2009 In Review

2009 was a good year...



I went to New Orleans:





and North Carolina:





and Lake Placid:




and Hawaii:






I went on an awesome training weekend in VT with some awesome friends and did an unbelievable amount of hills:





I watched Brian jump off a balcony:





I graduated from massage school and became a licensed massage therapist:





I did a triathlon, didnt drown, and placed in my age group:



I got a really awesome camera and took pictures of our adorable (winking) dogs:






I raced from CT to Boston:




I started teaching again:





Anddddd, I got married!:

PHEW

i have been sick for a full WEEK! luckily, it hit during the last 3 days of school before winter vacation. aka the "black hole" of the school year. full of exams and math games and not learning anything new, because there is no chance it will be retained. the last couple nights of 9-10 hours sleep is allowing me to feel human again!!!

chloe, the maniac dog, just ate an ounce of chocolate. normally, this wouldnt be a huge deal in dogs because its such a small amount. however, she is 6 pounds, so it becomes a big deal full of hydrogen peroxide and vomiting. add this to the list of ridiculous things she has eaten. that list also includes:

-Cola ClifBloks
-prescription pills
-cherry pits
-an entire pencil
-inordinate amounts of toy stuffing (this stuff comes out fully intact in case you were wondering)

so christmas is over, wednesday is harry potter day (umm, museum of science exhibit with dawn, CANNOT WAIT!!) and thursday is new years eve already. crazy, crazy.
will try and post pictures of the crazy last couple of weeks tomorrow...

Today I:

-Forgot my jacket at home, BRRR!
-Fell on my rear end stepping outside my house at 6:30 this morning. Ice+Heels+No Jacket+6:30am: Not the best version of myself.
-Drank some fresh squeezed lemonade, which is my all-time favorite drink.
-Ran outside for 50 minutes, and thank goodness my zone 1 pace is coming down!
-Will be going to the gym to do Week 4 of Lift 2. 4 weeks to go and then my poor legs can take a breather from the weights!!
-Was thinking I need to get back in the pool
-Had a really good day at work, the kids were fun and receptive (except for the following)
-Gave my first detention at the new school. However, I didnt tell him he had the honor of being such.

This week:
3 massages to do
3 Holiday parties (Fast Splits, QT2 Coaches, cousins)
1 Dough cake party at the in-laws (ha ha in-laws)
80 progress reports to calculate and send in
4 more rides and runs and one more gym session!


Still debating dinner....not quite hungry yet. Maybe some Chobani will be involved (honey-yummm!)

wow, i need to update this bad boy, huh?

we are in the midst of a very.cold.spell. i hate (DESPISE!) running in really cold weather. not too big a fan of running at the gym either though, solution: ride the trainer. it wont help me at Hyannis, but it will help me not get fatter!!

also, working full time again is making me sleepy. the job in itself is making me happy though, i love teaching.

yesterday, i ate too much pineapple for lunch, and my stomach hurt so bad during F period i thought i was going to die, mid slope-teaching. obvioiusly, however, i didnt.

ive been toying around with posting daily food pictures. what i eat for lunch, and what i make for dinner. ill continue to inner debate this.

and lastly....the bad girls club is back on Oxygen for a new season. that (in addition to Jersey Shore on MTV) is the BEST trainer show ever! trashy and entertaining!

VOLCANOES!

So the race itself was pretty awesome. I took about 200 pictures, posted some on facebook. Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander won (again), PW rocked a 10:17 and the rest of the QT2ers did pretty dang well, too. It was a ridiculously hot and humid day (95 i think?). By far, the hottest since we had arrived. And of course, the two days after the race were cloudy and cool (80!!!).


Thats him at Mile 1 of the run...


We continue to hit up Lava Java every morning. Yesterday I had the Chris McDonald....Vanilla yogurt and homemade granola in half of a fresh papaya...YUM!

Exciting things happened in Hawaii yesterday.

1. We visited the most southern point in the entire united states. It took about 1.5 hours to drive to, but it was WELL worth it. It was the beautiful part of the island we have seen thus far! PW did his research and this was the one thing he wanted to see while we were here!



