Training has officially begun!!

This past Saturday I had my first team training run with our group. Unfortunately that meant getting up at 6:30am on a Saturday morning!! Oh yeah......it was also 25 degrees out!!! These were not the conditions I wanted my team mates to see me run in for the first time. The plan was to run a 10 mile loop which I knew I could do. It followed the last couple miles of the marathon course through Brookline and back into Boston. I will admit that I was a little nervous at the start......not only was this the coldest day that I have run in so far, but I didn't know anyone. I purposely left my Ipod at home in the hopes to find someone to run with and talk to. Luckily, I met another girl on my team and we both had about the same planned pace. The sun was out, it was beautiful day and we were running. It was so nice to have someone to talk to and to push my pace a little bit. We finished the run in 1:30 -- that's about 9min/miles.....a whole 30-60 sec faster than I had been planning!! Having someone to talk to and knowing that there was a hot cup of coffee waiting for me at home (thanks Bryan) made the run seem easier.

Sure sleeping in would have been a nice thing to do, but being out on such a gorgeous day felt amazing! I can only hope that all Saturday mornings between now and April 16th feel this good. I know they won't.......you have to take the highs with the lows, right? But all I can do is get a good night sleep and hope there are more highs than lows!

Next up.......12 miles on 12/16!!

Turkey Day Running

I spent Thanksgiving with my in-laws this year in upstate NY. Bryan and I went out for a nice 4.5 mile run on Thanksgiving day while the turkey was in the oven and I went for a 7 mile run on Saturday. While running, I realized that I was thankful for many things this year. During the run, I was thankful for the amazing 50 degree days we were having and that I was still able to run in shorts at the end of November. I was thankful for my legs and their ability to carry me all the miles that I run. But I was most thankful for my friends and family for supporting my crazy marathon dream.

Its hard to explain to people just how much time I am going to spend running this winter (I don't know if I fully comprehend the time commitment). Yes, it will mean giving up some things that I enjoy (sleep, some ski days, free time), but knowing that I have so many people in my life that are supporting me and excited for me makes me happy........and thankful!

So as I recover not from the running but from all the turkey and stuffing and cake that I ate over the past couple days, I will try to keep all these things that I am thankful for in my mind as my training continues!

"We're STILL in Hopkinton?!?!?"

Last night, Bryan and I drove out to see some friends that live west of Boston. As we are driving along the Pike, I noticed a sign for Hopkinton (the starting town of the marathon) and commented about having to run back from there. We continued driving for another 10 miles or so and I noticed that we were still passing exit signs for Hopkinton.....do I really have to run from HERE?? The fact is that its 26.2 miles to Boston no matter how big Hopkinton really is. There is no way to get around that....26.2 miles is 26.2 miles no matter how you look at it!

As I have been telling people that I am training to run Boston, the common response is "Wow, that's crazy! Why??" I started to ask myself the same question....why am I doing this? Running is something I do for me. Sure, I am raising money for BMC which will greatly impact others, but the physical act of running is just for me. I guess you could say that running is a selfish act. There are very few things in life that we do for ourselves and to me, this is one of them. The fact that I am raising money for people that need it is a great motivator.

I look forward to sharing my experiences (both the good and the bad) as I train for this challenge. Hopefully by the end of it I will be able to answer this question of why?? And if I haven't answered it by April 16th, then I will have 26.2 miles to think about it!!