26.2 Miles Towards the Ultimate Finish Line

Over $6,000 raised + 26.2 miles + 4 hrs, 12 minutes, and 53 seconds=just the beginning....

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this whole experience has been. I never in a million years thought that I would run a marathon, much less want to. There were a variety of reasons that I chose to apply to the Dana-Farber Team, and those reasons have only continued to multiply over the past few months. I haven't really managed to process everything just yet, but a brief rundown on Marathon Monday.

Couldn't sleep. Couldn't sleep. Couldn't sleep. I "woke up" at 4:30 am after about 3 hours of dozing and couldn't wait for the day to start. Riding the bus out to Hopkinton I started to get really nervous. Getting ready with everyone in the church before hand I got even MORE nervous. And standing the corrals waiting to start I thought "what did I get myself into." I planned on running as much of the marathon as I could with Jeff, Kim, and Stephanie and as I stood there, Jeff looked at me and said, "Caitlin, what's wrong? You look awful. SMILE!!!!!" Even after we started he kept having to tap me on the arm and say, "Smile, you're running a marathon right now!" I couldn't believe I was actually doing it, or that I would actually make it. I didn't start to loosen up and really have fun until we got to Wellesley. Maybe it was the fact that in the Scream Tunnel (aka, an extremely large crowd of Wellesley girls screaming) Jeff started racing up the side of the street, stopping to oblige the undergrads requests for a kiss. Or that I finally felt like I could maintain a solid pace and possibly break 4 hours, and that I was actually keeping up with the group. I don't know. But I laughed. I smiled. I cheered and did a little fist pump every time I saw a Dana-Farber sign. But somewhere around Grossman's I lost Steph and Kim. And Jeff took off down the hill. I managed to catch up with Jeff around Woodland, where he reminded me "there's just a Crossroads 9 miler or so left and then we're done." Yea, totally. Only a few hills to get up and over. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to tackle the hills, and Heartbreak, as hard as I could. I took off solo and the hills didn't seem nearly as bad as I thought they would. I thought I was in the clear. But when I got to the top and saw BC, and someone holding a sign that said "Only 5.1 more miles to go!" I thought, oh please let this be over. I had to run the rest of the race alone because Jeff began to pick up speed and once again passed me. It was just me and the iPod. I couldn't even take it off because I was afraid I would lose all motivation. I didn't see my first "friendly face" (aside from injured DFMC'er Amy Abend who had been at mile 5 waiting for us) until around mile 22. And then more of my friends screaming and jumping up and down around mile 23. I believe I told both of these groups, "Kill me." My pace slowed considerably through the last five miles, going from 9:15-9:20s to the high 9:30s, to 10 at some point. But I wasn't going to stop now. I had to see my family at mile 25 and my In-Memory family, the Franceschelli's. When I made it to Kenmore where I knew they were all waiting, I searched the crowd and luckily spotted my lovely mother, my father and stepmother. Sadly, I didn't see Joey's family but I had to keep pushing. When I made the turn onto Boylston I knew I was home free. I could see my friends Claire, Kristen, and Alice shaking a Dana-Farber pom pom at me. So I picked up my stride, blew them some kisses, and took off. Crossing the finish line at 4 hrs, 12 minutes, and 53 seconds. Not four hours but a personal record nonetheless.

When I made it back to the DFMC center (after what seemed like an eternity of walking) I found out what had happened to the rest of my running crew. Kim had begun suffering from salt deprivation and spent the last 7-8 miles getting sick. Repeatedly. And Steph had ended up with a stress fracture and her race ended at mile 23. Heartbreaking. Steph and Kim weren't the only ones who had rough runs that day, but it was really bittersweet to have worked so hard all season with these girls and then cross the finish line alone (Jeff, aka "wheels", finished a few minutes ahead of me).

So here I am, two days later, still unable to walk down a flight of stairs without wincing. Not really sure what to do with myself now that all this training/fundraising/crazy running is done. I'm 100% sure I will be back doing it again next year, without a question. But you only experience your first marathon once. And this was it. And it was totally worth all the pain. I came away with some great memories, some great friends, and a sense of accomplishment. I hope that I don't forget this feeling because if I can put my body and mind through 26.2 miles of this, I pretty much can get through anything.

Twas the Night before Boston...

