Merry Christmas

Christmas day I woke up early, but not to open presents. It was 50 something degrees and the sun was shining. It was a great day for running on the beach.

I mapped out my run on google maps–7 miles–the first three were on the beach and the last four through Belle Terre back to my house on Long Island.

It was gorgeous. My eyes fluttered while I ran; the sun was so bright and the reflection off the water was stunning. As my feet sunk into the wet sand smothered in shells and rocks, and I  spotted couples sharing moments.

A couple sat with their puppies as I ran by and wished them a Merry Christmas. I raced the Port Jeff ferry out of the harbor, and it won only by a little bit. 🙂

I ran along the beach to the cove–it’s a place I spent many July fourths lighting fire works and drinking on the beach. It’s so beautiful. A giant dune separates the cove from the north side of Port Jeff beaches. I climbed to the top of the dune and looked out over the PJ Harbor, the boats slinking off into the distance and CT across the sound.

I sat taking it all in. I wish I could’ve snapped a picture.

The first part of the run felt like nothing (even though I know running on the beach is a GREAT workout) and the run back was refreshing-weird, I know.

It was a great run, but the next day I was SO sore. A good sore, but sore.

I ran 12 miles while I was home and skipped out on my 9-11 mile run today (figured I’ll do it tomorrow when I’m not traveling).

I’m stuck at JFK airport on a 2 hour delay. Fun stuff.

Happy Holidays!

❤
Jen

It’s coming..

The snow should be piling up about an inch an hour starting at noon (unless the weathermen are lying again). I’m working from home waiting for the snow–which instills fear in all common man these days– to start falling.

I’m not sure what it is about inclement weather that scares the bejesus about of people, but I find it entertaining. My inclination leads me to believe that back in the old days (say, horse and carriage) people didn’t freak out as much. All the new technology causes us to have weather phobias–rain, snow, heat.

Anyway, to the point. It’s supposed to snow like a madman and Andy and I have a 10 mile run tomorrow. It should be interesting, to say the least.

Today is our day off. I’m going to watch tv and be lazy on the couch and shriek in terror as beautiful white flakes fall from the sky.

That’s it for now 🙂

Yesterday, in the 20s, today, 60s!

Global warming is laughing at us and I’m smiling back. Andy and I braved it through freezing temps and were victim to endless chills and frozen fingers. However, today, we’ll run in shorts! What is going on? I’m not sure, but I’m keeping my mouth shut until April.

What’s new?

Fundraising: Well, we’re getting our plans together for fundraising and donations. Expect harassment soon! (kidding) Our shared google docs are a starting point, and we’re listing out local businesses and organizations that might be interested in donating or being a corporate sponsor for our Rock N Run event on March 27, 2009.  We start knocking on donor doors this week 🙂 If you know someone (or are someone) interested in helping us out, let us know! We appreciate every ounce of help.

Yes, we set an official date. We’re waiting for the line-up to firm-up, but we’re excited nonetheless.

Training: We are also beginning more challenging runs. Saturday is our first Dana Farber Marathon Challenge run, 11 miles–yay and yowzer. Our longest run will be Saturday. We’ll be out on the Cape on Sunday and hopefully we’ll be able to get the rest of our miles in for the week. I underestimated the difficulty of sticking to the workout schedule. I attempted (once) to run in the morning, with success I might add. Despite my enthusiasm the night before, dragging myself out of bed in the am is proving to be a difficult challenge. I do not like seeing 6 am on my clock.

And in the spirit of Christmas enjoy!

My friend Brett participated in the Santa Speedo Run last year, and he strikes again this weekend.

Hopefully that’s about how bad it will be

We did another 7 miles last night, in addition to 7 on Friday.  We were thinking about doing 10 but we figured the sub 20 degree weather was enough of an added level of difficulty.

We’re hoping this is about how bad it will be through the winter.  The winters have been fairly mild the last few years and temps haven’t really stuck in the teens or single digits, so we’re hoping that 20 will be the average of the BAD.

And it wasn’t too bad!  As our esteemed salesman at Marathon Sports said, “You should start out a little chilly for the first few minutes.”  We were used to that but last night’s “few minutes” lasted about 3 or 4 miles, and then we both said, “This ain’t so bad!”  The headwinds on the Mem Drive side were tough though and my numb foot kicked in for the last couple miles.  Hoping that’s just my foot getting used to working again.

We did BU Bridge to Museum of Science.  That’s 5.6 miles plus the distance from our place to the river (.7 miles each way).  Here’s the Charles River Running map so you know what these loops are all about:

Charles River Running Map

Numb foot

After a bad couple of weeks not really sticking to the calendar, I’m back at it this week.

I got achilles tendonitis this past March and spent a while rehabbing it.  I’ve got inserts in my regular shoes and my sneakers, but I noticed that my other foot/leg has been feeling funky.  I think it’s overcompensating.  So I decided to take out the insert and see how it felt.

Strangely, it felt like someone rolled up an extra sock and put it under the ball of my foot.  It didn’t hurt but just went numb.  I’m hoping this is just my foot getting used to working normally again.  At least the other foot didn’t feel funky!

Sending out another fundraising update early next week.  LOTS of friends have said they’ll donate but they haven’t yet.  Get on it people!

I cheated.

Thanksgiving. I gave thanks for everything I have and reflected on how much my life has changed throughout the past two years. I am especially thankful for my family and how close we’ve become.

I have two nurses in my immediate family. My stepmother Loretta works in the ICU at Stony Brook Hospital and my Aunt Julie works on an oncology floor of the same hospital. I wish everyone with cancer had them as their team or someone as good or better.

They are a super-team drilling and grilling every nurse caring for Loretta’s cousin Pete, who is fighting an intense battle with cancer–he’s going through radiation, etc. He’s been in and out of the hospital during the last few weeks. He was sick again and they nurses released him from the ER because they didn’t know what was wrong. Through their medicial expertise and (common sense) deduction they figured he was dehyrated, which was causing some not-so-nice side effects.

But to the point I want to make, Loretta was on the phone everyday pulling information out of the nurses giving him care. Question after question she drew out the information she needed to figure out what was happening with him (before the nurses caring for him were clued in).  It was very impressive and made me proud.

I did run while I was home! Go me.

There is a little village named Poquott near my end of Port Jefferson. I ran down by the water admiring all the gorgeous houses and the beautiful water. It was a challenging run. I felt Thanksgiving in my tummy, legs and arms. I was a brick. And to top off my five miler, a GINORMOUS hill at the end. It was the second hardest run I’ve done since I started training.

I skipped yesterday. I was bad. I didn’t run my 7-10 today either. But I did run about four, in the pouring rain, fast.

I’m ordering some dinner-mmmm pizza and planting my booty on the couch.

❤

jen