Run to Remember 2016

Ok so I waited until the last possible moment to sign up for the half this year, but I still ended up doing it.  It is a real nice run, so I don't mind running it, even though I've never had great luck with the weather.  The first year I ran, it was in the high 40s at the start, last year it was warmer, but too warm with the sun by the middle.  This year was pretty spot on for weather, a bit breezy and a little humid, but not terrible.  It had to happen sometime I guess.  Anyways, I think the main reason this run is my favorite is because it was my first half ever and then later my first half coming in under 1:50.  Every time I run this race, good things happen, even if it is hard during the actual run.  But this year I ran it to run with Ryan.  Which worked great for a mile, but I really had to stop for a bathroom break because the lines were too long to get a final break in before we started running. So I stopped for the portapotty line between miles 1 - 2 and decided that it was too long so I kept running.  But I was also looking for Ryan, who I thought was still behind me at this point, so it was more of a run/walk.  Plus, turns out skipping that line was a poor choice and I spent the next mile and a half dying for a bathroom so when I found them at mile 3, you can bet I hopped into that line and stayed.  While I was waiting I texted Ryan, hoping that he wouldn't have gone too far past, or at all past yet.  Turns out he was well ahead, by at least 5 minutes. I'll be honest, I had a moment right then of not finishing.  The whole point was to run with Ryan and here I am almost a full mile behind him at this point. I figured there was little to no chance of me catching up to him.  But I kept running after I used the portapotty, I just picked up the speed a little bit.  I really wanted the chance to catch Ryan even if it was seemingly impossible.  So as I'm coming up the turn in the road off the bridge, heading into mile 5, I see Ryan coming back down the other side of the road, after the U-turn, going down under the bridge, heading into Cambridge toward MIT.  At that point I was thinking to myself that there was just no way I would catch him.  After all, he was at least a mile ahead.  But I kept running.  I made it up and around the U-turn and headed back down into Cambridge as well, still trying to catch Ryan.  In mile 6 I stopped thinking about it for a few seconds and had fun running down what I like to call high-five mile.  Different cops from different cities line the side of the street and stand there clapping and handing out high-fives.  It's definitely one of the best parts of the run.  During that mile my knee also really started to hurt and again I didn't think I'd be able to make it another 6.5 miles back to the finish.  I thought about cutting through the median, taking off my bib, and waiting for Ryan to come back around.  Then I got a text from Ryan saying he was at mile 7.  Which was convenient because I looked at my watch and there I was at 6.96.  So I looked up and saw his head bobbing around in the distance.  That was enough for me to run fast enough to catch back up to him instead of dropping out of the race.  Once I caught him again, we ran/walked the last few miles to the finish.  It's funny though because it definitely didn't feel like it was another 6 miles when we were together again.  Even though my knee really hurt and even though it probably took another hour, it didn't seem like it at all.  And in the end I still had fun and we finished together.  My one complaint is that the medical aid stations didn't have any Advil or Tylenol.  I forgot to bring some and I really could have used it for the knee problem.  But, we had fun and that's all that matters in the end.  I really recommend this race for anyone in the area, it's a great run, and there's a 5 mile option if you're not into running a half.  Remember that for next year, because I'm sure we'll be out there again!
And now, the pictures, which btw, the race offered for free this year, which is also a big selling point.

Twinning

Bonus Woods run photo.  Last night was the Tour #1, which goes off the regular path and onto smaller side hiking trails.  It was supposed to be 5.6, but most of us got lost and ended up doing 5.2 instead.  Still a nice night for a run though.  I love woods running, even if it is significantly harder than road running.

Oh look, the end of May

I've been  little busy, so I let this fall to the wayside.  Nothing too much more exciting has happened since we bought the house anyways.  Track is over, which really helps with the whole being busy aspect.  It was fun, but I'm glad to have some time to do other stuff. Running has been going well, I signed up for the Chicago marathon, so I'll be working on that now.  I'm going to try and get my time down to BQ standards, but we'll see how that actually ends up going.  Right now it seems like a long and crazy road.  However, I did do the Run to Remember half marathon on Sunday and finished in 1:49.  That's a new PR and it gives me a little bit of hope that I can actually make it to the BQ time eventually. Even if I did almost puke at the end of the race.  What counts is that I didn't though, so boom.  School is still going strong too, just under a month left until summer vacation.  But, I don't have a summer job, or any form of income for the next two months, so I'm not overly pumped about that.  Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of vacation, but I hate not getting paid.  So that's it in a neat little package.  Now, enjoy these billion pictures from the past month.

