Race Day Eve, June 26th

With less than 24 hrs. until Race Time, the excitement sure is building up. The participants are hydrating, running their last warm up runs and posting on Face Book.

I did a 2 mile easy run with my new water bottles that attach to my fanny pack; think they'll work just fine. A quick last dip in the pool before a shower, load the car with the essentials and off to Boston. We are meeting Team Challenge New England plus other Team Challenge participants from all over the country. Kind of weird being the host team and it being my first time to run a half marathon. Can't wait to meet everyone.

Got to get there by 3pm for Race packet pick up, a team meeting and then a pasta party dinner! We'll see how this going to bed early thing works, LOL. Have to be in the hotel lobby for 4:30am for team pics, then load the bus to get to Hillside St. in Milton for 5:45am. This should give us plenty of time to stretch, etc. for a 6:13am start time. I expect to finish in about 2.5 + hrs. I did not factor in any potty stops, well see how that goes;)

My Husband, my Sons, my Sisters, Niece and Nephews will be cheering me on! Go Team Challenge, We are Ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the link to 13.1Boston if you want more info:
http://www.131marathon.com/13_1_Boston/Travel/Directions_Parking.htm

Carson Beach Pics - June 19th, 2010

Everyone takes a turn sharing why they are participating!
Darlene is awarded best bandana
Running out to gazebo

Week 16 - June 19th

Carson Beach, Boston for our last Team Training. Only 6-8 "easy" miles planned because we are tapering. That's really funny because I think 6-8 miles is still hard.....especially when your shorts ride up and you have to keep pulling them down. Wont be wearing them on Race Day!

After our run we shared pot luck, some laughs, some awards and the reality that we are all going to run 13.1 miles in the Blue Hills. I get best bandana award, lol.

Week 15 - June 12th

Battle Road in Lincoln. I was so looking forward to seeing the "Red Coats" but that was not in the cards as half the trails were closed for maintenance. A little yellow tape here or there would never stop us though; just made the run more like an obstacle course.

We set out thinking this would be our biggest run of the training period; a whopping 12 miles. Something got a little messed up as we seemed to go in 3 directions. Our group was looking for the light colored house with the crossed guns on the side. It seemed like we went too far but actually didn't go far enough by about a half mile.

The return was just as nice....Historic homes, farms, birds, marshland, wooded and open trails, wood paths, a tunnel and old rock walls. One of the things I enjoyed was not being able to see too far ahead so you didn't really know how far you had left to run. In fact, Cindy and I came upon the parking lot and couldn't believe we were back. We thought we had another mile and a 1/2 to go.

With a mix of sites, smells and sounds this was definitely the most beautiful, peaceful run I've ever experienced so far. I'm going back for sure. Somehow I must've missed that field trip as a kid.

Back to Blue Hills- June 5th

Team Challenge New England is lucky to be able to train part of the course we will experience on race day. I hear there are other Team Challenge's that don't have hills to train on much less the actual course. Man are they going to be in for a surprise!

The Team endured 11 miles of hot and humid when we all thought it was going to rain. This was one of the toughest yet.

Saturday, May 29th

Couldn't make training this morning so I figured I'd just do a run on my own. Sure no problem, I mapped out a 10 mile run and included the hills, what the heck, I should be ready for them. We are starting week 13 after all. The 2 mile, big hill stretch has to be up there with the Blue Hills we are going to be doing on race day.

I left at 5pm with tunes in my ears and a water in my hand with Nathan promising to bring me a vitamin water an hour into my run. The computer screen showed MapMyRun.com just in case he forgot where I was headed.

The long steep incline wasn't that bad but the downhill felt off...a little too much impact. The rest of the hills were a breeze after that one though. Nathan did find me:) Mile 8+ got a little sloppy and felt like I was pushing it.

Definitely pushed it....2 days of the most soreness I've felt so far. Ice? yes, please! I can no longer deny the fact that I have shin splints. Needless to say, I was way too happy to sit on the common on Sunday with my Townsend Fire EMS friends and rest my legs!!!!!!!!! They served BBQ chicken dinners to the parade participants and spectators while I raffled home baked cookies for my fundraiser. I got $110.00 closer to my goal!! The winner will be announced Friday, June 4th!!

Sunday, May 23rd

The Team is starting Week 12 with a 10K. We are registering for the 10th Annual Evan's Run 5k/10k road race, starting and ending at the Norwell High School. Evan Henry was an 11 year old child from Norwell, MA who was diagnosed with Autism and who accidentally drowned in July 2000. This year there are over 1000 participants.

It's only 8:37am and the race doesn't start until 10:30am. I get racing bib number 549, my chip and a tee shirt and head back to the car to wait and people watch. With an hour and a half left to go, I contemplate a nap since I'm going on only 4 hrs of sleep. With my luck I'd actually fall asleep and miss the race. Oh, wow, never knew my front seat reclines back this far, cool.......resting the eyes, ah! I think there is something about racing that phychs(sp) me out!

30 minutes to go, time to eat yogurt. Seeing some other Team Challenge mates. Now to play with safety pins, bib and sneaker chip and find potty one last time.

So much for cloud cover, the sky is blue, darn. The temp is creeping up a little higher than expected but there is lots of excitement and energy. The line up is crowded and getting smelly I might add....need to get this show on the road. We've got some Team Challenge in the front, some in the middle and some toward the back.

We're off! Some start off with a light jog, some sprint, some dart through and around others and it takes a little while for the crowd to thin out. It's so hard to get your pace with others around you. I have no idea how I'm doing, it's hot, people are passing me and I want to stop thinking about it. From about half way through, I have the same few people around me. Most seem to run a little faster than me but keep taking walk breaks. Lots of people along the course sit out front of their homes with the kids or dog and cheer you on; one guy had a hose for us to run through. Lots of water stops, too......the little kids really got into it.

Even with all those distractions, it still seemed to take forever, lol. I think it was the heat. Eventually the Finish line does come in to sight though and your friends are there telling you its just around the corner. Love the home stretch with the band playing and all the people. The screen reads 1 hour, 6 minutes, 11 seconds.