We stood on it (for future referencing purposes!), took a ton of pictures, and then I spelled out our initials on the lava...we may make this an annual trip!



2. I saw a VOLCANO!!!! We drove halfway around the island to see flowing lava. We saw a giant crater and some steam vents at the National Park:



And then we got to see the lava! We actually witnessed Hawaii growing inch by inch. We walked to the edge of the island and saw the lava flowing into the ocean (did you know it creates Hydrochlroric acid?!), and watched it flow down the volcano...PW made friends with the Volcano Dude and asked a bunch of questions about it. Apparently where we were standing (on old lava) was 2-3 lava feet deep, but just a little ways away was 25 feet deep! And, the parking lot there was going to be gone in about 2 weeks assuming everything kept flowing at the same speed! He left me a little concerned about a random eruption, but we leave for Oahu tomorrow so we should be okay!



We went way out in the ocean today. Well, way out for me. We swam out to experience the 6-7 foot waves at a local bunch, and it was NUTS! We got thrown one time, almost drowning (and PW lost his sunglasses, but found them a couple of waves later), but the rest of the time we just rode them and it was awesomely fun. Wish we had waves like that back home (and that the ocean was that warm!!)

We went to eat at the Kona Brewery tonight for the FOURTH time since weve been here (and we've been here for 7 days!). We love it! I love the Longboard and I love their pizza! And now that PW can eat, phew, do we eat. Tonight was garlic bread, nachos, beer, and 2 kinds of pizza!!

Tomorrow...to Oahu and Waikiki. We are going to do some historianin' (Pearl Harbor!), some snorkeling, some Pipeline watching on the North Shore, and some SURFING!! Should be awesome.

And for the last picture of the day, heres a rainbow from our balcony the last time we stayed in the House On The Hill (Monday morning.

HAWAII!!

We flew into Kona on Sunday night but I have been so busy I havent had time to update the blog and post pictures yet. In case we are not facebook friends or youre not on twitter (which, if youre not either of those....youre probably not reading my blog because you dont know me!)...PW and I eloped on Monday afternoon!!

We got the rings Friday, told our parents Saturday, flew in Sunday, got the license and then got married on Monday! It was just us on a secluded Kona beach, our photographer (Dede) and our videographer (B.Hughes) who then doubled as witnesses. Ceremony, dinner at Kona Brewery to celebrate with Brian, Pam, and the Griesbauers and now here I am, a married woman! I have a couple of pictures to post now but many more will come after we get the pictures off the internets from Deeds. Heres my favorite so far! Its from a blackberry so, a little blurry!



This deserves an entry all to itself because, hey, we're married!! I will do another recap when we get all the pictures!

So yes, my poor husband (HA! HUSBAND!) is in overload right now. A wedding and the World Ironman Championships all in one week!! Hawaii is unbelievable. Not only is it the most beautiful place on earth, but Kona is like the triathlon who's who. I have seen everyone you could imagine in the triathlon world--from Chrissie Wellington and Macca to old school Peter Reid and Siri Lindley, to Sister Madonna Buder! Took a ton of pictures, of course. With more to come! Heres a couple of the landscape and some people you might recognize:



Vinu and me at the expo. Also, check out XTri because he posted a great picture of PW and I that he took, along with a little marriage announcement!!



at a beach downtown, Pam took this one, Im trying to look pensive! And work on my tan :) Look at the colors! The water is soooo clear and perfect, even I went in it! And Im not big on open water!




the infamous swim course, first thing Tuesday morning. If youre lucky and time it right, you can occasionally swim with a pod of dolphins!! Or even this guy:



Or these ladies, the Fuel Belt/Saucony representatives of the day!! Not to mention awesome and fast. (Dede and Karen!)






A couple of other recognizable Ironmen (woman)...(The Nun and Scott Rigsby)




The view from our house...its only 1.5miles from Ali'i Drive (and the ocean), but its at 1000ft of elevation! We are STRAIGHT uphill!



So tropical!