The Blue Angels were doing some sort of photo shoot over Boston Harbor today, and we happened to be at the Children's Museum on a field trip as it happened.

Cod-zilla boat ride

Run to Remember post race photo with some police.

BOOM. Suns out, guns out.

1:49. Two thumbs up.

New shoes for a new race

That's me

Our back walkway

Photo wall

10 Mile Tuesday

Wild Rover Series 2015 medals

Backyard

Backyard

Anniversary

Kitchen

Bedroom

Fraction fiasco

As you might know, Common Core is taking over Massachusetts.  I'm okay with this, I like being able to have more than one way to learn a math problem.  But a lot of common core, and incidentally, MCAS, is fractions.  They start in the 1st grade and everything builds on that knowledge.   So you can probably imagine that if you don't get the foundation in 1st grade, you can't really build up in the higher grades.  For a first grader this year, that's not a huge problem.  We can catch those students who don't understand fractions and work to explain/show the concept in a way that makes sense.  Unfortunately, not all students are in 1st grade.  Many of these upper grades began school in the middle of the State Standards/Common Core crossover, and may have missed a key foundation in the lower grades that is now being built upon.  This is most glaringly obvious in the case of the fourth grade fraction fiasco.  I will say that most of the fourth graders have a basic understanding of what a fraction is and can at least use a fraction model, even if they are struggling to add and subtract the fractions.  But, most isn't all, as I discovered last Friday.  Seems I have a fourth grade student who has no concept of what a fraction is.  When I say no concept, I mean, seriously, no idea.  Couldn't tell a half from a fourth, doesn't even know how to recognize a half.  I'm not really sure how this has slipped past us for the past two years, but now that I know this gap exists, I'm doing everything I can to fill it.  Unfortunately for me, everything doesn't seem to be working.  We used fraction models, we made flip books, we cut, colored, and labeled pieces for the past three days.  Then, today, to see if the student was picking up on anything, I gave the 2nd grade end of the unit fraction test.  And, it was a failure.  I hate to say that, but it's the truth.  I'm talking every problem was wrong kind of failure.  No, you didn't read that wrong.  The student got every question wrong.  On a test that just asked to identify shapes with pieces colored in. You know, a basic fraction model.  So it looks like it's back to the drawing board for this one.  I can't have this student try to follow along with the new unit, which is multiplying fractions, if the student doesn't know what a fraction is.  I'm going to try a new approach to this whole situation tomorrow, but if anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I'm more than willing to try them at this point.  Anything to get this student to understand what a fraction is!

And now that my fraction fiasco is taken care of for the moment, onto running.  Yesterday it was a lovely 33 degrees, so I ran outside.  Ya, 33 = outdoor running now.  There was no wind so it felt super warm.  It was a nice run and I enjoyed almost all of it.  I'd say 3.98 miles were enjoyed. 0.02 were grossed out as I ran down the road and almost stepped on a disembodied deer leg, hoof and all.  Yes, in the middle of a fairly busy street, just lying around, was the lower half of a deer leg, muscle and bone sticking out of the top.  I have no idea what happened to the rest of the deer, but it's leg is hanging out in the middle of Sylvan St. Needless to say, I was completely grossed out for at least 2 seconds of my run.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be 56, but rainy.  However, I might just go out in the rain and run a little bit, because it will still be nicer than running on the treadmill. 

