TIART - Time and Balance

TIME AND BALANCE - Runners Lounge

This is a really hard one for most people!
I am just starting to learn how to fit it all in with one child, but I am sure it gets even harder w/ several children! It was a whole lot easier when I didn't have a child but I wouldn't trade that! It just makes it more interesting!

To find the time to run, I make running a priority. I am still working on balancing everything, especially since Nick is just little. I think in the future I will have to get up early to run so that I can fit it in. Before I was pregnant I would work out at 5am so it was out of the way but once I got pregnant I valued my sleep and worked out after work! I won't think about what will happen when I'm back at work and fitting it in right now, but Angela is totally inspiring PRing and fitting everything in with little Zach!

I have Broad Street coming up on Sunday, and my sister (the non-runner) is running it too!
The last time we ran it together was her first time and she was having all of these allergy issues (she found she's allergic to soy, barley, and all this random stuff) and anyway, at mile 2, she started having an allergic reaction and we ended up at Temple Hospital in the city! She hasn't really been training for it, but ran the Disney Marathon in Jan. I will probably run by myself so I can see what my body can do, but I'm not so sure I even feel like pushing it after the marathon. Maybe it would be more fun to run with her, but how can I not look at the clock?

Trigger Times/Workout Times

I've been trying to eat well for a while, but a certain time of day, usually late afternoon, or after dinner, is usually when I mess up. Late afternoon/early evening I usually become ravenous and just eat whatever I can find. After dinner, I don't even know if I am hungry but I find something to eat, usually including peanut butter or my nut butters straight from the jar. What do you do to control mindless eating? What are some of your afternoon healthy snacks? Everything that I eat is mostly healthy, but it is wasted foods like pretzels and crackers that get me in the afternoon.

Running - Today I ran in the morning and early evening. The morning run was kind of dragging, the evening one was awesome! I was reading that evening runs feel like less effort is exerted, but I like getting it out of the way in the morning so that if something comes up, I know it is done. When do you workout?

Don't forget to enter the workout card giveaway!!
How come there is a lack of interest?

daycare @ the gym dilemma

I joined the local Y so that I could drop off Nick to the daycare there, use the pool, and bring Nick swimming. Half of the value of the membership to me is that I can bring him to daycare there. I have used it twice. The system that they have is they give you a nametag for him and one for you. When you go to pick him up, they check the nametags. You sign in and sign out at a desk and go through a gate. The first time he slept the whole time. I was swimming and out of the pool every 10 minutes peering through the locker room into the infant daycare room. I picked him up, don't recall if they checked the nametags to match, I left. The second time, a worker was holding him, and I walked up and just took him from her, gathered his things and left. No one checked the nametags. I signed out, no one checked anything, and left. I haven't been back since. I feel like it is a horrible system and no one is checking and any psycho could go ahead and walk in and claim him.

Since then, I've dropped him off to my dad who works from home - but this is not fair, he is working, and unless Nick is asleep, he has to take a break out of his workday. I try not to do this.

The daycare at our old gym (our membership expires the end of next week) is iffy. First, we cancelled our old gym basically because it isn't as nice as the Y and there is no pool. So I can't take Nick swimming nor can I swim myself. I brought him there today to try it out and basically becasue I can't take him to the Y with any peace of mind. It seemed OK. A large foreign woman was the only one there, and she was in a rocking chair holding a little one maybe 6 months older than Nick. There were 3-4 other kids in there, mostly 2 and under. She was watching the View or some kind of trash TV, and at first glance I thought she was nursing the baby she was holding, but she wasn't, the baby was just all in her bosom. I was iffy, but I got on the closest elliptical to the door, and just kept curling my body back to check on him. He was asleep when at home around 9:30 but as soon as I got him out of the car, he was awake (10am). He sat in his carseat most of the time. At one point, during my every 2 minutes check on him game, the lady was looking at me and holding him. I looked back and she was pointing to his diaper. He pooped. I went in and changed him (hadn't left the bag with her) and put him back in his carseat. He was content. There were only 2 other little ones in there now. I finished my workout and picked him up. When I picked him up, she was holding him in the rocking chair, watching the View, and the other 2 kids were passed out in chairs next to her. Nick was happy. This will do for an hour at a time, but one worker per how many kids? I guess it doesn't matter. The gym is dirt cheap and it isn't that much time. Now the Y, do I cancel my membership there? Use my sister's membership who is living in DC? They don't have it together there at all, so I feel pretty confident they would never notice and I could still swim and take Nick swimming. I didn't do that in the first place because it is wrong. But the Y is expensive and the whole daycare thing not working out is not worth paying for. What do you think??

SOCKS!

WRIGHTSOCKS

I won some socks from the WrightSock Giveaway on Runners Lounge. These are the 2 socks that arrived:

1. Running II – Medium Weight Double Layer – This sock is an update to our original Double Layer Running Socks. It offers the updated Dri-WRIGHT II fibers for better moisture management and durability along with a Stabilizer Zone to help lock the sock in place.
2. CoolMesh - Lightest Double Layer Sock – This sock is 30% thinner than the Running II, offers a mesh panel along the top of the foot for added breathability and is designed for all activities where lightweight is preferred.

