This week I've logged about 40 miles, which is on the higher end of what I've been doing. Today, I ran 20 of those 40 miles, and wow...I felt it. I wouldn't say I felt horrible, but to quote one of my running buddies, Beth, I had to give myself some internal pep talks to get to the top of the hills once we reached those last three miles of the run. The hills were short and steep, but I kept telling myself, this is preparing me for Heartbreak...these hills are preparing me for what it might feel like when I reach "The Hills," as I like to call them, after running on flat/downhill for 17 miles. It hurt, but I finished! So that's what I'm hoping for on race day. Pace wise, this was a good run. About 9:18 pace.
This coming week, I am hoping to log less miles, since our long run will only be about 13-14 miles this next weekend. It will feel good to rest. One more twenty miler (actually I think it's 21...but who's counting?) and a half marathon race, and then I'll be ready for the big day!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
New shoes, brighter nights, and rude drivers
I decided with the marathon only being a month away, I should probably invest in a new pair of shoes. To all of you non-runners, it is important to note that getting a new pair of shoes before a marathon or big race requires a bit of strategic timing. You wouldn't want to buy new shoes too close to the marathon, but you also want to make sure you haven't covered too many miles in your old shoes. Anyway, I love my new shoes! They didn't give me blisters, and they are way "cuter" than my old shoes. I know I'm not supposed to take that into consideration because it's all about the fit, but I do enjoy the blue and silver.
Tonight Deb and I ran 7 miles from the gym around the Newton area. Our last half of the run we tried doing strides (speeding up for a set amount of time/distance). We did a few of those, and I felt great. I must say, love the fact that the sky was still light when I left the gym after our workout. It just puts me in a better mood. Although, with the fact that it's actually light out, one would think that cars would be able to see us coming. Not so. Deb and I were literally almost hit four times during our run. FOUR TIMES! Each car was taking a right turn out of a parking lot or street and felt no need to look right. I am pretty sure if there were such thing as running rage, I have it. I yelled and cursed a bit...just a bit. Pretty sure I scared people, but I don't feel badly at all. Share the road, people!
Tonight Deb and I ran 7 miles from the gym around the Newton area. Our last half of the run we tried doing strides (speeding up for a set amount of time/distance). We did a few of those, and I felt great. I must say, love the fact that the sky was still light when I left the gym after our workout. It just puts me in a better mood. Although, with the fact that it's actually light out, one would think that cars would be able to see us coming. Not so. Deb and I were literally almost hit four times during our run. FOUR TIMES! Each car was taking a right turn out of a parking lot or street and felt no need to look right. I am pretty sure if there were such thing as running rage, I have it. I yelled and cursed a bit...just a bit. Pretty sure I scared people, but I don't feel badly at all. Share the road, people!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Today's 18.5 miler
It was supposed to be only 18, but somehow it turned into 18.5. I felt great! I ran with Deb and Beth, and we talked most of the way, which makes the time go by. It took us 2:56, which is 9:30 pace. I like it! Check out the run (it was out and back over the same route). Of course since it was a DFMC run, Jack incorporated Heartbreak Hills!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
It's official!
My Dana-Farber singlet came!!! I tried it on, and it fits. Can't wait to wear it on April 20th :)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
An inspirational story
Steeling their courage
Ironworkers at Dana-Farber resume a beloved ritual, providing moments of joy for young cancer patients
By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff / February 21, 2009
Eighteen-month-old Kristen Hoenshell has a rare and aggressive form of cancer. What began as a tumor behind her eye has led to surgery and 38 weeks of weekly visits to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she receives powerful doses of chemotherapy that leave her weak and occasionally sick.
Yesterday, when she showed up for another round of treatment, she was greeted by something special. As her cousin Megan Souza pointed out the window of a third-floor walkway, ironworkers perched on the sixth floor of a partially constructed building nearby hoisted a massive I-beam into place. It was emblazoned, in bright pink spray paint, with Kristen's name.
"Look out the window," Souza said, as she held Kristen in her arms. "There's your name up there. There's your name, Kristen." The girl, bald from her treatments, smiled shyly.
It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber: Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.
The building's steel skeleton is now a brightly colored, seven-story monument to scores of children receiving treatment at the clinic - Lia, Alex, and Sam; Taylor, Izzy, and Danny. For the young cancer patients, who press their noses to the glass to watch new names added every day, the steel and spray-paint tribute has given them a few moments of joy and a towering symbol of hope.
"It's fabulous," said Kristen's mother, Elizabeth, as she held her daughter and marveled at the rainbow of names. "It's just a simple little act that means so much."
Most days, the walkway fills up like the passageway of an aquarium, packed with children gazing through the glass. When a new name goes up on the building, the children cheer and clap. Yesterday, Juclaubern Palmer Osias, a 16-year-old from Holbrook who was diagnosed with cancer last year, saw his name immortalized in green paint on a beam on the seventh floor.
"It's your name," he said. "It makes you feel important."
It's given a sense of satisfaction to the ironworkers, too.
"Everybody saw the kids smiling," said Mike Walsh, the foreman for the ironworkers, from Local 7, whose wife, Sheila, is a nurse at Dana-Farber. "And that's what you want to do, is keep them smiling, especially if they're going for treatment in there."
