Time to kick but!

Week #15, Its the final countdown!

This week was not what I ever expected it be. So it was two weeks ago that my body decided to crash on me. It was this week that I decided to do something about it. I have been to PT every day this week. I have been attached to an electrical stimulus and electrical impulse machine, ultra sounds, massages, ice, stretches and many other techniques to ease the pain of my IT band tendinitis and a pulled hamstring muscle. Never the less not running is not an option! I will make it to the start and finish line on Monday, April 21st. I will make it there for myself and for my grandparents that suffered with a lot more. The day can not come soon enough!

Usual marathon weekend/day rituals:
1. Watch the weather 24/7

2. Celebrate my birthday with family and friends, April 19th!!!

3. Decorate my shirt with Alzheimer's advertisement

4. Eat a large dinner -not to much pasta though, I'm not a big fan. Go figure.

5. Marathon expo with Darien! Jimmy as a new special guest this year.

6. Don't sleep the night before

7. Contemplate to run with my cell phone or not

8. Tie my shoes a good ten times

9. Tell myself I don't need to go the bathroom (when I really do)

10. Start!

11. Ask myself what am I doing

12. Curse the hills

13. Finish running heart break hill and look for a beer from one of the BC students

14. Finish and celebrate with family and friends!

15. Make sure to get on the last T home.

If you can not make it to the marathon but would like to track my progress please visit http://www.baa.org/ and "locate runner" on the home page by entering in bib # 14503.

It is not to late to donate:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=256529&lis=1&kntae256529=BFCDE54EA45B46B690B2EAEF4634B6BB&supId=161428280

Week #14, Bowling Battle of the Charities

This week I held my big fundraiser event. It was called "Bowling Battle of the Charities." This event involved four other charities who also had supporters running in the marathon. The four other charities were Need to Lead, Team Fox (Parkinson's Disease) and Healthworks charity. I have to say that the Alzheimer's Association really stood out at the event. Between Pa Cullen's dancing and A.J. Burnett's (Fox 25 Meterologist) bowling skills the Alz. team was unstoppable. Each cahrity had local celebrities come join in the fun. The following local celebrities appeared at the event (and had a blast): A.J. Burnett (Fox 25 Meterologist), Ayla Brown (American Idol Finalist), Scott Brown (State Senator), Gail Huff (Ch. 5 Broadcaster), Max Lane and Matt Cassle (former and current Patriot players) and Kelly McFarland (contestant on the Biggest Loser.)

It was great to see local celebrities come out to support the charities but it was even better seeing family and friends have such a good time while supporting a great cause. Everyone involved in the event on the Alzheimer's side was amazing and true supporters of the cause.

You can find articles about the event in the Monday, April 7th edition of the Boston Globe and the Herald. (It was also aired on Fox 25 News on Saturday and Sunday night)

Two weekends away till the big run!!!!!!!!!!!

Week #13

So sunlight is starting to show at the end of the tunnel (by sun I mean Key West sun which is where I will be one week after the marathon!!) The big days are starting to sneak up on me; Breakfast at Jim's house with the Run for the Memory Team (CEO of the Alzheimer's Association), "Bowling Battle of the Charities event", Banquet, Expo and Marathon. This is where all the training starts to pay off. I finished my last long training run this weekend with the Alz. team. Now for the next three weeks I get to rest my body and get ready for the big day! I am really looking forward to the day and celebrating the finish with my family and friends.

Bowling Battle of the Charities: for more information visit, https://owa.alz.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://boston.goin.com/bowlingbattle . This event has been featured in the Metro, Boston Magazine and has been e-mailed to over thousands and thousands of people.

Week #12

If you can't tell from the picture above I am glazing at the start line. 21.5 Miles is a long time to run - ohhhh man.
Mile 21 - I am looking a lot happier

This week went great. All that rest paid off. During the week I did some swimming, 2 spin classes, a little running and on Saturday I completed my second to last long training run. This weekend the Alz. team met at B.C. drove out in a van to Hopkinton (that is a long ride) and ran from the start line of the marathon course back to B.C. In the end I ran 21.5 miles in a time that I was not expecting. I did better than I planned but I am still not setting myself up for any goal time on race day. Finishing the marathon itself is still an accomplishment for me. Now I am preparing for my last long training run which will be next Saturday!

Week #11

So as you can see from my post below my thoughts and attention were not on running this week. I did manage to keep up with my running routine during the week but when it came down to the weekend and my long run I just couldn't pull it together. The events which occured during the week finally caught up to me and my body needed rest. I am hoping this will just leave me with more motivation to finish my last 2 long run which are coming up this weekend and next weekend.

Fundraising: I am up to $1,900. Feel free to be the one to push me over the $2,000 point. Keep posted for ticket details for the "Bowling Battle of the Charities" event.