This week has been a blur, Ive seen so many friends, met so many new people, eaten SO MUCH!, gotten free stuff (like a free $300 Tyr speedsuit!!), went to the beach, Sherpa-ed for my QT2 peeps, overwhelming! Tomorrow is the Big Rest Day and then Saturday its GO TIME! Cant wait to see them race and go fast! Really excited to see PW race because hes worked really hard since Placid (and before...) leading up to this race. He had to go out and work out when he was too tired to see straight, eat salad when I ate pizza in front of him, skipped on wedding cake :), and gone to bed early as much as possible!!! I know hes going to rock it out on Saturday, Im excited to see it all come together!!

Will try and post more pictures tomorrow....

RAGNAR is now officially over. It was wet, fun, and painful all at the same time. We dug deep out there! I did a total of 32 miles...we had a man down and we all covered his race legs for him!! For now...I am hanging up my Brooks Adrenalines, they have 350 miles on them! Will order a new pair and then its on to training for the Hyannis Half-Marathon in February.

More details about the race to come in another entry once we get all the pictures settled and dispersed. Until then: Thanks to our sponsors:

@brooksrunning, the Twitter presence of Brooks (www.brooksrunning.com)
for giving us ALL of clothing and shoes. Having 3 complete running outfit was huge, because it was wet and rainy alll night and day!

Zensah (www.zensah.com)
for hooking us up with 2 pairs of compression calf sleeves each! This was a big component of recovery between legs...it was like running on fresh legs after wearing these!!!

sooo

this is it, race time! Justin is picking me up at 9AM tomorrow morning and then we will be ON OUR WAY! After months of talking about it, can't believe its here. Thats what everyone says though! In reality...I "tapered" this week, did my last long run on Sunday (2.5 hours split up for a total of 19miles), had a minor OHMYGOSHIMGETTINGSICK breakdown yesterday, slept pretty much all day and am now feeling brand new. And ready to go.

I am teetering on that line..you know the one. On one side is trained to the brim-ready to race and as fast as youve been...and on the other side is exhaustion and being sick. Im on the line and ready.

You can follow this shebang on twitter by searching for #BrooksRagnar...we will of course be tweeting through the entire thing. I should be running around 5pm, 2am, and 9am (ish), 27.4miles total, so keep me in your thoughts!!

Weekly Totals 8/24-8/30

Remember when I used to do weekly totals? Yeah, me too. Here is this week, because it is the highest mileage Ive done since training for Philly.

Monday: 45min (Zone1)
Tuesday: 75min (Zone1)
Wednesday: 35min (Zone Recovery)
Thursday: 90min (Zone1)
Friday: 50min (Zone 1)
Saturday: 35min (Zone Recovery)
Sunday: 2h20min (70min AM, 70min PM Zone1)

For a total of 55miles.

WAHOO! So happy to be able to throwdown some solid mileage again. I make way more improvements and can lose weight much easier when Im above 40mi/week. Actually, Im pretty sure I can ONLY lose weight at over 40mi/week!

Also, going to Stephi's on Tremont tonight with PW, B.Hughes, and Maryanne for her birthday and I am very excited about that!

My Brooks Clothing Review (Finally!!)

Brooks' Five Guys, 1 Girl, and 140 Characters

So, Ive had some time to run in my new Brooks stuff. For those of you that dont know (which means youve never read my blog before!!), my awesome RAGNAR Team is being sponsored by them for the race. I have about 140mi in my new Adrenalines (maybe more?! forgot to track!), 10 runs my Infiniti Sprinters, spent a race riding around on my bike spectating with my backpack, and a couple in my NightLife Equilibrium shirt and white running hat!!

SO! Lets start with the shoes. These glorious, glorious, non-injuring Adrenaline GTS9's (Size 7.5 for reference, in the sweet color scheme below. I thought the red looked speedier!):


Now, I have been an Asics girl for years and years. Over 10! And I have always run in their "2140" line (2130, 2120...you get the picture). They have always suited me well, never had a problem. They lasted me through marathon training and countless 5K's. That is, until the new model came out. They changed the shoe!! I despise when shoes companies do this, taking a perfectly good shoe and messing with it! They made the toe box smaller, and this had disastrous results for me. SUDDEN plantar fasciitis, which Id never had before, kept me sidelined for two weeks (TWO WEEKS!!! thats a lot of time when youre building up for ultra RAGNAR!). I was bummed, I was getting fatter, and I was at a loss as of what to do.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, it happened. My savior arrived via UPS and Penelope at Brooks Running. I put all my eggs in one basket and dove into these shoes. I went from no miles a week to 30. And then to 40. And now Im at 55 and I havent looked back. No foot problems! I am feeling fit and injury free and I owe a lot of that to these shoes!!


