to the Sevens on Charles St. (great local bar) with Beth and had beers. I’m really into beer lately. I was devastated to find that Sam Oktoberfest had been replaced by Winter Ale already (gross). November 13th- that’s not Winter! We are definitely still in fall. A few beers and a lot of chatting later, we popped into the liberty hotel with my roommate Diana and saw a pretty cool fashion show. I guess they have them every Thursday, but it made me feel like I was in NYC again. It was also really fun to be out, although I much preferred the having beers with just Beth to the scene at the liberty. I realized with all of the running I haven’t been going out at all, which I like in some ways, but I also just liked feeling young and fun and with my friends. This whole running experience has taught me a lot, but putting everything in balance was probably the most valuable.

Tonight was my rest day (thank goodness because I was exhausted after a near-midnight Thursday). I made it through work and then went to a movie with the girls. This time it was great to be with them and NOT be out. I have volunteer work and running 8 miles tomorrow morning before I head to Hartford, so time to get some sleep!

I really feel like I am doing nothing! Tapering is the weirdest, I want to run MORE! Of course I slept through my alarm and didn’t run my 4 miles in the morning, so I had to cut my work happy hour short and run at 7:30 (I only had cranberry juice don’t worry, running post beer sounds awful). The run was fine, short, painless, but I feel like I’m already getting out of shape! My 20 miler was now 2.5 weeks ago and I know everyone says tapering is important, but I just feel kind of lazy.

I was excited about my six miles today, but it still didn’t feel like long enough. I ran at night but it was so weird, just three miles out and three miles back, that’s nothing! I know I am supposed to be letting my body recuperate and relax, but I’m just getting bored again. Ugh.

I’m exhausted and literally just sat on the couch doing nothing for 4 hours. It was incredible. I watched terrible TV and just did absolutely nothing. I needed this night so badly.

Quick 4 miles tomorrow morning and then only 6 on Wednesday! I’m going out for drinks with my co-workers after work tomorrow but have to remember running after 5 beers is no fun at all!!

After sleeping in, grabbing bagels, a nice walk through the park and other general laziness, I finally ran at 3:30pm. Since it wasn’t too long of a run (comparatively speaking) I didn’t want to wake up early and plan my whole day around it. I’m hoping when I finish the marathon, I’ll still want to run 12ish miles and can fit it into my life instead of fitting my life into training. I have also been feeling sick and really wanted the sleep and enjoy my no-plans Saturday. Once I finally got myself running, it went great. Not too much pain – I realized my leg hurts when I run on the streets. It is all the up and down on the curbs that make it so painful, so the long runs on the esplanade are a lot better because there are less steps. I did realize though that if there are any hills in Philly, I’m kind of screwed. I can run 20 miles, but every run I’ve done has been completely flat! Great – I just found this post on another blog and started freaking out:

From miles 19-21 (typically referred to as “The Wall”), we ran an out-and-back in Manayunk. Though it was hilly, the two-lane road was lined solid on both sides with spectators and it was definitely one of the more uplifting parts of the course. Speaking of hills, there were a lot more than I expected. There were quite a few climbs around the Zoo and they reappeared around mile 21 as we headed back from Manayunk to the museum.

Sweet. Hills are not in the game plan! Philly is supposed to be one of the flattest marathons, WTF!

I will try to stop freaking out enough to explain the rest of the run/weekend. I ended up running 13 miles instead of 12 due to a little detour in Watertown. It was gorgeous though, and I got to see the sunset. I felt pretty nauseous the whole time and there was a lot of gagging which was weird. This is gross (stop reading if you’re eating), but you know that feeling when you puke in your mouth, well that happened twice, but because I was running it came out of my mouth. The bile was burning my throat and it was the grossest taste imaginable. Luckily I had water and gaterade to swish around and spit out. Not sure what is going on with my stomach, but this was disgusting.

I finished the 13, stretched and showered and got ready for dinner with Simon. We went to Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro (very fancy) and had amazing seafood (my stomach at this point had settled). We then went to Kendall Square Cinema to see John Krazinski’s directorial debut ‘Brief Interviews with Hideous Men’ (Thanks Ame for sending Urban Daddy!). I really want to read the book after seeing the film, it was pretty awesome. One of those films that you’re just dying to talk about and discuss afterward; that really stays with you. We ended up finding a random pool bar in Kendall Square and stayed until close. One of the best things about Simon is that he’s usually up for anything (or can be convinced with minimal pleading), he’s really laid back, and he’s a blast. I just generally enjoy spending time with him and hanging out, no matter what we are doing.

I also kicked his butt at pool, which was a bonus We played 5 games and I won 4 out of 5. To be fair we only finished one game (which I won, for real!!), he also scratched on the 8 ball three times (seriously) and I scratched on the break once, making it 4:1.

The next day we slept really late, had homemade pancakes, and went to a yoga class at Back Bay Yoga. It wasn’t ‘hot yoga’, just a vinyasa flow class but the room was really warm. We did a lot of sweating, but the stretching was amazing. It was just what I needed after all of these weeks of running, and I found myself wishing I had done this more. The teacher spent a lot of time explaining the details of every move and I’m pretty sure I was doing chatteranga (spelling?) completely wrong until this class. We went grocery shopping, made shepards pie and brownies, and then went to a potluck with my co-workers. Everyone brought really delicious items and we had a good time. It truly was a wonderful weekend. Only 14 days to the marathon, YIKES!