Thanksgiving

Hey all!

I have finally emerged from my Thanksgiving food coma to write my next blog post - hooray! Did my first few runs in Denver over the long Thanksgiving weekend - the altitude is KILLER, but six weeks of winter break training at 5,280 feet should get me more than ready to come back and run in the chilly Boston weather!  Speaking of cold weather, I had an awesome Black Friday experience - my mom and I waited in the cold outside Sports Authority at 4 in the morning because they were giving away gift cards to the first 80 customers - and I won $110!  I am SO ready to rock the winter running with my sparkly new running tights, fleece gloves, hydration belt, heart rate monitor, etc. - bring on the cold weather runs!

On other topics, I just downloaded the training calendar for the Boston Marathon from Dana Farber, and it's... well, it's flippin' intimidating. 3-4 days of running a week, plus cross training and strength work... Do I really have the discipline to work out every day?  What about class and homework? And rehearsal for the She-E-O's?  And watching Glee/Biggest Loser/Modern Family? (Thank God for online episodes, eh?)

Guess I need to get better at setting aside dedicated time every day for working out - I have a history of "spurts" of dedicated workouts followed by similar spurts of couch-potato-dom.  Time to psych myself up for the next 5 months...  Oh, and make it through final papers, exams, and prepare for the She-E-O's/Heard on the Street a cappella concert on December 9th (come see us sing if you're in Boston!).

I hope everyone had a relaxing, fun Thanksgiving weekend.  Less than a month until Christmas!

kel

Wow...

I just put my entry form in the mail - I'm officially running the 114th annual Boston Marathon!  I can't tell you how crazy, exciting and intimidating this is to me - guess I'd better get running!

I also just got back from an awesome First-Time Runners' meeting at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  It was so inspiring to hear stories from other runners about why they decided to participate in the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge.  I'm getting excited for our first "offical" group run in mid-December - guess I'd better ask for some warm running clothes for Christmas! ;)

Finally, here's a, um, "semi-official" picture from last weekend's Maine Coast Half Marathon - I just hope I can have that same expression on my face when I cross the finish line on April 19...

It's on...

This past weekend, I completed my third ever half marathon - the Maine Coast Half Marathon. To me, this race felt like the official "launch" of my training and fundraising for the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge - and completing those 13.2 miles made me realize just how much better running is when you're doing it for a great cause.

Some valuable lessons from the weekend:
1. Skimping on your training schedule comes back to bite you. 
I came into this race pretty nervous - I had missed a lot of my midweek workouts and two of my long runs, so I knew that this was going to be a slower race than my past two. That definitely turned out to be the case - I averaged out more than 11 minute miles, and was walking/running by the end.  Now, I'm not a speed demon and have no wish to be - but I do want to finish my next half in at least the 10 minute mile zone.  Time to bring on the speed work...


2. Heated seats = Happy Kelly
Hertz was awesome enough to upgrade me to a Jetta with the most amazing heated seats - so my entire drive back to Boston was the most incredible, relaxing experience, and I had very little soreness the next day! Too bad there's no "driving in a Jetta" component to my Boston experience... ;)


3. Two for one
Now, I don't know if this is true, but one of my fellow runners told me that for every hour you exercise, you add the equivalent of two hours to your life span.  This statistic startled me and was an even more compelling reason to incorporate exercise into my daily life.  It's like one of my professors at HBS told me this morning - when he asked a busy politician how he found time to run everyday, the man looked at him and said, "Well, do you brush your teeth every day?".  If only I could make exercise that basic - I'm trying to develop that sort of discipline, but it's tough!  Four days straight of exercise - and counting... Let's see if I can make it to ten!

As I jump into my fundraising and full-blown marathon training, I'd greatly appreciate your support. I'm running miles one and two in honor of Beverly Lumumba and Rose Pessemier - I'd be honored to add your loved ones' names to the list!

Donate here:
http://www.run DFMC.org/2010/kellyc

Away We Go!

Hello all! Thanks for joining me as I begin what promises to be an amazing journey - raising $7,000 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's Claudia Adams Barr Program for Innovative Basic Cancer Research (try saying THAT five times fast!).  Oh yeah, and running the Boston Marathon!  I think my feelings on that were best summed up by my mom when I told her that I was participating in the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge - "Wait, how long is a marathon? 26.2 miles?!  Seriously? That's a LONG way! 26.2 miles?!". 

It's hard to believe that less than two months ago I had never even heard of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge... and, as a half-marathon lover, I kept promising myself I would never run a marathon.  See, I made the mistake of watching mile 23 of the Boston Marathon last year, and man, it looked ROUGH.  Half marathons were plenty enough for me, thank you very much.  Marathons just look so - hard! Of course, all my marathoner friends just smiled knowingly and told me I'd be on to marathons before I knew it.

So off I go.  I just got back from my first runner's meeting, and I'm officially excited to kick off my fundraising! Thanks to my first two fabulous donors for getting me started - $120 down, $6880 to go.  Hoo boy... ;)

Anyone else care to help me kick off this challenge? Just visit my personal fundraising website!