Back at it

Another long run is in the books.  A real long run too, none of this 10 mile weenie crap.  Sorry, that was uncalled for, and after this marathon, 10 miles will go back to being a long run, so don't be offended.  I will regret that statement in due time, I'm sure of it.  Tonight we did 14, following a familiar route.  We started at Tides in Nahant, ran down the beach, through Swampscott, into Marblehead, and then turned around and looped back through Swampscott to Tides again.  Since we went at 5 pm we got to enjoy an awesome sunset over the ocean and a lot of cool air.  Fall running really must be the best.  The air is perfect, the weather is fantastic, and soon enough, there will be awesome Halloween decorations out everywhere.  Salem might be a bit too crowded for running, but it would be some great scenery.

Here's the route we ran tonight.  We had a great time without all the humidity, it was the 3rd fastest half marathon I've ever run.  The fastest still stands as the Run to Remember at 2:01.  All of my running buddies have big races next weekend, so I'm on my own for that I guess.  Two of them are running a half in Salem and the other two are doing the Spartan beast, which is just crazy. 

I don't have many runs planned before the marathon actually.  Just the Electric Run at Gillette Stadium the first weekend in October and the last few Lynn Woods Runs.  There is a 15K or 5K for the running club, but I don't really want to risk that so close to the marathon.  It's 2 weeks before, and with my luck, I'd break something running through the woods.  Plus, from the sound of it, the 15K is a bunch of loops through the woods, which sounds awful because that's a lot of hills.  Most likely, I'll stick to long run Sundays and boxing for endurance.  Then, after the marathon, I can go back to running for fun, which I am really looking forward too.

Oh, one more thing, I made it through Once Upon a Time season 2 (in record time) and I'm pumped for season 3.  And yes, I know the town was frozen for 28 years, but I still don't buy the Snow White, Prince Charming, Emma Swan family thing.  It just doesn't fit with me.  However, I do love Mr. Gold.  My worry is that they're going to turn Peter Pan into something awful and he's one of my FAVORITE story characters, so I really hope they don't.  Lastly, I feel like they could have held off on a spin-off for a few, but whatever.

Once upon a time

Season 2 is finally up on Netflix! WOO WOO!!!!!! I was going to do a lot of things tonight, but suddenly I forgot them all.
Ok, I really wasn't going to do much anyways, except correct some math tests and go to boxing.  I know, I know, I shouldn't skip boxing, but I swear, I'm going tomorrow morning instead! I'm a little worried about the boxing endeavor now that the club has upped the workout ante, but I'll stick to it, because, well, because I paid for it already. Tonight though, tonight is a Netflix, pizza, and maybe some moscato evening.  Depending on how far I make it through, I might actually even correct some of those tests.  Then, Sunday, I'll be back to the long run.  Watch me blow the marathon out of the water in a month.  (Struggle through, whatever you want to call it.)
On a 100% completely unrelated note, how is it even fair in this world that people look like this?

I know it, you know, he's adorable. Don't get me wrong, I love Ryan and I think he's just the handsomest person I know.  But still...this is an unfair life advantage.  If I was ridiculously good looking, I'd be right right now, and in this moment, I could use all the money I can get. 

Back to Once Upon a Time, why haven't they done a cross-over with Harry Potter yet?  That would be FANTASTIC.  I love a good Disney fairy tale, or just a regular Grimm's fairy tale, but Harry Potter would definitely bring this show home.  Speaking of Harry Potter, apparently there's a new movie coming out.  Take a moment and go back to reread that if you have to.  A NEW MOVIE.  BUT, it's this: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/jk-rowling-harry-potter-new-movie-fantastic-beasts-newt-scam

So, if you're like me, you probably don't know how to take this news.  I love Harry, but I'm not overly pumped about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  I mean, how much Harry Potter is this film actually going to be? WHAT is this film going to be?  I'm so full of questions right now, I don't even know how to handle it! Now, so are you.

