Chance of a Lifetime - Joellyn

Things have been crazy lately with the race fast approaching. I have not be running as long or as much, trying to give my legs a break. It’s weird to not run over 16 miles on the weekend now, I feel a little lost. Everyday I have an urge to run because I think I have to. It’s what I have done for four months and it will be a hard mental habit to break. I will never stop running just not as much.

We are days away from the race and I can’t wait. Everyone wants to know if I’m ready? Well, it has been a long four months of training. I can honestly say that I have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into preparing for this moment. I have run who knows how many miles and gone through two pairs of sneakers. I have had to sacrifice family time to do my long runs. I have missed nights out with my friends because I had a race the next day. I cut back on classes for school so I could accommodate my running schedule. I have trained in 10 degree weather and now 70 degree weather. My body has taken a beating and I would do it all over again. The chance of a lifetime is days away and I couldn’t me more ready.

The Final Stretch!! - Angela

Well this has been quite a journey for me and I am very grateful for all of the family and friend support as I trained for the honor of running in the Boston Marathon. I can’t say that this has been easy but I will say that when you set your mind to something and your determined to follow through it is amazing what you can accomplish. As I reflect back to when I was first notified that my name was picked to run, I was very excited. Although I just completed a marathon a couple of months prior and I hadn’t completely recovered, I knew that this was an opportunity of a lifetime and I would do whatever it took to train for it. I am sure that there are many stories on why and how people are running the Marathon and all of the challenges they faced during their training. My training and challenges do not even compare. But I will say that without the support of my husband who continues to encourage me I probably would not have come this far. So in closing, I want to wish all the fellow runners good luck on Monday. Pray for great weather! Get lots of rest this week and remember mind over matter – If you don’t mind it won’t matter…

Final Two Weeks - Danielle

I started out last week hoping to run my last long run on Monday. I woke up that morning and quickly realized that my legs felt a bit tired, not sure from what though. I still set out as usual and as I expected, my long run turned into a shorter, 14.5-mile run. I was somewhat disappointed and looking at the week ahead, I had no time to re-attempt the long run until Sunday. I felt somewhat defeated but planned to try again Sunday. I told my woes to my friends at work and of course by the end of the day, I had gotten words of encouragement and reinforcement. I definitely left feeling much better than I did arriving.

Like Joellyn, I am having some regular dreams (or should I say nightmares) about the Marathon. I have had the "I can't get to the starting line, no matter how hard I try" dream. I've had the "I can't find my sneakers or number the day of the race" dream. I have also had the "I grab the
wrong sneakers the day of the race" dream. So needless to say, the psychological aspect of the run is in full swing!

I managed to squeeze in nine miles Thursday and let my legs rest until Sunday. I set out to run a long run early that morning and did 21.3 miles. That felt good under my belt so to speak. As I ran, I thought of how many miles my sneakers had run, where they had run and what I had seen. The country roads are horrible, I've seen many hills - up and down, I've seen cows, horses, goats; I've seen a lot of "road kill" including a tail of what likely was attached to a squirrel at one time. I've run by manure piles...need I say more. And let's not forget the several stormings of random unleashed dogs. I've returned home with the bottom of my sneakers smelling worse that my daughter's shin guards (and let me tell you, those things smell bad)! All in all, I would say it has been a good journey, interesting, but good.

My week ended in a farewell to my physical therapist. The facility was shut down permanently on Friday. I was sad to leave having a few weeks until the Marathon but Justin has done me well. I ran the miles and he helped me build the "hard body" to endure them. My last request before I left was for he and I to do planks together. He agreed to be a good sport!

So in the final two weeks before the Marathon, I'm going to keep moving and taper as planned. I'll be praying for no major changes in the weather as well.

Ups and Downs - Kirsty

This has been a week full of ups and downs in terms of my running. I have finally been able to do some "test" runs to see how my foot would hold up now that it has had some time to recover with intensive physical therapy, rest and cross-training. The only problem is that because of this
injury, my mileage is nowhere near where it should have been at this point in my training plan.

I did a very short test run last weekend of two miles and it felt pretty much fine - I was very nervous about doing more mileage as the last time I ran I could barely walk for two to three days after. I was pleased to get out running, albeit short. I tried another five miles on Monday, which again went ok, I could feel the pain start to increase after around mile four but it was manageable. We decided to up it yesterday to see how much I could take and I was able to do eight miles with increasing pain after about four and a half miles. The problem is that once my heel and arch start hurting, I start running on the outside of my foot and then the pain just starts going up my ankle and the outside of my leg - not good either! Again, I was pleased that I was able to increase the distance a little but it is nowhere near the 20 miles I should be at by now. My biggest issue right now is that after I run, later in the evening, after icing and stretching and rest, the pain gets so unbearable that I can't even take a step - last night I compared it to two days after a C-section trying to walk without pain meds. It was so bad I was in tears. A couple of Advil, stretching and it felt a little better this morning. I was back at physical therapy again today for some more stretching and some rather mean massage on my calf. I won't be doing any more running between now and the Boston Marathon :-(. I will be doing some cross training and my goal right now is to get half way. If I can make it to half way without too much discomfort, I will try to get to Newton-Wellesley and take it from there. It is probably the most I can hope for at this point and without causing myself long-term injury.

