Guess What...

I have been accepted to participate in the Nike Women's Half DC!

I ran this race in April with Team in Training. I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend my free time fundraising again this year, so I entered the random draw to let fate decide. I got my email on Monday night. I must say I am really excited. I didn't tell anyone that I had entered. I didn't want to be disappointed if I didn't get in. Now I can tell everyone!

I now have a goal for the spring of 2014!

Runner's World is Coming to Boston!

I had heard that Runner's World was bringing a half marathon to the Boston area. I got the email to stay tuned for more information. Then I got the email. June 6-8. 2014 Runner's World would be hosting The Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon and Festival.

There is a whole schedule of events for the weekend.

June 6, 2014

6 PM: Kids Races

June 7,2014

7 AM: Runner's World 5k

8:30 AM: Runner's World 10k

5 PM: Pasta Dinner with the Editors

7 PM: Keynote Speaker: Sarah Reinersten

June 8, 2014

7:30 AM: Runner's World Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon

I decided to sign up for the Hat Trick. The Hat Trick is the 5k, 10k, & Half Marathon all in the same weekend. There is also an option to sign up for the Five & Dime (the 5k & the 10k). June 9th is my birthday so I figure I will literally run out of 26 and into 27. My friend Kevin has also signed up to do the Hat Trick so I will have company during the weekend. 

Will you be coming out to run in June with us?

Dinner Dates

My lovely friend Tony & I spent our lunch at work together. It was a lovely time. He's great.

It's My Favorite Day!

It's Halloween!!! This is my favorite day of the year. It's the only holiday I really love too. I've gotten to share my love of the holiday this year with my friend Chris. We are slightly out of control & it is awesome!

On Saturday I attended the Blacklight Run. This is a 5k that is the same idea as The Color Run, but with backlight powder. I've never done a color run so I was interested in doing this run. Even though they promoted the run being in Boston it was actually in North Andover. This is a little over an hour from my house. There was traffic getting into the parking lot. You were suppose to pay $10 for parking (my friend had to), but they just let me park. There was no direction to where the start of the race was or the check in process. My friend picked up my bib the day before so I just needed to pick up my shirt. It was very confusing to just get the shirt. After I got through that I made it to the start line.

Part of the course was in the parking lot, part was on a grass island, part was in a baseball field. This would have been fine if there was any sort of light along the course. It was completely dark. There were only 3 color stops. I barely got anything on me. My shoes have most of the color on them. At one point people were rolling on the ground getting color on them. Talk about a hazard! I saw no backlights along the course. There were lights, but they just seems like normal lights to me. There were no volunteers along the course letting you know where to go or to watch out for some hazards. At one point there was a girl yelling. I couldn't tell if she was a volunteer or just someone drunk or on drugs. I'm going for the latter. I got to the finish line & there were just staff members standing right in the middle. I don't know why they needed to have a powwow in the middle of the finish area. Luckily I had no injuries nor did I see anyone go down. I was pretty thankful for the flashlight on my iPhone. I wouldn't do another of these runs. A color run sure thing, but not a backlight run. 

How Could I Forget!?!

After I finished the Rock 'n' Roll Half 2 weeks ago I officially became a Half Fanatic. I'm #5050! That is a lot of people running a lot of half marathons. By doing the Disneyland Half, the AllState Half, & the Rock 'n' Roll Half qualified me for the Neptune level.

Yesterday I ran the B.A.A. Half. The course was hilly, but I expected worse so it wasn't that bad.

You run along the Emerald Necklace in Boston than back into Franklin Park. You ran through the zoo which was different. There was an emu running along side us. I saw a camel. I almost got hit by an acorn, but I live! My knee felt okay with using KT Tape. My hip flexor is tight, but I survived.

I have a 5k on Sunday & another fun run coming up, but I'm going to get my knee checked out so for right now I'm on a half marathon hiatus.

