Hi There, Hiatus Here

I have a Mass Mentoring marathon team appreciation event tonight in Boston, I don’t really feel like going. And I’m sorry for whining on this blog but I wanted to write what I was feeling. I guess I feel like I have moved on from marathon season 2013 and it’s hard to get myself into the mental frame of that mode again. The Marathon Coalition aka our training team reunited about 2 weeks after the marathon for a short run, then I did a race with several teammates a few weeks after that, and  then our crew came back together again for “One Run” to run the final mile of the marathon from Kenmore to Copley. It was a lot of hype in 6 week period, it was actually kind of exhausting.

I have said many many times that one of the biggest benefits of about running is the people you meet – everyone is so supportive, kind spirited and fun. While I miss being immersed into that community — right now I’m finding myself really happy taking a break from running. So tonight when I attend our team appreciate event at The Greatest Bar, I’m not going to think of myself as a “marathoner” at the MMP event, but as a friend- as in a friend to all my running buddies on team MMP. And that’s what we are at the end of the day, just people. Sometimes it nice when it doesn’t have to be all about the run, and that’s why I love running for charity- because it literally isn’t about the run, it’s about the cause.

Now onto an update on the runner Mags. Gotta lay the truth out on the table. I’ve taken about a 30 day hiatus from running. So far during my short hiatus I have:

• Spent some killer time with 3 awesome people/things— myself, Dan, my kitchen and my home sweet home in general
• Been more aware of my food choices, and felt like I had the time to plan meals ahead too. The biggest thing is I’ve put a very large space between me and dairy products, reaping the benefits of better skin and a leaner feel in general
• Done some crafty stuff to get ready for my sisters baby shower this summer – its been rather therapeutic actually!
• Rearranged my living space, including an improvement in the storage of all my running stuff so when I’m ready to get going again– it’s gonna be great!

And it’s weird because people at work have been telling me I look like I’ve lost weight and that I look “great.” (Though it kinda feels like a backwards compliment.) Either way hopefully it’s fat disappearing from my bod on account of following Weight Watchers a little more religiously and not a loss of any lean mean muscle… 🙂

So that’s the update. I’ve been on a break. It wasn’t planned but I’m glad I took one. Originally post-marathon, I envisioned lots of 5ks and speed-work in my future for the summer and all this time I thought that I had already failed to execute my plan. But wait a minute. It occurred to me just now that summer starts tomorrow! So maybe it wasn’t that much of a break in the long run after all!? (Pun intended.)

I’ll close with a picture of “face” for my friends who grew up in the 90s…. “Hi there, Face here!” – as it inspired the title of this post 🙂

It’s almost summer, who remembers watching a ton of Nick Jr. in the summer even when you were told for it?

Over and out. Cya next time.

Mags

More Running, More Resting

Highlights of the week

• A tall, fast red headed man from a completely different training team, passed me on the course on Saturday grabbed my hand and said “Good Morning” and it was a good morning after that. His intentions may have been to motivate me, he may have thought I was on his team, I like to think he was hitting on me 😉 Fueled my run up heartbreak hill, and I didn’t stop at all!
• Went on my first hunt for a gas station restroom, I’ve never been so happy to see a Sunoco, man these runs are getting long!
• Reached my benchmark of $1500 by 1/13!
• Found a few pennies to donate to my friend Leigh who is running a marathon in honor of her husband, the cause is to cure paralysis, find more information here

Where I’m at: This chubby runner has been dedicated to Coach Rick’s training plan for about 5 weeks. I’m running 4 days a week with 1 of the runs being with the team on Saturdays, cross training 1 day, and resting 2 days. Starting next week I’m moving Trainer Dan to Wednesdays instead of Mondays, so my recovery running days will be in the proper place of Monday, where they have been on Tuesdays. With this switch I hope to feel a difference in my running, especially my pace.

What I am thinking a lot about: The finish line will close at 4:45, 6 hours after my 10:40 start with the rest of the charity runners. Right now my pace has me running at about 6 hours, hopefully as I continue to train, my pace will continue to improve and I can get it done in about 5.5 hours. Obviously the goal is to finish in “relative comfort” as my coach says, but I would also like to experience the Boston Crowd, and obviously the later I cross, the more diminished the crowd will be.

What is helping We had a meeting with our charity team the other night, lots of inspiration from huddling with my team members to keep moving forward! Also lots of ideas to help me keep progressing in my fundraising for my mentoring charity.

The work holidays on the Mondays of 12/26 and 1/2 really had me feeling rested coming into 2012. Feeling very balanced and I quietly said to myself that I wanted to keep that balance for the next few months as I train for the Boston Marathon in April. All the while it’s the busiest time at David’s Bridal January – April. Anyways, I didn’t want to make it an official New Years resolution to get more rest because if you make it a resolution, you are bound to fail at it.

Nevertheless, trying to get more rest is going pretty well. More over the last few weeks I’m falling asleep between 9 and 10 where I can, when my usual pattern is to go to bed after 11.

It’s amazing how rested I feel. I am off the coffee 3 weeks on Tuesday — again don’t want to make it official and say “I can’t have coffee,” but I’ve always listened to my body in that regard. When I don’t feel like I need it I don’t drink it. A lot of the reasons I don’t drink it on the weekends in the 1st place.

To donate to my Boston Marathon run for the Mass Mentoring Partnership visit http://www.razoo.com/mags