Team Telecom - Joellyn

It’s been a while since I blogged, I’m a little behind. I feel like I’m in the movie Groundhog Day, I feel like I do the same thing every day. I wake up and I think about running, I run and then I fall asleep thinking about running. I have a poster in my office with someone sleeping in their bed
and a pair of sneakers at the end of the bed saying “Get Up! Time To Run!” This pretty much sums up what I feel like. Did I mention I’m now having dreams about the race? I had one dream that on race day I didn’t have my number because a Newton-Wellesley employee’s brother accidently took it?? Really?? We are down to about 2 ½ weeks and the whole race is surreal to me. Not sure how I will function after the race with so much free time.

Let’s get down to training. I ran 18 miles about two weeks ago, down along the Charles. It was a great run but I couldn’t remember where I parked. All I could remember was I was on Soldiers Field Rd. somewhere. Luckily I found it and survived the run. The rest of that week was the same. I ran a few four-mile runs and an eight-mile run that included Heart Break Hill. This week was 14 miles on Saturday down along Cape Cod Canal. I’m running out of places to do these long runs, good thing we are almost done. I ran four miles on Tuesday and sprints on the treadmill on Wednesday and hope to do eight miles today, which will include Heartbreak Hill. Not sure what I
will run on Saturday, 14 or 12?

I would like to thank Team Telecom for their constant support and words of encouragement. Maybe support and encouragement aren’t the best words to describe it. It seems that they would like to design what I will wear on race day. Although I appreciate the concern the answer would be NO. All I can say it involved the color yellow and feathers, really? Also, me finishing the race in the back of the truck isn’t happening either. They were also kind enough to print out the medical stations along the route as well as the Boston Marathon medical record so I knew what to expect. I did find the article on exercise and associated disorders interesting. They are trying to be tricky with their reverse psychology and it’s working.

Time to Cut Back – Danielle

I had a good week last week. I set out to do my long run last Tuesday. My goal at the start of my Marathon training was to run at least 22 to 23 miles once before the big day and I made it! I set out with my energy beans and a Gatorade at the end of my drive way and when all was said and done, I had run 23.3 miles in three hours, 32 minutes. I have to say, at the end of that, I couldn't imagine doing another step. I was quite sore the rest of the day and the next day as well. I ran a short nine miles on Thursday, and 11.5 on Saturday. Now it's time to cut back. With the Marathon less than three weeks away, my plan is to do less mileage but keep my stride so to speak. It's now a mental and physical hurdle for me. I think cutting back will be difficult. I found myself walking on a treadmill between two people running and I so wanted to start running but I knew I needed to take the day off.

This is also my last week at physical therapy. The center I go to is closing. I have mixed emotions about not going on a regular basis up until the race but my therapist said he would remain available if anything crops up before or after the end of the race. I will continue to do my physical therapy at home.

As for the home front, everyone has been sick except for me...knock on wood. Strep throat, pneumonia and colds are running rampant. My laundry is out of control, the dust bunnies are now attacking, and I am having a hard time keeping everyone's schedule straight. I went to pick up my daughter at track and forgot she already had a ride! I'm actually ready to run this race and get back some time so things can get back to being more organized in my house.

20 Mile Run! – Angela

What an awesome run! I ran my 20 miles with a lot of hesitation but I was so excited to see so many runners out on Saturday morning. My husband and son dropped me off in Hopkinton and to my surprise, I saw so many running groups with the same plan. Sacony had tents at the start line along with at least 10 port a johns. I even saw Tedy Bruschi and his wife running. Along the running path, there were so many supporters that handed out water, Gatorade and small snacks for all the runners. This was so inspiring. I must admit that my hamstring is still bothering me but I completed my run without much pain. My meal the night before was grilled chicken and rice and the morning of the run was a bagel. Not enough food…I was STARVING once I hit 12 miles. I am not a fan of the GU but I had some bubble gum, which gave me a sugar burst. So now that I have completed the 20-mile run, I realize that the night before I need to load up on more carbs and eat more in the morning. My plan is to attend an information session on Monday night on running the Marathon, which will provide nutrition information. I definitely need to figure out what foods will work for me since I am not a big fan of pasta. Overall, I am looking forward to Marathon Monday.