First Marathon Completed!

Well the six months of training finally paid off yesterday. I finished the 114th Boston Marathon in 4:08:32. I'm pretty happy with the results and the day was pretty amazing. Definitely unlike anything I've ever done. Considering Tina and I almost had baby #2 Saturday night, I was just happy to be out there on Monday. Pretty crazy weekend.

Got to see a few friends/family on the course. Thanks for being there, it meant a lot more than you can imagine. Really kept me going, especially after the Newton Hills.

Mile 16 - Morland - The two miles leading into mile 16 are sneaky tough. I knew Morland would be out looking so it gave me some motivation to keep pushing. Somehow he managed to yell loud enough for me to hear him from 3 or 4 hundred yards away. Quality stuff right there.

Mile 22 - Tina, Paul, Dave, Kim, Judy, Sue - Knowing you'd be there made me push through the hills and keep some sort of form so I would look good for you. If I ever do Boston again I'll make sure to have people there again.

Mile 25 - Jocelyn and Seth - This is where I was thinking, don't stop, don't stop. It was REALLY tough to keep moving. They yelled out and got my attention. I wasn't expecting to see them since they had tix to the Sox game. This was all I needed to keep moving since I didn't want to stop and have someone else I know see me walking.

Mile 26 - Jalby, Butzy, Chris, Ian - I didn't actually see them but they were at the corner of Boylston and Hereford. They also had tix to the game. Wish the Sox played better yesterday, but at least their performance got a few friends out on the course to see me.

Finish Line - Sarah - I didn't see Sarah either, but very happy she was able to see me cross.

Thanks to everyone who supported me over the past six months (Tina, Boston Partners, Coach Rick, everyone who donated). You helped make this once in a lifetime event happen for me.

BAA Charity Run - 21 Miler

Completed my last long training run this past Saturday. We ran the first 21 miles of the marathon. Thanks to BAA and Boston Partners for the water stops and encouragement along the course. This was the first time I hit the Newton hills in "real time" and it wasn't as bad as I expected. I was up during the night with my little night owl (Jack) and then had to get up at 5:30 for the run. Not a huge fan of early runs but did pretty well considering. I won't lie, I was pretty sore Sunday but was surprisingly in good shape come Monday. So now it's time for tapering and resting up for race day. It'll be weird not running so much but I'll take the rest.

First Official Half Marathon

Ran my first official half marathon today at the 33rd New Bedford Half Marathon. Finished in just under 1hr 45min (right at 8:00 min pace). I don't plan on keeping this pace for the marathon but it gives me hope to finish under 4 hours. This week of training was great. After the storm we had last week it was sunny and in the 60s to low 70s most of the week. The 19.5 run last Saturday in the rain was not too much fun, but good practice just in case the skies decide to open up for the marathon.

I'm looking to have a fundraising event at Brueggers in the Boston locations in late March or early April. More to follow once I get the actual dates.

1/2 Marathon Prep

This was a great week for training. Best weather we've had in a while for Boston. Today was pretty sweet, mid 40's to mid 50's for the 13.2 mile run. Ran the marathon route from Hopkinton to Wellesley. It's not the best route to run when the road isn't closed for runners. I'm interested to see what the BAA charity run will look like when hundreds of people are packed along Rte. 135. Better be careful.

It was good training for the New Bedford Half Marathon in a couple of weeks. If anyone's interested in running it the link is http://newbedfordhalfmarathon.com.

Was planning on having a fundraiser this Saturday but it's not looking so good. I'll post an update Monday night to confirm if we're still on. Please feel free to pass along the evite to get people in the door.

Charity Fundraising Event - 3/13/2010 at The Point

The Point in Boston has generously offered to host my fundraising event for the Boston Marathon.

Click on the post title or use below link to see the evite and respond.

http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=RJJVZPTUZTUUBUPBKZQV&inviteId=LHTWCPWNRBRFVXPMMLMP&showPreview=false&x=655497294

Date: 3/13/2010
Time: 7:00 - 10:00
Place: The Point - 147 Hanover Street, Boston, MA
Cost: $10 at the door

We will be raffling prizes including an autographed football by Matt Light of the New England Patriots.

Alice Cooper and I have something in common...

Finished this week with an 18 mile run along Rte 16 and Comm Ave again. Hence the Alice Cooper reference (click the post title for a good live version of the song). I should be setting up my fundraiser today, shooting for the week or two after St. Patty's Day. More to follow in my next post.

Slacker

I took off one day of running and shortened my training my 6 miles this week. Still got my long run of 17 miles in. Ran from Watertown (Rte 16) to Comm Ave and the Newton Hills. Went up the hills to the BC T stop then turned around and came back. Doing the Newton Hills forward and back is a great hill workout. This may be my regular route for long runs going forward. Got my pace down to 8:38/mile. Maybe I should take a day off more often. Off to the Sudnik's today for Ellie's 2nd bday party. Something tells me we'll be knee deep in Sesame Street.