Next, this awesome backpack.


I recently spent Timberman70.3, spectating, with this thing glued to my back. All day, I carried around (ready for this?):
2 rainjackets (mine and PW's)
an umbrella
4 protein bars
water bottle
my camera, and its gigantic case
a race packet
2 cell phones
my bike helmet
with no issue! the size of this thing is deceiving, I could have easily fit more stuff. The real kicker is that I rode my bike around with this on my bike, with no issues, and i had an UMBRELLA sticking out of it!! Awesome.

Up next...the Infiniti Sprinter shorts. I actually got 2 Infiniti Sprinters and 1 Element Sprinter.

I like running in these spandex-y things. Leaves less chance of chub run (Girls, you know what Im talking about). However, I have THE hardest time finding ones that fit in the waist AND in the legs without either being suffocated or giving my run route a free show as the legs ride up. Unfortunately, these were no exception. I will admit, the shorts were probably too big for me. And I was really sad about how they didnt fulfill my expectations as I started out my first run with them. BUT THEN! I had an idea (this story is making a turn for the better!!) I took a couple of paper clips (the fancy ones, not the metal ones), folded over the leg, and pinned it smaller. And ladies and gentlemen, these shorts went on to ROCK MY WORLD!

Reason #1: They didnt ride up. Unlike regular run shorts, which always seem to be creeping further and further up leaving me yanking them down every 2 minutes, these stayed put. I think, given I got the right size, they would do this on their own. Without my MacGuyvering.
Reason #2: When you sweat, they DONT MOVE! They are made of magic fabric. The sweat keeps them in place on your legs, further proving their awesomeness.
Reason #3: The waist is in the right place!! They are not too low, so that youre yanking them up or trying to avoid a muffin top. And theyre not too high, giving you a reverse muffintop or having to tie them so tight you start to asphyxiate yourself.

I would definitely recommend these to all my runnerchick's out there. Double check the size though. Considering I am an XS (which, I really shouldnt be). I wish they offered an XXS or adjusted the sizes a little bit for the skinny chicks out there!

I am going to lump these two into one category: My Equilibrium Night Shirt and my Mesh Cap:


Okay, the hat. Im kind of picky about running in hats, or visors, or pretty much anything. I have a lot of hair, so it has to accomodate that. And I dont like to have to adjust it constantly because it doesnt have a fitted form in the head part, I get annoyed too easily. This hat jumped both those hurdles, and one I didnt even know I had: the brim! The brim is the length of a regular baseball cap, not those wimpy short ones you usually find on running hats.
It was fitted
I didnt have to adjust it ONCE on my head (usually I have to pull them down because they ride up!)
The brim allowed me to hide from eye contact with creeps
And, its the kind of hat you can wear day to day, not while just running

Heres the kicker though: PW is so enamoured with this hat hes already claimed it to race in at Ironman Hawaii! He is a faithful, faithful Brooks Adrenaline runner, and now he is going to rock the hat too! Hes going to look sponsored out there! He was debating hat vs. visor for the big day. Hats: too hot Visor: Cant hold a sponge under it. This hat again comes through and hits both targets (Notice a pattern?)

The NightLife shirt, I dont have a TON to say about this. It had a great fit (Hard to find), I wasnt swimming in it in the waist like I often find. It is VERY, VERY bright. I am secure in saying this will be a huge asset to have during the night running portion of RAGNAR. However, I wore it during the day, and got some funny looks. Its reminiscent of the color of Detail Cops uniforms, so maybe thats what the looks were about.

