Boston Marathon 2010

The 114th running of the Boston Marathon happened yesterday, Patriot's Day, April 19th, 2010. I dressed up as Where's Waldo because I thought it'd be pretty funny to have people "spot me" in the crowd. And it was. The whole way I had adults and children alike screaming "WHERE"S WALDO?? THERE SHE IS!" and "I FOUND WALDO!!" etc, etc. Some of the comments were pretty funny / off the wall and I'll have to remember them and write them down. I even made it onto some Twitter Pages: (http://twitpic.com/1gugt1 and http://twitpic.com/1guev0) and someone had said they saw me on Boston.com but I didn't see myself on there anywhere. The crowds were awesome and really supportive. All the townies from Hopkinton through Natick, the Wellesley Scream Wall, the awesome people on Heartbreak Hill, the BC students, my friends, the BU students, the Sox fans in Kenmore and the general melee along the final stretch down Boylston. There is nothing like the Boston Marathon. Nothing compares to the difficulty of the course but at the same time, nothing compares to the awesomeness and dedication of the fans. Overall, the race atmosphere was the best thing EVER and I will remember this experience for the rest of my life.


Well, the run itself wasn't anything to write home about. I really struggled to finish when my hip started hurting around mile 10. It had started hurting about 2 weeks ago but I really thought that being nice to it for 2 weeks would be sufficient to be able to successfully run the marathon. Boy, was I wrong. Just after the halfway point, I had to ask Evan to stop running so I could attempt to stretch it, and when that didn't work, he convinced me to stop at the Medical tent to see what they could do. I got some muscle topical ointment put on it and that helped numb it a bit so I could run versus walk. In the end we ended up having to stop at 5 or 6 medical tents for more ointment and there was lots of walking. But Evan was awesome and stuck with me. Without him, I definitely would not have finished. The whole experience was both the best and the worst marathon experience I've ever had. I certainly learned a lot about myself and know that after the ankle issues in Chicago and the hip issues in Boston, I need to listen to my body and take a major, if not full, break from full marathons. Halves and sprint triathlons will have to suffice to quench my competitive thirst.


Also, I want to give a shout out to various awesome friends who came out and cheered. Rachel came all the way from NYC for a day trip just to see me run and she made me an awesome sign. She ran up Heartbreak with Evan and me and between her and seeing Evan's friend at the hill before, we really barely noticed the toughest part of the race. Rachel and I got to enjoy some nice summer brews afterwards and hang out Patriot's Day style with outdoor seating and surrounded by crazy drunk Bostonians. Awesome friend. Awesome time. Yay!


Josh, as always, also deserves a shout out for being amazingly supportive for the whole thing. After spending all weekend with me in Philly, he helped me color my shirts on Sunday night and dropped me off for my ride to Hopkinton. He had people in Cleveland Circle waiting for us and he met me at the finish line with clothes to put on and a big hug and a smile waiting for me. He's such an amazing person in general, let alone as a boyfriend. I couldn't ask for a more supportive and awesome person to spend my time (and hopefully my life!?) with. I love him so much!


And so ends my career as a marathoner. I think this really might be my last marathon ever, or at least for quite some time. Half marathons and sprint triathlons will just have to be enough!

Two great running quotes

RunnersWorld has a great email feature that sends you daily quotes or "kicks in the butt" to help motivate you and keep you going (you can sign up for them on their website for free, I think). There have been two recently that really stuck with me that I want to share:

From a day or two ago:
"Consistency requires discipline. Force yourself out the door."
-Bob Glover and Shelly-Lynn Florence Glover, The Competitive Runner's Handbook

I'm trying to figure out a way for that to be my alarm on my phone in the mornings.

And then this one I actually tacked up in my cubicle wall after the Chicago Marathon when I was pissed at myself for the near-bonk and overall poor performance. It really helped me take away the key learning points from that marathon.

"Recognize your victories."
-Joan Benoit Samuelson

So today, as my attempt to recognize my victories, small as they may be, my Single Serving of Awesome is that I got up and ran my 6 miles before work today. Doesn't sound like much but I've been really struggling with getting up early in the morning this winter so I consider this a minor miracle. And I also managed to integrate a little speedwork with some 400-800 pickups along the way. No neckbreaking speed but I'm hoping it'll help me get back to where I was.

Today's reason why Josh is the BBFE: he got up while I was running and made me a smoothie :-). Love him!

Chicago Slide

Click to enlarge

Grad school mayhem

So I'm excited to say that I'm officially done with my grad school (MBA) apps! Harvard was the last of the six and I submitted it on Sunday (two days before the deadline - woot!). It has been a long road of GMAT studying and taking and retaking, essay writing and rewriting and application filling and refilling. I really wish MBA programs would go to a Common App. Isn't business school supposed to teach you about efficiency? Well why not make the process more efficient with a Common App? Sigh. The one thing I am really proud of is the first of the four slides I had to submit for U of Chicago Booth on "what else would I like my future classmates to know about me that isn't already in my application." I drew cartoons and I'm pretty doggone proud of them :-). I'm going to upload them as a separate posting.

Anyway, after all my months of moaning and groaning about wanting to just be able to relax, I've managed to finish up grad school stuff just in time to really hit the gas on marathon training. That's right, boys and girls, the Boston Marathon training season is upon us and if you drive down Comm Ave past BC on a Sunday morning, you'll see all the tights-rocking, running jacket-wearing crazies like me trudging through the snow to get their time in on the most notorious section of the marathon course. I am running with a few friends this go-round, which should help my ability to stay motivated and push my training. They're doing Hal Higdon's Intermediate II, which has double long runs on the weekends. I've never done this before but I really think it will help me in the long run (see what I did there?), as long as I don't get injured (again). My ankle is still bothering me a pretty decent amount and on my last two shorter runs, my arches have been KILLING me. Not a good sign but like an idiot, I'm again hoping that I can just push through and I'll be ok. Maybe I should actually get those orthotics my ortho recommended. Hm.

