A Wedding, a Run, and a Dead Bunny

Week 13 of training has come and gone. I'm in the final stretch before the marathon! 

I got in a run earlier in the week. It was good to get back out there after being sick the week before. 

On Friday I spent my day running around. I had to go to the mall to grab a few things for Saturday. From the mall I made my way to the Sea Crest Beach Hotel to get my bib for the Zooma Cape Cod Half Marathon. When I got there I heard "There's a dead bunny over there!" What an impression right? I didn't want to check out a poor dead bunny so I went inside to get my bib. After getting my bib I got a few necklace charms from Scott James Jewelry. 

From the Sea Crest I had to get over to Waverly Oaks Golf Club for my cousin's wedding.  It was a beautiful day for the wedding. After spending time with my family I knew I had to get back to Falmouth. Luckily my boyfriend is from there so we could stay at his parent's house which is right down the street from the Sea Crest.

I got up early on Saturday to make sure I wasn't rushing to make my 7:30 am start time. It was a little chilly in the morning, but not bad at all. I knew it was going to be a perfect day to run.

Perfect day for a run!

I secretly was hoping for a PR during this run. I also knew that over this year my running hasn't been great. I try to not beat myself up about this, but I do sometimes. I also knew that not running for the past week made it hard for me to assess where I truly was. So I was going into the race with the secret hope to PR, but being okay with whatever happened. 

Once the race started I had no idea where the 2:30 pacer was. I accepted early on that I wasn't going to see a 3 in my time. I was taking in the scenery while I ran and didn't worry about my time.

There were great views of the water throughout this run!

Not far from mile 3 there was a woman who had fallen/tripped/something. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but there were police & EMTs helping her. After I turned around at mile 3 she was being loaded into an ambulance. I hope she's okay. As I kept going I saw the 2:30 pacer. I put myself into the mindset that I had in Providence where I PR'd last year. I kept her just close enough that if I pushed myself I could catch up to her. Somehow I ended up in front of her! I stayed in front of her for a lot of the race. I didn't want to get too excited or jinx this. Eventually she did pass me again. I was feeling pretty tired the last 2.5-3 miles. I was so close to the end when I had to walk for a few seconds. Thankfully "Firework" by Katy Perry came on my phone and pushed me to the finish! I finished in 2:30:54. It may not be a PR, but it was so much better than the rest of my year has been. I'm proud of myself for that.

After the race I got a water, a banana, and my medal. I met up with my boyfriend and we walked down to the beach. I spent a little time standing in the ocean to help sooth sore spots and it felt great! After having a "ice bath" I signed up for the race next year! I'll come back in 2015 and maybe I'll great 2:30 again. Who knows but I am excited. 

Nature's "ice bath"

Swag

Right after the race I went back to my boyfriend's house to shower before running off to a fundraiser my sister was putting on for Children's Hospital. She did a wonderful job and we can't wait to do it again next year. With all of the food and over 90 raffles everyone had a great time!

Speaking of Children's Hospital, I'm still fundraising for the NYC Marathon! (Did I mention it's 5 weeks away!) If you want to help a wonderful cause you can do so here!

Week 12 Training Recap

Week 12 involved absolutely no running. I know what do I mean no running!?! I caught the cold that was going around and took the time to get better. I still got in almost 15 miles (probably over because I was still at work moving around without tracking my steps) of walking in during the week. I'm still kind of feeling the cold lingering, but I feel so much better this week. I just got back from a 3 mile run which felt great. (Besides the pain in my right knee, it was great.) I'm behind in my long runs for NY, but I'm going to do whatever I can do to keep myself injury and sickness free. If I do that, I can do a marathon.

This Saturday is the Zooma Run Cape Cod. I feel like I signed up forever ago! (It was actually about 3 months ago.) This run came up fast. I'm looking forward to getting my butt out there and doing my best. (As much as I'd love to PR, doing my best and having fun needs to be #1!)

We also have a great fundraiser happening on Saturday that my sister is putting on in memory of my dad's friend who passed away last year. There will be a poker run and raffles with all donations going to Boston's Children Hospital. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone after I run and raising money for a great hospital.

I'm also giving away a $20 Starbucks gift card for every $5 donation I receive until the end of Friday night!