Oh, and realistically, there's no way Snow is a believable mother to blondie.  They're obviously the same age.  Nice try, Once.  Since we're on the topic of fairy tales though, if you're a fan of the show, you should check out the Unfortunate Fairy Tale series by Chanda Hahn.  The books are pretty fantastic, even if they are written for young adults (or teenage girls, let's be serious here.) My only issue with the books is actually that the author seems to take way to long to write a book and after reading from her website, seems to act like she's doing us a favor and doesn't even need to write the books.  In short, she seems pretty rude on her website.  I'm willing to overlook that, if the next book comes out in a reasonable time, with a good ending. The books are similar to the show in that they incorporate fairy tales into the story line, complete with some characters.  Right now there are 3 books, and they're a nice easy read if you're looking for one, so get on it.  

I'm still here

I've been having a serious motivation problem lately.  Not about updating, but about getting out and doing my training runs.  Thinking back, I feel like it came on the heels of that awful 17 miler I did about a month ago now.  After failing to run the second half of that at an acceptable pace, I kind of let myself get defeated.  For a while, (read, until today) I really didn't even want to keep going with this whole marathon things.  Seriously, who in their right mind decides to run a marathon, just for fun?  It's not like I'm trying to BQ and I don't really plan on running anymore, so what was the point.  Luckily, thanks to a power hour at boxing today, I finally pulled myself out of that mindset and back into the marathon pump up.
Let's stick with what I know.  I KNOW I can run a half, in good weather, in 2 hours and 1 minute.  So, given the idea that I want to try and come in around 4:30, that leaves me another 2 hours and an extra half an hour to get in the last 13.1.  On top of that, if I can do 17 in 3 hours and 4 minutes, that STILL leaves me an hour and half (give or take a few minutes) to finish the last 9.2.  I know I've done a 15K in 1:34, which is almost exactly what I'll have left.  So, putting it all together, assuming the weather is good, I can make a good start and keep up a fairly regular pace without too many stops, I should be able to come in right around my goal time.  Of course, my goal time is an entire hour slower than what it would take to BQ, which is why I say I'm not even attempting it.  But, I am attempting to finish in a reasonable amount of time.  If for no other reason, I really don't want to run for 5 hours.  Who does?  Especially when I have the prospect of a 6 hour drive home ahead of me after the marathon.
So, I know I slacked, and I know I'll pay for it.  At least I've been boxing on top of my training, so I'm hoping that will improve my endurance.  If you're wondering how power hour got me back into my pumped for the marathon state, it's simple.  Usually there's a trainer or two walking around having people hit the pads while you work on combos. Today there was 4.  That's double the amount that usually circulate.  These four weren't going easy either.  It was always just one more round, just 10 more hooks, a 100% combo burn-out.  In short, there were no excuses.  If the trainer was in front of you, you were going 100%.  Lucky me, I got visited by all  four trainers at different times, therefore forcing me to dig deeper and work harder.  And on the heels of that push, came the push I needed for the marathon.  So, to the awesome trainers at Title, who won't let you quit, thanks for getting me back on track!
You know what else helped?  Ryan telling me that I should just not do it, because it's crazy and who wants to do crazy things.  I know he meant it and didn't mean it all at once.  I think he seriously means it, because he doesn't want to drive down there, and to be honest, I think that's the worst part of all of it, I don't want to make the drive either.  But, I know he didn't mean it, because he doesn't want me to give up, so when I'm whining about actually giving up, he pulls out the old reverse psychology and makes me NOT want to quit anymore.  He's slick, but he knows what works.  And I know even though he hates the whole thing, he'll be at the finish line, being disgusted by the runners and happy for me all at once. So, at least I have that motivation. Thanks Ry!
In other news, I got my donorschoose project funded, so that's all set and it's awesome.  School has been going great this year and all the children seem happy to be back.  I actually made some cool crafts for school, which I'll share later. Right now, I'm trying to stick to marathon training updates.  I want to try and run from heartbreak hill to Copely as a shorter training run, a few weeks before the marathon, just to get a feel for it, and be able to say I at least ran part of Boston.  Other than that, I think I'll stick to regular routes and aim for the 20 miler this weekend.  Here goes nothing!

I need your help to INSPIRE!

