Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My day started early this morning as I was up helping my mom to prepare the big bird. Since she had foot surgery about a month ago, I volunteered to assist the food preparation for the day. Little did I know what I was in for! It's not so easy to whip up my mother's homemade stuffing and get the turkey all ready to go...but several hours later I feel much more domestically experienced. After we had most of the food ready and had a break in the preparation phase then I headed out for a quick run. During this 'pre-training' month before my strict running schedule begins I've been running a couple times a week, usually around 4 or 4.5 miles. I'm a pretty slow runner (not my forte) so my miles have averaged around 10:00 or 10:15. Today I decided on a shorter run - 3.48 miles to be exact, but I think that the thought of our big turkey dinner kicked up my pace a bit because my splits were about 9:30 : ) Last year I ended up with a finishing time of 5:56.30 for the marathon - far slower than I had been aiming for after I had battled stomach issues for several miles. This year I'm just hoping to improve on that, and maybe aiming towards a 10:00 average split. Of course, we'll see how the training goes once that begins in earnest!
I'm also hoping to finish up my fundraising letters this weekend - yes, I've been procrastinating. I sat down to draft my letter a few days ago and was trying to figure out how to fit last year's experience, a background on Dana Farber, why I'm running, and a whole lot of other things into a one-page letter with font big enough to read. Now that's a challenge! But I guess that's also why I'm keeping a blog. I can tackle one topic per blog post and hopefully finish before Marathon day!
So the big question - and the one I usually get asked most often. Why would you choose to run 26.2 miles?? My answer usually begins with me explaining that I'm not much of a runner. I know, I'm running a marathon - but running has never been my thing. Usually when we'd be having conditioning sprints/runs on the turf at Providence I'd be the one that everyone loved having in their line. Not because I was fast - actually just the opposite, I'd be slower than most other teammates and so whoever else was in my line got more rest waiting for me to finish : ) So why a marathon? I guess it's because I'm not a good runner. Since I struggle (an understatement) through my training both physically and mentally, I feel as if I can gain some sort of understanding in a very very small way of the struggle that people experience in the fight against cancer. It's a humbling experience to attempt something so out of my own comfort zone. In addition, I had two aunts who were treated at Dana Farber - both were battling breast cancer. One of them passed away a few years ago, leaving behind a son who I'm enjoying getting to watch grow up living nearby with my aunt and uncle's family. The second aunt was treated successfully and I'm so excited to say is now cancer-free. These are just two of the many other family members, friends, and friends of friends who inspire me to put on my running shoes and train. It's pretty amazing that by taking on a relatively low-risk athletic feat such as running a marathon, I can raise a large amount of awareness and support for the cancer cause. If all I have to do is sacrifice some free time each week to run in order to make that happen - it's an easy choice. So I'm not just running for my two aunts, I'm also running for each of those people who donated in honor of someone. I'm running for a cure to a disease that affects 1 out of every 3 people. And that marathon? A piece of cake compared to the fight of a cancer patient and their family. Anyway, that's my lecture for today - Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Day 1 of whipping myself back into shape...
Happy Monday everyone!! : ) Since I've finally had a free moment to update on my first day of the 'pre-training plan' training (yep, figure that one out) and it's 9:30pm at night I think that says a lot about my day! I was up bright and early to head to work - I'm in the Distribution Center for Christian Book Distributors (I know, shameless plug) and Mondays are always the busiest days for processing orders. Suffice it to say my feet were a bit sore at the end of the day. I headed right home to have a quick dinner with my mom before hopping back in my car to drive to hockey practice. I'm playing for the Boston Blades of the CWHL (another shameless plug - go bladesssssssssss!) and am having a great time playing. For those of you hockey fans - come check out a game. Not so much to see me...I mean, I'm sure if you look close enough you'll be able to spot me on the bench : ) But, I have the thrill of playing with some of the top women's hockey players in the world! It's pretty surreal playing with women who I watched on TV - so, if you have the hockey itch then come check us out. Anyway...back to the true subject of this update. I decided that my hour plus of hockey practice could count as my first day of training. I'm planning on hitting the road tomorrow for a solid run and sitting down to plan out my real training schedule within the next couple days. I'm also in the midst of writing my fundraising appeal letters...so, be on the lookout for those in a few weeks! : )
Saturday, November 13, 2010
I'm back!!