Twas the night before Boston
and all thru the city,
marathon runners were anxious and giddy...

I haven't been able to sleep that well the last few nights, and clearly this post is premature by a few hours but because I'm staying in a hotel tonight I thought I'd post it now. I can't believe that the Marathon is finally here. I'm about to go to the DFMC pasta party with my family, friends, and my In-Memory Family, the Franceschelli's. I've heard many things about the pasta party from runners who have gone before and I really can't wait. Not only will all my teammates be there, but we'll have the opportunity to see the Patient Partners, the In-Memory families, and hear from some old pros like Uta Pippig (she's won the marathon 3 times although I'm sure she's more well known for other reasons). Maybe our teammate, Valerie Bertannelli, will make an appearance.

Yesterday's Expo and check in were overwhelming. I FINALLY got to wear my marathon jacket and pick up my bib/race packet with Steph and Sean. The place was packed and it was sensory overload and it made everything seem SO REAL. I am running 26.2 miles tomorrow. This is nuts.

The starting line's been painted. The finish line's been painted. The bleachers are all set up at the Library. And the city is crawling with marathoners wearing very bright teal/yellow jackets.

Tomorrow's weather looks great, pretty much the perfect marathon forecast: 50s, cloudy w/some sun, and a 10-15 mph tail wind (Im hoping that pushes me up heartbreak hill, keep your fingers crossed).

My friend/teammate/coworker/mentor, Lindsey, summed up tomorrow nicely:

"Hanging out in the church in hopkinton w/ 500 of your closest friends, having people for 26.2 miles yell "thank you dana farber", kicking the hill that broke johnny kelley's heart in the ass, right on hereford, left on boylston, smiling at a camera, getting your medal and dancing your heart out that evening."

And with that, I'm shipping up to Boston.

Why I Run on Boston.com

Check me out on Boston.com today in their special Boston Marathon section, "Why I Run":

http://www.boston.com/newsprojects/whyirun/index.php#/story-165

The Hay is in the Barn!

Hard to believe that exactly a week from now I will be FINISHED with the Dana-Farber Marathon Pasta Party and will DESPERATELY be trying to fall asleep because the next morning is MARATHON MONDAY!! I have no idea how it's already the middle of April, and I'm not sure at what point Marathon Monday started feeling like Christmas morning but it is and it does, so there.

Last week was "taper" time...tried my best to cut down on the mileage and treat my body right. Per Jack's advice and sage wisdom, I didn't go to the last track work out and got a massage instead. Best gift certificate a girl could ask for (hint hint). Taking two days off to rest/recover, I ran an easy four on Thursday before my fundraising event at Crush Boutique and I can now say that I have officially raised WELL over $6,000 total for Dana-Farber. Didn't see that one coming either. It was so great to have my friends come out and "shop for a cause," and even better that Steph and Amanda ran all the way over from Crossroads to purchase some goodies.

Yesterday I took my first trip out to the starting line in Hopkinton and ran to Natick with Amanda, Courtney, and their friend Nicole, who is training for her first half-marathon in May. It was nice to run a 9-miler and not push too hard. I barely looked at my watch the first 5 miles. After realizing I probably could go out a little faster, I picked it up for the last four and finished strong. Yay for the last long run of the season!

The end of training. Wow, didn't seem like it would ever get here. And what a better way to celebrate than Courtney and Amanda's Date Auction? :) Those girls know how to throw a mean party. I don't think I've had that much fun in a long time between all the dancing, bidding, and prize winning (I walked away with an overnight stay at the Ritz Carlton in Boston with breakfast included. Cannot wait to put that to good use). Surprisingly I managed to make it to Doyle's 5 mile road race in Jamaica Plain this morning and took to the mean streets with fellow DFMCER's: Jeff, Courtney, and Shifter. For having danced all night, I managed to finish at a good clip--around 43 minutes!

