It’s hard to believe that the big day is almost here!

My parents flew in from LA last night, and we spent the morning walking around the marathon expo (the biggest running trade show in the world), snapping photos by the finish line, choosing a meeting spot for after I cross the finish line, and plotting out where my parents will be watching the race.

We had to think very carefully about the last one!  Mom and Dad somehow managed to snag a hotel room right along the marathon course at Kenmore Square.  I’m still not quite sure how they managed that one!  Kenmore Square is an exciting spot to watch the race because it marks the “one mile to go” point.  It’s also quite a busy place to be because after around 2pm, all the Red Sox fans pour out of the baseball stadium and go straight to Kenmore to watch the marathoners.

(Yep, there’s a baseball game on the same day as Marathon Monday, and which takes place about a quarter of a mile away from the marathon route. Why not? 😝)

So it took some strategizing to figure out where my parents could watch the race that would be a little less crowded than the main square, and would give them plenty of time to spot me in the crowd before I pass by.  We decided that the top of the final hill before the descent into Kenmore would be a good spot – I’ll need some serious motivation to push myself over that last big hill!

Anyway. It’s hard to believe that the big day is almost here.  I’m so excited to finally be fulfilling this crazy dream, and I’m so appreciative of all the support I’ve received over the past few months.  Thank you!!

3 days until the marathon! I’m humbled to be running in honor of Luke Dillon, whom I met through one of my fundraising events. Luke is 14 years old and has Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which causes muscular degeneration and premature death (few men with DMD live beyond 30 years old).  He’s doing well and is a super happy guy, but has lost significant use of his limbs.

On Monday, I’ll be running with Luke’s name on my bib. Running for Luke, plus knowing that we’ve raised $10,230 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, will be my motivation to (fingers crossed!) get over the finish line!

Thank you, everyone, for your support!

4 days until the marathon!  It’s been quite a ride, and the best part about it has been training with my amazing running group: Sarah, Amy, Elizabeth, Pablo, and Rob.  They’ve helped me push myself harder than I ever would have running alone, and their presence has made the miles fly by.

Thanks, you guys.  It’s been real.

March 26: 21 miles

April 9: The final long run

 

March was a busy travel month for me, both training- and work-wise!  On March 12th, we had our first 21-mile training run, which went better than I’d expected.  Very early the next morning (oh, how I loathe 7am flights), I was off to the tech/music/film conference SXSW in Austin, Texas for almost a week.  It was a crazy trip!  My coworkers and I worked our company booth during the day, and from 6pm until 2am every day there were “networking” events that included an almost unreasonable amount of free alcohol and live music.  Not that I’m complaining…. 😅

The following Friday, it was off to NYC for the weekend!  My coach at the Muscular Dystrophy Association was able to get me a spot at the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon on March 20th.  I figured it would be a great opportunity to get in a training run that would simulate what Marathon Monday will be like.

Of course, it was also an excuse to enjoy the city for the weekend, including catching a Broadway play (which I do whenever I visit NYC).  This trip’s play was Fiddler on the Roof.

The half marathon itself was pretty crazy (in a good way!)!  It’s absolutely massive – over 20,000 runners.  Runners were organized into three waves based on their estimated finish time, which is also how Boston is organized- though with four waves instead of three.

The course was fun to run as well!  We started in Central Park, close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and circled the park before running down through Times Square.  (Fun fact: Times Square is closed to traffic only twice a year.  Once for New Year’s Eve, and once for… you guessed it… the half marathon!)

The longest and hardest part of the race was the almost 5-mile stretch along the West Side Highway down towards Battery Park.  It was long, straight, and the skyscrapers in downtown Manhattan barely seemed to be getting bigger as I ran.  The race organizers try to make this stretch seem more appealing by claiming that you get to experience “beautiful views of New Jersey,” which is quite possibly one of the most inaccurate marketing taglines I’ve ever come across.

But I crossed the finish line in the end!  Hit a new half marathon PR at 1:37:42, which averages out to just under a 7:30 min/mile pace.  I was rewarded with a medal and a gift bag of food that included… *cue groans* … a New York apple.

High 40s and sunny – a gorgeous day to start getting some miles on my new shoes!

Did 3.88 miles along the Charles River.  I started at my apartment and ended at the Northeastern University gym for some sorely needed (yes, that’s a pun) strength training. Then it was off to work!

My Runner’s Passport for marathon weekend, a schedule of events, and…. oh, yeah, my shoes for the big day (to be broken in during taper time, of course).  #thisisgettingreal

Date: February 27

Distance: 18 miles

Motivation: Free food and high-fives

Okay, this run was just plain fun.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to go at first, since my first 18-miler (two weeks before) had ended in very sore calf muscles and a desperate need for a tennis ball to massage out the arches of my feet.

We had a small group again – it was just Rob, my running buddy for the last 18-miler, Elizabeth, and me.  The rest of our regular group were taking the day off in preparation for running the Hyannis Half Marathon the next day.