In a bit of a deviation from my usual blabber, tonight's post has a new and very important topic.  My wonderful school full of students and their (and my) desperate need for some new materials. For some quick background information, I teach math, all students grade 1-5, at an elementary school in an urban city just outside of Boston.  My school is old and we are missing a lot of new technology.  Most noticeably, we have no library, just some bookshelves in the hallway on each of the three floors.  Without a library, it's hard to keep these books organized and even harder to find books that are relative to the subject matter.  In an ideal world, I'd be a millionaire.  In the real world, I'm not even close.  This poses a problem most often when there are supplies I want to give my students, but lack the means to acquire the supplies.  Last year I noticed a major drop in mathematical literature for students above grade 2.  There are lots of books at the school about counting, sequencing, and ordering numbers.  Past those basic skills though, there is little to nothing.  I desperately want to give my older students new fictional, math centered stories.  Plenty of these books exist, the problem is getting them into the hands of those who need them.  Some of my favorite math centered books include the Sir Cumference stories and the other math adventure series.  Unfortunately, these books come at a price, and when added up, it becomes more than I can support on my own.
So, this is where your help become necessary.  I've set up a donorschoose project focused around fictional math literature for older students.  My project also includes a video recorder so that the students can practice, explain, and record math strategies, using the books, to show to other students.  You will also see a request for bins, necessary to store the books in a central location and provide an easy way to keep track of what is being used at the moment.  Donating money is a lot to ask, I know this.  But if you can't donate, there are other ways you can help.  One of the simplest ways is to share this blog post or my project link.  If enough people share, I am confident it will reach people that would be able to donate.  Remember, no donation is too small.  Even $1 will push the project along.  In fact, if you donate this week, and enter the code INSPIRE at the payment screen, donorschoose will even match your donation.  This code expires on August 26, but the project will be open until it is fully funded or until December, whichever comes first.
If you read this blog, please take a moment to share or donate, and help these students have a future in math!  Here's the link to my project, just click and go.  Flipping for math
Thank you!

The first Sir Cumference story

And 9 more to go

Sunday marked the beginning of a new week and a new record.  I ran 17 very long miles and if you don't think that's far, well, to me, it was never ending.  I think it was a combination of not running the long run last week and having a head cold.  The first 8 miles were going well, right at the pace we usually go, chatting, the regular running routine.  I was really holding out until mile 8 before I ate any gummi bears, because I didn't want to get too used to them too early.  Along with the gummies, I brought a belvita soft cookie, which proved to be fairly hard to eat, while I was literally on the run.  Since we were running low on water, we stopped to refill our bottles, and I'm pretty sure that's when everything became an issue.  I managed to push through miles 9 and 10 fairly well, didn't loose too much speed.  But suddenly at mile 12, I hit it.  Call it whatever you want, the wall, the blerch, exhaustion, whatever, but I hit it hard.  Suddenly those last 5 miles seemed to stretch on forever.  I fell back from the two I was running with and dropped my pace down to around an 11/11:30 minute mile.  Considering we've been training at around a 10, that's a big drop.  Especially since I made 15 just two weeks ago, coming in at an average of 10:14.  We stopped again for waters at mile 15, and by then I was seriously contemplating just walking the last two miles.  Everything hurt, more than it usually does.  My legs were burning from the toes to the hips. I did end up walking for a minute between more than a few miles overall, which is something I normally try hard to avoid.  Needless to say, I had the worst run I've had in a long time.  It was one of those runs that challenges everything you think about wanting to run a marathon and makes you seriously consider giving up.  Even with the encouragement from my running partners and later from Ryan, I was pretty doubtful that I wanted to keep this up.  But, as a new day dawned and I spent 6 hours sitting in a professional development on writing, I knew I had to keep going.  There's only 69 days left before the marathon.  If I can make it through these last days and finish that marathon, I'll never have to worry about it again, unless I want to.  If I give up now, I'll always have that in the back of my mind.  What kind of example would I be setting for my students, if I was telling them to never quit when I had done just that?  So, next weekend, I'll be back out there, doing a shorter long run, and the weekend after that, I'll be out there doing 20 miles.  And once you get through 20, what's 6.2 more really?

