Breaking up is hard to do!

Dear Massage Therapist,

Over the past year and a half that we've been seeing each other, you have helped me through 3 marathons and kept me relatively injury free and for that, I am very grateful. I enjoy our time together but I think its time to end things between us. This is very hard for me to do, but it's time.

I was never good at long distance relationships and let's face it..... your office is about 15 minutes west of my work which makes you about 40 minutes away from my house and that distance is taking its toll on me. Also, I don't mean to be selfish and I am happy for you, but you are very busy and I need someone who can reschedule with me earlier than 2 weeks from now.

Finally, I want to be honest with you.....I've been cheating on you over the past month. I'm sorry if this hurts you, but I needed to find someone else before I could officially end things with you. I'm not trying to be promiscuous, but I've been dating around and after 3 disappointing first appointments I have finally found someone else. I've seen her twice and we are hitting it off well.

Again, thanks for the wonderful 1.5 years together. I wish you all the happiness a massage therapist can have. And remember.....its not you, its me!

Sincerely,
Sarah

Rolling with the punches

I have come to accept that we live dynamic lives. Things are constantly changing around us and if we aren't willing do accept those changes and adapt to them, we will be loosing out on life.

After my IT band issue, the flu, and the terrible weather in June, I was finally getting back into a rhythm with my running. I have been planning to run the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon on Oct. 11th as my goal race of the fall and then run the Philadelphia Marathon on Nov. 22nd as a fun run since I have so much family in that area. I was up to about 35-40 miles a week and feeling pretty good. I went ahead and registered for Philly since their prices were about to increase and I wanted to check that off my list. I put off registering for Mohawk-Hudson a little longer....not for any real reason.

So last Wednesday I was out for a 10 mile run and feeling really good. I was thinking that I would go ahead and register for Mohawk-Hudson that evening since I felt my training was progressing. I got stopped at a traffic light and out of habit, started stretching my IT band. The light turned green and I took one step before immediately being stopped by a sharp pain on the outside of my knee (IT band)! I walked a bit....still hurt. I was 2.5 miles from home with no phone so I slogged my way back at a slow jog.

Fast forward a few days and things are feeling better but I am taking some more time off running. I got to thinking and realized that running Mohawk-Hudson probably wouldn't be the smartest decision.....good thing I hadn't registered yet (that's $65 that can go into Sarah's fall boots jar)!! I realized that if I kept the plan as I had originally set, I could be doing more damage to my knee and have a miserable and painful training. I would rather run one good marathon than two mediocre ones!!

So I am rolling with the punches and feeling good. I have been taking this time of no running to work on my strength training (especially my core), elliptical, biking, and yoga. I was bummed for a bit but then realized that I am still planning on running a marathon this fall!! Plus Philly is likely to be cold which is exactly how I like it!!!

Why do I all of a sudden have the desire to sing Tina Turner??
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling down the river (or rolling with the punches!)

One thing after another

I know its been a long time since my last update, but truth is I haven't been doing all that much running. Seems like its just one thing after another....

Thing 1: I felt good after Boston and was getting back into a good running schedule. Over Memorial Day weekend, Bryan and I went for a hike and the next day my left IT band was really sore and tight down by my knee. I could run on it but was really stiff. A massage and 2 days off and it was a little better but I could still feel the pulling. 6 more days of no running, lots of yoga, crosstraining, hip stretches (turns out my left hip was tighter than security around the president!), hip/glut strengthening, and icing.

I was very happy that after all this, I went for 2 runs and the knee/IT band felt great......I was coming back!

Thing 2: The flu...............I can not remember the last time I felt this terrible! It hasn't been confirmed since I didn't go to the doctor, but there is a strong chance it was the Swine flu....oink oink :) I had it all......fevers, horrible muscle aches, bad cough, extreme fatigue, congestion. I laid down on my couch on Wednesday afternoon and only got up to go to the bathroom and move to my bed from then until Saturday. I am glad to report that I have my energy back and while I still have an unfriendly cough, I am definitely on the mend!

Tested out two 4 mile runs this week and while my pace is really slooooow from being sick, I was feeling good. I was coming back.....again!

Thing 3: Rain :( I am about ready to build an arc because it has literally rained 7 of the past 10 days. Last night Bryan and I were supposed to run one of the summer races that we do each month but it was pouring. I didn't think it was a good idea to be out in the rain while still recovering and neither of us were to excited about getting wet so we skipped it.

I'm hoping these are all the set-backs I will have for a while......maybe its good to get them all over with together! Hoping to get my mileage increasing soon for fall marathon training. Unfortunately I lost a lot of my mileage base I built during Boston training so I will probably need to keep it a little lower volume and try to work on some intensity over the summer. We'll see how the cards fall!