Electric Run

On Friday night I went down to Gillette Stadium to be part of the Electric Run. The Electric Run is a 5k during a rave. You run/walk & enter different "lands" of electronic music.

 Even though we signed up as part of a team, none of us were together. I drove in with my friend Tony. This was his first 5k & he is a big fan of electronic music.

We walked the whole thing. It was a fun run & I wanted to take it easy after running RnR Providence. The run was fun. It was different. The only thing that I wish was a little different that in between "lands" there was a little more light & some music! Besides that the run was awesome. We got to run inside of the stadium & they had a party at the end. It was a different experience for me being used to running. I wouldn't say I wouldn't do it again, but I'm not running to sign up for another one.

Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon

This past Sunday I ran the Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon. I've never done a Rock 'n' Roll event before so I was excited to see how it all went down. The race started at 7 am & they wanted you there by 6 am. My friend Carrick came with me to spectate on his first running event. We met up with my friend Kevin & we soon realized we should get into our corrals.

Start Line

My roommate from DC was also running. We didn't get to meet up before the race, but we did end up seeing each other on the course. That was awesome & pretty unexpected. They did a wonderful job with water & gatorade every other mile & had lots of support along the course. I usually have a negative attitude towards Providence, but I did find a new respect towards the city while I was running it. The course was great. I really enjoyed running by Brown University & all the historic homes.

Foggy, but beautiful.

At one point during the run I saw the 2:30 pacer & thought maybe I can not only PR again this month, but run a sub-2:30 half! I was going to be happy to be running even if I didn't PR, but I did keep this thought in the back of my mind. The last .1 mile was on a hill. I thought this was mean, but when I got there I went faster (against Carrick's wishes) & PR'd with a final time of 2:29:29! I was super excited to have reached a sub-2:30 half! I was nervous seeing that there were hills along the course, but I don't think they were bad.

Add caption

After the half Carrick & I went to the Roger Williams Park Zoo. They are getting ready for their pumpkin bonanza. I talked more about pumpkins than the animals which is unheard of for me! The day was really fun. I'm so glad I had a supporter out there waiting for me at the end. It made me really happy to know I had that support directly at the finish.

AllState Marathon Boston 13.1

On Sunday morning I got up early & heading up to Suffolk Downs in East Boston for the AllState Marathon Boston 13.1. I don't know why they don't call it the AllState Half Marathon. I got to meet up with my friend Kevin before the race. It was nice to see a familiar face.

The race started at 7:30 am. Being used to Disney races this wasn't too early for me. The corrals were kind of a mess. Instead of setting up corrals based off an estimated time finish you had to go off of your word & enter at the time you thought you could finish in. The corrals were really tight & overcrowded. 

Once we started running I knew I wasn't feeling it. My knee was hurting pretty early on & I was just annoyed at it. We ran through a marsh reserve which was really cool. It was definitely my favorite part of the run. From there we headed towards Revere Beach. My knee stopped hurting, but I felt like the run was taking forever. Running at the beach was the only time we did any out & back areas of the course. I didn't feel like it was bad though. There was more spectators than I would have expected along the course too. 

I was pretty hungry & the finish was right near a Wendy's. Let me tell you, Wendy's has never smelled so good! I controlled my urge to run off course & buy some fast food. The finish was so close & I crossed the finish line & noticed that Nike+ had told me that I had a half marathon PR! I grabbed a water after being given my medal & heading towards my car. There was no food at the end which was kind of crappy, but it could have been worse. I love the medal that they have out too! It is one of my favorites for sure. 

When I saw my time from run it was a little bit longer than my gps had told me. I figured it wasn't an official time just yet. What really happened was when I crossed the start line it never registered. So my "official" finish time was 2:34:36. My time based off of my gps was 2:33:17. About a 3 minute PR from DC! I'm super excited about it. 

This week/weekend will be pretty busy at work. Soon I will be running the Rock 'n Roll Providence Half! 

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

...I love ya tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Providence. I've never done a RnR event before so it should be exciting. 

