My 3rd walking marathon

I’m still not entirely certain that it’s sane to walk 26.2 miles but, if I’m not altogether there, at least I’m in good company. On Sunday, I walked my third marathon in support of The Jimmy Fund – the fundraising arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. That part is completely sane…so sane, in fact, that I’m super-proud to say that I made “Pacesetter” again this year (which, this year, meant raising a minimum of $1,500).

The day started early enough: my alarm was set for 4:00am. Since I get really edgy when I have my alarm set for very early times, I slept fairly poorly and woke up a few minutes before the alarm went off. DH and I crept out of bed, got dressed and headed out the door at 4:30am, heading to Copley Square to park the car. The theory is, if you park the car in Copley, you take the shuttle bus to Hopkinton and walk back to your car. And so, we repeated what we’d done in the two prior years, making great time to Copley and boarding the first bus we were able to get on. After a quiet drive out the Mass Pike and a quick pit stop at the registration area for dh’s hat, we grabbed a bagel (thanks, Dunkin Donuts!) and hit the course at 6:18am.

I know this sounds like I’m just making it up, but the first 9-10 miles are always the easiest. You’re excited. You’re enthusiastic. You’re fresh. We took a couple of stops along this part of the route, pausing to change socks at the 8mi “refueling” station (the first of three such changes I’d make during the walk), and then on we went. It was at this point that the bursitis I’d been fighting all week – and that randomly, rather cruelly hobbled me for DAYS preceding the walk – started to come into play. Following the advice from the nurse practitioner I’d seen earlier in the week, I iced my hip at the 8mi point, while we stretched and rested, and I took 600mg of ibuprofen at the start and partway through the walk. It helped, but it only really took the edge off and never really made the discomfort go away entirely.

Ashland

Welcome to Ashland…town #2 along the route

I felt like I ate my way through the course, though really all I ate on the course pre-lunch was a peanut butter and honey sandwich. My breakfast was a hardboiled egg eaten in the car, along with a granola bar, and half of a wheat bagel (dry, untoasted) before hopping on the course. Mostly, I tried alternating between water and Gatorade, just to try to stay hydrated. Lunch was a turkey and cheese sandwich, some chips and a couple of brownie bites. It was a fantastic balance of carbs, protein, sugar and salt to refresh myself. I only snacked minimally after that, although I have to say the Ritz Bits cheese sandwiches I had when we turned onto Beacon Street were all kinds of awesome.

The weather was rather lovely for the start – brisk without being chilly, and cloudy to a fault. But then, once we were about a third of the way through the walk, the clouds started to give way to the sun, and things started to warm up a bit. When we stopped in Natick, I changed my shirt from the long-sleeved “2012 Pacesetter” shirt to a tank top. I teased dh that I was probably challenging town decency laws, but he shrugged it off as, “Enh, you see more skin in a Target flyer.” Touché.

Joel & Jesse

An institution for NINETEEN YEARS, they follow the walkers along the route

The latter portion of the middle third of the walk was probably the toughest. When we were deep into the hills of Newton – which are steep and tall – there was virtually no cloud cover and the trees were spaced out enough that there was very little shade to be had. Worse still, there was almost no breeze. For the last two years, our arrival at the Boston College refueling station was where I would hit a wall that I’d have to climb over. This year, I started to feel a bit out of it while climbing one of the last hills in The Heights (the area that includes BC), but I only needed a few minutes to sit in the shade and rehydrate to get myself back on track.

The Orange Guy

Manna from heaven…and The Orange Guy

Then, up I went..and up WE went. My slightly awkward gait from the bursitis flare-ups, combined with sweatier feet from heavier padded sneakers, led to a couple of blisters atop the balls of my feet. These managed to pop – or something – as we were making our way through the five miles from BC down to the finish, but I didn’t really mind. Fortune smiled on us during the last portion of the walk and most of the final stretch was done in shade and with a cool breeze blowing on us. I was loving every minute of it, while dh was actually complaining that he was getting chilly. I suppose it’s the few extra layers of fat I have on him that probably meant I’m better in cold than he is.

Finish Line

DONE-ZO!!!