My long overdue Boston Marathon Race Report

I made it my goal to get this race report written within a month of Boston....hey, the race took longer than I had planned so the blog should too :)

My 2009 Boston Marathon experience can be summed up into one word...FUN!! No, I didn't run as fast as I would have liked but I had a blast and soaked in the entire race atmosphere and experience. Here's a summary of my running of the 113th Boston Marathon!

Marathon Weekend: On Friday I met up with Janette and Steph at the Marathon Expo to pick up our numbers and do a little shopping. Its always so cool to see all the people, bib numbers, and goodie bags waiting to be picked up.....there is such a fun vibe at the expo! My parents got into town on Saturday afternoon and we headed out for a nice dinner in the South End before going to the Boston Runner's World Forum Event where I got to meet many of the people I had been chatting with online for the past couple months. Even though I hadn't met these people before, it was fun to catch up with other like minded people! Sunday my in-laws came over and we all headed back down to the expo to do a little more shopping before I settled onto the couch for the afternoon to relax. That evening we had my family and Bryan's family over for a carbo loading dinner.....it was great to have everyone together and getting excited about the race!

Monday morning: I slept pretty well Sunday night and got up bright and early to head into town to meet Janette and load onto the buses out to Hopkinton. I really couldn't believe that Marathon Monday was actually here!! The ride was long but we made it to Hopkinton and the Athlete's Village and headed straight for the porta-potty line! Last time I ran Boston we didn't really get to experience the Village because of the Noreaster so it was cool to hang out and watch all our fellow runners.

The Corrals: Finally our wave and corral number was called and we headed up towards the corrals (not without one last porta-potty stop!). The gun went off and Janette and I wished each other good races. Janette was dealing with an injury during training so she was planning to run at a slower pace than me. It was sad and hard to say goodbye to her at the start since we had raced so well together in Hartford last fall.

The Race: The first couple miles felt great.......I really tried to keep the pace easy and relaxed. I was hitting my splits and soaking in the experience. At mile 3.5 I saw my family and gave them all high-fives as I zipped by them. By mile six and seven, I was still hitting my goal pace but it was feeling harder than it should. I started to have flashbacks to last spring at the Vermont City Marathon where I felt a similar feeling but continued to push my goal pace......we all know how that turned out :( So after mile 7, I made the decision to slow down some, forget my time goal, and just have fun. In hindsight, I wonder if I gave up too easily or too early.....I will never know the answer to this. If I kept pushing, maybe I would have snapped out of it or maybe I would have crashed and burned.....one of life's mysteries.



Once I made this decision though, I had so much fun. I slapped all the little kids hands, ran through Wellesley College (the "screech tunnel") on the verge of tears because I was so overwhelmed by the crowd. I turned the corner at the fire house and started up the hills. Towards the top of the first hill, I came across my family again....this time joined by Bryan's aunts, uncle, grandmother, cousins, and family friends. It was so great to see them so I stopped for a second to give them hugs and more high-fives. They kept yelling at me to go but I wasn't in any hurry :) It was around this time that I passed Bill Rodgers, muti-time winner of the Boston Marathon. Granted he is 61 now but hey....I beat a Boston Marathon winner!

Heartbreak Hill sucked.....really that's the only word for it. I was so glad when it was over and all the drunk BC kids pulled me along as I headed toward the long downhill to Beacon St. My quads screamed at me but I kept pushing. I saw some coworkers at mile 23 who greeted me with big smiles and cheers. Again I gave lots of high-fives! The last 5 miles of the race I was battling a side stitch that got really bad at about mile 24 so I took a quick walk break to work it out.....of course that is where a course photographer was standing and captured that wonderful moment on film for me!

Coming through Kemore and the last mile is almost an out of body experience. The crowds are at least 5 deep, you are less than 1 mile from finishing, and your body and mind are willing you to stop running. A right on Hereford.......this is it.......a left onto Boylston......the finish line is in sight.....pick it up and run damn it!!!!

The elite women....Go KARA Gaucher (3rd place female!!!)

The elite men....Go RYAN HALL (3rd place male!!!)

The finish line: Even though I was well off my original goal and about 8 minutes slower than my personal best, I felt that I had accomplished my #1 goal.....to have fun!!! My official finish time is 3:47:30. That's a 24 minute PR over my 2007 Boston Marathon time and my second fastest marathon.....not too bad for running the majority of the race not looking or worried about my pace. I shuffled down the finishing shoot to get my medal, food, and heat blanket and then met up with my parents and Bryan. They all commented about how much better I looked after this Boston compared to 2007!

What I've learned: I learned that not all races have to be about time goals.....some are about celebrating this wonderful gift of running that I have been given. About celebrating family and friends that support me mile after mile. About being thankful for the ability to run when so many are struggling. I know that my running has motivated many people to get out there and move their bodies....that alone makes all the pain worth it. Last but not least, I've learned that I definitely have a faster marathon in me and I am looking forward to the day that I can prove that to everyone else!!

Bottle of wine Bryan's uncle made for me!

One of the signs my family made!

The bling!

Feeling Feisty!