Having not heard of them before, I was just excited to have some free socks. When they first arrived and I took a look, they looked pretty lightweight, nothing special, no fun designs or anything. I used them for a couple of easy runs and didn't notice much. Then, I put them to the test. The day before easter, I ran a 5k in the rain. My shoes were soaked. I figured my feet would get bad blisters from the rainy weather. Wore the Wrightsocks and NOTHING! No blisters! My feet were a little bit wet, but that was to be expected. And then, the true test. Boston Marathon. Let me just preface this by saying when I wore my standard running socks (I have a few pairs of adidas, and some other brand that were given to me as a gift and are comfortable) for the 20 miler in March, I got mad blisters on my pinkey toes. My feet are wide and blisters always seem to plague me on my smallest 2 toes, either in between them or on the bottom. I thought, aha WrightSock, you aren't going to make it through this one! So I tested them out for Boston. I thought for sure I was going to have mad blisters.... but NOTHING!!! These are my new official running socks. Thank you, Wright Sock! The only negative aspect that I see to these socks is their $10 pricetag, but this is average with any type of running sock, and these are TOTALLY worth it. Check them out! The link is above. If you go to the website you can type in your zipcode and find local retailers.

Recovery Socks
I don't know about this things. I think I fell prey to them and really wanted a pair. Plus I really love kneesocks. I bought a pair of hot pink / fuschia of these at the Boston expo, for 30 bucks. I feel like I could use some old field hockey socks that go over my shinguards and get the same effect. I don't know! I used them from 4pm after the marathon for 24 hours, and didn't have much pain in my lower legs, but I started thinking, would I normally? The pain is almost always (for me) in my quads! And when I took them off, I still had shin splints. So, the verdict is still out. At least they are fun looking. What are your thoughts on these things? If interested - see below for a special offer. www.recoverysock.com Special offer code RS07VR1 (buy 1 pair recovery socks at $29.90 get 1 pair vitalsox ($14.90) free)

Review & Giveaway - Exercise Anywhere

I was contacted by Nuru to review their Exercise Anywhere card deck. Basically this deck was made for anyone who wants to improve their shape without being at the gym. Being that I am stuck at home often with lil Nick, this is a convenient thing for me to have right now, and would be for those of you who have recently quit your gym to save some cash and workout outside or at home.

The deck is broken down into each section of the body which can be easily found through the tabs on the right side of the deck. Each muscle group is talked about and why it is important to strengthen it. These cards were designed well. It it easy to tab through and flip the cards back so that the card you are focusing on is on top. There are detailed pictures and instructions for each move, showing proper form. There are also tips and common mistakes. The directions are written so that they are very easy to follow, and since you are working out from home, there are several options for weights given - water bottles, cans, or actual weights. Each level has a challenge which enables users to move on if necessary. Also, there are recommendations on which muscle groups to put together for one workout - for a whole week. It is like having a personal trainer helping you out. At the end of the deck there is a cardio lab for getting your heart rate up.

The deck costs $9.95 and can be found at the Nuru website above. It is a good deal, considering it has the same amount of information with pictures as a book would have. You could even take this deck to the gym for reference. I am usually ripping things out of magazines and using them for my routines but this puts it all together into a nice convenient deck that fits into the palm of your hand.

Pros
Inexpensive
Helpful
Targets all Major Groups
Gives background information on each group
Small enough for travel
Variety

Cons
You have to be motivated to pick up this deck and use it

The good news - I have 2 to giveaway! To get an entry, put a link to this post in your blog and let me know that you did so by leaving a comment. This giveaway will go until midnight on May 1 eastern time. Enjoy.

Recovering, Day 3

Nick's marathon outfit - he didn't wear it bc it was too cold

Today I feel good! Nick slept the whole night 10-5:30 last night. Awesome night of sleep and big thank you to Nick.

RECOVERY
Swimming yesterday plus a Bill massage on Tuesday really helped I think. A little of the stick and taking it easy will help even more! I ran 3 miles today, easy. It felt pretty good. I probably could have stopped at 2 or 2.5, but I put on the treadmill 30 minutes and it counted it down, so I kept going. I also did 10 minutes of the elliptical to warmup and then 1000 yds swimming. All this helped. I feel pretty good today and have ran (not walked) up the stairs a couple of times! The stick I think will feel good!

MY SPLITS
Well, I wasn't really expecting too much out of my time, but in the back of my head I did have an idea that maybe I could get a PR or close to 4 hours. I'm not real disappointed because I feel like my training wasn't very normal, and my speed isn't back for sure! But my splits show what I typically do - that is - progressively fade as the race goes on! When I go to train for Philly this fall, or one before that (!) I want to be able to first get my speed back, then train to negative split the race! I haven't done that ever. For Broad Street last year though, I was able to keep my mile splits around the same. (10 miler)

My splits
5k 9:03 pace
10k 9:12 pace
15k 9:17 pace
20k 9:20 pace
25k 9:24 pace
30k 9:35 pace
35k 9:48 pace
40k 9:56 pace

Too bad I couldn't hold the 9:03!!

WEIGHT
I think I need encouragement that the baby weight that is still tagging along will go away. Should I cut back on calories? I think I am eating pretty well minus the carb load week. But with all of the training and eating decently, it is kind of annoying to still have the same 5 lbs that I had a week after Nick was born. It will be 11 weeks tomorrow! Normal??