The expo was today. We got our swag & bibs. I'm a big fan of getting cinch bags. They're usable all the time. I grabbed a pint glass & a pin to commerate this event. I also got some Sweaty Bands. The expo was smaller than I'm used to. I mean I'm used to Disney. There wasn't too many people when I went so I didn't feel like it was overcrowded or anything. 

Tomorrow I will return to Providence to run. 

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend 2013

I'm back!!

Last Thursday morning I got on a plane & heading to L.A. I've never been to California so this was a first for me. My mom's friend lives out there so we also got to visit with her. We had a lot of fun. It was hot, which I love.

On Friday I went to the Expo. Being my 4th runDisney event I had an idea of what to expect at the Expo. This was quite a time though. I got to the Disneyland Hotel at around 10:20 am. I got into the line to pick up my bib. The line was long, but moved pretty quickly. Once I was out of picking up my bib I then got into line to pick up my bag & check out the Expo. Yes I had to get into a separate line to get into the Expo. My mom met me in this line. Once we got into the hotel I went over to get my shirt. We walked around to check out the exhibitors & then had to get into ANOTHER line to see the runDisney merch! I grabbed an I Did It! t-shirt & a pint glass. My mom stood in line while I checked out a few more exhibitors. Then we switched spots. I got to watch Jeff Galloway & Ali Vincent speak while standing in line. I eventually got up near the registers, grabbed a Sweaty Band & got out of there! It was about 2 hours of standing in a line.

From the Expo we went back to the hotel to meet my mom's friend & her oldest daughter. We drove up to Hollywood to take a tour. We had a great time. Hollywood gets a little crazy at night so we got out of there not too long after that.

Godney

On Saturday I went to Disney California Adventure Park with my mom. We had a great time & enjoyed walking around & seeing this part of Disneyland. We loved the Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. We also loved Tower of Terror! We both said we liked it more than the one at Disney World! I also really enjoyed California Screamin'. My friend Joe came down to Anaheim from Cupertino so we got to hang out at Disney together. After a little while we went back to the hotel & I set my alarm to get up to run on Sunday!



I woke up on Sunday & felt nervous. I knew my training wasn't great, but I've never felt this nervous before a run. I drove over to Disneyland. This was a much easier process than Disney World. After a quick walk I was in the parking lot near the start line. There was less entertainment than a Disney World here. I checked my bag & went over to my corral. The corral was already pretty full when I got there & they actually closed it due to too many people being put into the corral. I was still feeling super anxious so I texted my friend Christopher who reminded me I would be fine.

Start!

I finally got over my anxiety around mile 3. We ran through California Adventure first. Then we went into Disneyland. This was my first view of Disneyland. I took 2 pictures in this part.

We all have a dark side!

I could use that magic carpet!

The first time I saw Sleeping Beauty's castle I thought "It's so small!" & "Aurora got jipped!" Then we ended up on the streets of Anaheim. Anaheim is not so pretty. Disney did a good job of adding entertainment along the streets. We had hula dancers, classic cars, cheerleaders, & many other groups along the course. We ran around the Honda Center & through Angel Stadium.

 I enjoyed running through Angel Stadium more than the stadium at ESPN in Disney World for sure. I couldn't believe how good I felt by the time we got to Angel Stadium. It was hot & humid. I was feeling my knee & my hip flexors, but I still felt good. I knew I wasn't going to PR at this race. Especially being a Disney race. It's all about fun! I was really excited to see that finish line! Once I finished I got my Disneyland Half finishers medal & went over to get my Coast to Coast medal. The Coast to Coast medal is when you run a half marathon in (or the full marathon in January) at Disney World & a half marathon in Disneyland in the same calendar year. The medal is awesome.

Coast to Coast & Disneyland Half Medals!

TNT Loves!

After I got my bag I met up with a few friends that I ran with in DC with TNT. It was awesome to see them & celebrate another accomplishment with them & their friends. I started to hear that they ran out of water pretty early on during the race. This is no good. Hydration is important & even more important in warmer weather like that.

