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Just a reminder to enter my Cabot Cheese gift giveaway and to spread the word to your friends! Only a few days left!

Spring is here, and my legs are no longer sore! I celebrated that fact last night by attending a post marathon/ running club kickoff party at Healthworks Back Bay. I was really excited for this event because it meant that I got to meet other runners and fellow Healthworks members to talk about running while snacking on some yummy treats. I have never belonged to a gym like Healthworks which really aims to engage its members beyond just coming and going to work out. Everyone there is super nice, and it is a beautiful, clean facility which should go without saying, but trust me. . . I have belonged to some other well known gyms that could take a few lessons from them!

The spread was celebratory and offered a variety of options for us hungry runners.

There were adorable, delicious, foot shaped cookies.

Cookies and champagne

Too cute. And yummy. It’s a good thing we all ran 26 miles on Monday!

cookies

There were Pop Chips. Though I had tasted and enjoyed the plain Pop Chips before, at this event I had a bag of barbeque and almost drooled, they were so good. Desk drawer, you need to stock up on Barbeque Pop Chips please.

Pop Chips

And yummy Luna protein bars, which I am saving for a post workout boost.

Luna Bars

There was Boston Athletic Association inspiration. I love that unicorn.

Boston Marathon motivation

And Pearly Bay sparkling wine from Boston Wine Exchange, a great store I visited in this post. This wine was slightly sweet, bubbly, and perfect for a Friday night celebration!

sparkling wine 

I spent a little over an hour mingling with other runners, learning about Healthworks’ running club, which is open to non members as well, and even winning an awesome raffle bag full of fun goodies like vouchers for B. Good burgers and fries. Kind of appropriate considering I ran much of the marathon with the B. Good french fry and hamburger. I really did. I even asked if they were hot, and they were 🙂

After I left the Healthworks event, I strolled through Copley Square and snapped a photo of these gorgeous tulips. Did I mention tulips and daffodils are some of my favorite things about spring? Tina from Carrots N Cake actually posted a similar picture last night! They were just too beautiful to pass up.

Copley Square Tulips

And since I was walking by, I decided to stop in to the new candy store next to Marathon Sports, Sugar Heaven.

Sugar Heaven

Sugar Heaven is chock full of sweet treats. They had a refrigerator full of European chocolate, the stuff my hubby grew up on, so I picked up a Galaxy bar, an Aero, and a Dairy Milk for him.

European candy bars

I loved all of the bright colors! I bought a few things, but I just wanted photos of everything.

gumballs

candy

Chocolate chocolate everywhere!

display of chocolate bars

I needed to get out of there before I spent too much and ended up with a supply of candy that we should not have around.

I walked to meet my husband by Symphony Hall, and passed by the Christian Science center where the fountains were on, and brave people were playing in them.

Christian Science Center

Christian Science Library

Boston is so beautiful this time of year!

We had a great dinner at an old favorite, DBar Boston, in our Dorchester ‘hood. I even spotted Chris Coombs, the Executive Chef and recent Chopped contestant. It was too dark for photos, but I had a glass of Mionetto prosecco, lobster bisque, and tuna ceviche. Every meal I have ever eaten at DBar has been excellent, and tonight was no different. It is a cozy neighborhood place with a sophisticated vibe and upscale comfort food menu, not to mention their awesome cocktail list and amazing brunch.

Not too many plans for today. My good friend Meghan, who was in my marathon photos, lost her wonderful grandfather last night, so I am thinking of her and hoping to see her and her family this weekend. It is so hard to see a friend sad, so send her some good vibes if you can.

Enjoy this spring weekend friends!

Tags: Boston, candy, fitness, Food, Healthworks, running, sparkling wine

It’s Boston Marathon weekend! Yesterday afternoon I couldn’t wait to get to the Hynes Convention Center to pick up my race number and to browse the expo.

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I walked right down Boylston Street through Copley Square where the finish action happens. In the photo below you can see the blue scaffolding which will be covered in balloons on Marathon Monday.