Recovery w/ a baby

Thank you for reading my race report! I'm not the best writer but it was great to hear your comments. What an awesome race! I need to qualify and get back there again asap.

RECOVERY WITH BABY___________________________________________
This is the interesting part. Trying to recover with a baby in tow. So Nick had a bad night last night. He didn't want to be put down and ended up in our bed. He woke up after 4 hours which is what he would do as a newborn, but he's now into 5-6 hours and I was hoping really hard for 8 hours last night. I really needed the sleep. After getting him to go to bed finally around midnight and him waking up at 4am, I think he slept till around 8am. I could have still slept for another 12 hours, I swear. We got up and later in the morning I went swimming. I don't trust the daycare at the Y, they didn't check to see if my sticker matched his when I picked him up. For all they knew, I could have been ANYone. So we'll have to see about that. Swimming felt really good. It loosened up my legs, which are pretty sore, mainly my quads. Bill gave me a massage yesterday which super helped. I tried the recovery socks too and I'll do a review on what I think of them soon.

WHAT'S NEXT? __________________________________________________
I already want to do another marathon - like this weekend! Not in the cards, but that was AWESOME!! I have Broad Street run (10 miler) coming up in a week and a half, and maybe a 5k or 10k in May, but that is it until the fall. This fall my plans are the Philly Distance Run and Philly Marathon. I feel like I'm going to have marathon mania for way too long. Don't you hate that right after a marathon you want to do another right away? Maybe I'll find a May or June one in temperate weather! Or just hold off till fall! I figured I'd have the Boston Blues after this one. It has been my focus for the last 9 months!

THANKS TO BILL _________________________________________________
A big note of thanks for Bill's support throughout all of the training for Boston. He endured weekend mornings of me running on the treadmill while pregnant and never doubted that I was listening to my body or questioned me running. He also took care of Nick on all of the weekends that I went for long runs in preparation for Monday. Without his support, I couldn't have had this experience and reached this goal. Love you Beez!


**Also thanks to my sister for pushing through those 5.2 miles with me. She was my photographer, encouragement, and company. She is not a big fan of running and did the same thing for me in the NYC marathon in 2006. I was in BAD shape in that one and she held my hand and ran in jeans to get me to finish! She also had to put up with sleeping in my parents room for the weekend and both sets of parents all weekend long. love you sis!




FIRST RUN__________________________________________
When do you usually start running? I feel like I usually take one day off, or swim that next day and then run 2-3 easy miles 2 days later. I haven't ran today, and might wait until tomorrow to do that, but what do you do? What is your week after the marathon like?


THINGS I FORGOT____________________________________________
Logisitically. I brought about a sack load of pumped milk that had been frozen on the trip with us. I hardly used any of it and ended up having to throw it away. For traveling I had all this milk in ice and when we arrived in Boston, we got a fridge with a little freezer. This worked out great. We only needed the bottles for marathon day so we used a few things of saved milk to make the bottles and what I pumped in the morning. Nick ate 2 bottles that day but then slept so much that he didn't need to eat until I was all done. I'm wondering if the lactic acid bothered him last night, he has never been that fussy before bed or cried whenever we put him down.

Music I wore my ipod but it was unnecessary. If you do Boston, the crowds are your ipod. I turned it off around mile 22, but up until then it was mostly on low- background music in my hat. And if you do use your ipod, don't do the shuffle for a marathon. This sucky song (well, okay I was lazy and didn't fix my playlist before the race) kept coming on and I didn't hear some of my good songs.

Some of my favorite funny pictures

Official guy was taking pictures so I was trying to show my bib. It just looks funny.

Very focused.

Running so slow, it looks like I'm walking.

At the finish line!

This bagel could have been poop and it still would have tasted like gold.

The Boston Marathon...

Marathon weekend! A long one…

Skip down to race day if you’d like!

Left for CT to Bill’s parents Friday night. My parents were to caravan up with us but were running late. We arrived at 9pm. They got lost and arrived in CT at midnight. I stayed up to wait for them, and regretted it the whole next day!

Saturday 11am – leave for Boston. The weather was amazing – 70 and gorgeous out!! First stop = Expo! The expo was crazy. It was just me, Bill and Nick. I was carrying Nick around in the baby bjorn and was sweating immediately. All I wanted was my bib# and the official jacket. We waited in a crazy line for all of the adidas gear,

got my bib/bag and headed out. I felt very excited, but also overwhelmed with all of the
@ the expo

people at the expo. I planned to go back on Sunday with my mom and sister. We checked into the hotel, I fed Nick, and I spent the next several hours trying to nap. I was so tired that I felt like I was completely hungover. I couldn’t nap. My sister flew in but was very delayed and arrived after 8pm. We went to get dinner, where I had some gnocchi, spinach salad and lots of bread. Nick slept through dinner, we went back to the hotel, Nick got a bath, and we went to bed! Nick slept till 3 or 4 am, ate and went back to bed. I knew it was key to get a good night of sleep this night and I felt like I did.