Track practice is going fine at this point.  Today I timed the girls on their miles, so now we at least have a starting point.  Since I know their general times, now we can work on getting faster.  That means more sprint and hill repeats.  If I can get a few of the girls to meet my mile time, I think we'll be in a good shape.  If I can get them past mine, that would be ideal. Besides the running, we do a lot of core and leg work.  The workout we have right now is ok, but I think tomorrow I'm going to add more stretching in after the mile warm-up, and another stretch at the end.  Some of the boxing trainers gave me some running specific ab workouts to do for core, so that's been helpful.  The girls seem to like the core more than the actual running, which makes me wonder if they're trying their hardest, but we'll work on that.  Our first meet is supposed to be in two weeks, so hopefully the snow is melted enough to make that actually happen.  I'm excited to see what the girls can do. Oh yea, and I registered for the Run to Remember today.  Ryan got a cool sticker in the mail and it made me super jealous that he was running and I wasn't, so I gave in and signed up. The only other two races I really want to do this year are the Lazy Lobster and the Seacoast Running Festival.  I'll definitely do the Lazy Lobster, because it's for Morty and it can be done as a virtual run.  I'll have to wait on the Festival for a bit and see how I feel about it come the summer.

Here's yesterday's run, and some extra pictures

It was so warm yesterday that I was able to run outside in this outfit! Minus the slippers of course.  

And I just really liked how cute Nala looked last night while she was sleeping.  Sometimes I wish I could just spend all day at home with my little buddy(ies).  *Stella not picture, obv

Friday,Friday, Getting Down on Friday

Actually it wasn't that exciting.  Lamest Friday in a long time.  Felt like a Monday.  It's the first day of Spring, so of course, it snowed.  But, we did get our Girl Scout cookies in the mail, so that's cool.  Because when you buy Girl Scout cookies, you obviously buy them from the family in Louisiana instead of anyone in Massachusetts.  They arrived in good condition, all things considered. Not smashed or really even broken.  Now all I have to do is avoid eating them all at once.
I'm trying to set good examples now, because I'm the assistant track coach at one of our high schools, and I feel like I should do more than just tell the girls what they should be doing.  I should probably be practicing it as well.  We've only had a few practices, but so far it's been fun.  The hardest part is not knowing anyone's name.  I'm hoping that will change soon, but there are a lot of girls on the team.  Right now our numbers are somewhere in the 60-70 range, so trying to remember those names, on top of all the 400 kids at my regular school is a little bit of a challenge. Pretty soon though, the hardest part is going to be coordinating my schedule to make time for practices! Right now since there's so much snow on the ground we're running the indoor track at a different high school in the city.  It's difficult because both teams are practicing and sometimes there are other sports practicing in there as well.  But this is what you get when you live in a city without a dedicated indoor track space.  Our outdoor track is still under snow and they hope to have HALF of it cleared off by next week.  Yes, half.  Not even the whole thing. That's cool though.  Who needs a track? Anyways, I'm covering the long distance girls with another assistant coach, so I'm hoping what I'm doing actually works.  So far I've been having them do my distance/speed workouts, so if anyone has any tips, feel free to leave them.  We also do core, which is super fun.  Well, not really, but I've been taking the workouts I do at the end of boxing and twisting them into my own, so it's been working out so far.
Still moving forward on that house buying process, and now we've signed the purchase and sale.  Unfortunately, no one informed us that we have to take the first time home buyer class, so we had to find one of those being offered in the next two weeks.  Luckily we found one in Newburyport.  Not so luckily, it's a two day course, Saturday and Sunday, 12 - 5.  I probably wouldn't have minded that if we were earlier in our process.  However, the first three sessions, of the four total, cover what to look for in a house, finding a realtor, and getting a loan.  Basically all the stuff we've already done! But whatever, you have to do what you have to do.  At this point though, I have started the hunt for boxes.  You can never have too many boxes when you're moving.
Ryan's sister is coming out to run the Run to Remember in May, with Ryan.  I'm still hoping that I can sign up, but I don't want to spend the $100 while we're buying a house.  Mostly because we need that money for a new bed.  And a new couch.  And a washer and dryer. So, we'll see what happens there.  If someone wants to, you know, buy my way into the half for me though, I certainly wouldn't say no.  Heck, I'd run under a sponsored outfit if someone was willing to pay my entry.  By that I mean I'd totally rock your company name/gear in exchange for entry and obviously, the gear.  So all you savvy business people out there, just keep that in mind.  Well, that's the end of this recap.  Catch you on the flip.

