Run to Home Base

When I graduated college my class prophecy was "Sara will wait patently for the Red Sox to win another World Series"... good thing they won two years later! I really wasn't waiting that long.

Anyway, I have had some great moments at Fenway including the Winter Classic and getting to attend a playoff game last year.  When I saw the Red Sox Foundation Run to Home Base run last year, I knew I wanted to run it.. so with some thought, here I am!

I am not to far away from my goal, which is awesome, and I would like to surpass it if possible.  I am getting really excited to run this the more and more I read about it!! Its just going to be an awesome experience going to an amazing cause.

From the website:

The 2014 RUN TO HOME BASE presented by New Balance is a unique and special event that celebrates our military heroes and raises necessary funds for the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. The Home Base Program is committed to serving the needs of veterans with combat stress and/or traumatic brain injury and their families, but we need your support.

Your support to the Home Base Program will help to ensure that local veterans who served our country receive the clinical treatment they need for combat stress and/or traumatic brain injury, and that their families get the guidance and support they need. The Home Base Program also seeks to advance innovative treatments that hold the most potential for helping veterans with combat stress and/or traumatic brain injury and their families.

Anyway if you want to help out you can do so my donating here.  I am also thinking about holding an fundraiser event, which I have never done before. EEK! I am getting super pumped for this!

Thank you! 

Fools Duel Half Marathon

First Half Marathon has been completed!!

Now that training is over I kind of feel like… umm now what? Kensie and I have a 10 miler planned for this weekend to keep the millage up, but its kind of sad to be not training! I guess on to the next one. J

Anyway Jon and went to Gloucester on Friday night for the entire weekend… Saturday morning we woke up, got some breakfast, and went to the beach. Gloucester is seriously so beautiful. I need to come back to this beach during the summer. 

I LOVE this photo... 

It was probably about oh... 40 Degrees out? There was a surfer... I couldn't believe he was out there!

I was trying to get a picture of us with the beach in the background... didn't really work out. BUT I thought this picture was cute. Got to love instagram and how it can make your skin look so clear :)

Anyway we watch the Bruins at Stones  after the beach. I just want to say I loved this place. One thing that is surprisingly difficult about Metrowest Boston is finding a place that will play the sound of Bruins games. Most places around here have Triva, Music, ect... which makes sense, there are a lot of 20 & 30 something year old's living in my area, but it really does suck sometimes. We enter this bar... Bruins sound is blasting. The bar tender was personal and hilarious, wings where good and every-time the Bruins scored they would dig this giant bell. Good Place. I told my boyfriend I wanted to come during one of the Bruins playoff games ha-ha.  We actually ended up going back for a drink after dinner with the group that was with us.. 

Got to carb load right?

Anyway... Now to the Race....

The course was I would say pretty difficult...  It was extremely hilly... I remember once running up a hill, getting to the top, seeing the down hill, then the GIANT hill I had to climbed back up... its like really?? Kensie and I also ran Comm Ave (The Newton Hills) for our training, which helped a lot. If you have googled "Fools Duel Half Marathon" and reading this, run hills to train!! I couldn't tell you the amount of times I told myself during this half "I am so glad I trained on Comm Ave".  

However with that being said it was also one of the most prettiest runs I have ever been on. This course is beautiful, so if that gets you motivated, as it does me, one would be okay!. At one point when you are coming back you view is the ocean... just dark blue ocean water you can seen for miles and miles. I wanted to grab a picture but I was really focused on well.. running. 

Results:  From Racewire... 

Results from the Watch.... 

Distance:              13.00

Time:                   1:51:49

Avg Pace:             8:34 min/mi

Elevation Gain:    610 ft 

Calories:                1,074 C

On Elevation Gain: Again...that is a lot of freaking hills! SO I did some research on what that means, and its total amount of distance climbed. SO If you traveled up 5 hills  and back that were 100 feet long, you would have traveled 1,000 feet. People reading this are probably like duh... Sara. So yes, I am just figuring this out! ha-ha  Anyway. Yeah. That was a lot of hills!