Why We Really Run, "In Memory of Papa Sokolow"

I got word when I was on my way to work on Tuesday that my grandfather had passed away in his sleep. As many of you may recall I lost both my grandparents on my dad's side this past summer (my grandfather had Alzheimer's and my grandmother was his care taker) and now this is my grandfather on my mom's side. My grandfather was the caretaker of my grandmother, Elizabeth Sokolow who is in the middle stages of Alzheimer's. From this past year's experiences I have learned that Alzheimer's doesn't just destroy those that have the disease but also those that take upon the caretaker position. This year's Boston marathon certainly will be different. The past three years I stood at the start line with all four of my grandparents living, this year I will head to the start line with only one still alive. This horrible disease has taken a lot from my family this year and I plan on fighting back by attacking the Boston Marathon stronger than ever.

Week 10

The countdown is on, only five weeks to go. Five weeks till the marathon totals out to about 150 miles to run, 1 1/2 marathon in New Bedford to run, six birthday celebrations to celebrate (Kim, Kaylin, Jim, Mrs. Cullen, Keri and mine!!!), 3 Holiday celebrations (St. Patricks Day, Easter & Passover) to pig out at, 1/4 of a semester to study and write, 1 Team pancake celebration and banquet to attend, 1 marathon expo to pick my number up at, 1 "Battle of the Charities" bowling event to raise lots of money, 20 GU packs to eat up and one start /finish line to make it to!

I mixed things up a little bit this weekend by adding skiing into my workout. I took the first weekend off from running since late December. It felt great! I mentally prepared myself for not running over the weekend by pushing myself really hard over the week. It all paid off. Starting next week I will be in the final push of training!

Team Photo

Run for the Memory Team '08.

With Dave McGillivray, Race Director of the Boston Marathon

Week # 6-9

So if you can not tell by the title of this blog I have been very busy. Training is at its peak right now, grad school is starting to kick me in the but and unfortunately, my grandfather (caretaker of my grandmother who has Alzheimer's is not doing so well) On a positive note the running has been going great. Since I last posted I have had a 20 and 16 mile training run. This past weekend I participated in the Hyannis half marathon. I finished with a time of one hour and fourty-three minutes (1:43), not as fast as I planned but still on track for my marathon pace.

Some inspirational stories:

* As I ran one cold Thursday morning I cam across a blind man trying to cross the street, naturally I helped him. Our travels together did not stop after we crossed the street. We continued to walk together for another quarter of a mile, until we reached the T. On our short travels together we discussed locations like the Perkins School for the Blind and the Alzheimer's Association in addition to some of the daily struggles he faces as being a blind man in a seeing world. My struggle to run 9 miles on a cold Thursday morning was not so much of a struggle anymore. I ran the last three miles of that route the fastest I ever had.

* As I ran one cold Thursday evening I stopped into Dunkin Donuts at the end of Wollaston Beach to grab a cup of water. As I stood in line a man asked me if I was running the Boston Marathon this year and I replied back with a yes. We continued to talk about the marathon which eventually lead our conversation into the Red Sox. Come to find out this man was not a fan of the Red Sox (I kept talking to him anyways) but he was not a fan of the New York Yankees either. His opinion on the two teams was, "The Red Sox and Yankess have destoryed the game of baseball, what team beats out another team 4 straight games, they have taken over the MLB?" I replied "athletes" win series in a clean sweep like that. His response was they aren't athletes it's people like you that are athletes. I love the Red Sox and I disagree with his statement that they are not athletes. On the contrary to be compared to such elite and professional players really motivated me to finish my run strong.

Week #5

Week #5 went well. I am starting to feel strong and into the grove about my running again. I made it to my Wednesday and Thursday morning run along with some other workouts at the beginning and the end of the week. I did my first speed workout. Uhhh, it was a killer. A 45 minute run/sprint felt harder than a 2 hour run, go figure? This was a cut back weekend so I only ran 13 miles on Saturday. I ran with my run club (Colonial Road Runners) rather than my run team (Alzheimer's "Run for the Memory" Team) this Saturday. It was good to catch up with the runners in my run club. Both groups are filled with inspirational and athletic people so I benefit from running with both groups.

The Alzheimer's "Run for the Memory Team" has started a blog of their own. I happen to be one of the writers for the blog; let me just say next time you hear a song by Vanilla Ice you may or may not think of the Alzheimer's Team. At this blog you can find updates, interesting stories and pictures on the entire team http://www.alzmass.org/marathon/blog/ !

Fundraising: I am still itching to get to $2,000 before February 15th. Please help by buying a ticket into my HOT raffle. If you would like more information about the raffle (which includes two free ski passes to Waterville Valley) please e-mail me at Lori.Coburn@alz.org

Voice

Nana & Papa

Photo taken from my phone!