Cookies!

Oh yea, St. Patrick's day.  I made these hats with a 1st grade classroom.  Pretty simple, paper plate, construction paper, and glue. So much fun.

Cap't Ryan.  I love it when Ryan's dad sends the monthly photo stock.

Also, Stella.  She had to have her back tooth extracted the other day.  She's bounced back fine and is sitting pretty again.

Wicked awesome half

Today I ran the Wicked half-marathon through Salem and Marblehead.  It was a great day for a run, not too sunny, not too hot, even though the weather said 95% humidity.  Didn't feel like it though.  Plus, we ran down by the beach in Marblehead and got a great sea breeze.  The goal for today was to break a 2 hour half.  If you recall, the time of my last official half, the run to remember, was 2:01.  Just one minute OVER my goal.  Ugh, I know, lame right?  So, today I was really hoping for that 2:00 or under.  Now, we've been running this Marblehead route as part of our training runs, and there are a lot of rolling hills.  The scenery is nice but it doesn't offer enough distraction from the uphill battles.  So our first three miles started off great, under 9 minutes, and we even picked up Holly at mile 4.  She ran for a few with us, which was lovely.   But these hills are killer.  As it figured, we had to stay at a 9:10 or lower pace in order to come in under 2 hours.  Unfortunately on the hills, we hit a 9:22 for one mile.  Later, I hit a 9:11 and another over 9:10 pace, but I'm not sure exactly what it was.  Overall though, we managed to keep the pace right where it needed to be.  By mile 7 I wasn't really feeling it anymore.  Then I grabbed a double latte gu from one of the race volunteers.  At first I kind of thought it was gross, but halfway through sucking it down, I changed my mind.  It's actually an ok taste, sort of like super melted coffee ice cream, except a bit thicker.  Whatever the taste though, it definitely helped.  I got through those last 6.1 miles no problem.  Well, ok, maybe not NO problem, but I was able to make it.  According to the timing chip, when I crossed the finish line, my final time was 1:58:49.  YES! Almost 2 minutes under two hours, and 3 minutes off my previous best half.  Talk about a PR.  Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty great today.  Of course, I'm sure the boxing classes have something to do with my overall endurance, as well as the summer runs in Lynn Woods, but I'm pretty sure it's the longer runs that are making the 13 easier.  Suddenly 13.1 seems so do-able, when you know in just 5 weeks, you have to add on another whole 13.1 to that.  Here's a map of my run, just for fun and a picture too.  I'll try to get some more up later.  Keep an eye out for the porta-potty shot!

Oh btw, my Garmin was about .10 off from the race time/miles, which is why it says 1:59 at 13.1.  I'm going with the race time on this one though!

I know, I know,I slacked off!

