post-vacation frustration

I don't know if I wussed out, or if I'm just human. Probably some of both.

My failure to complete last weekend's long run is a long story, and since I'm frustrated with myself, I feel like ranting. Strap in.


Saturday
When I was planning how my training schedule would work into my vacation home for the holidays long ago, I was happy to see that I was due to fly home on a Sunday--typically a rest day, when all goes according to schedule. I planned to knock out my 9 miles the day before I left Montana to return to Massachusetts. How naive I was.

This being my first time living across the country from my family and hometown friends, this was also my first time returning home to see everyone for after an absence of more than a couple of weeks. Consequently, I had no idea what the "last day before I leave" would entail.

It was madness. I have a habit of doubting anyone who says they were too busy to do such-and-such, because most people have downtime for TV or whatever at some point in their day. As proof for any such skeptics as myself, this is how my Saturday went down:
- 9 AM - 10:30 AM coffee w/ a friend.
- 10:30 AM - 2 PM Christmas celebration with Mom's side of the family
- 2 PM - 4 PM visited by friends from church; showered with cow-related gag gifts (don't ask!)
- 5 PM - 7 PM games with another set of friends from church
- 7 PM - 9 PM games with immediate family and Grandma from Dad's side of family
- 9 PM - 11 PM pack, prepare box of everything that doesn't fit in suitcase to ship to myself, attempt to sleep for my 6 AM flight

I admit: it does look like I had an hour from 4-5 in there. I think I spent it cleaning up though, and I'm sure I couldn't have run 9 miles (and showered) in an hour!

When my head finally hit the pillow that night, I told myself that I would run Sunday--no problem.


Sunday
As I said, I flew out at 6 AM. That meant getting out of bed after a frustratingly restless night at 3:30 AM, leaving for the airport at 4:30, and attempting to sleep on the flight from Billings to Denver between getting elbowed by the young child sitting next to me. But fine--I did catch some sleep on my second flight, so I planned to get home, take a nap, and knock out 9 miles in the afternoon.

Oh how naive I was again!

The airline lost my checked bag, which--inevitably--contained my new running shoes. I could probably have suffered through the run with my old running shoes, but I didn't have those either; I had put them in the box to ship home to myself, since I didn't think I'd need them for a while. Fail.


Monday
This one is where me being a wuss comes in. I headed to the gym after work--the obligatory hectic day that always comes after you're away from your inbox for two weeks--with the intention of running 9 miles.

I made it 4.

I was tired; my legs hurt; I was in a bad mood; the Monday Night Football game I was watching wasn't much of a game at all; I was bored; I was thirsty and had run out of water; I was hot; and the music I had selected wasn't doing it for me. I was pulling out every excuse in the book.

I woke up this morning (Tues) very sore--apparently my body didn't get the memo that I had spared it 5 miles last night. Regardless, it hurt to walk. I guess that's a good reason to have wussed out; I can't imagine what getting out of bed would have been like had I completed the long run.

Still, I was feeling very discouraged today. Life is just stressful right now. It will get better!

blog vacation, *not* a running vacation

Many apologies for no postings for a while! I've been enjoying some time home in Montana with family in friends--but don't worry, I've been keeping up with the training schedule! I look forward to getting back on track with the blog when I return to Massachusetts in a few days.

In the meantime, I hope everyone's been having a very happy holiday! Seasons greetings to each of you. =)

coffee fundraising incentive!

Many apologies for my absence! Since I last posted, I successfully completed the 7-mile mark. Woo-hoo!

Now then, onto that overdue fundraising incentive I promised. This one is a challenge for all of you coffee and espresso drinkers. The premise is simple:

>>Fundraising Incentive #2

Make the commitment that for every dollar spent on a coffee, latte, mocha, cappuccino, frappuccino, WHATEVER, you'll donate a dollar to Boston Partners in Education.

I'm going to put my money where my mouth is on this one. For every coffee/espresso drink that I purchase from now until Marathon Monday, I'm going to match that purchase with a donation equal to it on my Firstgiving page. I'll list whatever drink I had that day in the "Comments" section, so you can stalk my coffee consumption if you really want to. =) My goal is ultimately to cut back on my coffee-drinking while donating a little at a time to a wonderful cause at the same time.

Join me! Feel free to substitute your own money-sucking habit: maybe you're more addicted to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream than espresso drinks. Whatever it is, match every purchase of that item with a donation to a truly wonderful cause. There will be some kind of awesome, cheesy reward in April (tbd) for anyone who gets onboard.

