Dani Dishes 7-22-13

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On this episode of Dani Dishes, I talk about the heatwave breaking, thanking you for your well wishes for my partner and joining my first DietBet. You can join me too at https://www.dietbet.com/games/19977. Product Of The Week - Yoplait 100 Calorie Greek Yogurt

Tedy’s Team Group Run – 10 Miles

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A word to you all - check your training schedules. :P Okay this is really a note to me.

I knew that on Saturday we would be running 10 miles.

But where those 10 miles would be ... I did not know.

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On Friday, I ended up running 9.3 miles total (a 6.2 mile in the morning and a 3.1 mile run in the afternoon). I only had the 3 mile run on the schedule, but since I slept through the 6 mile run on tap for Thursday I had to do some make-up work.

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The average speed on both was 8:22. Crazy that both ended up at the same exact pace. Well, I think the torrential downpour helped that happen. The weather was atrocious and it was wicked tough to enjoy either run, but they were done and that was more important.

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Now I don't normally run that much the day before a long run, but I needed to get some frustrations out and thought running would be the best way, but it ended up working out to the opposite with the rain, technical difficulties and other such things.

I ended up yelling most of the run - yelling at the rain and wind and my random stuff - and couldn't hear any of my music over the wind/hail that was coming sideways.

But Friday night, I got some sad family news and it all seemed trivial. It reminded me that there was more to life and a good or bad run.

So I got up ready on Saturday morning to enjoy my Tedy's Team 10-mile group run.

Thankfully my teammate Meg and her husband Josh picked me up again and we headed to FitCorp on Beacon Street.

It was in the car that I learned we would actually be running 10 miles on the Boston Marathon course itself including...

HEARTBREAK HILL

Ahhh, I was actually - finally - going to run Heartbreak Hill.

Woo hoo!

I was psyched ... yet also frightened from all the stories! But mostly excited. :)

I had decided to bring some Holiday Cheer to the group run so I broke out some Christmas favorites:

2012-12-22 10.21.08

2012-12-22 10.21.15

Thanks Sparkly Soul for adding some sparkle to my run!

We all headed to the train. Instead of running an out and back 10-mile loop we were taking the train to Newton and running the final 10 miles of the Boston Marathon course. :)

Thankfully Meg has run the Boston Marathon with Tedy's Team before so she was giving me the lowdown on Heartbreak Hill as we started running as soon as we got off the train.

We ran a few hundred yards ... and BAM ... there was the start of Heartbreak Hill. :P

I expected it to just be one large hill, but it is actually a series of smaller hills followed by a large hill (which Meg forgot to mention to me ;)). She had just told me about the rolling hills at the beginning.

But it was a great accomplishment to conquer it for the first time.

Heartbreak Hill is at Mile 16 of the marathon. My legs were feeling tired from the previous day's run so I kinda felt like I did at Mile 16 of the Savannah Marathon. :)

Instead of popping in my headphones 2 miles into the 10 mile run, I decided to just enjoy the sights and sounds around me - see what I will be enjoying on April 15.

Plus I was really just so thankful to be healthy, alive and running that I didn't want any technical difficulties messing up my run.

The first 5 miles of the run were new to me so it was wicked nice to just take in the lovely houses of Newton.

And seeing all the other runners and running groups out working on Heartbreak Hill and training.

I even saw a woman who had more Holiday cheer on than I did. ;)

We had water stops 4.6 miles in and 7.3 miles in to the run.

Meg flew in front of me for the final part of Heartbreak Hill so we ended up catching up at the final water stop and running the final 3 miles together.

It was great chatting and getting to know my teammate better.

Then it was time for the final hill of every week - Beacon Street heading up to the Massachusetts State House.

Ugh.

Neither of us were looking forward to it so it was time to dig deep and power through.

I turned to Meg and said "Today this is our marathon."

Yes, overdramatic, but we both needed it.

And it worked.

We both pushed our way up the hill - which is the longest 0.3 miles ever - and finished the run strong.