We got a bunch of other swag, but thankfully I havent had to use it yet (Long Sleeved shirt, jacket, night running hat, gloves)

I have to say, I am really happy with the products. As someone who has gone through many many running shorts and hats, its great to have found something I can stick with. They definitely gained a customer through this. Oh, and also, these are HONEST opinions. I dont need to suck up, they already sponsor us!!

got my "christmas in a box" yesterday...you know, my RAGNAR clothes from Brooks! This fact, and the sheer volume of what was included in said box, require its own entry, which will come tomorrow!!

also got my camera and i am in looooooove.



isnt it just beautiful?!

this weekend is timberman. im trying to switch around all my runs so that i am free to help out at the fast splits tent friday and saturday. this, of course, means i have to do my "long run" as well as my "longish runs" earlier in the week. in this fantastic weather! dont think i am complaining though. oh no, i love this weather. i would love it all year long, with maybe one month of winter to satisfy my hearty-soup loving self. tomorrow is a split 2 hour run and durability day, which basically means i do not sit down....all day. wake up, run, do 2 massages, stand for a while then run again. and then ANOTHER massage. and stand some more! i know, my life is non-stop excitement!

lastly, if you are reading this blog right now, COMMENT! i want to know who all these people are that i SEE are reading it without hunting you down by IP Address :) go ahead....click the button...


and lastly, because what would an entry be without it: HAWAII IN SIX WEEKS!!!!

I dont have much to post about...well, thats not true. I have 3 things, but they are short and sweet. First, the shallow:

I had three customers during my first week open for business, I consider this a victory. I had some flyers made up that promote my "introductory special" or $50 for your first massage, so hopefully that will hope things expend!

Also, some run fitness is finally coming back. I was ready to throw myself off the notrunninganymore cliff. Between 1.5 weeks TOTALLY off before LP due to plantar fasciitis and the following two weeks of 100% humidity and 70 dewpoint, my running took a huge nosedive and it was so, so, so demoralizing!! I was running 40 seconds per mile slower than before the foot problems...and that was ALL OUT! thankfully, yesterday i went out for an easy Z1 run and averaged 8:19's, with my HR TOO LOW! imagine that, too LOW! awesome. not quite where i was, but with my 43 mile week next week, im confident Ill be back there before RAGNAR.

Lastly, and what I consider the most important of this entry: I wanted to tell you all about a book I read during my week of leisure in Lake Placid, New York. I am an avid reader. Many, many books. However, most of them are fiction. I went out on a limb, intrigued by a review I read on Amazon.com, and bought "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier". It was an unbelievable book. One that I find myself thinking of, weeks later. Its a book that, after exposing you to a part of the world, and situations youll never encounter or even be able IMAGINE, I feel like Ive met the author, and heard his experiences straight from him. I feel like I actually know Ishmael.
7 year olds wielding guns, killing to stay alive. Traumatic to read, but so much more horrible to know this is a way of life for children who never knew what it was to be a carefree child, who will be scarred for life by the memories of the atrocities they were forced to commit, for SURVIVAL.

Usually this is such a boring, self-indulgent blog, but if you take anything from this entry (or even blog): read this book!

down to the wire

RAGNAR is in exactly ONE MONTH! I am very excited for this to actually happen! One of my teammates somehow sweet talked Brooks into sponsoring us. They are giving us so much swag that I can hardly wrap my head around it. I have been an Asics girl for...well, pretty much for forever, since I started running. But with the recent Plantar Fasciitis woes, Im excited to try out the Brooks Adrenaline!
Looking at my running schedule for the next month, I top out at 2.5 hours, or 17-18 miles, because I am a slacker. It IS 180 mile race, here! But the race, and the training, have been manageable so what more can you ask for.

Also, I just laid down $600 for a digital SLR camera, and Im sitting by the front door waiting for UPS to drop off that lovely, lovely Amazon box. I love Amazon boxes, theres always something new and exciting and fun in them. Its going to be a great investment.

And lastly, I am going to set up my office today. I have 2 (TWO TWO TWO!) massages this afternoon. VERY exciting!!
I will post pictures of it, that I will take with my new camera, later!

bonjour

yes, its been a month (and 4 days), and i only have 3 things to say (as of right now)

1) We are going to HAWAII! Because my awesomely fast boyfriend qualified for the Ironman World Championships with a sweet 9:49 in Lake Placid.

2) My massage practice is open and ready for business!!! www.bonnesmains.com CHECK IT!