The ironworkers made a similar tribute in 1996, when they painted the names of young cancer patients on beams they used to build the Smith Research Laboratories at Dana-Farber. For a time, a short film about the project was shown in movie theaters to raise money for the Jimmy Fund.
This time, the ironworkers knew they wanted to honor the children again. Over the last month, they have painted more than 100 names on the building and emblazoned part of their crane with a likeness of SpongeBob SquarePants. They have also painted a few special messages on the steel, like "Hi Hanna Get Well ASAP :)"
Yesterday, crawling on their stomachs in the bitter cold and whipping winds, the ironworkers looked down at the latest batch of names posted in the walkway window. Looking up at them were Kristen and her sisters, Cathryn, 5, and Hannah, 3, who have been accompanying her to chemotherapy. They pointed as the ironworkers painted the girls' names onto the side of a 4-ton I-beam and hoisted it on to the seventh floor.
"She'll always be a piece of this building, which is a good feeling to have," Elizabeth Hoenshell said, holding Kristen. "They don't have to do this, the guys. They could just do their job and do a good job at it and give us a building that we can get treatment at, but they go the extra step and that's huge."
One day, years from now, Hoenshell said, she hopes to take Kristen back to the clinic, and show her where her name is inscribed. "I'm going to stand her right here at this pedestal and say, 'Look right up,' and 'That was you,' " she said. "Maybe I'll take her over there for a little walk. She can step on her name," she said, laughing.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185071465http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=16988910
Ironworkers at Dana-Farber resume a beloved ritual, providing moments of joy for young cancer patients
By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff / February 21, 2009
Eighteen-month-old Kristen Hoenshell has a rare and aggressive form of cancer. What began as a tumor behind her eye has led to surgery and 38 weeks of weekly visits to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she receives powerful doses of chemotherapy that leave her weak and occasionally sick.
Yesterday, when she showed up for another round of treatment, she was greeted by something special. As her cousin Megan Souza pointed out the window of a third-floor walkway, ironworkers perched on the sixth floor of a partially constructed building nearby hoisted a massive I-beam into place. It was emblazoned, in bright pink spray paint, with Kristen's name.
"Look out the window," Souza said, as she held Kristen in her arms. "There's your name up there. There's your name, Kristen." The girl, bald from her treatments, smiled shyly.
It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber: Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.
The building's steel skeleton is now a brightly colored, seven-story monument to scores of children receiving treatment at the clinic - Lia, Alex, and Sam; Taylor, Izzy, and Danny. For the young cancer patients, who press their noses to the glass to watch new names added every day, the steel and spray-paint tribute has given them a few moments of joy and a towering symbol of hope.
"It's fabulous," said Kristen's mother, Elizabeth, as she held her daughter and marveled at the rainbow of names. "It's just a simple little act that means so much."
Most days, the walkway fills up like the passageway of an aquarium, packed with children gazing through the glass. When a new name goes up on the building, the children cheer and clap. Yesterday, Juclaubern Palmer Osias, a 16-year-old from Holbrook who was diagnosed with cancer last year, saw his name immortalized in green paint on a beam on the seventh floor.
"It's your name," he said. "It makes you feel important."
It's given a sense of satisfaction to the ironworkers, too.
"Everybody saw the kids smiling," said Mike Walsh, the foreman for the ironworkers, from Local 7, whose wife, Sheila, is a nurse at Dana-Farber. "And that's what you want to do, is keep them smiling, especially if they're going for treatment in there."
The ironworkers made a similar tribute in 1996, when they painted the names of young cancer patients on beams they used to build the Smith Research Laboratories at Dana-Farber. For a time, a short film about the project was shown in movie theaters to raise money for the Jimmy Fund.
This time, the ironworkers knew they wanted to honor the children again. Over the last month, they have painted more than 100 names on the building and emblazoned part of their crane with a likeness of SpongeBob SquarePants. They have also painted a few special messages on the steel, like "Hi Hanna Get Well ASAP :)"
Yesterday, crawling on their stomachs in the bitter cold and whipping winds, the ironworkers looked down at the latest batch of names posted in the walkway window. Looking up at them were Kristen and her sisters, Cathryn, 5, and Hannah, 3, who have been accompanying her to chemotherapy. They pointed as the ironworkers painted the girls' names onto the side of a 4-ton I-beam and hoisted it on to the seventh floor.
"She'll always be a piece of this building, which is a good feeling to have," Elizabeth Hoenshell said, holding Kristen. "They don't have to do this, the guys. They could just do their job and do a good job at it and give us a building that we can get treatment at, but they go the extra step and that's huge."
One day, years from now, Hoenshell said, she hopes to take Kristen back to the clinic, and show her where her name is inscribed. "I'm going to stand her right here at this pedestal and say, 'Look right up,' and 'That was you,' " she said. "Maybe I'll take her over there for a little walk. She can step on her name," she said, laughing.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185071465http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=16988910
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
My first track workout
Yesterday I went to my first track workout, and it was actually quite fun! I thought for sure I would be the slowest person there, and that I would hold people up...but I didn't. I hung in there the whole time and felt pretty good. After Jack told us the workout, we all just lined up on the track and took off. Well some people took off; I just kind of did my thing. Our workout totaled 4 miles, but with the warm up and warm down, I did closer to 6 miles in total. Thanks to Jack, I definitely did my workout faster than I would have on my own. I think I'm heading back for more next Tuesday!!
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