Regardless, right around 4:20pm – nearly 10hrs to the minute  from when we walked across the official start line in Hopkinton – we crossed the finish line in Copley Square. This includes about 1-1/2hrs of stops and breaks along the way, so we still made fairly decent time (averaging about 19-1/2mins per mile). We flew through the early miles, but the ones in Newton were much slower due to heat and hills. (I’m utterly convinced that the person who designed the Boston Marathon course loved hills and hated people.) In reality, the time we made is a little better than that, since we walked MORE than 26.2 miles (the finish line of the walk is a good block farther down Boylston than the official finish line of the Boston Marathon, and we start our walk from the official start line of the Boston Marathon, rather than the slightly-farther-down walk start). No womens tee here, folks.

Anyway, it was a great day…so great, in fact, that I did a post-walk, post-stretch plank, just to prove that I could. We had so many great supporters along the way, like Joel & Jesse, and The Orange Guy, and there were so many others who were new or regulars that clapped, cheered, gave us MOAR COWBELL and all that, and it was phenomenal to know that there are others out there who were helping us along the way.

Mile 19 marker: Keira

Why we walk…

 

I dedicated my walk to four people whose lives were directly affected by cancer. One year ago as of Saturday, we lost my dear, sweet aunt to lung cancer after a lengthy fight. Jackie had breast cancer twice before, and this was her second occurrence of lung cancer (most likely from having been a heavy smoker for years). Just a handful of weeks ago, we lost our friend Tim to mesothelioma after a battle that didn’t even last a year.  He will always be remembered as a sweet, kind, funny, and wonderful person. Within the last few months, a friend’s mother – Rosette – began her own battle with brain cancer. Rosette is another sweetheart, and she’s been quite perky in her updates as she has her appointments at the “Dana-Farber spa”, as she puts it. Clio is the only one of the four I haven’t yet met; she’s the young daughter of my sister’s neighbor, and she’s been fighting cancer for more than a year. It’s unfair that kids should have to deal with this crap. It’s bad enough that adults have to deal with it. If anyone ever asks me why I walk, why I’d be nuts enough to walk a marathon and spend a day on my feet, I can answer easily enough: because my marathon is nothing compared to that of a cancer patient.

I’ll leave with this quote, from a sign left to cheer on a walker up one of the nightmarish hills in Newton, because it made so many of us smile. It’s so true.

Your feet hurt because you're kicking butt!

Gearing up for marathon #3: Music Matters

I can’t imagine trying to walk an entire marathon without having some kind of distraction – someone to talk to (like dh) or some music…and sometimes both. I remember that during my first marathon, when I was starting to have trouble moving along, I put on my headphones (which I’d kept nearby but hadn’t deployed) and told dh that I just needed music to get my feet moving properly.

Music has always been a big part of my life. Growing up, I listened to a lot of late 70’s/early 80’s soft rock, then new wave, followed by punk & electronica, followed by grunge…and on and on and on. In other words, I have fairly eclectic tastes. The only music I just can’t deal with in quantity is country music, although I appreciate that it’s extremely popular. Growing up in the Washington DC area, rap and go-go music were staples while I was in high school, alongside all of the Bon Jovi, Guns’nRoses and various other late 80’s bands. Again – eclectic.

When I was lucky enough to win an iPod shuffle from MyKindaRain two years ago, I put that little pink cutie into circulation right away. I had gotten a new iPod (regular size) earlier in the year, but the shuffle has the distinction of being extremely compact and clippy: you can just clip it on whatever you’re wearing and it tends to stay put. Naturally, I loaded up the pink cutie with fun stuff and adjusted my playlist as I had the time and inclination. I actually have a bunch of new stuff that I need to put on there (including Passion Pit’s “Take a Walk”, which has the double-whammy of being a local band AND a song that’s totally thematic for a walking marathon).