2012-12-22 10.10.11-1

That run felt great. It was also the exact same average speed as the previous week's 10-miler.

It's great having FitCorp available after the run to stretch and foam roll! :)

2012-12-22 10.19.22

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I also owe a big thanks to my friends at Samuel Adams for giving me one of the 26.2 mugs from earlier this year.

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It will come in handy after these long runs. :)

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I can't wait for next week's 12-miler!

If you are interested in making a donation, please feel free to do so here.

I appreciate all the support! :)

Wordless Wednesday

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Boy have I missed Wordless Wednesday ... well here goes!

The cutest little lady to my join my life - Ms. Joanna Grace Gilligan. SWOON!

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I HEART compression sleeves ... especially after a 12-mile run. Who likes that my Weight Watchers ActiveLink looks like a beeper?? :)

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PROOF: I wore a bathing suit - 2 different ways - in public! HUGE Non-Scale Victory...

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Everyone needs some meditation time...

Boston's Run To Remember 5-Miler - 5/27/12 - PR 38:00 (7:36 min/mile)

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Boston's Run To Remember has a 5-Miler option and a Half Marathon option. I chose the 5-Miler option, but after looking at the course - I regretted not signing up for the Half. The course was through downtown Boston and beautiful. The 5-Miler course was still awesome, but obviously not as long so you don't see as much. Since I was upset with myself, I made myself run a Half ... just over three days. So on Saturday I knocked out 5 sweaty sweaty miless in the 84 degree weather, on Sunday I did the race and on Monday I polished off the last 3.1 miles to complete my own Half.

But, back to the race at hand.

The course was through major streets in Boston so it had to start early so the streets wouldn't be closed ALL DAY so the Half Marathon kicked off at 7am and the 5-Miler at about 7:15.

Early start, but it was worth it for the cooler temps as well.

Tori was supposed to run with me, but she ended up playing in a gay hockey tournament over the weekend so Kim stepped in to take her place.

Additionally, I finally got to meet my Twitter/Facebook/Weight Watchers friend Melissa. For so long, we have chatted through social media and never got to meet up ... until this day! Woo! Melissa is a brand new Weight Watchers Leader and a great inspiration. She has lost 125 lbs! Wow! I know. A whole person. So impressive...

Don't you love her patriotic outfit? ;)

After snapping these photos, we headed over to the Start Line, listened to the National Anthem and lined up close to the bagpipers...

... then we were off!

It was nice to be running in my normal running attire after wearing a cotton t-shirt and carrying a golf club/golf ball during last week's Harpoon 5-Miler.

Despite running 5 miles the day before, I felt strong right out of the gate. I think the Superman socks help. ;)

I found a person that's pace was just ahead of mine, zeroed in and followed them all the way to the finish. Plus, her shirt said something about chocolate - how could I not stare at it for 5 miles? :P

The crowd of spectators may have been on the small side, but the dedicated people on the course sounded like thousands.

Plus, I love hearing all the people comment on my socks now ... thanks wife!

Mile Three may have been one of my favorites since it was sponsored by Racemenu (the racing team I am on) so it was great to see all their signs along the way ... I even ran into their two Founders after the run.

As I neared the Finish Line, we got to battle one final hill. Oh man, I thought it would never end. I had to dig down and use all my Spin training to conquer it.

But, I thought as soon as I made it over the hill the Finish Line would be there ... nope, I was wrong. The Finish Line seemed like years away. But again, I just dug down and gave it everything I had.

And it paid off ... a new shiny PR!!

My official time was 37:59 (7:36 min/mile pace) ... I finished 125th out of 2,041 overall and 17th out of 478 in my division... Woo!!

Cray Cray?? I still can not believe these are my times I write about.

I finished this race 24 seconds faster than last week's 5-Miler and 22 minutes faster than my first ever 5k - which is 3.1 miles.

Wow! I've come so far since March 2005 ... and I can't see what else I will accomplish!