So what do I do with myself now aside from prepare for my law school trial advocacy final that's this week? Just keep on keepin' on. My darling sister and her husband and kids (my niece, Ryann, and nephew, Brody) made me a little Boston Cheer Package that arrived at the end of the week so I'm digging through it now. Not only did they send me racing "tools" such as socks, Gu, Bodyglide, etc., they made me the CUTEST book filled with inspirational quotes and pictures. I'm attaching the pictures that Ryann, age 4, and Brody, age 2, drew of me "winning" the marathon/racing as fast as Lightening McQueen, and the wonderful "map" of Boston my sister made :)

To close, a quote my sister included: "We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."--Emil Zatopek

Twenty Two Miles, Track, and Taper Time...(sort of)

This blog entry is long overdue. With 14 days and 23 hours until the marathon, I feel like there is so much going on I don't have time to breathe, much less blog. Rather than write a novel, I will provide a brief synopsis of the last week:

March 27: Beautiful day for the 22-miler! All of the charity groups running the Marathon were out on the course doing the longest run of the training season. Twenty two is a terrifying number. To me, it seems like if you're going to run 22, you might as well tack on the remaining 4.2 miles and call it a day. Regardless, the run went great. I was super hydrated and energized, unlike the week before. I started out slow as Jack suggested, heading out from BC to Wellesley College at about a 9:20-9:30 pace. I was itching to speed up, so at the turnaround I picked it up. For the rest of the run I was fluctuating between 9 minute and 9:15 minute miles. I finished the 22 in 1 hr and 30 minutes. YAY! A four hour marathon is well within my reach (depending on the weather and how my body is feeling). It's not like I really am trying to run for time, I pretty much would just like to say I finished the Marathon, but it's nice to have a goal to work towards. Oh, and I finally tried a bullion cube. DISGUSTING. Try and imagine what it's like to have a cube of dry, chalky, condensed chicken stock in your mouth. And even once you've swallowed it there is still the gritty remnants of it in your mouth. I'll be trying salt capsules from here on out.

NOTE: I make a brief appearance in the video of the Charity run that appeared on Boston.com (around the 2:20 mark)

Track: WHY DO I GO TO TRACK?!!!?! Aside from the company of Stephanie and Jeff (and Jeff's witty banter) I loathe track. This week we did ladders. 200m with a 100m recovery, 400m with a 200m recovery, 600m with a 300m recovery, and 800m with a 400m recovery. Repeat. I don't mind the shorter distances, but running a 1/2 mile and a mile at an intense pace (8 minute miles or under anyone?) is disgusting, especially when all your doing is running in circles around a track. But hopefully it makes a difference....

Taper: Ok so now we're supposed to be tapering off our distances and running less. But when I looked at the calendar this week it still had us running 10-12 miles Thursday and 14-16 miles on Saturday, on top of the 5 miles on Monday and track workout Tuesday. Ummm, how is this a taper by any means? My body is rebelling and tired. SO, I say screw the schedule and I'm just going to do what I want. I ran Woodland on Thursday (all the hills on the marathon course, past BC, into Boston) for a nice 9 miles as a 9 minute mile pace, and 10 yesterday. The weather has been warm (70s) so I'm trying to acclimate just in case the marathon brings high temps. Today's Easter, so in anticipation of te brunch that awaits me, I took a lovely jog through Concord to get in 3 miles.

I can't believe the Marathon is 2 weeks from tomorrow...it's pretty much do or die time. I'm just going to do my best and savor every minute (and stay away from the bullion cubes).

Track is Wack...sort of

So after this Saturday's pitiful run, I'm dead set on making up for it this week. Thus, my second trip to Tufts for Tuesday Night Track. What more could you ask for than running around a track in circles for an hour and a half? The workout consisted of 10 800s at 5k pace with 200 meter recovery. Brutal. Since I was running with Steph and Jeff, and they are dead-set on running a sub-4 hour marathon, this meant we'd have to finish our 800s in 4 or under. Jeff and Steph are really strong runners and it's clear that all of Steph's track appearances have been paying off. By our 7th set, I was ready to call it quits. But then Jeff reminded me why I was running and told me to suck it up. So I did my best to finish strong. He took off like lightening for the last two sets and I did my best to keep up. On the final 800 I finished strong, with a 3:45. Not too shabby. The only thing that got me through the workout was having company, and a running (no pun intended) commentary from Jeff about everything from motivational quotes, what he was planning on cooking/eating, his desire to kiss some girls along the marathon course (Note: Jeff loves his wife and new baby girl dearly), and what songs he was "playing" in his head at the moment. I believe last nights mix involved the 80s hit "right round," some Madonna, and "Hells Bells". Whatever that is (I was born in the 80s, hello). So even though track is not fun, I'm going to keep showing up in the hopes that it leads to a sub-4 hour victory on marathon monday.