On yesterday morning’s training walk – a brisk 5.1mi jaunt around the town’s lake – I got an interesting mix. And yes, there were several repeat artists, but that just speaks to the fact that the pink cutie knew that I was in the mood for some extra Muse. (lol)

  • “Every Me, Every You” – Placebo
  • “Help I’m Alive” – Metric
  • “Believe What You’re Saying” – Sugar
  • “Supermassive Black Hole” – Muse
  • “Assassin” – Muse
  • “This Time Is Ours” – The Bravery
  • “Newborn” – Muse
  • “Teeth” – Lady Gaga
  • “Left To My Own Devices” – Pet Shop Boys
  • “Boys Boys Boys” – Lady Gaga
  • “Seattle” – Public Image Ltd
  • “Get The Message” – Electronic
  • “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” – Jeff Lynne/Eric Clapton (Concert for George Harrison)
  • “A Forest” (Tree Mix) – The Cure
  • “So Hard” – Pet Shop Boys
  • “Pablo Picasso” – David Bowie
  • “I’m Still Standing” – Elton John
  • “Push It” – Garbage
  • “Evil Woman” – ELO
  • “Hollaback Girl” – Gwen Stefani
  • “Don’t Bring Me Down” – ELO

Of course, not all of those songs have the perfect beat to walk to, in terms of setting a specific pace and keeping a beat. However, I have songs mixed throughout with that type of pace setting (like some of the Lady Gaga, Metric, etc.), and even songs like “Don’t Bring Me Down” have a strong beat that allow you to walk in time. This may seem a bit silly to a skeptic saying, “But that’s not a good walking song!” Well, I counter with: sure it is. The reason why is this: any song that allows you either to keep a good pace OR to distract you from how you’re not feeling so fantastic in those moments when your calves, hips or knees aren’t fully cooperating is TOTALLY doing its job. And, ultimately, any music you bring with you should match what you like to listen to.

So, that’s one sampling from my playlist. There’s tons of other stuff on there, and I have a bunch more that needs to get loaded up before September’s walk. If you have your own favorites, feel free to share! Or, if you’re looking for something specific (say, an electronic song with a strong beat that you can walk or run to), let me know and I’ll see what I can suggest from my catalog (or the inventory of music in my head) that might get you on the right track.

<pleading>Lastly, if you’re interested in sponsoring me for my walking marathon, you can donate via my Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk support page. All donations are tax-deductible and your donations support the cancer research and treatment provided at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. </pleading>

20 books and 20 lbs (week 19): EHRMAGERD

I was really hoping that giving myself a challenge like this – losing 20lbs and reading 20 books in one year – would somehow force me into the discipline of posting weekly about my progress. AND THEN I HIT A WALL SHAPED LIKE SALMAN RUSHDIE.

Holy cow.

This. Book. Is. Slow.

I’m speaking of course, of “Midnight’s Children”, Rushdie’s 1981 novel about the life and times of some of the children born simultaneous with the creation of India as an independent state. I had originally reached for “The Satanic Verses” (which I’d bought when it first came out and almost immediately put down because I had trouble getting into it). DH deflected me to “Midnight’s Children” because he’d heard it was an easier read than “Verses” and he had enjoyed “Midnight’s Children” when he read it. He failed to mention that it was on his SECOND attempt to read it that it stuck. Sigh.

I’m finally past the 2/3 mark in the roughly 500pg novel, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Expect that this will not be a positive mark in my review, when I finally FINISH THIS BOOK and can move onto book #5 for the year. (Which I really need to do, lest I just bonk on this part of the challenge.)

As far as the attempts to lose weight go, I’ve spent the last few weeks trading up/down 1-2lbs…or sometimes even just a few oz. I haven’t done anything dramatic to my diet, and trying to get more walking time in to train for my Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk in September has been only semi-successful. Work commitments for me and/or DH have done a good job of derailing a lot of our best shots at training time.

We’re now 1/3 of the way through the year and I’ve dropped a little more than 1/3 of my goal – I’m down about 7lbs right now. Of course, I still feel like I’ve plateaued, so I have to do more there.

The one area where things really have been coming together nicely is with my #plankaday. As of yesterday, I had 3 consecutive weeks of #plankaday for at least 2min! I consider that a nice victory, although the next step beyond this is to aim for 2:30. Ouch. I can feel the ab burn even before I get down to my forearms!

So, in summation, life has been busy, but when I’m not at work or doing stuff with the family, I’m hip-deep slogging through “Midnight’s Children”. I will finish this book soon (before it finishes ME), and then I’ll grab book #5. With any luck, I’ll even manage to drop another pound or two and find my way off this plateau (in a positive direction, of course!).