Poland Springs Marathon Kickoff

Yesterday, TFK met to run an easy five miles in Central Park in conjunction with the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff. It was SO much fun--there was definitely an energy in the air! There had to be thousands of runners, many of whom are running next weekend. The course finished right near the marathon finish line, which was just unreal. To think, a week from yesterday....

The best part of yesterday's run was not the 40 mile-an-hour winds, but the fact that lots of TFKers dressed up for Halloween! There are so many creative people on my team. Lance Armstrong showed up, as did the big green pimp, and a penguin. Best of all, though (and I'm not biased about this in any way) was the effort made by Team Fireass. Frank came up with the brilliant idea to get New York Fire Department shirts that said "Fire: Keep back 200 feet" on them, and creative Liz made flames for us to pin to our fireasses. With the wind whipping, it really DID look like we were on fire!

Check out Sarah's blog (at right) for her list (and PHOTOS) of the top ten costumes yesterday! Oh, yes, Team Fireass made the list!

I was sick all last week and I've been taking it really easy so as not to aggravate my injuries, but I think yesterday's energy, costumes, and beautiful fall weather made me go for it a little too much. I ran faster than commute and finished 5 miles in 55:55. The rest of my pace group was flying, and I decided to stick to warm-up rather than to race. I caught up with Betsy, which was awesome. I'm lucky to have her as a teammate and as a friend!

Getting excited to begin celebrating the arrival of the marathon! Keep your eyes out for TFK green on the TODAY show plaza on Friday morning! Friday night is the TFK team party, and I get to welcome the family to New York on Saturday! Then Sunday, I'm running all over town!

Have a little faith...

All of you certainly have faith in me! As of today, my fundraising total is: $3,344.20!!!! (That's right--I've SURPASSED my goal of $2500. To everyone who made this possible, you all ROCK!!!).

All together, Team for Kids members have raised: $2,027,545. AMAZING! Think of all the kids who will participate in the programs funded by this money...This team is so much more than the individual runners on it. We're a team, and we're doing it for the kids as much as for ourselves.

I've had a tough training season fraught with injuries and now a yucky virus. But Leslie was here last weekend, and she told me to listen to "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects any time I didn't think I'd make it. L, you're right--it helps a lot!

Listen here if you ever need a little push: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FSbGur1dz9k

The countdown is on!

Check out an entire marathon course tour on YouTube! http://youtube.com/watch?v=MnxknAnBVk0" (I certainly won't be running a marathon in 7 minutes)

Also, my bib number for the big day is: 41389. It's mine! There is no other 41389!

I talked to the family last night, and B wants to make a banner that says, "M, hurry the f up! It's cold out here!" That idea was vetoed, but another possibility might appear on marathon day, "All 37,000 of you are CRAZY"

This weekend, the Fireasses will be running in Central Park in costume...a slight departure from our neon green ensambles. I'm sure there will be pictures :)

I've come down with a little virus, but I'm resting and resting and resting some more... I'll be good to go for NEXT SUNDAY. (Did I just write that?)

Two weeks to go!!!

That's right--two weeks from TODAY I take on 26.2...

Yesterday, we did an 11-mile course tour, which was awesome. I felt better than I have in weeks, and I was able to FINISH the run with only a little bit of tightness in my hip. It was a huge mental victory for me to cross the finish line (near the actual marathon finish) after running over the Queensborough Bridge, down first avenue and up fifth back to the park, just like I will in two weeks. Except in two weeks, there will be 2 million fans and 38,000 runners along with me!

Coach Adam interviewed Team Fireass after the run for a series he's doing called "Personal Record." It was great, and you can listen to it here: http://teamforkids.org/index.cfm?organization_id=57§ion_id=910&page_id=3725

I left yesterday completely exhilarated, prepared to rest as much as my ball-of-nervous-energy self will let me, to keep up the cross training, and to stay on the road to recovery. I'm so excited that my family is coming to share this with me, and that so many friends will be coming out the day of to cheer me on. I can't WAIT to meet the national team members who will be joining our pace group--you guys are in for a treat, because the 11:30s are the BEST...

