2009 Fundraising Theme/Campaign

FOR THE

Initially I had plans to "go green" with my fundaising and do all my letters/fundraising campaign through emails. My philosophy was "save a tree; save a life" by making an on-line donation towards cancer research. The response has not been great. This does not mean that friends and family members do not want to make a donation. It's just because the email is easy to overlook when one's inbox is full and often gets lost. In addition, I don't have email addresses for many individuals who have made donations in the past. So I've been working hard in getting out what will probably be over a hundred snail mail letters with a self-addressed stamped envelope for donors to send checks. Because I've been running for DFMC for 14 years, most of my friends/family know all the basic facts about DFMC, and my letter is short and sweet as I added in some fun "life is good" graphics. Life IS good...and the funds we raise has the potential to save many lives. I recently found out that a dear friend from high school (a mother of three young boys) is batting some sort of bone/lung cancer which brights to light the NEED for MORE RESEARCH to work towards treatments and eventually a cure for this horrible disease that affects so many of our loved ones. So Show your LOVE and let the $$ rippling factor begin for DFMC!!!!

Hey, Hey, Hey, It's a FAT....

...ANKLE!

(And now I'm REALLY dating myself with this reference to a 70's Saturday morning cartoon. Many of my DFMC team mates weren't even born at this point in time!!).

While the pain has been minimal, the swelling and bruising from the fall into the pot hole crater last Thursday has been bad. It doesn't hurt to walk on it, and I'm able to roll my foot around, so it can't possibly be broken or seriously sprained. The other good sign is each day it looks a little bit better. I'm going to try and jog a few miles this morning and I've purchased a ankle wrap at CVS to provide extra support. My biggest concern is that I will twist it again so I'm going to be extra careful about where and how fast I'm running for the next couple weeks.

I'm also looking forward to the Yoga Fundraiser (to benefit the Boston Fit Girls Project) that good ol' Barry The Liver/Yoga Guy (aka - "my manager" as Brian calls him) coordinated. The event is scheduled for this Saturday at the Exhale Mind/Body Spa in Boston followed by adult beverages at Rattlesnakes.

You're the best, Barry!

Those Darn Pot Holes

I've been "Doing The Thursday" run for the past 14 years, and I've always been very careful when running that strip of road coming down from Heartbreak Hill to B. C. as it is loaded with treacherous pot holes. Last night I clearly wasn't being very attentive to the craters as I stepped into one running at a fairly decent pace and landed flat on the ground. Luckily I was able to get my hands out in front of my face, but the fall wasn't pretty. I comtemplated hopping on the T at that point, but decided to walk, or rather jog, it out the rest of the way to Crossroads. (probably about another 4.5 miles). This probably wasn't a great decision as my ankle was very sore and swollen when I reached my final destination. JJ was great and whipped together a bag of ice for me and I continued to ice when I got back to Medfield. It doesn't look good ("Oh Mom...that's gross!") but considering I could run on it after I fell I think I'll be okay in a couple days. Darn, just when I was beginning to log some decent mileage and long runs.

Brian and I will be cheering on Kallie (junior in highschool) who is running the 1000 meters event at the Division 3 State Championship Meet at Reggie Lewis tonight. She is hoping for a birthday PR as she is celebraing her 17th birthday today. Wow - they grow up real fast!

Update: Kallie ran a 3:12 at her meet coming in 8th. A 4 second PR.

Weekly Mileage

Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: 40 minutes - arc trainer
Wednesday: 5miles
Thursday: 9 miles (hills)
Saturday: 16 miles (finally able to run long WITHOUT ANY PAIN!)

Off to Sugarbush for family ski vacation!!!

(Kallie and I will be training up in "God's country" as she has a Division 3 State Meet on Friday, and I need to keep building my mileage. It will be nice to have a training partner.)

Running and babies

I thought I was a bit deranged when I ran the 1998 Boston Marathon after giving birth to my youngest daughter, Hannah, when she was only 12 weeks old. But there is new DFMC runner who just gave birth on Friday (Nicholas Joseph) and has plans to run Boston in April, just 10 weeks after delivering her bundle of joy. I loved reading her "race report" this morning. Wow - she's got a great medal to show for all her hard work!

Just this past week she emailed coach Jack asking for any tips he might be willing to provide in her post-partum training, and Jack proceeded to put the two of us in touch. It really is amazing how doctors now allow and encourage women to keep up their level of physical activity, including running! I actually felt great running during my pregnancy and ran 4 miles on the hills at Newton the day before I went in for my c-section with Hannah. I wasn't fast and I don't remember running more than 10 miles during my pregnancy, but I was able to maintain a certain level of fitness that made it possible for me to run Boston that April. My expectations were low that year...just wanted to run and be a part of the DFMC team. And as it turned out I had a great race - finished in 3:02. This came as a HUGE surprise. Geez, at 44 I'd be thrilled to run that pace again!! Please note: I would not recommend getting pregnant as a race strategy!

Natalie has also been able to maintain a decent base (weekly mileage of 30 miles) AND put in long runs throughout her pregnangy. Jack and I both recommended taking it easy and giving her body the necessary time to recover, but my prediction is that she will run a great race in April.

I just discovered a new "sweet pea" pattern after reading through knitter/writer Susan Anderson's blog. This will be a great gift for the newest member in the DFMC family. Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

Taking advantage of the white stuff

I may be in the minority, but I'm really, really enjoying all the snow we are getting this winter.
I'm still in every-other-day running mode and this week has been wonderful for snowshoeing and skiing on those cross-training days. The trails are fabulous in Rocky Woods and I love the cool, crisp air. Today I plan on running an easy 5 miles and then heading out on my skis to enjoy the new 4 inches of snow that fell yesterday. Love it!

And when I'm not running....

...I'm usually reading or knitting. And I love making baby hats. They're fun, fast and relatively easy to create, and I'm having SO MUCH FUN experimenting with a new pattern weaving strips of ribbon in the hat. And the "rabbit ear" pattern is so sweet too!

The only problem is that they are beginning to take over the shelves in our family room. I need heads for these hats! Thank goodness there are a handful of DFMC veterans having babies this spring. (Again ...blurry pictures as I'm not very good at taking pics with my cell phone. But I wanted to post these for Om Gal after our knitting chat last night at Crossroads)




For FABULOUS baby hat patterns and ideas check out Itty Bitty hats by Susan Anderson