Hello from the land where it’s finally feeling like fall! I went for a run this morning and it was in the 40s, which I LOVED. For this post, however, I’m going to rewind a bit back to Monday when the weather was decidedly less nice for running. I had been carefully watching the weather all weekend since I knew we were going to be getting some aftereffects of Hurricane Nate. Luckily, race day came and it wasn’t pouring rain, but it was nearly 100% humidity and in the 70s–unfortunately similar to the weather for my last 10k.
I was pretty nervous heading into race day, both because I was shooting for a PR and because I was spearheading my first meeting for the Oiselle Volee. I got to the race nice and early and despite not having received my bib in the mail, I got a new one assigned super easily. Even with the cloudy skies, there was lots of energy around the expo and among the runners! I met up with a nice crew of the Oiselle ladies and got to see some old friends and meet new ones as we chatted and took a warmup jog around Boston Common. We breezed through the portopotty lines and my teammate Sarah and I lined up at the 7 minute mile corral.
This race usually draws a pretty impressive crowd of elites, but even so we were right up at the front of the pack to start the race off. I wasn’t really feeling the heat for the first couple of miles and ticked off some hard but sustainable paces at 6:52, 6:52, and 6:58 for the first three miles. While the front of the field got spread out pretty quickly, the course loops back on itself so I got to exchange lots of cheers with friends as we ran along Memorial Drive in Cambridge. I love this race because women are so supportive of one another! Everyone was encouraging and positive even as we were passing each other. Once we crossed back over the Mass Ave Bridge, the heat and humidity had caught up with me and I was starting to drag. I got a big boost from my teammates cowbelling and then another push as I ran past J, who had come down to cheer me on.
I decided that I was going to push as much as I could, ignoring my watch, and aim for a strong finish. I let the pace slip a bit but was able to pick it back up to a 6:43 pace down the very long finishing chute. My final time was 43:39, which is an 18 second PR over the Beach to Beacon 10k! This brought me in 42nd overall (out of 2,699 finishers) and 9th in my age group. It definitely was a little bit behind the time I trained for–my recent 5k results predict closer to a 42:XX 10k–but with the tough conditions, I’m super proud of my time.
After grabbing a bag of snacks and some water, I hung out with the girls and cheered on the rest of the finishers–including my mom! She ran this race in its inaugural year 41 years ago, and this year I got to jump in and cross the finish line with her. It was such a special moment for us to have together. I wrapped up the day with some much-needed lunch nearby with the crew.
Overall, I had an amazing time and am super proud of my mom and my teammates and friends for their strong finishes! Despite the race shirts being a bit underwhelming this year (cotton instead of dry-fit) I would absolutely run this race again and am super grateful to have had my entry comped by the race organizers. I’m looking forward to my next race, which will be my attempt to surpass my half marathon PR from this time last year. Happy fall running!
Since this is my first race of my 30s, I was a little bummed the results aren’t officially broken out by age, but I’m super proud of my finish. This was a strong PR over 
From there, we took a couple of quick photos at the 
From there, I hit the porto potties and took an easy shuttle to the start, while J took off for a 5 mile jog to meet me at the finish. The shuttles dropped us off on a rural road surrounded by farmland, and I was able to get in a bit of a warmup jog up and down the fields. The start was self-seeded so I slotted myself into the 7 minute mile corral. My A-goal was to run sub 7s, netting out to about a 42-43 minute 10k. I wanted to be fairly cautious because it was an unfamiliar course and especially because it was close to 100% humidity–not anyone’s favorite race conditions. My B-goal was any time under 44 minutes. I was glad I had that all in mind because the course was much hillier than I expected–rolling hills the whole time with a major climb near the finish.
I ticked off the first mile a bit fast (oops) on a slight downhill. The next couple of miles felt fairly steady at 6:54 and 7:08. I grabbed a couple of quick sips of water and pushed through a 7:00 and a 7:04. Then, the hill hit. Mile 5 was a steep climb into Fort Williams Park, and a much slower 7:24. I gritted my teeth and picked up the pace to a 6:20 for the final .2 sprint to the finish. My final time was 43:57, just about a 7 minute average pace and 23rd in my division.
Rewinding back to Saturday morning, I started the day with 8 easy miles with some of the Oiselle girls. Knowing the race was so short, I wanted to get a long-ish run done in the morning. It was fantastic to do it with friends, especially since the day was incredibly humid and the run was a bit of a slog to get through. After a shower and a power wedding planning session, J and I headed over to JP to stroll around 
Overall, this was a fun first trail race experience and a great party! My ankle was pretty swollen for about 24 hours but is already on its way back to normal. My main takeaway is definitely that if I’m going to do more trail running, it’s worth investing in some shoes with proper tread. I’ve been lusting after 
Hello hello and greetings from could 9, where I’m riding the incredible high of yesterday’s race! There’s a monster post ahead but TL;DR–I ran by far my strongest and smartest marathon and finished in 3:28:30, smashing my A goal, PR-ing by 7.5 minutes, and 
After a just ok night of sleep, we were up and at ’em at 5 am for a quick gf bagel (with pb, banana, and salt) and coffee before grabbing the shuttle bus to the race start. We were running a couple of minutes late but we made it onto the last shuttle, which was great until the shuttle BROKE DOWN and had to turn back to the hotel. We still had an hour to spare before the race, but there wasn’t another shuttle in sight (cue freak out)–and then in a glorious moment I ran into a friend from track who offered us a ride to the start! Everyone else did make it on another shuttle, but big ups to Steve for the extra few minutes of cushion. The second amazing coincidence was that I walked directly into Denise and her friends Amy and Sarah who were already halfway up the porto potty line!! We did our business and then shed our layers (it was in the high 30s–BRRRR) before dropping our check bags and lining up at the start. One jarring shotgun shot later, and we were off! 