Finally, if any of you have any ideas for a name for this idea, please post a comment. The only thing that keeps popping into my brain is "Bad Habits for Kids"--but even I can see that's terrible.

ten o'clock training

Busy day today. I went straight from work to errand-running, to a conference, to grocery shopping and grabbing a quick bite to eat, and I finally arrived back home after 9:30. The last thing I wanted to do at 10 PM was make a trip to the gym for a 3 mile run on a stomach full of Q'doba, but alas, I did. The good news was that my shins seemed to understand my lack of time for shoe shopping today; I was very happy to find them virtually pain free for my entire run today.

I usually come home from a run and reward myself with a cold glass of chocolate milk. This is a great trick I picked up from Coach Rick: chocolate milk's combination of protein and carbs apparently makes it the best thing you can put into your body after a run. The thought of an ice cold glass of CM waiting for me at home sometimes gets me through the last minutes of my run, in fact.

Tonight, however, I rewarded myself somewhat more extravagant. That's right--a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. It's basically the same concept, right?

And tonight, I begin a new "running" (bad pun!) segment of this blog: the 90 BPM song of the evening. This is inspired by a related link a friend just shared with me on Facebook, which can be found here.

Song of the day: "Yer So Bad" by Tom Petty - 90.45 BPM.
A wonderfully simple beat that's easy to run to and that only Petty could pull off. Plus, some humor in the first and second verses' lyrics will distract you from the annoying pain in your stomach, caused by eating before running! =)

wrong shoes blues

I can't take it anymore. I'm buying new shoes.

I have a newish pair of Nike tennis shoes that I was sure would serve me for the first half of our training just fine. (They're not exactly the ones pictured, but they're close.) However, on yesterday's fairly easy 2-mile run, my shins started barking just a few second in.

I do love that I can call 2 miles a fairly easy run, though!

Considering I was on the treadmill once again, the only thing I can attribute this reoccurring problem to is the simple fact that I don't have running shoes. And considering I now know what the problem is, I figure any pain in my legs is my own fault until I do something about it! I'll be making the trip to Marathon Sports to remedy that situation in a couple of days.

It also helps that on our last team run, one of the girls I ran with was enumerating all of the many brands of running shoes there are that are superior to Nike. She had no idea I was wearing Nikes at the time, of course; she was actually talking about the shoe selection of someone who wasn't even there. However, I got the message--even if it wasn't aimed at me! =)

In other news, a new fundraising incentive will be posted this week. Be excited, and thanks all for reading!

our team of seventeen

Yesterday was our six mile group run, and just in time--by the time evening hit, snow was sticking to the ground! The seven-miler next week could be interesting.

I would definitely like to take a moment to sing the praises of our awesome Boston Partners team this year. This is Boston Partners' last year as an official charity of the Boston Marathon(R) (the BAA gives featured charities three years each), and I'm so proud to be the team's coordinator. We have many familiar faces on this year's team; I'm only one of four current full-time staff members who are running. We also have two former staff members, a few of our volunteers, and even two folks who ran for us last year. All of our teammates are motivated to run and raise funds for our organization, and we are so appreciative for all of their efforts so far.

Each official charity is given fifteen numbers for the Boston Marathon, but in addition to our fifteen charity runners, Boston Partners is very proud to have two qualified runners also on our team. (This is the first year that's happened!) These wonderful women don't actually have to join a charity team in order to run the Boston Marathon--their qualifying times from previous marathons earned them that privilege already. Nonetheless, they agreed to join our team and raise money for our organization anyway simply out of the kindness of their hearts. We are so happy to have them as part of our team... even if both of them finish all of the team runs about twenty minutes before I do! =)

Training continues this week with the last 2 mile run for quite a while--the "short" runs of the week will be at least 3 miles after that. Wish us luck!

running workshop!

I ran 5 miles this weekend! I haven't been able to say that in over 2 years... and I didn't even feel like I was dying! I also tested out some new 90 BPM songs ("Distraction" by Angels & Airwaves is going to be hard to beat), so it was a good day at the gym.

I promised I would post some fundraising incentives; it's high time I started on that! I'm hoping that various incentives will appeal to various groups of people who read this. I'll start with an incentive that will probably mostly interest runners (or aspiring runners) who live in the Boston area.

To fully appreciate how cool this incentive is, I first need to brag up our TEAM's awesome running coach, Coach Rick Muhr. These are just a few highlights of his stellar running career:

Rick has completed 36 marathons, including 8 Boston Marathons®. All were qualifiers. Rick's personal record was achieved at the Chicago Marathon, which he completed in a staggering 2:33. That works out to an average of 5 minutes and 50 seconds per mile!!