Here's my splits and overall from yesterday. If you go and check out my connect, let me explain something real quick. The 14 something split is from when we actually stopped to wait for someone to get the water, instead of jogging on, like we did for the first water break.  When I said I slowed down to an 11 something pace, I wasn't kidding.  But to me, the 11 pace felt like a 15.  That shows how bad it really was.

Summer colds

The temperature has been fluctuating a bit this past week and I think it's messing with my immune system.  I either have a head cold or a massive explosion of new allergies.  Whatever it is, it definitely doesn't feel good and really makes it hard to run or workout at all.  This week was a pretty bad week for running in general.  I went 6 miles on Monday since we skipped the long run.  Then Tuesday I went to boxing.  That was actually fairly easy.  I must have been having a great day, or at least, I drank a lot of water.  Really, I was breezing through class on Tuesday afternoon.  Then Wednesday hit and we had a goodbye party for the girls we've been tutoring all summer.  During that party, I may or may not, but definitely did, eat two donuts.  Not two in a row, I spread them out over two hours.  That counts for something right?  Needless to say, Wednesday night I was NOT feeling the run in the woods.  Miraculously, the run ended up only being 4.3 instead of the 5 I thought it was going to be.  Really, the .7 didn't make a huge difference, but I'll take what I can get when I don't feel like running.  The trail was kind of a pain, lots of rocks, trees, and single file paths.  This was an off-the-trail run, which is always harder than the main hiking trails.  I think I finished at about 48 minutes.   So not impressive.  Of course we had our after run margs and one of the girls brought a 3 lb bag of gummi bears.  Now is a good time to tell you, if I haven't already, that Haribo gummi bears are my weakness. I would probably have eaten the entire 3 lb bag if I was alone.  Seriously, they're so much better than any other type of gummi bear.  So I suppose I can consider it a win that I went home with the whole bag.  And a lose, because I will probably proceed to eat the whole bag.  I intend to use them mostly for energy bursts during our 18 miler on Sunday, but I'm pretty sure they'll be snacked on frequently as well.
So, now that tutoring is over there's two more weeks of vacation left.  Most people would probably celebrate this.  I am not, because next week I have professional development all week, from 8 - 2.  Seriously, this has been the busiest vacation I've ever had.  At least I'll have the week before school starts to get in all my vacationing.  And all my boxing.  I have been having a great time boxing, I really enjoy the classes.  I did kickboxing the other day, and I think I like the regular boxing, at least for now.  I'm worried about hurting my legs before the marathon. Anyways, I hpoe this cold goes away before Sunday.  Otherwise, those 18 miles might be the worst I've ever run.

This is from last week, not the one I just wrote about above.  Clearly I had more energy at the end of that race.  

Ouch

Two of my friends joined a boxing club at the beginning of the month.  One of the enticements to get people to join this club is that you get your first shot free.  So yesterday I joined the two of them for their 9 am boxing class.  It was awesome, overall.  The class was an hour long, which included the warm-up, the boxing, ab work, and the cool down.  I had a good time and I really enjoyed punching the bag.  Yes, if you're wondering, I did join, and I plan to head there tomorrow for another round of boxing.  They also offer kickboxing, which I think we may be doing later in the week.
There's only one downside to all of this.  Every single muscle in my body aches today.   This isn't just a running ache, where your legs hurt, but you can manage.  This is legs, abs, arms, chest, and back muscles.  If there's a muscle in my body, it's aching.  But I had to go for a run today, since I didn't do a long run this weekend.  In fact, I haven't gone since Wednesday last, I believe.  So, after suffering through a torturous day of aches and pains, I decided to suck it up and go for a shorter run.  6.2 miles, because I figured it would be like running the last 6.2 of the marathon.  Really, it gave me a small idea of what it's going to be like, running on legs that feel like they're about to give out and having every muscle ache.  I'm sure it was a worthwhile experience.  The only problem, now that everything is done, is moving.  It hurts to stand, to sit, to walk up or down stairs.  I can't even sit up from a half-way lounging position without a struggle.  It's really a huge issue because I have laundry to do and I have to go down to the basement to put it in the dryer.  Everything hurts and it's torture.  So, why not do it again tomorrow?