We set out along Beacon Street, running along the marathon route in the opposite direction of how we’ll be running on Marathon Monday.  The route took us up through Brookline, down the Newton hills (including Heartbreak Hill), and out past Route 93.

Today was the day for freebies along the course!  At the 9-mile turnaround, our coach had a selection of energy gels for us to take.  Rob, Elizabeth, and I had all brought our own, but of course we grabbed a few extra for the road…. and possibly future runs too.  (Those things are expensive!)

As we climbed the Newton hills that we had just run down a half hour before, I started my weekly ritual of wondering out loud whether Heartbreak Bill would be out on the course.

Backstory: Heartbreak Bill is the mascot for the Heartbreak Hill Running Company, a running store located at the base of Heartbreak Hill.  Every few Saturdays during marathon training season, Heartbreak Bill will hang out at the base of Heartbreak Hill and will high five all the runners passing by.  I’d seen him once at the very beginning of training, but figured I would be able to grab a photo with him another weekend and kept on running.  HUGE MISTAKE.  Of course, after that weekend I never saw him again.  Every Saturday, we would run up the hill just preceding Heartbreak, and I would wonder whether he would be there…. but NO.

I started to despair of ever getting my photo.  To make things even more infuriating, Amy (one of the other runners in our regular group) had texted me the previous Saturday when I was skiing in Vermont to tell me that Heartbreak Bill was out on the course.  OF COURSE he had decided to make an appearance the one weekend I was gone.

 

Before we could got to Heartbreak Hill, though, we were waylaid by someone else:

I have no idea who this character is or what organization it’s supposed to represent, but we stopped for a photo anyway.  And gladly took the trail mix and chocolate covered pretzels the other people at the booth were offering.  😄  I was grateful I’d decided to wear my vest that day – I needed the pocket space!

We continued on, and as we crested the second of the Newton Hills, I started wondering again whether I would finally get my gorilla photo.  (Rob and Elizabeth deserve mad props for listening to all this agonizing week after week.)  And….. Hearbreak Bill was THERE!  Finally!

We finished the run strong, stopping only to pick up more food and freebies along the route home.  We made FANTASTIC time, averaging a 7:59 minute per mile pace for the entire 17.54 miles of the run!

When we got back to Joint Ventures, I unzipped my pockets, and it became very clear why I’d felt about five pounds heavier than usual during the second half of the run.  😂

We ended the run with our obligatory group photos, lots of foam rolling, and celebratory group texts!

Hard to believe that the marathon is only TWO MONTHS away.

The great news is that I’m well on my way to meeting my fundraising goal of $11,000!  Thank you to all of you who have donated! As of today (February 18), we’ve raised $8,466 – 77% of my goal.

If you haven’t already donated– please consider making a donation to my page (link here)! You can read all about how your donation will benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association here.  My next mini-goal is to raise $10,000 by March 31. We’re just $1534 away from that!  You can also show your support by attending one of my fundraising events.

Since January, any time that I haven’t spent pounding the pavement has been spent organizing fundraisers to collect more donations for the MDA.  I hosted my first fundraiser of the year on February 11th at Jillian’s Lucky Strike.  Jillian’s gave us a few lanes for bowling, shoe rentals, and chips and salsa for free for two hours!  A number of local businesses, such as Flour Bakery, Somerville Brewing Company, and YogaWorks Boston donated gift cards to be raffled off to raise more funds.

We had a great time chatting, stuffing our faces with chips, and bowling (or in my case, wondering what happened to my once-respectable bowling abilities).

My next event is planned for March 22nd at Flatbread Company in Davis Square, Somerville.  Starting at 5pm, they’re going to donate $3.50 for every large flatbread and $1.75 for every small flatbread ordered.  I’m going to supplement that donation by hosting yet another raffle as well as a bake sale.  (Because I will gladly take any excuse to spend an entire day baking.)

On Monday, I spent the afternoon painting a canvas banner for Flatbread to display in the month preceding my event.  Given that I haven’t held a paintbrush since I was maybe seven, I was quite pleased with the results:

You can RSVP for the fundraiser here: https://www.facebook.com/events/503106323195331/

Also, here’s the direct link to my personal donation page: https://www.crowdrise.com/mdateamboston2016/fundraiser/denisechristie

Cheers!

Distance: 18 miles

Temperature: 17° F, “RealFeel” 5° F

Motivation: Repeatedly thinking “It’s only going to be colder tomorrow”

Song playing on repeat in my head: “Hide Away” by Daya.  Because Happy Singletine’s Day.

 

Can I just say that this has been one of the most absurd winters, temperature fluctuation-wise, that I’ve ever encountered?

Over the holidays, when I was stocking up on winter running gear, my assumption was that Boston would probably experience another cold, snowy winter like the one we survived last year.  I therefore requested as many fleecy, thick, layer-able running clothes for Christmas as I could get.

