June 26 - July 2

Sun - 6 miles
Mon - 6.5
Tue - 6 miles
Wed - Weights, lunges, squats, core, and foam rolling(which hurt like hell). I am already envisioning my strong new self...
Thur - 6 miles total with 5 mile race in 33:47 in Quincy - 3rd female overall, awesome post-race party, and general life-loving type sentiment. Post to follow.
Fri - 4 miles, beautiful evening along the river
Sat - 0 miles, really sore legs
Total: 28.5

low mileage for the week but I'll excuse it because of the race and the weight session. Tomorrow: relatively short long run (10 miles is what I'm thinking), then some weights.

June 19 - 25

Sun - 9 miles, beautiful day
Mon - 6 miles
Tue - 6 miles
Wed - 6 miles lunchbreak, pouring rain + extreme hunger = the kind of run I do to prove to myself just how tough I am
Thur - 0, still raining, not feeling so tough
Fri - 6 miles lunchbreak
Sat - 0 miles, bridal shower in NY
Total: 33

The Milton 10k, and some sentiment

I don't know if I can calm down enough to write a blog post that will make any sense, but I guess I'll try. I won the women's division of the Milton 10k last night, and I am so overwhelmingly excited about the race, and racing in general, and running, and life in general, that I feel like, if running were a religion (which it kind of is), then I would be a fanatic. I would be the person in church who is suddenly overcome by the power of God and falls to the floor shaking and speaking in tongues. My new running attitude, which I adopted pre-marathon, is to just have fun. I was tired yesterday afternoon, and it was cloudy and rainy, and I thought about what excuse I could come up with to get out of going to the race. Of course I went anyway, and it wasn't until I did a short warm up jog and some striders that I felt like I had enough energy to race. Lined up at the start with Zani, Doug, and Tom, I told myself to just have fun. We started out at the front of the pack, and settled into a 6:40 pace. Zani has a garmin, and told us to slow down a few times during the first mile (he also wanted to chat, so we talked about the Bruins). The four of us stayed together for the first 2 miles or so. Around the 2 mile mark the spectators started yelling out that I was the first woman, and the energy that I got from that was amazing. Young girls were jumping up and down and trying to hand me water, women were yelling "go girl!" etc. I don't want to get too sentimental about it, but I used to be a young girl that would jump up and down when I spotted the first woman in a race, and, you know what, it just felt so unbelievably COOL to be that person, even in a small race, and to feel like I was having an effect on those girls who may want to be runners someday. What I personally love about running (again, trying not to be too sentimental) is that it makes me feel strong. I think especially as a woman it has always been something that has, in addition to making me physically stronger, has given me a lot of inner strength and confidence. It makes me feel like there is nothing I can't accomplish; it makes me feel like no one can tell me what I can and can't do (see quote above). That is why it is so special to me to have people yelling "go girl!" and "first woman!!" to me from the the sidewalks. I feel like my inner strength is visible at that moment. I was having so much fun during the race just taking the energy from the spectators and channeling it into my run. I hadn't had so much fun since the marathon.

I finished the race with a 10k PR of 42:33, the 1st woman out of 106. I won a medal, a laurel wreath (which I was made to wear for the rest of the evening, I don't know if the guys will ever let me live it down), and a cash prize. My first monetary prize as a runner! We jogged to Tom's house for pizza and beer after the awards, it was the perfect end to a great race.

In addition to the strength I get from running, now, more than ever before in my life, it is giving me an energy and appreciation for life that is absolutely overwhelming. I don't know if the energy is coming from running and spreading to the rest of my life, or coming from my life and spreading to my running, but I am becoming one of those annoying people who is exceedingly happy all the time. I just might start going around talking about how beautiful the world is, and everyone in it, and how in love I am with everyone and everything. That's kind of how I feel. It's kind of sentimental, I know, but it's real.

My New, Possibly Magical, Mizuno Wave Elixirs

June 12 - 18

Sun - 0 miles, wanted to do a long run but my hip has been bothering me and my legs are still tired post-marathon, took a nap instead
Mon - 6 miles lunchbreak with the crazies, Milton 10k tomorrow
Tue - I WON the Milton 10k, with a PR of 42:33. They gave me a medal, a laurel wreath, and a cash prize. Life does not get any better than this (or if it does, it will be overwhelming).
Wed - 5 miles lunchbreak. Beautiful day but I cut it short as my legs were hurting. One of the guys had the nerve to call me a "wuss".
Thur - 0 miles, so tired, and my legs are really hurting me
Fri - 6 miles lunchbreak, felt like a new person
Sat - really wanted to at least get to 30 miles this week, but today got in 0, bbq preparations
Total: 24