In 1983, Rick was ranked fifth in the country at the 100K (62 miles, for those of us non-metrics). In 2004, Rick participated in "Run Across Massachusetts," running 165 miles in 5 days from the NY border to the State House in Boston to raise awareness and money for the Special Olympics.

Rick knows his stuff. So, onto the incentive...

>>Fundraising Incentive #1
For any donations of $50 or more, you will be officially invited to a running workshop hosted by Coach Rick Muhr. Just donate through my Firstgiving page, and in the space provided for a comment, mention that you're interested in the running workshop. (Either include your email address in the comment as well, or send me a message through the Comment feature of this blog with some way to get in touch with you.)

Coach Rick specializes in running efficiency, which in the short amount of time I've spent as his coachee, I can already attest to. This would be a fantastic opportunity to learn about all aspects of running from an absolute professional.

Feel free to contact me (comments on this blog are always welcome) if you have any questions. Many thanks to Coach Rick for offering to host this wonderful event!

the reason for the madness

I've been blogging for a little over a week now, but already I feel I've gone too long without explaining the primary reason that I'm running the Boston Marathon® at all. Please indulge me as I remedy that now.

As anyone who's visited my Firstgiving page knows, I hail from the West. In March of this year--sitting in my parents' house in Laurel, Montana, population 6,605--I had the sudden realization that I needed to do two things I had always meant to do at some point before I died, and I needed to do them now:

1) Give back. 2) Try a city.

I had a friend serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the time, and from the little I knew of what she did, the VISTA program sounded promising. I hopped onto their website and scrolled through thousands of applications in the cities that interested me--Seattle, Chicago, D.C., NYC, and Boston.

I started with just two applications as my top picks, both for positions at education-related organizations. I found another fifteen or so options as back up, but I'm so proud to say that now, 8 months and 2000 miles later, I am currently serving at one of those original two standouts. Boston Partners in Education gave me a chance to give back.

I had every opportunity in the world growing up in Laurel. My public school teachers were all fantastic, and my parents also understood the value of education for their children. In high school, I was able to earn a scholarship that paid nearly all of my college tuition, and my college experience at a public university proved to be as rewarding as my earlier education.

I serve at Boston Partners in Education for one reason: not all kids get the opportunities that I've had, and that needs to change.

Boston Partners' mission is to provide the Boston public school children with focused, individualized, in-school support. They've been around since 1966, and they continue to enthusiastically receive the support of volunteers and corporations year after year because their programs work.

Already in my few months here, I've seen this firsthand. I participate in two of Boston Partners' programs, Math Rules! and Power Lunch. I'm sure I'll be regaling you with stories about the wonderful experiences I have with both of these programs as this blog progresses, but for now, let me say that my short time participating in them has already shown me how well the programs run and what great results they produce.

I believe in the work of Boston Partners. It's why--despite the less than ample government stipend received through AmeriCorps for service--I work harder at this job than I have at any other job in the past. It's why I check my work email on weekends; it's why I work on our database after hours; it's why I am staying late to post this blog entry. Whether it's through direct service like working with kids, or through indirect service like updating our website--I want to make a difference in the life of a child.

If this is something you believe in as well, please consider making a donation to this cause. Visit www.firstgiving.com/runkellyrun to donate to Boston Partners and support my marathon endeavor.

Thank you for reading, and happy Thanksgiving!

that's 180 small steps for man...

Two miles at the gym today, and I'm happy to say that I stepped my up pace to 6.5 mph. Training continues.

I forgot to mention the latest BPM revision yielded by Saturday's group run. Coach Rick gave our combined charity team (or as he calls it, the TEAM) a bunch of introductory pointers before we went for our four mile run.

Apparently, scientific research has proven that all Olympic runners--from Olympic marathoners to Olympic 100 meter dashers--run at approximately 180 steps per minute. In terms of my beloved MixMeister BPM Analyzer, that's 90 BPM. In terms of my 1990's pop/rock collection, that's "Meet Virginia" by Train.

With that new tidbit in mind tonight, I made a conscious effort to take many more smaller steps per minute than I'm used to. I think I did fairly well considering this was my first pointed effort at it, but I could use an updated playlist.

first team run

First group run this morning! The nonprofit I'm running for, Boston Partners in Education, has teamed up with four other organizations to form one giant team of 75+ runners. The combined team meets every other Saturday for one long run, which this week, was 4 miles.