Look at us!

Joe & his friend Dave met me at the finish & we went to Disneyland! I enjoyed Space Mountain & Splash Mountain here a lot. I'm pretty sure I got wetter on Splash Mountain on Sunday than I ever have at Disney World. We grabbed dinner at Rainforest Cafe & headed over to California Adventure for a little while.







Next thing I knew it was Monday. We went to visit my mom's friend's parents in Oceanside. We took a walk on the pier. We saw a seal, pelicans, & dolphins. It was about when I stepped on a dead fish that I knew it was time to get out of there. Tuesday we had a pretty chill day & grabbed lunch. It was a nice to hang out. On Wednesday we took a trolley tour of San Diego. San Diego is really nice.

Pier at Oceanside

Thursday we had to wake up really early & head up to Hollywood. My mom's dream is to go on the Price Is Right & it was her day. It was fun. Our show airs on November 4th. Mom & I said bye to her friend & hung around The Grove for a little while. We got to the airport really early, but it gave us time to rest. We got home at around 8 am on Friday morning.

Don't tell CBS I took this photo.

I can't believe it has already been almost a week since the half. Or that it's September already! I'm running the AllState half in Boston on the 15th so this rest will be over soon.

Here's A Little Bit More From Spartan

Blind!

Some pictures are appearing from the Spartan Race on Sunday. Not only will you get dirty, but they have photographers capturing the moments!

Nate & I after going blind in the mud!

Spartan.

I finished Spartan! I finished in one piece. Except for that one flap of skin. Today I'm sore. I will live though. My official time was 1:42:59. I'm waiting for pictures from the race to be posted.

Happy!

Yesterday I went out to do 5 miles. It was raining & I knew I had to work. I was almost home when I saw that I was at 5.7 miles. I've been putting off signing up for the Happy 10k so I said well I'm already so close to 6.2 miles I might as well finish this out! So that I did. The Happy 10k was set up by Coach Laura (Remember her? She was our coach for DC!) This benefits LLS. You can check out the website at

http://www.runhappyraces.org/RunHAPPYRaces/HOME.html

It's a virtual run so it can be anywhere, at any time!

Today is Tax Free Weekend here in Massachusetts. Tomorrow is the Spartan Print.

It's August

Welcome to August.

This is crunch month.

I've had a hard time training during this heat wave & a new medication that made super tired. Heat wave is over & I'm 27 days away from my next half. Let's back up a little though.

First have I mentioned how much I love Sparkly Soul headband!?! I got one for the Nike Women Half DC. The company was nice enough to let us buy some at a discount & with express shipping for TNT. The MA Chapter has gold & blue headbands, the colors for the B.A.A. I wore it during the Nike Women Half & a few times after that. Now that my hair is a little longer I can use it. I wore it yesterday during work & just got back from a run wearing it. It stays put all day! Check them out.

I ran today. I'm a little slower than I was, but at least I'm faster than I am right now sitting on my couch type this. I've been have knee pain since DC & was hoping with some rest it would go away. Well it hasn't & I'm pissed. I got some KT Tape & used it for the first time today during my run. No knee pain! Yay! It is awesome! I even met a woman at my work who was given it from her physical therapist to help in the heeling of her broken elbow. She was happy to know she could get it at the Greater Boston Running Company in my plaza.

I got green tape. This is what my knee currently looks like.

In 8 days I will be competing in the Spartan Race in Amesbury, MA. I'm participating in the sprint. The sprint is 3 miles with obstacles throughout. I know some people who have done this race or similar races. Just the other day I met a girl who has done it & said this is the hardest one I've done, but you'll be fine I promise! I've never done a mud run before & I'm excited to do one. Who knows, maybe I'll end up at Fenway in November doing it again. More to come on this race...

In 27 days I will be in California for the Disneyland Half Marathon! I've never been to California so I'm really excited to get out there.