June 5 - 11

Sun - 0 miles, went to martha's vineyard
Mon - 0 miles, had a great idea that I should sign up for a triathalon in August to shake things up a bit and have a new challenge to work towards so I visited a gym with a pool, but quickly remembered that I don't like to swim and that all I really want to do is run, so probably all I should do is run
Tue - 6 miles in the unbearable heat
Wed - 0 miles, work-related clambake
Thur - 5.5 miles lunchbreak - tried to wimp out and use the treadmill but thankfully my running friends will show me no mercy
Fri - 6 miles
Sat - 6 miles - new kicks!! post and picture to follow...
Total: 23.5

May 29 - June 4

Sun - 26.2!!!
Mon - 0
Tue - 0
Wed - 0
Thur - 0
Fri - 6 miles lunchbreak with luke, still pretty sore but feel better after having run
Sat - 0, went to cape cod.
Total: 32.2

http://asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75616&BIB=2611

There's a video of me crossing the finish line! I'm really surprised that I don't look as tired as I felt. I also love how crossing the finish line doesn't seem to register with me at all (I had had visions of lifting my arms in victory, or doing something similarly ridiculous).

Vermont City Marathon - the Play by Play

Although I had been nervous leading up to the marathon, in the couple of days before I calmed down a lot; I think I realized that at that point stressing out about it wasn't going to help matters at all, and that the marathon was going to happen whether I was ready for it or not. I went to bed early on Saturday night, and slept pretty well. I woke up at 5:30 to eat breakfast and start drinking water and an electrolyte-containing beverage (I'm anti-gatorade). I'm lucky in that my parents live about 3/4 of a mile from the start of the race, so I left home at 7:30 to jog to the start. As soon as I got to Battery St. Park it started raining fairly heavily. I found the 8 minute/mile pace marker, and did some stretching and my usual pre-race jitters-induced jumping/ dancing around routine. My feeling prior to the start of the race were pure excitement, I couldn't wait to start running. Finally, at 5 past eight the gun went off, and we were off. I crossed the start line about 30 seconds after the gun went off, and felt really comfortable with where I was in the pack - the pace felt perfect. The first 3 miles is through downtown Burlington, and there were lots of people out cheering. I passed the first mile marker in 7:27 (although it felt much slower than that), and started telling myself to calm down and slow down. I didn't, really, and ended up running the first half of the marathon at about a 7:30 pace. That whole time I felt amazing, I felt like I was floating, I was having the time of my life, I was giving out high-fives and yelling to the crowd and generally acting like a doofus. The sun started to come out shortly after I passed the half-way point (it had stopped raining a couple miles in), and I started to feel the heat. The big hill comes at mile 15, and going up it was the first time all morning where I felt like I was really struggling. My parents were waiting for me at the top of the hill to pass me my hat and tell me my pace (they were tracking me online), then we were off for the North End portion of the race. By mile 18 I was starting to feel tired, and realized that I really needed to concentrate on slowing my pace if I wanted to make it all 26.2 miles. I consciously slowed my stride, and started to focus all of my energy on the task ahead of me. The next few miles passed in somewhat of a daze, I was just putting one foot in front of the other. With 3 miles left to go we were on the bike path for the final stretch. I found the dirt path on the side of the pavement (my legs were killing me), and tried to pretend it was just another easy 3 mile run. It was not easy, however - I was really struggling through every step. It's a hard portion of the race because there aren't many people out cheering, but the few people that were there were very encouraging, and it helped a lot. A half-mile from the finish there was a final water station, and I keep laughing about this in retrospect, but I grabbed a cup of water like my life depended on it and downed it - at that moment a half-mile felt like a marathon. I entered waterfront park to the cheering crowds, although I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked to (it turned out my family was cheering for me loudly right next to me and I didn't hear them - I was so focused on finishing.) I crossed the line in 3:26:21, with a net time of 3:25:59. After crossing the line I stumbled around for a few minutes, unable to decide whether I should keep trying to stand or fall to the ground. Finally a nice man suggested I sit on his foil blanket for a moment, so I did. I started feeling better shortly thereafter, and left the runners area to find my family. I was so excited about my time and my run, and have pretty much been excited ever since. Of course, now I'm thinking about what I can do to get a better time next time, which I think I can. I'm psyched that I qualified for Boston, and am totally planning on it for 2012 (provided I get in given the new registration process).

You know, this spring has been amazing. While running has always been a part of my life, I think that I have realized the extent to which it contributes to my quality of life. In January I simultaneously moved to Boston and started my marathon training, and through running I was able to make new friends, keep a positive attitude, get to know my new city & neighborhood, stay grounded and healthy, and basically just have the time of my life. I'm SO happy. I'm just so happy, and I think I can thank running for allowing me the freedom to feel that way.