My pace group rocks!

love you guys!
Cathy on Saturday as we crossed the street near battery park and a car was coming: "heads up, asses!"
Nancy: "did you just say, heads up asses? Hey guys, we have a new favorite team memory! Cathy just said HEADS UP ASSES!"

Time to taper...

This morning, the team set out for the "23-mile pace group social," during which we were supposed to run slower than commute pace. For our group, that's about a 12:30, which is about how fast I walk when I'm really hauling ass. I could run forever at that pace! I joined my team at mile 3 and planned to run 20 with them. It was a gorgeous day--chilly at the start, but once we got going, I warmed up. We ran down around the tip of Manhattan, by the Staten Island Ferry terminal and got a great view of the underside of the Brooklyn bridge. One of the best part of training with TFK (there have been lots of best parts) has been been exploring the city on foot--I was so happy to be out there with my teammates, sharing our favorite TFK memories. It was so cool to hear about what stuck with everyone--how they felt after each long run, each joke, etc. It was so important to me to be a part of that, because I don't think we're going to be able to reminisce on marathon day with 37,000 other runners.

I felt really good until mile 11 (mile 14 for them), when my hip started to tighten up. I knew immediately that it was best to stop running before I had pain. Another teammate of mine had ankle pain, so we stopped together and headed back uptown to the start. I was (am) pretty discouraged, but I know that it was the best thing to do. I'm going to really rest during the tapering period and try to pull out a decent marathon using an 18-mile base. Not ideal, but the adrenaline and the crowds on the day of will help get me through.

I told my team not to start sharing favorite memories until I joined them at mile 3 (that was our homework assignment from Frank), and Nancy started to tease me: "What the memories are about you and they're bad? Moira's here, now she's leaving. Here, now leaving." That was pretty funny, given the fact that I haven't finished a long run in four weeks. I started laughing and crying, at which point Frank told me to stop because I "can't spare the sodium." I just started laughing and crying harder at that. Thanks, Frank!

Seriously, you should've seen me last night. There was a commercial on for the marathon on NBC, and the voiceover said something like "37,000 unique stories...the New York City marathon." Oh, I was a mess. And then I saw this:about Dick and Rick Hoyt, the father-son team who have run more than 200 triathlons and 64 marathons, and started crying harder. Go to www.teamhoyt.com for the full story.

And my stupid hip hurts. I definitely got a healthy dose of perspective. (Sometimes I just hate those).

Let the tapering begin.

soooo close!

The marathon is three weeks away. That's right, three weeks. Hard to know if I'm more excited or terrified. I think it depends on the day. When the TFK newsletter came out this week, I was absolutely glued to the marathon itinerary article. When Pam sent out her reflections on preparing for last year, I started to tear up. I realize I sound like a huge loser, but I'm ok with that. It's going to be such an amazing experience. I get chills just thinking about it!

And then there's the part of me that's terrified. My hip feels MUCH better--better than it has in weeks--but a little part of my brain wonders if I'm going to be in miserable pain for the whole race. Tomorrow we're due to run 23 miles. This will be our last long run before the marathon. I've already decided that I'm going to start with the 20-mile group and only do what I can comfortably. I've also decided that I'm not going to feel bad about cutting tomorrow short if I have to, but that's a harder thing to do. My head has decided not to feel bad, but I know I'll be discouraged if I can't finish the bulk of the run comfortably.

We shall see.

miles away from last week!

(center) this is the smallest finish line i have ever seen. imagine runners nearly finished with a marathon or a half marathon: "no, please, after you." "no, after you!"





(left) this is me last week, crying as i crossed the finish line. awesome.



(right) this is me today, at the westchester half, paying a visit to the massage tent during a break from volunteering/cheering on my teammates. REALLY awesome.

Words to live by...WE CAN DO THIS!

Words from a teammate who is also pulling out of Sunday's race...


...It is super-frustrating. But people say that if you can run 18 (which we've done), you can run 26.2 - the rest is just mental. So if we can maintain our current fitness level through bike/swim/whatever, get healthy by the 23 and then rest our bodies for 2 weeks, we should be good to go on Nov. 5th. It will definitely take a bit more time/effort to find ways to stay active than it would if we could just follow the program, but we can make it work. I think the key is to not get discouraged, keep doing stretching/injury prevention exercises, mirror the assigned cardio workouts as well as possible through cross-training, and really allow ourselves to get totally healthy before trying to run.