Alisa had been driving along the course and we had seen her a few times, but I knew my folks were going to be at mile 11 and it was so amazing to see them after the first steep stretch of downhill. We held it back but let the pace dip to a 7:42 during mile 12 (158 feet of elevation loss), and then settled in around 7:50 until mile 20. Thanks to 
At mile 20 the pain had started to creep in, but my legs had some juice left in them so we amped the pace up to the 7:40s and started to pick people off. It had gotten hot at this point, and I was pouring water over my head at every water stop. I kept repeating my mantras in my head (STRONG. FAST. CONFIDENT.) and Denise and I checked in with each other every few minutes. My knees felt a little bit creaky and I was nauseous, but I managed to hold it together and maintain a sub 7:50 pace through a gradual but deadly uphill climb from miles 23-24. At this point I knew we were safely in BQ territory, but I didn’t let myself get too excited about a sub 3:30 until we rounded the corner into chute. A big perk of such a tiny race was that we finished by ourselves–talk about feeling like a rock star! We decided to grab hands and hold our arms up, and it felt like we flew across the finish at a 7:25 pace.
It was over, finally, and I gave everyone the sweatiest hugs and shed a few incredulous tears when I saw that we had not only BQ-ed (sub 3:35), but that we had broken 3:30 (my A goal) and that I had PR-ed by 7.5 minutes off of 
I have so much more to say about this race experience, but I have to give the biggest thanks to Jeremy for being incredibly supportive and tolerant, to Coach Laura for her belief in me and her deep well of wisdom and support, and to Denise for being a wonderful friend and for carrying me through the last few miles with grace and strength. I am finally a BOSTON QUALIFIER!!!!!
Hello hello! I’m lounging at home celebrating 
Backing up a bit, this week was a bit of a cutback week so I could do a mini-taper for the race. We had a fairly dramatic snow/ice storm on Tuesday, so it was perfect timing to be holding back a bit. I did a treadmill class Tuesday morning instead of running outside, and luckily by Thursday and Friday it was doable to get back out on the roads. Spring, I will say–I am so, SO ready for you. Feel free to come any time you want!!
Hello from Boston, where everyone is freaking out about the Patriots. I’m not much of a football fan but it’s fun to be a part of the triumphant atmosphere around the city. Plus, this year I got to spend the morning racing–way more up my alley! I found out about the 
The cold, wind, and slight hills definitely slowed me down, but I was able to keep pace with one of the guys I had started with (nice job Malcolm!!) and stay in the 6:40s-6:50s for the next few miles. By mile 5 I was feeling pretty cooked–my goal was to leave it all out on the course and I knew I had. I pushed the pace a bit and tried to pick off runners as I could, but the 5k course had rejoined at that point and it was tough to choose who pace with. My customary final kick didn’t materialize, but I did pick up a 6:29 final mile for a 34:24 finish–average pace of 6:45/mile. While that wasn’t a PR, I think for the conditions it was a strong performance. (
Hey hey! After being sidelined from the blog by travel, holidays, schoolwork, and a nasty head cold, I’m thrilled to be back with my final race recap of 2016. This race is part of a 
Probably the weirdest part of this race was the fact that all of the race-related events (including the after party) took place in the parking garage of the mall–but it actually was totally fine. I dropped my bag at the bag check, waited in the porto lines (long but nothing unexpected), and then happily happened to run into the track gals as I tucked into the 8 minute mile corral.
There were a few crowded moments along the way, but again, nothing that really slowed me down. I used to live in Cambridge and it was a blast to run through some of my old haunts! The weather was absolutely perfect too–in the upper 40s at the start to lower 50s by the end. I spent the first few miles feeling things out and found myself feeling decently comfortable running 7:25-7:30s. I didn’t let myself get too excited, but I picked it up a bit and squeaked out two 7:14s during miles 6 and 7. The next few miles were a bit slower, but I started doing the math in my head and decided to negative split the last three miles to solidify my PR. I really kept my mental game on point for this race, using the mantra “fast and relaxed” and envisioning myself digging deep into the well to finish strong. At mile 11 I ran by Bry, who was volunteering, and yelled out “I’m going to PR!” Power of positivity, right??
The second half was where things started to unravel a little bit. I lost both Danielle and Alexa around mile 16. I ran with one of our other newfound 3:30 buddies until mile 18 or so when I stopped for a quick bathroom break. This was followed by a couple of miles of pretty bad cramps, which I think may have been due to a bit too much water too fast (it was getting hotter and I was definitely drinking to compensate). Either way, I was not feeling fantastic, and my pace definitely reflected that.
Shorter and Faster 