So of course, for the most part it’s been a very mild winter.  (One particularly memorable day involved reading on a café patio in a skirt in late January.  Because it was 60 degrees and I could.) While that’s made my training significantly easier, it was a little frustrating that I had all these winter clothes sitting unused in my drawer.

I needn’t have worried.  This past weekend, we got our first “arctic blast” of the winter.  Nobody knew exactly when it would hit, so everyone was repeatedly checking their weather apps, email (to see if the run had been altered or canceled), or making alternate plans to run indoors.  I knew there was no way I would be able to handle 18 miles on a treadmill without going insane (😱), so it was going to be an outside run for me unless it was dangerously cold.

The night before, I laid out my layers:

… and steeled myself for the bitter cold.

Which didn’t happen.

Instead, the 30 or so of us who showed up at Joint Ventures for the group run discovered that we’d all ridiculously overdressed, even though the temperature was 17 degrees.  I wound up leaving half of my layers at our run base, and by our first water stop at mile 2, we were all shedding layers and leaving them with the volunteers who were supplying us with water and Gatorade.

The first few miles were all about temperature/sweat management.  We were doing an 18-mile out-and-back route: starting at Kenmore Square (mile 25 of the marathon), running eastward along the marathon route for 9 miles, and then turning around and coming back. The first few miles take us uphill as we move into Brookline; by the time we hit Boston College and Newton, it’s all downhill until the turnaround point.  Rob, my partner in crime for this particular run, and I had to take the first few miles easy so that we wouldn’t start sweating.  (Sweating when it’s that cold out has the unfortunate effect of chilling you and can cause your core temperature to drop.  So for winter running, one of the greatest challenges is finding the right clothes and layers to keep you comfortable, but not warm enough that you’ll break a sweat.)

We wound our way through Brookline and down the Newton hills, discussing our plans for the weekend and the staycation Rob and his wife had planned with their kids for winter vacation week.  By the time we hit the turnaround/halfway point, the sun came out (yay!). Soon after, around mile 11, the gloves came off .  By mile 13ish my hat was off too, and Rob commented in all seriousness that “it’s really toasty.”

We coasted back to Kenmore Square and celebrated with a victory photo, which we promptly sent to all of our other running friends to shame them for not showing up that day.

For the record, the arctic blast did finally hit on Sunday morning.  Boston woke up to a chilly -9 ° F (-44° F with wind chill).

… and by Tuesday the high was over 50°.  I don’t understand, but I’ll take it.  *shrug*

I know, I know, I fell off the bandwagon.  🙂

The long run on January 30th was another bump in distance for all of us – 16 miles!  Fortunately, it was sunny and not overly cold.

Before the run, I finally got a chance to meet Grace, one of the other members of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s charity team.  She’d been home in Washington State for the school holidays, and this was her first run with our training group.  We snapped a quick picture before setting out.

I ran with my “usual” (as of the last three weeks) group.  There are about five of us who all run at about the same pace.  It’s great to have company during those long runs!

I definitely needed the support this time, though.  About two miles in, I knew that it was going to be a miserable 16 miles.  Some days, it just feels like you never hit your stride, and running is more of a struggle than usual- and this was one of those days.  I just had to push through it.  Fortunately, Amy (one of the girls in our informal group) stuck with me when I had to slow down the pace around mile 9.  We spent the rest of the run discussing the birthday parties we were going to later that evening and our fundraising progress.

Mercifully, runner’s high *finally* set in around mile 13, once we got back the hilliest section of the course.  In physiological terms, a runner’s high happens when your body spikes production of its very own drugs- endogenous opioids and/or endocannabinoids (science is divided on which one). 😈  In practical terms, it means that a) you know you’re in pain, but can’t feel it, and b) you get very dumb.  Basic math and anything beyond moving your legs at a constant rate becomes an impossibility.  It’s at this point that the fervent prayers to stoplights begin.  (“Please stay green!  Don’t make me stop!”).

That high is what got me back to Joint Ventures, our training base, after a little less than 2 hours and 10 minutes.

 

Our “short” long run (just over 10 miles) this past weekend, on the other hand, was absolutely GORGEOUS.  We’d had a minor snowstorm the day before, leaving Boston covered in a fresh coating of fluffy white snow:

It was sunny and warm enough that almost all the snow had melted off of the sidewalks and carriage roads where we were running. The fresh white snow, sunny skies, warm (for winter, meaning 30-ish degrees) weather, and clear roads combined created ideal winter running conditions.  We couldn’t stop commenting about how gorgeous it was, and how days like this make running in the winter worth it.

It also gave us all a collective burst of energy!  Our group set some new personal records.  We finished our 10.3 mile run in 1:17:17, which averages out to about a 7:29 minute per mile pace.  It was well above our typical pace, but we felt great!  We ended the run with a photo outside of Joint Ventures, our training base.

Rob, Amy, Pablo, me, Elizabeth, and Sara

We’re running another 16-miler this Saturday. I’m hoping for clear skies, dry roads, and an easier time of it than two weeks ago!