Sunday: We got up around 8 with Nick and went to breakfast. I had toast with peanut butter and lots of rosemary bread back in the hotel room. I went for a 20 minute ‘loosen up my legs’ run and it was gorgeous out! Low 50s and a little bit of wind. It was great running weather. We headed up to the expo. The streets in Boston were packed full of people. It was neat to see all of the marathon jackets - blue and bright highlighter yellow - on people walking around and you could pick out the runners from their bright yellow adidas bags. It started to get more windy out and a bit more chilly, but the sun stayed out and rain kept away.



My dad and Bill walked Nick in the Bob (which was very easy to get around in) while me, my mom, and sister walked through the expo. There was a good amount of free stuff – Luna Bars, Lara Bars, Clif Bars, pens, trial size food to eat. I may have missed a lot because I started to feel claustrophobic and was tired! I got a pair of recovery socks and ate a bunch of clif bar samples and was good to go. We hung out in the food court of the prudential center until the pasta party for Dana Farber. I ended up feeding Nick in a bathroom stall. Yikes. Still have yet to feed him “in public.” I did see a woman with a wrap over her walking around in the Prudential center shoppes while feeding her baby. Very interesting – and challenging! Maybe I’ll be able to do that some day.

I went to check in to Dana Farber and get all of my things for Monday and the race. They handed out ponchos, a wrist band for pre-race on Monday, cookies, and cheering materials for family. We walked into the dinner to a serious band rocking it out. It sounded like a rock concert and was sooo loud. The place was packed and I was holding Nick’s ears and considering turning around and walking out. I was nervous my kid was going to go deaf after this experience. Luckily the band finished up quickly and the program began. It was very moving. It was sad. There were tons of small children who they honored and also a slideshow of pictures of those who were remembered. I was losing it trying to hold back the tears upon seeing these small children, even babies, who had died of cancer. It was awful. But, it also gave a lot of meaning to why I was running and made me think about why I was really there – not just for me. They had tons of pasta, bread, fruit. After the party, we went back to the hotel and hung out before going to dinner – more pasta and tons of bread. Bring it on. I went to bed around 11 after laying out all of my things for the morning and feeding Nick. It became windy and cold by nightfall!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Marathon DAY!!! Nick was up at 3:30 to eat, and unfortunately I put him on his back to change his diaper and he threw up most of what he ate all over my side of the bed – yes at 3:30am. He spent the next hour awake and fussing and ended up being still hungry since he spit up everything. 4:30 am – feed him again. He is still awake. He lied on Bill’s chest for a bit, and I move him and put him on his back in our bed (he was in a crib). He’s still moving around but finally goes to sleep. I’m clock watching at this point. I wasn’t nervous and had excitement going on, but really wanted to sleep. I didn’t sleep much from then on.

lines for the buses

I got up around 6:20 and got all of my things together and got ready! I was getting pumped. I ate ½ a balance bar as I got dressed and drank water as I got ready. The last thing that I did was pump, around 10 of 7. Out the door- it was GORGEOUS OUT! Perfect running weather! Partly cloudy, high 40s. Headed to the buses in the Boston Commons – the line was really long and I left the hotel around 7:15 for a 5 minute walk. We had to board the buses by 7:30.

getting on the buses

There was an amazing line through the entire park and then someone who came out and said to head to the west part of the park where there was no line. A bunch of us started walking up west and it seemed like we were cutting off everyone else but it was true- the line was negligible on that side of the park. We hopped into small bus lines and caravans of buses were coming by, picking people up, and leaving, repeat. We left the Commons around 7:50. My bus wasn’t full and I ended up sitting by myself – which was kind of a bummer. I would have rather sat with someone and chatted! I talked to 2 guys next to me from California and somewhere else for a few minutes then just tried to look around and shut my eyes for a little bit. I ate some peanut butter and bread that I had packed around 8:30 but realized I should have brought more than the one slice I usually eat pre-race with the late start. I am not good at planning for these late starts! We arrived in Hopkinton around an hour later and sat in a bus line for a bit. We got off the buses around 9am.

lots of port-a-potties

I headed to the athletes village and took a few pictures before headed to Dana Farber’s area, a church about ½ mile away. When I got there, I got in line for the bathroom right away. I headed in to a stall and pumped for around 15 minutes. I felt like a jerk taking up the bathroom for that long but had to do what I had to do! I was sweating severely! By the time I got out of there, the baggage bus had left, so I spent the next 15 minutes locating someone to help me to send my pump to the finish. By the time I was done with that, it was time to walk to the start and lineup in the corrals. The bad thing was that my feet were already hurting – just from walking. I was a bit nervous about this!

the start - first mile

When I first saw the town, it reminded me of the Steamtown Marathon – small town, tons of people.

beginning maybe miles 1-2

The marathon volunteers were tough about letting people into the corrals. By the time I got into the corral, we basically started walking to the start. There was no down time this morning! I would suggest getting to the buses early to have more time at the start – for me, it was good. I like just getting in there and starting – no time to think about it! Plus I waited as long as possible so that I could pump as late as possible. But it would have been nice maybe to take it all in and spend some time in Athlete’s Village. I had hoped to meet Karla, who ran the Boston Marathon 10 weeks postpartum several years ago and was running it again this year. (She ended up PR’ing with a 3:33!) We found each other through Lisa’s blog.