The Elevation Map from my Garmin... 

Garmin Splits... 

Mile 1:                  8:32

Mile 2:                  8:01

Mile 3:                  8:17

Mile 4:                  8:24

Mile 5:                  8:43

Mile 6:                  8:27

Mile 7:                  8:31

Mile 8:                  8:41

Mile 9:                  8:42

Mile 10:                8:59

Mile 11:                8:43

Mile 12:                8:50

Mile 13:                8:58

As you can tell I started off way to fast. Mile 1 I was  like "Okay pace yourself" and still ran it faster then I wanted too. Then Mile 2 happened, and I was like "Slow down Sara... Slow Down".  I started to slow down a little come by Mile 3 and then by Mile 4 I was running the pace I wanted to run at.  This is one thing I want to work on this summer is being able to pace myself. I always start off way to fast, and I want to work on storing some of that energy for the end! 

The course was hard so I had to talk my self that I could do it the whole time.  "OMG and I said one day I would like to run a Marathon... screw that I am never running a Marathon... this is HARD".  Was actually a conversation I had with myself. Then I just kept telling myself to get to mile 10, then I would be almost there. I kept remember how easy a 5K felt after all the training, and told myself that's all you had left. I think part of it was nerves. I was so nervous the entire time I may have been running to fast, and I just kept focusing on that. I am thinking next race I am going to be able to run it a bit more relaxed. 

2 hours after the race, I decided a Marathon was still in my long term goals. It really wasn't that bad was it? ha-ha

Finish Strong

So its January 31st and I already signed up for 3 races for the spring. The big one obviously being the Half Marathon on April 6.

Other ones I have signed up for? The Saint Patty's Day race on March 15 2014.  My friend Kensie (who is running the half marathon with me) and Ann are running with me. I am secretly, well not so much of a secret now, really excited for this race. I have been waiting to do "holiday" race for awhile now, and the bar crawl after sounds fun. I probably won't be staying up there for the whole day... but I am really looking forward to this. Oh. Its a 10K. which I think is going to end up being my favorite distance for a race. Challenging, but not insane.

The other one I signed up for.?

Watertown Police Finish Strong 5K

When I saw this i didn't even have to think about it...its on April 19th, which marks the one year anniversary from the Boston Marathon suspects were captured in Watertown. The Watertown Police Department is hosting a 5k that day in Watertown. I live in Waltham which is the next town over. The Waltham and Watertown communities are very close, I believe probably rivals in high school sports. A lot of people I hang out with grew up/live in Watertown. I am not sure I will ever forget how I felt that day. The incident happened about 6 miles away from my apartment. Which its a good distance...but I was still on edge that day. We were in lock down and it was the first beautiful day of spring. If I remember correctly I think it was around 70 degrees but I remember it was windy that day.  I remember at one point the wind knocked over our trash can, Jon was asleep on the couch, and I went outside to pick it up. I thought to myself... say if he knocked it down so I would come outside? My next thought was how sad it was I actually was scared in my own home. Well when the police told us we could leave our houses I wanted out of Waltham ASAP. We planned to go meet up with his brother in Framingham for some dinner and drinks, but as we were getting ready the news came on saying they were about to capture the brother. Jon and I at that point decided to stay in Waltham, we went to a restaurant/bar that is about 2 miles away from our apartment and watched it all unfold there. The days to follow where definitely different. The mall which was on the news was the one I go to pretty much every single weekend... which I went to the following Saturday or Sunday. To get to that mall from my apartment you drive past the Watertown Police department, where there were "Watertown Strong" signs and teddy bears outside the police station. A year later I am looking forward to this event that the Watertown Police Department is putting together. If you live around the area... you should sign up too.

Here are a few pictures I have taken around town...

During the Bruins playoffs I wore my Boston Strong shirt under my jersey for ever single playoff game....

Jon and I went for a run/hike in Prospect Hill Park... Boston in the background. Such a pretty park!

Just do it.. sign up!