3) Finally, and really, really, importantly, I think this would be an epic halloween costume for me in particular, because of my child phobia:



Gosselin, represent!!

if you know me, you know that...

i do, in fact, love bacon: (click it!!)

Busy month

June has been kind of crazy. This week in and of itself has put me on overload! Started last week off with a "celebration" for one of our friends at The Asgard. Drinks turned into dinner at 10pm, and we werent home until midnight. On a MONDAY!!

Tuesday was Anne's birthday so we decided to hit up Shrewsbury St in Worcester for some dinner. Unfortunately our dinner plans coincided with A Taste of Shrewsbury, and while devouring a pizza at Juniors, we were surrounded by what seemed to be many girls from New Jersey (no offense to New Jersey-and, but they filled the orange tan-dyed black hair stereotype!!). Went to Funky Murphy's after (my first time) and proceeded to watch Anne demolish herself. It was AWESOME. It was her birthday, and we kept telling her more rum and cokes were a good idea until finally she felt it was her duty to convince the bartender it was her actual birthday. By throwing her license at him. EPIC!

Wednesday...I FINISHED SCHOOL. I am done, done, done. "Graduation" is July 10th, and then I will be a licensed massage therapist. Looking around for a location (in addition to doing traveling massage), one option is at Wayside Racquet Club here in central MA. Will see how it pans out...

And then, THE weekend

Thursday, we packed up the car, dropped the dogs off in B-water, and made our trek to Ludlow Vermont for the QT2 training weekend. After 4.5 hours of driving and some serious traffic, the dehydrated and cranky driver (me) and her rommate (PW) finally arrived. He set off for his 75min run with a 5k in the middle, and I headed out for my easy 50min with RR. It was HOT. Ended the run with pizza at the "Clubhouse" (the other house, ours was The River House), and to bed early because Friday was to be a very.full.day.

We woke up early for an open water swim. I have not swam in a lake since that godawful Canadian race 3 years ago. I was not looking forward to it, but I was intent on getting it done. And I did, without drowning, without touching lake weed, and without touching any dead bodies (my 3 biggest open water fears). Then we went back to our respective houses to suit up for what would end up being a crazy ride. RR, RF, and I were heading out for a 4.5 hour ride and a 30min run, and we thought it would be a peaceful and scenic Z1 ride. NOT SO MUCH!



Me, RR, and RF on our long ride

It was oh so hilly, climing up and around Killington and Okemo and whatever other ski mountains are there. Some of the roads were really, really bad, enough so that I lost my bike computer (that Ive had for 4 years, through 3 bikes, and thousands of miles: BUMMER!). But the company was good, the views were awesome, and we made it. Ending up with roughly 70 miles, which I will DEFINITELY take on that terrain! After our transition run, I got a fantastic massage and had Subway for dinner. Which is a pretty good ending to my day!

Saturday....another open water swim, a 2hr recovery ride, and a 60min zone 1 run. Hung out with my housemates for a while, discussing things that should never be mentioned, nevermind conversed about, and listened to Custie rock out the guitar. And then had the most UNBELIEVABLE salmon for dinner!!



PW and I before our recovery rides (his was FOUR HOURS!!)


Sunday, we woke up with an hour recovery ride. A nice, easy, conversational pace during which we saw a LIVE BEAVER waddling on the road, and a cute little Doe which RR proceeded to hate on because they eat flowers (hater! haha). Then, the run. We had 2 hours, and The Guru told us the terrain was "rolling hills", half paved, half dirt. I live in central MA, i know rolling hills, and I knew what my pace should be around going into it (assuming I wasnt too tired from the weekends efforts). There was nothing rolling about these hills though! At one point, I contemplated just sitting down because the hill was so steep, and it kept going and going and going. Luckily, I was with Nicole and she was not letting that beast of a thing take her down, so I tucked in behind her and held on for dear life. We finished with 14 miles and I walked my poor, neglected, quads (the downhill that went with that uphill was a BITCH!) immediately into the lake for an au natural ice bath.

And then, the weekend was done, Another 4.5 hours home, a gigantic dinner, and I crashed like I hadnt slept in days!