We started walking towards the start, and they announced that the beginning of our wave had begun! As we moved up Rocky was playing. There were TONS of people. It was so exciting. I started smiling and didn’t stop for the majority of the 26.2 miles! I took pictures for the first several miles then got tired of holding my camera and cell phone. Miles 1-6 were up and down – lots of hills. I think I started feeling the wind around mile 5. Headwind in our face! There were lots of people out and cheering like crazy . It made for such a great atmosphere. My first few splits were 9-9:30. I reminded myself it now takes me about 3 miles to warm up, but after 3, I still wasn’t feeling warmed up. With the wind, and my sluggishness, I felt like I was running in place. Through the towns, streets packed with people, it was really exciting. Once I made it to mile 10, I started to feel like I was warmed up. But - shortly after I felt like I was running in place again! My feet hurt, and knee had started to be bothersome around mile 6. I was back and forth on which shoes to wear, and picked the wrong ones! Mile 12, as we started to approach Wellesley – this was neat. Lots of college students out, many drinking and offering beer, and overly excited , due to the beer consumption, to get high fives. Wellesley looked really pretty and was filled with lots of girls holding up free kisses signs of all kinds. I watched an older fellow walk up to a girl and get a kiss. Probably made his day! The fans there were awesome and really carried you through. It was really loud.

walking through some water

From around 13.1 on, I felt like it was more exciting than the first ½ marathon. My half was 2:02 and I knew I wasn’t going to be keeping that pace but I was pretty happy with the time. I loved all the fans and excitement on the course. The fans really made the course. Mile 17 I got to see Bill, Nick, my dad and mother in law, I was thrilled to see them! They stationed themselves at the PowerBar Gel station – at the double latte flavor. They were easy to spot since I knew exactly where they were – thanks to cell phones! I dropped off my jacket and gloves to Bill and gave him and Nick a kiss. I kept on trucking and was feeling good, and happy. Around mile 18, heading up a hill, a man with an Irish accent turned to me and jokingly said, “is this heartbreak hill?” I laughed at him and told him sorry! In the back of my head, the whole time I had this time goal of around 4 hours. I realized that wasn't happening early on, and hoped I could get less than 4:14 which would have been a PR. This all went to a new goal of reaching the finish with a happy state of mind by mile 20 and I stopped looking at my watch or caring about the time whatsoever. Here at mile 20, I realized my last GU had fallen off of my fuel belt, and this was not good, because I felt like I needed it. I hadn’t taken a PowerBar Gel because my stomach doesn’t tolerate them as well, and didn’t need it at the time. I started feeling really hungry and I was taking oranges from anyone who was giving them out!

heartbreak - didn't even know it

I thought heartbreak hill was around mile 21.5, but after I made it up, I realized that it was over! It was good that I didn’t look at the map! It seemed like a long steady hill to me. It wasn’t terrible – the overall hilly course was what broke my heart! My sister and mom were waiting for me at mile 21. My mom had made shirts and signs for all of my family to wear to cheer me on. I was able to spot the signs that my mom made for me, and my sister hopped in to run with me for the rest of the race. I told her I needed food immediately! She was my eyes as she scanned the crowds for any food! I managed to get more oranges and an ice pop but food was on my mind.

sucking down an ice pop

And the finish line. And my little Nick! I projected my thoughts to think about the children with cancer from the pasta party and really didn’t have any complaints. It gave me a mission. I couldn’t wait to finish! We saw my sister’s friend Mary somewhere between 22-24 miles – it was exciting to see someone I knew with all of the craziness! I felt like it was so much fun!

mile 22 and smiling

25 mile marker and fans!

Those last 4.2 miles were pretty tough but the race was full of crowds. I really kept trying to be in the moment and enjoy the whole scene as much as I could. Take it all in! That was a great thing that my sister said. “Take it all in!” The streets were lined with people, bars were full of people. Drinks were flowing freely! Fans were thrilled to get a high five or thumbs up. Throughout the race I hit tons of hands of little kids and took oranges from their hands. They were so cute!
I remember running Disney with my sister and cheering her on and trying to motivate her and her telling me to shut up – totally understood that yesterday. You hear “Almost there!” and nice things like “You’re doing great!” but you don’t want to hear anything. We ran a bit in silence which is kind of what I needed. I think I told her she could stop talking when there was about ½ mile to go. You just don’t want to hear anything, you just want to cross that line! There was a one mile to go sign which was awesome, and you could SEE the finish. Victory was only a mile away – and in view! This was when I started to get delirious and excited. I tried to go as fast as I could but I’m pretty sure that last mile was in the 11s. I totally slowed down the last 10k. I couldn’t keep up the pace and my feet, knee and legs just HURT!

1 mile to go!

I can see the finish!!

It was AWESOME crossing that finish line. This was the coolest marathon fanwise that I’ve ran. It was close to New York, but better. Soon after we crossed, we saw my sister’s college roommate, Susan, and I felt like I was drunk! She took our picture, I got some food, a warm wrap, and finally my medal.

I am delirious! With my runner buddy sister

still delirious!