Today's Single Serving of Awesome is that the flowers Josh got me as a surprise last week are still looking amazing and they make me happy. We're also supposed to be buying our first slow cooker tonight. This is all very exciting! :-)

New Vacuum! Sucking was never so awesome!

Bought a new vacuum on Sunday at Target. Ali was awesome (and a little loopy from the previous night's drinkfest birthday celebration) and gave me a ride to Target to get the vacuum I'd picked out online. I got the Bissel Cleanview which I'd read reviews of and decided was a good "value buy". Didn't get a chance to vacuum Sunday night so of course as soon as I got home from work and the gym, Josh and I assembled it and I got started. I don't know how long its been since my apartment was vacuumed since I've never owned a vacuum and have lived there since the end of July and from the looks of things after last night, I don't know that the previous tenants owned one either. I started in the living room and by the time I got done with the sitting area, the bagless cannister was already almost full. By the time I got to my bedroom, it was overfull. Talk about gross! You don't realize how bad carpet can be until you clean it up. Two cannisters later, my apt looks so much better, its not even funny. Very high traffic areas like just inside the door and along the couch (which is the same spot where the other tenants had their couch) definitely needs a shampoo, but my bedroom honestly looks like brand new carpet. It was seriously amazing and I'm so glad I finally bought the vacuum. I'll probably run over the floors again tonight before I leave for Thanksgiving. It'll probably take a few times of doing it to really get all the dust that's accumulated over time. But man, what a difference! Couldn't be happier :-)
Today's single serving of Awesome: my new vacuum cleaner :-)

Weekend review: HK and hair cut

Even though this weekend was overall relaxing, it was a little frustrating to not get things done that I needed to - GMAT studying, grad school apps, gym yesterday. However, there were two awesome moments worth noting.

1) Saturday night out for a friend's birthday. Scene: Hong Kong at Harvard Square. That should say it all. Where else can you combine scorpion bowls, sweaty dancing fiends and enough pop music to sate any lust for Miley or Jay Z or whoever. Minus the incredibly sweaty and drunk guys that kept aggressively dancing into our group (which they may not have done if they'd realized our group included about half of the bar), resulting in the throwing of 'bows and finally ended in Olesh and Andrew mancing the crap out of the guy, it was a great night. Emily, my old roommate, and Koehler, my old coworker, and both of them two of my favorite people, both came out as well, which made the night even more awesome. Helping Matty (birthday boy) and Ali (his gf) home was the highlight of my night. Jibberish spoken in the car, Matt not recognizing who I was, Matt trying to help Ali up the stairs resulting in them both completely falling over, Ali passing out in the bathroom, Jane falling off the couch and just giggling on the floor - all of these were fantastically funny sights from probably the most sober person in the room (me). It was just a great night with tons of great people :-)

2) Second awesome was actually having time to get my haircut on Saturday. I'd had the appointment then canceled it, as the day was moving far more slowly than I'd anticipated. I just didn't see how I was going to be able to make it downtown, to the gym, then to my hair appt, and then bake a pie, all before having to leave for dinner at my friends house (which was waaay awesome as well). But somehow it all worked out. Having given up on my 3:30 appointment at my usual salon, I hit the gym for a swim, then on the way home walked by a salon literally around the corner from my apartment and they had one opening for a walk-in just before they closed. I was even able to shower off the chlorine at home first before running back over for a cut. It worked out perfectly! And although the initial surprise for Josh had been ruined when I'd had to cancel, it was still sort of a surprise because I managed to fit it in when he didn't think I'd be able to. Woot!

This weekend's double serving of awesome were (1) birthday fun at a new (to me) HK and (2) somehow finding time to get my hair cut on Saturday.

And this weekend's reason why Josh is the BBFE: he made me cookies last night and brought them to me with milk as I slept on the couch. They were so awesomely delicious too :-) And he did it all with very silly looking hair.

Oh yea, and GO PATS! Haha, thank you Sanchez for passing to us so often :-) You made Bodden look really good

Gambas al Ajillo

Never thought I'd be the blogging type, but who on earth actually wants to carry around a journal? So here goes:

Went to Tasca last night for the first time in a while. They have a pretty sweet "Weekly Stimulus" menu that offers three courses from a prix fixe menu for $16. I am a pretty adamant about ordering tapas usually but when the price is right, its right, so we did the stimulus menu. Thankfully, Josh is the most awesome boyfriend ever and still ordered me some Gambas al Ajillo because I have never been to a tapas restaurant since I lived in Madrid and not ordered the gambas. This blog didn't exist as of last night so I didn't take my own picture but here's one from the interwebs. The rest of the food quite delicious but the gambas stole the show, as always. So in honor of my spanish heritage, love for Madrid and love for amazing food, today's single serving of awesome is Gambas al Ajillo.

In other news, I have now been unable to run for 15 days. Good news is the original prognosis for my chronically sprained, tendonitis-ridden ankle had me off the road (and onto elipticals, ugh :-( ) for six weeks, aka a lifetime. After Physical Therapy that has now been cut down until sometime the week after Thanksgiving (making it about four weeks instead), assuming I do the exercises and it doesn't hurt more at that time. So assuming I call on Dec 1st and get the clearance, my current
Countdown to running: T-minus 11 days

Today's reason why Josh is the best boyfriend ever (BBFE): Ordering me the gambas last night