I will be running this half for the first time. I've heard good things about it. It will be different than Disney World for sure, but still will be fun! There is less time in the parks so this will be a different experience all together. 

The Disneyland Half Marathon medal!

Back in January I completed the Disney World Marathon. (That is 26.2 miles.) When I complete the Disneyland Half I will also get a bonus medal. This medal is for the Coast to Coast challenge. When you complete one half/full marathon in Disney World & one half marathon in Disneyland in the same calendar year you receive an extra medal. I can't wait to add that to my collection as well.

The Coast to Coast medal. 

After Disneyland I have a couple weeks off before I travel about 45 minutes south to run in the Rock 'n Roll Half in Providence, RI.

I've never done a Rock 'n Roll event before, but I'm super pumped about it! My friend Kevin (you can meet him here at Quincy Runner) is also running it. The coordinators opened up free entries for anyone who did not get to complete the Boston Marathon this year. Kevin will have wrote about it. Check out his blog. Also my roommate from DC, Lauren, will be running it. I'm excited to see her again.

In October I will be running the B.A.A. Half Marathon.

The B.A.A. hosts the Boston Marathon. I made the decision closer to last minute that I wanted to participate in this half. At 10 am I was signing up. Almost immediately after I was seeing Facebook posts about how people couldn't sign up & were being told that it had already sold out. The B.A.A. was quick to announce that it sold out in 12 minutes!

I'm going to try to be better about posting. I have a lot coming up to talk about! Where are your races (or anything else) taking you!?!

It's Wednesday

People seem irritated today. Like sorry? I can't solve the world's problems. I will work on that.

Someone told me to blog about something yesterday. I wish I remembered what it was about.

It's gorgeous out. Some say "hot" I say "crank the heat!"

CJ is back at the hospital. He is causing a ruckus there. 

I signed up for the B.A.A. Half Marathon today. It sold out in 12 minutes. Good thing I was ready at 10:00 am on the dot. 

I don't really have anything more to say. 

It's National Running Day

Hey!

Go run. 

It's National Running Day!

Think of people who can't run. Or didn't get a chance to finish a race recently. 

Get off your ass!

I did 3 miles today. What's your excuse?

I Left For DC. I Returned From DC.

I went to DC.

I made it!!!! I got to Logan before dawn & was in DC before 8 am. I met my teammates & we ventured off to run.

Hello DC!

I quickly became friendly with Vicki & we stuck together for the rest of the day on Saturday. We went to get our bib numbers & went to the expo. I met my roommate, Lauren, at the expo. I may have been in the middle of getting what little hair I have done. (I'm ridiculous.)

Joan Benoit Samuelson & Shalane Flanagan

Vicki & I ventured off to meet her friends. We did some sightseeing along the way.

That night we had our inspiration dinner. It was here that we learned that for the Nike Women's Half DC TNT raised $6 million! The Massachusetts Chapter raised $150,000 alone. Whoa!

After the dinner, we took a trip to CVS. Lauren & I tried to sleep, but barely did. We were up super early & met up with the rest of the team to head down to the start of the half. I ended up moving a corral up (Shhh! Don't tell Nike!). The start was smooth & quick. I'm used to waiting an hour to finally get moving at Disney. I ran my first 3 miles slower than I wanted. I told myself to enjoy it & use miles 10-13 to really push myself.

Coach Laura & I pre-run

The team

At mile 8, my knee tried to tell me to fuck myself. I responded with a "Fuck you knee!" I just kept thinking that there is ice at the hotel. Hell I almost died a week ago! Coach Laura ran with me a little right before mile 10 & told me not to let my knee get the best of me.

It was pretty humid out so mile 12 felt like the longest mile ever. Especially because you see the finish at the beginning of mile 12. What a cruel joke!

I crossed that finish line at 2:36:15! That's amazing thinking last year I did the Disney Half in 3:21:55. Plus we got a pretty Tiffany's necklace that I wear on most days now.

ROTC passing out the necklaces