My legs, that is! This past week my legs have been feeling feisty....they want to run!! Its that wonderful, magical time that comes approximately twice a year called taper.

On Wednesday, I did my last hard track workout of training:

4 x 400m at 5k pace with 200m recoveries
2 x 800m at 10k pace with 400m recoveries
4 x 400m at 5k pace with 200m recoveries

Its safe to say that I nailed this workout harder than any of my track workout this training! My paces were a good 20-30 seconds per mile faster than what I had planned....my legs just wanted to go!

On Sunday, I went out for my last "long run" of 12 miles. Bryan came with me for the first 6.5 miles and helped me push the pace some. It felt great! My heart rate stayed low and I felt awesome even with the wicked head wind!

Its working.....the taper is working!!! Now if I can just keep this "taper worm" under control and stop eating everything in site :)

Bake Sale

I remember when I was little, my brother and I would set up various "businesses" in the church driveway where we would sell lemonade and other treats to the cars leaving after meetings. We would make a couple bucks and consider ourselves rich!

Last week I hosted a bake sale in the cafeteria at work to support Boston Medical Center and Team BMC. I enlisted the help of 13 other coworkers to bake a range of goodies for me and decided to also have a 50-50 raffle. I didn't put prices on the food items, just told people to give what they felt was enough and take a plate of snacks.

A close up of the food.....quite a spread!

I figured I would make more than I did with my lemonade stand, but I was shocked when I counted up the money! The bake sale brought in $491!! The 50-50 raffle totaled another $240 and the woman who won generously donated her winnings back to BMC. All total, I made $731!! I consider myself very blessed to work with such generous people....many of which I don't even know. Its a wonderful reminder of the good in people when it seems that all we hear now are negative stories.

Here is me counting all the money :)

3/29/08 - Eastern States 20 Mile Race Report

It has been a ridiculously busy week for me so I haven't been able to post my race report from last weekend until now.

Last Sunday, I ran the Eastern States 20 mile race that started in Kittery, Maine, crossed into New Hampshire, and finished over the Massachusetts border....hence the "eastern states." I figured I couldn't pass up a chance to run in three states in the same day and it would be a good tune up to run as my last 20 miler before Boston.

Of course Mother Nature was being a bit hormonal last weekend....Saturday with was sunny and in the 50's....Sunday it was in the upper 30's with heavy rain and wind! I wasn't planning to race this all out but was hoping to use it as a marathon paced long run. My plan was to take the first 2 miles to warm up and ease into marathon pace, spend the next 16 miles between 8:10-8:15 min/mile (planned marathon pace), and have enough left in the tank to kick it up the last 2 miles. I knew that if it went well, it would be a great confidence booster with 3 weeks until Boston.....if it didn't go well...umm...I didn't want to think about that!

After driving up to Hampton Beach, NH, riding the bus to the start in Kittery, and hanging out in the gym for a couple hours (I told you it was good practice for Boston), I was ready to make my way outside into the rain. I was soaked before the race even started! I told myself there was nothing I could do about the weather so I might as well embrace it.

Miles 1-2: 8:27 and 8:18 pace......I kept telling myself these were warm up miles and to take them slow. We had to run over a grated bridge that was very scary.....the metal was wet and if you looked down through the grates you could see the water rushing past! Yikes!

Miles 3-18: I'm not going to write out every mile split, but I got in a grove here. I just started hammering out miles that ranged from 8:09 to 8:17 and I felt great. Between mile 7-9, the rain picked up and was being blown sideways at us....I could literally see the water dripping off my elbows! Later in the race actually thought it stopped raining but then I looked at a puddle and saw it was still coming down pretty hard.....guess I was just so wet I didn't realize it any more!

Miles 19-20: I decided to see what I had left in my tank and started pushing my pace some. Mile 19 came in at 8:06....feeling good and passing people. Mile 20 was 7:44!! With about 0.5 miles to go I approached a man and passed him...well he was not going to let me have it without a fight so he caught back up to me. We ran this way for a minute or so and with ~0.25 miles to go I decided to throw it down....I told myself its just one lap around the track. He decided to come with me and it was an all out sprint between the two of us. Now usually I can't out-kick men....they are by nature faster than women in sprints. But this time I had endurance on my side and I crossed the finish line before him! That's him with the red strip on his jacket! After we crossed the line he tapped me on the shoulder and said "Nice finish....I'm just glad we aren't in the same age group!"

I finished in 2:44:53 (watch time) and 2:45:06 (gun time) with an average pace of 8:15! I could not have paced this race better and I feel so good about my time. The marathon pace miles felt really good and I was pleased to see I still had some left to finish strong. It was just the race I needed to prove to myself that my Boston goal time of 3:35 is possible, especially since this race capped off a 61 mile week so I did this with no taper!

Now let's all hope that April 20th is a little bit drier than this race was......been there, done that in 2007. Come on Mother Nature....help me out some :)