Yes, that's right - I'm officially back with the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge team for round 2 of the Boston Marathon! For those of you who tracked me last year, I had a site on Shutterfly but decided to switch over to blogspot in hopes of motivating myself to make updating and chronicling the next few months a more regular habit : ) Also, there are several of my DFMC teammates who have blogs, so be sure to check them out as well! I'm hoping to familiarize myself with the site so in theory I'll have links to their pages on here within a few days. But before I go too much farther - a quick review of last year running with DFMC.
I first found out about the DFMC program because a friend of mine had run for them two years ago, and from the moment I found out about it I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. I've been a hockey player since pretty much birth - and running has never come naturally to me. But there was something about the challenge of running a marathon that intrigued me. Combine that with the cause of running for Dana Farber, one of the premier cancer institutes in the world, and I was sold.
Months after making that decision to run my perspective had changed. I was always excited about raising money for Dana Farber - two of my aunts had been treated there, along with many other friends and friends of friends. I had always known it was a great cause - but it was sometime during Marathon weekend when I truly realized what the DFMC team meant to each of the former or current cancer patient. Perhaps it was during the DFMC pasta dinner, when many Jimmy Fund patients stood onstage with glowing smiles - most of these patients were in remission, some were not. All had hope. Perhaps it was when I stood in the DFMC refuge along with all the other DFMC runners, each with their own reasons for running. Or maybe it was at 5am that morning, when I pulled on my singlet that had the names and initials of family and friends who had battled/were battling cancer. I'm not really sure - but what I am sure of it that when I was halfway through the marathon and began to have stomach problems I knew that I couldn't quit.
I wasn't aiming for a lightning fast time to begin with - but after miles of stopping at each porta potty and terrible cramping, I was far behind my target pace. But it really didn't matter - I ended up finishing in 5 hours and 56 minutes. What really mattered though, was the support that each of you had contributed to over the several months prior to actual race day. I had contributed roughly $5,200 to the DFMC team - and as a whole, we raised a record breaking $4,556,954.60 - 100% of which went directly to the Claudia Adams Barr Program for basic cancer research. That's what truly mattered - that together we were making strides to beat a disease that will affect 1 in 3 people at some point during their lifetime. And that's precisely why I'm back for more! So I'm asking for your help, after all I couldn't do it without your support! Please visit My Fundraising Page to donate online or for more information on other ways to donate! Thanks you in advance for your support...each dollar is bringing us closer to a cure!
I first found out about the DFMC program because a friend of mine had run for them two years ago, and from the moment I found out about it I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. I've been a hockey player since pretty much birth - and running has never come naturally to me. But there was something about the challenge of running a marathon that intrigued me. Combine that with the cause of running for Dana Farber, one of the premier cancer institutes in the world, and I was sold.
Months after making that decision to run my perspective had changed. I was always excited about raising money for Dana Farber - two of my aunts had been treated there, along with many other friends and friends of friends. I had always known it was a great cause - but it was sometime during Marathon weekend when I truly realized what the DFMC team meant to each of the former or current cancer patient. Perhaps it was during the DFMC pasta dinner, when many Jimmy Fund patients stood onstage with glowing smiles - most of these patients were in remission, some were not. All had hope. Perhaps it was when I stood in the DFMC refuge along with all the other DFMC runners, each with their own reasons for running. Or maybe it was at 5am that morning, when I pulled on my singlet that had the names and initials of family and friends who had battled/were battling cancer. I'm not really sure - but what I am sure of it that when I was halfway through the marathon and began to have stomach problems I knew that I couldn't quit.
I wasn't aiming for a lightning fast time to begin with - but after miles of stopping at each porta potty and terrible cramping, I was far behind my target pace. But it really didn't matter - I ended up finishing in 5 hours and 56 minutes. What really mattered though, was the support that each of you had contributed to over the several months prior to actual race day. I had contributed roughly $5,200 to the DFMC team - and as a whole, we raised a record breaking $4,556,954.60 - 100% of which went directly to the Claudia Adams Barr Program for basic cancer research. That's what truly mattered - that together we were making strides to beat a disease that will affect 1 in 3 people at some point during their lifetime. And that's precisely why I'm back for more! So I'm asking for your help, after all I couldn't do it without your support! Please visit My Fundraising Page to donate online or for more information on other ways to donate! Thanks you in advance for your support...each dollar is bringing us closer to a cure!
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