Such a great moment! I felt like it was a bit uneventful than other marathons because they make you walk all through everything else and hand in your chip, and then the last thing you get is your medal. The coveted medal. I kept walking and Bill, Nick, my dad, my mother in law, and Bill’s friend Matt were waiting for us.

my family!

It was exciting. My mom was still traveling back to the finish and met us back at the hotel. We took lots of pictures, I wimped out of an ice bath (2 minutes in a non full tub), I fed Nick (with a side of lactic acid which he didn’t seem to mind), and we had to pack up and check out! Although by the time that I fed Nick it was 7 hours later, my boobs held up and were not uncomfortable (a big fear!) On the way out of Boston – I was so sad to leave - we stopped at a restaurant near the airport before dropping off my sister there. I inhaled about half of a cheese and mushroom pizza. Not the suggested thing to eat after a marathon, but lots of protein! The “after the marathon” was disappointing to me. You definitely have to stay over Monday night and take your time and revel in the accomplishment. All in all, a great day, I couldn’t stop smiling, and I can’t wait to do it again. I wouldn’t say it was a great run for me, I definitely had some issues with my feet and knee so didn’t feel stellar out there, but I enjoyed every moment of it! Thank you for all of your encouragement and support! And thank you for your well wishes for the weather. It worked! The weather was perfect running weather except for the headwind.

I am still fundraising to try to reach my goal of $5000 and every dollar you donate does go towards cancer research. After seeing the small children with cancer, it really motivated me to reach or exceed my fundraising goal. Click the Dana Farber link on the sidebar to donate – any donation big or small is helpful!

Last – it was disappointing to see the elite women finish. Poor Kara! I have to go check out the interviews. All of the signs in Boston said “Kara – bring Boston home.” Lots of pressure and it looked like she lost it in the last ½ mile. Still love you Kara!!

fans!

my fam - brother rich is missing

whew -- that was tiring!

Score! Official Boston Marathon Finisher 2009!

Officially finished - thanks for the support!! : )

4:21:03/9:57 pace

Logistics

Today trying to think positive - no pressure mode. The butters are really good. Almond one is better than peanut one, I think because I used no salt peanuts (bad idea).

I'm stressing a little bit about logistics for the weekend. We leave tonight and go to CT to Bill's parents and get up in the morning and head to Boston where we'll be staying at a hotel Saturday and Sunday nights. I'm not sure how much frozen milk I need to bring, and where I will store it. I'm mainly concerned about Monday morning, but I'm also concerned about the entire weekend, since we'll be out and about and I haven't fed him while out and about yet - I'm always in someones house or in the car. I guess I'll suck that one up and figure it out.

We have a 3 hour car ride tonight and another 3 hour car ride in the morning. This might be tricky too. I hope it doesn't screw up his sleeping with the long stretches in the car. I guess if he needs to eat, we pull over and feed him... it should be interesting. First long car ride.

For Monday morning, it all depends on what time he wakes up! I may, however, have to wake him up and feed him before I go. We have to be on the buses between 6:45-7:30am. The race doesn't start until 10:30 for Wave 2 (my wave). Maybe I can wake him up and feed him at 6am, then pump around 10am or as close to the start as I can with checking my baggage (pump) then hope to god it takes me close to 4 - 4.5 hours and feed him as soon as I 'm done or pump. So he'll need possibly 2 bottles - one around 9-10am, and one around 1-2pm. I may not finish until 2:30/3:30. It is going to be all screwed up. I'm mostly concerned with where I'll store milk that is frozen and defrost it over 3 days. You are supposed to defrost it for 12 hours and use it within 12 hours or something like that. Anyone have suggestions on that one? This gives an extra dimension to getting ready for a race that you have to travel to. Holy mama!

Check out Abby's open mic interview on the Runner's Lounge today!

Nut Butters and Day 4

Today was a busy day! Started with swimming - I dropped Nick in the infant room at the Y (Joined yesterday after weeks of deliberation) - I was sweating horribly doing this. Right decision staying home. I went swimming on Saturday with my sister for the first time since before Nick was born and again today. After the marathon when I have post marathon blues, I'll be swimming it up!!

We met Abby for a bagel (instead of a run!), stopped off at the Head Nut (local nut/dried fruit/candy store), stopped by my grandmom's and went for a walk.

As soon as Nick was fed when I got home from the bagel and grandmom trip, I dug into the nuts and made some nut butters. I started with pecan which became an obsession from reading this blog and more specifically looking at the picture! Then on to the peanut and the almond. The pecan was really smooth and spreadable. The other 2 The Pecan butter - really smooth

The peanut butter with flax and 1/2 of the pecan butter

were really rough and dry. What did I do next - I took half of the pecan and mixed it in with the peanuts and the same with the other half with the almonds. The result - spreadable perfect nut butters. I added vanilla and flaxseeds to the almond butter and it is divine. I forgot the vanilla in the peanut butter but added flax. Nick was my little helper and watched my every move! : ) It was so cute.

Here are the final butters. The one on the right is named AbmondPeacnut Butter and on the left is BePeacNut butter. They're named after Abby and Bess - Abby who inspires me with healthy eating and running and Bess who reminded me of the Head Nut which will be my new shopping expedition. I think I need better names but that's ok. Just for starters.

Maybe I will start a company of nut butters with my giant baby on the jar.

