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