Spirit of the Marathon

On Thursday night I went to see the first ever non-fiction feature film to capture the spirit of the 26.2 mile race that we call a marathon. Being the great supporter that he is Jimmy came along with me. This film was very inspirational and comical at times for both runners and those that support runners. To learn more about the movie visit the link below.

http://www.marathonmovie.com/home.html

Week #4

Starting to get into routine. Waking up at 5 am on Wednesday and Thursday is starting to become normal now ( I know crazy! ) I mixed the work out up a little bit by attending Zumba on Tuesday with some friends and other crazy ladies that are also in training for the marathon (Kauren Quatromoni & Jackye Colligan - Room to Dream ) Now the marathon and the dance floor better watch out for us.

Saturday I showed up to run team (Alzheimer's) with no game plan in mind and next thing you know I am finishing up an 18 mile training run. With the help of a fellow run team member, Jason Kramer, I was able to get an 18 mile run under my belt. After the run I came to two conclusions that 1. having a game plan might be a better idea next time and 2. It is time for a new pair of running sneakers. Some time next week I will heading to Marathon Sports to buy my fourth pair of Mizuno sneakers since September.

My fundraising is coming along but I would really like to make it to $2,000 by February 18th, please help!! Also, keep posted for a fundraising bowling event coming soon.

Week #3

Things are starting to get serious! Waking up at 5:00 am to run in 20 degree weather only means one thing, the marathon is less than 100 days away. This week was certainly not as warm as last week. The week started off with a lucky snow day on Monday, I did not move from the couch. The rest of the week I was not so lucky or lazy. Tuesday - a long work out at the gym, Wednesday - 5 am, 5 mile run with the team in Waltham, Thursday - 6 am, 9 mile run by myself :-( (although seeing the run rise over Wollaston beach and the city of Boston is amazing! ) Saturday - finished the week off with a 14 mile run with the team on the marathon course in Boston. I am starting to get a little taste of heart break hill (again)! I also started training for my post marathon celebration this weekend. Very soon after running 14 miles I celebrated at the Bruins vs. Rangers game with Jimmy, Kim and Jay. Great way to end a long week of running.

Fundraising update: I broke $1,500. I am looking to break $2,000 by February 18th. Please Help!

Week #2

This week was great! Any week in the month of January that consists of 50 degree weather is great week. I took full advantage of this weather. Although, I did take a day off to test out the latest hip-hop/dance aerobics class, Zumba. I thought I was an ok dancer until I took this class! It was fun, challenging and different way to get a cardio workout in. My Saturday run ended up being much longer than planned. I decided to test my limits and busted out a 16 mile run! I felt great after the run, so things are looking good.

Run for the Memory

Week 1

Training is off. The first week started on Wednesday (after the first) and finished off on Saturday. My first long Saturday morning run was 11 miles. After running 11 miles and playing in an intense Dodge Ball game (yes I am part of a dodge ball league, it really is scary!) I was ready to enjoy a nice Saturday pasta dinner with some friends and fellow dodge ball team members. On Sunday I continued to carb load on some home cooked food made by Jimmy and I. Looks like I enjoy the carb loading a little more than the running. I give that about two weeks until I am sick of the carbs. I am looking forward to the warm weather coming our way. Hopefully, it will kick start me for week #2.

Drop a Tune

So it has been proven through research that music motivates athletes which is why I will be listening to my mp3 player through all 26.2 miles of the race! That is a lot of music and because of that I am asking you another favor. If you have donated any amount of money or have supported me in any way please take it another step further and drop me a song that will make me think of you. I want to think of everyone through out the 26.2 miles that has helped me to get to the start line and eventually the "finish" line. For example, on my MP3 player I will have the song "Jerimiah was a Bullfrog" which was my grandfathers favorite song or those "Boots are Made for Walking" which is the song my friends Lindsey and Bunny love to hear me sing to them in my amazing singing voice. Your song does not necessarily have to be personal but just motivational. Please don't hesitate to leave any song. I can run to anything. Last year the "Waltz" came on my MP3 player around mile 20 which is my grandparents favorite song to dance to.

Directions: To leave a song click on "leave comment" which is located to the right of this post. From there type in your song in the text block and post the comment. If you do not have a google account you can still leave a song. Just post your song as anonymous but be sure to leave your name somewhere in the text box.

Thanks again everyone!

Running for Alzheimer's

Your support and generosity would go a long way to helping me keep positive thoughts in my mind during training and during my run on April 21st. If you are able to make a donation, please visit http://www.alz.org/MA/ and click on --> Special Events --> “Run for the Memory, ‘08” --> Sponsor a Runner... by April 1st, 2008. Any and all amounts are greatly appreciated.

Chicago Marathon

October 2007, Chicago Marathon