MMMMM Salty

So after a little spring break it's back to running and blogging...After monsoon season struck Boston, and I was forced to run 14 miles on a treadmill instead of outside, I headed south to the equator in the hopes that the warm weather would inspire me to run. It did not. I had convinced myself that I would run at least twice while I was in Aruba but it did not happen. Even after I saw tons of athletic-looking individuals running up and down the beach. 90 degree temperatures made me just want to lay on a raft in the middle of the ocean, not run 5 miles a day. Epic failure.

When I headed back to Boston on Thursday night I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing weather that had suddenly arrived and I was really excited to get back into training. Friday I took it easy with a little 3 mile warm up run, not wanting to overdo it before our long group run on Saturday morning. The goal was 18 miles out and back from Wellesley to BC. I was all peppy and dressed in my Dana-Farber shirt and hat because they were taping us on our run. Note to self: do not wear a black hat, black shorts, and a t-shirt with a tank top under it when it's 70 degrees outside and you're running hills. Stephanie and I started out strong and the first few miles we ran at a 9 minute mile pace. But as soon as we turned onto Comm Ave I started to feel sluggish. I told Stephanie to go ahead and I started to lag behind and was forced to turn on my music, even though I told myself I would try to run without it. At each water stop I took off one of my layers--first the hat, then the tank top, and finally at mile 9, the turnaround, I had to ditch the Dana-Farber shirt. I was feeling BAD. And now here I was, running in just a sports bra and shorts and looking (and feeling) like crap.

With every hill I ran down, I felt worse and worse. My legs were cramping, my stomach was churning, and I thought I was going to pace out. I have never felt this bad on a run, nor have I ever just stopped running. But here I was, only to mile 12, and I had to walk for a few minutes. Marcy tried to convince me to "listen to my body" and stop running altogether and get a ride back from the water stop, but I was stubborn. I convinced myself that I could make it back to Wellesley, at least to the last water stop. I kept telling myself, only 3 more miles. Just make it there. When I passed the firestation at the end of Comm Ave, I had to ask the fireman who was outside washing the firetrucks to spray my head down with cold water. He took pity on me, thankfully. The cool water helped for a little while, and I managed to keep stumbling along, but the minute I hit Grossman's Hill I tanked. Here I was, crying and walking up this hill, just praying the water stop was around the corner. Once I got over the hill I told myself RUN. Grasso. Just run, you have to. I tried. I failed. I tried I failed. When I finally got to the stop I knew it was over. I had to ask for a ride back to the health club.

It didn't bother me so much that I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, or that my pace was as slow as molasses, it was the fact that I couldn't finish my run and meet my goal. There is only one long run left, next saturday, and it's a 22-miler on the same course. If I couldn't finish 18, how am I going to do 22?

I talked to Jack, our team guru/trainer, after the run and expressed my frustration. He told me that I am always a consistent runner and to not get down on myself about this run. In fact, after examining me and seeing that I was covered in a fine layer of salt he suggested that my issue was that I was sweating/leaching out too much salt during the run, and that my body was shutting down as a result. No amount of gatorade at the water stops was going to replenish my body with the amount of salt I was losing so I was getting dehydrated. He suggested I invest in some tasty bullion cubes of salt and pop a few of them over the course of the run, particularly on those hot days. Yummy. Nothing I like to do more than eat a giant cube of salt while I'm running.

Now I've had a few days to think about it. I realize I really shouldn't have expected I could make it all the way to marathon day without having a run that just did not go well. How can you expect to just kill every run when you're training over a 5 month period? It's unrealistic. We're pushing our body to the limits. I just need to focus on why I'm running. So I'm attaching this picture to remind myself. This photo was taken at the In-Memory dinner a few weeks ago and it's of me and Joey's family. I've been emailing with his mother and every time I open one it only inspires me more. She is SO supportive and positive, and I cannot wait until Marathon weekend and the Pasta Party when I can sit down with Joey's family and my own family and friends and get ready for what will certainly be one of the best days of my life. There is less than a month left until April 19th and I cannot wait to see what the rest of March and April brings!

Oh, and keep your fingers crossed that Marathon Monday is NOT 70 degrees, because I don't know if the firemen are going to be out there washing the trucks again and I really don't feel like throwing my singlet out into the crowd.