BIG NEWS!!!!

No joke, it's for real the most exciting news you'll read if you've been following this blog for the past two years.  April 18, 2016, Hopkinton to Boston, and I am IN.  YES, you read that right people, I am FINALLY in the Boston Marathon!!!!  If you aren't aware, I've been trying to get in this for the past two years, but my marathon pace isn't qualifying time and the charities are always full.  But this year I found out that the respite center that Morty used to go to has a charity team.  Of course I immediately sent them my information because if ever there was a charity I wanted to run for, it would be this one. Lucky for me, they read my story, we discussed Morty, and everyone agreed it would be a great fit.  I'm so excited to be running for Morty and the Respite Center.  You know how some charities are huge and take donations but then spend most of the money on advertising?  Definitely not the case with the Respite center.  This is just a local home that provides families the opportunity for some much needed rest and a day off. Most of their programs are free of charge to the families who need them, so all the donations that come in go directly to supplies and services at the center.  Just keep that in mind if you decide to donate.  Your money is going directly to those who need it, not some giant CFO somewhere.
If you are interested in Morty and the Respite Center, you can follow this link and check out my page.  
Morty's Story

I mean, really, look at that face!

Piggybacking on this post now, I am still running Newport this weekend. I couldn't really get myself amped for this marathon, not the way I was for Louisiana, so I decided to give myself a reason to run.  Since this is number four, I'm dedicating this one to all the people who helped me out with training.  Really number four has nothing to do with it. But number one, MCM, was to do something new.  Philly was because we were still riding the runner's high and wanted to be maniacs.  Louisiana was for fun and to do one on my own.  So Boston is for Morty, of course.  So, Newport is for everyone else.  The people, if you will.  Everyone who ran with me, talked to me, listened to me whine about how much I didn't want to do it. The list, while seemingly endless, actually isn't that long.  But instead of writing a dedication list here, I'm doing it the creative way.  On the bottom of my shoes.  Yup.  One name for every mile.  Of course Ryan leads the list, because he's my number one fan, even when he's not.  But the other 25 miles are for everyone else.  And just to have a little fun, I switched up my shirt again.  Newport, I am ready for you!

Ok, you can't read that,here's the list:

Right Shoe: Ryan, Cynthia, Murdock, Madilyn, Holly, Tracy, Jenna, Danielle, Nala, Stella, Kenny, Mom, Gibbs Family

Left shoe: Title Boxing (the club, the members, and the trainers!), Kerri, Dana, Erin, Matt D (for offering his treadmill after the kids went to sleep), the Revolutionary War Soldiers (for getting me through a training run on the Battle Road Trail one day), the Mystics from the relay team, Lynn Woods Running, Lynn Classical Girls Spring Track Team, Donna, Cortney, Brian, and finally, Alex F.

All I Want for Christmas

Right now is an entry into the 2014 Boston Marathon.  It's not what you think either.  I'm not just jumping on the marathon bandwagon or hoping to run it because it's the next year.  Of course being the year after the bombing makes it special, but up until 2 weeks ago, I really didn't want to even try to run it this year anyways.  There were a lot of factors included, but mostly the fact that it would probably be very crowded this year anyways.  Why the sudden change of heart?  Well, you see, a week ago, my two marathon partners found out that they were receiving an invitation to run this year.  As a way to help those affected last year, the BAA hosted an essay contest for anyone who wanted to run this year.  Since my marathon partners were at the finish line last year, one of them sent in an essay describing the after-effects of the bombings and why she and her husband needed to run this year.  Rightly so, the BAA agreed that they both deserved the opportunity to run, and gave them both an entry in.  Now I'm here all by myself, wishing I could run it with them, instead of watching from the sidelines.  Here's why.  I'm fairly certain that this is going to be their last big race, at least for a couple of years.  After all, that's what they've been working towards from the beginning, running Boston without having to run with a team.  With that opportunity at hand this year, this eliminates me from running Boston for at least a couple of years, maybe even more. Unless I want to run alone, which I don't.
I know Boston is a big marathon, even if I don't fully understand why.  What I mean by that is, there are plenty of other marathons throughout the U.S. and I'm fairly certain that no other marathon has such out of reach entry methods as Boston.  Even before the bombing, when I thought of running Boston, I always though, there's just no way.  Look it up if you don't believe me, but the minimum fundraising goal for teams running Boston is a whooping $4000.  That's not including the entry fee, which I believe is in the $300 range for charity runners.  I get that the BAA wants to raise money for charities and help out those in need, but do you really need to set such unrealistic goals?   Besides the charity portion, what if you want to just run Boston on your own accord?  In other cities, you rely on lotteries, or are just lucky enough to be able to sign up, pay your $150, and run.  Not so in Boston.  In order to run outside of a charity, you have to qualify.  Not just by running a marathon or two, but by running a marathon in a certain amount of time.  For someone my age, that qualifying time is 3:35.  That's an entire HOUR faster than I've ever run.
Ok, I didn't mean to turn this into a whine-fest about the Boston Marathon.  It just kind of happened.  I am well aware that even without all of this in place, I most likely would never have gotten entry into this year's marathon.  But for the future, I just hate knowing that I only have two real options: push myself into a zone i have yet to come close to reaching, or beg people for money so I can run 26.2.  I just don't understand why BAA can't consider a third route, for people who actually run marathons, in an average time, not fast enough to qualify, but that demonstrate the stamina and endurance necessary to prove that you are not just bandwagonning.  Think about how many other people would have a chance at running, who might previously have run other marathons, but don't have the resources to raise $4K or the ability to qualify.  It seems to me that you would be more open to having marathoners be able to run, instead of people that intend to run in 6 hours, just to say they did it once.  I guess there's no real point to this, unless it gets me a magic entry into Boston.  Unfortunately, I think most people are going to read this a whine-fest, instead of what it is meant to be, which was just a world wide vent.