If you would like to donate, but can not attend the fundraiser you can do so here.

NYC Marathon Training

I honestly have no idea what week just past. I do know that I didn't do my long run…again. Maybe that's why I'm not even looking at my schedule right now typing this. I've been really tired. It's like my day off comes around and I just can't get out of bed. We've had an overnight again and an early morning meeting. I'm gonna try to get my long run in this week for sure. I'm not sure how to make my running schedule fit into my work schedule, but I'm gonna try my best. Luckily I spend a lot of time standing and going back and forth at work. This at least keeps my legs use to going long periods of time with movement.

World Suicide Prevention Day 2014

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. With the recent death of Robin Williams, it seems like everyone wants to talk about suicide prevention. This is good, but I thought why didn't anyone want to talk about it before? We seem to be embarrassed by mental health issue and no one wants to talk about it. I deal with anxiety and depression and until more recently I've always been embarrassed by it. Why? I don't know if I can even tell you. I have been pretty silent about them. Once I opened up to someone I felt better. I can tell you that it is scary to speak out. People can be very judgmental. Every single person reading this (even me while I type this) has judged someone at some point. I'm going to make an effort to not judge anyone. You never know what someone is going through.

This year the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms is using the campaign "No One Else Can Play Your Part" to bring awareness to National Suicide Prevention Week (September 8-14) and to World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10). They want people to tell their stories. Every person's story is different and they want everyone to be honest with their story.

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TWLOHA

I've known about this organization for years. It started in 2006 after founder Jamie Tworkowski wrote a blog post about his friends struggle with depression, self-injury, and addiction. This story spread throughout MySpace (remember MySpace!?) and a lot of bands started to wear their t-shirts. Now it's 2014 and people have a place to find help if they need it without being judged. They have plenty of ways that you can get involved to help spread the vision. 

During one of my favorite songs by Christina Perri is called "I Believe". She wrote this song for TWLOHA's Heavy and Light Tour. I'm going to leave you with the video from one of the nights she played it.

If you or someone you know is struggling and needs help please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK(8255).

NYC Marathon Training Week 10

Week 10 of training has come and gone! (Just like August.) Whoa!

This past week was much better than the previous weeks. This helped my confidence a lot.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 6.01 miles
Wednesday: 1 hour of yoga
Thursday: .5 miles walk, a lot of lifting at work
Friday: 5 miles, walk at beach
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 9.12 miles, 4.68 mile walk


On Friday I  got to hang out with Nate. We went to White Horse Beach during the day. (You know where there was a shark and everyone freaked out.) We got to just relax on a day off which was nice. That night we went to the Museum of Fine Arts for First Friday. Every first Friday of the month they are open from 6:30-9:30 pm. This does require a ticket ($25 or free for members), but there is dancing, drinks, tapas, and meeting new people. We spent our night walking through the different exhibits and enjoying some art.

Checking out the Shinique Smith exhibit

On Sunday I got up and ran 9 miles. This was the first time I've felt good about running in a while. It was exactly what I needed. Then I drove to meet up with with my friends to drive to Provincetown. I've never really traveled on the Cape so this was a first time to go down there. We had a nice time walking around before we drove back home. 

Look at how big these flowers are!

This pole is usually under water.

When we got back to my friend's house we took a walk down to the beach (the same beach I was at on Friday) and up to Manomet Point. This added up the miles for me which I needed.















I'm hoping to hit the half way mark this week with my fundraising. I need to raise $125 to do so. I think that I can do it! If you would like to help out a wonderful cause you can do so here.

Week 9 Recap

Remember I said that the weeks weren't looking so great? They still aren't. Last week was rough. I was so emotionally and physically burnt out that it took it's toll. Then we entered into some sort of crazy weather pattern that is making it super humid.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 mile walk

Wednesday: 5.03 miles

Thursday: 30 minutes of yoga

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 3 miles

Sunday: Rest

I had planned on doing 7 miles after work on Saturday, but by the time I left it was so hot and humid I knew I couldn't do it. I'm hoping that this week will be better. My first run of the week was hard. It was pretty humid and I felt really slow. I've been beating myself up over it, but I'm trying to just accept that at least I'm getting out there and doing it. This does make me nervous for NYC, but hopefully I'll be ok.