Alright, so I haven't been the best blogger this month. It's been a pretty busy month with the tutoring after school, checking out venues, and preparing for my first half.  But, now that everything is winding down, I'm free to update again! Rejoice, rejoice.
Today was the Boston Run to Remember.  There were 10,000 runners, which was crazy.  Some people were only doing the 5 miler, but that's still a ton of people.  Last weekend I went for a 13 mile run alone, just to make sure I could do it this weekend.  A week ago, my time was 2:05.  The goal of today was really to break 2:00.  This is how close I came to that goal: 3136 707/1603 F1929 2:01:03 9:14 2:02:18 Allison Runyan 28 F 6528 Lynn MA. The official time was 2:02:18, my time, as you can see bolded and underlined, was 2:01:03.  I missed making the 2 hour mark by seconds.  Seriously.  I'm a little bummed about that, even though I know I shouldn't be.  2:01 for my first half is a fantastic time.  But, when I want to reach a goal, it's always slightly sad when I don't.
The weather for the run was actually pretty bad.  I originally signed up for this race because it was at the end of May so I figured the weather might be hot, but not overbearing.  Turns out, it was the exact opposite. Start time was 7:00 a.m. and the weather at that time was 41 degrees with a wind chill that made it feel like 33.  (I got that direct from the weather channel, I didn't make it up!)  Seriously, at the end of May.  Plus, it was rainy off and on.  Weather aside, the run was actually pretty good.  I felt great basically the entire time.  I went through a lot of sport beans, especially in the last four miles, but it was worth it.  My legs are a little sore, but nothing too crazy.  Overall, a wonderful experience for my first half.  Plus, Ryan came out to watch, so double bonus.
Earlier in the week, I volunteered to stuff packets for the race, which turned out to be more fun than I expected, even though I didn't win any prizes from the raffles.  What I did get was free pizza, and really, that's the best prize there is.  Yesterday I went to the race expo to pick up my number and get some free swag, of which I got none, but whatever.  Then I went over to Boyleston with Cynthia, Murdock, and some of her family.  We stopped by the marathon memorial and had lunch at the Pru, in the middle of an anime convention.  I told you I've been busy!
Other than that, not much happening.  Ryan's mom and sister came to visit, I checked out a couple of venues, and Ryan's dad is coming in two weeks.  Next weekend I also have the last race in the Will Run for Beer series.  I'll finally get my jacket and be done with that, which is really a long time, considering it started back in January.  Cynthia is trying to get me a bib for the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. this October as well.  I'm not really sure how I feel about that.  In the meantime, I think I have to find another half to run, just to get that time down.  With the end of the school year SLOWLY creeping up, I might be able to get more time in for everything, running included.  We'll see.

Whoops

I guess it's been a few days since I updated.  Clearly my blog skills are not on par with what they should be.  Here's the thing.  I've been busy.  SUPER busy.  Not too busy to run, just to busy to write apparently.  So, let's just recap, shall we?
Last weekend I went for a nice 10 mile run in Manchester by the Sea with Cynthia, Murdock, and Jenna.  Overall I think the run was pretty nice.  The views were nice anyways.  I also spent some time ripping up the wild bamboo growing in the backyard.  Monday I went for a 5 mile run with Katie, up and down the beach.  That was also...nice. It was crazy foggy out, but worse than that, it smelled like Lynn beach. There's nothing to explain the smell of Lynn beach to you.  Just know that low tide smells like a combination of sulpher, rotten eggs, and porta-potties.  Yes.  Lovely, isn't it?  So, that part of it was, not so nice, but the run part wasn't too bad.
Some of Ryan's family came to visit during the week, so I didn't run on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.  Shameful, I know.  Friday I got in a nice little 3 miler in the morning, but the humidity was at 90%, so it was awfully sweaty.  I guess it's time to accept that the humidity factor is now something to take into account when running.  That means it's time to start trying for early morning runs, because the humidity is not going to be much help to timing.
Today I managed to get in 6 miles around the Wakefield lake.  Unfortunately, it started to rain on me about a third of the way into the run.  It wasn't a huge rain storm, and luckily it was warm enough that it didn't bother me too much, but I still did not enjoy the wet sneaker sensation.  My time was fairly good though, 6 miles in 54 minutes.  I am pretty confident that I can keep that 9 minute mile pace, which would put me under 2 hours for a half marathon.  Seeing that I only have about two weeks to ensure this pace, I aim to get in another 10 mile run at that pace.
Earlier I also mentioned the virtual 10K by Charity Miles.  I can say with full confidence that I have  definitely surpassed the 6 mile requirement and I am expecting my t-shirt to be shipped any day now.  That's a bonus for me and for all the charities I've been selecting. Once again, if you don't have this app yet, you really need to get it.
I think that's it for running news.  I'm signed up to stuff packets next week for the Run to Remember.  That should be fun.  Since Ryan's family was visiting, we did a lot of touristy things this weekend, so I shall share some photos of that with you, as well as a map my run photo of my 10 mile run.  I'm sure you're pumped.  Enjoy them!

6 miles in the half rain.

Old Ironsides

Ryan and I on the deck of Old Ironsides herself.

Ryan and Britney down below.

Got my ring back, FINALLY!

Emerson's grave

Bridesmaid dresses FOUND!

Fenway <3 nbsp="" p="">

Jacoby

Nothing says Summer like Fenway and the Sox