Ended up with about 120 miles riding and 30 running. And some swimming, that I didnt measure.

Today was a FULL DAY OFF. Nothing at all. I bought some running shorts, we unpacked the car, and I think I did over 3 loads of laundry solely from Vermont! I am pretty trashed (I think the car rides up and back were the hardest part!!!), and looking forward to some recovery sleep!

some things

3 things that have gone on in the past month in The Life of Courtney, and 2 things to come:

1) I did my first triathlon in approximately 4 years, surprisingly i didnt drown!!:



2) i also experienced, for the first time, what it feels like to blow up in a 5k. my mile splits were 6:30, 7:30, 6:55 and i almost regurgitated to pull out that last STUPID SEVEN MINUTE MILE. Epic Fail.

This is Karl and I being stalked by the paparazzi as we talk strategy pre-race, should have stopped caffeinating myself at this point:




3) my awesome, awesome boyfriend got me the new MacBook!!! this probably should be number one on my list, because without it, this blog entry could not happen!! i feel all technological and hip on it!




and 2 things to come:

I am doing RAGNAR Boston in September with 5 Twitter-ers (Tweeters? Tweeple?), we are running from New Haven to Boston. Josh and Jamie are on the team, too. Its going to be kind of awesome:

6 people
1 van
180 miles
Sept 11-12

What could possibly go wrong?

And last, I am graduating in a month. So squeeze in youre free massages while you can. Once Im licensed, thats it!! If you want this to be you (Except, you wont be in a hospital, I wont be grinning like a maniac, and youll be laying down as opposed to sitting), email me now!

i need to get with the blog updating!!

im trying to cram a lot into the next 2 months: a lot of clinic hours, a lot of internship hours, and a lot of classes. all of this so that i can graduate july
10th!!

will try to be more regular in the updates, but for now: i did my first track workout of the year today and it was awesome! i went to a new track, and was worried it wasnt actually 400 around, because of my times. but on review of my garmin: .25 exactly. this means that all this zone 1 running is paying off, because my 400 times were faster than when i was training for philadelphia and in peak shape. yesss!!

and though that track now has good memories for me, i will not be going there again. very sketchy area. plus side: during my 20 min warm-up, a guy drove his van beside me really slowly and said "hey lady, need a ride?". and it turned out to be my friend tim!! i havent seen him since the hyannis half (i think?) so that was exciting!!

im having a small calf/shin issue right now. the good news: the ridiculous amount of anatomy smushed into my brain right now allows me to deduce that it is adhesions in my posterior tibialis muscle radiating pain all the way down my tibia. the bad news: it hurts, A LOT!! so there has been a lot of ice, stretching, and massage in this house! ive never had calf issues before, so not sure what caused it. wore a new pair of shoes today to see if that helped (it did) and getting a massage on thursday night in shrewsbury.

tomorrow...massaging at a hospital in war-town for doctors/nurses week (or something). UGH!

Internship, North Carolina, Running

Yesterday was my first day of INTERNSHIP! this means that i am that much closer to getting my license and getting out there. i am interning at Marathon Physical Therapy in Newton. Ive never had to get physical therapy (and hopefully wont), so I didnt know what to expect. I just knew the owner, Alex, from triathlon and heard that he was THE best. Well...he is. Its perfect for what I am looking to do. He is a MT as well as a PT and he does almost all sports related injuries, so I am already learning more than I thought I would. Im hoping to bang out almost all my internship hours there and act like a sponge so Ill have a lot of info when I leave!!

Tomorrow we are leaving for North Carolina so my BF can race the White Lake Half. Ive never spent an extended amount of time in NC, only driven through it, so hopefully there are some accents to be heard. Im a little bummed that we cant bring the dogs though, we even found a pet friendly hotel, but last minute saw that they arent allowed at the camp transition and the finish line are in so we had to nix that idea. Ohhh well, they do love B-water and their Dawn so its not all bad!!!