Now, if I'm still hurt come next weekend, I may begin to feel less optimistic, but as of now I'm not letting that thought enter my head!

See you Sunday.

emily

back and forth...

Since my miserable run this past weekend, I've been going back and forth about whether or not to run in this weekend's Westchester Half Marathon. Team for Kids members got a special discount to run, and I was really looking forward to helping my teammates turn the Bronx River Parkway green! I talked to the coaches about it and finally realized that if I had to think so much about whether or not to run, I probably shouldn't. So I'll be traveling out to Westchester early Sunday morning to volunteer along the course and to cheer the TFKers on. Hopefully this will give me a morale boost! I plan to do a long pool workout on Saturday to make up for missing the race. Not exactly the same, but definitely better for my hip!

Now on to the non-running (but still cool) news! It's been an interesting week--I have two celebrity friends! First, Tom was asked to interpret for a Bolivian human rights worker on Democracy Now! yestereday. I listened--it was amazing! TPF, estoy muy orgullosa de ti! Visit www.democracynow.org to listen to the archived show.

Then, my dear DC Katastrophe (check out her blog at right)got her own little bit of fame. Check out www.dcblogs.com and www.readexpress.com. She taught me how to be an aggressive pedestrian WAY back at GW. Way to go, K!

the hardest run yet

No joke. I don't think I can even begin to explain how hard yesterday was for me. but before I get there, I should write about the fun part of the weekend. Rachel, Ellen and I drove down to Philadelphia for Liz's bridal shower, which was really nice. Beth came too, and I hadn't seen her since graduation. I think Liz really appreciated our effort to make the trip, and we went to Rita's afterwards to have water ice. Ellen and I could not shut up about how great it was during the trip down, and Rachel had enough of us, so we went. It is SO delious. See how happy we were on Saturday? And that was before the trip to Rita's!

Then Sunday came. My hip felt ok as i headed to central park for Grete's Gallop, part of the Norwegian Festival (how much did I love telling Amy that I was going to run in the Norwegian Festival?) TFK was supposed to meet with Grete Waitz, 9 time NYC marathon winner, after the race, so I didn't want to miss that. We were instructed to run easily, have fun, and continue recovering, so I figured this run would be doable. No pressure.

For a few miles, I was ok. My hip felt surprisingly loose and despite the pouring rain (remember that 14-miler I did in a Maine-style monsoon? Sunday morning was kind of like that), I was having fun. Coach Adam gave me a high-five at the halfway point, which helped me start my second loop as the speedracers were already finishing. (I do love being a slowpoke!) Once mile 7 came, though, I started to struggle. Thank goodness Pam was there, because I would've quit without her! With every step, my hip flexor spasmed and I wanted to scream. It took EVERY ounce of determination I had to put one foot in front of the other. Pam was injured, too--I think we really needed each other yesterday. Whenever she had a hard time going downhill due to knee pain and I had to walk uphill because of my hip, we reminded each other how much closer we were to the finish line. Yet another example of that great TFK support--we WERE going to finish together!

By mile 12, I had tears in my eyes from the pain, but I wasn't going to stop running--I was just too close to finishing. With less than half a mile left to go, Betsy came up behind me and told me to sing--I asked her what song had "f***" in it. I don't normally curse, but I definitely let a few out yesterday. By the time I crossed the finish line, urged on by TFK coaches, Frank and other 11:30s who finished before me, I was nauseated and crying. I'm scared to see the pictures that the photographers took as we finished--I just may post them, because the look on my face will be the best description I can give of how I was feeling. Ugh, just writing about it makes me squirm.

Then it was over. Part of me couldn't believe that I'd actually finished. The medic gave me ice and I limped with Pam to the bandshell, where we met up with our other teammates. They were proud of me for finishing, and as always, concerned and supportive when I told them how the race had gone. Pace group mom Nancy ran off to get me a bagel, and we heard that Grete wasn't going to be speaking due to the weather or something. I was a little grateful that she canceled. While I wanted to meet her, I also wanted to collapse in bed. The idea of waking up this morning, with yesterday behind me, was really appealing. God, I hope I never feel the way I did after that run ever again.