Would you buy my butters?

Here is the recipe for the rosemary bread. I might need to make more for the weekend!
Why cut fat the days leading up to a marathon? I don't even know - does anyone else? I read it in a coaches email for the Dana Farber team!

Tomorrow's thing - which includes drinking water, resting and cutting fat, will be positive thoughts. I'm not sure if I will get a chance to post before we pack up and leave tomorrow night. Since I'm doing all this prep (which I haven't done in a while since my last marathon was November 2007) I am starting to get nervous. I don't want to be nervous because I do so much better without that! So.. we're working on positive no pressure thoughts!

Here is a Stonyfield Giveaway! I'll have a review on their greek yogurt coming in the future!

Day 3 - Cut out fat

From today until race day, I'm watching fat intake and cutting it out! Mainly, I won't be eating cheese, and I'll just be more aware, I won't be giving up peanut butter though! Starting Saturday or Sunday I'll stop eating all dairy. Last night I made rosemary bread like Abby made for me before my 20miler. It turned out really good and I plan to eat it this weekend!

I ironed on some onesies for Nick that say 26.2 and go mommy! but I like the outfit above that he has on from my friend Nicole - it says Mommy's favorite lucky charm.

Off to swim- hope not to run today!

:)

No rain please! Taper Day 2 - sleep

It can't rain on Monday!!! If it rains then my family outside cheering will dwindle and Nick will probably stay inside. Think a good thought for the rain to stay away!!!

Day 2's focus is sleep. This is a funny one! I took a nap yesterday with Nick, but a full night of uninterrupted sleep would be amazing. He's doing great - around 6 hours at a stretch with one wake up in between just kind of waking up, but not eating. I feel tired though. I'm trying to maximize sleep the next 5 days! I know I'll be fine since I've been doing the long runs on the weekends but it will be a long day Monday! It starts at 10:30 but we get on the buses around 7am. Interesting logistics for me!

Today's run was 6 miles, with 2 miles warmup, 3 miles at 9:00 and 1 mile cooldown.
Nick is so good when I run. It is usually when he is sleeping but when he wakes up, he hangs out. He's only sabataged 1 or 2 of my runs and one of them I wanted it to be over! He's an angel.

I'm a bit nervous about what shoes to wear, my strange feet are sore. They are sore when I wake up in the morning and after running and feel really good if I go on tippy-toes to stretch them out, or massage them. I've alternated shoes (3 pairs) and I can't tell if one pair is the culprit or what. So I don't know which ones I'll wear!

My bib # is 22110

Still drinking water, now working on sleep, tomorrow - cut out fat.

I haven't had a smoothie in some time... I overdid them too many days in a row and ran out of fruits, I do need to get to the produce store. Oatmeal has been my morning staple with some PB and flax, but I need some variety. That will be my focus next week!

Taper Day 1: Drink Water

Today's focus is drinking lots of water. I feel like this is something that I need to focus on now. When I was at work, I would fill a huge thing of water and drink the whole thing by the time I left, but now being at home taking care of the little pumpkin, I have to think about it more. So.. drinking water is today's thing!

I ran 3 easy miles - couldn't get to the pool. Nick had his 2 month shots today and I felt bad leaving him w/anyone.

Yesterday I did an 8 mile run. It was split up when Nick needed to eat after 5.3 miles, but that is ok! It felt really good with a 9m/m average. The last 3 days actually have been great runs. I am back at it and feeling super for Monday.

Saturday was a 5k - my first 5k since last September (4 months preggers) and I beat that time, but was around 2 minutes off my best time. My time was 25:15 a low 8 average and fine for a tempo run! It was pouring rain - and for a good cause. It was a good run.

Sunday I wanted to run off all the crap I ate on Saturday and planned on just running an easy 3-4 miles but it felt good and I was able to speed it up and I got in 6.2 miles at 9:00 pace.

I don't want to pressure myself with a goal for Monday, but in the back of my head I think that I can go faster than my previous marathons (all were before I started concentrating on speed and got fast!) But still, I don't want to think about it and instead want to enjoy every mile and minute.

6 days to go!!

Check out another run to finish giveaway!
And an Honest Foods giveaway!

taper ahead

baby on the outside - ready to cheer for his mama

I don't really taper, but each day this week I am going to try to focus on something to prepare for next Monday. This is my plan - advice welcome!!

Mon 8 miles marathon pace
Tues swim/lift/x-train (skip lifting this week?)
Wednes- 1 mile wu, 2-3 miles m-pace, 1 mile cd
Thurs- same as Tues,maybe yoga?
Fri-2-3 easy miles
Sat- off/yoga/walk at expo
Sun-2 easy miles
Mon- MARATHON day

Mind Games

My lil runner is becoming a BIG runner!

The weeks/days before a race - how do you prepare yourself? mentally...