And we have been in a heatwave. For as long as I can remember, it has been 85-90 degrees on my birthday. Well that was last weekend, and for some reason that weather held off a week. I had to split my long run on Sunday because it was THAT HOT. I had an awesome, awesome ride after school on Monday. Its hard to have a "good" (by HR and average speed standards) ride out here because of the almost mountains you have to climb at a maxed out HR. But, I did and it should have signaled my demise fr yesterdays ride. I ran early in the AM to beat the heat, and a construction guy who I see very often (I should mix it up but I almost always run this route) yells down to me from 4 stories up "EVERY DAY?!" and I just yell back "YUP". He probably thinks Im crazy.
I rode immediately after so Id be able to get my internship in time. 1st bad idea. It was already 80 degrees at 9:30am and I only brought one bottle of water. 2nd bad idea. I had half a banana and half a luna bar before I left, should have had a peanut butter and jelly!!!!
I actually had to go down a (flat) side street smack in the middle of Bertha, the absolutely killer 1/2 mile hill we live at the top of. I havent had to do that in YEARS, since I started riding!
Was I dehydrated? Bonking? Out of shape? It doesnt matter because it was just humiliating!!

I have clinic this afternoon, which means I need to hurry up and get to class! I have 2 massages this afternoon: 1:30 and 3, and then I need to come home and pack so we can become southerners for a couple of days!!

last week

i love long weekends, even if theyre a little cold and rainy. its a mini-vacation and just enough time to socialize and cram in some extra working out. friday night we went to Fast Splits After Dark for the QT2 Mixer and got a demonstration on the new Shimano DI2 Electric Shifting, info on Aerodynamics by one of the leading researchers, and some Zipp info from their rep:

here we are, listening, and noshing on some awesome Whole Foods catering:



but the highlight of my night was Tapply's outfit. After this picture he went on to put on a backpack and ask "Which way to math class?" and THEN, went on to win the wrentham duathlon by 3 minutes on sunday! (look closely at his pants):



sunday night, one of pats coach-ees, our friend nicole, gave us awesome sox tickets. so we forwent (i made that word up, as opposed to "forgo" or "forgone") the marathon and headed there. we had a WAITRESS. and PADDED SEATS. clearly i dont experience class that often because i was very, very excited. randomly, a couple of our friends (andy, and greg seperately) were in the seats below us!




andd im going to post this picture because i think its funny, it captures their personalities pretty well. P-Whacker, and Hughes (Maryanne came too but B's (giant) head is blocking her)



and lastly, i got an awesome internship at Marathon Physcial Therapy which im probably too excited for. it starts next week, which is good, because holy cross free athlete massage ended yesterday!

NOLA pictures, and assorted things

monday: sitting
tuesday: 1hr run, 2hr bike
wednesday: 45 min run, 1hr bike
thursday: 1hr swim, 50 min run

tomorrow is a bike in the morning, school, the marathon expo, and then the QT2 wine mixer
and saturday i am riding with karl down in the cohasset region (beach riding!)
and sunday is my birthday! i am going to be 25, again. i am re-twenty fiving.

i already got my gift from pdubs because it came in the mail yesterday and it would have been totally ruthless to keep it from me until sunday! it was an awesomely fantastic KINDLE! ive wanted one forever, and it was worth the wait. i downloaded 6 books within 20 minutes of opening the box!! and as soon as i finish this blog post...i am going to go finish my first book!

2 random things that happened while running this week:
1) 2 turkeys ran across my extremely busy, not naturely at all street, missing me by mere inches! getting attacked by wild turkeys would have been a terrible way to die!2) while running on the rails to trails path monday morning at 10am, a girl on a road bike with aero bars and an AERO HELMET ON!! rode past me going 17 miles an hour. why was she wearing an aero helment? she was clearly a cyclist, no flat pedals for her: so why was she on the path and not the road? WHY DIDNT SHE SAY HI OR SMILE BACK AT ME? so many questions, and no answers. im going to jump in her path next time i see her.

i just made an awesome pizza with fresh spinach, artichokes, mozarella, roasted garlic, and pesto. and i am going to go eat it and enjoy it!!

but first, a couple pictures from The Big Easy:

most of the team at saturday breakfast:



tim sleeping like hes surrendering, the night before the race:



dubya finishing, 1st in the age group, 9th age grouper overall!:



everyone at dinner, post-race:



our flight was delayed 7 hours, here we are getting a little stir-crazy!