 

Boylston Street

Access to cross the street near the finish line was blocked off, but when a kind Boston police officer caught me trying to sneak on to the street, he gave me the go ahead to take a photo and wished me luck. Everyone in Boston has the marathon fevah! 🙂

Boston Marathon finish line

When I got to the Hynes, the line was SUPER long, but when the doors opened at 2:00, it completely dispersed, and I had my bib number, fabulous Adidas long sleeved t-shirt and other goodies within minutes. The Boston Athletic Association knows how to run a show!

Boston Marathon number pickup

Once I had secured a coveted size small shirt, I went to browse the seemingly never ending marathon expo. I stopped by the PowerBar display.

Powerbar

And checked out the Gatorade booth where I tried their new Recover drink. It was pretty good, a little sweet but refreshing.

Gatorade

Then I got a sample of Vemma, a liquid antioxidant made from mangosteen, aloe vera, and green tea. It wasn’t too bad. The texture was a tiny bit chalky, but I would definitely drink it again.

Vemma

I had a nice healthy sample of Fage Greek yogurt with honey which was the perfect late afternoon snack. I love how satisfying Fage is! I like other Greek yogurts, but Fage is the real deal.

image 

Then there was Odwalla with their delicious smoothie drinks.

Odwalla

I unfortunately had to get back to the office, but I really enjoyed the time that I spent at the marathon expo and the samples that I tasted. It was a place full of great energy, and it definitely pumped me up for the marathon weekend!

Boston Marathon inspiration

Inspiration can be found everywhere in Boston this weekend, from the elite superhumans to the thousands of charity runners raising millions of dollars to the men and women in uniform who run with something like 60 pounds on their back in memory of fallen comrades.

Boston Marathon inspiration

It’s all about the promises. My promises? To run a happy and healthy Boston Marathon with The ALLY Foundation in my mind and heart the entire time.

Have you made any promises to yourself lately?

Tags: Boston, Boston Marathon, running

Boston Marathon alert! 23 days to go, my long runs are basically all in, and now I am concentrating on hills, strength, yoga, and FUNDRAISING! It has been quite the journey since I secured a spot on The ALLY Foundation’s Boston Marathon team, and I have to admit I haven’t enjoyed all of it. Mainly because every time I felt like my training was going really well, I got injured. Kind of like right now. On Thursday night, a beautiful, 60 degree Boston evening, I planned on a 3 hour run. I kicked off running along the Charles River, up and down hilly side streets in Beacon Hill, zigzagging through the North End (Boston’s Little Italy), and over the bridge to Charlestown.

Boston is decorated with signs like this:

Boston Marathon

These make me tear up every time I see them! And throughout my run Thursday night, they kept me going.

Up until Charlestown I felt okay, and I started in on the hills. The good news? The last time I was running Boston, about 3 weeks before the race, I ran Monument Hill in Charlestown and was DYING. Last night I did it twice and felt awesome! But after a variety of up and down hills, my previously clicking knee started to hurt. Walking didn’t help, in fact when I walked, I had to kind of kick my foot out the side to avoid the pain.

Nice.

I ran, I walked, I limped. And while I knew I COULD finish the run, I decided it was better to drop out of a training run than to miss the marathon. Along my walk back to South Station, I made a few decisions.

1) I am going to enjoy the rest of the journey. Sure, marathons are hard, but the Boston Marathon is an institution that is incredibly historic and special. It seems like all of Eastern MA comes out along the route, and I want to take all of that in.

2) I don’t care about my time. That’s right. I’ll tell you that my last Boston Marathon time was 4:20 flat. My Bermuda Marathon time was 4:16. But both of these times were before I had a very time consuming job, and I had more time and energy to train. So whatever time is best for where I am right now is fine.

3) I am Bib #24739. I planned on only telling my husband and family my number so that they could follow me. In my head, I start worrying, “What if people think my time is too slow? What if I don’t do well?” That’s just silly.

4) The most important things that I can do in the next 3 plus weeks are resting, revving up my nutrition, stretching, and mentally relaxing.

As I walked along the Boston waterfront, I had a runner’s high that couldn’t be beat, despite the pain in my knee, it finally clicked with me last night that all of those months, those hours on the elliptical, the spinning classes, the walking, the running, its all been for this.

Coincidentally, when I got home and took my mail out of the mailbox, my official Boston Marathon bib pickup card was in it 😉

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Tags: Boston Marathon, fundraising, running

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