I find that the less I think about it and the less pressure I put on myself the better I am throughout the race, the more enjoyable it is, and the better I do. In the 20 miler 2 weeks ago, I felt really good mentally. I think it was because I knew I had the option at stopping at 10 miles, and then every mile past then was an accomplishment. By the time I got to 20, 6 more sounded like it would have been pretty easy. I hope I can keep the same mindset for Boston. I am starting to doubt myself - and psych myself out after seeing the elevation chart. And after running 12 miles of hills last weekend and just 8 today and partially struggling through it. I need to work on positive thoughts and work on a mind game that will get me to the end without negative thoughts!
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TAPER WEEK -
I don't really taper much, but lessen the load next week before the marathon. I'm working up some good eats - ideas - and my run schedule for the last week. I know lots of carbs. I was thinking breads, pasta, potatoes. Which potatoes are good pre-race and which for recovery - one is sweet potatoes and one is regular potatoes ... which is which? What are some of your taper foods? Taper traditions?

Lack of heart

Lately, since that awesome 20 miler, I haven't had much enjoyment in my runs. The heart isn't there! I'm not sure if it is getting tired of the treadmill, that I've ran alone ever since then, that I'm not really getting any faster? I don't know, I think I'm just in a slump. I'm working on getting the enjoyment back into the running while getting through the runs.

I don't know what is going on with the bottom of my feet. It feels really good to roll them on the stick and massage them. The only thing I could think of is that I'm carrying extra weight and my stride may be different. Otherwise I'm wearing the same shoes that have always worked for me.

After a few rough days, I started to feel a whole lot better about my decision last week. I feel like I put everything in perspective and made the decision that I am happy about. It takes some adjusting and really your whole life changes and things that were important aren't really as important anymore. Clare made an awesome post about this here.

Compression Giveaway Check out this giveaway from the awesome A.B.

Just received my wrightsock socks from Runners World Giveaway, I'm excited to try them out and give a review on them.

Eating - been eating pretty well, smoothies here and there with frozen berries, but can clean up some parts of my daily eating. Really trying to cut out processed foods like cereal bars and protein bars, and eat mostly natural stuff.

My peanut butter is tasty, just dry.

Why do my feet hurt?

I need a serious foot massage. I thought it was that I needed new shoes - the reason why the bottom of my feet were sore like I ran 100 miles at one shot - everytime that I run, but shoes aren't the culprit. So.. why do the bottom of my feet hurt - when I'm running and I feel that I need a massage ALL the time??

2 weeks to go till Boston!

Peanut Butter

Making peanut butter - somewhat successful. Take that naturally nutty - for not sending me any free peanut butter and making me buy 12 jars of it as a crazy pregnant lady! I added in flaxseed to it and it is dry but good! Just nuts and flaxseed in the food processor for a bit. So now I'll eat this, as long as it is cheaper than buying it at the store! We'll have to see! Where to buy bulk nuts... hmm.

My 12 mile run - I kept putting this one off! Was going to go Sat morning and bailed - way too windy. Then bailed again for this morning! I was staying with my mom while Bill and my dad went to see Villanova play in Detroit and the thought of driving out to VF to run and add in the extra time and getting up early, I wasn't into it! So I ended up trudging through 2 hours around my parents hilly neighborhood. Good practice for Boston, but missing running with partners and buds and getting through this one alone - no mile markers or water stops. The good thing was that I had tons of my mom's easter bread (an annual tradition) in my stomach for carbs, and I will for the next 2 weeks while I carbo load!

Thoughts

This past week has been kind of hard! After I made the decision all I did was question it and think about it and found myself sad! I think it is one of those grass is greener situations and no matter what I had decided I would have been sad and questioned it. I made the decision that I thought was right and that I thought I would regret less going forward . But here's what I think - it is a very big adjustment and change. I don't know if everyone goes through this, or if it has to do with teaching being such a big part of who I am, and now making room for changes in who I am - now I'm also a mother and this is a big part of my life.

Overall, I just think wow, what a big change it can be for moms, whereas not so much for dads. I just wish more workplaces were more supportive of moms and offering part time work when children are little. For me, the decision was one extreme or the other. It was to choose between resuming my pre-baby life/job which was working 5 days a week and taking alot of work home - papers to grade, lesson plans, etc. I found the time to workout after work, but I still felt that I could have been spending more time with Bill. Now add in a baby, and how will I ever fit in everything that I want to do? I felt like I would try not to bring work home, but ultimately, would feel like a bad teacher and by leaving off Nick at daycare, a bad mother for the lack of time spent with him. I think it will be good for him to go to daycare in the future, but I felt that since he is my first and I don't know what to expect with him growing up in the first year at least, I wanted to experience that. It was a hard decision, and I think in the end I will be glad that I did it, but now, it is a big adjustment period for me. When Bill gets up to leave in the morning, I am jealous of him and want to go to work. I would be happy to have a folder of papers to grade. I think though, that I am forgetting things such as parent phone calls, pointless meetings, IEP meetings, pain in the butt kids, - and just thinking of all of the good things. I was thinking the waste of time things would get me down next year. Anyway, at this point, I am just trying to live with my decision and move forward and figure out what I will do for part-time work and to keep myself stimulated.

Running - was supposed to go do 12 this morning but was severely windy so heading out tomorrow to do that. After the great 20 miler which I feel like I could do every weekend, this week's runs have been kind of a drag and forced. Only 2 weeks to go till Boston!

my
I started attempting to make my own peanut butter but there must be a special tool. It is not liquidy enough and way too dry. I was using a food processor and have to go do some research now.