We weave in and out of runners cloaked in full body ponchos, dodge massive puddles, grit our teeth through 30 mph head winds while the freezing cold, driving rain soaks us to the bone. The smile never leaves my face. This is the Boston Marathon. The words “Together Forward” cover marathon banners around town all weekend. How telling, foreshadowing, really. You see, together forward is …
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Visualizing Boston
I’m boarding a plane to Boston. My heart drops into my stomach. It’s here. Boston weekend is here! I’m standing at the start line. Adrenaline rushes through my arms, legs, all the way to the tips of my toes. You worked so hard to get to this very place. Soak it up. The crowds, the course, the energy. I’m pushing through mile 25. You trained for this, Helen. It’s all mental toughness now. You know …
Keep Calm and Taper On
Here we are... 12 days away from the Boston Marathon. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hold my kombucha while I jump up and down and twirl in circles and check the weather 47 times every two hours. IT IS TIME TO TAPER!! What do you know about the taper? Runners have a love-hate relationship with the taper. Tapering is when you take the last 2-3 weeks before race day to gradually decrease …
You Gotta Run Fast to Run Fast: Why I Do Speedwork
One very dark, cool Wednesday morning in September, I walked onto the Alexander Graham Middle School track with 30 or so other runners. It was 5:30 in the morning. My mother would say that’s the middle of the night. A former high school cross-country runner and soccer player, I never competed on a track, never trained on a track and until last fall, avoided running on a track at all cost. But …
Boston Bound – Here to Create
On my whopping 23 mile run this past Saturday, I thought about the goal I set in April of 2016 -- qualify for Boston. That goal had a built in goal behind it -- once you qualify, run Boston. And so, here we are, a month away from the 2018 Boston Marathon. Thousands and thousands of other runners set very similar goals. Some have been chasing down the goal to run Boston for years. On April 16, 2018, …