I was sure 4 was going to kill me, but it turns out that running 4 miles along the Charles with friends is infinitely easier than 3 miles alone on a treadmill. (This may also have been due to what I'm guessing was a slightly slower pace than my usual, but no complaints here!!) Add in the most inspirational coach a person could ask for and lovely autumn weather, and today's run turned out to be a wonderful start to my morning. That's the first Saturday I've been dressed and showered before 10 for a long time. =)

Plus, I've now run outside! Today's run might be cheating considering my training buddies were a huge help in setting a manageable pace, but I'm still happy to have leaped that hurdle--psychologically, if nothing else.

It was interesting to hear various team members talk about their desired times for the Boston. Our team members are all at various levels of running--some have run the Boston before; some have run half marathons before; and some (me) know nothing about running, didn't even go out for track in high school, have never entered a race of any kind, but are still crazy enough to think they can do this. For my own personal marathon goal, I'd like to finish. And not die. (Those are not listed in order of importance.)

At the close of this week, I'd like to send a big shout-out to each of my first donors so far. Many, many thanks to Jim, Deb, Walt, my Grammy & Grandpa, and an anonymous donor! I couldn't do this without you folks' generosity; I certainly appreciate it!

back to the track, jack

Phew! Three more miles down. I'm writing this moments after returning from the gym, and my legs are currently threatening to leave me for a more sensible head+torso.

Tonight's low point came when my left calf decided to tighten up halfway through the run, forcing me to walk for a good five minutes before picking it up again.

The high points were the five or six references to actual episodes of The Cosby Show in tonight's episode of 30 Rock. (I time my Thursday night gym sessions to watch either that or The Office on the little TVs built into the treadmills.) Gotta love that show.

Off to stretch, but expect some fun donation incentives on the way soon!

my own beat

3-mile marker reached! That's metaphorical, of course--I ran on the treadmill again. =)

I didn't just wuss out of actually running outside due to the increasingly chilly Boston evenings tonight, however--I had a very specific purpose for tonight's treadmill run. Let me explain. And keep in mind, I am a crazy person.

Whenever I run on the treadmill, I nearly always entertain myself by listening to music. And as I was "pre-training" a few weeks ago, I noticed two things:

1) When I listened to Lit's song "Pictures of You" while running my normal pace of 6.0 mph, I was taking every step almost exactly in rhythm with the beat of the song. The song was just a little faster.

2) When I listened to The Wallflowers' song "Everybody Out of the Water" at the same pace, I was again running nearly exactly to the beat of the song. This song was just a little slower.

Enter my UberNerdiness. Before I headed to the gym tonight, I downloaded a free program that calculates how many beats per minute are in any particular song. This program--with the unfortunate name of MixMeister BPM Analyzer--told me that "Everybody Out of the Water" is 82.42 BPM, and "Pictures of You" is 87.01 BPM.

So, nerd that I am, I headed out to the gym with a short playlist on my MP3 player made up entirely of songs between 82.5 and 87 BPM.

I now know that I run exactly at the pace of "You Learn," a 90's pop hit by Alanis Morissette. Huh.

More importantly, I can now run outside! With my brand new playlists of songs right around 84.13 BPM, I can pace myself by running instep with the beat of any such song.

Woo, nerds!!

let the madness begin

Today was the first official day of training! After a quick trip to a local sports store to buy my first ever [and surprisingly expensive] outdoor running outfit, I put on my brand new outdoor jacket... and headed to the indoor gym. (I wanted to knock out two miles at slightly faster than my normal pace, and I needed the treadmill to keep track of that.)

And I admit... I have yet to learn how to set a reasonable pace for myself running outdoors. I start out sprinting without realizing I'm doing it and then am winded after a block. More on that later.

For now: two miles down! And according to the count of a fellow runner on my team--only 574.2 to go!

* * *
By the way, every time I break a new "distance record" in my official training, I'll be posting a mile marker like the one at left showing how many consecutive miles I ran. It's those stupid little rewards that will get me through this thing! =)

welcome!

Welcome, one and all, to my official my marathon madness blog!

I am a member of Boston Partners' in Education official 2010 Boston Marathon® Charity Team. This means that in exchange for the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon without a qualified time, I am obligated to raise a minimum of $3,250 for Boston Partners in Education.

My challenge over the next several months will be trying to reach my goal of raising $4,000 dollars for Boston Partners, as well as attempting to get in shape enough to run a whopping 26.2 miles on April 19, 2010, at runners' most coveted marathon: The Boston.

This blog will keep you up-to-date as I embark on this adventure! Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the blog in the months to come.